or, everything you need to know about Godzilla: King of the Monsters [2019]

a pre-view by the Azure-Winged Magpie.

ft. the Crow! correction: and the Crow.

“The Crow: Next year, kaiju fans around the world will be treated to the third installment in the “Monsterverse” shared universe, following in the footsteps of 2014’s quite-alright Godzilla and 2017’s more-middling Kong: Skull Island. So far, the nascent “franchise” hasn’t really achieved any real heights, so to speak of, but the promise is certainly there.

And then, at this year’s SDCC, the trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters was revealed, an-“

(X‾X) … … *POW!* ᕕ(ಠ _ ಠ✿)!

The Azure-Winged Magpie: How DARE you!

[BLEEP]U Crow. Imma let you finish, but… Godzilla ’14 was one of the greatest monster movies of all time! And that Battered-And-Fried Kong aint got nothing on His Nuclear Scaliness God-King Gojira The King of the Monsters when he chomps on him after an 11-herb-basted atomic breath-frying!

The trailer was a religious [REDACTED] experience. I mean, out of all the trailers they dropped at SDCC (we’ll get around soon to another VERY “special” one soon!), this was head-and-feathers above the rest! We got Venom (ew!). We got Shazam (wtf?! lol). We got Aquaman (what the hell were they smoking…?! I want some.) And they all got blown (lololol) outta the waters by…

HIS NUCLEAR SCALINESS GOD-KING GOJIRA THE KING OF THE MONSTERS

Say it with me!

And he’s BACK, you lot! He’s back and he’s frowny and he’s scowly! And he’s about to light the skies up with the God-Signal so he can chum out with the QUEEN of the Monsters! MOTHRA! (Oh HELLS YASSS she’s HERE!) And probably even Rodan…?

But before I spoil everything for you (in case you haven’t watched it already, which you should, or I’ll beat you up!) and start going into all sorts of tangents about what might just happen in this film, let me let you know: this is a post about what we know so far, from the trailer and ALL the promotional material released up until now.

So… now that that’s over and done with, let’s nom on some nuclear weapons, take flight (you delicious fishies can slide into international waters), and take a Corvid-powered(!), Magpie-fangirl-ed look into…

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS

TRAILER: FIRST THOUGHTS

The Azure-Winged Magpie:

Warning: I go total fan-girl bonkers up in here. Skip to the next section if you’re one of those who likes the Crow and his long and boring pages of writing.

So… skip-click!

So. Let’s have a recap!

(ಠ・ಠ✿)… breathe, Magpie, breathe

LAST TIME, ON GODZILLA! Two Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism-(MUTO)s ran rampant all over the world! Making people cry and stealing candies from babies for their own babbies! The silly hoomins were all lost and all seemed lost WHEN!: God-King Gojira rose from his private swimming pool to show them who.was.the.better.fighter! After a long eleven-episode five-minute battle, cut up so many times it’d make Dragonball Z look like it never wasted time with its main characters, the God-King Gojira reached his nuclear form and microwaved the MUTOs into shrivelled-up chicken wings! And then! He went! HOME!

εεε – (◡ ▽ ◡✿)… ahhh!

Wow. I made it in one go (I really did)!

And what do we get this time around…?

Only THIS gorgeousness!

(❤◡ ❤✿) …oh, yes!

See? The world is changing. The mass extinction you feared has already begun. And you humans are the cause (we knew you lot were good for nothing…). You are an INFECTION.

But, y’see… the Earth has a fever.

Yup. She’s burning up! Feel bad about yourselves, humans. Look at what you’ve done and sit your butts down in the naughty corner!

And what is this fever?! It’s original… ohwaitaminute… “ITS” ORIGINAL. NOT “IT’S“. The way Vera Farmiga (Dr Emma Russell) says “original” and pauses made me think the fever was original. Um… yeah…

So, what she’s saying is that the Earth was ruled long, long ago by these creatures called the “Titans“, which is the new Hollywood word for kaiju (or, more correctly, daikaijū). And to fight this “infection” that’s made everything go all topsy-turvy, she’s decided… to…

Wait. WHAT?!

And unless all the titans are found, our planet will perish, and so will we.

They are the only guarantee that life will carry on.

So… remember when I said that Godzilla was like a Pokémon in our review of Shin Gojira? (Correction: that was actually in the follow-up post that we haven’t published, yet.) In this film, it turns out that we… Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

And who do we get?! Who do we get?!

We get MOTHRA, and RODAN, and… OH HOLY FLYING POKÉ-BALLS! It’s…

KING GHIDORAH

(◕︿◕✿) …we’re doomed!

Sooo… let’s get this straight. You humans done something bad. Something very bad. And what’s that bad thing gone and done? Only woken up King Ghidorah. (Don’t worry. We know what he’s up to. The Crow will tell you.)

She goes on to tell us that she’s:

…sorry, but this is the only way.

And we get to see MOTHRA (who’s all BLUE) and RODAN (who’s on FIRE, and really needs to put that out, volcano-dinosaur or not) and… his gravity beam-lightning-thingies. And that’s not just it. We get to see him even turning his righthead’s right eye to look at Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) and Washington DC all wrecked to pieces, and… and… I’m worried, you lot.

I mean… they even got Tywin-bloody-Lannister, Charles Dance (character not yet revealed) to say: “All Hail the King.” And damn straight that’s going to be about the big KG.

This aint good. Not for humanfolk. Not for corvidfolk. Not for anyfolk. Hang on a moment. Let’s see if the Crow and I can whip something up (cause that’s what we DO) to, er… fight the three-headed King of Destruction. I mean, maybe something like a robotic… double of him that could… fight him and somehow not turn evil (you know, because)…

I mean. It’s not like there’s anyone out there to kick his butt and send him packing, or am I forgetting something…?

Oh. Wait…



Thaaat’s right!

(◔◡◔✿) My King!

WE GOT A KAIJU-FIGHT! WE GOT A KAIJU-FIGHT! WE GOT A KAIJU-FIGHT!

Imma let the Crow pick up from here and go over the little details. I’m off to go loop the trailer over another bazillion times. See you in the fanzone down below where I’m going to tell you ALL about what could happen, what I want to see happen, and how you should be so excited that you should be “SQUEEE”-ing right about now.

Anyway. Let’s wake him up, yeah?

… ( x _ x) —- (◔◡◔✿) get up, birdy-birdy!

General Thoughts and Bioacoustics

The Crow: In the lead-up to this entry in the franchise, those behind-the-scenes have revealed that there will indeed be more than four kaiju (titans) involved. Confirmed for the movie — apart from the title character — are: old friends in Mothra and Rodan, as well as King Ghidorah: a vastly-powerful kaiju frequently considered to be Godzilla’s arch-nemesis.

I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of any kaiju apart from most of the Godzillas to grace the screen, but the roster this movie has built up so far looks quite decent. Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan (spelt and pronounced Radon in Japan) are considered the three san daikaiju: the Holy Trinity of the kaiju world. Whilst Rodan’s allegiences often vary — as I posit that they will in this movie — it’s most likely that he will eventually join forces with the two “good” kaiju after an inital encounter with King Ghidorah.

The movie also hints at Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown’s Dr Ellen and Madison Russell’s having a connection to at least Mothra (and perhaps King Ghidorah). Crow-eyed viewers might have spotted a device which has something to do with bioacoustics (in the split second before Rodan emerges from his volcano), which — if my memory serves correctly — was a plot element in the 2014 predecessor to this movie. Farmiga has stated that:

“I play a paleobiologist. She has figured out a way to communicate with the creatures and potentially control them using their bioacoustics on a sonar level. So she is like a DJ for the monsters.”

and in light of Mothra’s prior use of human-like characters to serve as a translator between herself and the human race, this serves as effective confirmation that our human characters will finally be able to “talk” to the kaiju featured in the movie.

Another plot element of the movie, teased by director Mike Dougherty himself, is the Oxygen Destroyer.

To those of you who remember, the Oxygen Destroyer is the weapon that was ultimately used to stop the original 1954 Godzilla. According to a plot-leak that has been making the rounds on the internet for the past year (which the Azure-Winged Magpie will expand on in her ‘speculation’ section), the weapon will hold a very important role in the movie, and we are going to consider it as a confirmed plot device as far as this preview is concerned.

The weapon has previously appeared in multiple Toho movies, mostly by mention. Whenever it has been used, however, the consequences have been nothing short of devastating. And if the weapon shows up in King of the Monsters, I would assume the results will be much the same.

And can we hear a round of applause for the excellent use of Claire de Lune in the trailer?

Now, at this point, I would like to take a deeper look at:

MonarchSciences.com

THIS SECTION COVERS ONLY CONFIRMED MATERIAL

The Crow: Some time ago, a website appeared as part of the promotional drive for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Titled monarchsciences.com, it parades as a page run by the organisation of the same name from the movies. On the page, it features quite a simple game harkening back to the ARG-format of web experiences that were popular not-so long ago. It presents the viewer — here, named a “civilian operative” — with a rotatable world globe, scattered around which are mutliple Monarch “Outposts”. In total, there are twenty (20) outposts on the globe, most of which are locked (including Skull Island).

There are two parts to the experience:

One: Clicking on the outposts highlighted in red will open a pop-up panel featuring information about the kaiju linked to the location.

Clicking on the outposts highlighted in red will open a pop-up panel featuring information about the kaiju linked to the location. Two: A “tracker” can be unlocked upon finding Godzilla (who — at the time of this writing — is in the environs of the Pacific/Antarctic region) which features some stats (heart-rate, etc.) about him.

The player starts at green security clearance. Scrolling through each available kaiju’s profile unlocks stage two: amber clearance. It is here that the game features the only “hard” element to it: unlocking Top-Secret (red) clearance. Following clues on the Monarch Sciences Twitter account (@MonarchSciences) will provide the user with the clearance code, which can be entered into any of the Titan profiles to unlock Top-Secret status.

And so far, that’s all there is to the experience.

However, seeing how we’re presenting you with a full-fledged preview of the upcoming movie, we shall now present you with all the answers found on the website so far.

Titan Profiles

The Crow: In the following section, we’ll be going over the images and the text revealed on the monarchsciences.com website with some added notes.

MOTHRA/MOSURA — Titanus mosura

GREEN CLEARANCE:

This section of the profile — as they all do — offers very little to the viewer, simply stating the following.

“From erased Nazca lines to the hidden Temple of the Moth, the name “Mothra” is woven throughout the most secret mythologies of our planet. The folklore and fairy tales tell of a winged creature of blinding light, an angel of the clouds whose god-like luminescence has the power to shatter the sky.“

Nothing particularly striking so far, apart from the nod to the “god-like luminescence”.

AMBER CLEARANCE:

The first section of text upon accessing AMBER clearance states:

“Ancient spirit tablets discovered in the mountain jungles of the Yunnan Province portray a giant winged alpha of the Lepidoptera order. In all of our findings, human civilization is pictographically shown in poses that imply deification of the so-called “Queen of the Monsters”, suggesting the creature was once a benign part of the natural order.“

“When Monarch containment crews discovered the live Titan chrysalis within the Chinese myth site, Dr. Emma Russell was quickly dispatched to closely monitor the creature that lay dormant within it. A quickening sonar pulse suggests the creature is awakening. If she ever emerges from her ancient slumber, a superspecies that once illuminated the sky will be reborn as Mothra.“

Again: nothing particularly new, apart from perhaps the confirmation that Mothra is, indeed coming back to life.

TOP SECRET [RED]:

And finally, we are presented with:

“Pupal DNA samples suggest a remarkable, multi-stage evolution. On reaching adulthood, Mothra’s gigantic thorax is capable of emitting beta-wave bioluminescence which can be projected through the intricate patterns on its wings and weaponized into blinding ‘god rays’.“

“As one of the deadliest and most beautiful natural phenomena in Earth’s history, no wonder this devastating guardian angel was worshipped as a goddess by the ancient human civilizations blessed to witness her.“

One interesting nugget of information is revealed, here; namely: Mothra’s ‘energy weapon’. It is called both deadly and beautiful, so I’m assuming it won’t be anything as simple as just “blinding” light.

RODAN — Titanus rodan

GREEN CLEARANCE:

The first section states:

“Within a Monarch containment facility atop the active Isla de Mona volcano, a mysterious Titan lies in pyrostasis within the restless magma. The legends speak of it as the “Fire Demon” or “The One Born of Fire”, but a simpler name echoes through the ancient temples of volcanically active regions: “Rodan”.“

AMBER CLEARANCE:

“A volcanic internal combustion system of magma flows throughout a body covered in rock-like scales that act as geothermal armor. While much larger in size, Rodan has a skeletal structure similar to that of a Pteranodon – one of the earliest vertebrates known to have developed the power of flight. Just as Kong is king of the primates, Rodan may have once been king of the skies.“

“Because of the extreme temperatures within this particular containment facility, current lab equipment can’t function properly. As a result, thermal heat signatures on the creature are impossible to collect, and Monarch detection crews conducted cardiograms via aerial satellite for life sign detection and verification. Much like the volcano that incubates it, Rodan is alive but dormant.“

A little interesting titbit in there is that Rodan is referred to as the “king of the skies”.

TOP SECRET [RED]:

“Rodan’s wings are wrapped around its body in stasis, but our cryptos estimate a wingspan big enough to create a sonic thunderclap capable of leveling entire cities as it flies overhead. RF-Capture scans reveal that Rodan’s skin is not made of rock, but does have an outer dermis of sharp volcanic sediment collected from centuries of dormancy. Sci-ops theorizes the vulcanized appearance of its skin may be an evolutionary trait developed as a form of camouflage against mountain or large rock formations. Truly, a Titan forged in fire.“

Lots of interesting content appears, here. Not only is Rodan capable of generating a ‘sonic thunderclap’ with his gigantic wings, but it sounds as if his skin is both abrasive, and nigh-impenetrable. This might make for quite the trait during the battles in which he will undoubtedly engage during the course of the King of the Monsters.

MONSTER ZERO | KING GHIDORAH

GREEN CLEARANCE:

“From the Hydra to the Rainbow Serpent, myth was the compass that led us to the resting place of the three-headed Titan. A name, unspoken through millennia of whispered nightmares. A living extinction event, named “the one who is many”. We call it Monster Zero.“

AMBER CLEARANCE:

“At a Monarch containment facility deep in the frozen tundra of Antarctica, a three-headed winged serpent of ancient yet unknown origin lies frozen within a glacial tomb of ice. This is without question the largest superspecies ever discovered, easily dwarfing Godzilla at a height of over five-hundred feet tall.“

“Cranial scans reveal a divergent frontal lobe density in the brains of the three heads, denoting each head has disparate levels of cognitive functions, and possibly even independent thought.“

A LOT of interesting information, here. If, indeed, King Ghidorah has an amalgamated consciousness, there is a lot of space for variable character traits that the three-headed monster could display. Of course, it being a non-verbal monster will limit any real expression, but it’d be nice if — perhaps, we were led to believe that the left-sided head just wants to be left alone so that it can spend its time watching the Antarctic sunsets.

TOP SECRET [RED]:

“Monster Zero’s dermal layer is gilded with trace amounts of aurum (See Ark Record # 73.126). Metallurgical studies theorize the scales act as a conductor capable of carrying bioelectrical currents through the creature’s body. Injuries have been discovered on several locations on the beast’s body, reminiscent of claw and scorch marks. Exo-Forensics are currently investigating.”

So, yes. He shall be gold, to some degree. And his energy weapons don’t seem likely to be called ‘gravity beams’ any longer. Also: I think we know where those marks come from.

“Muscle tendons on the wings are so hyper-tensile that their massive aerodynamics could generate hurricane-force winds when in flight. Coupled with its body’s electro-receptor molecular biology capable of conducting electrical currents, water vapor in the air would be heated at extreme levels creating its own localized storm system as it travels. Simply put, if Monster Zero were to fly again, the stratosphere would be torn open by an otherworldly tempest of thunder and lightning our sky has never seen. Cryptolinguistics has analyzed translations of every worldwide case study of Monster Zero in the Monarch database across tens of thousands of years. The ancients called it Ghidorah.“

That very first line in this paragraph is immensely significant. After skimming through the treknobabble, it’s safe to say that the storm seen at the beginning of the trailer is the arrival of King Ghidorah to what appears to be Boston. Indeed, this version of King Ghidorah appears to be an Extinction-event level entity. In light of this information, Godzilla: King of the Monsters has gone from just a simple monster movie to a disaster movie of cataclysmic proportions.

TRACKING GODZILLA

When the users discover Godzilla, they are presented with a new button on their sidebar. Clicking it offers a closeup of Godzilla’s current position (with co-ordinates), his heart-rate, and a radiation monitor.

As I mentioned before, there isn’t much to see, here.

Speculations and Suppositions

WARNING: THIS SECTION CONTAINS MAJOR SPECULATION AND PROBABLY SHOULD BE IGNORED

The Azure-Winged Magpie: (◔◡◔✿) oh, here we go!

The Leaked Plot [MASSIVE POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING]

SQUEEE! This is where the fun starts! First off: lets talk about this leaked plot, okay?

…

Whaaat? Did you think I was going to link to it?! Nooo, you birdies and hoomins and delicious fishies! I said I was going to talk about it. The start of it goes… (REMEMBER I gave you a SPOILER ALERT!)

(ಠ・ಠ✿)…!

Lisa and Madison go find Mothra after we get to see some family drama happen (who cares about these people, anyway?! I want to see The KING!). Mothra hatches, and they use this machine to nanny her until she’s calmed down from being woken up. ButTHEN! These terrorist bastids show up and kidnap them! And take the machine! But don’t you worry. Baby-Mothra gets away and cocoons herself up in a waterfall away from the humans.

The husband, Jack Russell (Kyle Chandler) gets recruited by Monarch since he helped his wife build the Orca, or the nanny-machine that can talk to Titans. And while they’re tracking the terrorists, it turns out that the terrorists are actually headed to Antarctica to… wake the big KG up.

(O _ O✿) oh noes!

It turns out that the guy leading the terrorists is a guy who hates the socks off of humans (go, old boy!). And so he wants the big KG to wake up (why?!).

And that’s where I’m going to stop summarising the leak. That’s enough, I think.

εεε – (◡ ▽ ◡✿) !

There are TONS more Titans than just four as this leak goes. There are some epic battles, and yeah… the Earth gets stomped ALL over and His Nuclear Scaliness God-King Gojira the King of the Monsters is AWESOME, but… do I think it’s on the money?

Y’know what? I kinda do.

I mean, these ‘leaks’ are normally shit fan-fiction, but this one lined up with the trailer, and says it’s from someone who attended an early-early test screening (someone invite me! someone invite me! Me! ME!) and all. But I’d be happy with the film they’ve described regardless.

Because you know WHAT?! I have NO fan-speculation about this film!

Serious. Swear-down. I was going to hop into this one blind as a blindfolded bat. And I don’t mind the spoilers (if they’re right), either. I’m in this so I can watch my Queen Her Furry Buzziness Goddess-Queen Mothra the Queen of the Monsters take names, and my King His Nuclear Scaliness God-King Gojira the King of the Monsters kick ass. Specially that big three-necked three-headed, two-winged, no-armed, two-tailed [REDACTED] who gives my ancestry a bad name.

Y’know what? I’m off to loop the trailer again. Love you lot loads! Take care! Stay crispy!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Crow: And here you are. You’ve made it this far. I’d apologise for my partner’s… colourful take on affairs, but I’m more impressed by your persistence, to be honest.

We’ve tried to be as comprehensive as we can with any details that have so-far been confirmed for the movie. If we’ve missed anything out, please let us know, and we’ll patch the post up ASAP.

The official plot teaser for the movie states:

“The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species – thought to be mere myths – rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.”

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is out in theatres on Friday, May the 31st, 2019. And as you know, we’ll be first in line to review it. See you soon.

— Crow out

Here’s the official poster for the movie: