Like all the movies that are part of Legendary’s Monsterverse, the final chapter Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is loaded with references to Toho’s classic Godzilla movies. The fifth movie in the interconnected universe of planet-forming kaiju saw the two most famous monsters in movie history temporarily put aside their long-standing titan rivalry to take down a threat that would be too much for either to defeat on their own. The Monsterverse provided a good mix of original Titans and iconic creatures from Godzilla’s gallery of friends and foes, and Godzilla x Kong Features some of both.
The story that takes place in Godzilla x Kong Takes the Monsterverse, and the characters of Godzilla and Kong in general, to new fantastic heights. However, moving the franchise into new territory doesn’t mean the movie ignores the extensive history of the beloved monsters at its heart. In fact, some of the wildest moments in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Taking pages straight from past Godzilla movies.
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Mothra plays peacekeeper
Mothra has gotten Kaiju to work together before
Godzilla and Kong settle into an uneasy truce at the end of Godzilla vs. Kong After working together to take out Mechagodzilla, who (controlled by Ghidorah) would have killed them both if they hadn’t. Their rivalry as competing Alpha Titans is not resolved, however; Godzilla rules the surface world, while Kong roams the hollow earth. After his near fatal encounter with Scar King and Shimo, Kong sought Godzilla’s help, but needed Mothra to get involved To stop Godzilla from simply taking the fight to him. With her help, the three unite to take on the threat of Scar King.
Their bond is a direct reference to one of Godzilla’s earliest movies, and the first appearance of his archrival: 1964’s. Ghidorah, the three-headed monster. Upon Gidorah’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 Ghidorah and save humanity. Mothra is unsuccessful at first, but after seeing her take on the alien monster alone, they put aside their differences and team up to take down a greater threat.
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Kong’s electric punches
A clear callback to Kong’s first battle with Godzilla
In addition to healing the damage Kong suffered as a result of attempting to block Shimo’s Frostbite Blast, Monarch’s BEAST Glove gives Kong some extra juice behind his already powerful punches. At several points in his fights with Godzilla and Scar King, Kong is able to quickly add some electrical charge to his fist through the BEAST glove. It gives him the edge he needs to cause more damage or, as he does in his fight against Scar King in Rio, clear a building that was thrown at him.
Kong’s electric punches are a call back to his first battle against Godzilla in 1962 King Kong vs Godzilla. Not surprisingly, 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 gather energy from lightning strikes and hit Godzilla with super-charged punches (Although there is some debate as to who actually won the fight).
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Godzilla “borrows” a monster’s energy
Another monster supercharges Godzilla and changes his color
Godzilla killed Tiamat in Godzilla x Kong In order to make himself strong enough to take on the threat of Scar King and Shimo. He took over Tiamat’s lore and used it to essentially cocoon himself and evolve, Taking on some of Tiamat’s DNA and pink color in the process. Although Godzilla has received help from other kaiju many times in his 70-year history, his absorption of Tiamat’s color feels like a reference to a very specific instance.
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Key details |
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Budget |
Box Office gross |
RT tomatometer score |
RT popcornmeter score |
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$150 million |
$571.8 million |
54% |
90% |
In 1993 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla IIGodzilla 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, and It is his life force that not only restores Godzilla’s health, but powers him with a red-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 in Godzilla x Kong Definitely references the Rodan power-up.
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A titan under mind control
Aliens, mad scientists and subterranean civilizations often control monsters
In countless times in Toho’s Godzilla movies, monsters attack Godzilla or Japan itself under the control of outside forces. Some of Godzilla’s classic movies have monsters under the mind control of alienswith Godzilla: Final Wars Acting as the most relevant example. Monsters like Anguirus, Rodan and King Caesar, who were famous allies of Godzilla in their history, were controlled to destroy Japan and stop Godzilla, although Big G was completely unphased by any of them.
What makes Shimo such an interesting character in Godzilla x Kong Is the fact that she is not inherently “bad” like other evil and destructive titans. There is even enough evidence that Shimo was a Guardian Titan at one point in her history, as she was responsible for freezing Ghidorah in Antarctica. It is a direct parallel to the one-off monster Titanosaurus from 1975s Terror of MechagodzillaWhich is a docile dinosaur in sea dwelling that is controlled by mind in teaming up with Mechagodzilla to take on Godzilla.
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Titan Tornado Tag Team Match
Two-on-two monster mashes are a Showa signature
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Finally bringing the two-on-two tag team match to the Monsterverse, which is a classic setup from Godzilla’s Showa days. On multiple occasions, Godzilla requires 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 used twicein Godzilla vs Gigan (Godzilla and Anguirus vs. Gigan and King Ghidorah) and Godzilla vs Megalon (Godzilla and Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon and Gigan).
These two movies are among the silliest in the franchise, which is almost inevitable when tokusatsu Effects are used for monster tag team battles. Combo moves like Jet Jaguar holding Megalon back for Godzilla’s iconic drop kick are fun, but they’re inherently stupid in the grander scope of the Godzilla franchise. It is acceptable then, that Godzilla x Kong Reused the two-on-two formulaAs many feel that the franchise has almost gotten too far off the rails with the latest installment.
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Baby Kaiju to the Rescue
A mini-monster saving the day is nothing new
The climactic action of Godzilla x Kong Sees the tide turn once and for all when Suko destroys the crystal the Scar King uses to control Shimo. The idea of ​​a baby monster saving the day is used throughout Godzilla’s story, with one of the most famous examples being at the end of son of godzilla, during which Godzilla’s son Minilla comes to his aid against the arachnid kaiju Kumonga. The larvae of Mothra have also won the day on more than one occasion, so Suko being the difference-maker in the final battle is on par for a Godzilla movie.
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Mothra 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 in Godzilla vs. KongBut her role in the Monsterverse expands into Godzilla x Kong. It is revealed that she is able to communicate telepathically with Mothra, making her the new stand-in for the twin fairies who communicated with Mothra in the past, the Shobijin. Mothra has long been a defender of humanity, so with the Monsterverse iteration of the Queen of the Monsters have A telepathic link to a human is a near-essential callback to past Godzilla movies.
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Godzilla’s Icy Emergence
A throwback to one of Godzilla’s most iconic entrances
After hibernating in Tiamat’s lair, absorbing solar radiation and evolving, Godzilla emerged from the Arctic ice in the first appearance of the form known as “Evolved Godzilla” to fans of the Monsterverse. The entrance is another callback to King Kong vs GodzillaIn which Godzilla emerges from an iceberg; Godzilla is trapped in an avalanche in the late 1955s Godzilla raids again. The reemergence of the character of the iceberg in a brand new suit was the first time the appearance of Godzilla changed, so it is appropriate that the entrance is used again to introduce the audience to Godzilla with a new look.
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Kong’s Sea Serpent Clash
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 Scar King’s lair, Kong is led into a massive lake by Suko, only to be ambushed by a massive sea serpent titan known as the Drownviper. This is a sure reference to Kong’s history with sea monstersWhich is surprisingly deep. King Kong fought a giant snake in the original 1933 film and the 1976 iteration, and fought Oodako the giant octopus in King Kong vs Godzilla.
In the Monsterverse, the trend has continued. in Kong: Skull IslandKong fights the mere squid briefly before turning him into lunch. Although not sea creatures, the warbats that Kong fights in Godzilla vs. Kong are also snake-like in their appearance. The Drownviper of Godzilla x Kong Fits right in line with Kong’s past battlesAll of which are basically warm-ups for the actual battles of each movie.
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Godzilla’s (sort-of) spiral heat beam
The ultimate version of Godzilla’s Atomic Breath
Since he first used his atomic breath in 2014 Godzilla, The radioactive lizard is powered up multiple times. His atomic breath was stronger in Godzilla: King of the Monsters After he was juiced by the analog nook that Dr. Serizawa left in his lair, and seemed to become even stronger in Godzilla vs. KongAs it was more of a narrow laser beam as opposed to the more breath-like iterations previously seen in the Monsterverse.
While the original Heisei spiral heat beam 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 has changed in Godzilla x Kong When Godzilla got his power-up from Tiamat. His pink atomic breath is much more volatile and powerful in his battles against Kong, Scar King and Shimo, but it reaches a crescendo after Scar King’s death. Godzilla fired his atomic breath into the sky in an effort to dispel the damage the mind-controlled Shimo had done to the atmosphere, and in doing so Provides an updated version of the iconic spiral heat beam from the Heisei Era.
While the original Heisei spiral heat beam comes in a reddish orange form, the version that Godzilla fires into the sky is Pink at its core with its trademark blue atomic energy swirling around it. at the end of Godzilla: Final WarsBig G blasts Kaiser Ghidorah into outer space with the spiral heat ray, so that it is powerful enough to literally change the atmosphere is further evidence that the iteration of his atomic breath at the end of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is an updated spiral heat beam.