It’s been widely speculated that the true enemy in Godzilla vs. Kong will not be the rampaging destruction of either great beast, but Mechagodzilla in disguise to frame the King of the Monsters for as yet unclear reasons.
Some brief images from the trailer have already strongly hinted at the presence of the robotic doppelgänger, but thanks to Heredia Clothing, a Mexican manufacturer of clothes branded with movie and anime images, we now have what appears to be our best look yet at the potential antagonist.
If accurate, then the image of Mechagodzilla below suggests a far more sophisticated creation than the lumbering metal beast from the ‘70s movies, and certainly looks like a dangerous enemy to have. The maw and claws seem like they could effortlessly crush bone, the spines could slice metal, and a carapace could take more of a beating that both titular Titans combined.
Additionally, the tail looks as though rather than being purely cosmetic, it acts as prehensile appendage that aids the mechanical animal’s movement and maintains its balance, as well as most probably also acting as a weapon like a razor whip or a spear. And that’s before getting started on the arsenal of weaponry it doubtless has concealed beneath its armor plates.
It’s an unwritten policy of moviemakers to never acknowledge when twists are correctly predicted, even when they’re so widely disseminated that they’re accepted by many as established fact, such as John Harrison from Star Trek Into Darkness actually being Khan Noonien Singh, or Miranda Tate in The Dark Knight Rises turning out to be an alias of Talia al Ghul. This seems no different, and despite the mounting clues that Godzilla vs. Kong will feature Mechagodzilla, no official word on the matter will be heard until he’s clearly seen blasting his way across the screen in the full movie.