The teaser and first trailers alone builds up the new Titan as a "makes the story darker just by existing" type of threat. The scariest part is that we don’t know much about the Skar King at all.
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Pre-Release
- The way the Skar King just stares and lounges menacingly on his throne, with his ominous Death Glare at the end of the teaser trailer.
- The bloody-red illuminated room literally filled with bones and corpses and war paint all make for an effective non-verbal message. To add on into the terror, after the camera zooms out from the Skar King, we get to see the skulls of the ancestors of both Godzilla and Kong.
- The long, orangutan like-arms are rather uncanny compared to Kong’s more gorilla built.
- The age spots and the bald head on Skar King hints that he has been existing for a very long while.
- Another frightening detail to note is that the Skar King has a skull from one of Kong's brethren. Since he has a simian-like appearance himself, it's highly more than implied that he, for some reason or another, has a hateful resentment towards his own species, presuming he even is the same species.
- Godzilla and Kong, along with their ancestors, are seen as probably the most powerful of the Titan species due to their respective raw strength and intelligence, and from what the teaser implies with there being skulls from their species it's possible that Skar King outranks them in both areas.
- One shot from the trailer shows what appears to be a giant reddish crab leg slamming down into the middle of an occupied street. Later trailers reveal it to be Scylla, who in KOTM bowed before Godzilla, but now seems to be defying his authority and fighting him...
- In the second trailer we see Military drones attacking Godzilla presumably at a Nuclear Plant. It's ambigious as to why Godzilla once again is targeting civilian areas.
- In the trailer Kong seems to find a cave which houses numerous bones of Titanus Kong’s with a heavy implication that Skar King was the one who killed them.
- Another rather disturbing detail highlighted by the marketing is a Bloody Handprint seen on every big ape under the Skar King's reign, like a brand. Keep in mind there's a similar one on Skull Island. Aside from the obvious "I own you" vibes this ape has created with what is very obviously his handprint, has he been on the island too? Just how connected is he to Kong's own backstory?
- Speaking of the apes, the second trailer reveals that Skar King isn't just a lone tyrant lording over the other apes, he's shown to have a significant following, with there being dozens of apes ritually pounding the ground in anticipation of his arrival, and there being several apes, implied to be his inner circle, standing behind as he makes his grant entrance.
- When the Skar King is roaring at the people on the beach (already a terrifying sight), pay close attention to the ocean nearby. It looks completely frozen. What did that?
- Recent leaks seem to have given us the answer. Apparently, Skar King isn't working alone. Specifically, he's apparently working with another titan known as Shimo. While we don't know too much about them yet, what's been revealed so far is utterly chilling. For one, they're utterly massive, with the cave painting depicting them as dwarfing Godzilla, who only comes up to their chest. Furthermore, they're indicated to be one of the most powerful Titans around, with the excerpt on the back of the Playmates box describing them as the "legendary Ice Titan with unstoppable, world-ending powers".
- To give you a better idea of how much of a threat Shimo is, the second trailer shows Kong with a serious Oh, Crap! face at the sight of it, and the way its Icy Blue Eyes stare out from the darkness doesn't help either.
- In a later scene, we get a shot of a significant portion of the sea off of Brazil's coast being completely covered in ice, with Shimo at the center, using their Frost-breath to generate what appears to be a storm/blizzard cloud.
- Speaking of, just THAT ROAR. Unlike Kong's, it isn't one of determination, and unlike Godzilla's, it also doesn't merely convey authority; it's practically the essence of pure spite and hatred.
- Recent leaks seem to have given us the answer. Apparently, Skar King isn't working alone. Specifically, he's apparently working with another titan known as Shimo. While we don't know too much about them yet, what's been revealed so far is utterly chilling. For one, they're utterly massive, with the cave painting depicting them as dwarfing Godzilla, who only comes up to their chest. Furthermore, they're indicated to be one of the most powerful Titans around, with the excerpt on the back of the Playmates box describing them as the "legendary Ice Titan with unstoppable, world-ending powers".
- The Skar King is also shown attacking Suko mercilessly, with the young ape titan clearly terrified of him. Worse still when you see how most of the apes have dark fur like a gorilla, similar to Kong, but Suko and the Skar King are the only two apes with orange, orangutan-like fur. Suko is probably being abused by his own father.
- Right near the very beginning of the second trailer shows Godzilla in his Evolved Form rapidly swimming where his dorsal spines are seen slicing through a row of bridges along with cars (likely with people inside of them) tumbling into the waters below, to which the camera is lowered down only to show his enraged scowl up-close and personal with his eyes furiously gleaming a brightened magenta, almost going into Red Eyes, Take Warning territory. Since the entire world is once again being plunged in turmoil with newfound Titans that are disrupting the balance of the Earth, it's more than understandable as to why Godzilla is taking this situation seriously, even if he's putting more lives at risk whether it's intentionally or unintentionally.
- Jia being presented before an ominous block of ice exuding a mysterious energy as a whole group of people stand by in some kind of ceremony. Now, it could be something good, but it's hard not to think "ritual sacrifice" when you consider that this is the Skar King's turf.
- Ultimately jossed by later trailers. It's actually Mothra.
- The second trailer reveals that Jia has been seemingly having prophetic dreams and from what we see they seem to indicate something bad is coming and not only her… Godzilla and Kong can sense something and it scares even them!
- The size of Shimo in the second trailer. She appears to be almost same size as Ghidorah, if not even bigger or at least heavier given that most of Ghidorah's huge proportions came from his wingspan. In short, she freaking dwarfs Godzilla without even standing on her hind legs!
- Can we talk about how powerful Shimo might be? As mentioned before, she is described as a "legendary ice Titan with unstoppable, world-ending powers", which might put her more or less in same category with Ghidorah. She could become second most powerful kaiju Godzilla will ever face, if not outright rivaling or surpassing Ghidorah in power.
- Also the fact that she serves Skar King. It’s a deadly duo when you think about it. A Titan with massive world ending power controlled by a Titan with enough intelligence and leadership capabilities to rule over a sizeable amount of a Kong’s species and Shimo itself. It’s the deadliest combination of brain and brawn and shows us how our two heroic alphas are likely in for their toughest battle yet…
Post-release
- Godzilla executes Scylla without hesitation when she defies his authority and attacks the city of Rome. There was a very, VERY good reason the Titans in King of the Monsters bowed to Godzilla in the end. Scylla here has a much more...arachnophobic appearance here as opposed to her more ammonite-like look in the comics and media.
- What's worse is a close look shows Scylla not only noticing humans, but actively targetting them. Is it any wonder Godzilla decided she needed to go?
- The Wartdogs. Imagine a Daeodon, the infamous prehistoric "hell pig". Now imagine it buffed up to kaiju-size. Now imagine these kaiju-sized Daeodon hunting in packs.
- Suko at first displays Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: biting Kong, participating in the attack, and actively trying to get Kong killed by luring him into traps. Had Kong not been around to teach him kindness, he could have grown up every bit as wicked and cruel as the Skar King himself.
- Mikael the pilot being eaten alive by a Tree Mimic, or what Bernie calls a "Topiary nightmare". The crunching noises it makes as it finishes chewing him up push the the rating rather far... That said, it doubles as a funny moment as it immediately spits out the rifle afterwards and Mikael was being a maximum douche.
- Monsterverse Godzilla for the first time ever does something that so far only his Toho counterpart has done: attack nuclear power plants to feed. The way he triumphantly roars at the sky while the power courses through him seems like a something a supervillain would do. That said, he does seem quite content with just getting at the radiation and only retaliates against the military aircraft when they start attacking him.
- The way Godzilla is shown consuming the radiation looks very unsettling, with it being less like eating radioactive material like the Mutos did and more like a reverse atomic breath, or him sucking out someone's soul like a Dementor.
- The Skar King is a sociopathic tyrant who embodies the worst possible traits a ruler can ever have. He dominates his tribe with an iron fist maintained by liberal application of terror and violence, wields a whip to tear flesh from his enemies, and bears a Psychotic Smirk for much of his screentime. When he reaches the surface during the Final Battle, and sees the fleeing humans before him on the beach, he simply grins and roars at them, delighting in the fear he's causing.
- In spite of his aged look and scrawny build, Skar King is still pretty unsettling to look at thanks to his Glowing Eyes of Doom and his white warpaint, which combined with his red fur makes it look like his musculature is fully exposed.
- To make things worse, once Shimo arrives after him, he has her start blasting the building and populace just for the hell of it.
- And before that, the audience gets a view of three severed heads of apes impaled on spikes who tried and failed at planning a rebellion against the Skar King.
- In the Skar King's palace, several female apes can briefly be seen cradling orange-furred babies. One can imply that they're either a harem of concubines, or more likely, given they are held under guard and clearly terrified, unwilling Sex Slaves held captive and forced to bear Skar King's children and Suko is one of them. If you thought Immortan Joe was bad enough, just imagine him as a giant orangutan with a pet ice dragon.
- Once she reaches the surface, Shimo begins shooting her ice breath at Earth's atmosphere, and one can easily tell that if given enough time, Shimo could have given the Earth a second ice age.
- Shimo's various reactions of extreme pain from the Skar King's control crystal, with her crystalline spines even flickering as she struggles and roars in agony, almost like she's having a seizure. At one point it causes her to lose all control over her body and slam her head into the ground, as if the crystal lets Skar King control where and how he hurts her.
- As an especially cruel Kick the Dog moment, Skar, displeased at Suko for not mocking Kong with enthusiasm alongside the other apes, punishes him by pushing his guardian, and presumably his mother, into a nearby lake of lava (twisting the knife by at first making both the guardian and Suko think he is going to overlook the minor show of defiance). Poor Suko can only scream in horror and grief as Skar King merely continues his fight with Kong, as if casually killing his own mooks was standard practice for him.
- Worse? Right before doing so, Skar King looks directly at Kong and gives a Slasher Smile, almost as if telling Kong "This is your fault."
- Skar King's main enforcer, One-Eye, the "balding" and "skinny" ape (the one Kong throws a rock at from a mile away, and the one who informs Skar King when Kong shows up in their realm) is almost as bad as the main man himself. When Suko triggers the trap to save Kong by sending falling boulders on a group of the more vile apes, you can see the enforcer GRAB ANOTHER GUY AS A MEAT SHIELD to save himself, which is the only reason he survived. During the anti-gravity battle, when he spots Suko, he immediately lunges after the child with killing intent, seemingly remembering his betrayal. Fortunately, Suko gives him what's coming to him. Not helping is that while every other ape up to and including Skar King look mostly ape-like, this one looks more like an orc.
- Godzilla in his Evolved form does NOT hold back. In Godzilla vs. Kong his intention was merely to make Kong submit and stand down. Here, however, he attacks him with clear intent to kill, and it's only the timely arrival of Mothra that saves Kong from getting the Kiss of Death as Tiamat and Scylla did.
- Godzilla charging through the densely populated city of Cairo as he charges at Kong. How many residents or tourists died in that one interaction alone?
- While very deserved, Skar King's demise is quite horrific, being held up by Kong by his neck, getting frozen solid by Shimo (and seemingly being still alive after that) then, helpless and immobilized, is then shattered and pounded thoroughly to the ground by Kong to finish him off for good. One can only imagine the state of Skar King's remains once the ice finally thaws...
- Hell, you can see PIECES OF FLESH AND BONE fly up from the carnage. Earlier kills simply had the victims cut into a few big pieces, exploding into unfamiliarly-colored fluid, or incinerated, not smashed to tiny bits and chunks. The fact that this is one of the few mammalian titans shown being killed makes it even more brutal, despite being mostly offscreen.
