Regardless of the brutal beating Godzilla took in Godzilla vs. Kong, the Titan is still capable of beating Mechagodzilla in the MonsterVerse. Of course, the fight on its own certainly doesn’t give that impression to audiences. Godzilla was barely able to hold up against Mechagodzilla’s relentless blows and his lethal arsenal of high-tech weapons.
Godzilla – the same Titan who previously dethroned Ghidorah and beat Kong in not one but two punishing bouts – barely stood a chance against his robotic counterpart in Godzilla vs. Kong. From the very beginning, he was hit hard by APEX’s creation, who was relentless in his assault. Under the force of Mechagodzilla’s energy-charged punches and missiles, Godzilla was quickly overwhelmed. Before he could be killed by his own “Kiss of Death” move from the 2014 film, he was rescued by Kong, who received only a limited amount of assistance from Godzilla in the final battle. In the end, it was the King of Skull Island who emerged victorious over Mechagodzilla.
There’s no denying that Godzilla lost the fight to Mechagodzilla – but that doesn’t necessarily mean APEX’s mecha-Titan is superior. While being better than Godzilla was his purpose, events in the film and comments from Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard indicate Godzilla would probably win if circumstances were different. Though none of the characters mention it, it’s important to point out that before the final showdown, Godzilla had been in three battles with Kong. Godzilla won two of those rounds but didn’t walk away without any injuries. It’s understandable his fights with Kong would take a great physical toll. Wingard acknowledges Godzilla’s fatigue from fighting Kong in both the director’s commentary included on the home video release and in interviews, such as the one he had with Toho Kingdom.
Plus, there’s the matter of Godzilla’s heavy use of atomic breath. In fact, this likely had an even bigger impact on his performance in the fight than Kong. After Kong activated the Hollow Earth energy source, Godzilla charged up and blasted a hole all the way down to the Hollow Earth. It shouldn’t be expected for Godzilla to easily recover from such a major exertion of his power. Wingard also admitted during the director’s commentary that Godzilla only had 50% of his energy left when he fought Mechagodzilla.
A fully-rested Godzilla operating at 100% not only would have stood a much better chance, but he would have won the fight without any aid from Kong. Mechagodzilla designer Jared Krichevsky even said in a Reddit AMA that though it would be a very close contest, Godzilla can beat Mechagodzilla “at full power” [via Reddit]. In addition, Wingard has noted in the past that Godzilla losing the beam lock with Mechagodzilla happened because of how exhausted he was. So all things considered, it makes sense that what happened to Gojira in Godzilla vs. Kong is less of a result of Mechagodzilla being better, and more of a consequence of the movie’s events. This seems fitting, especially when considering the MonsterVerse’s most important theme, which is the idea that nature always wins over humanity. APEX building a Titan stronger than the King of the Monsters would have contradicted that notion.