Like all the movies that are part of Legendary’s Monsterverse, the latest chapterGodzilla X Kong: The New Empireis loaded with references to Toho’s classic Godzilla movies. The fifth movie in the interconnected universe of planet-shaping kaiju saw the two most famous monsters in movie history temporarily put asidetheir long-standing Titan rivalryto take down a threat that would be too much for either to defeat on their own. The Monsterverse has provided a good mix of original Titans and iconic creatures from Godzilla’s gallery of friends and foes, andGodzilla X Kongfeatures some of both.
The narrative that plays out inGodzilla X Kongtakes the Monsterverse, and the characters of Godzilla and Kong in general, to new, fantastic heights. However, moving the franchise into new territory does not mean that the movie ignores the extensive history of the beloved monsters at its core. In fact, some of thewildest moments inGodzilla X Kong: The New Empiretake pages directly out of past Godzilla movies.
10Mothra Plays Peacekeeper
Mothra Has Gotten Kaiju To Work Together Before
Godzilla and Kong settled into an uneasy truce at the end ofGodzilla vs. Kongafter teaming up to take out Mechagodzilla, who (controlled by Ghidorah) would have killed them both if they hadn’t. Their rivalry as competing Alpha Titans was not resolved, however; Godzilla reigned over the surface world, while Kong roamed the Hollow Earth. After his almost-lethal encounter with Skar King and Shimo,Kong sought Godzilla’s help, but needed Mothra to get involvedto stop Godzilla from simply taking the fight to him. With her help, the three unite to take on the threat of Skar King.
Mothra’s role was at one point going to be played by a new Titan named Phosphera if they couldn’t use Mothra, but Legendary ultimately got the rights to the Queen of the Monsters as the surprise Titan forGodzilla X Kong.
Their alliance is a direct reference to one of Godzilla’s earliest movies, and the first appearance of his archrival: 1964’sGhidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Upon Ghidorah’s arrival on Earth,Mothra encourages Godzilla and Rodan, who are engaged in their own fight across the Japanese countryside, to work together to take down Ghidorahand save humanity. Mothra is at first unsuccessful, but after seeing her take on the alien monster alone, they put aside their differences and team up to take down a greater threat.
9Kong’s Electric Punches
A Clear Callback To Kong’s First Battle With Godzilla
In addition to healing the damage that Kong suffered as a result of attempting to block Shimo’s frostbite blast,Monarch’s B.E.A.S.T. gloveprovides Kong with some extra juice behind his already-powerful punches. At multiple points in his fights with both Godzilla and Skar King,Kong is able to quickly add some electrical charge to his fist via the B.E.A.S.T. glove. It provides him with the edge he needs to cause more damage or, as he does in his fight against Skar King in Rio, obliterate a building that was thrown at him.
Kong’s electric punches are a callback to his first battle against Godzilla in 1962’sKing Kong vs. Godzilla. Unsurprisingly, Kong proved to be no match for Godzilla’s atomic breath in their first few skirmishes. In order to even the odds, Kong gets a shocking power-up in their final battle:he is able to collect energy from lightning strikes and beat Godzilla with super-charged punches(although there is some debate as to who actually won the fight).
8Godzilla “Borrows” A Monster’s Energy
Another Monster Supercharges Godzilla And Changes His Color
Godzilla killed Tiamat inGodzilla X Kongin order to power himself up enough to take on the threat of Skar King and Shimo. He took over Tiamat’s lair and used it to essentially cocoon himself and evolve,taking on some of Tiamat’s DNA and pink coloration in the process. While Godzilla has gotten an assist from other kaiju many times in his 70-year history, his absorption of Tiamat’s color feels like a reference to one very specific instance.
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In 1993’sGodzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla fights Rodan early in the movie, and nearly kills him. However, in Godzilla’s final fight against Super-Mechagodzilla, Godzilla is himself critically wounded. Rodan winds up being shot down by Super-Mechagodzilla, andit’s his life force that not only restores Godzilla’s health, but powers him up with a reddish-orange, elevated version of his atomic breath: the spiral heat ray, which he uses to destroy Super-Mechagodzilla. Godzilla’s ultra-powered pink atomic energy inGodzilla X Kongdefinitely references the Rodan power-up.
7A Titan Under Mind-Control
On countless occasions in Toho’s Godzilla movies, monsters attack either Godzilla or Japan itself under the control of outside forces.Several of Godzilla’s classic movies feature monsters under the mind control of aliens, withGodzilla: Final Warsacting as the most significant example. Monsters like Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar, who were famously allies of Godzilla in their history, were mind-controlled to destroy Japan and stop Godzilla, although Big G was utterly unphased by any of them.
What makes Shimo such an interesting character inGodzilla X Kongis the fact that she is not inherently “bad” like other villainous and destructive Titans. There is even sufficient evidence that Shimo was a guardian Titan at one point in her history, as she was responsible for freezing Ghidorah in Antarctica.It’s a direct parallel to the one-off monster Titanosaurus from 1975’sTerror of Mechagodzilla, who is a docile sea-dwelling dinosaur that is mind-controlled into teaming up with Mechagodzilla to take on Godzilla.
6Titan Tornado Tag Team Match
Two-On-Two Monster Mashes Are A Showa Signature
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empirefinally brought the two-on-two tag team match to the Monsterverse, which is a classic setup from Godzilla’s Showa days. On multiple occasions, Godzilla required a partner to take down either a strong single enemy or a pair of monsters bent on destruction.Towards the end of the Showa Era, the two-on-two formula was put to use twice, inGodzilla vs. Gigan(Godzilla and Anguirus vs. Gigan and King Ghidorah) andGodzilla vs. Megalon(Godzilla and Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon and Gigan).
1968’sDestroy All Monstersfeatures the franchise’s most one-sided (by number) team-up, as eight Earth-based monsters work together to bring down the extraterrestrial King Ghidorah: Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, Varan, Kumonga, and Gorosaurus.
Those two movies are among the silliest in the franchise, which is almost inevitable whentokusatsueffects are used for monster tag team battles. Combo moves like Jet Jaguar holding Megalon back forGodzilla’s iconic drop kickare fun, but they are inherently silly in the grander scope of the Godzilla franchise. It’s fitting then, thatGodzilla X Kongreused the two-on-two formula, as many feel the franchise has almost gotten too far off the rails with the latest installment.
5Baby Kaiju To The Rescue
A Mini-Monster Saving The Day Isn’t New
The climactic fight ofGodzilla X Kongsees the tide turn once and for all when Suko destroys the crystal the Skar King uses to control Shimo. The notion of a baby monster saving the day has been used in Godzilla’s history, with one of the most famous examples coming at the end ofSon of Godzilla,during whichGodzilla’s son Minilla comes to his aid against the arachnid kaiju Kumonga. Mothra’s larva have won the day on more than one occasion as well, so Suko being the difference-maker in the final battle is on par for a Godzilla movie.
4Mothra Mind-Reading
Telepathic Communication With Mothra Is Part Of Her Lore
Kaylee Hottle’s character Jia has acted as the translator between Kong and Monarch since she was first introduced inGodzilla vs. Kong, but her role in the Monsterverse expands inGodzilla X Kong. It’s revealed that she is able to communicate telepathically with Mothra, making her the new stand-in for thetwin fairies who have communicated with Mothra in the past, the Shobijin. Mothra has long been a defender of humanity, so having the Monsterverse iteration of the Queen of the Monsters havea telepathic connection to a human is a near-essential callback to past Godzilla movies.
3Godzilla’s Icy Emergence
A Callback To One Of Godzilla’s Most Iconic Entrances
After hibernating in Tiamat’s lair, absorbing solar radiation and evolving, Godzilla emerges from the Arctic ice in the first reveal of the form known as “Evolved Godzilla” to fans of the Monsterverse.The entrance is another callback toKing Kong vs. Godzilla, in which Godzilla emerges from an iceberg; Godzilla was trapped in an avalanche at the end of 1955’sGodzilla Raids Again.The character’s reemergence from the iceberg in a brand-new suit was the first time Godzilla’s appearance changed, so it’s appropriate that the entrance is used again to introduce the audience to Godzilla with a new look.
2Kong’s Sea Serpent Skirmish
Kong Has A Long History With Sea Monsters
Technically, this isn’t a classic Godzilla movie reference, it’s a classic Kong movie reference, but the concept is the same. On his way to Skar King’s lair, Kong is led into a massive lake by Suko, only to be ambushed by a massive sea snake Titan known as the Drownviper.It’s a surefire reference to Kong’s history with sea monsters, which is surprisingly deep. King Kong fought against a giant snake in the original 1933 movie and the 1976 iteration, and fought Oodako the giant octopus inKing Kong vs. Godzilla.
In the Monsterverse, the trend has continued. InKong: Skull Island, Kong fights against the Mire Squid briefly before turning him into lunch. While not sea creatures, the Warbats that Kong fights inGodzilla vs. Kongare also snake-like in their appearance.The Drownviper fromGodzilla X Kongfits right in line with Kong’s past battles, all of which were essentially warm-ups for each movie’s real battles.
1Godzilla’s (Sort-Of) Spiral Heat Ray
The Ultimate Version Of Godzilla’s Atomic Breath
Since he first used his atomic breath in 2014’sGodzilla,the radioactive lizard has been powered up on multiple occasions. His atomic breath got stronger inGodzilla: King of the Monstersafter he was juiced up by the analog nuke that Dr. Serizawa set off in his lair, and seemed to get even stronger inGodzilla vs. Kong, as it was more of a tight laser beam as opposed to the more breath-like iterations previously seen in the Monsterverse.
While the original Heisei spiral heat ray comes in a reddish orange form, the version that Godzilla fires into the sky is pink at its core with his trademark blue atomic energy swirling around it.
The game was changed inGodzilla X Kongwhen Godzilla got his power-up from Tiamat. His pink atomic breath is much more volatile and powerful in his battles against Kong, Skar King, and Shimo, but it reaches a crescendo after Skar King’s death. Godzilla fires his atomic breath into the sky in an effort to dispel the damage that the mind-controlled Shimo had done to the atmosphere, and in doing soprovides an updated version of the iconic spiral heat ray from the Heisei Era.
While the original Heisei spiral heat ray comes in a reddish orange form, the version that Godzilla fires into the sky ispink at its core with his trademark blue atomic energy swirling around it. At the end ofGodzilla: Final Wars, Big G blasts Keiser Ghidorah into outer space with the spiral heat ray, so having it be powerful enough to literally change the atmosphere is further evidence that the iteration of his atomic breath at the end ofGodzilla X Kong: The New Empireis an updated spiral heat ray.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Cast
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire unites iconic monsters Godzilla and Kong in a colossal confrontation. As these ancient titans clash, humans delve into their shared origins and explore the enigmatic secrets of Skull Island.
