Though the Big G will be fighting his most famous opponent to date in 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong, he’ll have his hands plenty full in the meantime with Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in which the lizard will be dealing with some beasts that make a giant ape look like a big cuddly teddy bear by comparison.
The three new additions to Legendary’s MonsterVerse are exhibited in some striking new posters. First off is Mothra, who’s seen trailing a trio of helicopters above what appears to be forestland. Next up is Rodan, who looks to be having the time of his life attacking planes, but then maybe that’s just his resting facial expression. And then of course, there’s the lead villain of the piece and the main challenger to Godzilla’s royal title, King Ghidorah, who seems all ready to bring the apocalypse amidst clouds and lightning.
Though the film’s early promotion largely kept these new arrivals obscured behind shadows and mist, this mysterious approach evidently won’t be the marketing strategy moving forward. In fact, while 2014’s Godzilla proved divisive in its surprisingly restrained approach to filming its monsters, director Michael Dougherty assured fans earlier this week that he has no intention of being so subtle for the sequel, claiming that there’s “no holding back” once the beasts start trading blows.
Of course, there’ll also be plenty of humans in the mix to raise the stakes, with the likes of Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, and Zhang Ziyi even set to play recurring characters in the franchise. That’s all well and good, but seeing how this is the MonsterVerse we’re talking about, it’ll be interesting to find out if and how the film tries to give any compelling character arcs to the creatures themselves. A giant, atomic-breathed lizard may not sound like the most relatable of figures, but we’ll see if he can earn our sympathy when Godzilla: King of the Monsters hits theaters on May 31st, 2019.