A scene in Kong: Skull Island raises some questions about the massive size upgrade the MonsterVerse is giving the Titan in Godzilla vs. Kong. Kong, who was less than a third of Godzilla’s height in the 1970s, will be nearly even with the King of the Monsters in the upcoming movie.
In Kong: Skull Island, the giant ape was 104 feet tall when he encountered the humans and defended his island from the invasive Skullcrawlers. That pales in comparison to Godzilla, who had a height of 393 feet in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Since Godzilla’s size was an increase from the 2014 movie, he could be even bigger in the 2021 movie. That being said, the two will be approximately the same height in Godzilla vs. Kong. As for why Kong was able to grow so much in less than 50 years, the explanation that’s been offered is his age. It’s been said that Kong was just an adolescent when the humans first crossed paths with him in 1973. Apparently, Kong has done a lot of growing since then.
The idea behind the size upgrade is that Kong’s species is capable of reaching great heights, but Kong: Skull Island suggests otherwise. There’s a scene in the movie where the human characters are led to a large graveyard. While there, they see the skeletons of two apes who are revealed to be Kong’s parents. They, along with the rest of his kind, were wiped out by the vicious Skullcrawlers. What’s interesting about all this is the skeletons themselves. Based on how they compare to the humans observing them, it would seem that they’re no bigger than their son is during Kong: Skull Island.
The implication here is that Kong’s height in the movie is about normal and that he should be full-grown (or close to it). There was no evidence in the movie of an ape as big Godzilla vs. Kong’s version of the character. One possible explanation is that Kong’s parents were still growing when they died. But if there were any apes that big on the island, that would make the extinction of their species even more difficult to imagine. At 104 feet, Kong was significantly challenged, but he was still able to fend off the Skullcrawlers on his own. If he was as tall as Godzilla though, the battle would have been much easier, and even more so if there were more apes.
Regardless, Kong growing so big to fight Godzilla isn’t unprecedented. Toho went in a similar direction when they made the ape who scaled the Empire State Building tall enough to go toe-to-toe with Godzilla in the 1962 crossover movie, King Kong vs. Godzilla. In both movies, Kong being a match for him would have been impossible without making notable changes to his appearance. Due to his size and a new power, Toho’s Kong was able to survive, but it remains to be seen if his MonsterVerse counterpart will be as fortunate.
