Godzilla vs. Kong Is Correcting Batman v Superman's Mistakes

The MonsterVerse is Warner Bros.' chance of getting a massive shared universe down from the get-go, and Godzilla vs. Kong already appears to be correcting the mistakes made by Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Years ago, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel introduced audiences to a new Superman (Henry Cavill), one that faced the pitfalls of modern life, while not only trying to find out who he truly is but also attempting to hide from the rest of the world.

It ultimately led to WB launching a DC movie universe (unofficially titled the DC Extended Universe) with Snyder's Batman V Superman in 2016. Shortly after that, David Ayer's Suicide Squad, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman, and the Justice League movie all released within the next year-and-a-half, thus giving people another comic book universe to lose themselves in. But, while all of this was happening, WB was also shepherding a number of other shared universes, including the MonsterVerse.

Beginning with Gareth Edwards' Godzilla reboot in 2014 and continuing with Jordan Vogt-Roberts' Kong: Skull Island in 2017, the MonsterVerse aims to introduce various kaiju (or Titans, as they're officially known in-universe) before ultimately bringing two of the most iconic monsters in cinema history - Godzilla and King Kong - together for an epic showdown in Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs. Kong, which releases in 2020. But the way the studio is going about doing all of this is a bit different than what they did with the DCEU - and it's already proving to be working.

This Page: The MonsterVerse Is Doing Shared Universe's Right
Next Page: WB Rushed The DCEU... But Not The MonsterVerse

Godzilla's MonsterVerse is Doing its Shared Universe Right

Introducing characters separately first, and then bringing them together at a later point isn't necessarily a requirement for team-up movies, as proven time and time again by the X-Men franchise, as well as a number of other ensemble films. But when it comes to establishing a living, breathing shared universe around a core character, and then having another character come in and challenge that one, giving each titular character their own film to develop works a tad bit better in this regard.

In the DCEU's case, separating Batman V Superman into two movies, and using the Dawn of Justice portion as a sequel in order to create a Justice League team would've been better in hindsight. However, producing a proper Man of Steel 2 in order to not only give Superman another solo story but to also introduce the various Justice League members, before going head to head with Batman in Batman V Superman, also could've worked. As it turns out, this is precisely what WB is doing with the MonsterVerse.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is jam-packed with new Titans - in the same way that Batman V Superman was considered character-heavy with every member of the future Justice League - but the way Godzilla 2 is going about introducing every character is fundamentally different. Instead of piquing audiences' interest with a brief cameo and promise of a future team-up movie, Godzilla 2 is using all of those characters as story elements; Godzilla is supposed to take on each and every monster before ultimately taking on Ghidorah in the end, as shown in the second Godzilla 2 trailer. This way, Godzilla: King of the Monsters can expand the MonsterVerse with more Titans while also giving Godzilla his greatest opponent to take on before he faces off with the king of the primates in 2020.

It's not that putting Batman and Superman together in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was wrong, but rather that the MonsterVerse is doing shared universe's right by subtly bridging the two corners of the shared universe together in their separate films. It's worth noting that Godzilla vs. Kong isn't a team-up movie; instead, it's a brawl - and each contender deserves to have their time in the spotlight. Otherwise, Godzilla vs. Kong would just be Godzilla 3 with Kong in it, and there's no way a studio would want the movie's main character to lose in a fight. Another way to think about it: Creed 2 being Adonis V Drago, with Drago winning.

Page 2 of 2: WB Rushed The DCEU... But Not The MonsterVerse

Batman faces Superman in a poster for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

The DCEU Rushed Batman V Superman

It's been long believed that WB rushed the DCEU out the gate. It took three years to develop Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice but only another year-and-a-half to release a spinoff movie (Wonder Woman) and the franchise's ultimate team-up movie (Justice League); this is discounting the fact that Suicide Squad also released in that time frame, though that had very little to do with the overarching shared universe at hand. Rather than take the time to allow Snyder to flesh out his five-movie DCEU plan, the studio wanted their own version of The Avengers on the big screen as quickly as possible, which is partially what led to a muddled Justice League release.

And now, under the leadership of former New Line Cinema producer Walter Hamada, DC Films is on a much better path. James Wan's Aquaman was the final movie to release that went into production prior to DC Films' restructuring, which itself was very much a product of Wan's as the studio learned from Justice League and allowed him the creative freedom he needed to tell the story he wanted to tell. And rather than attempt to push forward with The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, and Cyborg, DC Films is giving priority to films that are ready to go, including ones that may seem like risky bets, such as Todd Phillips' Joker and Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey.

DC Films is no longer rushing movies out to meet deadlines or to move onto another project, which is how they found themselves in a mess, to begin with. Even though the DCEU and the MonsterVerse have little to nothing in common with each other - at least with regards to leadership, producers, and development teams - aside from being released by the same Hollywood studio, Godzilla vs. Kong does show that WB learned their lessons from the DCEU and is using that knowledge to properly develop the MonsterVerse (which actually has an official name) the right way.

The MonsterVerse Isn't Making The DCEU's Mistakes

Instead of jumping from Godzilla (2014) straight into Godzilla vs. Kong, the MonsterVerse is taking its sweet time - quite literally, as Godzilla: King of the Monsters is releasing five years after the first movie - to develop the shared universe - and the best thing that the franchise did was release Kong: Skull Island in 2017. It not only introduced Kong (and several other monsters) to audiences but also expanded on Monarch's mission. In the first Godzilla movie, it seemed that the organization was created just to study the iconic kaiju, but that's not necessarily true. While it may have been created in the wake of Godzilla's discovery, its mandate is: "Discovery and Defense in a Time of Monsters." That means all monsters.

Kong: Skull Island gave audiences a prequel film that injects several new characters and elements into the MonsterVerse, including the hollow earth point theory (which is something fans can see Godzilla using on the Monarch website). And it's this film that begins to note the differences between the DCEU and the MonsterVerse. Using another film - even a prequel, which could've been The Batman in the DCEU - to tell another story that expands on the shared universe before pitting two characters together in a fight allows for greater storytelling.

Think about it this way (if the DCEU had been allowed to release differently): Godzilla is Superman's origin with Man of Steel, Kong: Skull Island is Batman's origin story with The Batman, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is Man of Steel 2 (which also brings in all the other Justice League members in small but necessary roles), and then Godzilla vs. Kong is a traditional Batman V Superman without any of the main Justice League set up. That would've been an ideal release schedule in hindsight of what happened in the end. While it all could've gone another way, this is an angle WB is taking with the MonsterVerse, and it already seems to be working, with Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah (and other Titans) being Godzilla 2's Justice League members, so to speak.

Funnily enough, there are several similarities between Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Batman V Superman, including a particular shot in the recent Godzilla 2 trailer. In the end, viewers see Godzilla and Ghidorah charging at each other, with Godzilla putting his hands up to grab one or two of Ghidorah's heads. When putting that image side-by-side to the one of Batman and Superman charging at each other in Batman V Superman (which was also shown in the movie's first teaser trailer), the similarity is too obvious to ignore. It's almost a homage to the movie, as well as the comics. All of this - combined with Godzilla vs. Kong being the Batman V Superman of the MonsterVerse, but in a much more well-thought-out way - proves that the studio has learned from their mistakes with the DCEU.