Legendary’s MonsterVerse may only be three movies old, but the shared universe of iconic kaiju is already facing a make-or-break moment when Godzilla vs. Kong finally arrives in theaters next year after being hit with multiple delays.
The franchise did manage to get off to a strong start, with both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island earning over half a billion dollars at the box office and receiving relatively solid reviews. However, despite some jaw-dropping trailers that promised something spectacular could be on the cards, director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters turned out to be a major disappointment. Even after listening to the fans that felt the previous two entries in the MonsterVerse were relatively light on action and doubling down on the kaiju carnage, it was still a letdown.
It may have turned a profit, but a global tally of $386 million on a reported $200 million budget means the margins were razor thin once marketing costs had been taken into account, which reportedly affected the studio’s approach to Godzilla vs. Kong. King of the Monsters‘ post-credits scene teased that the Titans were heading to Skull Island and King Ghidora was set for a comeback, but Dougherty has now revealed that he originally had something else in mind, and you can see the storyboards for the abandoned stinger below.
As you can see, the original plan for Zhang Ziyi’s dual role as doctors Ilene and Ling Chen was to reveal them as the Mothra Twins, which is a very deep cut from the Godzilla mythology. You can understand why the scene was scrapped, because Godzilla: King of the Monsters didn’t exactly make it clear that Ziyi was playing twins, with the big reveal coming jarringly out of the blue and never being explained fully.
The actress is returning for Godzilla vs. Kong though, so maybe Adam Wingard will pick up the abandoned plot thread as part of the story he plans on telling, or it’ll simply remain forgotten as the MonsterVerse moves forward.