Godzilla Director Reveals Surprising Fact About the ‘Kiss of Death’ Finale

As Legendary prepares to bring its Monsterverse quadrilogy to an end later this year with Godzilla vs. Kong, it’s the perfect time to look back on just how far this reboot franchise has come in the last six years. Legendary did just that as they teamed up with director of the first film in this slate, Gareth Edwards, with a “Monsterverse Watch Along” of Godzilla‘s 2014 reboot. Edwards offered commentary for many of the film’s biggest moments, and shared some insight into how some of the decisions were made.

This includes the final battle of the film which saw Godzilla taking on the mysterious MUTO kaiju enemy, and finishing it off by opening its mouth and firing an atomic breath blast straight into its stomach. It’s been dubbed as the “Kiss of Death” by fans, and Edwards revealed during the watch along that it was initially brought up as a joke.

Noting to fans on Twitter, Edwards mentioned they had several choices as to how to nail this finisher, but ended up with this one unintentionally, “We tried so many different ways to do Godzilla’s ‘knock out blow’ to the MUTO[.] I suggested this one as a joke, but it stuck.”

Godzilla’s 2014 outing earned a lot of criticisms from fans for how little it actually featured the titular kaiju (which Edwards poked fun at himself during the watch along too), but the impact of this final moment is what helped that battle sit with fans. The success of that battle eventually led to a sequel years later, and is probably why that first film is still a big deal six years later.

It’s an argument for quality over quantity, and although it began as a joke seeing it in action is anything but. What did you think of the final battle between Godzilla and the MUTO in the film? What are your thoughts on Godzilla 2014 overall? What did you think of its big sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters?

Are you looking forward to the end of Legendary’s Monsterverse quadrilogy, Godzilla vs. Kong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!