History Franchise / MonsterVerse

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Not in release order, but if the franchise's film installments are put in ''chronological'' order, this trope is in full effect until ''Film/GodzillaVsKong''. In ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', the Skullcrawlers are relatively small by Kaiju standards, and Kong who ''isn't even fully mature yet'' can beat back hordes of them. In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', the [=MUTOs=] are nearly the size of Godzilla, they create an {{EMP}} around themselves which does a lot to cripple the entire U.S. Navy's efforts to track and stop them, and the pair make Godzilla work quite a bit to kill them both and it looks like they nearly win the fight against him. In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', Ghidorah is roughly ''twice'' the size of Godzilla, he's powerful enough that Godzilla is considered the ''only'' force on Earth that can truly rival him (and even then, in a fair fight without Mothra's assistance or watery terrain, Godzilla despite himself does seem to be the underdog), Ghidorah generates an intensifying electricity-filled hurricane around himself merely by being active, and he gains command of ''all the other Kaiju on the planet'' except Mothra when Godzilla is briefly incapacitated. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' tops it off with Mechagodzilla, with Ghidorah's brain at the helm, being on a mission to destroy all titans and leave mankind sole ruler of the planet, until Ghidorah's brain goes rogue and seeks personal revenge on Godzilla himself and then to resume his destruction of all life on Earth using the Titans.]]

* OneMythToExplainThemAll: It's suggested that {{Kaiju}} were responsible for the myths and tales around the world. King Ghidora inspired many civilization's ideas of devils and dragons and Mothra inspired, of all things, angels.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Joe Brody used to be this, and Dr. Serizawa is also this, as are Admiral Stenz ([[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 most of the time, anyway]]) and Shaw in ''Godzilla Awakening''.

** Furthermore, in ''King of the Monsters'', the ApocalypseHow occurring in the second half of the film is immediately ''global'' in scope, rather than a regional ApocalypseWow which threatens to go widespread if TheBadGuyWins like in the previous two films; and the stakes are presented as higher, with the human forces and benevolent kaiju all allying together more directly than in the 2014 film, and with Ghidorah's unnatural true nature as an [[spoiler:invasive alien]] OmnicidalManiac compared to that of the predatory Skullcrawlers and [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious]] [=MUTOs=] respectively. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' escalates it with Mechagodzilla, a man-made monster with Ghidorah's brain and a score to settle with Godzilla.]]

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Not in release order, but if the franchise's film installments are put in ''chronological'' order, this trope has so far been in full effect; although ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' might break pattern. In ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', the Skullcrawlers are relatively small by Kaiju standards, and Kong who ''isn't even fully mature yet'' can beat back hordes of them. In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', the [=MUTOs=] are nearly the size of Godzilla, they create an {{EMP}} around themselves which does a lot to cripple the entire U.S. Navy's efforts to track and stop them, and the pair make Godzilla work quite a bit to kill them both and it looks like they nearly win the fight against him. And in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', Ghidorah is roughly ''twice'' the size of Godzilla, he's powerful enough that Godzilla is considered the ''only'' force on Earth that can truly rival him (and even then, in a fair fight without Mothra's assistance or watery terrain, Ghidorah does seem to have more of an advantage), Ghidorah generates an intensifying electricity-filled hurricane around himself merely by being active, and he gains command of ''all the other Kaiju on the planet'' except Mothra when Godzilla is briefly incapacitated. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' tops it off with Mechagodzilla, with Ghidorah's brain at the helm, being on a mission to destroy all titans and leave mankind sole ruler of the planet, until Ghidorah's brain goes rogue and seeks personal revenge on Godzilla himself and then to resume his destruction of all life on Earth using the Titans.]]

** Both the MUTO and the Skullcrawlers are merely animals acting on instinct, but while the MUTO are portrayed as somewhat sympathetic {{Tragic Monster}}s the Skullcrawlers are played for full-on horror. And then they're followed by King Ghidorah and later [[spoiler:his reincarnation Mechagodzilla]], both of whom are no mere instinctive beasts but are genuinely evil, sadistic and malicious creatures. It's also worth noting, whereas the [=MUTOs=] and Skullcrawlers are primordial, natural creatures, [[spoiler:Ghidorah is an ancient extraterrestrial of unknown origin who's considered an invasive species to Earth's biosphere]] and Mechagodzilla is a cybernetic beast of humanity's creation.
** When it comes to the human antagonists, the films do this more than once and ultimately go slightly back and forth. The first human antagonist in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' is an insane GeneralRipper who wants to kill the Titans allegedly to keep humanity safe; then in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', the human villains are pro-Titan [[EcoTerrorist Eco-Terrorists]] who want the Titans to reclaim the world from humanity, then in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' we're back to humanist, anti-Titan villains. Also, whereas the ''Skull Island'' and ''King of the Monsters'' human antagonists were underground, military and somewhat ragtag organizations in their own respective ways, the ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' human fiends are wealthy, techy and well-dressed EvilInc operatives who have at least a moderate public image.

* DeadToBeginWith: Adam, the Godzilla fossil that played host to the [=MUTOs=]; and Kong's parents, respectively.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Emma Russell]] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. It also looks like Godzilla has turned against humanity in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', but [[spoiler:it turns out he was GoodAllAlong]], and both those films' novelizations have featured a couple of Monarch's operatives making these (one due to agreeing with [[spoiler:Emma Russell]] that the Titans should be free, the other for money).

** Ghidorah, the BigBad of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', is somewhat an OverarchingVillain, as he's the source of many of humanity's draconian myths and legends, [[spoiler:and in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' he briefly returns as the Big Bad by becoming reborn in Mechagodzilla]].
** In ''King of the Monsters'', EcoTerrorist Alan Jonah is the film's resident BigBadWannabe who is responsible for freeing Ghidorah from his icy prison. In ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', [[spoiler:Jonah is indirectly responsible for the events of the entire film due to the severed Ghidorah head he obtained (which the novelization reeveals he willingly sold on to Apex) provoking Godzilla's rampage and enabling Ghidorah to return reborn]].
** The ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' novelization reveals that [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]], the film's human antagonists, [[spoiler:were the ones the government contracted to build the prototype Oxygen Destroyer before the events of ''King of the Monsters'', making them indirectly and unwittingly responsible for Ghidorah's entire apocalyptic NearVillainVictory throughout the second half]] in ''King of the Monsters''.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Godzilla, though he's definitively an AntiHero in this continuity, is initially just seen by most of humanity as a monster and a threat to their peace until the events of ''King of the Monsters'' make humanity see him as their savior -- and even then, when he begins rampaging seemingly unprovoked in ''Godzilla vs. Komng'', the human race are surprisingly quick to assume he's gone bad. Monarch also get shtick in TheUnmasquedWorld and are often blamed by the public and government for whatever damage the Titans cause.

* HostileTerraforming: This trope is generally theorized by Monarch to be the motivations of most of the hostile Titans — the MUTOs and MUTO Prime, Ghidorah, Camazotz — respectively. Forcibly and rapidly reshape the region or the whole planet to suit themselves in a way which kills off the pre-existing ecosystems.

* AllThereInTheManual: In the lead-up to the home release of ''Kong: Skull Island'', social media pages for the movie have been releasing video timelines for the [=MonsterVerse=]. Notable events include the establishment of a Monarch research base at a Caribbean volcanic island in 1991 (presumably Rodan's roost), the discovery of Mothra's cocooned form within her temple in China in 2009, and finding Ghidorah frozen in MysteriousAntarctica in 2016.

** The ''King of the Monsters'' ClosingCreditsGag mentions that Titans are mysteriously converging on Skull Island after the ending. Subsequent instalments have done absolutely nothing to explain this and it seems to have been forgotten about.

** Mothra has a strange connection to a family line of identical twins, BornAgainImmortality via GeneticMemory, and [[spoiler: Madison reviving after having a vision of her]] that all seem to suggest she may be an ''actual'' PhysicalGod.

* AbortedArc: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' and ''Godzilla: Dominion'' unfortunately do this to the mass awakening of the other Titans in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. After all the DawnOfAnEra / NothingIsTheSameAnymore build-up and drama throughout ''King of the Monsters'', subsequent installments have Godzilla commanding all the awakened Titans to return to hibernation again when he [[spoiler:senses part of Ghidorah is still alive]], and the long-term consequences of the events of ''King of the Monsters'' on humanity being minimal.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Both the MUTO and the Skullcrawlers are merely animals acting on instinct, but while the MUTO are portrayed as somewhat sympathetic {{Tragic Monster}}s the Skullcrawlers are played for full-on horror. And then they're followed by King Ghidorah, who is no mere instinctive beast, but a genuinely evil, sadistic and malicious creature. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' tops this off with Mechagodzilla, a man-made monster as opposed to the natural or extraterrestrial predescessors, and one that is commanded by none other than Ghidorah's brain, contrasting with the original Ghidorah by being a smaller-scale threat, with a personal vendetta against Godzilla, as opposed to a global, world-ending one, though the novelization reveals has it won, it would've resumed Ghidorah's [[OmnicidalManiac attempt to destroy all life on Earth with the Titans]].]]

* DugTooDeep: This is one of the main causes of the Kaiju's emergences, with prominent examples including the [=MUTOs=] in the 2014 film and the Skullcrawlers in ''Skull Island''.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Both the MUTO and the Skullcrawlers are merely animals acting on instinct, but while the MUTO are portrayed as somewhat sympathetic {{Tragic Monster}}s the Skullcrawlers are played for full-on horror. And then they're followed by King Ghidorah, who is no mere instinctive beast, but a genuinely evil, sadistic and malicious creature. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' tops this off with Mechagodzilla, a man-made monster as opposed to the natural or extraterrestrial predescessors, and one that is commanded by none other than Ghidorah's brain, contrasting with the original Ghidorah by being a smaller-scale threat, with a personal vendetta against Godzilla, as opposed to a global, world-ending one.]]

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Not in release order, but if the franchise's film installments are put in ''chronological'' order, this trope has so far been in full effect; although ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' might break pattern. In ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', the Skullcrawlers are relatively small by Kaiju standards, and Kong who ''isn't even fully mature yet'' can beat back hordes of them. In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', the [=MUTOs=] are nearly the size of Godzilla, they create an {{EMP}} around themselves which does a lot to cripple the entire U.S. Navy's efforts to track and stop them, and the pair make Godzilla work quite a bit to kill them both and it looks like they nearly win the fight against him. And in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', Ghidorah is roughly ''twice'' the size of Godzilla, he's powerful enough that Godzilla is considered the ''only'' force on Earth that can truly rival him (and even then, in a fair fight without Mothra's assistance or watery terrain, Ghidorah does seem to have more of an advantage), Ghidorah generates an intensifying electricity-filled hurricane around himself merely by being active, and he gains command of ''all the other Kaiju on the planet'' except Mothra when Godzilla is briefly incapacitated. [[spoiler: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' tops it off with Mechagodzilla, with Ghidorah's brain at the helm, being on a mission to destroy all titans and leave mankind sole ruler of the planet, until Ghidorah's brain goes rogue and seeks personal revenge on Godzilla himself.]]

The movies are distributed by Creator/WarnerBros and produced by Creator/LegendaryPictures in partnership with Creator/{{Toho}}, the Japanese studio that [[TropeCodifier codified]] the Kaiju genre and owns most of the well known Kaiju [=IPs=]. Currently, the series counts four films, which is as extensive as Legendary's initial contract with Toho lasted. [[https://screenrant.com/godzilla-vs-kong-sequel-movies-monsterverse-ideas-update/ There are ideas]] for future films.

* AbortedArc: ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' and ''Godzilla: Dominion'' unfortunately do this to the mass awakening of the other Titans in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. After all the DawnOfAnEra / NothingIsTheSameAnymore build-up and drama throughout ''King of the Monsters'', subsequent installments have Godzilla commanding all the awakened Titans to return to hibernation again when he [[spoiler:senses part of Ghidorah is still alive]], and life apparently more or less returning to normal for humans.

* {{Pride}}: The pride and hubris of human beings in relation to the Titans (who represent nature) is a recurring theme throughout the franchise. Namely, contrary to humans' belief that they are the dominant species of Earth (or that they ''should be'' after the Titans become public knowledge), mankind are just an intelligent race of insects compared to the Titans. True to Dr. Serizawa's words below, in every [=MonsterVerse=] movie, it's human beings and organizations attempting to harness or conquer these eldritch forces of nature, failing to realize that some forces of nature are completely beyond human ability to control, that always makes things worse instead of better. Whether it be the military thinking they can kill the Titans the moment they become inconvenient yet being short-sighted to their efforts making things even worse for humans, or eco-terrorists who want the Titans to restore Earth's ecology thinking that attempting to manipulate them won't go awry, or a NebulousEvilOrganization being TooDumbToLive when thinking they can create something more powerful than the Titans in the Titans' image. It's also a recurring theme that only some of the human cast realize and wholeheartedly accept that HumansNeedAliens (namely the benevolent Titans) to survive against the hostile ones, whilst others just refuse to accept that.

* SnakesAreSinister: The Skullcrawlers, King Ghidorah, and the Warbats are all antagonistic Kaiju, and all of them are snake themed.

* HollowEarth: Introduced to the series in ''Kong: Skull Island'', and expanded on in ''King of the Monsters'' and ''Godzilla vs. Kong''. Exists in two forms: massive caves and tunnels extremely deep in the Earth's crust (and possibly mantle); Godzilla uses these tunnels for rapid travel in ''[=KotM=]'' and rests in a massive radioactive underwater cave. Even deeper, there's an empty space at the Earth's core containing a full ecosystem. It is from here, it is theorized, where all terrestrial Titans originate.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Can be found in spades throughout all the franchise due to being a more "realistic" take on the {{Kaiju}} genre. One major example present in each film is how the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Titans]] affect the world around them; [[Film/{{Godzilla|2014}} Godzila rising from the ocean too quickly can cause a tsunami,]] [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Rodan devastates a town simply by flying over it,]] etc.

The movies are distributed by Creator/WarnerBros and produced by Creator/LegendaryPictures in partnership with Creator/{{Toho}}, the Japanese studio that [[TropeCodifier codified]] the Kaiju genre and owns most of the well known Kaiju [=IPs=]. Currently, plans are for the series to encompass four films, which is as extensive as Legendary's initial contract with Toho lasts. [[https://screenrant.com/godzilla-vs-kong-sequel-movies-monsterverse-ideas-update/ There are ideas]] for future films.

The movies are distributed by Creator/WarnerBros and produced by Creator/LegendaryPictures in partnership with Creator/{{Toho}}, the Japanese studio that [[TropeCodifier codified]] the Kaiju genre and owns most of the well known Kaiju [=IPs=]. Currently, plans are for the series to encompass four films, which is as extensive as Legendary's initial contract with Toho lasts.

Interestingly, the franchise has given Toho enough confidence to throw their hat back into the ring with making a SharedUniverse of monster movies after 2020 ([[GenreThrowback naturally featuring people in rubber suits]]). Whether the two respective settings will coexist, or if the fourth film will serve as the franchise's GrandFinale, is presently unclear, as Legendary's license to make Godzilla movies was scheduled to expire after ''Godzilla vs. Kong''.

* SnakesAreSinster: The Skullcrawlers, King Ghidorah, and the Warbats are all antagonistic Kaiju, and all of them are snake themed.

* BloodyAndGorier: While the classic films could have some blood, things are a lot more bloody and brutal here. This is especially clear when it comes to monster deaths, which have thus far included decapitations, disembowelments, and visceral incinerations.

* MilitariesAreUseless: The series follows the trend set up in the original movies of the military standing no chance against the Kaiju. Though its also deconstructed slightly, with it being indicated that the primary reason their so useless is because the things they're up against are so far beyond anything they've dealt with before.

* AdaptedOut: Toho has to give Legendary explicit approval to use specific {{Kaiju}} for the series, meaning that the only monsters that are licensed out to the company are Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah. Presumably, this is the reason why Rodan is showing up before Anguirus. That being said, Toho is very supportive of the series, and it's likely that the approval process is based on determining what the movies need as opposed to there being real legal red tape preventing certain characters from being used.

* {{Kaiju}}: The series is about gigantic monsters rampaging through human cities.

* BehemothBattle: The franchise's crux, featuring at least one of these battles in every film. The latest battle will involve Godzilla and Kong duking it out in "a battle for the ages".

* AllThereInTheManual: In the lead-up to the home release of ''Kong: Skull Island'', social media pages for the movie have been releasing video timelines for the [=MonsterVerse=]. Notable events include the establishment of a Monarch research base at a Caribbean volcanic island in 1991 (presumably Rodan's roost), the discovery of Mothra's cocooned form within her temple in China in 2009, and finding Ghidorah frozen in MysteriousAntarctica in 2016.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Both the MUTO and the Skullcrawlers are merely animals acting on instinct, but while the MUTO are portrayed as somewhat sympathetic {{Tragic Monster}}s the Skullcrawlers are played for full-on horror. And then they're followed by King Ghidorah, who is no mere instinctive beast, but a genuinely evil, sadistic and malicious creature.

* GiantEqualsInvincible: There's very little that humans' general arsenal can do against the Kaiju except maybe piss them off.

** ''Film/Godzilla2014'' has only one full onscreen battle between the Kaiju as the FinalBattle, with two earlier battles which are mostly offscreen, preferring to focus on the human characters' perspective of the Kaiju's destruction. ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' doesn't shy away from depicting the action onscreen in such a way. ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' has lengthier Kaiju battles (particularly the FinalBattle), though it tends to show them from both the Kaiju's and the humans' perspective almost equally.

** Furthermore, in ''King of the Monsters'', the ApocalypseHow occurring in the second half of the film is immediately ''global'' in scope, rather than a regional ApocalypseWow which threatens to go widespread if TheBadGuyWins like in the previous two films; and the stakes are presented as higher, with the human forces and benevolent kaiju all allying together more directly than in the 2014 film, and with Ghidorah's unnatural true nature as an [[spoiler:invasive alien]] OmnicidalManiac compared to that of the predatory Skullcrawlers and [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious]] [=MUTOs=] respectively.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Not in release order, but if the franchise's film installments are put in ''chronological'' order, this trope has so far been in full effect; although ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' might break pattern. In ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', the Skullcrawlers are relatively small by Kaiju standards, and Kong who ''isn't even fully mature yet'' can beat back hordes of them. In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', the [=MUTOs=] are nearly the size of Godzilla, they create an {{EMP}} around themselves which does a lot to cripple the entire U.S. Navy's efforts to track and stop them, and the pair make Godzilla work quite a bit to kill them both and it looks like they nearly win the fight against him. And in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', Ghidorah is roughly ''twice'' the size of Godzilla, he's powerful enough that Godzilla is considered the ''only'' force on Earth that can truly rival him (and even then, in a fair fight without Mothra's assistance or watery terrain, Ghidorah does seem to have more of an advantage), Ghidorah generates an intensifying electricity-filled hurricane around himself merely by being active, and he gains command of ''all the other Kaiju on the planet'' except Mothra when Godzilla is briefly incapacitated.