Godzilla vs Kong’s trailer offered viewers their first glimpse of the mysterious APEX, but is this corporation a new franchise villain, a new face for Monarch, or another faction in the kaiju wars? Directed by The Guest helmer Adam Wingard, Godzilla vs Kong is the long-awaited cinematic face-off between two titans of creature feature film history. The great ape of Skull Island and Godzilla will finally fight it out in late March when the movie arrives on HBO Max and in cinemas simultaneously.
Fans of both monsters have already been left with a lot of questions in the wake of the first Godzilla vs Kong trailer, which pointedly left plot details unclear for now. One of the most notably enigmatic elements of the Godzilla vs Kong trailer was the sneak peek that viewers got of APEX in one scene. APEX was the working title of Godzilla vs Kong when the movie was in pre-production, and since those early days, the creators have revealed that the name belongs to a mysterious corporation who will feature in the new movie’s action.
But what’s not yet clear is the role that APEX will have in the MonsterVerse, whether they will be a rebranded face for Godzilla franchise figure Monarch, a new hitherto-unseen villain, or even the group responsible for creating this movie’s iteration of the infamous robo-monster Mechagodzilla.
Everything We Know About APEX In The MonsterVerse
Judging by a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glance of a map dotted with Monarch test sites and kaiju sightings, there is a shadowy group known as APEX who are being tracked alongside both the franchise’s monsters and the shadowy scientific group of earlier Godzilla installments. Stranger Things heroine Millie Bobby Brown’s character Madison Russell could be the character compiling this list of APEX sightings, and from what viewers can tell, the group appears to be called APEX Sciences (going based on the social media marketing Legendary and Warner Bros. have done with the APEX Sciences account), have facilities across the world, and seem to be studying ancient paintings (presumably for evidence of Kong, Godzilla, Nozuki, Warbat, King Ghidorah, and the rest of the monsters spotted throughout this series).
Is APEX Godzilla vs Kong's Villain Group?
One telling detail that is absent from the Godzilla vs Kong trailer but can be discovered via some online sleuthing is that APEX is referred to as APEX Cybernetics in the movie’s credits, where their security guards are credited on IMDb. This may seem like a small detail, but the revelation that APEX is a cybernetics company (and the fact that their operations are clandestine/dangerous enough to require the hiring of security guards) may be proof that the group is building this franchise's incarnation of Mechagodzilla, possibly in an attempt to bait the real Godzilla into combat, or to enact mass-scale destruction and blame it on the noble beast (or both). It hasn't been officially confirmed yet that Mechagodzilla will appear in Godzilla vs Kong (particularly when the movie is already introducing new monsters such as Nozuki and Warbat), but the fact that Charles Dance’s villainous Jonah was last seen unearthing the severed head of King Ghidorah means that there’s no reason to think the franchise’s human villains are done with using kaiju for their own nefarious plans.
Is APEX Part of Monarch?
Both the hero and surprise anti-villain of Godzilla: King of the Monsters worked for Monarch, a similarly shady but ultimately mostly well-meaning organization dedicated to tracking and containing the world's monsters. However, it’s not likely that APEX and Monarch are related for two distinct reasons. The first, outlined above, is that APEX is a Cybernetics company, a field that Monarch hasn't had any direct involvement with (that viewers know of) in the Godzilla series so far. Moreover, the premise of cybernetics concerning kaiju (which is presumably creating robotic entities to fight and subdue the gigantic beasts Pacific Rim-style) goes against the theoretically peaceful aims of Monarch. However, it's worth noting that the Godzilla: King of the Monsters credits teased Monarch creating a "mechanized giant" on Skull Island, which was taken as a hint for Mechagodzilla.
That being said, with Vera Farmiga’s embattled Monarch scientist defecting from the corporation to work with eco-terrorist Alan Jonah, there’s reason to believe that a similarly embittered former Monarch worker could have set up APEX to draw Godzilla back into the world of humans and bait him into causing destruction. By building a Mechagodzilla (if that is APEX’s current project), the corporation could trick Godzilla into coming out of his slumber to fight Kong as he tries to expose his robotic doppelgänger. There’s no knowing whether APEX will be the sort of shady operation that attempts this brand of nefarious scheme, but the fact that the movie’s young heroine appears to be tracking their movement likely means that viewers shouldn’t give the group the benefit of the doubt regarding their plans.
What APEX & Monarch's Roles Could Be In Godzilla vs Kong
It looks likely that APEX may well be the group responsible for constructing and operating Godzilla vs Kong’s version of Mechagodzilla. Their use of this robot kaiju could well be what causes the eponymous battle, as Godzilla re-emerges to clear his name while poor King Kong is left fighting both the monster’s robot double and his real deal self. It’s unlikely that the largely heroic Monarch will help APEX in this endeavor, and in fact, APEX may be an offshoot of the group created by a frustrated former employee like Vera Farmiga’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters anti-villain. However, Monarch also has their darker side, so the organization's approach to handling kaiju may have changed between movies and they could be allied with APEX as a result. What is certain is that both groups will likely play a part in the titular face-off, with Monarch presumably attempting to contain the destruction and APEX more likely to be playing an active part in causing the chaos of Godzilla vs Kong’s long-awaited city-smashing rampage.
