The official new poster for Godzilla vs. Kong subtly suggests that this time around, Godzilla may be the hero of the story. The poster, released ahead of the highly anticipated trailer, shows Godzilla’s spikes sticking out of the water as he heads toward his rival, who waits for him in a city in a flames.
After numerous delays, the fourth installment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse is finally only a couple of months away, now that its release date has been moved up from May to March. When it releases in theaters and on HBO Max, audiences will witness what will serve as only the second showdown between Godzilla and Kong. The two pop culture icons haven’t duked it out on the big screen since Toho’s 1962 crossover, King Kong vs. Godzilla. As for their motivation for fighting in the new film, a reason hasn’t been made clear as of yet.
The Godzilla vs. Kong poster has offered a possible reason for why they may fight. Kong being in a burning city and Godzilla swimming toward him gives the implication that this destruction wasn’t caused by their battle; it happened earlier. Instead, it appears that Kong – who is now loose in the civilized world – may be creating chaos and as a result, Godzilla is on his way to put a stop to it. If this does factor into the plot for Godzilla vs. Kong, it could mean that the MonsterVerse is reversing the story behind their original fight in King Kong vs. Godzilla. In the movie, it was King Kong who the human characters had to rely on to end Godzilla’s rampage.
Godzilla having to be the hero who stops Kong would of course be quite different from what happened in the original, but at the same time it would be consistent with how he’s been portrayed in the MonsterVerse. Godzilla is a Titan whose mission is to preserve the balance of nature, and the Godzilla: King of the Monsters credits did reveal that he’s doing what he can to keep his Titan minions in check. If he wants to keep the Titans from interfering in human affairs and destroying cities, he might step in if Kong got out of control.
A possible problem with this idea is that like the MonsterVerse’s Godzilla, Kong has a heroic image, and to some, it may seem unlikely for him to have such an antagonistic role. That being said, it could be that the events in the film will push Kong to this point. It’s now known that Kong will be leaving Skull Island, either by his own accord or because he was forced. If the human villains, another Titan, or maybe even Mechagodzilla were to devastate his home, Kong could go on the attack. Or, he may simply find himself lost in the city and begin wreaking havoc without necessarily meaning to. Then, it would fall on Godzilla to rein him in. One of them making the decision to strike the first blow could be all it takes to ignite their MonsterVerse grudge match in Godzilla vs. Kong.
