Like all films included in Legendary’s Monsterverse, the final chapter Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire filled with references to Toho’s classic Godzilla films. In the fifth film in the interconnected planet-shaping kaiju universe, two of the most famous monsters in cinema history have temporarily put aside their long-standing rivalry with the Titans to take down a threat that neither of them can defeat alone. The Monsterverse features a good mix of the original Titans and iconic creatures from Godzilla’s gallery of friends and foes, as well as Godzilla X Kong includes both.
The narrative that plays out in Godzilla X Kong takes the Monster Universe and the characters of Godzilla and Kong as a whole to new, fantastic heights. However, moving the franchise into new territory doesn’t mean the film inherently ignores the larger history of the beloved monsters. In fact, some of the wildest moments in Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire take a page straight out of past Godzilla films.
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Mothra plays peacemaker
Mothra has previously recruited Kaiju to work with her
Godzilla and Kong Forge an Uneasy Truce at the End Godzilla vs Kong after teaming up to destroy Mechagodzilla, who (controlled by Ghidorah) would have killed them both had they not done so. However, their rivalry as rival Alpha Titans was not resolved; Godzilla ruled the surface world while Kong roamed the Hollow Earth. After a near-death encounter with King Scar and Shimo. Kong turned to Godzilla for help, but he needed Mothra to intervene. to stop Godzilla from simply engaging him in battle. With her help, the three unite to face the threat of King Scar.
Their union is a direct reference to one of the earliest Godzilla films and the first appearance of his archrival: the 1964 film. Ghidorah, the three-headed monster. Upon Ghidorah’s arrival on Earth, Mothra calls on Godzilla and Rodan, who are fighting in the Japanese countryside, to work together to defeat Ghidorah. and save humanity. Mothra is initially unsuccessful, but after seeing her fight an alien monster alone, they put aside their differences and team up to take down the greater threat.
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Kong’s electric kicks
A clear throwback to Kong’s first battle with Godzilla
In addition to healing the damage Kong received from trying to block Shimo’s frostbite, Monarch’s BEAST Glove gives Kong an extra boost of energy after his already powerful strikes. At several points in his fights with both Godzilla and King Scar, Kong can quickly charge his fist with an electrical charge using the BEAST Glove.. This gives him the advantage he needs to deal more damage or, as he did in his battle against King Scar in Rio, obliterate a building thrown at him.
Kong’s electric attacks are a reference to his first battle against Godzilla in 1962. King Kong vs Godzilla. It’s no surprise that Kong was unable to withstand Godzilla’s atomic breath in their first few skirmishes. To even the odds, Kong gets a shocking power-up in the final battle: he is capable of harvesting energy from lightning strikes and defeating Godzilla with powerful blows. (although there is some debate about who actually won the fight).
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Godzilla ‘borrows’ the monster’s energy
Another monster powers up Godzilla and changes his color
Godzilla killed Tiamat Godzilla X Kong to gain strength to face the threat of King Scar 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. While Godzilla has been helped by other kaiju many times over his 70-year history, his absorption of Tiamat’s color seems to be a reference to one very specific incident.
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Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Key details |
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Budget |
Box office |
RT Tomatometer Evaluation |
RT Popcornmeter Score |
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$150 million |
$571.8 million |
54% |
90% |
In the 1993s Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla IIGodzilla fights Rodan early in the film and nearly kills him. However, in Godzilla’s final battle against SuperMechagodzilla, Godzilla himself is severely wounded. Rodan is knocked down by SuperMechagodzilla, and it is his life force that not only restores Godzilla’s health, but also gives him a reddish-orange, heightened version of his atomic breath.: A spiral heat ray that he uses to destroy Super Mechagodzilla. Godzilla’s Super Powerful Pink Atomic Energy Godzilla X Kong definitely references Rodan’s strengthening.
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Titan under mind control
Aliens, mad scientists and underground civilizations usually control monsters
On countless occasions in Toho’s Godzilla films, monsters attack either Godzilla or Japan itself, which is under the control of outside forces. Several classic Godzilla films feature monsters under the control of aliens.With Godzilla: Final Wars serving as the most significant example. Monsters such as Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar, who were famous allies of Godzilla in his history, were mind controlled to destroy Japan and stop Godzilla, although none of them faltered the Big G.
What makes Simo such an interesting character in Godzilla X Kong is that she is not inherently as “bad” as the other villainous and destructive Titans. There is even enough evidence that Shimo was a Guardian Titan at some point in her history, as she was responsible for freezing Ghidorah in Antarctica. This is a direct parallel to the unique Titanosaurus monster from the 1975s. Terror of Mechagodzillaa docile mind-controlled sea dinosaur who teamed up with Mechagodzilla to fight Godzilla.
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Titan Tornado Tag Team Match
Monster puree “two by two” is Showa’s calling card
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire The Monsterverse finally has a two-on-two tag team match that is a classic setup from the Showa Godzilla era. Godzilla repeatedly needed a partner to defeat either one powerful foe or a pair of monsters bent on destruction. By the end of the Showa era, the two-by-two formula was used twice.V 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 films are some of the silliest in the franchise, which is almost inevitable when tokusatsu effects are used for team battles with monster tags. Combo moves like Jet Jaguar holding off Megalon for Godzilla’s iconic kick are fun, but they’re inherently stupid in the larger scope of the Godzilla franchise. Then it is appropriate that Godzilla X Kong reused the two by two formulaas many feel that the franchise almost went 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.
Climactic Battle Godzilla X Kong sees the situation change once and for all when Suko destroys the crystal that the Scar King is using to control Simo. The idea of a little monster saving the world was used in the Godzilla story, with one of the most famous examples occurring at the end Son of Godzilla during which Godzilla’s son Minilla comes to his aid against the arachnid kaiju Kumonga.. Mothra’s larva has also been victorious on more than one occasion, so Suko’s pivotal role in the final battle is fitting for a Godzilla film.
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Mothra-Mind Reading
Telepathic communication with Mothra is part of her knowledge
Kaylee Hottle’s character Jia has acted as a translator between Kong and Monarch since she was first introduced in Godzilla vs Kongbut her role in the Monsterverse is expanding Godzilla X Kong. She is revealed to be able to telepathically communicate with Mothra, making her the new replacement for the twin fairies who communicated with Mothra in the past, the Shobijin. Mothra has long been a protector of humanity, so having a version of the Queen of the Monsters from the Monsterverse telepathic communication with a person is an almost essential callback to past Godzilla films..
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Godzilla’s icy appearance
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 form known to Monsterverse fans as “Evolved Godzilla.” Login is another callback King Kong vs Godzillain which Godzilla emerges from an iceberg; Godzilla was caught in an avalanche in late 1955. Godzilla raids again. The Iceberg character’s revival in a brand new costume was the first time Godzilla’s appearance was changed, so it’s only fitting that the entrance is used again to introduce audiences to a new look for Godzilla.
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Kong’s fight with the sea serpent
Kong has a long history with sea monsters
Technically it’s not a classic Godzilla reference, it’s a classic Kong reference, but the concept is the same. On the way to King Scar’s lair, Suko leads Kong into a huge lake, but is ambushed by a massive sea serpent Titan known as the Drowned Serpent. This is a true reference to Kong’s history with sea monsters.which is surprisingly deep. King Kong fought a giant snake in the original 1933 film and its 1976 version, and also fought the giant octopus Oodako in King Kong vs Godzilla.
The trend continued in the Monsterverse. IN Kong: Skull IslandKong briefly fights a swamp squid before turning it into lunch. Although not sea creatures, they are fighting bats in which Kong fights. Godzilla vs Kong also similar to snakes in appearance. Snake drone from Godzilla X Kong completely consistent with Kong’s past battlesthe whole thing was essentially a warm-up for the real battles of each film.
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(Something like) Godzilla’s Spiral Heat Ray
An improved version of Godzilla’s atomic breath
Since he first used atomic breath in 2014. Godzilla, radioactive lizard was turned on several times. His atomic breath became stronger in Godzilla: King of the Monsters after he was drugged by an analogue nuclear bomb that Dr. Serizawa detonated 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 Ray has a reddish-orange shape, the version Godzilla fires into the sky has a pink base with his signature blue atomic energy swirling around him.
The game has been changed to Godzilla X Kong when Godzilla received a boost from Tiamat. His pink atomic breath is much more unstable and powerful in his battles against Kong, King Scar and Shimo, but it reaches its peak after King Scar’s death. Godzilla fires his atomic breath into the sky, attempting to dispel the damage that the mind-controlled Shimo had caused to the atmosphere, while is an updated version of the iconic Heisei-era spiral heat ray..
While the original Heisei Spiral Heat Ray has a reddish-orange shape, the version in which Godzilla shoots into the sky is pink at its core, with his signature blue atomic energy swirling around it.. At the end Godzilla: Final WarsBig G blasts Kaiser Ghidorah into space with a spiraling heat ray, so the fact that it’s powerful enough to literally change the atmosphere is further evidence that the repetition of his atomic breath at the end Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is an updated spiral heat beam.