History Film / GodzillaVsKong

!!''Godzilla vs. Kong'' contains examples of:

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* AcidTripDimension: When the [=HEAVs=] pass through the barrier between the surface world and the Hollow Earth, they face a bizarre and mesmerizing void of colour straight out of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** Kong is now fully grown and just as big as Godzilla, making him the largest version of the character in cinematic history. Not only that, but the final battle in Hong Kong shows he's every bit as fast and cunning as any other version of the character, making him a serious threat to even Godzilla - the world's undisputed Alpha Titan, who got there by incinerating the nigh-unstoppable Ghidorah.
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla, though still possessing a powerful arsenal to aid him in defeating Godzilla, trades a lot of the flashy weapons of previous incarnations for increased durability to up-close-and-personal attacks, and he furthermore has a ''much'' more powerful Proton Scream and is ''much'' larger than any of the previous live-action incarnations.]]
* AdaptationalDumbass:
** Mark Russell and Director Guillerman have a moment of this in the film's novelization, where they both wonder aloud whether they should be rooting for Godzilla or Mechagodzilla just ''after'' the Mecha's emergence has confirmed to them that [[spoiler:Apex are indeed responsible for provoking Godzilla's rampage entirely]] and just '''after''' they've watched the Mecha [[spoiler:raze a good chunk of Hong Kong to nothing ForTheEvulz]].
** Furthermore, the novelization outright confirms several aspects of Mark's parenting style since gaining custody of Madison which are somewhat lacking, all of which were only implied in the finished film. His treatment of Madison like she's {{just a kid}} and like she's [[UnderestimatingBadassery far stupider and more helpless than she is]] is ''not'' something that solely started with Godzilla's present attack causing Mark to doubt the latter; it's a result of Mark [[SelfServingMemory wilfully forgetting]] that Madison performed some of the gutsiest acts of heroism in the previous movie in favor of lying to himself that she's a fragile, naïve and obedient offspring [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent whom he'd much rather have to deal with]], despite all blatant evidence that Madison is anything but those things. The novel shows that Mark wants to mend his relationship with Madison after being absent for years, yet he's oblivious to the fact that [[MyBelovedSmother treating a teenager like Madison in such a way as this]] is completely counter-productive to those aims and is likely to drive her away from him again. It's furthermore confirmed that Mark enrolling Madison in a public school without thinking this course through has made Madison [[AllTheOtherReindeer a social pariah]] in her new educational setting (one of the most challenging settings that a kid will ever face in their upbringing no less), yet Mark obstinately refuses to listen to Madison's complaints that run counter to his own wants and refuses to acknowledge that he's creating more problems than solutions for her.
* AdaptationalExpansion: Similar to prior entries in the Monsterverse, there is a novelization which has more content than the film, although less than before. Most notably, there are many prologue scenes setting up the main story which are completely absent in the movie, and there are more internal monologues and longer dialogue scenes between the human characters.
** In the film, there's absolutely no mention of Alan Jonah's fate nor how the skull of Ghidorah's surviving head that Jonah obtained has wound up [[spoiler:in the possession of Apex Cybernetics]]. The novelization features a prologue scene where a man who's all but stated to be Jonah [[spoiler:meets with Walter Simmons after contacting him and sells him two of Ghidorah's skulls, although Jonah's reasons for doing so (when Apex's agenda is diametrically opposed to his) remain uncertain]].
** In the film, there's just a freaky CoolGate in the Vile Vortex leading to the Hollow Earth that had no foreshadowing or explanation beyond the characters' exposition about the Hollow Earth's gravity inversion. The novelization describes the Cool Gate as an electrostatic-gravitational membrane in the Earth's mantle that essentially separates the Earth's surface world and the HollowWorld.
** One plot-point this film and ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' have never addressed is how passages to the Hollow Earth can remain solid and fixed with the plastic-like molten state of the Earth's mantle. A reporter asks Nathan about this in the novel before David Lind's fateful mission, and Nathan replies that it has to do with the electrostatic-gravitational membrane.
** A prologue scene shows how and when Kong saved Jia's life during Skull Island's destruction.
** In the film, it's unexplained why Jia was out and unsupervised inside Kong's bio-dome and able to approach him, especially considering that Dr. Andrews is wary of her getting too close to Kong on her own on the Navy carrier later in the film. The novelization reveals Jia basically snuck out while Andrews was still asleep.
** The film implies that Kong learned sign language from Jia, but the novelization states that he picked up on American Sign Language from Andrews spending years trying (seemingly without success) to teach it to him.
** The novelization explains that jets didn't move to try and deter Godzilla during his attack on Pensacola until he'd already made destructive landfall because Monarch were tracking him but were skeptical that he'd come ashore (let alone rampage through a population center with no other Titan in sight) until it was quite late.
** The novelization makes Mark Russell's assumption that Godzilla has made a FaceHeelTurn seem a lot less purely-biased and idiotic. He's been grimly wondering since the events of ''King of the Monsters'' if Godzilla, true to his status as a guardian of the Earth's natural balance if not the individuals on it, will one day start attacking humanity, who have been reverting to their old exploitative ways since the Titans returned to hibernation.
** In the film, Andrews seems just as uncaring as Nathan about the question of ''why'' Godzilla is uncharacteristically attacking now when she joins the mission to bring Kong to the Hollow Earth. In the novelization, she assumes that Godzilla's new apparent hostility is caused by him sensing Kong as a new rival to his dominance.
** It seems odd in the film that Mark doesn't notice sooner that Madison has left home and gone missing for what's implied to be at least 24 hours. The novelization explains it's partly because he was called away by Director Guillerman to assist him in dealing with Godzilla's rampage and investigating Apex.
** The novelization provides some explanation of why MugglesDoItBetter has started creeping in and everything seems more hi-tech than before. In the previous films, humans were overconfident that they could contain the Titans if they tried and they underestimated the Titans' AdaptiveAbility in the face of their anti-Titan measures, but the events of ''King of the Monsters'' were humbling for the whole world in those respects.
** The novel explains the science of how Monarch knock out Kong so they can transport him off Skull Island, and it reveals that Packard's success at briefly downing Kong with napalm in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' was the foundation of this discovery. It also confirms that Monarch used this to knock Kong out before the events of the film, in order to get him inside the bio-dome when they were building it around him.
** It's noted in the film that the Navy fleet transporting Kong have been steering clear of all of Godzilla's charted territorial routes, but he's found them anyway. The novelization indicates that the cause of Godzilla's rampage has aggravated and distressed Godzilla to the point that he's changed his routes.
** The novelization briefly addresses the question of how the Skullcrawlers can ever find time to reproduce when they're essentially just eating machines driven by HorrorHunger. Apparently, there have been some studies which indicate it often ends up being ConceiveAndKill for the copulating male.
** Nathan provides a complex explanation of why they have to find a specific focal point in the Hollow Earth's energy mineral (which turns out to be in [[spoiler:the temple made by Kong's ancestors]]) to harvest and analyze it successfully, and they can't just use any of the deposits that are visible on the mountain earlier in the film.
** While the film confirms that Godzilla is rampaging because [[spoiler:he's aware of Mechagodzilla and, more specifically, he's implicitly aware of the still partly-alive remains of Ghidorah being incorporated into it]], it's never quite explained ''how'' he knows considering the state that [[spoiler:Ghidorah's remains]] are in. The novelization confirms that every time Mechagodzilla or its parts are activated, [[spoiler:the Ghidorah remains send out a corrupted version of Ghidorah's bio-acoustics which Godzilla picks up on]].
** The novelization also goes into more detail on what's [[spoiler:controlling Mechagodzilla (even if it remains a bit murky). Rather than the active sentience of Ghidorah, it seems to be a FusionDance; Ghidorah's [[GeneticMemory instinctual rage and hate]] for ''everything'' coming together with Ren Serizawa's desire for supremacy over Godzilla and Titankind through the Mecha's AI to create an entirely new consciousness]].
* AdaptationalMundanity: It's more subtle, but Apex Cybernetics seem to continue ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'''s tradition of adapting the old ''Godzilla'' continuities' HumanAliens who attempt to control the Kaiju (including [[spoiler:their own creation Mechagodzilla and/or Ghidorah]]) so that they're humans trying to control forces they don't understand and often suffering the consequences.
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** PlayedWith in regards to Mechagodzilla.
*** Previous incarnations of the character varied from alien superweapons meant for taking over Earth to a more genuinely good-intentioned, manmade effort to defend the world against Godzilla. This film's version of Mechagodzilla is built by an [[EvilInc evil corporation]] led by a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist, with the aim of murdering a fairly heroic iteration of Godzilla and [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans ushering in a corporate dystopia]].
*** Almost every Mechagodzilla iteration except for Kiryu was, on its own, a mindless piece of technology that was only as evil as its pilot – even Kiryu, which was possessed by the original Godzilla's soul, acted heroically in the end. This film's version, [[spoiler:which is possessed by ''[[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]]'s'' consciousness,]] is completely {{sadist}}ic, [[spoiler:genocidal, and an unrepentant threat to the world all the way to its destruction]].
** {{Downplayed}} in the official {{novelization}}, with its expansion confirming many vile things about [[BigBadWannabe Walter Simmons]] which the film only implied or hinted at. It's made explicit here that Simmons picked Hong Kong, one of the most densely-populated cities on Earth, as the site of his plan's fruition because he ''wants'' Godzilla to level such a city; [[EngineeredHeroics just to make Simmons look good]] [[spoiler:once he tries to kill Godzilla]]. Simmons is also [[AbusiveDad constantly testing and pushing Maia]] to make sure that she's worthy to inherit his corporate empire, [[spoiler:and Bernie believes that Simmons [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident arranged the suspiciously-timed car collision]] which killed Bernie's wife a few days after she [[SheKnowsTooMuch got dangerously close to finding out about Apex's true agenda]]]].
* AdaptationAmalgamation: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla takes from the various versions of a few characters throughout the eras: like the Showa version it's evil and alien (thanks to being built from the remains of Ghidorah), like the Heisei version Ghidorah plays a crucial role in its construction (the Heisei version was essentially reverse-engineered from Mecha-King Ghidorah, this version requires Ghidorah's neural network and telepathy to function), like the Millennium version it's built on the remains of another kaiju (the original Godzilla there, Ghidorah here) which causes its builders to lose control of it, and like the Heisei and Millennium versions it's built by humanity to protect themselves from Godzilla. ]]
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: In the film, [[spoiler:only one Ghidorah skull is shown or explicitly referenced onscreen, presumably that of San/Kevin's decapitated head from TheStinger of the previous film. The only reference to a second skull is when Bernie speculates while expositing that "there's one here and another inside of [Mechagodzilla]" to act as Mechagodzilla's ElectronicTelepathy receiver]]. The novelization however [[spoiler:explicitly states that there was a second Ghidorah skull inside Mechagodzilla rather than just another piece of San/Kevin's DNA, and Walter Simmons' reaction to being offered the two skulls by Jonah in the novel implies there was supposed to be three intact Ghidorah skulls in the world. Which seems like an especially glaring ContinuitySnarl when considering how Godzilla vaporized all three of Ghidorah's non-severed heads in both the previous film and its novelization. While it's not impossible to explain the second Ghidorah skull's existence away via speculation and fan theory, the novelization nevertheless doesn't provide so much as a hint of an explanation for the inconsistency]].
* AdvertisedExtra:
** A giant Skullcrawler resembling Ramarak but with distinct red coloration was featured quite prominently in promotional material and even got an action figure -- [[spoiler:said Skullcrawler gets about 30 seconds of screentime as cannon fodder for Mechagodzilla]].
** Mark Russell and Ren Serizawa both respectively got attention drawn to them in the trailers implying they would both at least be relevant supporting characters, but Ren's role is essentially an EliteMook and Mark has only a few scenes and minimal relevance in the film proper.
* AesopAmnesia:
** In the novelization, at least. In [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the previous movie]], it was hinted that Monarch's withholding much of their information on the Titans was part of what made the public and government so distrustful of them before the Oxygen Destroyer was launched, and at the movie's end after the Titans' global rampage, Monarch have decided to open their secret files to the public. It's hinted in this movie, and outright confirmed in its official novelization, that Monarch have been keeping their discovery of the HollowEarth in the previous movie secret from the public, which presents a SeriesContinuityError for the film version due to a public article in the previous movie's CreativeClosingCredits discussing the Titans and Hollow Earth as if it's now public knowledge that the latter is real.
** Speaking of the above, the novelization also hints that civilization at large is being hit with this in the five years since the ending of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. The previous movie's CreativeClosingCredits indicated that humanity was now on its way to finding peaceful and more eco-friendly ways to thrive off of the Titans' presence; but in this story, humanity have apparently been resetting back to their old, ecologically-damaging and unsustainable ways after the Titans have returned to hibernation. Nevermind how Godzilla is EasilyCondemned by the world following his Pensacola attack, despite the heroic reputation his actions in the previous film earned him.
** It's also shown in this movie that although Mark Russell no longer wants [[TragicBigot the Titans killed over his son's death]], his BreakTheHaughty in the previous movie otherwise didn't last and he didn't internalize ''any'' of his other lessons (or if he did internalize them, he did so [[MyBelovedSmother in the worst way]]): he's still just as obstinate, argumentative, [[HotBlooded over-emotional]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe prone to wallowing in sorrow for himself over sparing a serious thought for his loved ones' feelings]] as he's ever been. Mark's CharacterDevelopment from the previous movie even seems to ''backtrack'' in response to Godzilla's Pensacola attack, as he jumps to a ''ridiculously''-contrived assumption that Godzilla has gone bad for no reason which is based purely on [[YouRemindMeOfX Mark's own projection of Emma's betrayal]].
* AlienBlood: The blood of the Warbats and Skullcrawlers is a sludgy-looking yellow-green. [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla also bleeds a black, oil-like MachineBlood as Kong hacks off his limbs with his supercharged axe.]]
* AlienSky: The Hollow Earth, being what it is, is essentially two rocky floors/ceilings which are far apart except in places with high mountainous terrain (where the shifting gravity can allow the inhabitants to switch from walking on one floor/ceiling to another) and which act as skies to one-another. On low-terrain, it looks like there's a distant rocky "ceiling" above the clouds, giving the Hollow Earth quite an AcidTripDimension feeling.
* AllThereInTheManual: Some side material answers questions. One of the big ones is what happened to all the Titans that woke up in ''King of the Monsters''. Godzilla had them go back into hibernation shortly after the events of ''King of the Monsters''.
* AmbiguousSituation:
** Precisely [[spoiler:how much of Ghidorah's consciousness there is left in the skull when it hijacks the psionic uplink to make Mechagodzilla begin to KillAllHumans independently of a human pilot, and whether or not it's solely San/Kevin's consciousness in the severed skull. See [[YMMV/GodzillaVsKong Alternative Character Interpretation]] for details]].
** Also, [[spoiler:it's ambiguous whether Ghidorah's consciousness was only awoken when Mechagodzilla was empowered with the untested Hollow Earth energy, or was active the entire time and waiting for its new body to fully come to life. On one hand, he only goes rogue at the end after the Hollow Earth energy is sent into Mechagodzilla, on the other rather than Godzilla just being able to sense Mechagodzilla whenever it's active, both times he senses it is preceded by Mechagodzilla's eye actively emitting an ORCA like tone, implying it's actively ''signaling'' him without any input from Apex, with both times being when Mechagodzilla ''should'' be inactive (the novelization also reveals this signal is a mechanical recreation of Ghidorah's Alpha Call)]]. The novelization provides hints to support both possibilities.
** It's unclear [[spoiler:if Godzilla actually intended to attack Kong after the carrier fight (which the humans intentionally made look like Kong and them had surrendered) or if he just attacked the source of the energy he sensed which just happened to be Kong. Adding to the latter possibility, when Kong climbs up, Godzilla was simply heading off to continue his pursuit of Ghidorah and Kong was the one who challenged him.]]
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The official ''Japanese'' poster for the film always portray Godzilla and Kong engaging each other while the American poster will have Kong and Godzilla stare each other down.
* AmmoUsingMeleeWeapon: Kong's axe needs to charged up with nuclear energy in order to function at full strength (signified by [[PowerGlows how much it glows]]). Without a charge, it's only able to [[spoiler:dent Mechagodzilla a little, but once infused with Godzilla's atomic breath, it [[AbsurdCuttingPower chops through the robot like a knife through warm butter]].]]
* AncestralWeapon: Kong's battle-axe is a relic from an ancient war between his species and Godzilla's, [[spoiler:and was recovered in a mountain-fortress deep within the Hollow Earth, lodged in the neck of a truly titanic skeleton of Godzilla's species]].
* ApocalypseNot: Big time. [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 The previous film]] saw over a dozen Titans wreck cities and cause a NaturalDisasterCascade worldwide before Godzilla got them to calm down, with at least two major American cities thoroughly annihilated by King Ghidorah, and the film clearly portrayed the conclusion of these events as NothingIsTheSameAnymore / the DawnOfAnEra for a new world. Come this film, and very few of the previous film's events seem to have had any lasting impact: the awakened Titans [[PutOnABus went back into hibernation inbetween films]] instead of cohabiting the Earth with humanity, and we don't see or hear much of anything of the socio-political, territorial and environmental ramifications of the Titans' global rampage except that America looks like it's fully recovered in just five years. The novelization makes it explicit that for better or worse, things have just gone back to the way they were after the Titans returned to hibernation. If you expected this film to be the [=MonsterVerse's=] ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'' on the creature front, prepare to be disappointed.
* ArbitrarySkepticism:
** For some reason, Lind's theory that Titans originate from the Hollow Earth is seen as fanciful in-universe despite the fact the existence of the Hollow Earth was already seen firsthand in the last film.
** The novelization states that Mark is still unconvinced that Ghidorah is really an alien, despite the fact he lives in a world where there's a ''giant pterosaur with literal magma for blood who can sleep comfortably inside active volcanoes' magma chambers''.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:How Kong finishes off Mechagodzilla, after Godzilla supercharges Kong's axe with his atomic breath, allowing him to slice Mechagodzilla apart piece by piece.]]
* ArtifactOfDoom:
** Apex Cybernetics, with their hubris and conceit in their beliefs that their technology can do anything, never should have messed with the organic component of their SecretWeapon[='s=] piloting system in the way that they did. [[spoiler:Although Ghidorah's remaining decapitated head has decomposed to just a motionless skull, it still retains some of Ghidorah's cognitive functions. Apex, having obtained the skull from [[MisanthropeSupreme Alan Jonah]] (the novelization reveals Jonah voluntarily sold it to them), harness the skull's lingering {{telepathy}} to form a BrainComputerInterface for controlling Mechagodzilla; but once the GreenRocks are infused into Mechagodzilla, Ghidorah's lingering consciousness in the skull overtakes the system and merges with the Mecha's A.I. to turn it into an autonomous RoboticPsychopath. Furthermore, it's [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguous]] how aware the consciousness in the skull is of what's happening around it before it possesses Mechagodzilla, but both versions of the story drop some hints that it might have been cognizant the entire time, and the novelization hints that it might have been [[SanitySlippage messing with Ren's brain when he connected with it]] in such a way that spurred Ren on to empower Mechagodzilla and unwittingly give Ghidorah a new {{reincarnation}}]].
** ZigZagged with the Hollow Earth's GreenRocks. On one hand, the mineral acts as the Hollow Earth's sun, nourishing the proliferation of life there, and it's apparently also the source of [[HeroWithBadPublicity Godzilla]]'s atomic powers. On the other hand, when [[EvilInc Apex]] mine and synthesize the mineral so they can use it as an energy source for their tech, Dr. Andrews protests that they can't just strip it like that (the novelization notes this is because she fears they underestimated what they were planning to tamper with), and she's proven right, as the consequences of Apex's actions are ''horrifying''. [[spoiler:Apex using the synthesized mineral as a power source [[UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway without first conducting any testing]] in order to power [[HumongousMecha Mechagodzilla]], which is connected to [[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]]'s [[UndeadAbomination telepathic skull]], leads to Ghidorah's subconsciousness jumping into the fully-charged machine and merging with its A.I.; resulting in an autonomous and completely-malevolent Godzilla-level RoboticPsychopath]].
* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: The gigantic bio-dome containing Kong and a chunk of Skull Island's ecosystem has a fake sky screened across its entire inner-surface which consists of a hive of screens. When we see it, it's projecting a peaceful, sunlit sky which stands in ''stark'' contrast to the mighty PerpetualStorm that's engulfed the island outside the dome. Kong isn't fooled by the AOD in the slightest, in fact he makes his DomedHometown frustrations known by hurling tree-made spears at the artificial sky and breaking holes in it.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
** We see a ship that looks like a Ticonderoga-class cruiser. It's got the hull number 85, which doesn't exist, but that's more acceptable than later when we see the surface combat ships engage Godzilla. The cruiser looks like it has three-gun turrets styled after World War 2 Iowa-class battleships, particularly when Godzilla bulldozes it in half with the overhead shot showing two superfiring turrets. In reality, Ticonderogas have single-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The opening credits in a FreezeFrameBonus moment have a line saying the military increased its spending to deal with Titans, although that's still highly questionable. It also shows RAM launchers firing rapidly, much more than they're capable of.
** It's also highly unlikely those two cruisers would pull up alongside the carrier and start unloading, given the risk to the crew still aboard the carrier.
** On closer inspection, the warships with the battleship styled turrets have the distinct superstructure of the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, while the hull heavily resembles the far more older Iowa class battleship, all of which were decommissioned throughout the 1990's.
** In a sort of blink-and-you-miss-it moment, an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate can be seen as part of the fleet transporting Kong to Antartica, and was one of the two ships that was cut in half by Godzilla's tail. These ships served with the US Navy from the late 1970s up until 2015 in our own reality, however considering the fact that the existence of Titans was revealed to the Monsterverse's Earth in 2014 during the MUTO attacks, it would have made sense that the US Navy decided to keep older ships in active service in face of the new Titan threat.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
** The opening credits give us numbers for Godzilla: he's 393 feet tall and weighs 164,000 tons. A Nimitz-class carrier weighs at most 117,000 tons. Godzilla alone outweighs the carrier. The carrier should have immediately capsized the moment Godzilla tried to climb on to fight Kong.
** In general, the effect of the monsters on terrain or buildings is what the choreography demands.
** Averted in at least one instance. According to [[https://youtu.be/k_LjfwrMr9I Admiral Jamie Foggo III (retired)]], an American aircraft carrier displacing 90,000-117,000 tons is perfectly capable of supporting the weight of Kong, who weights around 50,000 tons.
* AscendedFridgeHorror: The end of the previous movie left a lot of viewers speculating that Ghidorah's leftover decapitated head was [[NotQuiteDead still alive]] and the hydra wasn't done with the world, since Ghidorah demonstrated during that movie that its body can rapidly regrow lost heads from the neck stumps entirely. [[spoiler:This movie confirms that the severed head ''is'' still partly alive and capable of cognition, and that it ''can'' enable Ghidorah to come back [[MechanicalAbomination in some form]], though not [[HealingFactor in the way that most]] [[FromASingleCell viewers thought it would]]]].
* AscendedMeme: Fans took to calling the way Godzilla killed the Female Muto in ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' -- forcing her mouth open and firing his Atomic Breath down her throat -- the "Kiss of Death". The opening credits use that exact term when covering Godzilla's various victories.
* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Bernie Hayes tries this when Madison Russell and Josh Valentine visit his home, putting on an awful attempt at an Asian accent and saying that he's seen their faces and will contact the authorities. Madison points out that he doesn't trust the authorities, then gives her name, knowing he'll recognize it and let them in.
* AttackTheMouth: Kong's primary strategy during both his fights with Godzilla, both on the boat and in Hong Kong so as to avoid a blast of blue plasma. On the boat, Kong's first move was punching Godzilla right in the face. In Hong Kong, Kong puts Godzilla in a headlock and shoves his axe into his mouth.
* AttackTheInjury: Pinned by Godzilla's foot on his chest, Kong punches Godzilla in the axe wound on his leg. It hurts Godzilla but also prompts the Big G into stomping on Kong's chest even harder in retaliation.
* AwesomeButImpractical: [[spoiler:Apex has made Mechagodzilla, a mechanical Titan stronger than Godzilla... and there doesn't exist a conventional power source that can run it. At best, Mechagodzilla can only be active for around a minute before shutting down, and that's when operating at only 40%. Thus Apex's entire reason for getting Kong off Skull Island is to find something that can actually ''power'' it. And all this is before it turns out the kaiju they chose to act as the operating system is still in there and the moment they ''do'' have the necessary power source, King Ghidorah takes over.]]
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:In the Hollow Earth, Kong sitting a massive stone structure resembling a throne, his new axe held like a regal scepter (or [[BarbarianHero barbarian king's]] weapon) is framed to evoke this trope, as Kong claims the right to be called ''King'' Kong.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:PlayedWith. It's revealed that Ghidorah's skull (which is acting as the central hub for Mechagodzilla's neural pathways) isn't completely dead and retains something of King Ghidorah's consciousness. This becomes a clear problem when Mechagodzilla being fully charged enables Ghidorah's influence to take over the Mecha, making it kill its creators and actively begin to seek the deaths of Godzilla and all humans in sight.]]
* BadassAndChildDuo: Kong has taken in the [[LastOfHerKind last]], [[ParentalAbandonment orphaned]] Iwi Jia under his personal guard since the rest of her tribe perished amid Skull Island's destruction. The gigantic King of the Primates (who has also now lost his homeland just as much as Jia has lost her people) is fiercely and directly protective of Jia, [[spoiler:and he can mutually communicate with her through sign language, though he at first actively hides the latter from other humans out of distrust]]. Jia meanwhile is a young girl who trusts and believes in Kong unconditionally, and accompanies him wherever he goes throughout the film. A well-meaning Nathan thinks Jia can manipulate Kong to Team Kong's agenda once the extent of her bond with the primate is revealed.
* BatOutOfHell: The Hellhawks, which resemble a cross between a bird-of-prey and a bat. Averted with the Warbats, who despite their name are actually flying ''snakes''.
* BashBrothers: [[spoiler:Godzilla and Kong when they finally work together to fight Mechagodzilla, after Jia convinces Kong that Godzilla is not the enemy. Godzilla seems to realize the alliance as well: empowering Kong's axe to allow him to defeat Mechagodzilla, and having no further animosity with him afterwards and departing peacefully.]]
* BeamSpam: Godzilla is much more willing to use his atomic breath than previously, firing it multiple times in each fight. [[spoiler:This ends up working against him, however, because overusing his energy with his breath tires him out and allows Kong to get many advantages in their fight by using his axe to absorb his breath and redirect.]]
* BeamOWar: [[spoiler: One happens in the climax between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla, between their respective blue and red atomic beams. It's Mechagodzilla's beam who ends up overpowering his opponent's breath.]]
* BeardOfEvil: Both the male Apex conspirators (billionaire CorruptCorporateExecutive Walter Simmons and the Serizawa lineage's BlackSheep Ren) have trimmed goatees, and underneath their pretensions that they want to help Monarch save the world, they're really the BigBadWannabe and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] respectively whom in any lifelike setting would be charged with crimes against humanity once their actions were exposed.
* TheBeautifulElite: Walter Simmons and his daughter Maia are a billionaire CEO and heiress respectively, and both are definite cases of Evil Is Sexy with the trendy attire to complete it (justified in Simmons' case by the fact he's a boundless {{narcissist}}). However, only the elder Simmons displays the proper sophistication of this trope, whereas Maia is a smug RichBitch with the bare minimum in any kind of charisma.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** It's hinted in the movie and confirmed by the novelization that Madison is miserable in public school, and would much rather return to being mentored among Monarch if her father would stop being unmovingly stubborn and put her viewpoint before his own. Ironically, ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' supplementary material indicates that when she was in her mother's custody, [[IJustWantToBeNormal she just wanted to be a normal kid]].
** Ren Serizawa gets this in the novelization. Here, he's portrayed as wanting to find a permanent power source for Mechagodzilla so that he can feel like a god through the uplink to the Mecha indefinitely -- he only gets his wish through [[spoiler:his consciousness getting absorbed into the machine and suffering a MindReformatDeath]].
* BehemothBattle: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Just look at the title]]. The two clash on both water (as Godzilla ambushes the fleet transporting Kong) and land, absolutely wrecking Hong Kong. Kong also battles two Warbats, flying snake-like Titans [[spoiler:in the Hollow Earth]]. [[spoiler:And then there's the two of them tag-teaming Mechagodzilla.]]
* BeneathTheEarth: We finally see the Hollow Earth -- a subterranean ecosystem where the Titans have been capable of thriving, and which has previously been discussed in ''Kong: Skull Island'' and briefly glimpsed in ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. It's an incredible, gravity-defying ecosystem for the Titans, capped with the temple of [[spoiler:the Kongs]]. [[spoiler:After the defeat of Mechagodzilla, Kong becomes its king]].
* BewareMyStingerTail: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla has a tail-blade that rotates like a drill and is used against Kong.]]
* BigBad: While Godzilla appears to be the main threat after going rogue, [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla (which is Ghidorah in spirit) turns out to be the true antagonist with the entire plot revolving around it in some way on all sides.]]
* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Walter thinks he's the one in charge, Mechagodzilla is his tool to retake the world from the Titans, and he will usher in a new era for humanity...unfortunately, he used ''King Ghidorah'' to build Mechagodzilla, who disposes of him the nanosecond Mechagodzilla is completed. While ambiguous, both times Mechagodzilla gets Godzilla's attention, it's independent of Apex and shown with Mechagodzilla's eye glowing on its own with the same sound, implying Ghidorah may have been the one pulling the strings from the beginning.]] The novelization takes it a step further: [[spoiler:Walter is Ren's UnwittingPawn, as Ren intends to essentially become an artificial god through Mechagodzilla and had every intent to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill him once he had]], making Ren closer to the BigBad than Walter is. Both just lose out to Ghidorah in the end.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: In the final battle, [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is inches away from delivering an ironic Kiss of Death to finish off Godzilla... but at the last moment Kong jumps in, yanking Mechagodzilla head upward and redirecting his beam into the sky.]]
* BigRedButton: In the novelization, the [=HEAV's=] ignition button is one. And Nathan humorously needs help to find it. Despite it saying "Ignition".
* BitchSlap: Downplayed. After Kong punches him in the face, Godzilla, while staggered, recovers and gives the ape a taste of his own medicine in the form of a giant swipe that sends Kong tumbling backwards during their fight on the aircraft carrier.[[note]][[JustifiedTrope Godzilla is a lot heavier and his tail allows him to maintain balance, and their shared weight causes the carrier to go up and down, much to Kong's detriment]].[[/note]] [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla gives an even stronger one to Godzilla by hitting his gills, throwing Godzilla around like a ragdoll with each hit.]]
* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The Warbats are giant cobra-like snakes that can fly by using their oversized hoods as wings.
* BlackAndNerdy: The Creator/BrianTyreeHenry-portrayed Bernie is a zany, exposition-spouting {{conspiracy theorist}} podcaster who seems like a loon at first glance, isn't very popular with other people besides Team Godzilla, and is smart enough to get closer than anyone else to discovering Apex's secret ''before'' he hooks up with Madison and Josh. Early in the movie, Dr. Andrews talks to a black, spectacles-wearing Monarch operative named Ben who is smart enough to observe that the bio-dome can't house Kong for much longer.
* BlackBox: For all of [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]]' boastings about human superiority over the Titans, their secret project is actually extremely reliant on seizing outside resources which are eldritch in nature as key materials to make the thing work at all; and Apex intend to use ''both'' resources with only a surface understanding of their capabilities and no true understanding of their inner-workings. [[spoiler:Apex have converted Ghidorah's skull into a WetwareCPU for Mechagodzilla based on their discovery that Ghidorah's remains retain a [[{{Telepathy}} telepathic]] connection to each-other, and]] Apex are planning to use the GreenRocks in the HollowEarth as a power source for their superweapon based on their remote satellite discovery that it has high energy readings. [[spoiler:Mixing these two things into a HumongousMecha without an in-depth understanding of either of them ultimately leads to Ghidorah's subconsciousness from the skull taking control of a fully-charged, super-destructive Mechagodzilla for itself]]. "Monkey see monkey do" indeed.
* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: When Kong's axe is sent revolving through the air amidst the Hong Kong battle, it comes to a stop upon getting embedded blade-first in the side of a skyscraper mid-revolution. In the penultimate scene, when the axe falls [[spoiler:as Kong literally buries the hatchet]], it lands blade-first and the blade seems to lodge in the ground, keeping the handle somewhat upright. The [[ZigZaggedTrope only exception]] where the trope ''doesn't'' come into effect with the axe seems to be when it's seen lying on its side amid the rubble of Hong Kong, [[spoiler:after it and its wielder were sent flying amid a previous battle]].
* BladeBrake: Kong uses his axe to carefully descend down (or up?) the hole [[spoiler:Godzilla made using his Atomic Breath from Hong Kong to Hollow Earth]] to confront Godzilla.
* BloodKnight: Godzilla shows that he's unambiguously enjoying fighting Kong when he sports a clear SlasherSmile during their brawl in Hong Kong [[spoiler:– in fact, word from the filmmakers is that Godzilla was ''toying with'' Kong the entire time they fought, until Kong's use of his ancestors' axe against Godzilla prompted the latter to treat him as a serious opponent, at which point Godzilla swiftly mauls Kong to near-death without contest. Mechagodzilla, which has gained sentience from being possessed by Ghidorah's subconsciousness, certainly takes its time throwing around Godzilla (the foe it was built to defeat and who killed its consciouness's past incarnation) and beating him up, long past the point where it's clear Godzilla has been worn down too much to put up much more of a fight against the Mecha on his own]].
* BloodSplatteredWarrior: [[spoiler:When Kong starts chopping pieces off of Mechagodzilla, the robot's [[MachineBlood black oil]] spews all over, coating Kong head to toe.]]
* BookEnds: Godzilla [[spoiler:leaves the same way he did at the end of ''Film/Godzilla2014''. After all the fighting is said and done, Godzilla simply swims off into the water and out of sight.]]
** The film opens with Kong waking up in the morning. It ends with a researcher saying Kong is going on "his morning stroll".
* BoringYetPractical:
** Godzilla ends the first fight against with Kong by simply grabbing him with his tail and dragging him under the sea, almost drowning him.
** [[spoiler:After his atomic breath backfired due to Kong's axe, Godzilla simply beats up the smaller Titan, almost killing him.]]
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla foregoes the shows of dominance that it used as Ghidorah and instead opts to go straight to beating up Godzilla with a much simpler arsenal of abilities compared to his outlandish wing beams, lightning and weather control and flight... And yet that's all he needs to beat down an exhausted Godzilla into the ground without letting his opponent land any meaningful hit on him.]]
* BrainyBrunette:
** [[ChildProdigy Madison Russell]] returns for this movie, and for extra points, she's the only person sensible enough to seriously focus on working out ''why'' Godzilla is rampaging first and foremost, and she's smart enough to almost single-handedly track down Bernie so she can get his help.
** One of Madison's teammates, Josh, though a CowardlyLion, has people skills which make him sharp in his own right, and whilst his digital pirating skills are useless [[spoiler:for stopping Mechagodzilla]], he ''does'' get the idea to [[CuttingTheKnot cut the knot]] just in time [[spoiler:to save Kong]].
** Almost every human member of Team Kong is a brunette and is pretty intelligent in some way.
*** Nathan Lind is a Monarch operative who's published a book on HollowEarth theory, is familiar with Titan GeneticMemory, was part of the first effort to access the Hollow Earth, and was smart enough to land a college tutor job ''after'' being ousted from the scientific community as a quack.
*** Ilene Andrews is a linguist who's fluent in sign language and is in charge of monitoring Kong.
*** And Jia makes up for lacking in ''scholary'' intelligence with an emotional and instinctive intelligence, as she understands Kong far better than the others.
** Among Apex, this trope is averted by Maia Simmons, a dark-haired woman who can fluidly spout details about her father's company's tech, but is infamously harebrained throughout the movie's released cut. PlayedStraight by [[AsianAndNerdy Ren Serizawa]], Apex's chief technology officer [[spoiler:who has engineered Mechagodzilla and is training to pilot it]].
* BreakingTheBonds: Subverted for the first time in Kong history. They finally made chains that not even the biggest incarnation could break with all his might.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** {{Subverted}} by [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Maia Simmons]] – she starts out as a stuck-up, obnoxious RichBitch, but she seems to mellow a little after Godzilla's attack on the naval fleet makes her realize just how out of her depth she is. [[spoiler:Yet this doesn't dissuade her from aiding her father's monstrous plan, nor from betraying the rest of Team Kong and leaving them to die, nor from having a continuously dim opinion of Kong ([[KarmicDeath who ultimately kills her]])]].
** In the novelization, it's revealed that Mark Russell has become an oppressively insensitive and [[MyBelovedSmother helicoptering parent]] to Madison since the previous movie's events left him with custody of her, expecting her to trust and obey him absolutely whilst giving her no trust or confidence in turn and making no attempt to understand her beyond [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent what he wishes she was instead]]. He has a {{downplayed}} version of this trope when he realizes that Madison has gone off on her own to stop Apex, admitting to himself that this happened because he didn't communicate with her and treated her unfairly, and noting that he'll have to at least talk with Madison about this when the crisis is over.
* BreathWeapon: Godzilla's blue atomic breath returns, of course. [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla has one too called the Proton Scream, but colored a crimson red.]]
* BringIt: Right before their second big fight, Godzilla and Kong both exchange challenging and defiant gestures: Godzilla threateningly slams his tail at the ground beside him, and Kong then parallels the gesture by furiously pounding the ground in front of himself with his axe and his fists. Then they charge.
* BroadStrokes: Despite being set in the aftermath of the events of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', this movie ignores '''many''' of the preceding movie's details, especially in regards to the previous movie's ending.
** Despite that the previous movie saw over a dozen Titans awakening and actively destroying cities worldwide under King Ghidorah's command, you wouldn't think it at all when watching this movie and seeing how ''normally'' all parts of the world that the human leads visit seem to be functioning: no references to the many cities that were previously destroyed (which included ''[[WashingtonDCInvasion the capital of the United States]]'' and several other countries' capitals), no references to all the people that must have died, no signs that the U.S. military's staff and resources were left severely diminished after all four branches' costly stand against Ghidorah and the Titan army, and absolutely no sign of the other Titans Ghidorah awakened, with Word of God and the ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' supplementary materials claiming (in contradiction to ''King of the Monsters''[='=] emphasis on the Titans' awakening and the ending being the DawnOfAnEra) that all the Titans unceremoniously returned to their hibernations inbetween movies by Godzilla's command. This is in stark contrast to the lasting fallout of G-Day in the 2014 movie, which almost all of the Franchise/MonsterVerse instalments set after 2014 have placed emphasis on.
*** Hell, even the recurring remark about how Apex's [=HEAVs'=] "can light up Las Vegas for a week" seem out-of-place in this movie, when Las Vegas was trashed by Femuto in the 2014 movie and ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' shows five years later that the city was subsequently abandoned.
** The Hollow Earth theory is also treated in this movie by the public like it's still a quack theory as in RealLife, even though newspaper articles in the previous movie's ending outright ''[[SeriesContinuityError stated]]'' that the public now know it to definitively be real, and that Monarch have been making a point of being more transparent with the public about their knowledge to boot. Monarch operative Nathan Lind even claims in the start of this movie that humans have never managed to access the Hollow Earth before, when that's exactly what Monarch's top brass did in the previous movie.
** In ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', Monarch successfully entered (and exited) the Hollow Earth without getting ripped to shreds via an underwater entrance which took them to a gigantic underground pocket. In ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', the Hollow Earth is explicitly walled off from the surface world by a gravity-inverting electro-static "membrane" lining the inside of the Earth, which annihilates anything short of a Titan or a specialized hi-tech Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle that attempts to cross into the Hollow Earth; and the Hollow Earth itself is an ultraterrestrial AcidTripDimension with mixed gravity which is implied to be very near, and possibly right on top of, the Earth's core.
** The ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' ending hinted that multiple Titans were converging on Skull Island, but in this movie's supplementary materials, only one Titan from the outside world, Camazotz, does so.
** A newspaper in the ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' CreativeClosingCredits hinted that Mechagodzilla was being tested on Skull Island. Whilst Mechagodzilla does appear in the [=MonsterVerse=] proper in this movie, it's instead being constructed in the middle of Hong Kong with no connection to Skull Island.
** Even Ghidorah's post-mortem remains get some broad strokes.
*** For one thing, Ghidorah's severed head was seized at the end of the previous movie by an [[MisanthropeSupreme ultra-misanthropic]] EcoTerrorist, but by the time of this movie, it's fallen into the hands of a ResearchInc whom have a [[MugglePower warped "humanist" ideology of opposing the Titans]] (a.k.a. the ideological polar opposite of everything that the misanthropic terrorists stood for, bringing up the question of ''how'' the skull changed hands or ''why'' if the terrorists willingly gave it up).
*** For another, this movie's novelization states that there are ''two'' Ghidorah skulls instead of just one, which raises a lot more questions that it can answer since ''all'' of Ghidorah except for a ''single'' previously-severed head was thoroughly disintegrated and vaporized in the previous movie. Fortunately, ''this'' anomaly is somewhat amended by how in the finished movie version, only ''one'' Ghidorah skull is ever seen and the existence of a second skull is mere speculation by a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} highly questionable source]].
* BroughtDownToBadass: During the final battle [[spoiler:against Mechagodzilla]], both Godzilla and Kong are tired and injured but still manage to give a good account of themselves.
* BusCrash: A line from Ilene indicates that this happened to the ''entire Iwi culture'' at some point prior to this film, saying that Jia was saved by Kong, and is now the LastOfHerKind. Strangely, this was not because of any of the super-predators roaming the island, but apparently because the perpetual storm system surrounding the island closed in around it, and the Iwi were killed off by the sudden severe weather.
* CallBack:
** In the trailer, Godzilla's attack on the aircraft carrier convoy is accompanied by the eerie vocalizations of György Ligeti's ''Requiem'', just like the HALO jump scene from the 2014 ''Godzilla'' movie.
** The trailer features a scene resembling one from the 2014 ''Godzilla'' movie, with Godzilla making a beeline towards a battleship. Unlike in the 2014 movie, where Godzilla dove under it at the last moment, the trailer shows him ripping it to shreds with his dorsal plates.
** Kong's old enemies the Skullcrawlers make an appearance [[spoiler:where it quickly suffers a WorfEffect courtesy of Mechagodzilla.]]
** Kong decapitating one of the Warbats... and curiously taking a bite of the carcass, much like how he ends up eating the Mire Squid in ''Kong: Skull Island''.
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla forcing Godzilla's jaws open and charging up his Proton Scream implies that he was attempting to kill Godzilla with the same finishing move that Godzilla himself did to the female Muto in the first film.]]
** [[spoiler: Upon short-circuiting, Mechagodzilla makes some unmistakable Ghidorah cackles recognizable from ''KOTM'' hinting at his true identity.]]
** As in ''KOTM'', Madison has a serious OhCrap moment as [[spoiler:Ghidorah]] stares through a window at her - there [[spoiler:Ghidorah himself]], here [[spoiler:the Ghidorah-controlled Mechagodzilla]].
** Just as in ''King of The Monsters'', the first thing [[spoiler:Ghidorah does upon "awakening" is go out of his way to kill some humans, in this case the two responsible for trying to control him followed by a large number in Hong Kong.]]
* CameBackStrong: PlayedWith and [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]]. [[spoiler:When Ghidorah's remains override Mechagodzilla's programming, the mech has ''none'' of Ghidorah's world-ending abilities, with the lack of a HealingFactor making it much easier to put down once it's taken enough damage. But what Mechagodzilla ''does'' have is an extremely specialized ''Anti-Kaiju'' body and a limitless power source, which combined with a frightening intellect in the FinalBattle, allows him to '''''[[CurbStompBattle dominate]]''''' both Godzilla and Kong (at least when exhausted) with frightening efficiency that keeps both on the ropes until his weakness is exploited]].
* CameraAbuse: [[spoiler:When Kong rips off Mechagodzilla's head, oil splashes on the screen.]]
* CaughtMonologuing: Simmons is killed [[spoiler:by Mechagodzilla]] while he is in the middle of EvilGloating to Bernie, Madison, and Josh, and turns around [[spoiler:[[OhCrap only just in time to see his creation, having gained malicious self-awareness, turn on him]]]]. Bernie's response?
-->'''Bernie:''' It's unfair... I really wanted to hear the rest of that speech.
* ChallengingTheChief: The first trailer and one of the teasers establishes that with Godzilla -- the reigning Alpha Titan and King of the Monsters -- having gone berserk, Monarch is bringing in Kong -- a rival Alpha Titan -- to dethrone him. [[spoiler:Inverted in the film itself -- Monarch wants to transport Kong for largely unrelated reasons, but the main fear is that if Godzilla discovers Kong has left Skull Island, Godzilla will come for him, since Godzilla cannot abide the presence of a potential rival. Ultimately, Kong has no interest in usurping Godzilla, and only challenges him to their climactic fight for completely personal reasons]].
--> '''Ilene Andrews:''' Godzilla ''will'' come for him. There can't be two Alpha Titans.\\
'''Admiral Wilcox:''' Who bows to who?\\
'''Ilene Andrews:''' Kong bows to no one.
* ChekhovsGun:
** The [=HEAV=]s were said to have enough power to light up Las Vegas for a week. [[spoiler:This makes it a good defibrillator to restart Kong's slowing heart when he's incapacitated by Godzilla in the climax]].
** Bernie Hayes keeps a flask of alcohol as a TragicKeepsake [[spoiler:from his wife's death, which ends up turning the tide of the final battle when Josh uses it to short circuit a control panel for Mechagodzilla's satellite uplink, stalling him briefly and allowing Godzilla and Kong one last-ditch effort to destroy him for good.]]
* ChildishVillainMatureHero:
** The main heroic humans on Team Godzilla and Team Kong are largely mature, intelligent and responsible people: especially Madison (a teenaged, WiseBeyondHerYears veteran of the war against King Ghidorah who takes it upon herself to resolve Godzilla's mysterious rampage when she realizes no-one else will act effectively); and Jia (who is calm, dignified, intelligent, and more perceptive than even her adult peers despite her being barely into the double-digits). The only really immature hero is [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bernie Hayes]], and even this gets somewhat amended in the novelization, where he has very deep and personal reasons for wanting to bring the bad guys to justice.
** The grown villains on [[CorporateConspiracy Apex Cybernetics]], for all their corporate power, are very petulant and childish on the other hand. The [[EvilOldFolks late-middle-aged]] Walter Simmons is a self-absorbed, delusional, disaster-engineering PsychopathicManchild who sees the fate of the world as nothing more than a glory contest, cackling like an excited child or throwing sulky moods depending on his temperament. Ren Serizawa's motives for being one of the bad guys, according to the novelization, are unresolved daddy issues which drive him to scream for his neglectful father's attention in horrific ways long past the latter's death. And Maia Simmons is a WellDoneDaughterGirl who has [[RichBitch all the manners of an entitled seven-year-old]] and ''[[TooDumbToLive half]]'' [[TooDumbToLive the brains to go with it]].
* CombatPragmatist: Neither Godzilla or Kong hesitate to take advantage of any chance given to them.
** Godzilla doesn't think twice about using his atomic breath in close range, knowing Kong has almost no defense against it. In their first fight at sea, since Godzilla can breathe underwater and Kong can't, he makes a point of forcing Kong into the water and trying to drown him.
** After seeing Godzilla is too strong fight head to head, Kong uses his greater speed and agility to move around Hong Kong's skyscrapers before moving in to strike with his axe. [[spoiler: After Godzilla is seemingly beat by a blow from the axe, Kong doesn't assume he's down for the count and waits on a skyscraper, throws a crane to distract him, then leaps onto Godzilla's back to attack him.]]
** [[spoiler: The duo completely avert MookChivalry against Mechagodzilla, attacking him together and when his back is turned.]]
* ComicBookTime: While five years have passed in-universe between the events of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' and ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', Madison Russell doesn't appear to be any older at 17 than she did as a 12-year-old due to only one year passing between the filming of both movies (and Millie Bobby Brown already being way older than 12 when filming ''King of the Monsters'').
* CombinationAttack: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is destroyed when Godzilla charges Kong's axe up with his atomic breath then Kong uses it to destroy the villainous cyborg.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist:
** The kaiju antagonists of the previous movies were all ancient, biological creatures (most from a prehistoric Earth, except for the BigBad Ghidorah who was an alien), whereas Mechagodzilla in this film is a manmade {{cyborg}} that's only been created by Apex very recently.
** On the human side. The [[EcoTerrorist Eco-Terrorists]] led by Alan Jonah and Emma Russell in the previous film were an international paramilitary force led by a harsh, unpleasant MisanthropeSupreme, and their goal was being [[GaiasVengeance Gaia's Avenger]] and killing many human lives while championing the Titans' reclamation of the Earth from humans. By contrast, Apex Cybernetics in this movie are a fantastical hi-tech, mega-rich EvilInc with seemingly good publicity, led by a charismatic BitchInSheepsClothing, and their goal is killing Godzilla and exterminating or enslaving the other Titans using their bionic creation while [[MugglePower championing humanity's reclamation of the Earth from Titans]].
*** For a more specific case, Apex Cybernetics' Ren Serizawa contrasts the eco-terrorists' Emma Russell, as the BigBadWannabe[='s=] number two who was driven over to their side by rage and grief over losing a family member and blaming the group that big bad wannabe is opposing for their loss. They differ in that Ren ''isn't'' an EvilAllAlong mole like Emma was and he's clearly aligned with Apex from the start; and whereas Emma became a DefectorFromDecadence after Jonah refused to heed her warnings about his actions going too far for their own good [[spoiler:and she died making a HeroicSacrifice]], Ren still obeyed Simmons despite his reservations, and he paid for that [[spoiler:with his life and died without having a HeelRealization]].
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: See [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter/MonsterVerse here]].
* CoolGate: There's a freaky wormhole-like effect inside the Vile Vortex to the Hollow Earth which apparently marks the gravity inversion point (explained in the novelization to be a gravitational-electrostatic membrane). Once Kong and Team Kong enter it, they're spat straight out into the Hollow Earth's sky, cutting the distance from the Earth's crust all the way to the inner-world.
* CoolVsAwesome: The atomic, fire-breathing King of the Monsters squares off against the iconic giant gorilla and Eighth Wonder of the World [[spoiler:and then they both team up to fight off a Ghidorah-powered Mechagodzilla]]! Grab some popcorn and place your bets, everyone!
* CosmicHorrorStory: Downplayed compared to previous entries but still present: Godzilla has seemingly turned on humanity, leaving them at the mercy of the most powerful creature on the planet...[[spoiler:but in reality, humans have once more tampered where they shouldn't by using the corpse of a DraconicAbomination to build their own weapon, angering him. In the end, all humanity's efforts have done is reincarnate Ghidorah in a new form, giving him another chance to resume his destruction of everything. Played up in the novelization, where Ren's death has him helpless to do anything as Ghidorah's remaining consciousness takes over and ''devours his mind'' -- makes you wonder where the hell Ghidorah came from before arriving on Earth and how such an entity capable of doing that came into being.]]
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: As it turns out, the reason Godzilla seemingly turns feral is actually because [[spoiler:Apex Cybernetics was trying to create Mechagodzilla to replace him as the new Alpha. Worse, they use one of the heads of Godzilla's archnemesis King Ghidorah to do it. [[LampshadeHanging Madison even calls Walter Simmons out on this]] later in the movie, saying that Godzilla was on neutral terms with humanity until Apex tried to give him a challenger. The entire conflict, and indeed even Godzilla's feud with Kong, could have been avoided if Mechagodzilla was never created.]]
* CowardlyLion: Josh is the Token Cowardly Lion on Team Godzilla, and Dr. Nathan Lind on Team Kong. They're both the most timid out of either team, but prove their true colors when either team is in a tight spot.
* CrazyEnoughToWork:
** Briefly {{discussed}} by Nathan Lind and Walter Simmons. When Lind first has the idea to try and have Kong lead the Monarch-Apex collaboration to the Hollow Earth's energy source, Nathan cautions Simmons before speaking his idea that it's a crazy one – [[{{Foreshadowing}} which only makes Simmons]] [[TooDumbToLive all the more eager to hear it]].
** {{Subverted}} '''spectacularly''' with Apex Cybernetics. Walter Simmons firmly believes that fortune favors the bold and that man's reach should always exceed his grasp, [[spoiler:so much so that he (A) actually thought achieving his dreams of toppling Godzilla was worth hooking Ghidorah's '''still-partly-alive''' skull up to a 460-foot Titan-class HumongousMecha '''as the machine's brain''', despite how malevolent and uncontrollable Ghidorah proved to be to the whole world in the previous movie; and (B) Simmons practically [[InvokedTrope invokes]] the UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway trope on Mechagodzilla whilst foregoing Ren Serizawa's more pragmatic suggestions. Instead of ensuring that Apex's plan works out fine for them and they come out with everything they wanted; these two acts of brash arrogance only lead to a Ghidorah-possessed Mechagodzilla killing Simmons and doing exactly what Apex claimed their weapon would prevent, most likely reducing Apex's plans for MugglePower to tatters]].
* CreativeClosingCredits: {{Inverted}}. In the same style as the [[Film/Godzilla2014 previous]] [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 two]] ''Godzilla'' movies, the opening title sequences features FreezeFrameBonus redacted text around the credits.
* CrowdPanic: In Godzilla's first scene during his rampage on Pensacola, we get treated to shots of people running and screaming as Godzilla's Atomic Breath sends jets falling and crashing very close to them – likewise, we get some ground-based shots of people running and screaming when Godzilla's arrival in Hong Kong and later Kong's fight with Godzilla trash the place. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C8zJjOoouQ B-roll footage]] shows that Madison and Josh would have originally been part of the first scene.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: In the movie version, it's apparent that Godzilla and Kong's ancestors had a primeval GreatOffscreenWar, [[spoiler:and Kong's ancestors originally lived in the HollowEarth where they built a vast temple (which in the present day is abandoned, with the skeleton of a Godzilla-like Titan lying inside with an axe wedged in its bones)]]; yet despite the movie's trailer setting up some grand revelation about how the war occurred, there's no elaboration beyond the above hints, leaving it unknown how and when the war started and ended, or also why ''Titanus Kong'' moved from the Hollow Earth to Skull Island. The novelization provides more clarification via an Iwi legend that Jia tells Andrews: it indicates that Godzilla or one of his kind fired the first shot in the war (assuming that the tale isn't biased in the favor of the Iwi's ''Titanus Kong'' deities), and Godzilla ultimately drove both the Kong species ''and'' the Iwis out of their original shared home in the Hollow Earth, forcing them to Skull Island on the surface. Godzilla's P.O.V. in the novelization also reveals that his rivalry with Kong's kind pre-dates Ghidorah's arrival on Earth. It's also revealed in ''Godzilla: Dominion'' that another member of Kong's kind once succeeded in driving the individual Godzilla out of his past territory when Godzilla was much younger.
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is less of an epic monster face-off and more of a playground ''beatdown''. The only time the former even comes close to landing an actual hit is when he pushes the cyborg somewhat, and even then it's a two-way shove. Even ''after'' the two titular kaiju tag-team Mecha-G, the latter manages to stay on top until a bottle of alcohol out of all things makes him vulnerable. WordOfGod has confirmed that the fight would've been ''much'' closer if Big G wasn't exhausted from fighting Kong.]]
* CurbStompCushion:
** Kong's first bout with Godzilla. Despite fighting underwater, Kong manages to push Godzilla away and get back on the ship before retreating to the aircraft carrier. As Godzilla gets on the carrier, Kong hits him the face, prompting Godzilla to slap him onto his back and attempt to use his atomic breath, only be stopped by a jet fighter shooting him, giving Kong the chance to push him off the ship. This prompts Godzilla to destroy the carrier and force Kong into the water. Once again, Kong manages to get a couple hits in before Godzilla nearly drowns him. Both the carrier and fighting underwater put Kong at a disadvantage [[note]]Godzilla is bigger and stronger than him, so fighting on the carrier meant Kong couldn't take advantage of his greater mobility, and he can also breathe underwater[[/note]], but he still managed to offer a surprising amount of resistance.
** [[spoiler: At the end of the fight in Hong Kong, Kong attempts to finish off a weakened Godzilla by leaping on his back when he's distracted. All his attack does is enrage Godzilla who throws Kong off and beats him within an inch of his life. After Godzilla pins him under foot, however, Kong punches him in the wound he left with his axe earlier, which causes Godzilla pain but isn't enough to stop him. However, even despite losing he still left Godzilla worked up enough that Mechagodzilla is able to soundly trounce the King of the Monsters with little effort on his part.]]
* CuttingTheKnot:
** Josh and Bernie are unable to hack into [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's control board, and Bernie [[DrowningMySorrows gets ready to chug the flask of whisky he keeps for his darkest hour]], giving Josh the idea to just dump the alcohol into the control panel to short-circuit it.]]
** Godzilla exploits this against Kong in their first encounter. Seeing that Kong is chained to a ship, rather than getting on the ship to face him, Godzilla flips the ship over.
* {{Cyborg}}: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla counts, being primarily mechanical but controlled by Ghidorah's brain.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: To the original ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla''. The original film was a LighterAndSofter take where both monsters were portrayed in a humorous light (King Kong CantHoldHisLiquor while Godzilla in general became less of a symbol of nuclear weapons and more of a {{Jerkass}}). This film however, Godzilla is attacking humans ''intentionally'', attacking APEX facilities to seek out [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]]. Unlike to original film where both monsters clash due to human intervention, Godzilla was ''seeking'' out Kong while the humans are trying to avoid him in order to make Kong submit to him. Unlike the original where King Kong is the "protagonist" monster and Godzilla was still the villain, this film is a case of GoodVsGood since Godzilla is being portrayed as the HeroAntagonist to Kong's TheHero.
* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: Seemingly nothing can stop Mechagodzilla from killing Godzilla, and Kong is down for the count.]]
* DarkReprise: The soundtrack version. The film reverts Godzilla's TriumphantReprise from ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' into a darker, slower, more foreboding theme similar to the original version, reflecting Godzilla's more hostile and antagonistic-seeming role in this film compared to how the previous film made him out to be a heroic, deity-like being.
* DavidVersusGoliath: Kong is the David to Godzilla's Goliath. Both monsters are giants, but Kong is the smaller, faster one. Godzilla is bigger, stronger, tougher, and has his atomic breath. Their first fight highlights how the odds are stacked against Kong as Godzilla would have beaten him on the aircraft carrier without the humans intervening. [[spoiler: In the rematch in Hong Kong, the numerous buildings let Kong take advantage of his greater agility, on top of having the axe. But Godzilla still proves too powerful and nearly kills him.]]
* DeathByIrony:
** [[spoiler:Both Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa are killed by their own machine.]]
** Having overpowered Godzilla, [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla tries to force open Godzilla's jaws and charges up his Proton Scream: presumably to finish off Godzilla the same way Godzilla finished off the Female Muto in 2014. Thankfully and narrowly averted as Kong steps in to save the day.]]
* DeathByOriginStory: Nathan Lind's brother David was killed years ago by the gravity inversion when they attempted a manned expedition into the Hollow Earth, and after being approached by Apex, he's trying to enter the Hollow Earth again in this film without the same mistake ensuing. It's also revealed in the novelization that Bernie's wife's death was one for him as it set him on infiltrating and bringing down Apex.
* DeathGlare:
** Ren Serizawa is introduced during Godzilla's first attack in Pensacola, glaring outward at the approaching Titan with a look of both anger and pain and has to be beckoned away by Simmons calling to him.
** Godzilla levels a couple of them at Kong:
*** First, after their ocean battle, Godzilla levels such a look at Kong when the fleet are playing dead, and the King of the Primates lying across the deck of a ship returns the look in kind.
*** The second is [[spoiler:after ruthlessly mauling the ape in Hong Kong.]]
** As he approaches Apex's Hong Kong base and sees [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's beam]] slicing through it, Godzilla glares with clear murderous intent.
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] seems to level one at Godzilla in turn. After it's finished razing [[spoiler:half of Hong Kong]] with its Proton Scream, it then turns its gaze on Godzilla and lets out a series of clacking noises almost as if [[spoiler:the Ghidorah-derived consciousness]] now controlling it is trying to form a taunting EvilLaugh.
* DeathWorld: The Hollow Earth filled with all sorts of giant aggressive monsters, with the main threat being the colossal flying snakes, Warbats/Nozuki. [[spoiler: The only reason the humans weren't killed in minutes is because they have Kong to defend them, and even he had a hard time.]]
* DecapitationPresentation: At the end, [[spoiler:Kong tears off Mechagodzilla's head and mechanical "spine", fountains of black oil still spewing and lights still flicking and roars triumphantly to the sky with it to proclaim his final victory.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: Nathan Lind is set up as the main protagonist for Kong's storyline, but he doesn't do that much. If anything, the protagonist is Kong himself, who gets a good bit of CharacterDevelopment and focus.
* DeerInTheHeadlights: A bit of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but Madison at first reacts this way when Skullcrawler Number 10 is being released, and the novelization suggests it's due to her being a ShellShockedVeteran after the events of ''King of the Monsters''. The novelization also notes that Nathan initially has one when Godzilla is attacking Team Kong's fleet, but he gets over it.
* DefiantToTheEnd:
** In their second confrontation, [[spoiler:Kong roars defiantly in Godzilla's face when Godzilla roars at him after thrashing him in their fight, refusing to submit to the King of the Monsters. Godzilla leaves him to die in peace, instead of brutally finishing him off like he did with Ghidorah.]]
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla still tries to attack Kong with an atomic beam despite losing both arms and a leg. Having Ghidorah's influence controlling him may contribute.]]
* DetrimentalDetermination:
** Godzilla is [[spoiler:(rightly)]] lazer-focused on hunting the source of his provocation [[spoiler:(Mechagodzilla's signal)]] around the world, ruthlessly pinpointing the specific manmade structure where the provocation is emanating from and destroying it – however, this course of action leads the rest of humanity, whom have no idea about why Godzilla is attacking these places, [[EasilyCondemned to assume that Godzilla has gone bad]] and they turn against him. More than that, Godzilla [[SmartAnimalInconvenientInstincts with his instincts]] is intolerant of any other Alpha Titan encroaching on his global territory; to a point where [[spoiler:beyond his hunt for Mechagodzilla so he can destroy it]], Godzilla goes out of his way to antagonize and battle Kong once he senses the latter has left Skull Island despite Kong's comparative benignity, [[spoiler:and he has an even more extreme reaction to Kong tapping the very power source which Kong's ancestors once used against Godzilla and Godzilla-like Titans. This ultimately leads Godzilla to expend much of his reserved strength subduing Kong, which in turn leaves Godzilla at a ''deadly'' disadvantage once Mechagodzilla emerges to kill him with Godzilla's strength expended and with a near-death Kong initially unable to do anything to help]].
** In the novelization, Mark Russell is extremely pig-headed in his assertions that Madison [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter is somehow just a normal, ineffectual little girl who can't be trusted to know her own thoughts and feelings or to provide any valuable insights]]. He's shown to repeatedly hand-wave Madison's complaints about her being miserable in the public school he's forced her to attend, and it's implied that this has been going on between them for some time. Mark not only ignores everything Madison thinks about Godzilla's Pensacola attack out of hand (even when she's making ''far'' more sense compared to Mark's over-emotional and ridiculously-contrived assumptions), Mark also resorts to helicoptering methods to try and keep Madison away from the investigation into Godzilla's attacks. What really makes this determination detrimental is that Mark makes it clear in the novel that he's acting this way partly because he doesn't want to lose Madison the way he's already lost the rest of their immediate family one-by-one, and implicitly also partly as a way of compensating for the years he was absent from Madison's life (swinging from [[ParentalNeglect one parental extreme]] to [[MyBelovedSmother the other]]): but he's too bullheaded and too [[SecretlySelfish self-focused on his own feelings while ignoring everyone else's]] to realize that ''this'' kind of parenting, directed at a blatant {{rebellious spirit}} like his daughter, will surely push Madison to do the opposite of what he wants, and could potentially even alienate her from him all over again instead of mending the rift between them. It takes the realization that his last refusal to listen to Madison in the wake of Godzilla's attack has led to Madison sneaking out and heading into the very danger that Mark tried to shield her from for Mark to even ''take a single, fricking hint'' and admit to himself that he was wrong to treat her the way he has.
** Walter Simmons has been trying to find a way to kill Godzilla and achieve his dream of human supremacy ''since [[Film/Godzilla2014 2014]]'', and he's more or less ignored how the events of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' proved that humans and Titans ''can'' coexist in mutually-beneficial symbiosis if humans stop trying to tamper and overrule nature. [[spoiler:It's furthermore revealed in the ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' novelization that the military's Oxygen Destroyer (which went horribly wrong via directly almost enabling King Ghidorah [[OmnicidalManiac to exterminate all multicellular life on Earth]]) was apparently a previous attempt by Apex to kill Godzilla, yet this catastrophe didn't stop Simmons]]. Come 2024, Simmons, dead-set on turning the world against Godzilla and getting all the glory that successfully replacing the Alpha Titans would entail[[spoiler:[==]; doesn't think that essentially ''reanimating the aforementioned, "'''living extinction event which threatens every non-microbial lifeform on this planet'''" Ghidorah's surviving neurology'' is not worth the risks, nevermind his]] planning to use a newly-discovered otherworldly energy source as a ''[[spoiler:second]]'' BlackBox [[spoiler:on top of that]]. Simmons' last attempt to usurp Godzilla turns out to be one time too many, [[spoiler:as mixing Ghidorah's undead remains with the Hollow Earth energy and Apex's Titan-killing Mecha leads to a Ghidorah-possessed Mechagodzilla killing Simmons and destroying everything he's worked towards in less than an hour; nevermind the very real possibility that the rogue Mechagodzilla, if it had won, [[TyrantTakestheHelm would have filled King Ghidorah's old shoes]] and [[OmnicidalManiac finished what the three-headed dragon started]]]].
** {{Subverted}} by Mechagodzilla. It appears to be specifically focused on killing Godzilla above all, and when Kong gets involved in their fight [[spoiler:in Godzilla's defence]], Mechagodzilla's initial strategy is to just repeatedly throw Kong off without making sure to finish him off before it turns its focus back to pummeling Godzilla ASAP, which in turn enables Kong to get back up and blindside the Mecha repeatedly before the Mecha can finish Godzilla off. However, after Kong [[spoiler:brings the (un-charged and ineffectual) ''Titanus Gojira''-fin axe into the fight and he]] successfully throws Mechagodzilla on its back, the Mecha decides there and then to give Kong its full attention [[spoiler:and immediately tries to kill him]].
* DidntThinkThisThrough: It's hinted in the film, and shown in the novelization, that Nathan has a tendency to "go very far out on very thin limbs", hyper-focusing on the destination and not testing or foolproofing his strategy for how to make the journey go smoothly. All of Apex's overwhelming [[{{Pride}} conceit]] aside [[spoiler:when it came to thinking they could fully control both Ghidorah's skull and the HollowEarth element]]; if concept artist [[https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/niq8wk/comment/gz3m6kj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Jared Krichevsky]] is to be believed, then if Mechagodzilla had remained under Apex's control and they began using it against the other Titans per their plan, the Mecha would have been '''[[WeaksauceWeakness hilariously]]''' [[WeaksauceWeakness and promptly defeated]] if it so much as approached [[{{EMP}} the Queen MUTO]] as a target.
* DiggingToChina: Madison's crew gets to Apex's Hong Kong headquarters by way of a hemisphere spanning hyperloop train connected to their Florida facility. Later, Godzilla uses his atomic breath in Hong Kong to drill into the Hollow Earth to allow Kong to come up to the surface for their final fight.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Interestingly, the titular Titans are this to ''each other''. Godzilla's ultimate goal is to find and destroy Mechagodzilla, while Kong is merely an obstacle in his way. Their climactic battle in Hong Kong is ultimately a prelude to Mechagodzilla, the TrueFinalBoss of the film.]]
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Kong is defeated by Godzilla fair and square: essentially, making Godzilla the clear winner. The accumulate injuries from their fight cause Kong to go into cardiac arrest. Then Mechagodzilla attacks and overpowers Godzilla, so the humans manage to resuscitate Kong and bring him back to the fight to even the odds.]]
* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: [[spoiler:After Godzilla has soundly thrashed Kong in their fight, he roars mightily in Kong's face, clearly sending this message. When Kong roars back [[DefiantToTheEnd defiantly]], Godzilla decides to leave the beaten but unbowed Kong to die of his wounds.]]
* DomedHometown: In the decades since the Skull Island expedition, the storm surrounding the island closed in and rendered the conditions inhospitable. Kong is shown to live in an immense high-tech containment dome around Skull Island's interior, with the inner walls projecting an [[ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay artificial sky]], in order to hide him from Godzilla and preserve a chunk of Skull Island's ecosystem. Kong isn't fooled one bit though, and spends some of his time smashing through this fake sky with makeshift tree javelins.
* DontYouDarePityMe:
** Downplayed, but the novelization shows that Madison doesn't appreciate being treated like she's {{just a kid}}, and she refuses to be a victim no matter what she's been through.
** In the novelization, Ren Serizawa has hidden the true extent of his negative feelings towards his late father from associates, lovers and even from his mother his entire life, because he equates being pitied with being mocked.
* DoubleMeaning: Outwardly, Apex Cybernetics call themselves such because they're a company which specializes in developing leading hi-tech and pride themselves on pioneering new advances. The hidden second meaning of the name is that they intend to usurp the Alpha Titans, with a particular focus on getting rid of Godzilla (thereby becoming the new King of the Monsters, essentially the "Apex" lifeform on Earth), [[spoiler:with "Cybernetics" being the means they plan to use to achieve this aim]]. It's also hinted in the movie (and more heavily implied in the novelization and the movie art book ''One Will Fall''), that Apex head Walter Simmons' comment to Ren Serizawa about making humanity "the apex species" has a double meaning of its own – it refers to Apex's MugglePower justification for their plans, but also refers to how Simmons intends for the Apex company to essentially [[TakeOverTheWorld rule all of humanity]] [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans once they've turned the world into their own corporate dystopia]].
* DownerBeginning: The movie's pre-credits intro establishes that Kong and a chunk of Skull Island's ecosystem have been fenced off inside a DomedHometown because the rest of the island outside the dome has been overtaken by an inhospitable PerpetualStorm, and Kong is none too happy about this. Then the post-credits intro ends with the same Godzilla [[BigGood who fought alongside humanity to save the world a movie prior]] violently making landfall and wreaking destruction on a coastal city for no immediately-obvious reason.
* DramaticDislocation: After Kong wakes up before the final battle against [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla,]] he pops his shoulder back into place by ramming it into a building before joining the battle.
* TheDreaded: The novelization reveals Madison is ''still'' traumatized from her encounter with Ghidorah to the point of having PTSD. [[spoiler:The ''entire'' reason Godzilla is on the warpath is he knows Ghidorah is still alive and is frantically trying to find and end him. The only people ''not'' afraid of Ghidorah is Apex...until Ghidorah [[EvilerThanThou possesses MechaGodzilla]], giving them just enough time [[OhCrap to react in horror]] before their deaths.]]
** Godzilla himself turns into this after his attack on Apex. The world is now terrified of him. Even putting that aside, Illene is still afraid of the possiblity Godzilla will come after Kong. [[spoiler: Her fears proves well founded as Godzilla nearly kills Kong in both encounters.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Kong had his parents killed before his very eyes as a child, the Iwi natives he worked to protect almost completely wiped out by factors outside his control, ends up stuck in a cage by Monarch, fights numerous vicious predators on a semi-regular basis, and [[spoiler:twice ends up beaten to near death by Godzilla. But after saving Godzilla's life by destroying Mechagodzilla, he ends up getting to live a relatively peaceful life in his ancestral home within the Hollow Earth as its new king.]]
* EiffelTowerEffect: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_China_Tower_(Hong_Kong) Bank of China Tower]] can be prominently seen in the trailer, during a battle set in Hong Kong.
* EldritchLocation: [[BeneathTheEarth The Hollow Earth]] is a landscape reminiscent of an alternate dimension and it serves as the Titans' original home. To top it all off, it's surrounded by an [[GravityScrew anti-gravitational field]].
* ElectronicTelepathy: Apex Cybernetics achieve this with Ren as the pilot in order to [[spoiler:pilot Mechagodzilla; using the telepathic neural tissue of Ghidorah's skull as the cockpit transmitter and another sample of Ghidorah inside the actual Mecha as the receiver]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Ghidorah's consciousness in its neural pathways isn't completely dead and uses the BrainComputerInterface to hijack the Telepathy]].
* EnergyAbsorption: The battle axe Kong wields is able to block and absorb energy, particularly that of Godzilla's Atomic Breath. This not only makes it an effective defense against Godzilla's primary weapon, but empowers and strengthens the blade, giving it AbsurdCuttingPower that can cut through Godzilla's hide [[spoiler:and Mechagodzilla's hard armor that even Godzilla himself could not harm]].
* EnergyDonation: [[spoiler: Godzilla lends Kong his power in the finale by supercharging Kong's axe with his atomic breath until it glows blue, allowing him to slash Mechagodzilla into pieces and destroy him for good.]]
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler: Godzilla and Kong end up double-teaming against Mechagodzilla, as while Mechagodzilla ends up having an upper hand over Godzilla, it's Kong who turns the tides.]]
* EnemyRisingBehind: While Simmons is giving Maddie and her accomplices a lecture about [[spoiler:the need for Mechagodzilla, the monster itself activates in its giant chamber behind him, turns to look at him and slowly approaches the control room. Simmons is too invested in his monologue to notice until he opens his eyes and sees everyone backing away, at which point he turns around and has just enough time to say "Oh, shit" before being swiped by [=MechaGodzilla's=] claw.]]
* EngineeredHeroics: In the wake of Godzilla's unexplained hostility, Apex claim to the world that they're going to put a permanent stop to him. It's ultimately revealed that Apex [[spoiler:are directly and knowingly responsible for provoking Godzilla's attacks in the first place, because Godzilla can sense the part-Ghidorah Mecha they're building as a rival to his dominance whenever its signal activates, and Apex are taking advantage of Godzilla's reactions to turn a confused human race against him and to justify Mechagodzilla's construction as an anti-Godzilla weapon – basically, Apex are making it look like the chicken (an aggressor Godzilla) came before the egg (Mechagodzilla) when it's actually the other way round]]. What's worse, it's implied in the movie (and all but confirmed in the novelization) that Apex are '''intentionally''' [[spoiler:[[FalseFlagOperation ensuring Mechagodzilla's signal draws Godzilla to densely-populated urban areas including Hong Kong]][[note]]One of the most densely-populated cities ''on the planet'', with a population numbering eight million[[/note]] so as to maximize the carnage and further make Godzilla look bad]]. The novelization also confirms that Apex genuinely didn't know until after [[spoiler:Godzilla's first attack]] that [[spoiler:the Mecha's signal was going to provoke Godzilla]], but Simmons was nevertheless all too happy to exploit it.
* EnvironmentalSymbolism:
** Every scene of Kong not in the Hollow Earth has him desperately fighting for his life, not there by his own will, in peril from the elements he is not prepared for and just not having a good time overall. All of this hammers that his home is in the Hollow Earth and there is nothing for him elsewhere.
** Godzilla and Kong's battle in Hong Kong showcase skyscrapers lit top to bottom in neon lights. Compared to the dreary, smoke filled wreckage in the last two Godzilla movies it comes across looking much more like a primetime wrestling match than a desperate battle for the fate of the planet. [[spoiler:When Godzilla really lays into Kong most of the skyscrapers have powered down in the destruction. And when Mechagodzilla rears its head it's daytime and all the neon is gone, going back to dreary battles for the planet. On top of that the mech is never seen outside its creation laboratory or a city, bringing in how artificial the creation is.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Josh's CowardlyLion personality, loyalty to Madison, and cautiousness are established in his first scene in the film. He's babbling nervousness and fears getting into trouble with his DisappointingOlderSibling (who's unlikely to notice a thing) and questions why he and Madison have to get involved. When Madison asks if he's coming or not, Josh says ''without hesitation or doubt'' that he's most certainly coming with her, then he bungles his attempt to open the van's side-door in a badass-seeming way.
** [[spoiler:As soon as Mechagodzilla gains a life on its own via King Ghidorah, it instantly kills the ones that dared try to control it, levels half of Hong Kong as soon as it sees the city [[ForTheEvulz purely because it can]], and then give Godzilla as close to a SlasherSmile as a robot can and begins trying to beat him to death.]]
* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: Much of the fights between Godzilla and Kong leave it up in the air who would win; largely depending on what [[HomeFieldAdvantage environment they're in]]. Godzilla is able to effortlessly beat Kong when he has the advantage of being in the ocean, thanks to being semi-aquatic. When Kong is given an area to fight Godzilla in with a lot of high-rise terrain to jump and hide behind (such as a city), he's able to get one over on the King. [[spoiler: Then it gets [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Godzilla starts getting the upper hand, [[GameBreakingInjury dislocates Kong's shoulder]], and very thoroughly defeats the Eighth Wonder. ]]
* {{Everything is an iPod in the Future}}: Ren's pocket-sized handheld holographic projector which gives a bright-blue 3D map of the Hollow Earth qualifies.
* EvilerThanThou:
** [[PowerfulButIncompetent Apex Cybernetics]] are on the lower end of this trope from the movie's {{Kaiju}} BigBad, [[spoiler:Ghidorah]]. Under [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Walter Simmons]]' direction, Apex think they're going to be the ones to kill Godzilla [[spoiler:after they've provoked him into threatening millions of people via EngineeredHeroics]], take back sole dominance of the planet [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence from the Titans]], and [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans ultimately establish a mega-corporate dystopia]], [[spoiler:using [[UndeadAbomination Ghidorah's undead skull]] as a telepathic control system for their HumongousMecha]]. However, [[spoiler:just like in the previous movie, Ghidorah in this continuity is nobody's puppet:]] the moment Apex get their machine fully charged, their obscene hubris and their ignorance of [[Film/Godzilla2014 Serizawa's famous words about the arrogance of man]] bite them in the ass [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains and they get supplanted]] [[spoiler:by Ghidorah: the system goes haywire as [[HijackedByGanon Ghidorah's remaining consciousness from the skull possesses Mechagodzilla for itself]], and it makes the machine [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn against its creators]], directly leading to Simmons and [[TheDragon Ren]]'s deaths (the novelization's wording even hints that the Mecha killed Simmons specifically as revenge for him trying to control it). Mechagodzilla then promptly goes on a rampage, [[KillAllHumans killing all humans]] it encounters and trying to kill [[GoodAllAlong Godzilla]] and Kong, with the implication that the Ghidorah-possessed Mecha will [[OmnicidalManiac pick right up where Ghidorah left off]] if it wins]].
** Another instance is {{implied}} in the novelization's prologue scene, with [[SmugSnake Walter Simmons]] once again on the losing end. When Simmons meets with TheMostWanted man [[spoiler:whom he ultimately buys Ghidorah's skulls from, a man who's all but stated to be [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Alan Jonah]] (whose EcoTerrorist and MisanthropeSupreme goals are the polar opposite of Simmons' bids for MugglePower)]]; the meeting starts with the two men on equal footing, and it ends with Simmons practically pleading for the wanted man to stay longer to further discuss the deal. [[spoiler:Contextually, the scene hints that everything Apex did with their Mechagodzilla plan which led to theirs and many other people's deaths was quite probably a BatmanGambit by Jonah]].
* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Apex decided to use King Ghidorah's remaining head for Mechagodzilla's control system. This results in Ghidorah hijacking their mech and instantly using it to kill them, and there's implications he'd been active the entire time and intentionally signaling Godzilla as part of his plans.]]
* EvilKnockoff: [[spoiler:Apex Cybernetics created a robotic version of Godzilla, which is ''superior'' to Godzilla, to act as the ''true'' defender of the world and put humanity back on top as the true Alpha species of the Earth.]]
* EvilWearsBlack: Ren is the biggest offender with his pitch-black overcoat and pitch-black casual shirt, but both of the Simmons family also favor wearing at least one black or partly-black garment during almost all of their screentime. And boy, are they villainous, what with them [[spoiler:deliberately engineering Godzilla's rampage and planning to murder him practically unprovoked]] for MugglePower and selfish motivations.
* ExactWords: Marketing media states that "One will fall". [[spoiler:This could either refer to Kong, who is beaten by Godzilla in their final bout (note that the wording is "fall" not "die") but could also be talking about Mechagodzilla (and, by extension, Ghidorah himself). Even Godzilla "falls" in his battle with Mechagodzilla, winded for the finale of the fight where it's all up to Kong, with Godzilla only assisting via empowering Kong's axe with his Atomic Breath.]]
* ExploringTheEvilLair: The majority of Team Godzilla's screentime and arc throughout the movie until the FinalBattle involves them sneaking around Apex Cybernetics' secret facilities while looking for answers about what Apex are hiding and how it influenced Godzilla's Pensacola attack. [[spoiler:The group find a cross-continental underground maglev network transporting Skullcrawler eggs, a testing arena which holds Mechagodzilla, and Ghidorah's wired-up skull, before they're finally caught by Apex's SwissCheeseSecurity and brought before [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Walter Simmons]]]].
* EyeAwaken: Kong has a dramatic one after being airlifted over Antarctica once the pulleys that were airlifting him snap after he's lowered to the ground. [[spoiler: And Mechagodzilla has the GlowingMechanicalEyes version when activating.]]
* EyeLightsOut: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla after his beheading by Kong, whose eyes slowly flicker and fade away as Kong brandishes his severed head.]]
* FaceHeelTurn:
** At the film's start, Godzilla is apparently attacking humanity for some unexplained reason, leading many to assume he's turned against them. Madison maintains that something has caused Godzilla to turn on humanity. [[spoiler:It's completely {{subverted}} when it's revealed Godzilla is chasing after and targeting Apex Cybernetics' facilities specifically, because he can sense [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King Ghidorah]]'s partly-alive telepathic neurons at their bases which are being incorporated into [[RobotMe Mechagodzilla]]. It just happens to seem like he's the BigBad due to misunderstandings ''and'' deliberate smokescreen from Apex, with Ghidorah's remains emitting a distorted version of his bio-acoustics signal which Godzilla can hear every time Mechagodzilla is activated]].
** A prologue scene in the novelization reveals that one of the oil rig-based black marketeers who captured Na Kika in ''Godzilla Dominion'' is a former Monarch operative who scarcely survived Na Kika/Kraken's escape during the previous story's events.
* FailedASpotCheck: Everybody (even Mark) is quick to assume that Godzilla has turned rogue when he starts attacking cities. [[spoiler: Yet they fail to see a pattern: in every one of those cities, Apex Cybernetics was there, and it was ''mostly'' Apex that was destroyed by Godzilla.]] Indeed the one time we are shown a death toll [[labelnote:*]]8 dead, 40 injured, 12 missing.[[/labelnote]], it is surprisingly low considering what Godzilla is capable of, indicating it is not humanity Godzilla is trying to attack.
* FamilyOfChoice: Team Kong. Kong and Jia formed a tight bond prior to the events of the film after Kong saved Jia's life from the storm that wiped out her people, Ilene unofficially adopted Jia after the aforementioned event and has been studying Kong for years (leading to her being rather protective of him), and Nathan is an old colleague of Ilene who similarly becomes fond of Kong and Jia over the course of the short time they spend together. [[spoiler:The final scene reveals that the four have formed a family unit together, with the three humans choosing to move with Kong to his new home of Hollow Earth]].
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Wouldn't be a Film/MonsterVerse film otherwise.
** First, [[spoiler: Kong tearing off a Warbat's head and slurping its brains out]]
** [[spoiler: Mechagodzilla sawing the skullcrawler in half (followed by its guts splattering on a window no less)]]
** During round 3, Godzilla pins Kong down and rips huge chunks of flesh out of his chest. And after that he stomps on his chest, and the sounds made and Kong's screams of pain imply that he broke a few ribs.
** [[spoiler: Mechagodzilla, being a robot, naturally gets the worst of this. After Godzilla charges his axe, Kong cleaves off both of his arms, one of his legs, and part of his tail before tearing out his head and spine]]
* FatalFlaw: For Nathan Lind, it's noted in the novelization that he frequently tends to be a DidntThinkThisThrough guy who thinks more about the end destination than about how he's realistically going to make a safe journey getting there. For [[BigBadWannabe Walter Simmons]], it's hubris, as he's so confident that he can topple the [[PhysicalGod Titans]] and so cognitively incapable of comprehending the mere notion that his EvilPlan might go wrong, it never occurs to him that [[spoiler:using '''Ghidorah's skull''' as the central component for Mechagodzilla's '''brain''']] might just be [[TooDumbToLive asking for his own doom]]. It's also shown that although Mark Russell has gotten over his grudge against Godzilla in the previous film, he's still as [[HotBlooded emotionally biased]] and judgmental as ever and he still has a tendency to get his head too stuck in the past to clearly focus on the present.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: [[spoiler:Mr. Simmons feels this way towards the Titans, and his entire motivation for creating Mechagodzilla is so that he can put humanity back on top of the food chain, despite how beneficial they've been to the world and all that Godzilla has done for humanity.]]
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: You can visibly see Kong reacting to Ilene signing to Jia that they want to help him, right before it's revealed that he understands sign language.
* ForceAndFinesse: Godzilla is the Force to Kong's Finesse. Godzilla is the bigger and stronger Titan, relying on his greater strength, BreathWeapon, and claws. Kong is the comparatively smaller one, who relies on his [[InASingleBound greater mobility]] and avoids Godzilla head on.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In the opening sequence, Godzilla's Monarch profile briefly plays a StockFootage clip of him [[Film/Godzilla2014 delivering the Kiss of Death upon Femuto]]. [[spoiler:At the climax of the film, this is how Mechagodzilla almost kills Godzilla before Kong interrupts the effort with a BigDamnHeroes]].
** In the opening title sequence, when Godzilla and Kong's stats are being compared, the only Titan defeated by Kong that gets a 3D-image profile highlighted to the audience is the Skullcrawlers whereas both Femuto and Ghidorah who were defeated by Godzilla respectively get their 3D profiles highlighted. Besides basically being a PreviouslyOn which sums up the previous Franchise/MonsterVerse films' {{Big Bad}}s, this foreshadows a few things in the film.
*** [[spoiler:Two of those Big Bads make a surprise return in the film: the Skullcrawlers when Team Godzilla unexpectedly happen across Skullcrawler eggs in Apex Cybernetics' possession and later encounter a Ramarak-sized adult, and Ghidorah when whatever's left of its mind in its skull awakens and takes over [=MechaGodzilla's=] programming, essentially making Ghidorah the main threat again]].
*** [[spoiler:It basically points out that Godzilla has had more experience defeating other Titans in the previous films, and one of them was a rival Alpha Titan whereas Kong has never fought another Alpha before now; foreshadowing that Godzilla has more extensive combat experience and that he's the ultimate winner of the title conflict once he gets serious]].
** Their very first exchange of blows on the aircraft carrier hints at how the battle will ultimately go: [[spoiler: Kong's punch staggers Godzilla a little, while Godzilla's retaliatory blow knocks Kong to the deck and leaves him wide open to be finished off by Godzilla's ray (only being saved by some jets opening fire on Godzilla and distracting him). Strong and tenacious as Kong is, Godzilla's far the more powerful creature.]]
** "I ''love'' crazy ideas!" It comes as no surprise that Walter Simmons is the main human BigBadWannabe of this film, but a lot of viewers were probably still shocked by [[spoiler:just ''[[TooDumbToLive how]]'' crazy one of the ideas Simmons and Ren have implemented really is: namely, exploiting Ghidorah's not-entirely-dead neural networks and hooking them up to [[WorldsStrongestMan MechaGodzilla]], much to Heyes and Madison's horror]].
** When Madison is driving the van, you can briefly hear Bernie's radio transmission mention that psionic link technology is real. This ends up being critical in the climax.
** "''Robotics. The human mind. Artificial intelligence.''" [[spoiler:And what does it turn out Apex Cybernetics is secretly building? A HumongousMecha, which we next learn is using an organic mind (specifically Ghidorah's neural tissue) to locomote, and then the Mecha becomes autonomous of the humans and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters does that thing that Artificial Intelligences are known for doing]]]].
** [[spoiler:Two times Mechagodzilla is supposed to be inactive, its eye glows and emits a sound non-unlike the ORCA which seems to signal Godzilla. Ren also kills the test Skull Crawler the same way Ghidorah beat Rodan. It turns out Ghidorah is still very much alive in there and he possesses Mechagodzilla once it's complete. The novelization adds another layer to this, as the signal is revealed to be an artificial version of Ghidorah's Alpha Call.]]
* FreezeFrameBonus:
** In the first trailer, play the first five seconds at the slowest speed. [[spoiler:Why, hello there, Mechagodzilla.]]
** As with the other films, the opening credits show names, as well as text attached to the names which contain information relevant to the plot or the world.
* FreudianExcuse:
** {{Implied}} for [[DaddysLittleVillain Maia Simmons]]. She was raised from birth by a corporate tycoon to think like him and does most of what she does to earn her father's approval. Considering said father is also a complete sociopath, it's not a surprise in hindsight that she ended up the way she did.
** The novelization goes into why [[BlackSheep Ren Serizawa]] has become the way he is. He felt [[ParentalNeglect severely neglected]] when growing up due to his father sacrificing time with his family in favor of devoting himself to his Monarch work, barely acknowledging Ren when he was around. A major turning point in the rift between father and son was when Ren had to organize his own mother's funeral at age eighteen, while his father was away on field work until two days after the ceremony. What fully drove Ren over to the dark side was Ishirō's untimely death by HeroicSacrifice when saving Godzilla (a creature Ren feels has been robbing him of his father his entire life), permanently robbing Ren of any chance at reconciliation.
** Notably averted in Walter Simmons' case. Whereas [[Film/KongSkullIsland Packard]], [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Jonah, Emma]] and [[DragonWithAnAgenda Ren]] all have fairly human reasons in their backstories for turning to villainy in the ways that they did, Simmons is given no such backstory, and he's shown to be a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] sociopath who's motivated to commit his heinous actions solely because of egomania and ambition. The novelization even slightly lampshades this when Mark Russell wonders if Simmons is acting out of grief at losing a loved one in a past Titan attack, a contrast to the explicit reality of the man.
* FusionDance: According to both Word of God and the novelization's expansion, Mechagodzilla's sentient consciousness once it forms is a result of this rather than being [[spoiler:Ghidorah's intact mind directly becoming a ManInTheMachine]]. The Mecha gains sentience due to [[spoiler:Ghidorah's subconsciousness in its skull]] mixing with the Mecha's artificial intelligence to create a new personality. The novelization hints in addition to this that Ren Serizawa's mind (who receives a DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation where his mind is devoured by the formation of the Mecha's mind) ends up getting digested to form a lesser part of the Mecha's mind and is likely what influences Mechagodzilla's fixation on killing Godzilla specifically.
* GambitPileup: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] is essentially this according to the novelization: Walter wants to use it to make humanity the apex species of life on Earth again, Ren wants to use it [[spoiler:to become an artificial god and kill Godzilla, and King Ghidorah's remains may potentially be using its ability to signal Godzilla to manipulate him and ultimately hijacks Mechagodzilla, something supported by the novelization, where it's explained to explicitly be an artificial version of Ghidorah's Alpha Call.]] In the end [[spoiler:Ren outplayed Walter, as he would've been in perfect position to kill him had things gone as planned, but Ghidorah outplayed Ren.]]
* GameBreakingInjury: [[spoiler:The final fight between Godzilla and Kong goes decisively in Godzilla's favor when Kong's shoulder gets dislocated, leaving him unable to defend himself effectively and letting Godzilla brutally overpower him.]]
* GenreThrowback: In many ways, the film fully embraces the Showa Era silliness Godzilla movies came to be known for, with impossibly elaborate and expensive constructions (like Kong's containment dome, Apex's antigrav tech and enormous underground transportation system, [[spoiler: Mechagodzilla itself]]), and stranger things like what amounts to a wormhole to the Hollow Earth and the impossible power source there simply existing with no explanation even attempted. Renowned actors are cast as the purely functional characters with only as much personality as necessary to move the plot forward, and the plot serves primarily to justify the monster fights, and those monster fights are lovingly rendered in top-notch CGI. All-in-all, it's a perfect example of an insane-yet-awesome [=60s=] Godzilla flick given a modern, big-budget blockbuster reskin.
* TheGlovesComeOff: Close to the end of the movie [[spoiler:Godzilla decides he's had enough. He begins flashing his intimidation display to show he's started taking this seriously and unleashes his full savagery on Kong, overwhelming and nearly killing him in short order.]]
* GodzillaThreshold: Played a few different ways. [[spoiler:Apex believes the mere existence of Godzilla justifies making Mechagodzilla, ''using King Ghidorah's parts to do so'', so that humanity will have a weapon to defend themselves. In turn, Godzilla himself feels this plan is so stupid he directly attacks humans for the first time this series. Apex needs access to the Hollow Earth to analyze the power source down there to get their Mechagodzilla fully operational, the only way to get there is by sharing their top secret proprietary technology with Monarch. And taking Kong off Skull Island, which will paint a giant target on Kong's back as Godzilla won't abide the presence of a rival. Finally, the threat of Mechagodzilla with Ghidorah in full control is so bad Kong and Godzilla [[EnemyMine team up]] to put him down and agree to stay out of each others' way from here on out.]]
-->'''Simmons''': Are you sure the monkey's going to survive this?\\
'''Lind''': Oh, he'll be fine. It's ''us'' I'd worry about.
* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:Apex built Mechagodzilla to be the Ultimate {{Robeast}} which can defeat any Titan on the planet, including alphas like Godzilla or Kong. Uploading Ghidorah's consciousness into the robot's AI was not a good idea, as not only did it drive Godzilla mad, but once Ghidorah hijacks the controls, the mecha goes on a rampage. Ultimately, uploading the mind of a destructive Titan into an anti-Titan weapon deconstructs man's desire to surpass nature and build the ultimate anti-Titan weapon. You wanted the ultimate anti-Titan weapon, humankind... you got the ultimate anti-Titan weapon]].
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler: It turns out that Godzilla didn't turn on humanity when he attacked the Apex facility. Apex was expirementing with Ghidorah's severed head to control Mechagodzilla. He [[GoodIsNotNice certainly wasn't nice]] about it but he was trying to stop a menace to all life on the planet.]]
* GoodColorsEvilColors: Godzilla has blue atomic breath, [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] has red.
* GoodIsNotNice: [[spoiler: Godzilla turns to be GoodAllAlong but he was still the biggest jerkass he's ever been in the series. His efforts to stop Apex's expirements with Ghidorah's head killed dozens of people, and when the US navy shoots him when he comes for Kong he destroys multiple ships. Even though he spares Kong, he still almost kills him, twice.]]
* GoodLipsEvilJaws: PlayedStraight after Godzilla [[spoiler:is revealed to be more or less GoodAllAlong]]. Whereas Godzilla and Kong both have expressive faces with lipped jaws, the Warbats [[spoiler:and Mechagodzilla]] have lipless jaws that show off unpleasant-looking teeth.
* GrandTheftMe: The {{novelization}} hints that [[spoiler:the Ghidorah skull]] does this to Ren Serizawa once Mechagodzilla becomes sentient. In the novel, Ren's mind is trapped inside the Mecha's as [[spoiler:the skull's Ghidorah consciousness]] takes control, but the invading consciousness also filters into Ren in a feedback loop before his mind is disintegrated, and later in the novel it's simply stated of Ren's fate (with no further elaboration), "She [Madison] [[NeverFoundTheBody found no sign of the pilot]]" inside the now-destroyed and rubble-strewn control room.
* GravityScrew: The Hollow Earth has strange gravitational anomalies which allows life to exist both on the inner surface of the mantle and the outer surface of the inner core (and a layer of floating asteroid-like rocks in the middle where the gravity on both sides are equal), as well as making it impossible for humans to enter on foot. Nathan mentions his brother tried to enter the Hollow Earth and was met with a ''gruesome'' death when a planet's worth of gravity instantly reversed on him. Titans can come through it unscathed since the mere fact they can live and move at all means they are strong and durable enough to laugh at the normal effects of gravity.
* GreaterScopeVillain:
** In turns out Mechagodzilla [[spoiler:is being piloted by Apex using the lingering {{telepathy}} in the skull of [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Ghidorah's severed head]]]], which [[spoiler:enables whatever's left of Ghidorah's consciousness to reincarnate into Mechagodzilla and essentially return as the BigBad]].
** The novelization reveals that Apex Cybernetics are responsible for [[spoiler:building the Oxygen Destroyer prototype which was fired by the military]] in the previous film, making them indirectly responsible for [[spoiler:King Ghidorah's entire NearVillainVictory when he gained control of the other Titans during the second half of the film, and for the massive loss of life around the world that occurred during the Titans' rampage]].
** In the film, nothing is mentioned of Alan Jonah or of how the skull of the severed Ghidorah head he obtained [[spoiler:has made its way into Apex Cybernetics' possession (especially considering that Apex's MugglePower agenda is diametric to Jonah's MisanthropeSupreme endgame)]]. The novelization however depicts a man who's ''heavily'' implied to be Jonah selling two of Ghidorah's skulls (don't ask us where the hell the second skull came from) to [[spoiler:Walter Simmons]], which would make Jonah indirectly responsible for the entire plot of the movie.
* GreatOffscreenWar: Throughout the film, an ancient global war between Kong's and Godzilla's ancestors is repeated alluded to, although [[TheUnreveal the details beyond that are left very vague]] (including why it happened or what the outcome was beyond the implication it contributed to the decline of both species).
* TheGreatSerpent: As a deliberate MythologyGag, Kong again defends the humans from a serpent monster (known as Warbat), except now there are two of them and they can fly.
* GreenRocks: The [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Tesseract]]-colored, crystalline {{Unobtainium}} in the HollowEarth can perform several different functions. It acts as the underworld's equivalent to a sun enabling ultraterrestrial life (including some if not all of the Earth-native Titans) to evolve and thrive there, it's apparently the source of Godzilla's bio-atomic powers, and [[EvilInc Apex]] believe that this substance can fully charge their SecretWeapon [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] (a feat which literally no manmade power source is powerful enough to do). It certainly does the latter, but it also has unexpected side-effects, [[spoiler:enabling the remaining consciousness in [[UndeadAbomination Ghidorah's haunted skull]] which is hooked up to Mechagodzilla to take over Mechagodzilla for itself, thereby leading to [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains Mechagodzilla supplanting Apex]] and setting up the film's FinalBattle]].
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Happens to an unfortunate Skullcrawler courtesy of Mechagodzilla at the Apex base, which is sliced in half ''lengthwise'' by the robot's mouth beam.]]
* HappyEndingOverride: The film does this for ''Film/KongSkullIsland''. Fifty years later, all of Kong's efforts to hold back the Skullcrawler horde and maintain his kingdom's natural balance have more or less come to naught, as the island's PerpetualStorm barrier has since completely enveloped it and rendered the conditions so hostile that the Iwi people were wiped out save for Jia. Monarch needed to construct a protective dome around ''Kong'' to keep him alive.
* HeadbuttingHeroes: Despite both Godzilla and Kong being portrayed as heroes in the series so far, this film shows them at each other's throats. There are three major reasons. 1. Their species have a longstanding rivalry. 2. As they are both Apex Predators they instinctively fight to make the other submit. And 3. [[spoiler:Godzilla is filled with murderous rage because Mechagodzilla is partially powered by the mind of King Ghidorah whose presence drives him nuts.]]
* HeroAntagonist: [[spoiler: Godzilla's true role in the film. His rampages are more akin to an angry bee line to Apex bases. The motive is hunting down the film's true villain]].
* HeldGaze: Kong and Jia have a tendency to personally lock eyes with each-other when Kong leans down to look at her. The novelization states this is Kong's way of telling her that he, as gigantic as he is, can see her and is glad of her presence.
* HiddenAgendaVillain:
** Probably the most poorly-received cut made to the film before its release is the decision to cut out [[TheDragon Ren Serizawa]]'s characterization to the point where the Serizawa BlackSheep is just an EliteMook with a special name, leaving it ambiguous in the finished film what led Ren to join Apex Cybernetics' {{corporate conspiracy}} and betray every single value that his late father and grandfather stood for. The novelization's expansion amends this with an exploration of Ren's past and motives.
** Ren isn't the only one either: [[spoiler:the novelization all but states that Alan Jonah [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 from the previous movie]] voluntarily sold Ghidorah's remains to Walter Simmons, but considering that Apex's warped ideals of corporate world domination and MugglePower over the Titans would be complete anathema to Jonah as a MisanthropeSupreme with delusions of [[EcoTerrorist eco-terrorism]], Jonah's reasons for allowing Apex to get their hands on such a thing are ambiguous]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: When Kong runs through the Hollow Earth towards his ancestral homeland, he passes through what seems to be a barren lava field. However, it turns out much of the rocky ground were actually the carapaces of Arachno-Claws which scatter as he passes by (and one of which gets eaten by a Foetodon).
* HighVoltageDeath: [[spoiler:Once Ghidorah's consciousness takes complete control of Mechagodzilla, Ren gets fried by electricity within the robot's control room]].
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:'''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King Ghidorah]]''' returns as the BigBad, both in influence and in actual presence as the Mechagodzilla. His influence causing Godzilla to go on a rampage to try and stop him due to his continued existence ([[BrainInAJar even reduced to a brain]]) meaning that Godzilla is still being contested as the Alpha thus not allowing him to gain the dominance needed to protect the world, necessitating Godzilla to seek out and destroy it. As for his presence, he takes over Mechagodzilla's programming, all but returning BackFromTheDead in full as the FinalBoss of the film.]]
* HijackingCthulhu: {{Subverted}}. It turns out [[spoiler:Apex are using the skull of Ghidorah's surviving severed head as the telepathic control mechanism for piloting Mechagodzilla. If you thought this was a stupid idea for a MugglePower organization, then you'd be right, since not only does the skull actively signal Godzilla to attack whenever Mechagodzilla is activated (with the novelization confirming Apex have no control of this), but once the Mecha is empowered with the Hollow Earth energy formula, Ghidorah's SoulFragment hijacks the Mecha for itself and makes it turn on Apex and attack humanity and Godzilla]].
* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Both Walter and Ren end up getting killed by Mechagodzilla.]]
* HollowWorld: The Hollow Earth. This concept features two terrestrial environments, one on the outside of the mantle facing inwards towards the core, and one on the outside of the core, including a belt of stones where the gravity between the two environments are equalized. The Hollow Earth is said to be where the Titans originate; an ecosystem humans never could have found where evolution took a different approach. The core leaks radiation in spots, which glows blue similar to Godzilla's spines and breath and allows Kong to empower his axe.
* HollywoodHacking: Subverted in the climax [[spoiler:Josh's only computer experience is with coding and randomly typing in pass codes just locks them out of the system. Instead a simple flask of whiskey solves the problem.]]
* HomefieldAdvantage:
** Godzilla and Kong's first fight leans heavily in the former's favor due to Kong being in transit over the ocean at the time, where Godzilla can move freely through the water while Kong has only the ships around him to stand on. Once Godzilla forces him into the water by blowing up the aircraft carrier Kong was on, he easily subdues Kong underwater. If it wasn't for the humans using high explosive depth charges to disorient Godzilla and release Kong from his grasp, Kong would have been drowned.
** In their second fight in Hong Kong, Kong has a slight advantage due to all the buildings around him that he can climb on to evade Godzilla's Atomic Breath attacks and get close enough to use his newfound axe on Godzilla directly. This allows him to knock Godzilla down for the first time. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, [[LetsGetDangerous Godzilla decides to stop playing around after that]] and attacks Kong ferociously and rapidly, giving Kong no breathing room to escape and use the buildings as cover. It ends with Godzilla being the definitive winner of the fight.]]
* HonorBeforeReason: A non-human example with Godzilla and Kong. Their feud ultimately serves to distract from the actual problem at hand, [[spoiler: namely the creation and rise of Mechagodzilla (and the inadvertent resurrection of Ghidorah)]], but they still pursue it due to a combination of Godzilla's inability to tolerate any potential challengers to his dominance and Kong's refusal to submit to anyone.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter:
** Dr. Nathan Lind, who is [[DevilInPlainSight Apex Cybernetics]]' UnwittingPawn through whom Apex are able to manipulate Monarch into helping them enter the HollowEarth, shows no signs of even ''suspecting'' that Apex might be untrustworthy and have ulterior motives. Whilst Nathan is anything '''but''' [[HumansAreMorons the only person who falls for Apex's deceit]], the novelization shows that most of Monarch, including those willing to collaborate with Apex, have at least ''some'' suspicions based on the company's shady past [[spoiler:with the [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Oxygen Destroyer]]'s development]]: Nathan is ''not'' one of those people, trusting Walter Simmons almost-unconditionally based on the latter's corporate celebrity status and renown.
** In the movie version, Mark Russell appears to [[EasilyCondemned Easily Condemn]] Godzilla after his first attack without any rational evidence that Godzilla has truly [[FaceHeelTurn gone bad]], even though it's established knowledge, [[TookALevelInDumbass which Mark should know better than most people do]], that Godzilla only ever attacks something when he's provoked by a threat. Mark gets extra points in the novelization, where he's so wrapped up in his SecretlySelfish delusions that [[UnderestimatingBadassery Madison]] is {{just a kid}} who can't handle herself and doesn't know anything; that he ''actually'' thinks bossing her around and trying to [[MyBelovedSmother helicopter her]] to keep her away from Titan business ''won't'' blow up in his face, even though she's a known headstrong borderline RebelliousSpirit.
* HumansAreMorons: Besides Apex Cybernetics' obscenely TooDumbToLive [[spoiler:use of Ghidorah's head]]; none of the human cast except for the three-man Team Godzilla bother to ask ''why'' Godzilla is acting hostile now or why he only attacked the Apex facility, even though asking those questions would only amount to basic common sense and is ''absolutely critical'' to working out why the crisis is occurring so it can be properly resolved. Worse, [[DevilInPlainSight absolutely no-one except for Team Godzilla casts any suspicion on Apex until it's too late, even though it was their facility that Godzilla focused his destruction on while largely sparing the surroundings]]. Instead, Team Kong jump straight into the "shoot first and ask questions later" mindset in regards to neutralizing Godzilla, and they take it the extra mile by working with ''Apex'' of all people on that objective and suspecting almost nothing of their corporate benefactor's ulterior motives.
* HumanHammerThrow:
** Once he gets to the [[spoiler:Hollow Earth]], Kong fights two giant serpent kaiju, known as Warbats, and swings one of them by its tail to attack the other.
** [[spoiler:Godzilla finds himself on the receiving end of this courtesy of Mechagodzilla during the final battle]].
* HumongousMecha: A FreezeFrameBonus at the beginning of the first trailer shows [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla rampaging through a city. He features in the finale as the final BigBad, being a weapon created by APEX with the goal of killing all the Titans, but in the upload of Hollow Earth energy accidentally reawakens Ghidorah's mind]].
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** [[HolierThanThou Mark Russell]] asks (more like ''[[MyBelovedSmother commands]]'') that Madison blindly trust in him and put faith in him, without giving her either of those things in return. This is even more prominent in the novelization than it is in the movie's final cut.
** The novelization gives Ren Serizawa a few cases of this:
*** Ren considers Godzilla a monster who's undeserving of his heroic reputation because of the thousands of collateral deaths that have occurred in his fights against other Titans, and he thinks it's appalling that his father would advocate "let[ting] them fight" because of the collateral damage the Titans' battles cause. Yet Ren himself never once spares a thought for the millions of innocent people whom he and Simmons are knowingly putting in Godzilla's warpath in Hong Kong, and he doesn't seem to comprehend that even if Apex's [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] project had been a success, it would've caused just as much collateral as Godzilla since it's designed to fight off Titans the same way Godzilla already does.
*** Ren dismisses the notion that the Titans are gods and insists they're nothing more than animals meant to be mastered, but he positively ''relishes'' in [[GodhoodSeeker feeling like a god]] when he's [[spoiler:in control of Mechagodzilla]] to the point of feeling he can only be "what he was meant to be" if he's able to use it indefinitely. This is furthermore hypocritical to his beliefs that humanity's figures of prominence and their empires are fleeting whilst the human race always continues advancing past their deaths.
*** While Ren thinks derisively of Simmons' egotism because Ren doesn't particularly care if his name is remembered for his contributions to human advancement, again, he seems to be oblivious to the fact he's incredibly arrogant himself: he has the hubris to think he's a mental god trapped in a mortal's body [[spoiler:when he's linked to Mechagodzilla]], and that's not even going into what he as Apex's chief technology officer did [[spoiler:with Ghidorah's skull]].
* IfIWantedYouDead: [[spoiler: At the end of their fight, Godzilla has Kong dead-to-rights, and makes it clear that if he wanted to, he could easily kill him; however, since Kong (unlike Ghidorah) is a part of the natural order, Godzilla more desires his submission than his death, made clear when he roars in a prone Kong's face. In spite of this, Kong [[DefiantToTheEnd just roars back]]. Godzilla simply leaves him to die.]]
* IgnoredExpert:
** Ren Serizawa ends up being a villainous case of this. When Apex get the Hollow Earth energy formula, Simmons impulsively orders it be uploaded to Mechagodzilla immediately, over Ren's protests that they have no idea what unexpected side-effects it might have on the technology if they rush through things without even the most basic of testing. [[spoiler:The result is that, whether due to the energy source directly awakening him or due to his new body now being complete, Ghidorah's remnant consciousness in the skull hijacks the Mecha for itself and destroys Apex]].
** In the novelization only, Mark Russell ends up being this when he realizes before Godzilla's first attack that the Titan is about to make landfall at a population center -- he tries to raise the alarm, but his Monarch colleagues don't listen until it's too late due to Godzilla's heroic reputation.
* IGotBigger: Back in 1973 Kong was basically a teenager, so by the present he's now an adult, with the trailers showing that he's become just as tall as Godzilla.
* ImplacableMan: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Mechagodzilla]] turns out to be this. He's completely unfazed by Godzilla or Kong, able to power through all of their attacks, even together, and wipes the floor with both of them at once without missing a beat. It's only thanks to a brief malfunction due to its [[WeaksauceWeakness remote control panel being sabotaged]] that ''any'' pause is given long enough for Godzilla give Kong the means to kill it for good.]]
* ImpossiblyGracefulGiant: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is decked out with not only rocket-powered punches but has jets on its back to allow it to have incredible ramming power. As a by-product, it is able to almost quite literally run circles around Godzilla. It takes Kong and Godzilla working together to pin it down, and later having its control panel short-circuited, for them to really land any good blows on it.]] Kong and Godzilla also move even faster and more agilely than in prior films, which already amped up the fighting speed.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: The main cast includes two teenagers (Madison and Josh) and a little girl (Jia). Though they are put through perilous situations throughout the film, all three of them make it out okay in the end.
* InconsistentSpelling: "Mechagodzilla" (as the movie's subtitles and novelization spell it), or "[=MechaGodzilla=]" (as a screen in Apex's HQ and the film's toy merchandise spell it)? Also, in the novelization, Ishirō Serizawa's first name is mispelled "Ichiro".
* InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike: For the record, the "Kong" in "King Kong" and "Hong Kong" are false friends: King Kong's "Kong" is inspired by Congo, which ultimately traces its etymology to the Kongo language, meaning "to gather". Hong Kong's "Kong" is a Cantonese-English romanisation, meaning "harbour" (the same one seen in the background of the battle).
* InsecureProtagonistArrogantAntagonist: '''On the heroes' side:''' Nathan Lind of Team Kong is initially plagued by guilt, and he's wracked with doubt about the mission to access the HollowEarth, because of his spectacular failure the previous time he attempted it which led to his brother's death; and he's [[UnwittingPawn easily manipulated]] to boot. [[JustAKid Madison Russell]] of Team Godzilla has issues with a father who has no faith in her and refuses to listen to her (even more so in the novelization than in the movie), and she's determined to prove him and everyone else wrong about Godzilla's alleged FaceHeelTurn, as she's one of the ''only'' people convinced that Godzilla is acting out for a good reason. '''On the villains' side:''' [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]] are among the most ''supremely'' [[{{Pride}} arrogant, hubristic]] and [[TooDumbToLive self-destructive]] antagonists that the Franchise/MonsterVerse has seen yet (''especially'' their [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] leader, [[SmugSnake Walter Simmons]], who is practically a pure personification of modernist hubris); but beyond being technologically-skilled, Apex are repeatedly put in a good position to achieve their goals, thanks to their reliance on subterfuge coupled with this movie's application of the HumansAreMorons trope to humanity all round. Ultimately, it's [[SelfDisposingVillain solely Apex's own actions that cause their downfall]].
* IntimidationDemonstration:
** Godzilla flashing light from his dorsal spines as an intimidation display -- something he only does when he's up against an ''extremely'' dangerous foe like with Ghidorah in the previous movie -- when he attacks Apex Pensacola clues Madison in that he ''hasn't'' just turned on humanity and that something big which nobody has noticed is provoking him.
** [[spoiler:Upon breaking out of Victoria Peak, Mechagodzilla just before it confronts Godzilla razes down half of Hong Kong Central with its Proton Scream inside of a few seconds, all within Godzilla's direct line of sight]].
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Of a sort; When Godzilla nicks Kong in the Hong Kong battle, we're given an up-close front-facing shot of Godzilla chuckling to himself in satisfaction. When Mechagodzilla fully frees himself from the Apex base and torches several buildings worth of humans, Ghidora gives off a similar chuckle with the same camera angle.]]
* ItCanThink:
** As is the norm, both titular monsters come across as far more intelligent than their appearances suggest with both showing adaptive and reasoning skills.
** The Monarch crew express incredulity when they witness Kong communicating with Jia using sign language.
** [[spoiler:After the humans lose control of Mechagodzilla, it develops a mind of its own courtesy of Ghidorah's brain having been integrated into it and begins attacking autonomously. One scene in particular shows he may have been in control much earlier: when Ren and Walter are discussing the Hollow Earth energy source to fix Mechagodzilla's power issues (with Ren still hooked up to Ghidorah's brain and in his skull), the eye of the seemingly deactivated Mechagodzilla starts up again and begins emitting an ORCA-like tone, and only ''then'' does Godzilla sense the robot.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Walter Simmons, and also Ren Serizawa in the novelization, are guilty of this. Simmons is a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist who uses MugglePower as justification for building Mechagodzilla and seeking to usurp Godzilla, but really his EvilPlan boils down solely to feeding his own ego and specifically putting ''himself'' at the top of the food chain rather than actually helping anybody. Ren's motivations are largely unexplained in the film, but the novelization reveals he joined Apex's EvilPlan (which sacrifices millions of innocent lives) and personally wants Godzilla dead, all because he blames the 300-foot lizard for his ParentalNeglect issues with his father.
** Mark Russell may have gotten over his hatred of Godzilla after the previous film, but he's still an egocentric prick. This shows in how he jumps to a conclusion about Godzilla's first attack based solely on what he went through with Emma's betrayal without any objective real evidence that the same thing is currently happening with Godzilla, not hesitating to use pity for himself to guilt-trip Madison into shutting up when he doesn't want to hear something; and even moreso in the novelization, with how Mark's parenting style since gaining custody of Madison amounts to "if it's what I want, then it must be what you want too, and I don't care how much you say it's not what you want and it's making you miserable, I want you to keep trying".
* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll: Kong's "palace" and the source of the Hollow Earth energy ''just so happens'' to be directly below Hong Kong, relative to Godzilla at least (he burrows in through the palace floor), where Godzilla is at the moment they discover it. Justified to an extent, as Godzilla could reach them from almost anywhere on Earth given their proximity to the core. Hong Kong still provides a convenient angle, though.
* ItsPersonal:
** For most of the film, Kong is uninterested in fighting Godzilla for dominance. However, [[spoiler:Kong reaches his RageBreakingPoint in the climax when Godzilla blasts his atomic breath through the ground into Hollow Earth, destroying Kong's ancestral home and finally driving the ape to fight Godzilla all-out]].
** [[spoiler:{{Implied}} with Mechagodzilla once it becomes sentient with Ghidorah's consciousness remnants. Once more, Godzilla and King Ghidorah are shown to utterly despise one another. Godzilla's entire rampage is due to sensing Ghidorah's not entirely dead yet. The nanosecond Ghidorah's remains hijack Mechagodzilla, it nigh instantly tries to brutally beat Godzilla to death and prioritizes him over Kong.]]
** It's revealed in the novelization that Ren Serizawa does indeed want to kill Godzilla largely due to MisplacedRetribution over his father's death in the previous film, and moreso because Ren blames Godzilla for a lifetime of neglect by his father (who committed his life and most of his time to studying Godzilla) and for his father's HeroicSacrifice to revive Godzilla in the previous film permanently dashing Ren's hopes of reconciling with his father.
** The novelization also reveals that Bernie Hayes has a very personal beef with [[CorporateConspiracy Apex Cybernetics]] during his efforts to expose their true colors. He believes that the death of his wife Sara was a deliberate hit by Apex [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident disguised as a mundane traffic accident]][[spoiler:, because she [[SheKnowsTooMuch stumbled upon Apex's secret plans to help the U.S. military build the Oxygen Destroyer]]]]; so Bernie has every intention of finishing what Sara started and pegging Walter Simmons for the evil bastard he really is.
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Godzilla nearly kills Kong, and doesn't care about killing humans who stand between him and his target. [[spoiler:But after Kong saves him from Mechagodzilla, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold the old Titan buries the hatchet, nevermind the fact that the revelation of WHY Godzilla was attacking makes the extremes he went to borderline-justifiable]].]]
** Despite getting over his initial anger and grief in ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', Mark Russell is still just as HotBlooded, [[HolierThanThou self-righteous]], and [[ItsAllAboutMe prone to feeling sorry for himself foremost]] as he's ever been, on top of being ''at least'' as bull-headed as before. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Although Mark still loves Madison]]; during one of their only two direct interactions in the film (and yet another time in the movie's B-roll footage), Mark acts like he knows better than her whilst refusing to give her a ''single ounce'' of the respect that she's earned [[UnderestimatingBadassery after her heroism in the previous movie]], and he also quickly uses pity for himself to guilt-trip Madison into shutting up when she persist in calling him out and trying to talk sense into him.
*** It's worse in the novelization's expansion. Here, Mark has not only ''refused'' to acknowledge his daughter as anything more than the naïve, normal kid that he [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent wishes she was]] -- despite his reaction to her running off establishing that he ''does'' know better deep down but he [[SelectiveObliviousness just chooses to ignore it]], meaning not even HorribleJudgeOfCharacter can excuse his behavior towards her -- but he's actually stupid enough to resort to bossing Madison around or outright helicoptering her without making any effort to treat her like an equal when he can't get his own way with her, as if this will accomplish anything except pushing her to do exactly what he's trying to avert. Madison observes in the novel that Mark is really being SecretlySelfish, because he [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent just wants a daughter he can better control and coddle instead of acknowledging what his daughter actually]] ''[[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent is]]'', showing how Mark [[ItsAllAboutMe only thinks about his loved ones' feelings insofar that they affect his own]] and he doesn't think about how ''his'' unhealthy choices and actions are hurting '''them'''.
** Maia Simmons is the JerkWithAHeartOfJerk [[DoubleSubversion version]]. From her introduction, she acts like a snooty, aloof and obnoxious RichBitch to the rest of Team Kong, and she doesn't care much at all for Kong himself, but she has a PetTheDog moment where she runs to Jia's aid, and her attitude seems to mellow after she's shaken by her first-hand experience of Godzilla's attack on the naval fleet. [[spoiler:However, Maia still betrays the rest of Team Kong in the HollowEarth to further her father's plan, coldly threatens them with guns, and doesn't hesitate to leave them all to near-certain and horrible deaths once she no longer needs them]].
* TheJuggernaut: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla shows off his nearly unstoppable mechanical strength once more, giving Godzilla probably his worst beating ever. Even when Kong is revived to even the odds, Mechagodzilla is ''still'' able to overpower the two Alpha Titans ''together''. Only after the humans momentarily short-circuit Mechagodzilla's psionic connection to the Ghidorah brain are the pair just barely able to triumph.]]
** Godzilla himself. When he attacks the fleet carrying Kong it is made very clear by the end that there was no chance of beating him. The ships and aircraft didn't have any weapons that could do more than annoy him, and when Kong was forced to fight Godzilla up close, he was overpowered and only made it through because the humans intervened. [[spoiler: When the two square off again they're more evenly matched, but Godzilla's greater experience in Titan fights means Kong is still decisively defeated.]]
* JustEatGilligan: If Mark Russell and the rest of Monarch had exhibited the common sense to take Mad Truth and Madison's pointers that Godzilla is attacking Apex Cybernetics facilities seriously, Monarch would've probably caught onto Apex sooner, and they would've been able to either launch a full investigation before Mechagodzilla came online or get more people evacuated from Hong Kong -- they might've even contacted Dr. Lind and Dr. Andrews and warned them to call off the HEAV expedition to the Hollow Earth due to Apex being suspect.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Walter and Ren]] get their just desserts courtesy of [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla and Ghidorah's skull respectively; the monster that they created and the monster that they enabled to essentially come BackFromTheDead through sheer LethallyStupid]]. Maia gets killed by [[spoiler:Kong]] just moments after she [[spoiler:betrays Team Kong, and as a direct result of [[TooDumbToLive shooting at Kong]]]].
* KillerGorilla: Played with for Kong: he's normally a GentleGiant, but he can be incredibly brutal in dispatching his foes, [[spoiler:most notably Mechagodzilla whom he dismembers and decapitates with his axe.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler:King Ghidorah, again. The first time his presence is brought up, all comedy drains out of the scene. When he finally hijacks Mechagodzilla and takes over his role as the main villain, the stakes go from 'find Kong a new home and a territorial dispute between him and Godzilla' to 'stop Ghidorah from killing them both and resuming his destruction of the planet.']]
* KnightTemplar: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Walter Simmons]] and [[EvilGenius Ren Serizawa]][[note]][[HiddenAgendaVillain The latter]] was confirmed by the novelization and Word of Sain Paul[[/note]] think they're acting in mankind's best interests, because their CorporateConspiracy involves perfecting a strictly human-controlled, Titan-combating HumongousMecha with which humans would no longer need to rely on or wait for Godzilla and/or Kong to come and save them when a hostile Titan attacks; then installing this Mecha as the new global Alpha Titan that the other Titans would be more liable to defer to. Not a bad idea in principle, especially when considering how overwhelmingly outmatched humanity is relative to the Titans, ''but'':
## Simmons and Ren want Mechagodzilla to foremost murder and supplant one of the few Titans whose continued supremacy has actually been in human civilization's best interests ([[UngratefulBastard and who also saved mankind and the Earth from certain extinction one movie ago]]), so as to eliminate the competition (Simmons) and satiate a petty personal vendetta (Ren). And it's furthermore hinted that Simmons and/or Ren would've afterwards gone on to murder Kong (a Titan who's [[NiceGuy even more explicitly on humanity's side]]) just because he has the ''potential'' to challenge Mechagodzilla.
## It's indicated in the novelization that Apex's corporate conspiracy have committed outright murder solely to keep a past company scandal buried.
## Simmons and Ren instigated the entire conflict of the movie in the first place. [[spoiler:The only reason Godzilla is active and attacking cities containing Apex facilities is because he can sense Apex's experiments are creating a mechanical rival to his dominance that has ''[[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]]''[='s=] consciousness inside it, five years after Godzilla and humanity fought side-by-side to thwart Ghidorah's active global efforts to destroy all life in the world as we know it. Simmons and Ren are aware that their experiments are provoking Godzilla's rampage, and they're deliberately continuing them while putting as many people as possible in Godzilla's warpath for the sake of turning the usurpation plot into EngineeredHeroics]].
## [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Simmons]] is a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] {{narcissist}} who is motivated to usurp Alpha Titans that are on humanity's side, and he knowingly gets millions of people needlessly hurt and killed, solely to feed his own ego rather than out of any genuine concern for his fellow man. Hell, Simmons doesn't even ''bother'' all that much to justify himself once Madison rips his "defending humanity" excuse to shreds. Ren isn't much better, being a PsychopathicManchild with a grudge over an absent father. And one or both of these two people will be in control of the new all-powerful king of all life on Earth, potentially including the worldwide {{kaiju}} [[PersonOfMassDestruction of mass destruction]], if their plans for Mechagodzilla succeed.
## It's hinted in the movie and novelization, and explicitly confirmed by the art book, that what Simmons ''really'' wants in the long term after using Mechagodzilla to effectively make his company the new King of the Monsters is to [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans usher in a new age of corporate dystopia]], with no-one else in the world able to challenge Apex due to them being able to use Mechagodzilla to cow and threaten anyone they want.
## It really can't be overstated how self-destructively conceited Apex are. [[spoiler:Thinking that it was a good idea to [[MugglePower take the whole Earth back from the Titans for humanity]] by using ''what's left of '''Ghidorah's''' brain'' as their artificial Alpha Titan's '''own brain''', without installing overwhelming emergency safeguards, was stupid enough; but Simmons insisting that they infuse Mechagodzilla with the GreenRocks without conducting even ''basic'' testing on the rocks beforehand, just because Simmons is over-excited to see his dream come true, was just ''begging'' to become the [[Film/JurassicPark InGen or BioSyn]] of this movie]].
## Humans and Titans were effectively living in a complete peacetime with each-other before Apex set their plan in motion, and that peacetime would ''still'' be around in full force if Apex had never acted, meaning that Apex's plan was completely unnecessary to humanity's well-being in the current climate.
## As the last three [=MonsterVerse=] movies have shown, HumansAreMorons who caused all of the hostile Titans' world-threatening emergences in the first place, and they often then made the situation ''even worse'' than it already was before they helped Godzilla and/or Kong to make it any better. So it's not really a stretch to say that maybe humans in the [=MonsterVerse=] demonstrably don't '''deserve''' to be the planet's dominant species again, after throwing the balances maintained by Godzilla and Kong out of whack through stupidity and arrogance over and over again with both humanity and entire ecosystems like Skull Island (which has been obliterated as an indirect consequence of the previous movie's events) paying the price.
* LackOfEmpathy: Walter Simmons, and also Ren Serizawa in the novelization: for all their respective delusions and posturing about putting humanity back on the top of the food chain over all the Titans, they both display ''zero'' emotional regard for the thousands to millions of people whom their actions have ''directly'' put in harm's way, [[spoiler:with them provoking and exploiting Godzilla's rampage to create EngineeredHeroics with the Mechagodzilla project]]. {{Downplayed}} with a Monarch operative named Ben, who doesn't understand Kong's frustrations at being forced to live inside a bio-dome's cramped environment.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Godzilla spends most of the movie roughing up Kong for not good reason. He later ends up on the receiving end of this from MechaGodzilla and has to be saved BY Kong.
* LastOfTheirKind: Besides Godzilla and Kong, Jia is the last of the Iwi tribe after the tribe were wiped out by the PerpetualStorm barrier overtaking Skull Island. This gets a little PlayedForDrama with Kong when he enters the Hollow Earth hoping to find others of his kind.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: This film is pretty much the poster child for the trope, as the two titans come to blows for their own respective reasons but [[spoiler: end up on the same side due to Mechagodzilla aka Ghidorah.]]
* LighterAndSofter: It's really saying something when the movie opens with Kong yawning and scratching his butt. In contrast to the previous dramatic and serious Monsterverse installments, the general vibe of ''GVK'' is pure fun, enthusiasm and lightheartedness. As an example, Kong has grown downright adorable in personality and even ''appearance'' from the rather intimidating and grouchy adolescent he was back in 1973. Mechagodzilla as an antagonist, while a destructive threat, carries more of an exciting and impressive air than the grim and hard-hitting one Ghidorah does. And that's not even mentioning the ending, which, unlike the [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] ones in the previous films, is flat-out [[HappyEnding sweet and cheerful.]]
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Amongst Team Kong, Dr. Ilene Andrews is the Light Feminine and Maia Simmons is the Dark Feminine, although they're both brunettes. Andrews is a casually-dressed and maternal figure who is Jia's ParentalSubstitute and is concerned for Kong's well-being, and she's the second most grounded and cautious member of the team when it comes to manipulating Kong and meddling with the Hollow Earth's energy. Maia on the other hand is played by the stunning Creator/EizaGonzalez and always wears something that fits nicely around her form throughout her screentime; and she's confident (at first), but she's also rude, aloof, and all she cares about is [[WellDoneDaughterGirl completing the mission her father gave her]], [[spoiler:betraying the rest of the team once they get in her way]].
* LikeFatherUnlikeSon:
** [[AntagonisticOffspring Ren Serizawa]] very much. His demeanor in his early scenes is a reminder of his late father, but it becomes clear as the film progresses that the only trait he shares with his late father beyond appearances is a genius-level intellect. Apart from that, Ren could not be more different from Ishirō Serizawa, having joined Apex's hubris-filled and stunningly reckless and TooDumbToLive plan to usurp Godzilla in the name of MugglePower which callously sacrifices thousands of innocent lives.
** Madison is also presented this way compared to Mark in the novelization. Whereas Mark has only rejoined Monarch out of a sense of duty and would love to have a normal life where he never has to deal with Titans again, Madison is more JumpedAtTheCall, and it's a source of strain in their relationship due to Mark being a MyBelovedSmother and FantasyForbiddingFather.
* LogicalWeakness:
** Being an ape means Kong isn't an adept swimmer. When Godzilla drags him into the ocean, Kong would have drowned without the humans intervening. Like real apes he's also not adapted to survive in the cold so bringing him to Antartica would kill him if he didn't get to the warmer environments in the Hollow Earth.
** Likewise, Mechagodzilla has a couple. Due to it being a machine [[spoiler:possessed by Ghidorah's subconsciousness, it lacks its previous identity's ability to regenerate or absorb energy, and thus once a way to deal serious damage to it is found, any mutilations done to its metal body are permanent]]. It's also due to how Apex built it still reliant on its satellite link to function even after [[spoiler:Ghidorah's subconsciousness hijacks it (or so it seems, with disrupting the satellite link only making the Mecha fizzle out momentarily)]].
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair:
** {{Implied}} to have happened with Kong's ancestors. They originally dwelled in the HollowEarth alongside the Iwis' ancestors, where they formed a civilization which made ingenious and grand things, including Titan-sized axes which used ''Titanus Gojira'' dorsal fins to harness the latter species' bio-atomic powers, [[spoiler:a full-fledged temple vast enough to fit more than a dozen grown Titans in, and sculptures and statues of ''Titanus Kong''; exhibiting '''human''' levels of intellect and architectural ingenuity]]. Kong's ancestors went to war against Godzilla and/or his species at some point[[note]][[spoiler:note that the movie demonstrates in the present day with the titular two endlings of those species that Godzilla physically far outclasses and easily overwhelms Kong once the former stops playing around, even when Kong is armed with one of his ancestors' ''T. Gojira'' axes – "what is a king to a god" indeed]][[/note]]; ''Titanus Kong'' afterwards disappeared from the Hollow Earth entirely, and all that remained of their species was located on Skull Island, where we know they were whittled down by the Skullcrawlers until [[LastOfHisKind just one young endling remained]]. The novelization specifies that ''Titanus Kong'' were actually driven out of the Hollow Earth to Skull Island after losing the conflict they waged with Godzilla. In the present day, all that's left of ''Titanus Kong'' is the named LastOfHisKind, whose knowledge of his ancestors begins and ends with [[GeneticMemory biologically-ingrained homing instincts]]; [[spoiler:and all that's left of the Kong species' once-impressive civilization are the now-desolate relics and monuments they left behind in the Hollow Earth, many of which get destroyed during this movie thanks to Godzilla and Apex's actions]].
** [[ResearchInc Apex Cybernetics]] are a powerful multi-national tech corporation with ties to Monarch who have recently engineered amazing, cutting-edge technology that looks like it wouldn't be around in RealLife for at least another decade from 2023, and they're ''made of this trope''. Apex have recently developed cross-continental magnetic levitation train pod tunnels, and the [=HEAVs=] for entering the Hollow Earth. But above all, Apex's crowning ambition is to create a Titan-killing [[EvilKnockoff cybernetic copy of Godzilla]] so they can use it to kill and usurp the King of the Monsters himself, take over or exterminate the other Titans, and then [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans take over the world]]; and they've invested trillions of dollars, a massive CorporateConspiracy, [[spoiler:and EngineeredHeroics the likes of which would see them dragged in front of the International Court of Justice and tried for crimes against humanity in any ''remotely'' just world if they were ever found out]]. However, Apex using unrefined GreenRocks [[spoiler:and using a malicious, undead but still cognitively-active DraconicAbomination]] in Mechagodzilla's systems [[spoiler:both at the same time]] results in the machine going rogue [[spoiler:under the undead Ghidorah' s influence, and it wastes no time [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters massacring Mechagodzilla's former masters]], posing an existential threat to humanity while [[KillAllHumans doing exactly what Apex claimed the Mecha would stop the Titans from doing first]]]].
* MacrossMissileMassacre:
** Apex's [=HEAVs=] mount pretty sizable racks of missiles that can damage even large Hollow Earth monsters.
** It just wouldn't be Mechagodzilla without mounting more missiles than a regiment of [[TabletopGame/BattleTech BattleMechs]]. [[spoiler:Mecha G opens with a salvo that even Godzilla can't just shrug off, and concept artist [[https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/niq8wk/comment/gz3jhhb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Jared Krichevsky]] confirmed on Reddit that Mechagodzilla has another rocket launcher hidden in his chest]].
* MagicalDefibrillator: When Kong begins suffering heart failure from the injuries he received in his fight against Godzilla, the human heroes rig the [=HEAV=] (which is said to to have enough energy to power Las Vegas for a week) to overload on his chest. The shock is enough to bring Kong back to his feet and, after he forces his dislocated arm back into socket, [[spoiler:ready to fight Mechagodzilla]]. That said, the trope is downplayed because Kong's heart was ''slowing'' at the time rather than stopped.
* MakesUsEven: [[spoiler:After Mechagodzilla is dealt with, Godzilla returns and Kong is expecting another brawl, although he's wounded and doesn't seem to want one. Godzilla leaves him be when Kong drops his axe]].
%%* MammalMonstersAreMoreHeroic
* MassOhCrap:
** Team Godzilla have one when the three of them discover [[spoiler:the skull of [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Ghidorah's decapitated left head]] in Apex's headquarters, wired up and being used as the hub of [=MechaGodzilla's=] neural pathways]].
** ''Everyone'' has one in quick succession when [[spoiler:Ghidorah possesses Mechagodzilla and goes on the rampage.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
** Jia and Kong's relationship has aspects of this: while [[spoiler:Kong understands sign language and it's largely how Jia talks to ''him'']], Jia seems to know what Kong is feeling and thinking at all times. Whether it's just her knowing him that well or some mystical/telepathic connection (something the credits of the last movie alluded to) is unclear. Adding to it, the novelization sees Kong notice Jia in need of help directly after she says a silent Iwi prayer to him. Whether it was a coincidence or her prayer somehow summoned him is unclear.
** The Hollow Earth in ''general''. While largely talked about in scientific terms, it's an EldritchLocation where gravity doesn't work the same as it does anywhere else. The Hollow Earth energy source is also unclear as to ''what'' it is, but seemingly has magical properties. While the Titans metabolize radiation into it, this only raises further questions, as it is what causes their healing effect on the environment. [[spoiler:Apex is able to replicate it, but it's made clear they don't actually ''understand'' it.]]
** There's some ambiguity as to [[spoiler:whether Ghidorah's consciousness surviving is due to [[BizarreAlienBiology his alien biology]] or [[HauntedTechnology his soul literally possessing his mechanical shell]]. Ren notes in the novelization that it shouldn't be possible for Ghidorah's mental processes to persist in his ''bones'' and Madison flat out suggests Ghidorah's soul has possessed Mechagodzilla. Ghidorah is also revealed to be flat out telepathic. It's also noted destroying his satellite uplink is ''supposed'' to shut him down, but Mechagodzilla is only stunned for a few moments before starting up again, implying Ghidorah is more directly controlling it than just through the uplink.]]
** Nathan Lind's figurine which is a memento of his late brother gets this treatment in a prologue scene in the novelization. His brother David always kept it as a good luck charm, but he gave it away to Nathan right ''before'' his disastrous mission into Skull Island's Vile Vortex which caused his death.
* MeaningfulName:
** Apex Cybernetics. The Apex part refers to how their true goal is to make humanity the apex species again by killing off or enslaving all the Titans, and the Cybernetics part refers to [[HumongousMecha the means they intend to use to accomplish this]].
** In the novelization, it's revealed that the real name which the Iwi knew the Skullcrawlers by is Halakrah, meaning "persistent enemy" (which fits with the Skullcrawlers' SuperPersistentPredator tendencies caused by their HorrorHunger).
* MechaEnablingPhlebotinum:
** This version [[spoiler:of Mechagodzilla]] is hit with a dose of reality, in that the HumongousMecha[='s=] systems and weapons use ''so much'' power that there literally isn't any power source in mankind's possession that can give the Mecha more than a couple minutes of runtime before being sucked dry (and even then, the Mecha's Proton Scream only works at 40% power during this time). Apex successfully get around this by infusing it with a synthesized copy of the HollowEarth[='s=] GreenRocks, [[spoiler:which enables Mechagodzilla to operate at full power seemingly indefinitely, [[EvilIsNotAToy albeit with some unexpected side effects]]]].
** Furthermore, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/niq8wk/comment/gz3m6kj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Jared Krichevsky]] has said that some of the alloys [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is made out of]] are fictional and fantastical, [[spoiler:whilst [[https://twitter.com/GodzillaWiki/status/1457776841553367048/photo/1 these]] official stats describe Mechagodzilla's composition as "T-1 [[MythologyGag/GodzillaVsKong nanometal]]"]].
* MechVsBeast: [[spoiler:After the climactic duel between the title monsters is said and done, the ''real'' FinalBattle begins when Mechagodzilla awakens, giving Godzilla and Kong a reason to work together.]]
* TheMeddlingKidsAreUseless: Team Godzilla (Madison, Josh and Bernie) spend their side of the story investigating Godzilla's rampage and learning what Apex Cybernetics are really up to, but they end up functioning like a FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: the audience gradually uncovers Apex's plans through the trio's eyes, and then once we've gotten all the answers, Team Godzilla get caught by the bad guys after making a brief, failed attempt to stop them. [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}/{{Subverted}} entirely in the climax, when Josh and Bernie being in the right place at the right time thanks to Madison bringing them into her investigation leads to Josh using Bernie's flask of alcohol to short the Apex computer, disrupting Mechagodzilla's satellite link at a ''pivotal'' moment. If the disruption hadn't caused Mechagodzilla to stall when it did (as it was seconds away from driving its [[ThisIsADrill drill]] [[BewareMyStingerTail weapon]] into Kong's skull whilst Godzilla was too exhausted to effectively fight), then Mechagodzilla would have most likely killed Kong, then a prone Godzilla, and then the [[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]]-possessed RoboticPsychopath would have gone on to do whatever it wanted]].
* MetronomicManMashing: Kong does this to the second Warbat several times before tearing off its head.
* MixAndMatchCritters: The Warbats resemble giant snakes, with fin-like wings resembling those of the classic Toho versions of King Ghidorah and Shinomura; whilst the Hellhawks have leathery bat-like wings and scaly skin, but beaks and talons resembling those of a bird of prey.
* MoreThanMindControl: In the novelization, it's strongly hinted that Ren's personality has been corrupted by repeated exposure to [[spoiler:the Ghidorah skull's subconsciousness during Mechagodzilla's test runs]] by the time the story starts, but he's too arrogant and too enjoying of his creation's power to care.
* MortonsFork: With most of Skull Island destroyed by the PerpetualStorm, Monarch is faced with a difficult situation in dealing with Kong. The bio-dome they've constructed can't contain him much longer, both because it doesn't have enough food in its limited space and because Kong's grown wise to his containment and doesn't like it, but if they move him to a more suitable, off-site habitat they risk the wrath of Godzilla, who won't stand for another Alpha Titan in his territory. Eventually they decide to risk the latter option by taking Kong to Hollow Earth, but, sure enough, during the journey, Godzilla comes for Kong, and the ape barely survives their encounter.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: One of the places the film is set in Pensacola, Florida, but does it REALLY look anything like it?
** When we get to see a shot of Pensacola, we see some big mountains in the distance. Anyone who's ever been to Pensacola would tell you that there are no mountains in Pensacola. Or basically anywhere else in Florida, for that matter.
** Another thing about Pensacola is that it looks more like it's set in a mid-northern part of the world, with rocky beaches and mountains, rather than setting in a tropical southern part of Florida.
* MugglesDoItBetter: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is a creation of humanity in this continuity, and easily the most powerful of the Mechagodzilla's created so far. While it does use Ghidorah's head as a supercomputer of sorts, Mechagodzilla is [[ImpossiblyGracefulGiant incredibly mobile]] and [[WeaponOfXSlaying decked out to the teeth with anti-Kaiju weaponry]]. It was able to completely manhandle both Godzilla ''and'' Kong with little effort, even when the two started to work together. And the main reason it loses is because a separate group of humans managed to sabotage its control panel, with it looking highly likely Mechagodzilla would've won if not for them. Granted the mecha had King Ghidorah in the driver's seat rather than its intended pilot Ren and was near unusable without the Hollow Earth energy solving its power issues, meaning without the energy beyond human understanding it's AwesomeButImpractical.]]
* MyGreatestFailure:
** For Nathan Lind, it's [[ILetGwenStacyDie getting several people including his own brother killed]] during his previous, disastrous effort to launch a manned expedition into the HollowEarth. He's been in a HeroicBSOD [[ScrapHeapHero for years since]], until the movie's start, and he shows subtle signs of still being haunted by his failure amidst his attempts to repeat the original mission's objective without repeating history.
** The novelization touches on Mark Russell's regrets from ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' about not being there for Madison in the years following Andrew's death. Mark sees him being left as Madison's guardian after Emma's death as [[MyGreatestSecondChance his chance to make up for his long absence]], but he's been severely overcompensating by being an [[MyBelovedSmother ignorant, self-centered hardass of a parent who has zero respect for his daughter's metal or her proven accomplishments]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Godzilla can sense the Hollow Earth energy source being tampered with and immediately uses his atomic breath to burrow a hole directly to that location.
* MySkullRunnethOver: Of a sort. According to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/niq8wk/comment/gz8efs4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Jared Krichevsky]], Mechagodzilla is normally too much for a human brain to control on its own, [[spoiler:which is why Apex decided to use Ghidorah's skull's natural telepathy as a control system and a crutch for the pilot]], and he implies that the HighVoltageDeath [[spoiler:which Ren suffers when Mechagodzilla becomes fully-charged and sentient]] is what happens when someone is connected to the Mecha and the crutch isn't enough.
* MysteriousAntarctica: Antarctica is the location of a known Vile Vortex to the Hollow Earth. InUniverse, it's not so mysterious anymore, as Monarch have long since built a gigantic facility into the ice around the tunnel's mouth. The novelization specifically says it's no more than a meagre few miles from [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the site where Ghidorah was originally frozen]], and the characters speculate over whether Ghidorah was approaching the Vile Vortex or had just emerged when he was frozen in ancient times.
* MythologyGag: [[MythologyGag/GodzillaVsKong See here.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-Z]]
* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the novelization, [[spoiler:the chamber where Ghidorah's skull is held by Apex is called the Skull Room]].
* NarrowAnnihilationEscape: This occurs in the HollowEarth [[spoiler:when the temple built by Kong's ancestors is destroyed]]. As the cavern collapses, the three core members of Team Kong plus Kong himself ''just'' manage to escape being crushed by the collapse via a tunnel, but the area they left behind, and all the meaningful history [[spoiler:and long-passed ultraterrestrial culture]] it held, is gone; much to Kong's ire.
* NatureVersusTechnology:
** Godzilla, Kong and most of the [[{{Kaiju}} Titans]] have been established previously throughout the Franchise/MonsterVerse to be eons-old embodiments of natural forces and GaiasVengeance, with ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' [[GreenAesop particularly establishing]] that despite [[NatureIsNotNice both]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters sides]]' destructive capacities, Titans and humanity ''can'' coexist together in harmony if they so choose to. The human antagonists of this movie, Apex Cybernetics, are a remarkably hi-tech corporation whom are obsessed with rampant technological advancement in the name of dominating or subjugating nature (the Titans) to establish humanity as the supreme lifeform on Earth, embodying [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair Ozymandian hubris]] and greed. [[spoiler:Apex are secretly creating [[HumongousMecha Mechagodzilla]] with the aim of killing and usurping Godzilla as the supreme Alpha Titan, uncaring that Godzilla is the chief reason why humanity hasn't already been destroyed, but using [[UndeadAbomination Ghidorah's undead skull]] and GreenRocks as the remote piloting brain and the fuel source respectively leads to the Mecha [[AIIsACrapshoot breaking free of Apex's control and turning against them]], and it poses an active threat to all humans ''and'' Godzilla. Mechagodzilla comes close to killing Godzilla (albeit only because the latter was only at half strength when fighting it), but it's ultimately overwhelmed and destroyed by Godzilla and Kong]].
** Although Apex's CorporateConspiracy themselves represent the worst in human overuse of technology, high technological advancement in itself isn't presented as necessarily being a bad thing. The [=HEAVs=] which Apex give to Team Kong are essential in breaching the Hollow Earth and finding Kong a new home down there, [[spoiler:and they're ''also'' vital in saving Kong from expiring of heart arrhythmia -- had Kong not been saved, Mechagodzilla would have surely killed Godzilla and been victorious with no remaining Alpha Titans able to defend humanity against it. And after Apex and Mechagodzilla's respective downfalls, Monarch apparently continue to use the new technology to establish a permanent settlement in the Hollow Earth so they can monitor Kong]].
* NebulousEvilOrganisation: APEX, a rival organization to MONARCH that Ren, son of Dr. Ishirō Serizawa, is employed to. They plan to usurp Godzilla's position as Earth's apex predator [[spoiler:using a Titan of their own invention, Mechagodzilla]].
* NerdGlasses: Both Ben (a Monarch operative studying Kong) and Josh (who by the way is a movie piracy hacker) have chunky browline glasses.
* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: Kong's axe severely evens the odds against Godzilla's Atomic Breath, thanks to its ability to block and absorb it. [[spoiler:Kong consistently does better with the axe than without, and if he'd held on to it more successfully, the victor may well have changed.]]
* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistfight: [[spoiler:An axe]] in this case, but although it evens the playing field [[spoiler:for Kong a little, Godzilla, who is only armed with his natural defences,]] still eventually emerges victorious.
* NextSundayAD: The film is set five years after the events of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', putting it in 2024. The novelization, conversely, is set a little over three years after the events of the previous novel, putting it in 2022.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Mark Russel is quick to assume there's no reason for Godzilla's attack and discount Maddison's objections to that. [[spoiler:Thus instead of investigating that, Monarch is busy trying to stop Godzilla, allowing Mechagodzilla to be completed under their noses and Ghidorah to resurrect through it. He [[OhCrap seems to realize this]] when Mechagodzilla emerges and starts leveling Hong Kong.]] In the novelization [[spoiler:he begins to realize it earlier when Monarch detects the Ghidorah signal in Hong Kong and he pieces together Maddison may have been right, and instantly suggests Monarch start investigating Apex.]]
** [[spoiler:Kong activating the energy source in the Hollow Earth with his ax allows Apex to get their hands on it to power up Mechagodzilla, allowing Ghidorah to come all the way back to life.]]
** [[spoiler:Godzilla attacking the source of the activating energy provokes Kong into challenging him to a fight, leading to them both being weakened targets for Mechagodzilla.]]
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Godzilla is the Roguish Male this time, with Kong as the Noble Male. Kong is more benign to those whom he comes into contact with unless they've demonstrated that their intentions are ''clearly'' hostile, he explicitly looks out for humans whom he considers his allies (such as when he promptly comes to Nathan, Lind and Jia's defence [[spoiler:in response to Maia and her goons pointing guns at them]]), he has a very explicit and profound {{protectorate}} bond with Jia, and he has an intelligent brain as a primate Titan; but Kong is also more inexperienced than Godzilla and is oblivious to the bigger picture. Godzilla meanwhile is much older and more learned, but he acts outright ruthless and callous with the sheer death and destruction he inflicts on thousands of people several times across the movie (and not all of it is accidental this time, [[spoiler:even if his end-goals are justified]]); and he shows no signs of caring about any individual humans in this movie, instead only caring about the world at large.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown:
** In their final bout, after Kong finally deals a real blow to Godzilla, [[spoiler:this finally sends Godzilla [[RageBreakingPoint over the edge]] and he foregoes any illusion of a balanced fight to savagely lay into, beat down and borderline ''maul'' Kong, finishing with a crushing stomp to the chest and roaring in his face to decisively declare the ape as ''done'' getting in his way. It's telling that Godzilla doesn't even bother using his atomic breath during this comeback.]]
** [[spoiler:In glorious karmic fashion, Godzilla soon finds himself in one of these courtesy of Mechagodzilla, he ''tries'' to put up a fight, but due to his wounds with his fight with Kong and having tired himself out, he gets a salvo of missiles when he tries rushing against Mechagodzilla followed by two energized punches against his gills and getting dragged through the ground and flung around buildings like a ragdoll, almost getting killed the same way he did to the [=MUTOs=] for it when Mechagodzilla prepares to give him his own version of the "Kiss of Death". He only gets to live because Jia convinced Kong to do so but otherwise was entirely at Mechagodzilla's mercy the whole time.]]
* NonIndicativeName: The Warbats aren't bats but cobra-like snakes, and the Hellhawks aren't hawks, but ''bats'' (although the Warbats have membranous wings and the Hellhawks have bird-like bodies and heads).
* NotDrawnToScale: As usual for the franchise. Specifically, Hong Kong has ''four thousand'' buildings that at 100 meters + height are at least as tall as Godzilla's stated stats (120m) unless he is fully reared back.
** [[spoiler: Mechagodzilla also appears to be of varible size as even a big Skullcrawler is nowhere near Godzilla's proportions and Mechagodzilla extends its own (more humanoid) arms to near-maximum span to hold said Skullcrawler at its max extension. That skullcrawler also looks far smaller a moment earlier when lunging for a human. When fighting Godzilla, Mecha is the same size and in some ways bigger (see arms).]]
* NotHimself: The human characters are puzzled by Godzilla's sudden shift towards uncharacteristic aggression and seemingly unprovoked attacks on human settlements.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The PerpetualStorm system which once shielded Skull Island has closed in and enveloped the island before the film's start due to Camazotz's actions in ''Kingdom Kong'', wiping out the natives and seemingly most animal life outside of Kong's bio-dome. The novelization explicitly notes that Skull Island's entire ecosystem is invariably rotting and dying, and it furthermore reveals that Jia and Andrews specifically feel this when Monarch are forced to destroy the bio-dome (and with it the last intact pocket of Skull Island) in the process of removing Kong from the dome.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Ghidorah's upper skull forms the cockpit for Mechagodzilla with the rest of it interfaced with the robot itself. The skull makes audible calls and growls when Ren is using it, suggesting that even when reduced to bone and neural tissue, the evil Titan is still very much alive. Once Mechagodzilla gains a lasting power source, whatever's left of Ghidorah's consciousness in the skull proceeds to hijack the Mecha, making it start to KillAllHumans and try to kill Godzilla]].
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]] claim to be enacting their CorporateConspiracy to kill and usurp Godzilla, and then enslave or kill the other Titans, with a humanistic end-goal of protecting humanity against future Titan attacks and giving mankind control of its own destiny. But their excuses ring completely hollow when looking at: (1) their callous willingness to put millions of people in mortal danger [[spoiler:just for the sake of garnering good publicity for themselves]], (2) the fact they're targeting '''[[BigGood Godzilla]]''' first and foremost [[IgnoredEpiphany after everything that happened in]] ''[[IgnoredEpiphany Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''; on top of (3) the fact that the movie heavily implies (and the art book outright confirms) that Apex would have actually [[TakeOverTheWorld brought about an era of dystopic corporate world domination]] instead of making the world a better place for anyone if they won. Apex's mastermind [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Walter Simmons]] is particularly shown to be a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]], [[LackOfEmpathy empathy-devoid]], delusional KnightTemplar whose core motivation for orchestrating Apex's plan is to feed his own obscenely-oversized ego by making sure he's the person who surpasses the Alpha Titans in power.
* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: [[spoiler:After being locked out of the computer, Josh is able to shut down the satellite link providing energy to Mecha-Godzilla by pouring Bernie's flask of whiskey into the control panel, shorting it out. Granted, it's pointedly made clear he poured the whiskey into the exit port for the computer's cooling fan, which probably ''wouldn't'' be waterproofed to avoid a cooling malfunction.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Bernie exaggerates his conspiracy theorist-ness to annoy a security guard into leaving his terminal.
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Apex Cybernetics. [[spoiler:Borders on OrganizationWithUnlimitedFunding when it's revealed that they somehow built an underground maglev tunnel from Florida to Hong Kong without anyone knowing.]]
* OffWithHisHead: Kong's preferred way of ending a fight. In the Hollow Earth he does this to a Warbat after beating it to death...and then proceeds to eat the decapitated head. And it's also [[spoiler:Kong's finishing move on Mechagodzilla, even brandishing his severed head ''Predator''-style as a final coup de grace.]]
* OhCrap:
** Kong has an expression that screams this multiple times during his first encounter with Godzilla, both because he recognizes to some degree how powerful Godzilla is, how disadvantaged he is with nothing but a few boats as footholds, and that Jia will be in great danger during the fight. It's notably the most frightened we've ever seen him look.
** Godzilla ends up with a similar expression as he realizes [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is about to kill him and there's nothing he can do to stop it.]]
** Maia is visibly wide-eyed in horror when she realizes she donked up and [[spoiler:Kong]] is about to kill her, spending her final seconds screaming a RapidFireNo before she goes up in flames.
** [[spoiler:Team Kong follow Kong out of the Hollow Earth...and react completely naturally to being ''right in the middle'' of the final fight between Godzilla and Kong and having to frantically dodge both of them.]]
** Ren is visibly looking around in correct worry when his psionic uplink to the HollowEarth energy-empowered Mechagodzilla is severed due to [[spoiler:Ghidorah's remnant consciousness taking control for itself]].
** Played for laughs as Simmons starts monologuing his motivations to Team Godzilla - [[spoiler:as the now Ghidorah-controlled Mechagodzilla activates in the background and starts advancing on them. Madison, Bernie and Josh can only back away from the window in terror as Simmons [[CaughtMonologuing gradually twigs something is wrong]], just before Mechagodzilla swats him into oblivion.]]
--->'''Simmons:''' [[spoiler:...oh, shit]].
** In the fight in Hong Kong, Kong is visibly afraid when Godzilla [[BeamSpam rapidly fires his atomic breath]], and all he can do is run.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Madison Russell hasn't aged much in the five InUniverse years since ''King of the Monsters'', given the films were shot only 1.5 years apart.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:While implied in the film due to being a resurrected/reincarnated King Ghidorah, Madison in the novel points out if Mechagodzilla kills Godzilla and Kong, it can, and most likely ''will'', retake command of the Titans to resume destroying the earth.]]
* OneMythToExplainThemAll: The novelization has several chapter-opening passages referring to myths and legends of people originally coming out of the earth, and suggests that all of them are rooted in the Titans and the Iwi having originally come from the Hollow Earth. The novel also suggests that the Hollow Earth is the real origin point of all life on Earth, and it's where Earth's biosphere recovered and re-sprouted after every extinction event.
* OnlyEvilCanDie: One of the signs of just how {{lighter and softer}} this film is than the previous Franchise/MonsterVerse is that with the exceptions of Mooks, a few nameless civilians in the {{Crowd Panic}}s, and a couple Rock Critters being eaten by their natural predators; ''none'' of the heroes ultimately die, and ''all'' of the relevant character deaths are antagonists: the core members of [[CorporateConspiracy Apex]], the Warbats, [[spoiler:and [[RoboticPsychopath Mechagodzilla]]]].
* OnlySaneByComparison:
** Ren Serizawa is the only one in the Apex Mechagodzilla team's control hub who protests when Simmons impulsively wants the HollowEarth energy formula uploaded to the Mecha immediately without proper testing, pointing out to Simmons they have no idea without basic testing what side-effects the formula will have on the Mecha. That being said, Ren was still stupid and arrogant enough to [[spoiler:think using Ghidorah's NotQuiteDead alien skull as the '''brain''' for a nigh-unstoppable Mecha wasn't likely to backfire on them]], not to mention Ren's motivation for joining Apex and building Mechagodzilla is getting revenge on Godzilla for a lifetime of daddy issues of all things.
** PlayedWith among Team Godzilla. Madison and Josh have some traits which make them go back and forth on this. Josh is the team's token CowardlyLion who will futilely advocate caution when the other two head in a direction that has a lot of ominous signs around it, while Madison comes off as the most mature of the three despite being younger than Bernie and she doesn't show Bernie and Josh's respective PluckyComicRelief.
* OrangeBlueContrast: A lot of the film's posters and promos, and ultimately the film's opening sequence, tend to invoke this contrast by directly aligning the titular Titans with either color palette, creating a clear contrast in images which feature both Titans. Godzilla is aligned with a greenish-blue palette reflecting his aquatic elemental alignment, and Kong is aligned with a reddish-orange (or alternatively earthy-brown) palette, reflecting his earthy elemental alignment. The color alignments furthermore reflect that in this film, Kong is the more human-aligned Titan who's more focused on what's in front of him, whereas Godzilla is the more ruthless Titan who's ultimately more focused on the bigger picture.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Godzilla is attacking people directly, something noted InUniverse as being out of character and making it clear ''something'' is very wrong. [[spoiler:And indeed, it isn't Godzilla to blame: he's attacking Apex headquarters because he can sense [[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]]'s [[NotQuiteDead continued presence]]--from Ghidorah's surviving skull which is being used as [=MechaGodzilla's=] neural pathways--meaning that they're all but deliberately provoking him]].
** Jia has one in the novelization -- Andrews sees her crying for the first time ever when the bio-dome, and with it the last living vestige of Skull Island's ecosystem, is destroyed to make way to transport Kong.
* OutOfTheFryingPan: Towards the end of the film, Team Kong narrowly escape a swarm of man-eating Hellhawks in the Hollow Earth via [[spoiler:the new passage blasted through the Earth by Godzilla]], and they emerge straight into Kong and Godzilla's fight in Hong Kong.
* OutsideContextProblem: [[spoiler:Only Team Godzilla know Mechagodzilla ''exists'' for most of the film (even Godzilla, who only knows Ghidorah is still alive somehow), and even then they only learn that halfway through. What even ''Apex'' didn't know is that King Ghidorah is still alive inside his neurons and the moment Mechagodzilla is complete, he hijacks it leaving ''everyone'' shocked when he bursts out of their base and begins leveling Hong Kong.]]
* PastExperienceNightmare: In the novelization, Nathan [[PlaguedByNightmares frequently]] dreams back to the day that his and David's mission went horribly wrong and his brother died. The novel also states that Mark Russell still has [[PlaguedByNightmares recurring dreams]] of the moment he found Madison [[NearDeathExperience near-dead]] in the rubble of Boston during Godzilla and Ghidorah's battle.
* PerpetualStorm: Skull Island has become covered in one which has [[BusCrash wiped out the Iwi]] and seemingly also most of the island's animal and {{planimal}} life, and has forced Monarch to build a [[DomedHometown containment dome]] around Kong to save his life. Whilst there are still living trees amid the raging winds, rain and darkness outside the dome, it's explicitly confirmed in the novelization that all life on Skull Island has been surely dying off at varying rates in the years since the storm closed over the island.
* PetTheDog:
** Despite all-round being a snooty, stuck-up RichBitch [[spoiler:who won't hesitate to betray Team Kong and threaten their lives if they deviate from [[BigBadWannabe Apex]]'s plan]], Maia is notably the first person to run to Jia's aid immediately when the latter and Dr. Andrews almost drown during the naval battle.
** {{Implied}} with Godzilla, who is a lot more anti-heroic and aggressive in this movie than he was in his last two Franchise/MonsterVerse appearances, amidst his fight with Kong. [[spoiler:After Godzilla completely savages Kong to the point of almost killing him, Godzilla doesn't kill the defeated primate when the latter ''still'' defiantly refuses to submit to Godzilla's authority – instead, Godzilla just leaves Kong lying where he is (albeit with mortal injuries) and Godzilla re-focuses his attention on destroying Mechagodzilla]].
* PlaguedByNightmares: The novelization states David has a recurring nightmare almost every night, where he's back at his and David's disastrous attempt to access the Hollow Earth and he tries to change it at the last minute. Also in the novel, Mark's own recurring PastExperienceNightmare of Madison's NearDeathExperience in Boston highlights his overprotectiveness of Madison since the incident and his inability to move past any of his trauma.
* PlanetaryCoreManipulation: Lind's goal is to make it to Hollow Earth and gain access to the immense power source there, hoping it will give them an edge over Godzilla. When Maia's team extracts a sample to analyze and synthesize it, Godzilla immediately senses it and uses his atomic breath to blast a hole straight from China directly into Hollow Earth in attempt to stop them.
* PlayingPossum: Realizing they don't have much chance fighting Godzilla in the middle of the ocean, the surviving ships carrying Kong completely power down to make Godzilla think they've been destroyed (or the very least, that they're admitting defeat). Kong, already exhausted by his initial battle with Godzilla, is in no position to disagree, but does flash Godzilla a DeathGlare as he swims away. Of course, now that they're "dead" they can't move or else Godzilla will realize they were just pretending and return, so they switch to carrying Kong by air.
* PlotParallel:
** Team Godzilla and Team Kong never directly meet [[spoiler:until the very penultimate scene]], and their stories are largely separate from one-another: either team consists of a ragtag gang supporting one of the two Alpha Titans as the hero the world needs, one member of either team is prominently holding onto a {{tragic keepsake}} from a lost loved one (Bernie/Nathan), and at least one member of either team is a young girl whose capabilities are initially underestimated by their parental figures (Madison/Jia). Both teams are looking to save the world in the ways they think it needs to be saved, [[YouCantThwartStageOne yet they completely fail to stop the early stages of Apex's plans from activating]]: [[spoiler:after Mechagodzilla becomes possessed by Ghidorah and attempts to murder Godzilla and Kong, either team contributes in a small but ''critical'' manner to aiding the benevolent Alphas and averting Mechagodzilla's victory]].
** The novelization has a recurring theme of tested and troubled relationships between parents and children: here, Madison's issues with Mark, who refuses to listen to her and is in denial about the merits she earned with her heroism during the previous movie, are paralleled by Jia's issues with [[ParentalSubstitute Dr. Andrews]], who doesn't quite listen to nor understand the girl and underestimates Jia's keener awareness concerning Kong. Both girls also have a negative counterpart on Apex who is present in either of their plotlines: for Jia, it's Walter Simmons' WellDoneDaughterGirl Maia, for Madison it's Ishirō Serizawa's [[BlackSheep vindictive and wayward son]] Ren.
* PluckyComicRelief: {{Inverted}}. Both Josh the CowardlyLion nerd and Hayes the slightly-manic ConspiracyTheorist end up being this on Team Godzilla, making Madison the OnlySaneWoman on the three-man team.
* PoorCommunicationKills:
** What's got Godzilla literally burning mad is that [[spoiler:he can detect King Ghidorah still on the planet ''somewhere''. The trouble is, he can only get a clear reading every time Mechagodzilla and thereby the remaining brain is activated. Beyond that, all he can do is seek out for another Alpha Titan,]] and it just so happens that Kong's getting escorted across the sea...
** Godzilla and Kong's species have a blood feud dating back eons, which is why Godzilla views Kong as a threat. However, Kong, having been born in the modern day, has no clue about this and the humans, who do know about it, don't seem to keen on informing him of ''why'' [[spoiler:even after Kong reveals he can talk via sign language.]]
** Kong has no interest in any Alpha fight for dominance, preferring to find a new place to call home. But he doesn't realize he's been used to find an energy source [[spoiler:to power up Mechagodzilla]] which inadvertently provokes Godzilla into firing his atomic breath straight into the Hollow Earth, destroying Kong's newly discovered ancestral home. This sends [[ItsPersonal Kong into a furious state]] and he travels to Hong Kong to personally end Godzilla for these unprovoked attacks. Which in turn significantly delays Godzilla long enough [[spoiler:for Ghidorah to hijack Mechagodzilla]] and the fight itself tires Godzilla out enough [[spoiler:for Mechagodzilla to have an easy victory]].
** In general, Godzilla's entire rampages [[spoiler:are to stop Mechagodzilla/King Ghidorah, but because he sent all other Titans undergound and Mothra isn't around there isn't any party around to help clarify and his assaults against Kong due to mistaking him for the threat end up causing more conflict than necessary that nearly results in his death.]]
* PreciousPhoto: On Team Godzilla, Bernie shows Josh and Madison a photo of his late wife [[TheLostLenore Sara]]. On Team Kong, Nathan keeps a photo of himself and his late brother David. Both deceased loved ones are part of either character's respective DeathByOriginStory.
* {{Precursors}}: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Kong's ancestors apparently had a whole civilization in Hollow Earth, building the citadel where Kong finds his ''Titanus gojira''-fin axe]].
* {{Pride}}: Apex mix this with a giant bubbling pot of blasphemy. Both Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa respectively have a big case of ItsAllAboutMe to their respective motivations. Not only did they create Mechagodzilla with the intention of usurping Godzilla as the sole Alpha Titan and then exterminating or enslaving all the other Titans, but they were actually stupid enough to [[spoiler:use '''Ghidorah''''s not-completely-dead remains as their nigh-unstoppable weapon's ''''BRAIN''']] and not expect it to liably backfire on them. Even the U.S. military and the [[EcoTerrorist Eco-Terrorists]] in the previous [=MonsterVerse=] films were never quite as stupid as Apex are.
* PrimateVersusReptile: The title says it all. In addition, Kong also ends up fighting Warbats - flying Titan snakes - when he gets to the Hollow Earth.
* ProperlyParanoid: After [=APEX=] gets the energy source from Hollow Earth, Simmons tells Ren to prepare to activate [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla, but Ren cautions him that they don't know what effects the energy will have on the mecha, only for Walter to tell him to "get in the damn chair". Turns out Ren was right, as Simmons' refusal to listen to him cost them both their lives]].
* {{Protectorate}}: Ilene Andrews explains that both she and Kong have formed a protective relationship with a young Iwi girl named Jia, who can communicate with Kong via sign-language.
* PsychopathicManchild:
** [[BigBadWannabe Walter Simmons]] doesn't exactly act like a grown man when [[BitchInSheepsClothing the benevolent mask]] is off, [[spoiler:while he's overseeing the Mechagodzilla project into which he's poured his pride and dreams]]. He looks like a giddy child when the test run of his SecretWeapon is about to start, and he shouts like one too when [[LackOfEmpathy Godzilla blasting Hong Kong with his Atomic Breath]] makes Simmons realize that Maia has found the {{Unobtainium}}. When Ren protests to Simmons' impulsive, impractical decision to skip over basic testing and integrate the energy source into their weapon immediately, Simmons' entire demeanor screams of an eight-year-old who's eager to open his Christmas present and annoyed at an elder interrupting him. Underneath the superficial charm, Simmons is basically an evil kid who sees the whole world and everything in it as his own personal playground, [[spoiler:which makes the fact that the Ghidorah skull he's using came from the Psychopathic Manchild left head quite poetic]].
** It's subdued, but Ren Serizawa shows shades of this in the novelization; regarding the psionic uplink as "not only his invention, but also his new favorite toy", and overall exhibiting a notably childlike glee in his thoughts throughout the test run where he [[{{Sadist}} savagely butchers a Skullcrawler]], on top of his father issues [[FreudianExcuse which he's allowed to define the rest of his life]]. The novel version of Ren's death further shows this childish side of Ren when he sees his father's face in his dying thoughts. Overall, Ren at his heart is implied to be a child who never truly grew up and is still screaming for his father's attention.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Apex have a purple color theme, with red and blue lighting in their facilities, and Simmons' control hub has true purple lights, fitting with their desire to dominate all the Titans and become the most powerful force on Earth. This true purple lighting is also [[spoiler:in the Skull Room where Ghidorah's severed skull is controlling Mechagodzilla]]. Overall, it emphasizes how Simmons ''thinks'' he's going to be on top of everything and how [[spoiler:Ghidorah]] is the one who's really on top.
* RageBreakingPoint: The first time Godzilla attacks Kong unprovoked, Kong lets it go. The second time, Kong does ''not.''
** Godzilla reaches his during round three of his and Kong's battle, starting with flinging Kong by the arm several city blocks away, going full crocodile mode and clawing up Kong's chest, then finishing with crushing Kong's chest underfoot almost to the breaking point.
* RapidFireNo:
** Bernie utters this when he returns with Josh and Madison to the ruins of the Apex base in Pensacola only to find that the giant cybernetic eyeball he saw has disappeared.
** [[spoiler:Maia Simmons]]'s last words.
* ReallyMovesAround: The novelization reveals Mark and Madison have been moving around a lot due to Monarch work in the years since ''King of the Monsters'' before settling in Pensacola where Mark's sister lives.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Admiral Wilcox listens to Team Kong during the mission and looks to them for advice and Titan expertise, but he still doesn't just blindly do what they say without them providing a proper reasoning behind it (although it should be noted that the novelization explicitly specifies he reports to Monarch during the mission rather than the other way round). He also seems to be relatively aware of the power discrepancy between human and Titan, understanding that the most the Navy can do against a Titan is distract or confuse it; [[GeneralRipper which is more than can be said for the U.S. military]] [[NukeEm leaders and officers in the previous MonsterVerse movies]].
** ZigZagged by Mark Russell, who dismisses every single thing Madison says when she approaches him no matter how full of common sense it is because he doesn't want to have to worry about her and thinks she's JustAKid, but he's at least sensible enough to understand that Monarch should be prioritizing getting as many civilians as possible out of Godzilla's warpath rather than making vain efforts to engage him. In the novelization, he catches onto Apex being [[spoiler:somehow involved in causing Godzilla's rampage]] a while before Mechagodzilla emerges, and begrudgingly admits to himself that Madison might've been right.
** Monarch's director Guillerman is completely calm and quite alacritous during Godzilla's attack on Hong Kong, and has ordered a citywide evacuation. In the novelization, he straight-up demands Mark join him to advise him because Mark was the one who predicted Godzilla's first attack, and he distrusts Apex from the beginning but he refuses to jump to conclusions without any evidence.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** After learning of [[spoiler: Walter's motives]], Maddie calls him out on how [[spoiler: his greed to make humans the apex predator again has destroyed what was essentially a peaceful coexistence between Titans and humans.]]
--->"''Godzilla left us in peace! '''You''' provoked him into war!''"
** In the novelization, the scene at the refugee camp isn't the only time Mark receives CallingTheOldManOut from Madison for his questionable behavior and how he's treating her, and she at one point hits him with this:
--->"''You're blackmailing me. With ''your'' fear. I'm supposed to cower at home for the rest of my life because you're afraid something might happen to me?''"
* RedEyesTakeWarning: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's eyes glow with a sinister red light.]]
** Godzilla's eyes glow a searing crimson following both encounters with Kong.
* RedIsViolent: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla produces a crimson light from his internal power core which emanates from his eyes, mouth and between his exoskeleton's struts, and he's designed to be a pure killing machine even ''before'' he gets hijacked by an OmnicidalManiac[='s=] subconsciousness]]. The Skullcrawler used in a test run also has an unusual red coloration to its skin, and its no less driven by man-eating HorrorHunger than others of its kind.
* RiddleForTheAges: A couple in the novelization.
** Alan Jonah is selling two Ghidorah skulls to a prospective buyer. One Ghidorah skull he obtained in the end of the last film, but how he acquired a second skull is left completely unexplained.
** The novel notes that the Antarctica Vile Vortex is no more than a few miles away from where Ghidorah was frozen, and apparently Monarch can only theorize about whether Ghidorah was headed for the vortex when he was beaten and frozen or he'd just emerged from the vortex -- the fact that the ice around the vortex is over thirty-million years old while the ice that Ghidorah was frozen in was a lot younger supports the former interpretation.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: There's a moment in the novelisation where Monarch register a signal in Hong Kong as [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla slaughters the Skullcrawler]]. Looking it over, Mark guesses that someone's producing [[spoiler:a mechanical version of Ghidorah's call using an ORCA. He's halfway right - it's coming from an actual mechanical version of Ghidorah, as Mechagodzilla.]]
* RoarBeforeBeating: Multiple instances from multiple creatures. Godzilla and Kong both unmistakably exchange roars with each-other the ''second'' before they start fighting. In the HollowEarth, a Warbat directs a more subdued roar at Kong before it lunges and tries to kill him. [[spoiler:Godzilla and Mechagodzilla's battle starts with either of them roaring and then charging straight towards each-other with the aim to kill]].
* RoboticPsychopath: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's first act after breaking out of the Apex base is to level half of Hong Kong ForTheEvulz and then ''laugh'' about it before trying to brutally beat Godzilla to death. Given he's ''King Ghidorah'', this is logical.]]
* RobotMe: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla features as the film's BigBad, able to outmatch Godzilla with all of Godzilla's signature moves but more powerful.]]
* RockBeatsLaser: [[spoiler: Super-charged axe meets laser-beam and missile robot. Axe wins.]]
* RoswellThatEndsWell: When Team Godzilla discover Apex's maglev platform, the intercom voice mentions one of the trains is destined for Roswell. At the end of the film, Bernie starts badgering Mark Russell with questions about an alleged Monarch base in Roswell.
* RuleOfSymbolism:
** Apex's main headquarters in Hong Kong [[spoiler:where Mechagodzilla is being completed]] is shaped like a [[FuturisticPyramid pyramid]] and looks like a ziggurat, fitting since Apex have the same kind of arrogance that Percy Shelley's ''Ozymandias'' [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair criticized the long-gone titular pharaoh for]].
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is introduced being risen out of the ground on a pedestal in a room dubbed a "sacrificial chamber", is presented as humanity's replacement for Godzilla (who stands in for God) while being incarnate of their hubris and lack of faith, and is ultimately the avatar for Ghidorah ({{Satan}}) to sow destruction. When it emerges in Hong Kong, it does so bursting out of a pyramid-shaped mountain with the sun and moon above it, like an evil pagan god. Mechagodzilla is essentially a false idol.]]
** [[spoiler:Kong's harnessing of Hollow Earth energy activates a giant Godzilla-like symbol on the ground as if a grim reminder that abuse of power always bring about Godzilla's wrath. That's even more true when Godzilla fires upon Kong.]]
** [[spoiler: King Kong's defeat of Mechagodzilla (who is basically housing Ghidorah's consciousness), where he used his axe powered by Godzilla's Atomic Breath,is a good symbolism of a Warrior King (Kong in this case) channeling the power of God(zilla) to defeat the Devil (Ghidorah).]]
* RunningOnAllFours:
** Godzilla utilizes this to ''terrifying'' effect [[spoiler:when he really loses his temper against Kong and goes all out, attacking Kong with such speed and ferocity that the King of the Apes simply can't keep up]].
** Kong himself walks upright most of the time but knuckle-walks like a typical ape when running in the Hollow Earth.
* {{Sadist}}: Ren Serizawa seems to enjoy having the power of a god (specifically power of life and death) over a Skullcrawler during Mechagodzilla's test run, flashing a CheshireCatGrin as his creation kills the creature. It might have something to do with the fact [[spoiler:he's basically [[Film/PacificRim Drifting]] with ''Ghidorah'' while controlling the Mecha]]. Later, the sentient Mechagodzilla shows an excessive streak of this a lot like [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King Ghidorah before it]] did, which [[spoiler:makes sense since it's Ghidorah's consciousness remnants that have granted the Mecha a sentient mind]].
%%* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Josh and Madison.
* ScrapHeapHero:
** Mark Russell, who in the previous film was a jaded, emotional wreck who'd resigned from official Monarch duty for five years, has rejoined Monarch after the previous film saw him come around to processing his grief. That being said, he [[AesopAmnesia hasn't internalized much from his mistakes]] and his worst impulses haven't gone away at all: in fact, they directly interfere with his job when he gets emotional over Godzilla's attack, rendering him useless to stopping Apex.
** At the movie's start, Dr. Nathan Lind is resigned from Monarch and he's a washout from the scientific community with a dead-end job at Denham University, not least because of the grief and guilt over getting [[ILetGwenStacyDie his brother and several other people killed]] with his failed attempt to pioneer manned travel to the HollowEarth. Once Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa convince him that he can succeed where he failed before and he can help to stop Godzilla's rampage, Nathan shaves his [[BeardOfSorrow beard]] and rejoins Monarch to co-lead Team Kong on their expedition.
* SecretWeapon: Walter Simmons hints that his company has such a weapon to use against Godzilla in the aftermath of the Pensacola attack, stating on national TV that Apex has a plan to permanently destroy the now-vilified Godzilla without specifying to the world (or to Nathan Lind) exactly what that weapon is. [[spoiler:It's revealed that Apex's secret weapon is [[HumongousMecha Mechagodzilla]], which they've been creating in advance of Godzilla's attacks with the aim to kill and replace him, and that the Mecha's creation is actually the ''entire reason'' why Godzilla has been attacking in the first place]].
* SequelNonEntity: Barring Mark Russell, none of the surviving members of TheTeam in ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' return. Even in the novelization, only a few of them get so much as a name-drop.
* SeriesContinuityError:
** It's hinted in the film, and confirmed in the novelization, that the public are still treating the HollowEarth as if its existence wasn't confirmed during the events of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', with this film's novelization hinting that Monarch kept silent about their discovery in the previous film. This directly contradicts an InUniverse publicized article in the CreativeClosingCredits of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', which addresses the topic of the Hollow Earth and its connection to the Titans as if its existence was verified to the public alongside the formerly-secret files that Monarch have decided to release.
** Nathan Lind outright states in his first scene that human travel to the HollowEarth is impossible after his and his brother's first attempt failed. This ignores that in the [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 directly-preceding film]] to this one, Monarch successfully travelled into Godzilla's Hollow Earth lair more or less ''by accident'', in a military submarine which not only survived the turbulent entry but ''was still seaworthy'' afterwards (if not after the equally-turbulent exit). Of course, Nathan could be referring specifically to the spherical area of the Hollow Earth seen in this film rather than the underwater cavern that was accessed in the previous film.
** {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as the characters in question could simply be referring to the city in its former glory, but the use of the phrase "could light up UsefulNotes/LasVegas for a week" comes off as this when ''King of the Monsters'' showed Vegas is irradiated, abandoned and overgrown with vegetation following the MUTO's attack in ''Godzilla''.
** [[YouAreNumberSix Number 10]] (which has a notably different coloration from the Skullcrawlers previously seen on Skull Island) bleeds [[AlienBlood bright-green blood and viscera]], whereas in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', the Skullcrawler in the boneyard scene bled ''pink'' blood. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C8zJjOoouQ B-Roll footage]] shows that Number 10's remains originally would have been a lifelike crimson, more or less preserving series continuity, but this was apparently changed at some point before the movie was released.
* ShootingSuperman:
** Of course. When Godzilla attacks the Apex building in Florida, a few jet fighters try shooting him. When he shows up again to attack Kong, the fleet of ships makes the mistake of shooting Godzilla, which naturally leads to him destroying them. A couple other ships fire at Godzilla but he's so focused on Kong that he ignores them. When he's about to roast Kong, a long jet fighter fires off a few shots which while it does no damage but does distract Godzilla long enough for Kong to push him off the aircraft carrier. When he attempts to drown Kong, the humans fire explosives at Godzilla, though this was simply done with the intent to stun him long enough enough for Kong to escape his grip and swim back to the surface, and wasn't expected to harm either of them.
** [[spoiler:Maia tries to shoot at Kong when he blocks the way the surface. The guns on her [=HEAV=] have no effect on him and he crushes it with her still in it after making sure Jia's not inside it.]]
* ShoutOut:
** The entire first fight between Godzilla and Kong is a whole scene shout out to ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', which did the same exact scene 26 years earlier. And later on, when Ren questions how the injection of the Hollow Earth energy into [[spoiler: "the mecha" might negatively affect it, Simmons just tells him to "[[Memes/NeonGenesisEvangelion get in the goddamn chair]]".]]
** During the first confrontation between the two Titans, [[spoiler: Godzilla, after plowing through one of the escort ships, gets the anchor of one half caught on his tail, causing him to drag it behind him. As he approaches the ship carrying Kong, the only indication of his (underwater) presence is the ship being dragged on the surface, much like the shark dragging the barrels in ''Film/{{Jaws}}''.]]
** One of the [=HEAVs=] unleashing a massive volley of missiles against a Warbat attempting to eat Kong is an homage to the [[MacrossMissileMassacre Itano Circus]] from ''Anime/{{Macross}}''.
*** In the same scene, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/mw71gb/im_adam_wingard_director_of_godzilla_vs_kong_ama/gvgs1p9/ the director]] commented that he hadn't seen anyone pick up on the shout-out to the holo-deck murder scene in ''Film/JasonX''.
** This wouldn't be the first time a Legendary film saw a [[spoiler:human-created mecha controlled using a kaiju brain]] going rogue and creating havoc, as ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' [[spoiler:featured a kaiju/Jaeger hybrid called Obsidian Fury]].
** Kong fixing [[spoiler:his dislocated shoulder by slamming it into a building]] is an homage to ''Film/LethalWeapon2'', in keeping with Kong's portrayal being styled after an 80s action hero.
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's tail drill is reminiscent of the Dragonzord's/Dragon Caesar's from Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers / Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger, which itself had been inspired by Showa-Era Mechagodzilla.]]
** [[spoiler:Kong rips Mechagodzilla's head off, brandishing it with a dangling spinal column and roaring in a shot reminiscent of ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' (specifically, ''Film/Predator2'', the City Hunter with Jerry Lambert's skull). Kong's roar at this moment even sounds a bit like a Predator's victory howl.]]
* SickeningCrunch!: Kong punches Godzilla in the leg he stabbed his axe with, there is an audible loud crunch and Godzilla roars in pain.
* SistineSteal:
** A young Iwi girl named Jia points at Kong with her finger, and the creature reaches to her with his gigantic finger in response, with both fingers touching.
** One of the landmarks in the Hollow Earth a massive rock that's shaped like a pointing hand. While floating through the air of the ecosystem, Kong reaches out towards the large hand and grabs one of its fingers to anchor himself.
* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:Godzilla shows a blood chilling one against Kong in the Hong Kong battle after landing an Atomic Breath on Kong's back.]]
** [[spoiler: Mechagodzilla pulls off one as well as a machine possibly could when he finally has Godzilla at his mercy.]]
* SmartAnimalInconvenientInstincts: This is the ''real'' problem with Godzilla. [[spoiler:His hunt for Ghidorah's remains is hampered by his instincts, which drove him to seek out Kong after he lost the signal Ghidorah was emitting. Kong did nothing to provoke Godzilla, he just had the misfortune to be born an Alpha-level Titan of a species that once went to war with Godzilla's own, and who also happened to be the only living Titan on Earth that had yet to formally submit to him. Without Ghidorah to focus on, Godzilla was driven by his instincts to seek out the only other challenger to his title instead, inadvertently starting a feud that weakened him enough for a Ghidorah-infused Mechagodzilla to start manhandling him once the FinalBattle started]].
* SmugSnake:
** Walter Simmons very much, and he has a glass of alcohol in all his control room scenes where his BitchInSheepsClothing mask is down in order to accentuate it. He's a {{narcissist}}ic utter egotist who is bubbling to the brim with hubris, and he sees himself as the next visionary who will lead humanity into a bold new era of domination over the Titans, but he's possibly the most TooDumbToLive character in the history of the Franchise/MonsterVerse with how he [[spoiler:uses '''''King Ghidorah'''[='=]s still-telepathic and little-understood extraterrestrial remains as the damned '''brain''' for something that he'd been designing to be unstoppable to every other force man and Titan on the planet''! The eco-terrorists in ''King of the Monsters'' at least could claim they didn't know until after they released Ghidorah that he was a complete OmnicidalManiac who could wipe out all complex life on Earth; Simmons has no such excuse for his stupidity after Ghidorah's global Titan-rampage five years ago]].
** The novelization reveals that Simmons' [[TheDragon Dragon]] Ren Serizawa isn't really any better: besides being equally a part of the spoiler-y thing above, he thinks he's a mental god born into an inadequate human body, and he has the hubris to compare himself and Godzilla like they're equals. He's also sure he'll be the foe to succeed in killing Godzilla, but the novelization suggested that Ren's creation would've lost in a fair fight against Godzilla where the latter wasn't weakened and [[WordOfGod Wingard]] suggested that Godzilla wouldn't have lost the BeamOWar had he been fresh, though whether Godzilla would have beaten Mechagodzilla if he had been at his best shape or lost but put up more of a fight is not stated, however.
* SnakesAreSinister: Kong fights a group of winged serpentine Titans variously called Nozuki and Warbats by their official merchandise, which notes they are predators that can easily rip through armored vehicles with their fangs. The Skullcrawlers also make a reappearance in this film.
* SocialMediaBeforeReason: When Godzilla makes landfall in Hong Kong, a crowd of bystanders can be seen ''taking out their phones to photograph or record him''. Granted, he's moving away from said bystanders' position, but considering that as far as humanity knows at this point Godzilla has become hostile to humans...
* TheSociopath: Walter Simmons shows many signs of a high-functioning {{narcissist}}ic sociopath: LackOfEmpathy, superficial charm to mask said lack of empathy, and putting millions of innocent people in danger [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist all to feed his already-gigantic ego]]. Meanwhile, Mechagodzilla [[spoiler:gets hijacked by Ghidorah's subconsciousness (the same Ghidorah who was an OmnicidalManiac of fundamentally-different behavior to the non-alien Titans) and essentially becomes Ghidorah reincarnated]].
* SoftReboot: This movie is practically a reset to the previous [=MonsterVerse=] films including ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' in its own right, despite being made back-to-back with ''King of the Monsters'' and released only a couple years afterward[[note]]And even then, the film was slated to be released even earlier, before the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic delayed it[[/note]]. Although the HollowEarth is explored in full in this film, it's a completely-different aspect and portrayal of the realm compared to the cavern featured in the previous film. With the exceptions of Madison and Mark Russell, none of the other human characters from ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' nor the first two movies return in any form (and Mark is {{demoted to extra}} in the finished film to boot)[[spoiler: -- even Alan Jonah is absent, leaving it practically unexplained in the film version how Ghidorah's skull made its way from [[MisanthropeSupreme his]] custody into [[MugglePower Apex Cybernetics]]']]. On the Kaiju side of things, Godzilla, Kong, [[spoiler:and Ghidorah's undead remains]] are the only Titans to return for this film: all the Titans that were awakened in ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' are absent because they apparently [[PutOnABus went back into hibernation]] sometime after the previous film's CreativeClosingCredits (subverting the DawnOfAnEra portrayal of the Titans' awakening in that film and minimizing the film's ramifications on the bigger [=MonsterVerse=]); Skull Island has been effectively destroyed and most of its wildlife wiped out before this film's start, so it can no longer be Kong's home; and many of the other plot threads and storylines that ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters''[='=] aforementioned closing set up[[note]]Titans converging on Skull Island, a hint that Mechagodzilla was being built on the island instead of in Florida and Hong Kong, Monarch going public about their findings including the Hollow Earth's existence, etc.[[/note]] are dismissed, forgotten about or even [[SeriesContinuityError outright contradicted]] by this film. Even Maia Simmons' plot-relevant remark about how the [=HEAVs'=] power can light up Las Vegas for a week seems slightly out of place, since the previous film established that Las Vegas has remained in ruins and become overgrown since its devastation [[Film/Godzilla2014 ten years earlier in the MonsterVerse in-universe timeline]].
* SoleSurvivor:
** After Camazotz caused the hurricane surrounding Skull Island to close in on it, all of the Iwi except Jia were wiped out in the ensuing floods. Furthermore, all of the fauna aside from a few Skullcrawlers were wiped out as well.
** Kong and Godzilla are the last known surviving members of their species, though it's speculated that others may exist in the Hollow Earth.
* SoMuchForStealth: This trope occurs on a ''big'' scale with the naval journey to transport Kong across the planet: the naval escort carrying Kong actively steers clear of Godzilla's territorial routes to avoid a confrontation which could spell theirs and Kong's doom, but Godzilla finds them anyway and attacks. [[spoiler:The fallout is so bad that the humans have to airlift Kong the rest of the way to Antarctica, knowing that Godzilla will attack again the moment the remaining naval ships start moving]].
* SoulFragment: Based on the novelization's expansion, this works a couple ways with Mechagodzilla. In both versions of the story, the Mecha becomes sentient due to [[spoiler:Ghidorah's subconsciousness in the three-headed monster's skull hijacking the Mecha once it's empowered, with Word of God indicating that Ghidorah's consciousness merged with the Mecha's artificial intelligence to form a new personality]]. In the novelization, Ren Serizawa's mind is trapped inside the Mecha and overwritten when its sentient mind forms, and it's hinted (with the novel specifying that [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla's new mind [[GhostAmnesia has no memory of its past life as part of Ghidorah]]]]) that the Mecha's fixation on killing Godzilla probably comes from Ren's mind being digested into its personality.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Team Godzilla. Unlike Team Kong, whose actions are essential in moving the plot forward, Team Godzilla's only role up until the FinalBattle [[spoiler:against Mechagodzilla]] is discovering the conspiracy behind Apex. While important for the audience's sake, it's technically inconsequential in the grand scheme of things -- [[spoiler:until they manage to sabotage Mechagodzilla's remote control panel at a pivotal moment, giving Kong and Godzilla enough breathing room to finish it off. If they hadn't been there, Mechagodzilla would've killed both Godzilla ''and'' Kong before going on to destroy what was left of Hong Kong and likely the rest of the world]].
* SpiritualAntithesis: To the preceding movie, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. One is a Godzilla-focused movie with heroes and antagonists oriented around nature, Godzilla is in an extremely heroic role, and the conflict starts with the human antagonists championing the Titans conquering humanity; while the other is a Kong-centric movie with heroes and antagonists oriented around technology, Godzilla is in a more antagonistic role, and the conflict starts with the human {{contrasting sequel antagonist}}s championing humanity conquering the Titans.
* StuffBlowingUp: We've got Godzilla's Atomic Breath blowing up stuff at Apex Cybernetics, Pensacola, and we've got the naval battle scene where lots of jets and an entire naval carrier get turned into fireballs on account of Godzilla and Kong's fighting.
* SuperEmpowering: [[spoiler:Godzilla grants Kong the ability to destroy Mechagodzilla by focusing his atomic breath onto Kong's axe, granting the weapon increased lethal strength.]]
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: Moreso compared to previous entries in the [=MonsterVerse=]. [[spoiler:Even though Kong ultimately loses his fight against Godzilla (and almost dies from his wounds thanks to him), he's able to save the reptilian Titan from being killed by Mechagodzilla at the last moment; this forces the two heroic kaijus to team up in order to brutally decimate Mecha. As a result, Godzilla spares Kong and -- with Mechagodzilla no longer a factor -- goes back to being a largely benevolent protector of the Earth as its dominant Titan, while Kong is allowed to roam free in his new home in the Hollow Earth.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** Dr. Lind's state at the start of the film -- having quit Monarch due to a tragedy in which he lost family, and being reluctant to confront that situation again -- is very similar to Mark's position at the start of ''King of the Monsters''.
** Ren Serizawa is similar to Aaron Brooks (the son of [[Film/KongSkullIsland Houston Brooks]]) from ''The Birth of Kong'' comic, in that both their fathers are major Monarch operatives who respectively revere one of the two heroic Alpha Titans of this film, and in both Ren and Aaron's cases they disagree with their fathers' views and think humanity should be actively trying to wipe the creatures out. However, whereas Aaron experiences CharacterDevelopment and becomes a much wiser person who comes to understand his father's viewpoint, Ren does not.
* SwissCheeseSecurity: Apex has terrible security, with Team Godzilla having little trouble sneaking through their facilities. Of course, given Apex's supreme hubris, this is completely in character.
* SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain:
** {{Exaggerated}} with the two main Titan antagonists, Godzilla (who's decidedly the more antagonistic Titan in the titular conflict [[spoiler:despite still being a force of good]]), and Mechagodzilla.
*** Godzilla (Sympathetic) is more ruthless and aggressive than his previous Franchise/MonsterVerse appearances, not hesitating to massacre humans in his way, plus going out of his way to seek a conflict with Kong, but he's ultimately [[GoodAllAlong still a protector of the Earth]]. [[spoiler:He's only acting up because he's trying to find and destroy Mechagodzilla, since he can sense its signal and identifies it as a serious rival to his dominance, and it's also implied that Godzilla knows Mechagodzilla's human creators are unwittingly reanimating [[OmnicidalManiac Ghidorah]] via the Mecha (and after everything that happened in the previous movie, [[EtTuBrute with humanity and Godzilla having worked together to stop Ghidorah destroying their world]] [[AesopAmnesia after humans tried to control Ghidorah]], no less); making Godzilla's rage and belligerence understandable]].
*** Mechagodzilla (Despicable) is initially under the control of [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremists]] [[spoiler:whom are happily manipulating Godzilla into decimating the densely-populated Hong Kong so that said extremists can {{take over the world}}. And then once Ghidorah's subconsciousness corrupts the Mecha's A.I. and makes it autonomous of said controllers, the Mecha begins to {{kill all humans}} on sight, and it attempts to kill Godzilla and steal his kingship over the other monsters; just as Ghidorah previously did]].
** Highly {{downplayed}} with the novelization versions of Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa. They're both equally complicit in a CorporateConspiracy which deliberately puts millions of innocent people in a rampaging Alpha Titan's warpath and seeks to murder Godzilla, and both villains have very selfish motivations and are treated as completely inexcusable. However, the novel goes into detail on Ren's FreudianExcuse, revealing that he's a troubled former WellDoneSonGuy who mainly wants to kill Godzilla out of a sense of revenge and grief that Godzilla's existence robbed him of a relationship with his father up to the latter's HeroicSacrifice (Sympathetic); whereas Simmons is a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] {{narcissist}} who commits his crimes purely to fuel his own ego, and he has no hidden depths nor Freudian Excuse (Despicable).
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: [[spoiler:With regards to the three Kaiju present in the film. Kong lacks both the raw destructive force to overcome Godzilla's regeneration and the combat experience to deliver a decisive blow with his weapon. Godzilla has no answer for Mechagodzilla's anti-Kaiju weaponry or raw speed, which is backed up by Ghidorah's experience in combating the King of the Monsters. Finally, Mechagodzilla has no combat knowledge with regards to Kong, who has the speed and agility to keep up with it, but no regeneration to counter any damage done. That last one is downplayed, as Kong's axe holds no charge at first, but the ape lands several strikes in succession on Mechagodzilla, including sweeping its legs out from under it, that would have crippled it had the axe been charged. Once charged, Kong repeats the process with much better results.]]
* TailSlap:
** Godzilla uses his tail to knock fighter jets out of the sky during his first battle with Kong. In the Hong Kong battle, Godzilla swiftly flicks his tail with enough force to topple Kong.
** Like Godzilla, the Kaiju BigBad can use its tail to slap powerful Titans away. [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla uses its tail to smack Kong clean off of its shoulders with brute strength, and later when the Mecha is on the ground, it swipes at Kong with its tail again to unbalance the latter and give the Mecha time to get back up]].
* TerminatorImpersonator: [[spoiler:With his glowing red eyes, skull-like face, partially-organic circuitry and single-minded mission to exterminate all Titans, Mechagodzilla is essentially a kaiju version of the Terminator in all but name.]]
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: {{Discussed}} by the humans. Dr. Andrews believes that Godzilla will hunt Kong down and fight him to the death the moment Kong steps out of his original territory's borders and into Godzilla's global territory, saying that two Alpha Titans ''can't'' coexist with each-other in the same place. [[BigBadWannabe Walter Simmons]], with his [[KnightTemplar monstrously warped]] notion of [[MugglePower humanism]], uses this ideology to justify [[spoiler:creating Mechagodzilla and]] planning to get rid of the Alpha Titans, saying there can only be one reigning alpha species [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist and he intends for it to be a monster that's under complete HUMAN control]] (which isn't as good a thing as it sounds in this setting). [[spoiler:Both Andrews and Simmons [[SubvertedTrope are ultimately proven wrong in the end]], when Godzilla and Kong not only put their animosity aside to destroy Mechagodzilla once Ghidorah's subconsciousness has possessed it, but afterwards the two Alphas opt to bury the hatchet with each-other and peacefully go their separate ways, with Kong reigning in the Hollow Earth whilst Godzilla maintains his dominance on the surface world]].
* ThroatLight: Godzilla, as always, when his [[BlueIsHeroic Atomic Breath]] is charging up – as a matter of fact, it seems to show up a lot more frequently in this film than in his previous [=MonsterVerse=] appearances even when the jet of atomic fire isn't coming out, hinting that Godzilla has grown stronger. [[spoiler:His EvilKnockoff Mechagodzilla analogously has a red-colored, lazer disc-based Throat Light when it's charging up its own BreathWeapon]].
* ThrowingTheDistraction: At one point during the final duel, Kong tricks Godzilla into turning the opposite direction by throwing a crane and making it hit a building, and then leaping on Godzilla as he's looking away from him.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Despite the prior movies showing Godzilla choosing to avoid harming humans when he could, this film has him consciously attacking and destroying them. Madison notes that something the humans are doing seems to be provoking him, but she can't figure out what. [[spoiler: Turns out he's not attacking humans, he's chasing Ghidorah. Or rather the signal being sent from Ghidorah's remains as they are integrated into Mechagodzilla. He's lashing out at a potentially world ending threat...that is housed in the centre of human populated areas. That said, he does act very aggressive with Kong (due to an ancient blood feud between their species), despite the ape having no interest in his challenge and MONARCH avoiding his waters, even taking sadistic glee at brutalizing him and leaving him to die of his injuries, though after Kong saved his life this might change]].
* TooDumbToLive: While the military was [[MilitariesAreUseless wise enough avoid directly combating the Titans]], the stupidity is instead landed on the villains:
** There have been a lot of cases of this on individual and organizational levels in the Franchise/MonsterVerse[='s=] history... but all of the previous films' examples ''pale'' in comparison to this particular count of Apex Cybernetics' sheer stupidity. They [[spoiler:incorporate Ghidorah's telepathic remains as the neural network for a mech which Apex ''specifically'' designed to be unstoppable against any Titan on the planet including an Alpha-level Titan; in blatant disregard for the facts Ghidorah has BizarreAlienBiology that humans haven't made the first step to understanding and which could enable Ghidorah to cheat death for all they know, that Ghidorah's bones retaining their cognitive telepathy opens the door for the possibility that some of Ghidorah's actual ''consciousness'' could still be in there with it (which turns out to be the case), and the fact Ghidorah has established itself as a complete OmnicidalManiac with an active homicidal hatred of humanity since it was alive. Notably, the skull is shown to produce {{Ghostly Wail}}s even ''before'' it takes over Mechagodzilla's system, which are audible InUniverse to the characters based on how Madison finds the Skull Room, yet Apex don't think this is a red flag. Emma Russell at least could say she didn't know until she released Ghidorah that it was an invasive omnicidal alien -- Apex have no such excuse for their stupidity. And lo and behold, all of this comes back to haunt them when Ghidorah's mind is reawakened after Mechagodzilla is super-charged with hollow earth energy. He subsequently hijacks the machine, killing both Simmons and Ren, and goes on a tear through Hong Kong to murder Godzilla]].
*** During Godzilla's Pensacola attack, two Apex guards who catch Bernie running up a restricted corridor immediately stop him to demand he show them his clearance credentials (this when Bernie was just about to go back the way he came). Bernie promptly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades the trope]] by calling the guards out on how they're putting that at the top of their immediate priorities while ''Godzilla himself'' is rampaging in the area -- the guards don't take Bernie's point, and guess whose BreathWeapon turns the guards into collateral damage five. Seconds. Later.
** Maia's true goal was to enter Hollow Earth and collect energy there. As Godzilla ''literally blows a hole through the ground and into the surface of Hollow Earth'', she tries to escape. Seeing Kong in the way, tells her mooks to shoot at him as opposed to just going around. She gets fatally crushed for her folly.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Trailers more or less put [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]] in the title. Many of the trailers also showed [[spoiler:numerous shots from the very end of the movie. They also spoil the fact Kong knows sign language, which is a big reveal in the film. Most notably, the shots of Kong in the Hollow Earth at the last shots of the film, and the shot of Kong dropping his axe while Godzilla roars in the sunrise mist, after the two make amends, are all shown in the ''first'' trailer.]]
* TragicKeepsake:
** In Team Kong's plotline, Nathan holds onto a toy figurine which belonged to his late brother before the latter died in their original effort to enter the Hollow Earth. Nathan is seen holding and contemplating it amidst his effort to succeed where his brother originally failed.
** In Team Godzilla's plotline, Bernie holds onto a whiskey-filled flask [[spoiler:(also a MementoMacguffin at the end)]] which was given to him by [[TheLostLenore his late wife]] – [[spoiler:the novelization reveals that Bernie's wife died in a car collision that was implicitly [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident arranged by Apex]], which is what motivates Bernie's investigation into the company]]. Bernie says that the day the flask runs empty is the day that he's given up.
* TruerToTheText: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla is finally back to being a villain after being heroic or anti-heroic in every appearance post Showa (even anime, who never got to the 'be used as an invasion tool' step and even as [=MechaGodzilla=] City it was largely on the heroes side and its threat was unintentional) appearance. Further more, while built by humans, it ultimately ends up being used as a weapon against humanity by an alien (King Ghidorah in this case).]]
* TrustPassword: ConspiracyTheorist Bernie Hayes seeks like-minded individuals with the question "Tap or no tap?" based on his belief that the reason the government puts fluoride in tap water is to make people docile. The proper response is "No tap." Of course, one could point out that it's really a 50/50 chance, but unless people know his theories and understand the question in the first place, their response anyway would most likely be "Huh?"
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla was created by Apex to be a weapon against Godzilla and the other Titans, using the brain of Ghidorah's remaining head as a piloting system. However, after being enhanced by the power source from the center of the Earth, Ghidorah's conscious resurfaces, and takes control, annihilating the Apex facility.]]
%%* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: The core human members of Team Kong.
%%* TwoGuysAndAGirl: The human members of Team Godzilla.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The story is split into two main halves involving the human characters; Monarch attempting to reach the Hollow Earth with Kong's help, and Bernie, Madison, and Josh working to uncover the APEX conspiracy involving Godzilla. They don't end up meeting up until the very end (the stories, that is. The respective casts of each plot only ever share one single clip on-screen together).
* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: After three movies worth of build up -- ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'', ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', and ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' -- Godzilla and Kong finally throw-down with each other.
* UnderestimatingBadassery:
** ZigZagged with Dr. Andrews. She somewhat underestimates the extent of Kong's intelligence, but she also recognizes (unlike Lind) that they can't truly control Kong if they try, and at most can only sort of bargain with or manipulate him. She's also ''certain'' that if Kong and Godzilla ever clash, it'll mean Kong's certain defeat and death [[spoiler:-- she's ultimately proven half-right]].
** Despite the remarkable amount of independence, good thinking, competence and WiseBeyondTheirYears strength of character that Madison displayed in the previous film which was ultimately critical to securing King Ghidorah's downfall and minimizing civilian casualties, Mark is extremely patronizing towards her in this film, treating her like she's JustAKid who doesn't have a clue what she's talking about regarding the Titans, even though she's the ''only'' person besides Bernie who has the common sense to realize that Apex are a DevilInPlainSight and that people should be asking ''why'' Godzilla is rampaging first. In the novelization; pretty much everyone else in Monarch who Madison contacts about Godzilla's rampage regards her similarly, although they're a bit more polite than Mark is about it, and Mark has been in outright denial since the previous film that Madison is anything other than a normal, naive kid who doesn't know anything about what she wants.
* UndergroundCity: In the Hollow Earth, Kong and the [=HEAVs=] discover a colossal temple surrounded by stone ape sculptures, built on a scale that's enormous even to Kong, and carved into a mountain infused with the strange energy of the Earth's core.
* UngratefulBastard: Apex overall. They don't care that Godzilla is the chief reason why all of humanity including Apex's troublemaking worthless asses weren't all killed by King Ghidorah or the [=MUTOs=] previously; to them, Godzilla's in the way of their plan to take over the Titans for themselves by [[spoiler:usurping Godzilla with Mechagodzilla as the reigning alpha]]. To Ren Serizawa, Godzilla deserves to die [[ItsAllAboutMe because of Ren's daddy issues]] and because of all the casualties of Godzilla's previous battles against hostile Titans ([[{{Hypocrite}} no matter how many people]] ''[[{{Hypocrite}} Apex]]'' [[{{Hypocrite}} murders and sacrifices to achieve their goals]]). Likewise, Maia's actions over the film after the ocean battle don't show a lot of gratitude towards Kong for being the reason why Godzilla didn't sink them all.
* TheUnishment: [[spoiler: Kong is defeated by Godzilla and is essentially "exiled" to the Hollow Earth while Godzilla remains Alpha of the surface world... but given the state of Skull Island, the Hollow Earth is a far more lush and fertile home for Kong to rule over, and is the ancestral home of his kind.]]
* UnknownRival:
** Godzilla sees Kong as a threat to his sovereignty. For his part, Kong doesn't particularly care about Godzilla, if he's even ''aware'' of him. It takes ''two'' unprovoked attempts on his life from Godzilla and the temple of his ancestors' home being destroyed for Kong to decide enough is enough and take the initiative to fight Godzilla.
** Ren Serizawa can also be considered this to Godzilla. Whilst Godzilla knows that some of the humans (specifically Apex) [[spoiler:are building Mechagodzilla as a threat to his dominance, and the novelization all but confirms that Godzilla is indeed reacting so drastically because he can also sense that part of Ghidorah is still alive in the Mecha]]; not only does Godzilla as an animal likely have no idea of Ren's relation to the human who saved Godzilla's life in the previous film let alone Ren's motivations, but Ren also dies [[spoiler:when Mechagodzilla becomes sentient]] before Ren ever gets the chance to fight the King of the Monsters with it.
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: [[spoiler: This movie's version of Mechagodzilla is the [[ObviouslyEvil evil looking version ever designed]], with [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red eyes]] and a [[LeanAndMean thin]] skeleton like body and uses a literal skull for its cockpit. It's like Apex wanted it to turn evil.]]
* {{Unobtainium}}: Apex believe based on satellite scanning that the GreenRocks in the Hollow Earth which are apparently the original source of Godzilla's bio-atomic powers can be harnessed as a completely-unparalleled energy source; which is something Apex need to get their SecretWeapon working, because there's literally no manmade power source available on Earth which can fully charge it up. To this end, Apex develop the Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicles with the aim of achieving human entry to and exit from the Hollow Earth without being crushed by the gravity inversion. [[spoiler:The synthetic version of the energy source which Apex duplicate does just what they wanted it to, [[GoneHorriblyRight but it also does more]], thanks in no small part to a [[UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway lack of basic testing]] and Apex being stupid enough to connect a psychopathic DraconicAbomination[='s=] [[UndeadAbomination undead, haunted skull]] to their weapon]].
* UnstoppableRage: While Godzilla is known for being nigh-on unstoppable when he's good and pissed, it takes on an entire new level here in that he's locked himself into a state of constant, burning and uncontrollable ''fury'' [[spoiler:due to King Ghidorah being [[WhatTheHellHero saved by APEX]]. This reaches its logical conclusion when Kong actually wounds Godzilla with his ancestral axe and unintentionally gets in the way of his search for Ghidorah's remains, causing Godzilla to hit his RageBreakingPoint and go outright ''feral'' on him.]]
* UnwittingPawn:
** Team Kong, in particular Nathan (who persuaded the others to join the mission to transport Kong to the Hollow Earth after Simmons and Ren first approached him with the idea to reach the Hollow Earth), are this to Apex, who are using them to reach the Hollow Earth's primordial energy source so they can [[spoiler:use it to lastingly power Mechagodzilla for their EvilPlan]].
** According to the novelization, [[spoiler:Walter is this to Ren, as Ren's ''real'' reason for creating Mechagodzilla was to use it to become an artificial god and kill Godzilla for personal reasons, and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness planned to kill Walter]] the moment he no longer needed him.]]
** [[spoiler:While ''how much'' is ambiguous, at best everything Apex does only served to resurrect King Ghidorah as Mechagodzilla, and at worst Ghidorah was playing them from the very beginning by intentionally signaling Godzilla through Mechagodzilla.]]
** [[spoiler:It's implied that Godzilla and Kong both end up as unwitting pawns of Ghidorah and APEX, respectively. Ghidorah's skulls was activating the signals near civilization that made Godzilla look like he had gone rogue and began attacking cities for no reason. And Kong's ability to fight off the Hollow Earth Titans and find his ancestor's temple where they harnessed the energy of Hollow Earth plays right into their plans of activating Mechagodzilla with a power source that can let it run with no limit.]]
* UseYourHead: Godzilla unexpectedly rams Kong from below an aircraft carrier, head first. Shortly after, as Kong is struggling with Godzilla underwater, he breaks free from the tussle from head-butting Godzilla.
* VersusTitle: ''Godzilla'' '''''vs.''''' ''Kong''. This is actually the first Godzilla film to explicitly feature "vs." in the title since ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' in 2000.
** Though, the Japanese titles of ''Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla'' and ''Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.'' are "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" and "Godzilla vs. Mothra vs. Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." respectively.
* VilerNewVillain:
** [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]], for all their prattle about [[MugglePower serving humanity's best interests]], ultimately value human life just as little as the eco-terrorists from the previous movie did; but whereas the previous movie's story portrayed the eco-terrorists as having ''some'' valid points about humanity destroying their own ecosystem and the Titans' emergence being a chance to save it in the long run, and also about Monarch's passiveness; Apex are not cast in such a light by this movie at all. Instead, they're nothing more than delusional, ambitious corporate megalomaniacs who have refused to learn anything at all from the previous movies' apocalyptic events, and have entirely set off a needless conflict against their own species' savior for their own self-aggrandizement.
*** Furthermore, Apex's leader Walter Simmons completely lacks any of the tragic backstory and trauma which defined the eco-terrorist leader Alan Jonah's all-consuming misanthropy, and instead he's a textbook narcissistic sociopath who looks like he's never toiled with his hands for a day in his life and has been motivated to commit his crimes purely to feed his own ego.
*** Simmons' accomplice Ren Serizawa, though cast in a much more tragic light than Simmons in the novelization expansion, still lacks any living link to humanity of his own to redeem him, unlike Jonah's accomplice Emma Russell in the previous movie. Ren dies completely unrepentant of his crimes, in contrast to Emma's HeelRealization and dying attempt to right some of her wrongs.
** {{Implied|Trope}} with Mechagodzilla. As sadistic and evil as its past incarnation Ghidorah was in the previous movie, Ghidorah, being an invasive alien species to Earth, was theorized by the characters to be actively destroying the Earth because he needed to adapt to a planet that he didn't belong on (and [[MysteriousPast might not have voluntarily fallen to]]) via [[HostileTerraforming xenoforming it to his own liking]]. Mechagodzilla doesn't have such an excuse: it seems to solely care about sowing death, chaos, world domination, and possibly also [[MoralMyopia morally myopic]] revenge on Godzilla for their own sakes. [[ZigZagged On the other hand]], Ghidorah was ''explicitly'' an OmnicidalManiac whose actions threatened to globally kill all non-Titan life on Earth, whereas any omnicidal intentions that Mechagodzilla had for the Earth at large after killing Godzilla and wrecking Hong Kong are at most only implied.
* VillainousRescue: [[spoiler:Ren, when controlling Mechagodzilla, accidentally saves Madison from being eaten by the Skullcrawler that the mecha was being tested on when he grabs it mid-pounce -- with how close its jaws got to her and the speed it was moving at, that definitely would've been the end of Maddie if not for him. Not only was the rescue completely unintended, but Ren evidently never notices even after the act that he committed it.]]
* VillainsActHeroesReact: Godzilla is presumed to have made a FaceHeelTurn as he begins attacking human-inhabited locations, which is ''seemingly'' partly what motivates Apex Cybernetics to get Dr. Lind to transport Kong off of Skull Island (so he can lead Team Kong and Apex to the Hollow Earth's energy source, so Apex can harness it to defeat Godzilla). [[spoiler:In actuality, Godzilla's rampage is more or less GoodAllAlong, as the reason Godzilla is attacking is because Apex have been causing Ghidorah's telepathic alien neurology to reactivate in the process of using Ghidorah's remains to create Mechagodzilla for Apex's genocidal purposes, and Godzilla can sense his ArchEnemy is not entirely dead and may yet pose an impending threat again]].
** That said, the trope is played straight in regards to the titular kaiju. [[spoiler:In terms of the overall film story, Godzilla is not the villain, but in terms of his rivalry with Kong, Godzilla is the one to instigate all of their interactions, prompting Kong, who otherwise shows no interest in Godzilla, to fight back.]]
* VirtualGhost: [[spoiler:King Ghidorah is essentially brought BackFromTheDead via possessing Mechagodzilla.]]
* VisualPun: [[spoiler:Godzilla only backs down for good once Kong drops his axe - in other words, Kong ''buries the hatchet'' with Godzilla]].
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla]]. Just knowing about this character's existence at all reveals a big surprise of the third act, and any discussion of how he got that way gives away a major PlotTwist. (Of course, that didn't stop them from featuring him in the merch...)
* WaterfallShower: Kong takes a shower under a waterfall as part of his morning routine during the opening scenes.
* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla has both Kong and Godzilla dead to rights... and what turns the tides is a short-circuit that stalls Mechagodzilla (caused by a ''flask of alcohol'', no less), giving Godzilla time to supercharge Kong's axe and allow him to deal the final blow.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** The movie implies that Maia is one, as she's representing her father's company on the life-threatening mission to the HollowEarth, and she betrays [[spoiler:and threatens]] Team Kong to ensure, in her own words, that "[her] father gets what he wants" [[spoiler:in the form of the energy source that will enable him to activate Mechagodzilla]]. The novelization however implies that Maia is somewhat resentful of Walter and is just waiting until the day she'll inherit his corporate empire from him, or at least that's how Maia is rationalizing it to herself.
** PlayedStraight in the novelization's account of Ren Serizawa's backstory. It's revealed here that when Ren was growing up, he studied hard and developed his engineering skills in the hopes that Dr. Serizawa (who was a [[ParentalNeglect distant and absent father]]) "would someday understand him – or at least take note of him". Although Ren at first looked up to his father, as things between them soured ever further and after his father finally died, Ren's desire to garner his father's attention became twisted into an unhealthy fixation, leading to Ren seeking Godzilla's death as revenge for the latter robbing him of his father's love and attention and as Ren's own horrific way of [[ChildSupplantsParent surpassing his father]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Godzilla is this as his entire crusade is to destroy the remaining Ghidorah pieces before his archenemy somehow resurrects himself and resumes his destruction, too bad his aggressivity leaves him with no allies in the final battle that can assist him against Mechagodzilla as MONARCH spends their time trying to figure out why he's rampaging and all his Titan subordinates are slumbering on his orders.]] Apex Cybernetics' shady secret project, on the other hand, are [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremists]], whom paint their plan as them giving humanity a fighting chance against the Titans, but are really just driven by obscene ego and power-hunger whilst being way, way TooDumbToLive.
* WhamLine:
** In this case, it's not ''what'' is being said, but rather ''who'' is saying it. [[spoiler:During a storm chained on the boat, Kong signs the word "home", revealing he had secretly learned to talk and understand human language, indicating he's even more intelligent than anyone at Monarch thought.]]
** Not even any spoken words, but when [[spoiler: the now self-sustaining Mechagodzilla turns towards his counterpart after [[ForTheEvulz blasting away at Hong Kong]] and sounds off with [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah a certain someone's]] SignatureLaugh.]]
* WhamShot:
** [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla shuts down due to lack of power, eyes going dark. then after Ren and Walter discuss the Hollow Earth power source to complete Mechagodzilla. Cue the robot's eye lighting up and emitting an ORCA-like tone that seemingly attracts Godzilla.]]
** [[spoiler:Team Godzilla finding Mechagodzilla's cockpit is made from ''King Ghidorah's'' skull.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** The film leaves it unexplained what happened to the other Titans besides Godzilla, with a news report in the beginning mentioning that there's been zero Titan activity for over three years, and the opening title sequence lists the previous films' Titans besides Godzilla and Kong as "Defeated" but doesn't elaborate on what it means by that. The tie-in comic ''Godzilla Dominion'' has Godzilla instructing the Titans to return to hibernation shortly after the events of ''King of the Monsters''.
** Likewise, Alan Jonah from [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the previous film]] isn't seen or at all mentioned, but the skull of the severed Ghidorah head he obtained [[spoiler:has now made its way into Apex Cybernetics' possession]]. The ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' novelization features a prologue scene where a man heavily implied to be Jonah [[spoiler:sells two Ghidorah skulls to Walter Simmons]].
** It's unclear at the end of the film what'll happen to Apex Cybernetics following the destruction of Mechagodzilla and the deaths of Ren and both Simmons', but it can be safely presumed they'll be facing scrutiny followed by a ''tidal wave'' of criminal charges and prosecutions once [[spoiler:the extent of their machinations]] is revealed and they'll most likely be completely run out of business.
* WhatIsGoingOn: During the FinalBattle, Nathan asks Andrews this question when rushing onto the scene, [[spoiler:prompting Dr. Andrews to explain that Kong is dying]]. In the novelization, the evening of Godzilla's attack on Pensacola, Madison asks Mark this question over the phone when he (having noticed Godzilla's approach) tells her to get ready for an overnight stay with a Monarch operative.
* WhatTheHellHero: Mark gets one from Madison early in the film for just assuming Godzilla has made a FaceHeelTurn and refusing to listen to reason. In the novelization, Jia gives Dr. Andrews a civil-seeming one for thinking she and Monarch know what's best for Kong and for only feeding his distrust of them by drugging and chaining him.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: It's never commented on, but the fact that Kong has understood sign language for quite a long time means that he was long able to understand what Ilene Andrews was signing long before she knew he did. His visible reaction to her claiming that she wants to help him (in sign language) by taking him to a new home is a hint of this.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:[=MechaGodzilla's=] first establishing act is to utterly decimate a giant Skullcrawler, one of the baddies of ''Kong: Skull Island'', effortlessly cleaving it in two with his Proton Scream.]]
* WorfHadTheFlu:
** The first round fight between Kong and Godzilla takes place on top of some boats in the middle of the ocean. Given that Godzilla is amphibious and Kong is not, Godzilla has a major terrain advantage.
** [[spoiler:Godzilla and Kong are both exhausted and injured from fighting each other when Mechagodzilla finally shows himself, and thus are already at a disadvantage even discounting how powerful the robot is in the first place. [[WordOfGod Wingard]] would confirm this is the case, and suggested Godzilla wouldn't have lost the BeamOWar had he been fresh. Whether Godzilla would have beaten Mechagodzilla if he had been at his best shape or lost but put up more of a fight is not stated, however.]]
* WorkingWithTheEx: Implied between Ilene and Nathan. Before meeting with Nathan Jia points out Ilene is nervous. Another clue is Nathan is visibly further cleaned up when he meets her and Ilene is more annoyed than creeped out when he kisses her cheek when she agrees to his plan with Kong.
* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler: Though initially, in the ultimate battle, Godzilla triumphs over Kong and leaves him to die. Kong seems to finally earn his respect when he saves him from certain death at Mechagodzilla's hands, and Godzilla acknowledges him as an equal after Kong drops his axe showing that he not only never had an interest in a fight, but is willing to leave in peace if left alone.]]
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Kong does some flying wrestling moves on Godzilla, at one point even using an elbow drop on his neck to snuff out a blast of atomic breath. [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla does this more effectively on Godzilla, employing left and right hooks to hit his gills and Kong himself employs them against Mechagodzilla in the final battle.]]
* WritersCannotDoMath: The novelization suffers this. Whereas the film is presumed to take place five years after ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' (Simmons states in this film that Godzilla's battle with the [=MUTOs=] was ten years ago, and ''King of the Monsters'' explicitly took place five years after the MUTO incident which it said took place in 2014); the novelization explicitly claims to take place three years after ''King of the Monsters'', but it has self-contradictory chronological dating. It explicitly says that the MUTO incident still occurred in the year 2014 and the events of ''King of the Monsters'' in the year 2019, which should place the novel's chronological year at 2022 in relation to the three-year gap; but the novel still says more than once that "ten years" have passed since the 2014 crisis instead of amending it to "eight years" or amending the MUTO crisis' date to 2012.
* YouAreNumberSix: The Skullcrawlers used as [[spoiler:test subjects by Apex Cybernetics are referred to by number, with their gates marked appropriately. The one killed by Mechagodzilla in the film was No. 10.]]
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Due to the PerpetualStorm closing in around it, Skull Island cannot support Kong for much longer. Almost the entire fleet was destroyed getting him to Antarctica, meaning they couldn't return to Skull Island even if it was still habitable, so the only option was getting him down the tunnel into Hollow Earth. [[spoiler:Once there, it's shown that Hollow Earth is an ancestral home for Kong's species that can support him]].
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Sort of. Despite Team Godzilla's efforts to stop Apex, the corporate villains' plot to harvest and replicate the HollowEarth element [[spoiler:and use it to fully power up Mechagodzilla]] succeeds, with Team Kong playing right into Apex's hands until it's too late for them to do anything. [[spoiler:However, at this point, Ghidorah's subconsciousness takes control of Mechagodzilla, [[EvilerThanThou and it immediately and utterly supplants Apex as the true threat and the final villain of the film]] for the climax, with the Mecha looking to destroy Godzilla, Kong and any humans in sight on ''Ghidorah's'' terms instead of Apex's (and [[NearVillainVictory coming VERY close to victory a couple times]])]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: {{Implied}} amongst the villains, and in the novelization it comes from more than one angle. In both versions of the story; because EvilIsNotAToy, [[BigBadWannabe Walter Simmons]] is killed [[spoiler:by Mechagodzilla]] and [[TheDragon Ren Serizawa]] is killed by a system malfunction as soon as they've fully charged their SecretWeapon [[spoiler:and this has enabled the Ghidorah skull's lingering consciousness to override the system and possess the Mecha as its new form. It's uncertain how cognizant Ghidorah's skull was before this point, [[UndeadAbomination given its state]], but there are some hints it might have been aware and biding its time all along until Apex gave it a fully-charged Mechagodzilla as a new body]]. In the novel, Ren is [[DragonWithAnAgenda just using Simmons to achieve his own ends]]: he [[TeethClenchedTeamwork hates working with a person whom he views as a small-minded egotist]], and it's made clear that Ren will at best leave Simmons in the dust or at worst will kill him outright once their partnership has served its purpose. But Ren's death occurs before his partnership with Simmons has reached that stage.
[[/folder]]

A sequel named ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire'' was filmed in 2022, with Wingard returning to the director's chair and Creator/DanStevens and Fala Chen cast in new roles. [[https://deadline.com/2022/06/dune-part-two-moves-to-pre-thanksgiving-2023-godzilla-kong-event-sequel-dated-1235054755/ The film is currently set for a March 15, 2024 release]].

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: "Mechagodzilla" (as the movie's subtitles and novelization spell it), or "[=MechaGodzilla=]" (as a screen in Apex's HQ and the film's toy merchandise spell it)? Also, in the novelization, Ishirō Serizawa's first name is mispelled "Ichiro".

** The novelisation also goes into more detail on what's [[spoiler:controlling Mechagodzilla (even if it remains a bit murky). Rather than the active sentience of Ghidorah, it seems to be a FusionDance; Ghidorah's [[GeneticMemory instinctual rage and hate]] for ''everything'' coming together with Ren Serizawa's desire for supremacy over Godzilla and Titankind through the Mecha's AI to create an entirely new consciousness]].
* AdaptationalMundanity: It's more subtle, but Apex Cybernetics seem to continue ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''' tradition of adapting the old ''Godzilla'' continuities' {{Human Alien}}s who attempt to control the Kaiju (including [[spoiler:their own creation Mechagodzilla and/or Ghidorah]]) so that they're humans trying to control forces they don't understand and often suffering the consequences.

* Sickening "Crunch!": Kong punches Godzilla in the leg he stabbed his axe with, there is an audible loud crunch and Godzilla roars in pain.