WMG / Godzilla vs. Kong

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Pre-Release

Pre-trailer release

The Oxygen Destroyer creates Hedorah

We've seen how the Oxygen Destroyer wipes out all life within a particular perimeter, but remember they deployed it presumably in the Gulf of Mexico where the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred. The combination of Godzilla's leftover radiation, Oxygen Destroyer, and remnants of oil could create Hedorah from that.

• Also remember that there are extremophile bacteria and anaerobic (Meaning they thrive without oxygen) bacteria in existence that could have survived the Oxygen Destroyer and thrived...
• Jossed. For now.

Neither Titan dies at the end

“One will fall” doesn’t nessecarily mean dying. It could mean that one merely loses the fight and gets knocked out cold. The 2/16 trailer implies the one who falls is Kong.

• Confirmed, both Godzilla and Kong survive the film.

Godzilla is a Hero Antagonist instead of a villain.

This one ties to the theory above and the Mechagodzilla theories.

Basically, Godzilla’s rampages are not targeting humanity as a whole, but are mainly focused on Apex/Monarch. Note that his behaviour is an angry beeline to his target rather than mass destruction. Mothra’s death being fresh on his mind, Big G would be understandably furious after sensing Ghidora’s presence again. His motive being trying to hunt down the true villain of the movie: Ghidora/Mechagodzilla. Unfortunately, Godzilla has to become the “nessecary destruction” aspect of protecting the balance of nature to do this.

Thus the conflict between Kong and Godzilla is because Kong is unwittingly (and repeatedly) getting in the way of Godzilla’s mission.

Everything comes to a head after Godzilla knocks Kong out when Godzilla FINALLY finds his query, coming in for the kill when both Titans are weakened. This leads to Kong and Godzilla teaming up to fight Mechagodzilla when Kong wakes up. Both survive the fight.

• Confirmed. Godzilla is attacking Apex, specifically the bases where they've been working on Mechagodzilla, so he can destroy it. Or more specifically, the remnants of Ghidorah that exist within it.

Godzilla won't be on our side as of Godzilla vs. Kong

With all the trailers repeatedly saying "good thing he's on our side", it's seemingly foreshadowing how bad it would be for us if he wasn't. Cue humanity doing something to incur his wrath, perhaps Alan Jonah and his ecoterrorist group trying to kill or capture him, which ends up putting him in a more antagonistic role when Kong comes around to save some humans he's come to care about from the enraged titan.

• Confirmed (more or less) by the trailer.
• Zig-Zagged. Godzilla's only real interest is destroying Apex's Mechagodzilla and the Ghidorah remnants that empower it. He just never really cares about collateral damage at the best of times, and with Apex keeping Mechagodzilla secret, all the public sees is Godzilla attacking humans for no reason.

Godzilla vs. Kong will have Kong fighting the other Titans.

The ending of the film has Rodan, Scylla, Methuselah, Behemoth and the new Female MUTO all accepting Godzilla as their alpha, and the credits mention "a migration to Skull Island. So it's probable that Godzilla is bringing his entire posse to Skull Island to challenge this rival king, and Kong will fight them all one by one, taking on Godzilla last.

• Alternatively, the aforementioned migration is under the direction of Godzilla as a way of sheparding the other Titans to a place where they can stay and not be in humanity's way, only to have Kong treat it as essentially a home invasion.
• Jossed. Aside from some Hellbats in the Hollow Earth, Kong only fights Godzilla and Mechagodzilla.

Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah will be created by splicing human DNA with DNA from the severed head of Ghidorah.

Certain points were made in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) with what could be done with Kaijus, one of the specific things being DNA. Why put emphasis on this and, Ghidorah's vampiric draining abilities that were taken from Godzilla: Final Wars, and the bio-terrorists acquiring Ghidorah's head without raising the possibility of Monster X?

• Given that it's seemingly the least intelligent head of the trio that survives, I doubt the terrorists
• Jossed. Ghidorah's tease from the King of the Monsters stinger leads into Mechagodzilla here.

The severed Ghidorah head is still alive and will regrow into a new Ghidorah.

Rather than being rebuilt as cyborg Mecha-Ghidorah as some have speculated, the disembodied head, exposed to enough radiation, regenerates a new body and two new heads of its own. As it's central head is now the original Ghidorah's Ax-Crazy left head, this new Ghidorah will be more cruel, sadistic and unpredictable than the original.

• The head that survives isn't the *cruel* head, it's the dopey head. So any regenerated Ghidorah being "more cruel, sadistic and unpredictable" seems unlikely when the sole surviving head was the least cruel and sadistic of the three, and more the outright least intelligent.
• Jossed.

The reborn Mothra will team up with Godzilla, Rodan and Kong to battle threats from space.

With Rodan now on Godzilla's side and a new Mothra egg discovered in the credits, and a potential Godzilla and Kong team-up in GvK, the four Earth monsters can end up being a quartet defending the planet from other extraterrestrial threats like Ghidorah.

In a future installment, another kaiju (possibly Ghidorah returned) will again challenge Godzilla's alpha status

...Only this time, while some minor kaiju will promptly submit, Rodan will be the one refusing to bow and will still fight for Godzilla.

• Jossed. For now.

Alan Jonah will use Ghidorah's DNA to modify Kong

Ghidorah has electrical-based powers, so in an adaptation of the original King Kong vs. Godzilla, Kong will end up with electricity-based abilities as well, after the eco-terrorists capture Kong and experiment on him.

• Jossed. Jonah and company are not present.

The severed Ghidorah head will grow into a new Ghidorah that becomes an ally of sorts to Godzilla.

Given that we know Ghidorah has utterly insane regenerative properties, he could potentially regenerate from a single head. And given that the head that survived was the least intelligent of the three, it would feasibly be the most likely to follow the designated Alpha rather then think to usurp power.

• Jossed.

Godzilla will eventually end up hostile towards humanity and battle against a reborn Mothra

They make a point of mentioning that Godzilla is on their side "for now", which suggests that they may be setting him up to take a more antagonistic role in a later movie. Godzilla and Mothra have just as often been enemies as they have allies, more so infact and after Ghidorah and King Kong, Mothra is one of the most Iconic Godzilla foes.

• Partly confirmed; Godzilla is indeed more hostile to humans now, but Mothra isn't in this film.

Godzilla vs. Kong will have them both start as rivals/enemies but end as Fire-Forged Friends.

It's a bit like a "Batman v Superman" situation: Something will cause Godzilla and Kong to come to blows at first, be it something to do with their different stances regarding humanity, a misunderstanding or just a turf war. However, both of them will then be forced to acknowledge a larger threat, possibly one which caused them to come to blows in the first place. A likely contender for the common threat is the eco-terrorists cooking something up with Ghidorah's head which threatens the entire planet, causing the Titans to put their differences aside and then gain mutual respect after they work together.

• Yes and no. While the titans team up, ir is only after the fight has a definitive winner

Godzilla wins, but spares Kong as a Worthy Opponent

As the directors have stated there to be a definite winner, it's likely Godzilla would win, but as Kong puts up a good fight he gains Godzilla's respect who then spares his life. Perhaps Kong even bows before Godzilla at the end, taking a place as a sort of second-in-command next to Godzilla leading the titans, thus teaming up with him to fight threats to the earth.

• Implicitly confirmed. Godzilla wins the fight, but Kong remains defiant, and Godzilla then leaves him battered but alive (or possibly leaves Kong to die since he's near-fatally injured).

Future monsters team-up is elements themed.

Kong is earth, reborn Mothra wind, Rodan fire and if Rodan isn't included, Godzilla (Burning Godzilla) can fill both as water too.

The Ghidorah-head bought by Alan Jonah will be used to create a brand new monster...Bagan, by combining Ghidorah's DNA with Godzilla's.

When Ghidorah's head is torn off by Godzilla, during their fight (prior to being hit by the Oxygen Destroyer), he regenerates a new one almost immediately. However, despite however much time has passed since the left head was severed and Jonah buying it in the stinger, it has shown no signs of regenerating, and does not appear to be alive in any respect. Therefore, the most effective approach would be to salvage its DNA and use it to create a new Titan. Given how much has been made of the importance of Alpha Titans, what could be better and more fearsome than creating a monster born from the fusion of two different Alphas?

• Jossed

Kong will be controlled by Alan Jonah.

Kong will agree with Jonah's line of thinking, and thus sets out to destroy civilization. Godzilla vehemently disagrees with this, and fights to stop Kong from harming the humans he has become fond of, and fought alongside.

• Jossed

Godzilla vs Kong isn't going to be a one vs one fight

Given that they are both Alphas I believe that the two will take command of a pack and fight each other. Possibly all Titans will be split between the two alphas and fight with the opposing group.

Godzilla's main team could be the classics: Rodan, Mothra, and Anguirus. while Kong's main team could be the new titans: Behemoth, scylla and Methuselah

• This massive fight between two alphas and the damage they cause may end up scaring monarch to be more proactive in reining the Titans and enter the ring with Mechas to become the new alpha.

• Jossed; unfortunately, the other Titans have returned to dormancy

Dr. Chen's "for now" line will pay off with Mecha Godzilla.

In the film, Dr. Lin ominously says "For now." when one of the soldiers says "Good thing (Godzilla)'s on our side." Now think about this from Godzilla's perspective. Humans woke up Ghidorah, made things WORSE by using the oxygen destroyer. Which for all he knew, was meant for HIM not Ghidorah. Humans pretty much fuck up everything they come in contact with and have tried to kill him several times. Add to that Dr. Serizawa's death, he's probably getting sick of our shit as it is. When Mecha G is inevitably built, it'll be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Maybe he won't be antagonistic toward us. Just more of a "Oh you assholes think you can do it better? OK, fuck you then." Only REALLY coming to help when we're in way over our head to show he hasn't completely given up on us. A Godzilla Threshold if you will.

• This looking more likely after the trailer's release.

• Partly confirmed. Godzilla is rampaging during the film because he can sense Mechagodzilla as a new rival to his dominance, and the film seems to hint that between that and humans removing another rival alpha from Skull Island for reasons that Godzilla isn't fully aware of, Godzilla really is a bit pissed at humanity for so dramatically failing to learn from the events of King of the Monsters.

Jonah will use the severed head to create a new version of Ghidorah.

Mankind's tech doesn't seem to have went through the acceleration the previous Godzilla films got to, so the idea of a Mecha-King Ghidorah is unlikely, but perhaps they will use the popular alternative these days, Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke. It is mentioned that the Monarch base holding Ghidorah had his DNA samples, whose to say that Jonah took these, plus any other samples they had from other Kaiju, perhaps they fuse Godzilla's DNA with Ghidorah Creating GODorah ? With that being the lead Kaiju, with smaller offshoot hybrids from other Kaiju being Godorahs subordinate monsters?

• Jossed. That being said, the novelization states Jonah has somehow gotten his hands on a second Ghidorah skull, prompting speculation that he could've cloned Ghidorah or the head could've partly regrown Ghidorah and Jonah could be harvesting the creature in its incomplete state.

Post-trailer release

The "Godzilla" destroying cities and attacking Kong is actually a disguised Mechagodzilla

Godzilla's acting uncharacteristically aggressive because he's actually a fake: just like in the Showa films, where Godzilla is seen being more violent and even mauling his close ally Anguirus, until it was revealed that it was actually Mechagodzilla with false skin. Perhaps he'll be a Terminator-style cyborg in this iteration.

• This troper had the same thought! Why would a Godzilla we've seen being an outright good guy in all previous appearances suddenly start attacking humans for no reason? Madison says they're doing something to provoke him, but I think it's because that's not really Godzilla, and Kong knows it.
• In a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the first trailer, it's possible to spot Mechagodzilla during one of the scenes of Godzilla's supposed rampages, so he's indeed in the movie and seems to be restored to his villainous roots.
• Jossed. The Godzilla attacking cities is the real deal. Instead of rampaging against humanity however, he's more focused on destroying Apex facilities since they've been constructing a Mechagodzilla with King Ghidorah's brain, with the intent to replace the Big G.

Assuming that this IS Mechagodzilla, he's rampaging since he has Ghidorah's brain.

The severed Ghidorah head in the last movie had to be used somehow. Perhaps it or at least its mind and memories is incorporated into Mechagodzilla somehow: plus, the head in question was the Ax-Crazy one of the three, and without the other heads's conflicting personalities to keep it in check it goes on a full-out rampage.

• All three of Ghidorah's heads were Ax-Crazy, and the head that survives (San/Kevin) was the most Psychopathic Manchild but was also if anything the least vicious of the three — Kevin overall seemed to be more interested in curiously investigating things than killing them except for when Ichi bossed him around or when the heads were working in sync. If Kevin's mind is controlling Mechagodzilla without his brothers bossing him around, he'd probably be more likely to try leaning down to curiously investigate running humans, maybe smash a building once he grows bored of them and attack a fleeing boat or two for kicks, but he'd probably be quick to back down once Godzilla or Kong tried to put him in his place (which would make for anti-climax in this movie).
  • Still, considering that Ghidorah's nervous system is non-centralized, perhaps the other two heads' minds are also able to re-manifest inside Mechagodzilla...
  • ...or alternatively, perhaps the trauma of having his brain scooped out and incorporated into Mechagodzilla drives Kevin's mind in Mechagodzilla to become even more malevolent due to Being Tortured Makes You Evil.

• Confirmed; San/Kevin's skull is incorporated into Mechagodzilla to act as its remote brain, and remnants of Ghidorah's subconsciousness in the skull are responsible for hijacking Mechagodzilla and making it go rogue. That being said, it's a bit of an Ambiguous Situation in the film how much of San/Kevin or Ghidorah's consciousness Mechagodzilla has inside of it (and if it's got Kevin's intact mind alone then why does Mechagodzilla lack Kevin's curiosity and act much more intelligent and vicious), whilst the novelization indicates a second Ghidorah skull which could've been Ichi or Ni's was used and that the skull/s only retain fragments of Ghidorah's consciousness (seemingly).

The final trailer shot of Kong striking Godzilla's face with his axe will be a Robotic Reveal for Mechagodzilla

The impact destroys Mechagodzilla's false skin and reveals his true identity: only then do the humans realize that the one causing all the destruction isn't Godzilla at all.

• Jossed. That's actually Godzilla taking the axe blow and it ends up barely leaving a scar.

Godzilla is acting this way because somebody did a Kiryu

Godzilla is either angered in general that the bones of a parent/relative/ancestor are being used to make the Mechagodzilla, or is tracking Mechagodzilla down to defeat/destroy a perceived rival.

• Partly confirmed; Godzilla is attacking because he can sense Mechagodzilla as a rival to his dominance, and it's strongly hinted he might also be aware that the Mecha is being made with Ghidorah's Not Quite Dead remains.

Godzilla is Brainwashed and Crazy

The human antagonists have an elaboration of the ORCA from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) that can control Titans, not just attract them or calm them down, with either the intent to sell them as Living Weapons or to gain support for a Gotta Kill 'Em All plan on the Titans. And what better Titan to start with than the most powerful of them all, the Alpha Titan himself... Godzilla? Kong will know that Godzilla is Not Himself and will attempt to free him from the humans' control.

• Jossed. The human antagonists have no more control over Titans than the eco-terrorists using the ORCA did, although Godzilla is being provoked to attack because the human villains' creation is emitting a signal he recognizes as a challenger.

Kong will be the winner.

So far, the teasers have spotlighted Kong, and they're showing him in a sympathetic light. He's the human-loving, noble Titan, meanwhile Godzilla is the "anti-hero". The Adaptational Heroism to make Kong's victory over Godzilla easier to swallow from King Kong vs. Godzilla will be repeated.

Plus, he'll finally get the title "King Kong" by taking the title away from Godzilla as the new King of the Monsters!

• I'd actually make the argument that neither of them are going to be the "villainous" monster. From what's already been seen, it looks like a group of humans are going to abduct Kong from Skull Island (as humans are oft want to do) and try to use him as a weapon to kill Godzilla when the other Alpha Titan tries to rescue him. From there, it can be argued that the narrative requires Godzilla to win by freeing Kong from his bondage and allowing the Ape to return to Skull Island in peace. Besides Kong gets his king title from being the King of Skull Island.

• Jossed. Godzilla emerges as the victor in the end, though they both do team up to fight against a rampaging Mechagodzilla.

Skull Island will become the Monster Island/Monsterland of the MonsterVerse.

Fairly self explanatory. It seems despite only appearing in the late Showa Era films Monster Island is a rather iconic location in the Godzilla Universe, especially among the American audience as the place where all of Earth's Kaiju live.

• Assuming the island lasts. The end credits of "King of the Monsters" mentions 'seismic activity' in the area around Skull Island, suggesting it may eventually meet its usual fate of collapsing into the sea.
  • Looking more like a Jossed. The storms around Skull Island have gotten so bad they needed to build a containment dome to keep Kong safe, and even that ends up only being temporary before he's permanently relocated to Hollow Earth. If Skull Island isn't already uninhabitable, it will be soon.

Kong will die

After the two stars have settled their differences and joined forces, at some point in the climax Kong will do a Colossus Climb up some famous large building, and the movie will provide a Leaning on the Fourth Wall moment (like a sad music cue or something) to confirm what the audience has realized: that Kong cannot escape his destiny.

As for Kong's death itself, he will make a Heroic Sacrifice, climbing up a building to do something like knock a flying Mechagodzilla out of the air or maybe destroying a tower that's helping it somehow, but will be fatally wounded in the process. This will cause Godzilla to go full Let's Get Dangerous! and deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to his robotic doppelgänger.

• Jossed, narrowly.

Kong and Godzilla's species weren't ancient enemies, they were allies against Ghidorah

In the trailer, someone says "There was a war and they're the last two standing". Now, we know that Kong and Godzilla are both Alpha Titans - and thus were unaffected by Ghidorah's control. Who's to say that their kinds didn't pull an Enemy Mine to fight Ghidorah when he arrived on Earth? Godzilla and Kong, both of whom are the Last of Their Kind, will team up again to fight a common adversary (possibly Mechagodzilla) in the present, reviving their species' old alliance.

• Jossed. The novelization states Kong's ancestors did indeed war against Godzilla, and it's the reason the Kongs were banished from the Hollow Earth.

If Mechagodzilla shows up, he'll be a Composite Character of previous versions of the character.

Specifically, he'll be a straight up villain, like his original film, as well as built around the skeleton of a previous Godzilla (Adam from Godzilla (2014)) like the Kiryu Saga.

• Partially confirmed by the first trailer: Mechagodzilla does indeed show up and wreak havoc on mankind, firmly returning him to his villainous roots.

• Partly confirmed in the final film: he's outright villainous like the Showa Mechagodzilla, he's made from Ghidorah's remains like the Heisei Mechagodzilla, he gets taken over by the consciousness remnants of the organic Kaiju whose remains he was made from like Kiryu, and he's a global threat who gains a practically-infinite energy source like the AniGoji Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla is attacking humanity because of the construction of Mechagodzilla

Godzilla's reason for attacking mankind is to actually stop what they've built and the reason will be that Ghidorah's parts were used in creating it, thus making Mechagodzilla a threat to the whole planet.

• Confirmed.

After the film, the Good Titans will be divided into two factions led by Godzilla and Kong.

It's been established that both Godzilla and Kong are "Alpha Titans" so regardless of how the battle plays out neither one will become subservient to the other.

• On Team Godzilla
  • Mothra
  • Anguirus
• On Team Kong
  • Gorosaurus (In Reference to the Skull Island meat-eater)
• Uncertain
  • Rodan (his allegiance might depend on who wins the fight)
  • The Canon Foreigner Kaiju

• Jossed; no other Titans barring Mechagodzilla and the Hollow Earth creatures appear in this film, because unfortunately the Titans awakening became an Aborted Arc with Godzilla commanding them to return to hibernation

Mechagodzilla is being used to frame Godzilla

Much like his debut film, Mechagodzilla starts out disguised as the real Godzilla and goes on rampages in order to turn humanity against him and the other titans. However whoever responsible for this plan didn't expect Kong to get dragged into it which would ultimately end up revealing the ruse.

• Alternately, Mechagodzilla was made by an anti-Titan organization with the goal of killing them all.
• Jossed and Confirmed respectively.

Mechagodzilla is the reason Godzilla went on a rampage

An alternative to the above, it's possible the Mechagodzilla is why Godzilla is causing mayhem. Reasons why could vary, from using part of Ghidorah's recovered head to using the skeleton of the other Godzilla found at the beginning of the 2014 film.

Confirmed. Turns out creating a replacement with the mind of his greatest enemy isn't a good way to make Godzilla calm.

Ren Serizawa will be a villain

This troper isn't the first one who's had this idea since the trailer launch. It's confirmed on IMDb that Dr. Ishirō Serizawa's son Ren who was mentioned on the Monarch website will be appearing in the film, and in the recent trailer, he's seen at approximately 1:41 with a screen seemingly depicting Mechagodzilla behind him. The idea of Ren being ideologically unlike his father would fit with the Godzilla: King of the Monsters novelization, which reveals Ishirō Serizawa chose to pass a Serizawa family heirloom down to Vivienne Graham on her birthday, suggesting Ishirō wasn't as close to Ren as he was to Graham.

Possible reasons and ways Ren will be an antagonist vary. Perhaps Ren has thrown his lot in with Alan Jonah and the Eco-Terrorists, or alternatively maybe he's part of an anti-Titan, pro-human organization who want humans instead of Titans to be the dominant species again after KOTM (sort of the William Stryker to the eco-terrorists' Brotherhood of Mutants, if you will).

• Confirmed; Ren has joined Apex Cybernetics' Evil Plan to kill Godzilla and make humanity the sole dominant species above all the Titans, with Apex specifically being credited as humanity's saviors.

Kong's relationship with Godzilla is that of pupil and mentor

This could be a touching tribute to how King Kong played a part in Godzilla's creation and show another side to the Titans hierarchy. While Kong is a member of an Alpha species that rivals Godzilla's, they are still a part of Earth's natural ecosystem. Godzilla may have gotten wind of Kong's species' near-extinction and intervene, taking in and raising Kong.

• Jossed

The Titans will be called Kaiju at one point.

• Jossed

Once they become Fire-Forged Friends, at some point later in the movie Godzilla will intentionally use his Atomic Breath to charge up Kong's axe during a fight

• Confirmed.

Godzilla won't appear until the final act of the film.

The Godzilla we have seen in the trailers so far is actually Mechagodzilla in disguise. In the trailer, Godzilla's atomic breath looks more like a laser beam. Now while prior incarnations of Godzilla have depicted his atomic breath as some sort of beam (particularly Shin Godzilla), Godzilla's atomic breath has, in the preceding two films, been consistently depicted as being akin to a flamethrower. The reason it looks like a beam is because it actually is a beam weapon being used by the robotic war machine.

• The real Godzilla will be, for whatever reason, indisposed (maybe subdued by the Anti-Titan group using an ORCA device) and will be freed to assist Kong against his mechanical doppelganger.
• The problem with this theory is that it would mean that the film wouldn't have an actual fight between Godzilla and King Kong, so it's really cheating the audience.
  • It would certainly be in-line with the director and the movie's tagline stating that "One Will Fall" and that unlike its predecessor there won't be a draw between Kong and Godzilla, but a clear winner. So as not to disappoint either the pro-Godzilla or pro-Kong camps, this is the best possible compromise, unless its a lie.
    • Or it could be a case of Exact Words: One will fall, but it won't be Godzilla or Kong.
    • The fact that there doesn’t appear to be a "One Will Stand" side of that statement lends credence to this idea.

• Jossed

Both Mechagodzilla and Godzilla will be active from the start, but due to the former being disguised, Kong and the humans won't catch on until later.

The group who built Mechagodzilla (possibly around the bones of the long-dead member of Godzilla's species from the first movie) send him to attack cities and frame Godzilla for it, thus turning humanity against him. The real Godzilla gets steamed by what they're doing and starts attacking their facilities, trying to hunt down his impostor and put a stop to the madness. Kong is brought in to try and bring Godzilla down, not realizing it's a fake causing the major harm, and it's only after the two heroic Titans have already fought and nearly killed each other that Mechagodzilla is exposed, forcing Godzilla, Kong, and the good humans into an Enemy Mine against him and his creators.

• This seems most likely, as the film is titled "Godzilla vs. Kong." If Kong is fighting a disguised Mechagodzilla most of the film, that could create a bad case of Never Trust a Title.
  • Adding to this, maybe the group who built Mechagodzilla used him to frame Godzilla precisely so Kong would be brought in, hoping they'd kill each other; when they end their battle merely wounded, Mechagodzilla is sent to finish them off, which winds up exposing him.

• Mostly Jossed; although this on the mark about the fact Godzilla was provoked into attacking by Apex's actions, and about Mechagodzilla being exposed only after Kong and Godzilla have fought and prompting an Enemy Mine.

Kong uses Godzilla's own scale against him

A minor point, but it seems the "blade" of Kong's axe is one of Godzilla's scales. It glows blue even before absorbing Godzilla's breath, and is probably the only material that could seriously penetrate Godzilla's skin.

• Indeed. Adding to this, there seems to be a shot of Kong standing atop numerous glowing Godzilla scales in what appears to be a subterranean cavern, and there's the trailer's hints combined with the cave painting that Kong and Godzilla's respective species had a war with each-other which might've contributed to the two becoming endlings. So the axe was probably made by Kong's ancestors and is found by him stored somewhere.
• Partly confirmed. The axe does indeed have a Titanus Gojira scale in it and it was made by Kong's ancestors and left in the Hollow Earth, but it's not really known whether it came from Godzilla specifically or another member of his kind.

Godzilla and Kong will have their first proper fight after teaming up against Mechagodzilla

This is assuming the Godzilla is Mechagodzilla theory is true. For most of the movie, Kong will fight Mechagodzilla, and the real Godzilla will show up in a Big Damn Heroes moment; after Mechagodzilla is defeated, they will fight since there can only be one Alpha Titan and the final battle will determine who becomes King of the Monsters.

• Jossed

Mechagodzilla's purpose is making humanity the new Alpha

Considering the massive positive effects Titans are having both on the environment and for new natural resources that humanity can use after the ending of King of the Monsters coupled with humans and Titans finding coexistence for now; surely only the craziest, most powerless and backward humans and groups of humans would still be spouting that all the Titans need to be indiscriminately wiped out (as in only the people whose opinions have too few supporters and who are mostly too stupid to gain an effective organization), even if a lot of humans probably feel some resentment that humanity isn't the dominant species anymore.

Perhaps Mechagodzilla's intended purpose, and the Titan-threatening conspiracy's intentions, are not to wipe out all Titans (at least not right away), but to use Mechagodzilla to defeat Godzilla and Kong so that Mechagodzilla, and therefore its human controllers, will be the new ruling Alpha over the other Titans.

• The human villains' dialogue in the film suggests this, and the novelization furthermore implies that Apex's main interests if their Evil Plan succeeded were in trying to control and exploit what Titans they could and killing any ones that they couldn't.

Mechagodzilla is disguised because of Kevin

If Mechagodzilla is indeed disguised as Godzilla during the film and framing him, one issue that's been pointed out by others is that the idea of Mechagodzilla getting a Terminator-level lifelike sheath which makes him completely indistinguishable as an impostor seems a bit out-there (as in far-fetched) for the MonsterVerse's naturalistic standards.

This troper's theory is that that's where the severed Ghidorah head from The Stinger of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) comes in, assuming it isn't just used to graft the endoskeleton or to act as Mechagodzilla's brain. Due to Ghidorah's unnatural abilities such as its Healing Factor which fundamentally doesn't exist in Earth's known natural order, the DNA in its severed head, upon analysis, provides Apex or whoever else might be responsible for Mechagodzilla's creation a massive scientific leap that gives them the key to creating a skin sheath that's completely in Godzilla's likeness.

• Jossed

Godzilla and Kong's ancestors never fought against each other in the Great Titan War

It is stated in the trailer that there was a war, and that the two of them are the last ones standing. However, it's never specified who fought who in the Great Titan War, aside from one of Kong's ancestors fighting those bat kaiju. Godzilla's species and Kong's ancestors could have simply never encountered or avoided fighting each other. It's also possible that they were allies against more aggressive kaiju, such as the MUTOs or Skullcrawlers or possibly Ghidorah.

• This theory isn't impossible, but I think it's more than likely Godzilla and Kong's respective did indeed previously war against each-other. Remember the cave painting of a member of either species fighting in the end credits of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Kong is way too young to have been around in ancient times.
• Jossed. It's confirmed in the film that Andrews was referring to a Titanus Gojira-Titanus Kong war, and the novelization furthermore indicates that Kong's ancestors had a war against Godzilla which ended with the Kongs being banished from the Hollow Earth.

Apex is actually serving the Eco-Terrorists' goals

We know Apex are described as a "sinister" group who are likely up to no good, and the running theory is that their goal is human domination over/extermination of the Titans by using Mechagodzilla, making them a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to Alan Jonah and his pro-Titan Eco-Terrorists. But what if the organization has actually been covertly infiltrated and taken over by Jonah's Eco-Terrorists, and their real aim behind Mechagodzilla is not to make humans the dominant species over all the Titans, but to usurp the Alpha kingship from both Kong and Godzilla so the Eco-Terrorists can rule and reshape the world's ecosphere the way they think it should be ruled? (Rumor has it that Ghidorah's decapitated head will indeed appear in Godzilla vs. Kong.)

• Jossed. But the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization does hint that Apex might've been Unwitting Pawns to the Eco-Terrorists' agenda, with a prologue scene depicting Alan Jonah selling Ghidorah's remains to Simmons despite their diametrically-opposed endgames and hinting that Jonah knew what Simmons was going to use the skulls for.

The winner of the ancient war was Kong's species.

This theory is based off of numbers in each species' population with Godzilla's being only 1; for what appears to have several millennia, while Kong's being up until recently was 3 or more.

• Jossed by the novelization, which heavily implies that Godzilla won the war and he exiled Kong's ancestors from the Hollow Earth to Skull Island.

If the MonsterVerse continues after this there will be a rematch.

Possible The Stinger for the movie.

(1) Fishermen near Isla de Mara are attacked by a number of strange crablike creatures(2) Kong finds a female of his species hiding in the Hollow Earth, eventually leading to Kiko being born.(3) Alternatively, Godzilla finds an egg of his species, setting up Minilla/Junior.(4) The Mechagodzilla Mark 2 being designed.

• All Jossed. There is no stinger after the film.

Post-Release

MechaGodzilla was controlled by a bit of all three Ghidorah-heads' personalities

Although we only know of Kevin's decapitated head being used as part of MechaGodzilla, with it seeming likely that the second part of Ghidorah Hayes mentioned was most likely inside the actual mech (assuming he guessed right there) also came from Kevin's head; as another troper pointed out on the Fridge page, based on Ghidorah's octopus-like decentralized nervous system, it's entirely possible that Kevin's severed head didn't just retain Kevin's personality but also a bit of the other two heads when the skull took control of MechaGodzilla.

San/Kevin's head suffered brain damage which caused Took a Level in Jerkass

This theory assumes that San/Kevin's skull retained his individual personality intact. If that is so, then Apex wiring up and meddling with Kevin's severed head in the years between King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong likely caused one of the below, explaining why MechaGodzilla only exhibits Ghidorah's overall drive to kill everything that moves and has none of Kevin's curiosity:

(1) Kevin's mind was suffering an And I Must Scream fate for years, causing him to suffer Being Tortured Makes You Evil (or rather Makes You More Evil).

(2) Or, Apex wiring up and chipping away at Kevin's neurology when they were working on the skull effectively erased Kevin's individual personality traits, leaving only Ghidorah's base sadism and desire to murder as much life as it can.

Mechagodzilla's sadism is because Kevin was actually the most evil of the three heads.

• Kevin, despite his constant Draco in Leather Pants treatment, has shown levels of Psychopathic Manchild tendencies surpassing even Ichi and Ni, such as the scene in KOTM where as Ghidorah drains Godzilla's energy Kevin visibly licks his face menacingly before eagerly ripping into his throat. It's likely that while Ichi is the cunning one and Ni is the more outright aggressive one, Kevin is the outright Ax-Crazy one whose psychotic tendencies are simply restrained by Ichi's dominance: and now that he has a body all his own, Kevin is finally free to cause all the desteuction he wants, starting his fight in Hong Kong by vaporizing fleeing civilians in the streets with his proton beam.

Alan Jonah willingly gave Ghidorah's leftover head to Apex, and here's why...

After Jonah took the head from the Isla de Mara fishermen, he probably conducted experiments and scans on it, and eventually something revealed electrical activity in the head, which confirmed that part of Ghidorah is still alive despite the head decomposing. Jonah subsequently suspected Apex would be Too Dumb to Live when he made contact with them and gave them the head, and that Apex would unwittingly instigate Ghidorah's resurrection when messing around with the head.

The issue with this theory is why would Apex not detect the signs that Jonah did that Ghidorah was alive inside the skull. Perhaps they did and they just ignored it or thought they could suppress Ghidorah (using Ghidorah's neurology at all with its unknown Bizarre Alien Biology and known Omnicidal Maniac behavior is already obscenely stupid after all — at that point, who's to say Apex were also foolish enough to ignore signs that Ghidorah was alive in the head that Jonah would've taken more seriously).

• The Godzilla vs. Kong novelization lends some credence to this theory; depicting a man who's all but stated to be Jonah willingly selling Ghidorah's remains to Walter Simmons in a prologue scene, and hinting Jonah knew what Apex were going to do with Ghidorah's remains despite Jonah's end-goals being completely opposite to Simmons'.

The temple in the Hollow Earth was built by the Kongs themselves

Kong demonstrates his human-level intelligence, able to understand and speak to humans via sign language. Given that, his ancestors' ability to craft and make tools and weapons, and the fact that the cathedral-like structures are WAY too big for ancient humans to have made (as well as the Hollow Earth portal travel being life-threatening to humans): what if Kong's species was actually a civilization, and his feral, animalistic existence on Skull Island was due to the last Kongs being driven to Skull Island essentially as castaways?

• The novelization explicitly points out that there's no way Advanced Ancient Humans built that temple for themselves and that the likeliest explanation is the Kongs built it.

The destruction of Skull Island is indirectly Ghidorah's fault

Skull Island was protected by a perpetual hurricane that made approaching it all but impossible. Now, the storm has engulfed the island, killing the Iwi natives and confining Kong to the small facility Monarch was able to build. What changed? Well, Ghidorah's activity in King of the Monsters was creating massive storms, perhaps this disrupted the delicate balance keeping the Skull Island storm a barrier, turning it into something that wrecked the island (and likely weakening it such that travel is easier — still certainly not fun, but not dramatic enough to be worthy of screentime).

• Partly confirmed by the graphic novel Kingdom Kong: the book reveals that Ghidorah's actions in King of the Monsters left a Perpetual Storm anchored in the Pacific Ocean, and that the Dark Titan Camazotz drew this storm away from its original position and into Skull Island's storm barrier expressly to permanently darken the sky.

Mechagodzilla will be rebuilt using the skull of a more agreeable Titan

Perhaps the Godzilla skull Kong pulled that axe out of.

• Seems unlikely. Ghidorah's telepathy was key to the interface making Mechagodzilla controllable, and his regeneration powers were apparently key to him hijacking it. Another Titan wouldn't have the unique biological factors that made Ghidorah serviceable as Mechagodzilla's CPU.
  • The only thing I can recall that might be construed as Ghidora being telepathic was the Alpha Call he gave after dethroning Big Daddy G in the previous movie, which by that very fact was implied to be something any Alpha-tier Titan can do if they take the throne. And my understanding was that Ghidorah hijacking Mecha G was due to the Hollow Earth magic pulling his mind(s) back from the dead, not Ghidora's Healing Factor. If Ghidora's healing factor had kicked in, then wouldn't the skull have just grown a new body?
  • The film states that Ghidorah's necks were so long, the heads communicated telepathically. Granted, that exposition comes from crazy Conspiracy Theorist Bernie, but it is exposition.

The source of the Hollow Earth energy is actually a Godzilla, particularly Godzilla Earth.

• Maybe some time ago, the Earth was dying due to possibly depleted energy source to sustain the planet. The most ancient of Godzillas saw this and sacrificed itself to save at least his species.

The Titans are missing because they returned to hibernation

Based on how Godzilla's Apex attack is the first substantiated Titan sighting in three years despite the mass awakening in King of the Monsters, it seems to this troper likely that something must have happened to the other active Titans besides Godzilla. Not this troper's idea, and admittedly this troper would be really unimpressed and quite disappointed if it turns out to be the case (because it really feels like a They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot Aborted Arc and a Cliffhanger Copout after Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)), but the theory goes: Godzilla let the subjugated Titans remain active long enough to clean up all the ecological damage to Earth's ecosphere, then once that was done he commanded them all to return to hibernation to avoid butting heads with them or humanity.

• Or perhaps they returned to hibernation on their own accord due to lack of food on the surface, or perhaps retreated to the Hollow Earth (it IS a very big place, after all.)
• Perhaps "no Titan activity" simply means aggressive activity and attacks on cities? Maybe they're just ambling around on the surface minding their own business and avoided joining the fights, as it was a struggle between alphas and not their place.
  • Doubtful. The news report specifically states there's been no "substantiated Titan sighting in over three years" — that implies that humans haven't encountered any of the Titans at all in three years. You'd think if the Titans were still around and active, humans would still be avidly wanting to document, record, photograph and study these amazing super-creatures peacefully from a safe distance.
• Confirmed by the prequel comic: Godzilla orders the Titans to retreat from the surface and enter hibernation after sensing that a part of Ghidorah has somehow returned.

If Ghidorah hadn't hijacked Mechagodzilla, Ren would've lost.

We never see any indication Ren has any combat training whatsoever, his 'practice' seemed to have consisted entirely of killing Skullcrawlers much smaller than Mechagodzilla, and only able to be active for a few moments max in a small room. Kong regularly kills Skullcrawlers that size in proportion to himself. It's likely Ren's combat skills are nothing compared to Ghidorah's, and Godzilla would've likely outmatched him in that department.

• Considering how Ren and Simmons were dumb enough to not think hooking Ghidorah's still-living neurons up to their World's Strongest Man was insanely stupid, and considering how Simmons is extremely absorbed in his own ego, it wouldn't surprise me if it also turns out that they didn't think that part through.

Ghidorah psychically caused Apex's Too Dumb to Live reasoning

See here for details.

The movie is a prequel to Pacific Rim

The "hollow earth" isn't underground, they just ripped a portal to another dimension. No way they could go 6 thousand km so quickly. It's just a portal.After the movie ended the kaiju just kept coming through. So eventually everyone got fed up, and dusted off the old Mechagodzilla schematics.Mental control with one pilot obviously didn't work. The jaeger went berserk and destroyed Hong Kong, but with two pilots they could assert control under full power.Since the original production facility was located in Hong Kong it was also the last facility to be shut down.Leading to Pacific Rim.

: Jossed, but according to the director of Pacific Rim: Uprising if he'd gotten to make a third movie it would have been a crossover with the Monsterverse.

Ren Serizawa survived Ghidora's takeover of Mechagodzilla.

Following Walter Simmons' death, we're treated to a shot of the neural interface in Ghidora's skull overloading as it undergoes a total transfer, presumably killing its pilot, Ren Serizawa, in the process. However, it's very well likely that the shocks induced during the process only incapacitated Ren instead of outright killing him, as we're never given any indication regarding how lethal the electricity/energy coursing through his body was. Assuming that the Monsterverse continues beyond GvK, it could very well end up that Ren survived his ordeal in Hong Kong and succeeded Simmons as Apex's CEO, becoming a central antagonist in future Monsterverse films alongside Alan Jonah. Though given the infamy that the Mechagodzilla incident would've garnered, it's probable that Ren would also reshape Apex into an underground terrorist cell, though one built upon anti-Titan humanocentrism à la Cerberus compared to Jonah's pro-Titan Eco-terrorism.

• It'd also stand to reason that he wouldn't exactly have come out of the ordeal unscathed. Aside from the probable mental scars, what better physical scarring is most appropriate for a Serizawa than one that necessitates an Eyepatch of Power?

Ghidorah is still alive post-GVK.

After all, the skull containing his consciousness is still intact, just Mechagodzilla being destroyed and leaving him without a vessel to exact his will. If the Monsterverse continues there certainly is room for Ghidorah to play an Orcus on His Throne/ Dark Lord on Life Support role commanding evil titans telepathically even reduced to a skull, or with his ability to regenerate when exposed to enough radiation he could potentially even return in full after a botched attempt to destroy the skull triggers his regeneration.

There are more Godzillas in Hollow Earth.

Taking into account just how huge Hollow Earth is, I feel that there could be more Godzilla’s hiding somewhere in Hollow Earth, which caused the ancient rivalry with the Kongs. I think that when the radiation levels started to fall on the surface, the Godzillas went deeper underground to try to feed on the radiation, eventually reaching Hollow Earth, where the radiation level stayed constant, the Kongs though would not like this invasion from the surface, and they tried to drive the Godzillas back to the surface, causing the war. A war that the Godzillas eventually won, driving the Kongs to exile on Skull Island, where they were picked off one-by-one by the skullcrawlers.

• If this is the case, perhaps one of these Godzillas could be adapted into SpaceGodzilla

The Hollow Earth energy is the real reason Ghidorah wanted to conquer Earth

Again, not this troper's idea so much as a theory this troper encountered from more than one person. They've suggested following this film that the main reason why Ghidorah came to Earth and tried to conquer it for himself is because he wanted to consume the Hollow Earth energy source.

Where Apex got a second Ghidorah skull from (if you consider that part of the novelization canon at all)

Also not this troper's idea so much as something this troper heard.

The skull we explicitly know about was obviously from San/Kevin's old head that was decapitated at Isla de Mara and was retrieved by Jonah in The Stinger of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) — if there was a second Ghidorah skull, it could have come from Ichi's head at Boston, and here's how.

Burning Godzilla's Nuclear Pulses reduced both of Ghidorah's attached side-heads to sludge onscreen, skulls and all, but there's two things to consider when Ichi's head is destroyed moments later: (1) We don't see as much of Ichi's skull being obliterated as we did with the side-heads, due to the camera angle and the flashiness of Godzilla's Atomic Breath. (2) Godzilla was no longer in his Burning mode when he destroyed Ichi's head — he was back in his normal mode and he was solely using his regular Atomic Breath instead of Burning Godzilla's Nuclear Pulses to finish Ichi off. The same Atomic Breath that Ghidorah was able to tank in the chest at close range with no lasting damage done during the Boston battle.

It's possible that when Godzilla blasted Ichi's head apart with his now-normal Atomic Breath, Ichi's flesh was burned away but his skull mostly remained intact and was just catapulted miles away by the Breath's force instead of being ripped apart.

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