Film / Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Spoilers from Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned

Bow to your new king.

"For most of human civilization we believed that life could only exist on the surface of our planet. What else were we wrong about?"

— Dr. Illene Andrews

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a 2024 Kaiju film, the fifth film and seventh instalment of the MonsterVerse franchise, and as the title says, the sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong and the third film to feature Godzilla and King Kong. Director Adam Wingard once more helms with cast members Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kaylee Hottle returning to their roles alongside new additions Dan Stevens, Fala Chen, Alex Ferns, and Rachel House.

Set a few years after the events of the previous film, Kong continues to explore deeper into the Hollow Earth hoping to find other Great Apes. As he continues ever forward, Monarch begins detecting a mysterious signal originating from previously unexplored regions of the Hollow Earth, which has begun to send Godzilla into a paranoid frenzy, as he starts steadily consuming more power. Realising that the King of the Monsters is preparing for something, MONARCH scientist Dr. Ilene Andrews teams up with Titan veterinarian Trapper, paranoid podcaster Bernie Hayes and her adoptive Iwi daughter Jia, to plot a course to find the signal's origin. Along the way, they discover a hidden threat, believed to be long buried, that not even Godzilla and Kong's combined power may be able to stop.The film was released on March 27 internationally, on March 29 in the United States, and is set for release on April 26 in Japan.

Previews: Title Reveal, First Trailer, Second Trailer

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire includes examples of the following:

• Adaptational Expansion: Similar to prior entries in the Monsterverse, there is a novelization that has more content than the film.
  • The movie takes place in 2027, three years after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong.
  • While only implied in the movie, the novelization confirms that Suko is Skar King's son.
  • The Skar King keeps all of the females in the civilization for himself, in something of a harem.
  • Red-painted apes (loyal to Skar King) are called "Red-Stripes."
  • Monarch speculates that Godzilla takes up residence in the Roman Colosseum because it reminds him of his old home that got nuked back in King of the Monsters, observing architectural similarities between the two.
  • Scylla had no containment field and was presumed dead when found.
  • The film doesn't go into the background of Scylla and Godzilla's fight. But the tie-in 'Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted' backstory makes it quite clear that their battle wasn't an average dispute between the two Titans. Scylla was intentionally feeding on radiation, either to make more Scylla monsters or to make herself powerful enough to make a run at Godzilla. Whatever Scylla's intentions, Godzilla sensed what she was doing and stepped in to stop it. It's a compelling backstory that makes Godzilla's fight with his rival monster even more interesting knowing Scylla was more powerful thanks to her hidden agenda.
  • Trapper's real name is Travis Beasley.
  • The reason Kong ran into Suko and the other Great Apes so quickly after entering the subterranean realm is that they were waiting for him specifically. After destroying the Monarch outpost, the Skar King found evidence of another ape in Kong's cave and, curious, detailed Suko's party to capture him.
  • While it's kept vague, Shimo is given more backstory than in the film. Having worked out her existence even if they've never seen her, Monarch are aware of cave paintings showing her battling - and dominating - Godzilla, while Ilene at one point mentions the chemical composition of her ice powers matches Ghidorah's frozen tomb in King of the Monsters, indicating she was the one that put him on ice.
  • Shimo's ice-breath can slow down atoms.
  • Shimo is not related to Godzilla.
  • Taxonomists don't know what titans even are (all of them).
  • Shimo was called Monster H/The Hypothetical, based on the ice found around the earth.
  • The crystal shard is implied to be part of Shimo."
  • Its implied Shimo was the alpha before.
  • Remains of Mechagodzilla are in Monarch facilities.
  • Project Powerhouse was built from the Mechagodzilla technology.
  • Jia was chosen because she was an Iwi that was deaf, and could sense Mothra's vibrations.
  • Bioacoustics suggest its the same Mothra somehow.
  • The tree that eats Mikael is called a "Tree-Mimic."
  • Director Hampton gets far more characterization than just being Ilene's hapless boss. She was present in Honolulu when Godzilla first emerged to battle the male MUTO, in a hotel about to be destroyed by the latter, until Godzilla pushed it away. While she's firmly aware of how it sounds, she believes Godzilla saw her and deliberately pushed it away instead of smashing it through the building, making her believe he's much more than some mindless animal. For many of the sequences following Godzilla's actions in the film, she becomes the POV character as she and her staff confer on what's happening with the monster king.
  • Godzilla's new form was made from Tiamat's DNA.
  • The Iwi city is called, 'Malenka'.
  • The names of Skar King's loyal followers are: Gnarled Finger, One Eye, Stone Face and Catcher.
  • The Skar King's motivations are expanded upon; in addition to wanting to claim the surface world, he also intended to invade and kill all life there as well to further assert his dominance. One of the reasons he enslaved Shimo is to further reach this goal with the possession of a titan incredibly powerful by their standards, enough to cause an extinction-level catastrophe.
  • Much like the King of the Monsters novelisation (also written by Keyes) every chapter begins with recorded myths and legends that offer more insight, albeit distorted, into humanity's past encounters with the Skar King and Shimo.
  • The novelization includes several other creatures such as a Diraffe, a hybrid of a giraffe and an armadillo with an otter-like head, electricity-eating beetles, and giant river leeches.
  • The novelization opens up in 2016 with a prologue involving Ishiro Serizawa, Vivienne Graham, Ilene Andrews, and Emma Russell visiting Ghidorah's resting place and determining the existence of a "quintessential Titan" that caused the last ice age. It also reveals that Godzilla waged war with the Skar King alongside other Titans that were loyal to him.
  • Hampton worries about the world's governments attempting a takeover of the Hollow Earth, which is only made worse with the presence of Shimo in Rio.
  • Godzilla was apprehensive about whether or not he could win again, against Skar King. He won against him before, but with Shimo seemingly as a new addition or surprise variable he may not have known if he'd be victorious again.
  • The metal in the pyramid is mercury.
  • Kong now sees Godzilla and Mothra as part of his family because of the connection they have with the Iwi tribe.
  • Suko joining in the final fight is him refusing to be afraid of Skar King and the Red Stripes anymore because Kong inspired him.
  • Bernie, Ilene, and Jia choose to stay in Malenka a little longer while Trapper returns to the surface world, with hints that he and Ilene might rekindle their relationship.
  • Kong and Shimo are "bonded".
• Abusive Dad: While never explicitly stated, the Skar King is heavily implied to be the father of Suko (which would also make him Suko's Archnemesis Dad), and several other orange-haired simian babies, as later on in the film, there's a brief shot near his throne which shows a bunch of female Great Apes holding babies, all of them with the same orange colored fur as Suko. Not only was Suko evidently unspared the brutality and cruelty of the Skar King's kingdom based on his visible scars and initial viciousness towards Kong; but during the movie, the Skar King moves to attack Suko purely for not joining the rest of his gang in laughing loudly enough at Kong's prosthetic tooth, and when Suko's beloved caretaker pleads with the Skar King to be merciful, the Skar King responds by feigning mercy for a moment, then sending Suko's caretaker to their brutal death by lava immolation in front of Suko. Finally, when Suko destroys the Skar King's Shimo-controlling crystal, the Skar King neck lifts Suko and tries to strangle him to death outright.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Continuing from the trend started by Godzilla King Of The Monsters and from the last movie, Godzilla is a bigger jackass and actively kills civilians in the way as well as smashing through everything in his path, as opposed to his 2014 incarnation usually only causing colleratal damage against civilians. As with the previous film, this is partially because he detects another world-ending threat: Shimo.
• A Death in the Limelight: Scylla, who makes a brief appearance at the end of King of the Monsters makes a much more significant appearance here when she attacks Rome but is killed by Godzilla in battle.
• Ambiguous Gender: It's unclear if the ape that Skar King killed was Suko's caretaker, mother or any other familial relation.
• Ambiguous Situation: Did Kong figure out that Suko led him to the lake on purpose so the lake monster would kill him but chose to not retaliate as an act of forgiveness/mercy, or did he not realize that the little ape did it intentionally and his obliviousness is the reason for a lack of a response?
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Once Kong returns to the Great Ape tribe and assures them that the Skar King is gone for good, the tribe responds in this matter, celebrating the end to a life of brutal tyranny and accepting Kong as their new leader.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The theme song of the Japanese release is “Rise Together” by Yaffle and AI.
• Asshole Victim: Mikael is a massive jerk towards Trapper and Bernie, ignores the former's feeling something is wrong and arrogantly proclaims himself to be in charge, only for him to then be devoured by a Man-Eating Plant creature resembling a dead tree.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Demonstrated when Godzilla brutally and fatally reminds Scylla why she was right to bow down to him five years earlier.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: After defeating Skar King and freeing Shimo from his control, with the help of Godzilla and Mothra, Kong returns to the ape tribe in the Hollow Earth and lets out a mighty roar, signifying his ascension as the new King of the Great Apes and uncontested ruler of the Hollow Earth domain. He has truly become King Kong.
• Ax-Crazy: The Skar King is a warmongering, sociopathic monster of a Great Ape that murders his subordinates over petty slights and reacts with murderous rage at the first sign of any defiance, showing a taste for violent sadism that only the Kraken and Ghidorah have matched. When the final battle with Godzilla and Kong spills over into Rio De Janeiro, he spends a fair chunk of his efforts wreaking havoc and terrorising the human populace For the Evulz.
• Badass and Child Duo: Kong forms one with Suko, a juvenile member of his species.
• Bait-and-Switch: Monarch assumes that there's a horrific reason why Kong has come up to the surface (with Jia even saying he's hurt), and is freaking out at Godzilla being alerted. Turns out Kong came up because his tooth was hurting that badly and needed it fixed.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: How Suko eventually warms up to Kong.
• Behemoth Battle: As to be expected with this series, there are a few. Godzilla vs. Scylla, Godzilla vs. Tiamat, Kong vs. Skar King in his fiery realm and a Godzilla vs. Kong rematch in Egypt all take place over the movie's course. The finale outdoes all that, with Godzilla, Kong, Mothra and Suko facing off against their Evil Counterparts, the Skar King, Shimo and the former's army - both in the Hollow Earth and in Rio De Janeiro.
• Being Evil Sucks: Shimo clearly doesn't enjoy causing destruction or chaos only being forced to through pain and torture by the Big Bad.
• Between My Legs: A shot from between the legs of Skar King after leaping down from a higher level, where it also shows Kong standing farther away from him at the same angle where the gap between his legs is shown.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Befitting her role as the Big Good, Mothra intervenes to break up the fight between Godzilla and Kong, showing up just as Kong's about to get incinerated by Godzilla's atomic breath and blasting the latter away with her God rays.
  • During the Final Battle, all hope seems lost and Kong is about to die...but then Suko runs in with Kong's Axe and destroys the crystal controlling Shimo, turning the tide once and for all against Skar King.
• Big Good: Mothra once again fulfils this role, and is ultimately the one to put an end to Godzilla's and Kong's ancient rivalry, by giving Godzilla a huge What the Hell, Hero? moment by directly attacking him to convince him to work with Kong to defeat Skar King. She also plays a big role in the Final Battle by assisting the duo in Rio in slowing down the Skar King's forces.
• Big Bad: The malevolent Skar King is a sadistic and brutal oppressor who rules over the Great Apes with a ruthless iron fist and is personally responsible for the deaths of countless other Titans. No longer satisfied with simply having dominion over the Hollow Earth, he strikes out against the world, using his servant and minion Shimo the First Titan whom he mind-controls with a crystal, to unleash a second ice age upon the Surface World.
• Big Shadow, Little Creature: While exploring a new region of the Hollow Earth, Kong confronts a towering silhouette approaching through a veil of mist and raises his axe to attack it... only for the source to be revealed to be a young simian Titan, to his surprise and confusion.
• Blade Brake: Upon lunging into a mysterious underground location, Kong uses his mighty battle axe to safely reduce his downward momentum by slicing right into the surrounding stone walls.
• Bloody Handprint: The new logo for the movie has a huge, long-fingered red handprint over its new white font, and the official Instagram account posted several photos of mountains and hills sporting the same reddish print. It's implied to be a threat or calling card made by Skar King.
• Body Bridge: While following Suko back to where he came from, Kong and Suko pass over a huge chasm bridged by a colossal skeleton of some long-dead beast. Given that Kong is already over three-hundred feet tall, but could easily fit in the eye socket of the skeleton's skull, this must've been a truly immense creature.
• Bookends:
  • Godzilla's first onscreen appearance focuses in on Godzilla's left eye, which opens, and his final appearance also focuses on his left eye, which closes.
  • Both the beginning and the end has Godzilla going to sleep inside the Roman Colosseum. Naturally, it does upset the humans that he chooses such a historical landmark as his bed but they decide they have no choice but to let him given he's suppressing monster attacks on human cities all the time and it's the very least gratitude they could show him.
• Brick Joke: When they first meet, Skar King laughs at Kong's prosthetic tooth. During the climactic final battle, Kong punches Skar King so hard it knocks out one of his teeth, and this time Kong is the one who has a chuckle at the situation.
• Call-Back:
  • Godzilla kills Scylla the same way he killed Femuto from the 2014 film with the kiss of death.
  • A bloody handprint is left on a cliff face near the destroyed Monarch base in the Hollow Earth, referring back to the iconic image from Kong: Skull Island.
  • Just like Kong in Godzilla vs. Kong, the Skar King acrobatically dodges an enraged Godzilla's heat ray only to get clipped across the back.
  • After the defeat of the Skar King, Godzilla gets rid of the ice storm Shimo unwillingly caused in Rio the same way he cleared the clouds after his “rebirth” in King of the Monsters by shooting his atomic breath directly into the heavens.
• Canon Welding: The novelization mentions Monarch discovering an island in the South Pacific containing a cave painting of Godzilla fighting—and being dominated by—Shimo, a reference to the Call of Duty: Warzone crossover with Godzilla vs. Kong; with it being implied that the painting was made by members of the Godzilla-worshiping ancient civilization who built the ruins seen in King of the Monsters.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Godzilla's given Kong a vicious beatdown and nearly shoves a supercharged laser down his throat when Mothra arrives just in time to get Godzilla to stand down.
• Chest Insignia: The other members of Kong's species are shown to have red handprints that are imprinted on their upper torsos. Given that Skar King has left behind a Bloody Handprint on specific locales, it's very likely that he has them in a position where he deliberately has them in his ownership as their ruler. The novelization elaborates that these Red Stripes are the Skar King's bodyguards and enforcers.
• Child by Rape: It's heavily implied that Suko is one of Skar King's many children, due to the presence of terrified females holding babies with fur matching his own kept under guard next to his throne that Skar King keeps specifically to sire children for him and Suko is one of them.
• I Choose to Stay: Ilene worries that Jia might decide this about Hollow Earth after they find a surviving branch of the Iwi tribe there. When she talks to her daughter about it, Jia says that the thought never crossed her mind.
• The Chosen One: As the last Iwi of the Surface World, Jia is the only person who fits the prophecy laid down by the Hollow World Iwi about the awakening of the Hollow Earth Mothra.
• Co-Dragons: Skar King has two top minions: Shimo, who is his strongest asset but only loyal to him due to the control crystal, and an unnamed, chimp-like Great Ape who serves as his right-hand man, filling him in on things and leading his forces when Skar King isn't present.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Kong and Jia are once again seen together as they're reaching out to each other's hand by having their index fingers connect as a sign of mutual friendship that displays nurture and comfort in one's company, which harkens back to how it previously happened in Godzilla vs. Kong.
  • The Iwi are stated to refer to Godzilla as "the monster who ate a star". This term was previously used as the Iwi name for Godzilla in the novelization of Godzilla vs. Kong.
  • The Iwi are revealed to have a connection to Mothra. This was foreshadowed back in Kong: Skull Island by an Iwi having Mothra's symbol on her head.
  • In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, one of the posters on the wall of Bernie’s room is the same one that was seen on the wall of the Brody family’s introduction scene in Godzilla (2014).
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: The main antagonists of this movie contrast those of Godzilla vs. Kong:
  • The Skar King to Apex Cybernetics. Both are hegemonic schemers that stand apart compared to most Titans for their uses of technology and higher intelligence to get what they want, and both seek to control a Titan of mass destruction that they're keeping inside their respective lairs as their attack dog against Godzilla, Kong and any other threat so they can secure supremacy over the Earth for themselves. But whereas Apex was an up-and-coming mega-corporation, created their own hi-tech cybernetic Titan, and they were completely undone by their hubris before they ever came close to realizing their dreams of conquering the Titans and ruling supreme on the Earth; the Skar King is an Ancient Evil Titan who has already made significant progress toward establishing himself as the apex monster, having killed and enslaved other Titans including enough Great Apes to form an entire kingdom already, and he's using an ancient, organic Titan as his weapon while having much more success at controlling it than Apex had with their Titan weapon. Whereas Apex was a direct Evil Counterpart to fellow Titan-researching organization Monarch, the Skar King is a direct evil counterpart to fellow Alpha Titan simian Kong.
  • Shimo to Mechagodzilla. Both are powerful Titan threats that are set up as a direct rival to Godzilla specifically, and which are being used by hegemonic masterminds as their attack dogs. But whereas Mechagodzilla was a newborn, cybernetic Titan in the form of a manmade Humongous Mecha cyborg, its organic components were derived from the Satanic Archetype Ghidorah, and it was an iconic character originally belonging to Toho; Shimo is an ancient (even by the Titans' standards based on her Red Barons), and organic, reptilian Canon Foreigner Titan. Whereas Mechagodzilla had fire-based abilities in the forms of its inbuilt missile launchers, back-mounted rocket boosters, plasma punches and its A-74 Proton Scream, and it produced crimson light; Shimo is An Ice Person who produces blue light. Most importantly, Mechagodzilla is an authentic Omnicidal Maniac, and the biggest threat it poses comes from it breaking free of its masters' control as soon as it's ready for action; whereas Shimo on the other hand is being Forced into Evil by her master, and she ceases being an active threat and antagonist altogether as soon as she breaks free from his control.
  • The Skar King to Ghidorah and the Alpha Skullcrawler. Both of the previous titans were larger and more physically powerful than Godzilla or Kong and possessed overwhelming brute force that meant that the heroes couldn't take them in a slugging match. The Skar King, meanwhile, is smaller and weaker than Kong and can't win a straight fight against him, but has superior agility, as well making use of weapons and minions to be a threat.
• Creepily Long Arms: Skar King is an ape, like Kong, except his arms are much longer and thinner in comparison.
• Creepy Blue Eyes:
  • Skar King is a sadistic and brutal tyrant and has dull grayish blue eyes.
  • Shimo has glowing blue eyes and is introduced glaring out of the darkness of her cave with nothing but her eyes being visible.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Godzilla makes quick work of both Scylla and Tiamat, the latter being one of the strongest titans alive. It shows how powerful Godzilla has become over the years since his last encounter with Tiamat was a brutal, prolonged showdown.
  • Kong knocks out the Skar King's bully slave master with a single punch.
• David vs. Goliath: While Godzilla and Kong are fairly large even by titan standards, Shimo towers over them, easily being large enough for Skar King and later Kong to ride on.
• Death Glare: Skar King from the teaser is bearing a livid and violent expression where it's seen near the end of the teaser.
• The Darkness Gazes Back: When Kong first meets and picks a fight with the Skar King and gets in his first hit, Skar King lets out a roar to summon his pet—a lava waterfall parting to reveal Shimo's glowing blue eyes glaring out of the darkness.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: While the very draconic atomic-fire-breathing Godzilla was already heavily based on dinosaurs, the comparison is made stronger in his evolved form as he now sports a pair of plates resembling the thagomizers of a Stegosaurus at the end of his tail. The Ankylosaurus-like Shimo, meanwhile, could be considered an ice dragon.
• Disney Villain Death:
  • How Kong kills one of Skar King's loyal followers after initially saving him from falling from a cliff, instead of being thankful the ape pulls an Ungrateful Bastard act on Kong anyway and tries to stab him with a stone knife causing Kong to retaliate in self-defense and kicks the ape over the cliff.
  • This also happens to Skar King's main enforcer, One-Eye (the one that initially goes to alert Skar King to Kong's arrival) during the gravity surge in the climax after Suko knocks him off a rock he was climbing to try and attack him.
• Domestic Abuse: it's implied Suko is the son of the Big Bad and was constantly abused, given only scraps which left him malnourished. it's also implied the scar on his eye was given to him by his implied father, as the Skar King seems to only see the other apes, including his own children, as tools and slaves.
• The Dog Bites Back: Shimo is chained and abused by the Skar King and is kept subservient by a controlling crystal. Once the crystal is shattered by Suko, she wastes no time in freezing her former master, allowing Kong to finally shatter and kill him for good. Relatedly, Suko turns on the Skar King for being a maniacal tyrant while Kong is patient and kind unless provoked, and only chooses to kill as.an absolute necessity.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: For both Kong and Suko. The two primates go through a great deal of pain when confronting the Skar King, with Suko especially suffering the worst of the abuse at his hands. But once Kong defeats him for good, not only does he become the new ruler of Hollow Earth, but Suko (as well as Shimo) join him by his side.
• Easily Forgiven: Twice Suko attempts to kill Kong by luring him into a trap, but both times Kong doesn't retaliate, although it's at least partly due to his curiosity of where the other giant apes come from. Kong does share a portion of the Drownviper with Suko, so he holds no hard feelings over the young ape trying to get him eaten by it.
• Elemental Punch: The B.E.A.S.T. Glove can emit electrical sparks around Kong's right arm as best shown when he simply destroys a large wedge of a building that Skar King threw at him, with the result creating an explosion with shattered pieces of debris and zaps from the impact.
• Enemy Mine: Kong attempts to get Godzilla to help in his battle against the Skar King and his army, which ends in him attacking Kong in Egypt, tearing apart the Great Pyramid of Giza, but with Mothra's help in stopping the fight they ultimately join forces to defeat the Skar King and his army. Played With, as Mothra effectively convinced Godzilla to drop their grudge completely and they're completely on the same page by the time they head to the Hollow Earth to confront Skar King.
• Enfant Terrible: Suko started like this, appearing cute and innocent before biting Kong on the finger, helping Skar's enforcers to get him and then sneakily trying to get him killed by the lake monster. This was due to growing up in Skar King's harsh environment that Suko was initially so vicious since he warms up to Kong when shown kindness.
• Erudite Orangutan: A villainous example, as Skar King is somewhat reminiscent of a giant orangutan, with long arms and orange fur, and is smart enough to use a stone structure as a resting point in the vein of a throne.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Skar King is set up as one to Kong, being a highly intelligent simian kaiju who rules over his domain. However, while Kong is benevolent—protecting the Iwi and fauna of Skull Island from the Skullcrawlers—Skar King is malevolent and framed as a tyrant who rules through fear.
  • Shimo is a powerful reptilian Titan similar to Godzilla, with jagged dorsal spines and thagomizers similar to the ones Godzilla develops in his Evolved form; though Shimo has a turtle-like beak, horns, white scales, and ice-based powers to contrast Godzilla's snout, lack of horns, black scales, and fiery Breath Weapon
• Evil Is Petty: Skar King and his fellow apes all mock Kong and laugh at him... for having a metal prosthetic tooth. When Suko refuses to take part in this by not laughing loud enough, Skar King threatens him. When the young ape's caretaker tries to intervene, the Skar King punishes him by pushing the caretaker into a pool of lava, forcing Suko to watch as his guardian is burned alive.
• Evil Old Folks: Skar King is thousands of years old, being implied to be responsible for the war between Godzilla and the Great Ape titans that saw Kong's ancestors and the Skull Island branch of the Iwi tribe driven out of the Hollow Earth, and accordingly has a balding head and patchy fur.
• Eye Awaken: One shot reveals a close-up of Godzilla opening his eye, which glows hot-pink in coloration. The merest action of him opening his very eye alone causes the icy tomb he's resting in to crack apart.
• Face–Heel Turn: In King of the Monsters, Scylla was one of the Titans who bowed before Godzilla and was even having a positive effect on the environment. However, like in the tie-in comics, she's shown attacking and destroying cities, challenging Godzilla in Rome and ultimately getting killed by him.
• Fantastic Light Source: Kong's Axe can glow which is useful when Kong finds himself down a dark area within Hollow Earth.
• Faster Than They Look: Godzilla in his powerful newfound Evolved Form. He's the bigger of the 2 titular monster protagonists, and is shown to be visibly outpacing Kong himself, which could come as a rather shocking moment in comparison to the previous film where the latter was running circles around him with numerous acrobatics in the middle of their duel at Hong Kong.
• Final Battle: After Mothra intervenes to break up the fight between Godzilla and Kong, all three Kaiju confront the Skar King and Shimo in both the Hollow Earth and Rio, in order to prevent Skar King and his army from conquering the surface world, alongside some assistance from Suko and the humans.
• Fingore: Although played for laughs, Suko unexpectedly bites Kong on the finger
  • Kong's right hand is critically injured due to severe frostbite from Shimo's Breath Weapon, which necessitates the B.E.A.S.T. Glove to repair the damage.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Skar King reigns in a fiery realm in the Hollow Earth – its location among waterfalls of molten magma and its overall hellish motif reinforce this association. His underlying is Shimo, a titan with world-ending ice-based abilities.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the beginning Kong holds up one of the Wart-Dogs over him and rips it in half. Near the end of the battle with the Skar King, he holds him up the same way before Shimo freezes him and Kong shatters him to pieces.
  • As our human protagonists enter the Hollow Earth for the main plot, they enter a flock of flying creatures that are initially identified as predators, though Trapper points out that these particular animals are harmless unless provoked or during their competitive mating season, at which point they'll start shooting electricity out of their bodies, and sets their ship to camouflage with them so that they'll form an escort and keep them safe from other, more dangerous creatures. Trapper exploits this during the fight with the Skar King and his forces when they attack the Iwi village, setting the ship to give off a mating season signal so that a huge flock of them, all firing bolts of lightning, will give them a few more minutes for Godzilla, Kong, and Mothra to return.
• Genre Savvy: Godzilla, upon sensing another possibly global-scale threat on the horizon similar to what occurred in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), starts proactively seeking out sources of nuclear energy, to the point of raiding nuclear plants and killing at least one of his fellow Titans, to be as well-prepared as possible for it. He remembers the power boost he needed to defeat King Ghidorah and as far as he knows he doesn't have Mothra around to provide it this time.
• Glowing Eyes:
  • Skar King in the title announcement has a pair of glowing bright blue eyes.
  • Godzilla has seemingly permanent pink ones in his evolved form (vs the occasional blue light-up eyes he got charging up in the previous films).
  • Shimo can also be seen to have glowing blue eyes as she stares menacingly at Kong from the darkness of a cave though falling lava.
• Godzilla Threshold: The Iwi tribe believes that both Godzilla and Kong are destined to stop Skar King and Shimo. Ilene, Trapper, and Bernie already know how territorial Godzilla is and the inevitable fight between the two protectors will cause more trouble up surface. Even Kong himself knows that as he tries to drag him to the portal he came from. To that end, the tribe has Jia call upon their guardian Mothra to break up the fight and bring them both back to Hollow Earth.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • It's subverted, however, with Godzilla killing Scylla by giving her the kiss of death and her head exploding in gory detail.
  • Also how Kong kills the Drownviper offscreen. We see some troubled water after it drags him under, but as Suko walks away assuming Kong to be dead he's suddenly tripped by the Gator-Snake's severed head—Kong emerging after having decapitated it.
  • How Godzilla kills Tiamat. They engage briefly underwater, where she coils around him. Then we see him charge up his Atomic Breath, then it cuts to the surface—where a massive beam of plasma cuts through the water before pieces of Tiamat float up afterward.
  • How Kong kills Skar King at the end by smashing him to pieces. The shot is just below the camera, so we see some pieces flying up, but not the actual corpse. However, given how many pieces fly up, we know Skar is now Deader than Dead.
• Go-to-Sleep Ending: After the final battle, Godzilla returns to sleeping in the Colosseum.
• Great Offscreen War: At some point in the past, Godzilla battled the Skar King and his followers, and exiled them to the subterranean realm beneath the Hollow Earth, even though it nearly killed him. It's not clear if this is related to, or even part of, the conflict between Kong's species and Godzilla's mentioned in the previous film.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Kong is suddenly ambushed by a group of other giant apes, including a child ape named Suko. Suko lunges at Kong's face and tries to claw his eyes out, and Kong responds by grabbing the little guy by the leg and using him as a bludgeon against the other attacking apes before hurling him at one of them. Suko is not harmed by this at all though, and is more surprised.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: After being chased by a pack of Wart-dogs through Hollow Earth, Kong tears one of them in half as an intimidation display, causing all of its green blood to drench him.
• Happy Ending Override: Downplayed, but Kong initially seemed quite happy settling into the Hollow Earth as his new home in the previous film's ending, only to show him being very sad from loneliness in the beginning of this film. A combination of Jia trying to live a normal life on the surface and an infected tooth definitely didn't help.
• Harmless Freezing: Subverted with Shimo's ice breath, which is depicted as realistically deadly. One shot from it gives Kong's right arm severe frostbite to the point of nerve damage and her freezing Skar King solid is part of the killing blow. The only thing that can shrug it off is Godzilla's new evolved form.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Suko starts as one of the Skar King's loyal minions, attacking Kong alongside his enforcers when he intrudes into the Skar King's domain. After Kong spares him, tolerates his unsuccessful assassination attempts with remarkable patience, and treats him with genuine kindness, Suko has a change of heart and sides with Kong and his allies.
  • Once the Skar King's controlling crystal is finally shattered, Shimo joins Godzilla, Mothra and Kong's side and turns on her former master—freezing him solid with her Frostbite Blast and allowing Kong to deal the finishing blow to kill him once-and-for-all. They all stand around enjoying the victory as Godzilla shoots up a beam to clear the skies, and Shimo later willingly serves Kong once he becomes the new ruler of the apes.
• Heroic Build: The metamorphosis that Godzilla goes through after bursting out of the energizing iceberg diminishes his massive and overly bulky proportions from his previous appearances and gains a far more heavily toned physique, making him a lot more physically robust overall.
• Hypocritical Humor: Bernie calls out Trapper for the way the latter reacts when Mikael is killed right in front of them. The kicker? One movie earlier, Bernie reacted the same way when Walter Simmons was killed in front of him by Mechagodzilla.
• Instant-Win Condition: The final battle hinges on Godzilla and Kong destroying the control crystal that Skar King uses to rein in Shimo, since he stands little chance against either of them alone. Once it's out of the way, Shimo instantly turns on Skar King and the fight turns in Godzilla and Kong's favor.
• Kick the Dog: How does the Skar King respond to Suko not joining him and the other apes in mocking Kong? He pushes his guardian and presumably mother to her death into a lake of lava, in full view of Suko.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Suko, a cute and friendly juvenile member of the Kong species, provides a titan-child character, much like Minilla, Godzooky and Godzilla Junior before him, for younger audiences to gravitate towards.
• Kill It with Ice: How Skar King is defeated at the end, although Shimo freezing him doesn't kill him. It's ultimately Kong who finishes the job by smashing the crazed tyrant to pieces.
• Kubrick Stare: The last shot of the title reveal teaser displays a threatening close-up of Skar King's scowl placed in front of the camera with its head slightly lowered with its eyes looking directly at the camera.
• Last of His Kind: While all evidence in the previous movies pointed towards Godzilla, Kong and Jia all being the last of their kinds/race this gets subverted when Kong discovers of a population of simian titans like himself and when Jia finds a tribe of Iwi in the Hollow Earth.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The film assumes the viewer has watched Godzilla vs. Kong and knows that Kong was defeated and nearly killed by Godzilla during their last encounter, with Bernie mentioning the last time the two met it was "nearly the end of Kong".
• Laugh with Me!: When Skar King is formally introduced, he starts laughing at Kong's fake tooth and demands everyone laugh with him. Played for Drama, as it soon becomes clear Skar King genuinely will assault or kill anyone who doesn't laugh hard enough for his tastes without a second thought as Suko and his caretaker find out the hard way.
• Literally Shattered Lives: How the Skar King is finally killed: Shimo, finally freed from the ape tyrant's control, turns on her former master and freezes him with her breath, allowing Kong to then pound him into a fine powder, killing him for good.
• Made of Iron:
  • Even after Kong uses him as a makeshift bludgeon to whack the other apes with, Suko displays no broken bones or other injuries.
  • During the Final Battle, the Skar King takes an impressive beating from Kong and Godzilla at various points and keeps on going, including Kong punching him hard enough to knock out teeth and Godzilla nailing him with his powered-up atomic breath. Once Shimo switches sides, all three Alpha Titans combine to give him a Rasputinian Death.
• Make an Example of Them: In Skar King's lair, three severed ape heads on stakes are show, who tried and failed at planning a rebellion against the Skar King.
• Man-Eating Plant: While travelling through the jungle of the Hollow Earth on foot, Mikael is eaten by some sort of creature resembling a fallen tree.
• Meme Acknowledgement: Godzilla vs Kong quickly led to a "Save Mothra" meme based around the shot of Godzilla pinning Kong to the ground and roaring in his face. This film leans in that direction by showing Kong being saved by Mothra, similar to how Lois saved Batman from Superman.
• Metamorphosis: Godzilla spends the first half of the film building up energy and then goes to sleep in the Arctic, becoming encased in ice. After awakening, he erupts from the glacier in a new slimmer form, has larger magenta-tinted dorsal plates, and a similarly-colored Atomic Breath.
• Monster in the Ice: Godzilla becomes encased in ice whilst metamorphosing into his Evolved form in the Arctic Ocean.
• Monumental Damage: Godzilla damages the Rock of Gibraltar by jumping off of it when he hears Kong's call and the brief fight between the two in Cairo results in the destruction of the three main Pyramids of Giza, the first when Godzilla tackles Kong through it courtesy of the former's Atomic Breath. When Scylla attacks Rome at the film's beginning, Godzilla destroys the Vittorio Emanuelle monument when he tackles Scylla through it during their fight and he ends up using the Roman Coliseum as a Godzilla-sized bed and he partially damages it when he senses Skar King's awakening. Subverted for the Christ the Redeemer Statue as it gets frozen by Shimo when the Final Battle ends up at Rio de Janeiro as ordered by the Skar King, but it's implied to have thawed out following Godzilla destroying the ice storm that Shimo spawned.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Both of Evolved Godzilla's eyes seem to be constantly shining a singular magenta color with no traces of having any irises within them.
• Morality Chain: Mothra is the one to snap Godzilla out of his Unstoppable Rage towards Kong. All it takes is one chat with her for him to accept Kong as an ally.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Godzilla's new design here has purple/pink-colored plates akin to his MireGoji design from 2000 and Vs. Megaguirus.
  • Godzilla bursts out of an iceberg, just as he did in King Kong vs. Godzilla.
  • The change in color for Godzilla's Breath Weapon going from light blue to a reddish tint, signifying a total boost in power, is identical to the Heisei incarnation having the far more destructive Red Spiral Ray as the sheer strength of his attack is more powerful than his default blue-colored Atomic Breath.
  • This isn't the first time the iconic Christ the Redeemer Statue has appeared in a Godzilla project. It previously showed up in volume 3 of Godzilla in Hell, where it was destroyed in a flashback by SpaceGodzilla.
  • Graffiti in Rome of Godzilla notably has him surrounded by a skeletal turtle, a floating white UFO, an ominous red eye with the warning to "save the earth", and a fist with the epithet "Punch, Punch, Punch!". Outside Godzilla, there's also the image of a dagger-faced monster with four eyes in blue....
  • During Godzilla's fight with Scylla, he makes a running jump as his opponent and lands on her feet first, reminiscent of his famous "drop kick" in Godzilla vs. Megalon.
  • Mothra convincing Godzilla and another kaiju to put aside their differences and take on a greater threat as a Power Trio is much like her role in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, with Kong in place of Rodan.
  • Kong rips a wart-dog in half causing all its green blood to drench him completely making him resemble a certain green character from War of the Gargantuas. He then washes himself off under a waterfall, not unlike how Kong '76 rinses off Dwan after she takes a spill in the dirt.
  • As Godzilla is being tracked down in France, the atmosphere is noticeably dark and rainy, and there's a particular shot of his footprint.
  • Bernie mentions being hassled online by a troll called GhidorahStan64 - a subtle reference to the year the three-headed one's debut film was released.
  • Godzilla's emergence from an iceberg with a helicopter flying overhead may be an homage to his introduction in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). Likewise, his dive from the Rock of Gibraltar into the ocean may be an homage to his dive from Letchi Island in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) which was also reused in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973).
• The New Adventures: The film's subtitle is The New Empire.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Kong's pit trap results in an area of the Hollow Earth collapsing and letting Skar King's forces out. This directly results in the entire research station being slaughtered.
  • Kong later accidentally leads Skar King's forces to the Iwi's refuge, putting the entire tribe at risk of annihilation.
• No Endor Holocaust: Downplayed as we are not told that no one died, but logically speaking Godzilla (in particular when he is in a blind rage and disregarding everything about his surroundings aside from Kong) likely should have caused the deaths of hundreds of people even before the necessary battle in Rio that Godzilla cannot be called at fault for (since Skar King started it and would have done a lot more damage if Godzilla and Kong did not engage him and in that situation neither heroic Titan could worry about casualties even if they wanted to). Even so, while previous movies would give some admission to the collateral loss of human life Godzilla causes (the small amounts underscoring how Godzilla is not trying to harm people), in this movie, the closest they come is remarking on how much money it costs to repair damage Godzilla does to buildings.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Once Shimo is freed from the Skar King's control, Godzilla, Kong, and Shimo waste no time in beating the Skar King into submission, culminating in Shimo freezing the Skar King before Kong shatters his now frozen corpse into pieces, breaking his remains for good measure.
• Non-Malicious Monster: Shimo is only destructive due to being enslaved by the Skar King, who forces her into submission with a crystal that causes her pain. Once the crystal is shattered, Shimo turns on the Skar King, and is later tamed and befriended by Kong.
• Nothing but Skulls: The trailer shows the Skar King's throne surrounded by numerous piles of skeletal remains from deceased Titans that had stepped foot into his territory, with the last 2 showing skulls from both Godzilla and Kong's respective species.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Skar King tries to use his whip to attack Godzilla...only for the King of the Monsters to catch it in his teeth. He proceeds to hurl Skar King across the city by the whip before destroying it.
• Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Instead of the Versus Title the previous film had, this one uses an x to suggest how the characters will come together, for the first time in the Godzilla series since the Millennium Era began.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Kong kills the Drownviper and throws its severed head near Suko.
  • Godzilla is given one as it is revealed that he took on and managed to seal the Skar King and his army inside the hollow earth, considering the amount of trouble Kong on his own gave Godzilla in the previous movie it really reinforces just how badass Godzilla is that he managed to not only fight an entire army of apes-titans alone, but also win.
• Offing the Offspring: Skar King treats Suko, like complete junk despite his loyalty, so it's natural that he would brand him for death once Suko defects to join Kong. Cementing this is when Suko destroys the crystal Skar King used to control Shimo, which enrages the homicidal ape enough that his immediate response is to grab his son and attempt to strangle him to death.
• Off with His Head!:
  • How Kong kills the Drownviper in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
  • In Skar King's lair their are severed ape heads impaled on stakes who revolted against him as an intimidation factor.
  • Also how Godzilla kills Scylla and Tiamat.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • There's a dramatic close-up of Kong bringing out a justified flabbergasted expression when he gazes at the magma waterfalls opening up to reveal a pair of blue glowing eyes, which just so happens to be Shimo lurking behind it as she fires her Frost Bite Blast at Kong as he desperately tries to block the attack with his axe... and it seems that it's not being successful at withstanding the frost causing it to be destroyed, and on top of that, badly maiming Kong's right hand.
  • Skar King begins to panic when Godzilla destroys his whip and sends the crystal flying. This is his default expression as he frantically tries to get it back.
  • Kong gets another one when he tussles with Godzilla in Cairo; believing that he's knocked Godzilla out, Kong drags Godzilla to the portal back to Hollow Earth, only to realize that not only is Godzilla awake, but he's charging his atomic breath.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Monarch takes note that Godzilla going after nuclear sources is so unusual the only explanation is he senses a big threat coming and is charging up to meet it. They're 100 per cent right, as the Iwi warned him Skar King has escaped his prison and is 'preparing for World War III' in Trapper's words.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Godzilla has grown drastically more powerful since the events of Godzilla vs. Kong. Tiamat, who has a reputation within the Monsterverse for being extremely deadly and powerful, is killed by Godzilla with barely any effort whatsoever. And this is before Godzilla attains his new, even stronger form, and after Tiamat has attained hers.
• Papa Wolf: Even though they start as enemies, Kong attacks Skar King, as the latter holds Suko in his grasp, showing that Kong has developed a paternal instinct to protect the child. He attacks after Skar kills Suko's guardian (and possibly his mother or father, it's unclear) and is shown working with Suko for the rest of the film after the latter's Heel–Face Turn.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Gender inverted with Godzilla and Shimo. Godzilla gains a hot pink bioluminescence in this movie, and Shimo's color motif is mostly blue.
• Poor Communication Kills: When he realizes he's outmatched against the Skar King's forces, Kong seeks Godzilla's aid by coming to the surface and unleashing a roar to draw his attention. Unfortunately, Godzilla takes it as a challenge and responds with hostility, not noticing or understanding the former's attempts to tell him that he means no harm and wants the reptile to follow him into Hollow Earth. It takes Mothra's intevention to clear the air and get Godzilla to stop attacking.
• Power Fist: Kong gains a cybernetic gauntlet on his right forearm called the "B.E.A.S.T. Glove " after having his arm frozen by Shimo's frost breath. It gives Kong's punches a bit more kick with energy explosions and briefly replaces his axe, which he leaves behind escaping Shimo in his first match against the Skar King, and acts as bandage since Kong's right hand was badly maimed by both Skar King's whip and the Frost Bite Breath. It's also the weapon that allows Kong to finally kill the Skar King permanently after he's frozen by Shimo.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Or at least the dorsal fin equivalent in any case for Godzilla's newly evolved form in this film where his reddish-pink rows of spines are visibly longer in shape, ending with spiked ridges.
• Primate Versus Reptile: Both played straight and subverted, the film emphasizes that while Kong and Godzilla may not like each other—even getting into a skirmish that destroys the Great Pyramid of Giza—they have to team up to take down Skar King and Shimo, their evil counterparts.
• Product Placement: Ilene's brand-new Volkswagen sedan gets a glamour shot when she picks up Jia from school.
• Properly Paranoid: While working together the last time against Mechagodzilla, Godzilla and Kong only did so because it was the greater threat. They duked it out beforehand, which levelled half of Hong Kong, and Monarch knows them running into each other again for any reason is a calamity waiting to happen. Kong already knows this when he tries to find Godzilla near Egypt so they can put a stop to Skar King's terror, but said fight ensues before Mothra breaks it up.
• Really 700 Years Old: The Iwi have murals depicting Skar King in an ancient battle with Godzilla, suggesting he's thousands if not millions of years old.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Skar King is also implied to be a rapist as he keeps a harem of female apes in his throne room, all of whom are seen cowering in fear from him and protectively holding children that share his and Suko's red fur.
• Rasputinian Death: Skar King gets punched into the ground by Kong, hurled into a massive tail whip from Godzilla akin to the one that killed the male MUTO, then held in the air by the throat for Shimo to freeze solid. He's still alive at this point, at which point Kong leaps into the air and smashes him to pieces on the ground, then smashes those pieces into powder for good measure.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Godzilla's evolved form sports magenta dorsal spines with his atomic-fire also being the same color, much like Godzilla 2000.
• Retcon: King of the Monsters established a Chinese family as Mothra's caretakers and known in Indonesia; here, the Iwi have been the guardians of Mothra for ages. It also only vaguely alludes to Mothra's death in KOTM.
• "Save the World" Climax: The Final Battle is Godzilla, Kong and Mothra's attempt to prevent Skar King and his army of Great Apes from invading and conquering the surface world, potentially causing untold devastation.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Skar King and his army were sealed deep underground long ago by Godzilla. Kong accidentally sets them loose when one of his pit traps undermines an area of the Hollow Earth enough to collapse and set them free.
• Shout-Out:
  • There are a few moments where the camera frames Kong and Suko the same way as Kratos and Atreus. Even the giant skeleton they cross is reminiscent of Jörmungandr.
  • The way that Kong sets off the trap for the Wart Dogs by throwing a log appears to be a reference to previous iterations of the character throwing a log hanging over a crevice in the same way while being pursued by the Denham expedition.
  • Skar King keeps a harem of female apes in his throne room for breeding offspring, similar to what Immortan Joe did in Mad Max: Fury Road.
  • Mikael compares Trapper to a hippy Ace Ventura.
  • Godzilla's new pink appearance was based off of Kaio-ken.
  • Skar King's control over Shimo is reminiscent of Drago's control over the Bewilderbeast in How To Train Your Dragon 2, especially since both Shimo and the Bewilderbeast have ice breath.
• Silence Is Golden: Numerous extended sequences of the movie focus entirely on Kong with no human characters around, and rely almost entirely on visuals since Kong and the other monsters are incapable of speech.
• Sinister Silhouettes: Not much is shown of Skar King on the throne in the title reveal trailer — only his silhouette and a pair of glowing eyes.
• Sistine Steal: Kong reaches out to Suko and attempts to get him to touch their fingertips, but it doesn't end well.
• Skeleton Motif: Wherever the title reveal is set, there is nothing but bones scattered around — including skulls of members of both Godzilla and Kong's species.
• Slasher Smile: Skar King's default expression.
• Slouch of Villainy: Because the Skar King does not speak, his characterization is conveyed primarily through body language. He slouches menacingly on a throne when we first see him, watching over his slaves being beaten by his brutal soldiers. His posture and movement while standing are also very lazy, conveying aloof condescension.
• The Sociopath: Skar King brutally rules over his kingdom with an iron fist, enslaving any ape that isn't 100% subservient to him. When things go his way, he bears a terrifying Slasher Smile and Psychotic Smirk. Particularly, during the Final Battle, when Skar King arrives on the surface and sees fleeing humans on the beach of Rio, he simply grins and roars at them before deliberately targeting the skyline with Shimo.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Skar King's army consists of sadistic grunts whose favourite pastimes are beating the slaves.
• So Last Season: In his first confrontation against Shimo, Kong attempts to block and absorb her frost breath with his axe the way he did Godzilla's Atomic Breath/Heat Ray. While it does save him from being hit with the brunt of the beam, the axe conducts the ice up the handle and freezes Kong's right arm, forcing him into retreat. Ilene and Bernie note that Kong won't be able to defeat the Skar King and his army alone, realizing they need Godzilla's help.
• Spared, but Not Forgiven: Despite the titular titans parting ways on seemingly good terms and coming to an understanding in the previous movie after working together to defeat Mechagodzilla, Godzilla is furious the moment Kong comes onto the surface in Egypt and ignores Kong trying to show he isn't a threat. Only direct intervention from Mothra blindsiding Godzilla forces him to realize that Kong is only on the surface to ask for help.
• Sphere of Destruction: A supercharged and furious Godzilla unleashes a Nuclear Pulse against attacking aeroplanes, this time without Mothra's help.
• Stock Ness Monster: Kong ends up fighting and killing a giant serpentine/eel-like monster residing in a lake that Suko leads him to as a trap.
• Super Mode: Worried about the Skar King's impending invasion, Godzilla supercharges himself with energy until he's covered in glowing blue Tainted Veins and then steals a cave in a radiation hotspot from Tiamat to metamorphosis into his evolved from
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: Shimo and the Skar King, the two primary antagonists. Shimo (Sympathetic) is being tortured and Forced into Evil by the Skar King using a crystal that's psionically linked to her, and when she's freed from his control, she's all too happy to switch to the heroes' side and start a life of peace. The Skar King (Despicable) is an excessively cruel, murderous and psychopathic bully in a position of power, whose sadism matches that of Ghidorah and the Kraken, and his only ambition is to conquer and mercilessly enslave all other life on Earth for himself.
• Talk to the Fist: When Kong sees another giant ape being beaten by one of Skar King's guards for accidentally dropping a heavy boulder, he steps in and defends the ape being beaten. The guard goes on a roaring and snarling fit in Kong's face, to which he responds just by punching the guard in the face, instantly knocking him out.
• Tastes Like Friendship: Suko starts being Kong's ally shortly after Kong gives him a piece of his latest kill to eat. Later scenes imply that as a child, Suko has no rank to speak of in the tribe and likely eats by scrounging the leavings of the adult apes, so being given a full meal all for himself is a major gesture of kindness.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Godzilla and Kong don't particularly like each other following the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, but the big G really hates Kong, to the point he ignores Kong trying to show he's not a threat and immediately begins a beatdown to try and kill him for breaking their agreement regarding the surface and roaring what seemed to be a challenge earlier (done to get Godzilla's attention from a vast difference). However, by the climax, Mothra's already got them to bury the hatchet by beating some sense (literally) into Godzilla before he could kill Kong, and they're completely on the same page when the Final Battle starts. It's clear at the end once the Skar King is defeated, when they share a smile, that any animosity is gone.
• Teeth Flying: In the secondary trailer, Kong lunges forward and performs a powerful haymaker to Skar King so hard, that his bloody tooth pierces through a skyscraper and lands on the streets in front of a couple of fleeing civilians.
• There Is Another: Kong is no longer The Last of His Kind, as he discovers a population of Kongs ruled by the tyrannical Skar King. Jia similarly finds a tribe of Iwi living in the Hollow Earth after the tribe on Skull Island had been wiped out when the island's surrounding perpetual storm system consumed the island itself..
• Three-Point Landing:
  • After Kong drops himself into a secluded pit somewhere within the Hollow Earth, he adopts this stance when he reaches solid ground with one knee bent down along with his free arm in a clenched fist cushioning the impact.
  • Even Godzilla himself happens to be assuming this type of pose emerging out of the ground in the Hollow Earth, he steadies himself with one hand firmly pressed on the hardened rocky soil and even has his legs further apart in this fashion to stick the landing.
• This Means Warpaint: Skar King has red Tribal Face Paint around his eyes, which when combined with his surly expression and bone pile suggests it is blood.
• The Tooth Hurts: Kong is suffering from a decaying canine, preventing him from eating and necessitating Trapper to extract it and replace it with a metal substitute.
• Too Dumb to Live: Happens to Skar King twice.
  • He becomes so blindingly furious with Kong after getting a tooth knocked out of his head that he commands Shimo to cease being Godzilla’s opponent and focus all her fire on him. His expression tells all when he realizes that he just freed Godzilla up from his precious engagement, and now has the King’s very irate and undivided attention.
  • After Suko destroys the crystal controlling Shimo, instead of retreating, the crazed tyrant instead tries to strangle the young ape until Kong intervenes.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mothra's brief attack on Godzilla is this, chastising him for attacking Kong in Cario, who was seeking Godzilla's help against Skar King and his forces. Godzilla is annoyed by this until Mothra offers to team up with them against the Skar King that Godzilla finally agrees to team up, knowing Godzilla will always fight by Mothra's side and that the Skar King is an immediate threat to both Godzilla's and Kong's respective rule as Alphas.
• The Worf Effect:
  • In their first confrontation, Skar King uses his superior acrobatics and whip to avoid all of Kong's attacks and then attempts to choke out Kong with his whip, but Kong manages to shake him off and slams him onto the ground. This is followed immediately by Skar King calling in Shimo, who overwhelms Kong's axe and freezes his arm, leaving Kong injured and unable to fight.
  • More subtly, this isn't the first time Tiamat has ever appeared in the Monsterverse, though it is her debut in any of the films. She's been previously established to be one of the most dangerous titans of all, and Godzilla kills her in the space of minutes after their fight begins.
• World Tour: In the tradition of the previous Monsterverse instalments, the titular Kaiju travel to several locations, not only in the Hollow Earth, but across the globe, the Arctic, Rome, Cario and Rio de Janeiro, leaving major Monumental Damage for their landmarks, the three main Pyramids of Giza which Godzilla destroys during his rematch with Kong, both the Vittorio Emanuelle monument which gets smashed when Godzilla tackles Scylla through it, the Roman Coliseum which is confirmed to be Godzilla's resting place and is partially damaged when he wakes up when he senses the Skar King's awakening and the Christ the Redeemer Statue which gets frozen by Shimo on Skar King's orders for the Final Battle.
• Unexplained Recovery: Rio de Janeiro appears completely intact before the Final Battle, despite that Godzilla: King of the Monsters showed Behemoth devastating the city on a news feed, and despite that movie and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters showing that Titan attacks like that have forced cities to be abandoned and overgrown.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Kong saves one of Skar King's loyal followers from falling from a cliff, but as soon as he pulls him back up, the ape tries to stab Kong with a stone shiv causing Kong in self-defence to kick the ape off the cliff.
• Villainous Badland, Heroic Arcadia: Skar King's lair is in a charred and volcanic landscape littered with bones, while Kong lives in a lush, forested region of the Hollow Earth.
• Villainous Breakdown: Skar King's smug sadism falls apart when Godzilla destroys his whip, sending the crystal to control Shimo flying. The rest of his life (short as it is) is mostly spent frantically trying to get it back. After Suko destroys the crystal, Skar King loses it and tries to strangle the little ape with his bare hands in a rage before dissolving into terrified flailing as Kong finally gets a firm grip on him.
• Villainous Valor: During the Final Battle, the crystal that Skar King uses to control Shimo is destroyed by Suko, wielding Kong's axe, rendering him all alone against Godzilla and Kong combined. Despite this, Skar King fights to the bitter end.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Nathan Lind, Madison Russel, Mark Russel, and Josh Valentine from the previous movie do not make any appearances or cameos. However, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene of one of Nate's keepsakes of his brother suggesting that Nate is either still around or has passed away during the time gap. Considering that Dr. Andrews could have needed or called for his help any time during the movie suggests the latter. ^note  The novelisation does imply the latter, with Ilene at one point noting she lost two friends to the wart dogs (the pack predators seen at the film's start) not long after one of her subordinates in Hollow Earth wonders about asking her about the spaceman toy.
• Whip of Dominance: Skar King's weapon, the whiplash, which he wears around his body like a sash.
• Would Hurt a Child: When Suko and a bunch of other apes try to attack him in an ambush, Kong grabs hold of Suko and starts using him as a club to smack the other apes away from him, before tossing him aside. With that much having been said, while Kong is perfectly willing to fight Suko off to defend himself, he's not going to hurt the younger ape if he doesn't have to, and he won't stand for others hurting him either, since he steps in to save Suko from being killed by the Skar King later in the movie.
  • Skar King on the other hand has no qualms about threatening and later trying to murder his implied son by strangling him luckily Kong intervened in the nick of the time, in a Papa Wolf moment.
  • Even Skar King's de-facto second-in-command 'One-Eye ' tries to throttle Suko for his betrayal before meeting his end.
• Wrecked Weapon: The turning point of the Final Battle is Godzilla catching Skar King's whip in his mouth and destroying it. This not only disarms the tyrant but leaves him scrambling to regain the control crystal at its tip.
• Wrestler in All of Us: During Kong's skirmish with Godzilla in Egypt, the latter performs one of his craziest feats yet by pinning Kong against one of the Pyramids of Giza and then SUPLEXING him.
• Your Head A-Splode: How Godzilla kills Scylla with his atomic breath.

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