One Godzilla: King of the Monsters easter egg references an iconic weapon from the classic Japanese films. The final MonsterVerse watch party held by Legendary Pictures was last night. Director Michael Dougherty was there, live-tweeting a number of tidbits and trivia on the most recent film in the MonsterVerse, such as Mothra being over 10,000 years old.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters was not a critical hit, but many fans across the globe enjoyed the monster bash. Fans were thrilled with the amount of references to the Godzilla series. Little things like Rodan's outpost being numbered after his film debut, to Ghidorah being labeled "Monster Zero," shows the director knows the franchise the film is based on. The movie also homages Mothra's priestesses, though no singing is featured in the movie, unfortunately. It's evident Godzilla: King of the Monsters was directed as a passion project. Something many core fans likely caught is a direct reference to one of the most iconic weapons in the Godzilla series.
Last night, Dougherty took over the official Godzilla: King of the Monsters Twitter for Legendary's final MonsterVerse online watch party. The director posted an image from the movie, showing the words "MASER TURRET STATUS: ARMED." This directly references the Maser Cannon often seen in the Japanese Godzilla movies.
Interestingly, the Maser Cannon did not debut in a Godzilla-specific film. The weapon was introduced in the popular 1966 film, The War of the Gargantuas. It was developed as a means to stop the evil Gaira. The Maser Cannon was brought over to the Godzilla series in the '70s, and made frequent appearances since. As one would expect, although powerful, they were never able to destroy Godzilla. The last time Maser Cannons made an appearance was in 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars. Sadly, they weren't utilized on screen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
To date, only one man-made weapon was able to kill Godzilla: the Oxygen Destroyer. Interestingly, this iconic, dangerous weapon was brought back in Godzilla: King of the Monsters nearly 65 years after its debut. In the 2019 film, the weapon was utilized to kill both Godzilla and Ghidorah, but only succeeded in rendering the former unable to fight. The next MonsterVerse movie is Godzilla vs. Kong, still set for a November release. It will be interesting seeing if it has as many references to the Japanese series as Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Source: Godzilla: King of the Monsters
