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Major Kaiju
Shimo
Appears In: Call of Duty: Warzone (cameo in a cave painting) | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Quadrupedal ice reptile.
An ginormous yet peaceful and benevolent cryokinetic Titan with ice-based powers who is forced to be the Skar King's unwilling servant and personal attack dog while being a key asset in securing his rule due to being commanded by her master with a control crystal while intending on using her to unleash a second ice age upon the surface world.
- Ambiguously Evil: While it's obvious from moment one that she's being Forced into Evil by the Skar King, her own morality (and sanity) are a more open question for most of the film. Happily for all involved, she proves to be a peaceful and friendly Gentle Giant after Kong and Suko free her and help her get her revenge on her tormentor.
- Androcles' Lion: After Kong and Suko help free Shimo from Skar King's control by destroying the crystal that he used to cause her pain, Shimo willingly becomes Kong's follower afterwards.
- Animal Jingoism: In the Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted comic, Kong finds, in a cave, depictions of different rivalries between different species of titans. Among these cave paintings is a a depiction of a conflict between what appears to be Shimo and Gozilla, implying Shimo may belong to a rival species to Godzilla much like the MUTOs and Kong's species.
- Been There, Shaped History: It's mentioned offhandedly that she was responsible for the last ice age. In the climax, she threatens to cause another ice age once she and Skar King make it to the surface.
- Being Evil Sucks: Clearly doesn't enjoy causing destruction and chaos being a Non-Malicious Monster, only doing it due to Skar King forcing her with a crystal to make her subservient to him.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: The very tip of her tail is dangerously tipped with a trident-shaped thagomizer that's layered with blue-colored barbs.
- Big Friendly Dog: Rather picks up this dynamic with Kong after being freed from Skar King's control. The final shot of the film is Kong, Shimo, and Suko returning to the Subterranean Realm, and Kong scratching Shimo's head like a big puppy, her nuzzling him in return like a loyal pet.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Similarly to Godzilla and Mothra, Shimo emanates blue bioluminescence through her dorsal plates and mouth.
- Blue Means Cold: Her skin and the spikes on her back are tinged blue, and she can shoot a blast of freezing breath.
- Breath Weapon: She can spit a freezing beam referred to the toyline as her Frost Bite Blast or Frost Bite Breath.
- Co-Dragons: She shares the role of Skar King's top enforcer with one of the Skar King's direct followers. She's his strongest minion, but she isn't genuinely loyal at all and only does his bidding when forced to do so.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Mechagodzilla from Godzilla vs. Kong. 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.
- More Contrasting Reboot Antagonist but Shimo shares multiple similarities with that of Titanosaurus from Terror Of Mecha Godzilla - to wit: both are subterreanean reptilian kaiju who serve as muscle for the main villain, both debuted in films that followed instalments that featured Mecha-Godzilla as the antagonist and both are revealed to be Forced into Evil via mind-control rather than actually malicious. The big difference between the two is that while Titanosaurus died (maybe) after being freed from the mind control Shimo gets a new lease on life and joins Kong as his steed and knight.
- Crown of Horns: Maintains a row of dark blue crystal-like bristles that are positioned behind the back of her head.
- Crystalline Creature: The second trailer shows Shimo's back being covered in blue and purple crystals from head to tail.
- Dark Action Girl: She's implied to be the most powerful female Kaiju seen yet, and is Skar King's pet.
- The Dog Bites Back: She immediately turns on Skar King once his control crystal and whip are destroyed, freezing the Tyrannical Titan solid with her ice breath.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Shimo is actually much stronger than Skar King is, and her presence makes him a significantly bigger threat. Skar King getting his control crystal destroyed is effectively the heroes' win condition.
- The Dreaded: The mere sight of Shimo's eyes emerging from the pit is enough to cause Suko to display a genuine Oh, Crap! expression on his face as he starts to worry for Kong's safety.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She first appeared as an Easter Egg in the "Operation Monarch" event for Call of Duty: Warzone, in the form of cave art depicting her fighting Godzilla. In Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted, Kong comes across a cave painting depicting Shimo battling Godzilla.
- Evil Counterpart:
- To Godzilla, in much the same way that Skar King is a simian titan like Kong, Shimo is an ancient reptilian titan with her own Breath Weapon however she is not truly evil, rather she was being Forced into Evil against her will by the Skar King.
- Arguably one to Mothra as well, as they're both female Kaiju that act as a Number Two to a male Alpha (Skar King and Godzilla respectively).
- Evil Is Bigger: As shown in the cave painting, taking a bipedal stance on her hind legs gives the beast a measurable size advantage, with Godzilla only coming up to her chest. Shimo is indeed shown dwarfing Godzilla, being slightly taller than Godzilla even while remaining in her quadrapedal stance. Furthermore, her head alone is around the same size as Godzilla's torso. Her official height of 162.45 meters tall firmly puts her here, as it officially makes her the largest living titan to appear in the MonsterVerse. The evil part is subverted though; it's quickly shown she only follows Skar King because he possesses a crystal that he can use to inflict pain on her like a Shock Collar. The moment the crystal is destroyed, she turns on Skar King and joins the side of the heroic monsters.
- Evil Old Folks: Rapidly subverted. She's just as ancient as the Skar King, and possibly even as old as Godzilla, but it's clear from nearly as soon as she appears that she's hardly a willing participant in her master's evil schemes.
- Forced into Evil: Shimo isn't evil by choice but was tortured into obeying the Skar King, with her very first appearance showing how she's bound in a painful-looking bone harness within his lair. After the control crystal he used to control her gets shattered, she has no problems turning against him.
- Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: Able to perfectly stand on her hind legs, which was shown in her Early-Bird Cameo featuring her battling Godzilla in a cave painting, although her default posture is standing on all fours as some of the toyline figurines have demonstrated.
- Gentle Giant: Revealed to be her actual personality after the Skar King's death. The film ends with her carrying Kong and Suko home on her back, and then happily accepting chin-scratches from the former after he dismounts.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: A scene from the second trailer shows Shimo completely obscured by a dark pit, with only her eyes glowing in its darkness. In the same scene, Kong finds himself dreading at the possibility of having to face her.
- Heel–Face Turn: Near the end after the crystal that Skar King was controlling her with is destroyed, she turns against her abusive former master and freezes him allowing Kong to pound him to smithereens.
- Hero of Another Story: The novelization reveals that she was the one who froze Ghidorah in ice, thus ensuring they would remain trapped and unable to continue in their apocalyptic plans.
- An Ice Person: Has ice powers. This is both passive and willfully, as she naturally causes frost and ice to appear around her and she can fire a beam of freezing breath.
- Knight in Shining Armor: What she becomes after being freed from Skar King's control. In a lot of ways, she fits the classical depiction of a knight: she's a powerful warrior who has sworn herself in service to a benevolent ruler, she has shiny white scales evocative of a knight's armour and Kong even rides her like a horse, bringing to mind the image of a knight's noble white steed.
- Light Is Not Good: Shimo has white scales and blue spines and she is opposed to the heroic Godzilla, who has black scales and red spines. Subverted as she's not evil by choice and becomes a loyal follower to Kong once freed from the Skar King's control.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: Notably Inverted, as not only is she much larger and more physically powerful than Skar King, Skar King himself is shown to be very agile and skilled fighter by Kaiju standards, using whip with a high degree of precision and fighting with acrobatic maneuvers and kicks.
- Meaningful Name: "Shimo" is Japanese for "frost", denoting her ice-based abilities.
- It's also, depending on the characters used, Japanese for pit or hole, referencing her domicile in the Hollow Earth.
- Mirror Character: Despite their contrasts, Shimo and Rodan have similar roles in the story. Shimo is also a reptilian Titan serving as The Dragon to a villainous Alpha Titan and is set up to be the Evil Counterpart to the Blue Is Heroic Deuteragonist titan; Godzilla in her case.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: It takes virtually no convincing at all for Shimo to help Kong, Suko, and Godzilla to kill the Skar King once Suko shatters his control crystal that he used to torture her into compliance.
- Notzilla: Interestingly, Shimo herself is an in-universe example of this, being very similar to Godzilla with the same reptilian appearance with dorsal spines and a Breath Weapon, the only major physical differences is her white scales, being quadrupedal and breathing ice rather than atomic-fire.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Even by Titan standards, she's one of these. She's just as powerful as Godzilla, and the nature of her abilities makes her capable of collateral damage on a national or even planetary scale. According to the Iwi tribe's histories, she caused the Second Ice Age. It's very good news for everyone that she's also one of the most peaceful Titans when left to her own devices.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Gender inverted with Shimo, whose colors are white and blue for being a Titan with ice-based powers, while Godzilla has gotten a metamorphosis in The New Empire that gives him pink highlights.
- She serves as The Dragon to Skar King, who has reddish fur.
- Power Glows: When Shimo prepares to attack, she emits a powerful blue glow.
- Revenge is Sweet: Needless to say, she's nothing but happy and grateful for the chance to get revenge on the Skar King after eons of slavery and torture, and it forms the foundation of her new friendship with Kong and Suko.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: She's Skar King's main muscle and the primary reason he's a threat to Godzilla and Kong.
- Shock Collar: Skar King keeps Shimo under his control using a crystal shard that somehow inflicts intense pain on her whenever he points it at her.
- Shadow Archetype: Shimo represents what Godzilla's fate could have been had Kong found a way to defeat him and was malevolent. A once powerful reptilian Titan now enslaved as a living weapon of mass destruction by an highly intelligent Great Ape plotting on conquering the world.
- Shout-Out: Her overall design is very similar to the Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, a direct inspiration for Godzilla (1954). To whit, she is also a quadruple saurian with a similar singular row of back spikes. Interestingly, the Rhedosaurus was frozen in the Arctic. The only major difference is that her skin is completely white. She also has some similarities to Anguirus, being quadrupedal, spike-backed, and having a crown of horns, and to Barugon from Gamera vs. Barugon, due to both being quadrupedal lizards with ice breath, along with Barugon's 2003 manga version being a near-dead ringer for Shimo.
- Super-Toughness: Enough to tank a supercharged Godzilla's atomic breath.
- Tail Slap: In one of the sneak-peeks, Shimo slams Kong into a building with her huge tail.
- Time Abyss: While her exact age is unknown, the fact that she's been referred to in some sources as "The First Titan", indicating her to be older than any other Titan, puts her here by default. For reference, it's stated in the film that she was partly responsible for the Ice Age, and the novelization indicates her to be at least 3 million years old.
- Throat Light: Shimo's throat and eyes emit blue light when she is charging her freezing beam.
- Unblockable Attack: Her frostbite beam is so powerful that Kong's axe cannot withstand the attack like it does with Godzilla's atomic breath. She almost freezes both the axe and Kong in the trailer.
- World's Strongest Man: A serious contender for this amongst the Titans. Sources say that she caused the first Ice Age through her powers, and even when not actively using them, merely being in the area causes the surrounding environment around her to freeze, a state of being that Godzilla has to actively force himself into through absorbing massive amounts of energy. Skar King's control over her makes his rule undisputed amongst any Titan that opposes him, and whenever his own combat showing isn't enough to bring down his enemies, he falls back on using Shimo's brute force to overwhelm them. Kong is able to handle him well enough Solo, but a single blocked attack from Shimo's Breath Weapon leaves him with crippling injuries that require the B.E.A.S.T augmentation in order for Kong to use his arm again. Godzilla spends much of his time on the surface absorbing and refining massive amounts of energy to achieve a Next Tier Power-Up to stand against Shimo, and even with that, it merely allows him to endure being frozen and match her physically, spending much of the clash between them holding Shimo back from unleashing too much destruction at Skar King's bidding rather than decisively overpowering her. Admittedly, Shimo herself does Godzilla no major damage either. Thankfully, this immense power is counterbalanced by Shimo being a Non-Malicious Monster who has no interest in actively using her strength to assert dominance.
Great Apes
Skar King
Appears In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Unidentified simian titan
A sadistic, tyrannical and brutal dictator who rules over a tribe of Great Apes with an iron fist and is personally responsible for the deaths of countless other Titans, including his own kind. The warmonger uses Shimo, the Mother Of All Titans as a personal attack dog to aid him in securing his reign. Obsessed with ruling over the Surface World, he led a war against Godzilla thousands of years ago that resulted in him and the remnants of his army being sealed away in a desolate region beneath even the normal Hollow Earth. Ever since then he has dreamed of escaping the prison realm and using the Ancient Titan to kill the Great Ruler and take his kingdom for himself.- 0% Approval Rating: When Kong returns to declare that Skar King is no more, all the other Great Apes cheer. Not that surprising given that he treated all of them like slaves, and would kill or beat them for incredibly minor transgressions.
- Abusive Parents: While never outright stated, the Skar King is heavily implied to be the Suko's father (which would also make him Suko's Archnemesis Dad), and a number of 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 Skar King's brutality and cruelty 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.
- Allegorical Character: While the majority of Earth's kaiju represent forces of nature and Ghidorah represents imbalance, Skar King embodies the egomania often seen in tyrants and conquerors. In other words, Skar King is "The Folly of Man".
- Arch-Enemy: He's easily Kong's most hated and personal foe besides the long-deceased Skull Devil, with his sheer cruelty and goals far more malevolent than any foe Kong has faced in the past; the two hate each other from the minute they meet and Skar King's depravity only cements Kong's desire to stop him and his plans to conquer the world. It's more deliberate than even in-universe as according to director Adam Wingard, he envisioned the Skar King as Kong's arch nemesis in the same vein as King Ghidorah to Godzilla.
- Ax-Crazy: The Skar King is a warmongering, sociopathic monster of an 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.
- Ancient Evil: Skar King is a millenia old conqueror who killed many Titans in his lifetime, the False King had attempted to achieve world domination and in the process, he waged war on Godzilla. During this war, he managed to unleash Earth's last Ice Age. Unfortunately for the warmongering tyrant, Godzilla managed to defeat and imprisoned him and his entire tribe deep within a subterranean realm in the Hollow Earth for millennia.
- Bad with the Bone: He wields the spinal cord of one of his kills as a weapon, using it as a whip to lash out at opponents as well as to grab and fling objects. When not in use, he has it wrapped around his torso, resembling a Badass Bandolier or an emperor's sash.
- Bad Boss: Skar's reign is mostly built on terror, with a small cadre of loyal enforcers abusing the great majority of the apes in his empire while the rest toil away working the stone of their territory towards his ends, with dissenters even being decapitated to have their heads mounted on stakes while he himself wields the trump card of Shimo; whom he controls through torturing her with the control crystal at the end of his whip. Notably, after the tyrant is no more and Kong usurps him, his former subjects cheer for Kong, who had stood up for the abused slave laborers in his first introduction to them, when he arrives to take his rightful place as King of the Great Apes while Shimo clearly chooses to follow Kong of her own will, responding positively to his petting of her like a trusted horse.
- Bald of Evil: This malevolent Titan's cranium noticeably lacks any fur.
- Berserk Button: While it doesn't take much to anger him, he does get downright irate with Suko for not laughing loudly enough with the other apes at Kong's metal incisor. Insecure much?
- Big Bad: Of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Not only is he oppressing Kong's species, but he plans to invade the Surface World after growing bored with his dominion over Hollow Earth.
- Bigger Stick: Shimo is his. The King himself is a fairly powerful Titan and a talented, experienced fighter, but not really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. It's having a Godzilla-tier monster as his enslaved attack dog that makes him a threat to the entire planet, and once his mind control of her is gone, it's all over bar the smashing.
- Blade on a Rope: His main weapon is a whip constructed out of a very long vertebral column with a crystal shard at the end. The crystal is plenty sharp enough to cut through Kong's flesh, but its primary function is to keep Shimo subjugated via painful energy pulses.
- Blood Knight: The Skar King is constantly looking to indulge his lust for violence, whether it be through acts of petty cruelty or outright wars of aggression. This bit him back hard in the past, as the entire reason why Skar King was banished into the depths of the Hollow Earth in the first place was because he tried to pick a fight with the surface world, and got one in the form of Godzilla. Unfortunately he didn't learn from the experience and by the time he's freed from his prison come The New Empire, is eager to try again with Shimo as his backup.
- Breeding Slave: Heavily implied to have a harem of them. Having enslaved the other great apes, Skar is seen on his throne with an entire line of abused, terrified female slaves all carrying offspring with orange colored fur like his own. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together there.
- Bullying the Disabled: He mocks Kong for having a prosthetic tooth. Kong makes sure to knock out one of Skar King's teeth for the sake of poetic justice.
- The Caligula: Without a doubt. The Skar King is what happens when a controlling, murderously unstable and sadistically violent sociopath is put into a position of power that he should be nowhere near; an insane despot who uses torture and murder to coerce his terrified subjects into doing their bidding.
- Canon Foreigner: Much like the MUTOs before him, the Skar King is an original creation for the Monsterverse.
- Catching the Speedster: Skar King is an incredibly agile and speedy kaiju, able to dodge and evade Kong and Godzilla's attacks decently well. However, when he is caught by one of them, he's put at a serious disadvantage because he's outmatched by both in terms of strength. Once Kong gets his hands on him at the end of the fight, the fight is over.
- Child by Rape: It's heavily implied by the presence of terrified females with fur matching his own kept under guard next to his throne that Skar King keeps an unwilling harem specifically to sire children for him.
- Choke Holds: For using a long skeletal Whip of Dominance, that won't stop him for attempting to strangle his victims as he did while battling Kong by wrapping his weapon around his throat by garroting him as the latter is visibly gasping for air. Kong breaks free from his grasp and manages to overpower him. After Godzilla destroys his whip, the attached crystal falls to the ground as Kong tried to grab it, only for Skar King to have his forearm locked around his neck to have him aggressively held back to seize control again over Shimo.
- Combat Pragmatist: Skar will use any advantage he possibly can in battle. Whether it is calling forth the gigantic ice-based Kaiju he enslaved, using a sharp weapon against an unarmed opponent, such as Kong, or ganging up on his foes with his minions alongside him, as in the Final Battle. Being lean in build and very old, he can't be too careful when fighting a younger and beefier ape.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong was a newly-made Humongous Mecha and an Evil Counterpart for Godzilla, whereas Skar King is an organic Ancient Evil Titan and an Evil Counterpart for King Kong.
- He also contrasts Apex Cybernetics, the human antagonists of Godzilla vs. Kong whose actions set off that movie's plot. Both are hegemonic schemers that stand apart comparative 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 were an up-and-coming mega-corporation, created their own hi-tech cybernetic Titan, and they were completely undone by their own 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 were a direct Evil Counterpart to fellow Titan-researching organization Monarch, the Skar King is a direct evil counterpart to fellow Alpha Titan simian Kong.
- Control Freak: Wingard noted in an interview that a desire for control is one of Skar King's direct motivations. This shows in the movie itself, as part of his introduction see him threaten to assault Suko for the crime of not laughing at Kong hard enough for his liking, then murdering Suko's caretaker for trying to talk him down.
- The Conqueror: Skar had taken over many tribes of the Great Apes to try and make war upon the surface world and its ruling protector Godzilla. Ever since he was sealed in the badlands of the Hollow Earth, the False King longs for a rematch with the Great Ruler of the Titans and another attempt at conquering the surface with his army. Indeed, the Iwi describe him as being outright obsessed with it, and there is clear sadistic glee on his face when he finally reaches the surface again.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: The Skar King sports a pair of unsettlingly pale blue eyes filled with ice-cold hate that make him stand out among other giant apes.
- Determinator: During the Final Battle, Skar King goes out of his way to grab and obtain the crystal that controls Shimo after Godzilla destroys his whiplash that the crystal was on the end of. While Godzilla's atomic breaths keep him from having an easy way to get it back, it takes Suko smashing it while Skar King is distracted to ensure he doesn't get it.
- Didn't Think This Through: In the final battle, Skar King 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. Skar King’s 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. Bonus points in that he’d brought Shimo specifically because he knew he couldn’t take Godzilla on his own.
- Dirty Coward: Despite being a savagely formidable warrior, he ultimately displayed cowardice whenever faced with a superior opponent; which is why he would often rely on Shimo to carry out eliminating his targets.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Suko's caretaker shields Suko from Skar King's anger and tries to submissively placate him, Skar King responds by kicking the caretaker into a pool of magma after briefly acting like he is going overlook the matter.
- The Dreaded: He undoubtedly lords himself over the other Great Apes. Right when he drops down to face Kong, the rest of them are seen being either cautious or cowering as a few of them are slightly backing away from him. The Iwi consider him a massive threat and Godzilla almost died at his army's hand in the past despite ultimately coming out on top, when he begins to break free from his prison the King of the Monsters sees him as a big enough threat to begin powering up in preparation.
- Erudite Orangutan: His lankier build and red color make him resemble a flangeless orangutan, and he's the cunning, yet ruthless and cruel leader of an entire tribe of Great Apes.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first two minutes he's on-screen immediately establishes everything you need to know about him. He gets up from his throne, terrifying all the other apes by his mere presence, he mocks Kong's prosthetic tooth and forces all the other apes to laugh with him. When he is about to attack Suko for apparently not laughing hard enough, Suko's caretaker feebly attempts to shield Suko; for this minor slight, Skar King kills the caretaker by kicking them into a pit of lava, but not before making it seem like he was going to show mercy. Right away, the viewer is told by tone and actions alone that he's a both cruel and petty bully and a powerful and intimidating despot.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kong. Skar King is a villainous Titan who belongs to a simian-like species that's implied to have originated from the Hollow Earth, much like Kong.
- Evil Is Bigger: Notably inverted; in contrast to King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla, Skar King is lanky and noticeably overall smaller than Godzilla and Kong despite being the Big Bad of the movie (though part of that may be because of his hunched-over posture and old age). He makes up for it with skill, his army of ape Titans, and Shimo.
- Evil Is Petty: He mocks and laughs at Kong because the latter has a prosthetic tooth and expects the other apes to do so as well, similar to a playground bully. When Suko doesn't show enough enthusiasm in this, Skar King moves to physically punish him, then kicks the young ape's guardian into a pit of lava when they try to calm him down after acting as though he'll brush the whole thing off, forcing Suko to watch as his guardian is burned alive.
- Evil Is Visceral: The patches of white warpaint on Skar King's red body are reminiscent of exposed musculature and cartilage.
- Evil Laugh: Tends to react this way when things appear to be going in his favor. Being a Smug Snake, it's usually premature and the setup for a humiliating defeat.
- Evil Old Folks: His balding head, lanky build and weathered face showcase the fact he is much older than Kong (so old he likely started the war between Godzilla and Kong's species in the first place), and he is undoubtedly a villainous figure.
- Evil Overlord: He's a tyrannical and powerful despot who rules over a kingdom of other Great Apes with an iron fist, and desires to escape the subterranean realm and conquer the surface world as well. Wingard flat out calls him a dictator.
- Evil Redhead: Skar King is the main villain of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and has reddish fur.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The loud bellow that he aggressively emits to Kong has a significantly thunderous sounding bass.
- Fangs Are Evil: Although all of the giant apes have enlarged canines, as is typical for most non-human primates, his are particularly long, almost like tusks, which make him appear much more obviously vicious and frightening.
- For the Evulz: His plan is to conquer not just the Hollow Earth but the surface world as well, simply because he is obsessed with accomplishing it and being in control. The first thing he does upon encountering fleeing humans, is to grin and roar at them, delighting in the fear he causes then ordering Shimo to begin a new ice age so the humans can suffer while he ravages the surface. His human-like intelligence as an Ape Titan means Skar King is capable of being genuinely evil and none of his actions stem from animal instinct.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Skar King is one for Godzilla vs Kong, due to it being that he was the one who originally started the ancient war between the Great Apes and Godzilla, all because Skar wanted to rule the Earth all by himself.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Both of his eyes are shining with a brightened glowing effect. The film's teaser even shows him on his throne where as soon as he opens his eyes, the camera then slowly zooms out with him clearly appearing more threatening as his eyes are ominously gleaming from a far away view. It even ends with a closer frontal view of his blood-smeared face, with his two eyes furiously lighting up. It's also worth noting that Skar King's eyes are illuminating light blue in color, which is directly similar to how Godzilla's eyes light up while in the middle of charging up his Atomic Breath.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: His response to Suko not laughing hard enough at Kong for his liking is to lunge at the young ape with homicidal intent, then gleefully murder his caretaker for daring to try and talk him down.
- Hate Sink: There is nothing redeeming about the Skar King - he's a relentlessly cruel, sadistic, vindictive, batshit-insane tyrant who enslaves his subjects and keeps a harem which he forces to bear his children. The MUTOs, Skullcrawlers and Ion Dragon were just dangerous animals and while King Ghidorah (and by extension Mecha-Godzilla) was pure evil, his was more "supervillain destroy-the-world" evil — he was too alien in nature and too charismatic in personality to really hate hate. Skar King on the other hand, despite being a 300-hundred foot tall ape king, is a much more realistic evil — he's a bully that uses his power and authority to abuse and belittle those beneath him simply to fuel his ego. And while and a more generous viewer could describe Ghidorah as a fantastic variant on what happens when a feral animal has to adapt to a new environment, Skar King already has his own domain and has long established himself as the reigning champion, but still demands more.
- Hidden Villain: First makes his full appearance over an hour into the film. Until that point, all that had been seen of him was a brief view of his eyes and feet when he destroys the Monarch outpost. Once he does show up.... he becomes a very terrifying threat and fully takes centre stage as the main antagonist.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The constant abuse of Shimo through lashing her with his crystal-tipped whip, combined with the reign of terror he holds over the Great Apes and the murder of Suko's caretaker, leads to Suko shattering the control crystal, allowing Shimo to freeze him solid so that Kong can kill him once and for all. Assuming Suko was his biological son, then the Skar King sealed his fate the moment Suko was conceived.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: As an Ape Titan like Kong, Skar King is more human-like in his intelligence and mindset as opposed to the other Titans. However, unlike Kong who embodies the best parts of humanity and is a benevolent king, Skar King only embodies the worst traits of humanity and is a power hungry tyrant who seeks total submission over others.
- Humiliation Conga: Once his control crystal is shattered by Suko and his whip is broken by Godzilla, Skar King folds like a deck chair, being beaten back and forth between Godzilla and Kong with ease before being frozen solid by a vengeful Shimo and then shattered into dust by Kong.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: While not as large as Godzilla or even Kong for that matter, he's still by all means humongous and one of his best physical attributes in combat is arguably his agility to confront opponents such as being able to evade a sideways axe swing from Kong with a backwards somersault and retaliates by staggering him with a swift kick to the chin. He also makes use of his quicker movement speed to get away from being attacked by Evolved Godzilla's Breath Weapon by running across buildings until but he still gets scorched by it.
- It Can Think: The film depicts that he has more of an adept and deceptively clever approach to fighting his foes, as demonstrated during his duel with Kong: he wraps his bone whip around Kong's hand and pulls his clenched hand back with a yanking motion by using the sharpened crystal-like end of his bone whip just to injure him by slicing his hand. In a later moment, Skar King is twisting his entire whip around a building like a makeshift lasso, just so he can propel the ripped off section from said building like a projectile from a great distance as means to attack Kong with highly precise aiming. Wingard has pointed out that, like Kong, he's much more human-like in his mentality than most Titans...which also means that, like Ghidorah, he's genuinely evil rather than acting on instinct.
- Jerkass: He's a tyrant who rules a highly social species through fear and pain, which doesn't just require him to be evil, but means being a colossal asshole on a personal level 24/7. This is best shown in his Establishing Character Moment, where he introduces himself to Kong by mocking his artificial tooth and forces his entire court to laugh along with him on pain of death.
- Karmic Death: He gets a Cruel and Unusual Death; courtesy of the Titan that he Forced into Evil and chronically tortured and abused freezing him solid after the child (and implicit son) that he abused freed her, which is followed by the other Titan who the Skar King sadistically terrorized, maimed and tried to kill finishing him off; shattering him into pieces much like how the Skar King broke or tried to break every sentient creature he came across.
- Karmic Injury: He goes out of his way to dig into Kong's mouth and sees that he has a prosthetic metal tooth, and sneers at him with such mockery because he thinks it's amusing to him while getting his subordinates to join in on the added humiliation. After getting his jaw decked in from Kong's B.E.A.S.T. Glove, he spits out a tooth from his mouth that lands into the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Kong even smiles from the payback he's given him.
- Killer Gorilla: A villainous example of an orangutan-like Titan who has slaughtered numerous Titans and set his throne among their remains. He ruthlessly tries to, or does kill, anyone who remotely stands up to him or gets in his way. And his ultimate goal is conquering the entire surface world using Shimo and his ape army.
- Kill It with Ice: Subverted. Near the end after Shimo is free from his control, she freezes him and while it doesn't actually kill him just immobilizing him in place, it's ultimately Kong that finishes the job by smashing the crazed ape to pieces.
- Kick the Dog: After commanding his fellow Great Apes to laugh at Kong for having an artificial replacement tooth, he snaps at Suko for not laughing with enough enthusiasm and threatens to beat him, only for Suko's caretaker to try and plead for the young ape. At first, Skar King seemingly relents, only to donkey kick said caretaker directly into the lava pit behind him in full view of Suko moments later.
- Kubrick Stare: He leans forward from his throne with a Death Glare full of rage.
- Laser-Guided Karma: It's no surprise that he eventually suffers much-deserved justice for his malevolent deeds and cruelty in the film. At one point during the battle, he double-teams Kong by knocking him right into Shimo, who just so happens to toss and thrash him around across the city. After Shimo has been freed from his control, he gets the receiving end of the skirmish by becoming a simian baseball when Kong grabs and chucks him towards Godzilla and gets thwacked away with a powerful Tail Slap.
- Laugh with Me!: He orders the rest of the Great Apes to laugh at Kong's fake tooth. Played for Drama, as it soon becomes apparent they're only laughing because Skar King can and will brutally murder them if they don't. Which is exactly what he does to Suko's caretaker to punish Suko for not laughing hard enough.
- Lean and Mean: The Skar King is a lanky orangutan-like Titan who makes the entire story darker just by existing.
- Lightning Bruiser: While not as strong as Kong, Skar King is still very strong and outmatches Kong in terms of agility and is likely the most agile land kaiju introduced thus far. He's also extremely durable, able to survive being tossed around and get right back up. In the final battle he survives various blows from Godzilla and Kong tag-teaming him and it takes Shimo freezing him for his durability to finally falter him as Kong smashes him to pieces in his weakened state. Wingard even flat out noted he was designed to outmatch Kong in terms of agility.
- Literally Shattered Lives: Is killed by Kong after losing control of Shimo and being frozen solid by his former slave while Kong lifts him helplessly into the air, after which Kong smashes him into thousands of pieces on the ground.
- Logical Weakness:
- His control crystal which allows him to control via intense pain a massive cryokinetic beast like Shimo who has enough power to cause a worldwide Ice Age seems cool at first glance but his weapon and the ability to use it come with a few noticeable drawbacks. Namely, he actually has to point and direct it, and sometimes Shimo will resist, forcing him to actually stop and torture her to make her obey. This isn't as much of a problem when he has surprise on his side and is surrounded by minions. However, if he's on unfamiliar territory like Rio De Janeiro, is fighting a more fair one-on-one or two-on-two pitched battle, and doesn't have backup or any rest time to get the chance to use his crystal, his ability to use his weapon to get additional help from Shimo will be seriously impeded because Skar King himself will be too busy dodging attacks or taking hits from Kong or Godzilla to have any opportunity to utilize his crystal and command his attack beast.
- He's got a noticably smaller frame than Kong, and while not weak by any stretch (being able to rip a building in half and use it to turn his whip into a flail), this puts him at a serious disadvantage if Kong as actually does get his hands on him, because Kong can easily throw him around due to how much lighter he is.
- Made of Iron: Whenever he gets hit he just gets right back up to continue fighting. Despite being thrown around, bashed, and beaten several times, he gets right back up.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: He has the reddish fur and long arms of an orangutan, but his face and build are more like a chimpanzee (opposed to Kong, who is basically a gorilla with a slightly more humanoid build; meaning all four great apes got utilized between the two of them).
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Just by looking at him, he looks absolutely attenuated and slim for an ape Titan, who has more a lanky chimpanzee-like physique unlike the majority of his slaves, troops, and especially Kong as they're more far more bulkier and muscular than him. When he actually fights, he proves to be an impressive physical fighter as he was able to floor Kong to the ground with one powerful kick, was close to gagging him to death, sent Kong tumbling backwards with a frontward double-kick, and uses his vertebral whip to snatch a massive chunk out of a nearby skyscraper to toss its torn off pieces against him.
- The Napoleon: Skar King is noticably leaner than the other apes and slightly shorter than Kong. He also relies on intimidation and general nastiness to assert his authority while Kong earns loyalty by showing benevolence to his fellow ape. And as the climax demonstrates, he's completey outclassed once he loses his weapon.
- Oh, Crap!: Skar loses his typical confidence and smug demeanor when he notices that he has Godzilla's undivided attention.
- Primal Stance: A little zig-zagged. At first, after he comes down from his throne, he is seen patrolling around his various slaves with his stature being lowered with his upper-body hanging downward given by his elderly primate appearance, he then stands to his full height to get a better look at Kong face-to-face by taking a standardized bipedal form.
- Punny Name: Fun with Homophones example; his title of "Skar King" can sound a lot like "scarring", and if there's one thing he appears to enjoy, it's going into battle with intent to hurt. In fact, the bloody handprints he leaves on his territory and on his cowed Kongs can make one think of him marking - scarring - them to demonstrate ownership.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: As if being a cruel, petty tyrant wasn't enough - 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 guarding children that share Skar King's red fur.
- Rasputinian Death: During the final battle he 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.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Iwi have murals depicting him in an ancient battle with Godzilla, suggesting he's thousands if not millions of years old. Given that Kong was described as being a teenager in Skull Island, which was set in 1973, and appears fully grown by Godzilla vs. Kong, this implied that Skar King is a similar, but separate type of simian Titan compared to Kong.
- Red Is Violent: He has bright red fur and covers himself and his followers in red dyes, and he's an incredibly bloodthirsty and short-tempered brute.
- Revenge Before Reason: When Suko smashes the crystal he uses to control Shimo, Skar King tries to strangle him to death instead of retreating despite the fact that there are now three Titans on the battlefield who are allied against him. Four if you count Mothra.
- Sadist: He clearly enjoys watching others suffer especially when he kills Suko's caregiver simply because the little ape didn't laugh loud enough with others at Kong's metal tooth and the former stood up for him.
- Satanic Archetype: A distinctly red-themed, anthropomorphic-shaped tyrant who rules over an army of once-great protectors like himself that he reduced to lackeys in his own image (much like Satan seducing angels to his side in Heaven), and who seeks to usurp God (Godzilla), for which said God and his Angel (Mothra) locked the Skar King and his army away in a fiery, magmatic realm beneath the Earth long ago. The Skar King is prophesized to escape from his prison and wage one last war against Godzilla and Mothra for total dominion over the world, attacking and jeopardizing mankind's world in the process, aided by a dragon that can bring about a cataclysm like in the Book of Revelations. This prophecy comes true in the present day, before the battle ends with the Skar King's final defeat and destruction at the hands of good. Adam Wingard has even described Skar King as a "devilish, Kong-type character".
- Sealed Evil in a Can: After being defeated by Godzilla in ancient times, he and his followers were sealed away in the deeper parts ot the Hollow Earth. Kong's pit trap destabilized part of the ground enough to cave in and set him free.
- Shout-Out:
- Skar King was inspired by Shack; Skar King using a whip has been specifically cited as inspired by Shack using a chain against the hero (who is using an ax) in the final fight.
- He decorates himself in white warpaint and keeps a harem of female apes to produce offspring with much like what Immortan Joe did in Mad Max: Fury Road.
- Slasher Smile: Skar King frequently flashes sadistic smiles when he's enjoying the suffering and pain of others to the point it's basically his default expression.
- Slouch of Villainy: His first appearance ever shows him sitting menacingly on his throne among bones belonging to both Kong's and Godzilla's species, staring menacingly at Kong and the viewers.
- Smug Snake: An arrogant tyrant who, while legitimately cunning and dangerous, just isn't quite as big a deal as he thinks he is. His empire is built on fear and pain, which Kong and his allies soon figure out makes it brittle and easy to dismantle, and his cruelty and aggression means that once it's gone, he's left with a long list of incredibly powerful enemies that he could barely handle one-on-one, let alone all at once.
- The Sociopath: Possibly one of the most quintessential examples in the Monsterverse. He is a terrifying, ruthless tyrant with no regard for anyone but himself, enslaved much of his own civilization, and spends the majority of his screentime dominating and terrorizing others For the Evulz with a Psychotic Smirk on his face.
- Super-Toughness: Despite his lanky frame and being smaller than Godzilla or Kong, he can definitely take a hit and get back up to continue fighting. Despite being thrown around, bashed, and beaten several times, he gets right back up. It takes being frozen solid and shattered to pieces to finally put him down.
- Teeth Flying: In a Karmic Injury for his earlier mocking of Kong, one of his lower fangs is brutally knocked out of his mouth during the Rio de Janeiro battle. His bloody incisor even happens to land right in front of multiple driven cars in traffic.
- Troll: When Suko's caretaker stops him from attacking Suko for not mocking Kong's prosthetic tooth, Skar King takes a page straight from Koba's playbook by acting as though he's cool with the whole thing then kicking the caretaker into a boiling pit of lava.
- Victor Gains Loser's Powers: He steals Kong's axe after defeating the other Titan alongside Shimo and uses it in the final battle until he's disarmed.
- Villain Holds the Leash: Although he's a very capable fighter by himself and holds command over an army of apes, the main, if not sole, reason he's a global threat is because he's in possession of a powerful crystal which he uses to control Shimo, a massive and extremely powerful ice Titan. Once the crystal is destroyed, Shimo immediately turns on him.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Godzilla destroys his whip, Skar King becomes frantic in his attempts to retrieve it and is clearly panicking in contrast to his previous smug sadism. After Suko destroys the command crystal that kept Shimo under his control, the Skar King flips his shit and tries to strangle the young ape to death, only for Kong to intervene. He spends his last moments of life vainly struggling to get free of Kong before Shimo flash freezes him.
- Villainous Virtues: Whatever else you can say about Skar King - he is no coward. Even after the control crystal for Shimo gets shattered he fights on to the bitter end, even if he knows he has no chance of winning.
- Weak, but Skilled: His lanky physique shows that he may lack Kong's raw strength, as shown when Kong manages to force him down to a knee with his axe when they first clash and a punch from Kong's unarmored fist knocks a tooth loose, but his choice of weapon, an unknown titan's sharpened spinal cord that he uses as a whip, shows that he's skilled enough to make up the difference. For context, using a whip as a weapon is insanely difficult, as it requires spatial awareness, technique, and a lot of practice so the user doesn't smack themselves with it. This means that the Skar King relies more on dexterity and skill in a fight rather than simply trying to out-punch an opponent. If that fails? Well, that's what his attack dog Shimo is for. Exemplified particularly well when Kong and Godzilla briefly switch up who they fight, with Godzilla outright shrugging off any of his hits, ragdolling him with ease once he grabs ahold of his whip, and breaking his whip in a single bite, but Skar King in return easily dodging most of Godzilla's atomic breath attacks.
- Whip of Dominance: In contrast to Kong's mighty axe, the Skar King uses a whip-like weapon called the Whipslash, and he is very good with it, using it to catch Kong's attacks, inflict wounds on him and snag objects to launch. It helps tie into his status as a cruel ruler of other Kaiju, as whips are a slaver's most infamous tool; in fact, when not in use, he wears it like an imperial sash.
- Wrecked Weapon: At the end of the fight, Godzilla catches Skar King's whip in his mouth and destroys it. This leaves Skar King scrambling to get his hands on the crystal for the rest of the battle.
- Would Hurt a Child: The bitter warmonger tried to kill Suko by strangling him after the little ape destroyed the crystal that Skar was using to make Shimo obey him, luckily Kong intervenes in the nick of time and decks him.
The Skar King's Court
Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Giant Prehistoric Apes
Kong's people. A tribe of Great Apes who once ruled the Hollow Earth and have since been reduced to Skar King's slaves.
- Co-Dragons: While Shimo is Skar King's strongest minion, one ape with a distinct, very chimp-like design serves as Skar's right hand man. He is shown repeatedly reporting back to him and being shown to lead his forces when the False King himself is not directing things personally, as well as being more intelligent than the others. He also serves as Suko's final opponent of the film.
- Faceless Goons: A bemasked ape forms part of Skar King's inner circle.
- Forced into Evil: Many of the Great Apes don't want to invade the surface world as their instinct to protect humanity still remain but their fear of Skar King is so great to the point that it overcame it. However, the Skar King's inner circle are shown to be every bit as malevolent as their king.
- Killer Gorilla: Downplayed. They're a whole species of powerful 250-foot-tall gorilla-like people, though most of them are actually only evil due to being forced to by Skar King. Skar King's inner circle on the other hand, plays the trope completely straight being as evil as their king without a hint of hesitation towards the cruelty they engage in.
- Psycho for Hire: The Skar King's direct followers are just as sadistic and cruel as he is, and like him, they relish their power over their 'inferiors.'
- Slave Mooks: All of the Great Apes bear Skar King's brand and under his rule they have two options: serve or die. It's downplayed with his direct followers who are shown to have the same level of sadism and willingly follow him.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Kong almost knocks one of the apes attacking him off a cliff, but catches him at the last second and helps him up. However, the ape ignores Kong's altruism and tries to kill him anyway. For his troubles, Kong throws him off the cliff for real.
Suko
Appears In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Unidentified simian titan
A simian juvenile creature with a general appearance similar to Kong.
- Ambiguously Related: While it's never explicitly stated, Suko sharing Skar King's distinctive red fur indicates that Skar King is his father, which would align with typical Great Ape familial structures in which the alpha male breeds with the troop's females to pass along his genetics.
- Badass and Child Duo: He and Kong become a giant-sized, reluctant version of this after their initial meeting. Kong forces Suko to guide him to the heart of Skar King's Court, while Suko tries half-heartedly to get Kong killed by other monsters. Kong, understanding that Suko is only a child, doesn't take it personally. Becomes less reluctant after Suko's guardian is killed and Kong tries to avenge her, with Suko helping Kong escape Skar King's wrath and get to safety. By the end of Godzilla x Kong, they have forged a genuine bond.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Kong's kindness and generosity to Suko eventually win the young ape over. Most notably, after Suko tries to get Kong killed by tricking him into wading into the Drownviper's lair he clearly expects to be beaten as punishment once Kong catches up to him - but when Kong shows him mercy, and later generosity by offering him a piece of the Drownviper's carcass to eat, Suko doesn't know how to react.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Kong loses his axe and it's left behind in a Hollow Earth tunnel, Suko retrieves the axe, takes it with him to Rio, and uses it to smash the crystal that Skar used to control Shimo, freeing her from his command.
- Character Development: Seeing Kong not respond to his overt acts of aggression beyond their initial meeting begins to soften Suko's views on the larger ape. This is further reinforced when they get to Skar King's seat of power and Kong magnanimously helps a beaten down slave gorilla to his feet while cold cocking the bully who struck him, and Skar King's demonstrations of cruelty (including killing Suko's caretaker) push him firmly towards Kong's side.
- Child by Rape: It's heavily implied that he's one of Skar King's many children. In a Freeze-Frame Bonus female apes are seen under guard next to Skar King's throne, holding infant apes with Skar King's distinctive reddish fur, implying that Skar King keeps an unwilling harem specifically to sire children for him. Suko also sports Skar King's reddish coloration, implying that Suko was born in this way.
- Enfant Terrible: Suko starts like this, appearing cute and innocent before biting Kong, 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 the harsh environment of Skar King's empire that Suko was initially so vicious in the first place since he warms up to Kong when shown kindness.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a faded pink vertical slash that's placed over his right eye.
- Happily Adopted: It's implied he becomes Kong's son and the heir to his throne at the end of the film. Considering the bond they've built up over the course of the film, one can assume he's happy with it.
- Junior Counterpart: Of Kong, to the point of being referred to as Mini-Kong by Bernie Hayes. Of course, being a Titan, he's still much bigger than a human.
- Made of Iron: Even after being used as a makeshift billy club by Kong to hit the other apes with, he displays no broken bones and keeps on going.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He's loyal to Skar King, up until Skar King callously kills Suko's caretaker for a very minor slight, at which point he becomes loyal to Kong.
- Nature vs. Nurture: While Suko starts off as a little brat in league with the Followers of the Skar King, it quickly becomes clear that this isn't because he was born evil - rather, it's just a result of him being raised by Skar. Once Kong shows him a little mercy and compassion, he quickly improves.
- Nervous Wreck: Being around the Skar King makes him one, for good reason.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's comparatively puny compared to Kong and the rest of his tribe as he reaches up to their legs but he is a "scrappy fighter" that has raw primal strength. The little ape was able to lift and carry Kong's axe, a weapon that's far larger than whole body and destroyed the very crystal that Skar King used to make Shimo yield to his will.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He sees Kong getting ambushed by the Drownviper and starts hoofing it after trying to lure Kong to his water grave. He's then stopped dead in his tracks from Kong's thrown axe, along with a severed piece of flesh from the creature he's already freshly killed. Kong doesn't hold it against him and continues to venture through the Hollow Earth by his side.
Hollow Earth creatures
Brambleboar
Appears In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Species: TBA
A territorial, boar-like florafauna that resides within the section of the Hollow Earth called Axis Mundi.
- Emerging from the Shadows: The first that we see of it, it's lurking in the shadow, with only glimpses of its face and its fogged breath visible, until it stalks into the light towards Cate and we get a better look at it.
- Full-Boar Action: As its name suggests, the Brambleboar mostly resembles a wild hog... the size of a large truck, with fang-lined jaws and thorny branches growing from its hide.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After it's shot in the eye with an arrow, it runs away.
- Moe Greene Special: The one that shows up attempts to eat Cate, only to get one of its eyes shot out by Keiko Randa.
- Planimal: Like the beasts of Skull Island, it is a hybrid of plant and animal—resembling a massive boar with fanged jaws and thorny branches growing from its hide.
Hellhawks
Appear In: Godzilla vs. Kong | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Accipiter Infernum
A species of large bat-like creatures with hooked beaks, which inhabit the Hollow Earth.
- Art Evolution: They're much more colourful in The New Empire; their wing membranes are now either bright yellow or red, and they have purple, red, or yellow highlights over their bodies.
- Bat Out of Hell: Hellhawks mostly resemble bats and even hang from the ceiling, but have the beaks and talons of birds of prey.
- Brutal Bird of Prey: Leathery wings and lack of feathers aside, Hellhawks mostly resemble birds of prey, and are shown menacing Kong and his human companions after Godzilla's atomic breath provoked them.
- Giant Flyer: While tiny compared to the likes of Rodan or Mothra, they're still huge by human standards, equal to the size of the largest real-life pterosaurs.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: They have leathery bat-like wings and scaly skin, but have beaks and talons resembling those of a bird of prey.
- Shout-Out: Their name and appearance bring to mind the Fell beasts from The Lord of the Rings (the ones in the books are explicitly stated to be beaked, featherless beasts, likely meant as an Evil Counterpart to the eagles).
- Zerg Rush: How they attack Kong and his human companions.
Rockclaw
Appear In: Godzilla vs. Kong
Species: Giant arthropod-like vertebrates
A species of large arthropod-like vertebrates that dwell on the Hollow Earth's rocky lands, camouflaging to avoid predators.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Much larger than any bug. While visually insect-like, they are vertebrates according to the VFX crew, even having visible bones in their concept art. Despite this, they're still smaller than most of the other animals in the Hollow Earth.
- Chameleon Camouflage: Their shells have rock-like textures that allow them to blend in their environments to hide from predators.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: They have characteristics of spiders, crabs and scorpions, but have bones and are vertebrates.
Titanus Doug/Scaly Quadruped
A Foetodon feeding on one of the Rock Critters
Appear In: Godzilla vs. Kong | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Predatory lizard-like creatures/ Foetodon/ Titanus Doug
A species of large lizard-like animals that live in the Hollow Earth's rocky ecosystem, feeding on smaller animals that cross their path.
- Ambiguously Related: The art book states it was explicitly designed so that it could be an evolutionary offshoot of Godzilla's ancestral lineage, or possibly even what Godzilla evolved from.
- Ascended Meme: His name, Doug, was coined by the podcast It Came From A Monster Movie! the first time, then was embraced by director Adam Wingard, and officially acknowledged by the Legendary Pictures Twitter and Instagram accounts. The name of his species is Titanus Doug.
- Breakout Character: Has a total of five seconds of screen time in Godzilla vs. Kong, but somehow became an internet sensation, earning himself the nickname of "Doug" for his sudden popularity. He also makes an appearance early on in The New Empire, even receiving his own Playmates Toy created for the movie, alongside the major Titans that appear in it.
- Chameleon Camouflage: Implied. The individual seen ambushes one of the scattered Rockclaw and its skin resembles the rocky environment it hunts in.
- Mighty Glacier: Notably obese lizards who don't seem to move much beyond ambushes.
- No Name Given: Neither the film nor promotional material gives the species or individual a name, though the fans have nicknamed him "Titanus Doug". The film's HBO Max audio description identifies the species as Foetodon, a creature from Peter Jackson's own King Kong film, but this is not officially confirmed. The trailer for GODZILLA x KONG: THE HUNTED gives it the name "Doug" as a canonization of the fan-name.
- Single Specimen Species: Averted. Only one specimen is seen feeding on a Rockclaw, but two more are shown in an overhead shot watching Kong run through Hollow Earth. The novelization also shows several others of the species feeding on Rock Critters.
Warbats
Appear In: Godzilla vs. Kong | Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong | Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Species: Predatory winged serpents
A species of cobra-like serpentine Sub-Titans with fin-like wings that allow them to fly around the Hollow Earth.
- Alien Blood: They have bright green blood.
- Bizarre Alien Locomotion: They're giant cobra-like snakes that can fly by using their oversized hoods as wings.
- Choke Holds: Like many species of snakes, they're capable of coiling their entire bodies around their captured prey by constriction to keep them still, as one of them attempted to seize the much stronger Kong himself, an attack that actually had him immobile until he had backup on his side to finish it off.
- Demoted to Extra: They reappear in The New Empire, but only as background fauna in the Hollow Earth.
- Flight: The Warbats are capable of flight using their hood-like wings, which resemble webbed insectoid legs.
- Food Chain of Evil: One is shown eating a Hellhawk in The New Empire.
- Fragile Speedster: They zoom around the HEAVs with no problem, but as soon as Kong dives in, the Warbats aren't exactly sturdy enough to withstand his overwhelming strength. Hell, one of them Kong kills in pretty much a single hit.
- Glass Cannon: Their serrated fangs can crunch a single HEAV into bits in one bite and can swerve around in the air a lot faster than the flying vehicles. One of them tried coiling its entire body around Kong's torso to briefly bring the gorilla down to his knees by having him held tightly in its grip. Aside from that, their resilience isn't up to code since the first Warbat died after it was immediately caught by Kong and pierced its head in with a rock, and simple missiles from a HEAV actually harmed the second one, allowing Kong to be freed and beats it to a pulp before tearing its head off.
- Good Lips, Evil Jaws: Their jaws are lipless and lined with needle-like fangs, compared to Kong and Godzilla's lipped mouths.
- The Great Serpent: Warbats are gigantic snake-like creatures that can fly.
- Human Hammer-Throw: Kong swings the fresh corpse of one Warbat by its tail to attack the second approaching Warbat.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The first Warbat Kong grabs ahold of gets hurled headfirst onto a sharpened rock, that just so happened to be conveniently placed on the ground.
- Informed Ability: They can produce and gush out venom within the glands of their hooded wings. Neither of the 2 featured Warbats that fought Kong had the chance to use the venom at all.
- It Can Think: After seeing what happened to the first Warbat, the secondary one took on Kong indirectly by wrapping itself around his body by using its membranous hood stretched across Kong's face, which is likely an attempt to suffocate him.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: They resemble giant cobras, but with crocodile-like jaws and scutes, and with "hoods" that are skin membranes stretched between hugely elongated appendages like bat wings.
- Non-Indicative Name: The species may be referred to as Warbat, but by actual appearance, the only bat-like features these guys seem to have are the spiked-tipped membranes within their hoods (although they are not referred by any name in the films).
- Off with His Head!: Kong does this to one of the Warbats posthumously and drinks the blood out of their skull.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Giant, fearless predators living inside the Hollow World separate from the Earth's surface, who resemble giant cobras with spiny hoods acting as wings that enable them to glide. With some human aid, Kong doesn't have much trouble killing two of them when attacked.
- Roar Before Beating: After Kong kills one of the Warbats and gives the remaining one an intimidation display, the Warbat in question responds by rearing up and hissing before it lunges at Kong and tries to kill him.
- Snakes Are Sinister: The Warbats are massive winged serpents, described by the official merchandise as being easily capable of ripping through armored vehicles with their fangs, and they're not friendly.
- Sudden Name Change: They were initially called "Nozuki" before the toyline merchandise changed their name to "Warbat". When questioned, neither Warbat's original designer or the director of Godzilla vs. Kong could explain the name change, although it was suggested to be because "Warbat" was a more marketable name than "Nozuki".
- We Hardly Knew Ye: These monstrosities were only shown onscreen for merely a minute at most, and the 2 of them were quickly killed by Kong not too long after they've already made their presence known.
Spineprowler
Appears In: Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted
Species: "Ossis Praedator"
A species of vicious, cat-like predator found in the forested regions of the Hollow Earth.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: It has a series of sharp, bony protrusions running down its back and along its tail, which are stated to be capable of powerful lashing attacks.
- Glass Cannon: Noted to be incredibly swift and agile for its size, but it has little durability compared to the likes of Kong and quickly goes down once a foe has a good grasp on it.
- Mama Bear: Its species profile notes that females will viciously defend their offspring, which one is shown doing in the story, fighting a giant mech to the death to protect her two cubs.
- Monster Is a Mommy: Played With. Raymond Martin, while hunting for a second Spineprowler, comes across a pair of cubs and tries to murder them, prompting their mother to react accordingly.
- Monster Mouth: It has a constantly snarling face with exposed gums and fangs far too big to fit in its mouth.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Despite being classified as a "Destroyer", its role in the comic is just as a vicious animal. One attacks Kong, but quickly retreats once it's clear it's no match for him, and another attacks the Titan Hunter to defend her cubs from the mech.
- Panthera Awesome: A giant, leopard-like kaiju that is said to be one of the Hollow Earth's most vicious predator species.
Wart Dogs
Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Pack-hunting canine/boar Titans who Kong hunts himself in the Hollow Earth.- Alien Blood: Their blood is bright green.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Are pretty terrifying-looking creatures on their own. Kong hunts them for breakfast.
- Full-Boar Action: Resemble a kaiju-sized Daeodon, an extinct scavenging ungulate known as the "hell pig".
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The pack retreats after Kong graphically kills several of them and shows them mutilating the body of the last one to fall into his traps they run off.
Parrot Frog
Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
- Amphibian at Large: A very large frog with an inflatable throat-sac larger than the rest of its body.
- Mighty Roar: Played with. It's small for a Titan, but its vocalizations are extremely loud and nigh-identical to the roars of Kong's species. This leads to Kong mistaking one's bellowing for another Kong, only to be disappointed when he comes across the Parrot Frog making them.
- Voice Changeling: The Parrot Frog is shown mimicking Kong's roars, tricking him into thinking there's another one of his kind. It's likely that the Parrot Frog can mimic other sounds, but this isn't demonstrated in the film
Drownviper
Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
A colossal eel-like titan inhabiting a large lake.- Alien Blood: It has green blood like the Wart Dogs. Although, strangely, its innards and flesh are still red.
- Killed Offscreen: One minute it's fighting Kong while Suko runs off, the next it cuts to Suko being caught up to by Kong who shows up with the creature's beheaded body.
- Sea Serpent: It is a large serpentine Titan that lives in a lake in Hollow Earth and preys on anything that enters its territory. Suko attempts to use one to kill Kong, but Kong is able to overpower and kill it instead.
Vertacines
Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
A species of flying Titan who inhabit the skies and attack threats with their electricity. Their bright colors make them easy to identify, and Monarch has taken to enabling their ships to mimic this color to deter attacks from more aggressive creatures in the Hollow Earth.- The Cavalry: Trapper lures a a large flock of them to stall the Skar King's advance into the surface world.
- Flying Seafood Special: Their finlike wings and baleen-filled mouths imply this.
- Giant Flyer: They’re not at all large by Titan standards, but they do appear to be bigger than a real-life Quetzalcoatlus.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: They resemble a cross between a shark and a flamingo, but with vividly yellow skin pattern.
- Shock and Awe: They have bioelectrical abilities that are strong enough that most predators in the Hollow Earth don't bother with hunting them.
