Godzilla: King Of the Monsters is one of the most anticipated titles of the year and its popularity, hype doesn’t have anything to do with the much successful superhero movie genre. but instead, its a title from the MonsterVerse/Toho Universe which in fact played a role in the inspiration of what we now call as a ‘cinematic universe’.

In the Empire’s recent issue, Godzilla: King Of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty spoke about pitching for the project when Gareth Edwards declined to return for a sequel after his 2014 Godzilla. Dougherty knew what he was getting into from the moment he pitched for the sequel project and seems like he always intended to embrace Godzilla as a God.

“I pitched something I thought was an evolution of Godzilla. I wanted to tell a story where Godzilla really was the main character, that explored who he was and our relationship to him. It couldn’t just be ‘a giant monster rises up and rampages through the city’. There had to be some extra context to it. To put it simply, I said I wanted to put the ‘god’ back in Godzilla,” says Dougherty.

Dougherty spoke about the idea of a hypothetical scenario where humans considered these creatures as Gods. An ancient race that walked the earth and has now returned to take what’s rightfully theirs. The director couldn’t shake off the idea after watching Ishiro Honda’s 1954 original where the main characters come across an island monk who tells them he believes the troublesome titan is a kind of god.

“What if there really was this ancient race of giant creatures that humans both feared and were awestruck by?” he says. “And [to whom} we bent our knee and worshipped? We’ve never seen a giant monster film truly embrace that concept: What if these creatures did rule the world and were trying to reclaim it?”

In the upcoming movie, Dougherty was lucky enough to have the chance to introduce not one but three titans. Unfortunately, Edwards’ Godzilla film couldn’t due to licensing issues and had to resort to nameless ‘MUTOs’.

Dougherty calls these creatures as “the Justice League of the Toho Universe.” He also states that he was impressed by how grounded the 2014 reboot was.

“I knew it would serve as a springboard for something more. What would it look like if you introduced Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah into that world?”

Speaking about Ghidorah which is without a doubt a fan favorite from the Toho Universe, the director makes another DC reference calling it “the Joker to Godzilla’s Batman”. The perfect sentence which teases Ghidorah’s importance in this series.

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters will hit theaters on May 31st.

Source: Empire Magazine