Not unlike the revisionist history that underpins Paramount’s Transformers universe, so far Legendary has done a fantastic job of embedding its mythical, god-like creatures in human history. “All those nuclear tests in the Pacific? Not tests – we were trying to kill it.” It being Godzilla.
Yes, Gojira was first awakened back in 1954, and later emerged from the deep in order to do battle with two skyscraping MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Objects) in Gareth Edwards’ 2014 franchise-starter. And though Godzilla struggled to light up the box office in the way Legendary and Warner Bros. would’ve hoped, it’s now considered to be ground zero of the MonsterVerse, an interconnected body of films that recently welcomed Kong: Skull Island into its midst.
Those of you who stayed after the credits rolled on Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Vietnam-era creature feature will know that the likes of Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah are all set to feature in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and now, we have confirmation that some of those beasts will also be appearing in the next chapter in the franchise to come after that, Godzilla vs. Kong.
Speaking to /Film in a recent interview, director Adam Wingard revealed that his upcoming monster showdown is going to include a couple of characters from the aforementioned sequel, though he wouldn’t say who.
“We have a couple characters from Godzilla 2 in ours, but it’ll be interesting to see how Kong has fared over the years,” he said. “You see him in Skull Island and he’s just constantly under attack. Things are going wrong and there’s probably been lots of human intervention since then. It’ll be interesting to see a more rugged, a bit more aged Kong in this film.”
If Skull Island introduced us to the place where myth and science meet, and King of the Monsters is poised to welcome Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah into the fray, then Godzilla Vs. Kong will deliver a monster mash-up for the ages. It’s currently booked in for release in March of 2020, and there have been rumblings that Lionsgate and Warner Bros. will work to extend their MonsterVerse far into the future.