Why Godzilla And Kong Are Fighting Explained

After three movies featuring the titular character separately, Godzilla vs. Kong is poised to be a massive faceoff between the two Titans. Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King off the Monsters did not seem to be explicitly leading towards such a showdown, with little to information provided as to why they are about to head into battle against each other. The film's first trailer, although quite epic, also kept those details mum. However, while visiting the set of Godzilla vs. Kong in Australia in early 2019, ComicBook.com got a look at the massive production and got a monstrous picture of what is pitting the massive beasts against one another.

"One of the most important things was, is that this feels like a legitimate sequel to those movies, that this feels like a legitimate match up between Godzilla vs Kong, that even though Kong is a little bit different in this film, it's only because he's aged from the time of the last movie," Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard explains. "So he's a little more grizzled and all those kinds of things, but I guess what I'm trying to get at is that part of the problem with King Kong versus Godzilla, the original movie, is that we'd already established Godzilla, he looks basically like he did in the earlier films, but this was sort of a new King Kong."

As was seen in the film's trailer, Kong has grown quite a bit. Godzilla is estimated to be standing about 400 feet tall, with Kong clocking in at about 350 feet tall. The growth of Kong happened in the 40 years which have passed since the audience last saw him in the Jordan Vogt-Roberts directed Skull Island. Now, larger and more powerful, Kong is being called upon by humans for a treacherous trip into Hollow Earth, one which they're making in hopes of finding a defense against monsters in the future.

"A second mission is commissioned to go into the Hollow Earth…but it's a much more dangerous journey," producer Alex Garcia reveals. "Nathan [(Alexander Skarsgard)], who at first is resistant, is eventually through some very emotional means, convinced to go. He's told they have new crafts [HEAVs] for this journey into the Hollow Earth through this different portal. But Nathan only agrees to go if they take Kong with them. The belief is that if they have a creature they believe came from Hollow Earth, and who will have some kinship with some of the things they may find in it, they may have a better chance to survive. So, they take Kong off Skull Island, start making the journey toward Antarctica, and eventually intersect with Godzilla who we start to realize has been acting the way he's been acting is because he is trying to stem any other threats to the balance he maintains."

While nobody was willing to distill the details of why the two are fighting as a means to preserve some surprises for the movie, it also seems like the film is not wanting to frame either monster as a hero or villain. "They're both characters who are fighting for something that is distinct to them, and those things happen to sometimes be what's good for us, but they don't always align," Garcia says. "Neither is inherently evil, but they also aren't inherently good, right? And I think that's where the complexity of mankind and our relation to them really comes into play. Neither is an antagonist, per se, but there is a complexity."

For Kong, it's an adventure to a ew world. For Godzilla, it's a threatening new world. With those two things colliding, the expense will be entire cityscapes, especially a neon-lit Hong Kong. "This is the first time Kong leave Skull Island – in our mythology – and there's a lot that comes with that. He's now just coming to terms with this new reality and what does that mean," Garcia says. "Similarly, Godzilla is frantically trying to defend his own power structure, and not necessarily because he's a tyrant or something, but he is trying to maintain a bigger balance that he feels is under threat, and he sees Kong as potentially one of those threats."

Still, it seems there is a possibility that Kong and Godzilla could find themselves united against a common enemy. Apex, a "megalithic technological conglomerate," is safeguarding the world against these creatures in the aftermath of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. While much of the world sees their work as protective and fruitful, Millie Bobby Brown's Madison and her trio of friends "believe there's something else going on." Given Brown's connection to Godzilla, the Kaiju beast might be acting out in another misunderstood way, attempting to protect himself and others from a creation built to get revenge for the death of Ren Serizawa's father.

The human to human conflict will largely be seen through the lens of the monsters having their distinct allies. "Team Godzilla's being sort of led by Millie Bobby Brown and Brian Tyree Henry," Wingard explains. "Whereas Team Kong is on the other side of the world being led by Alexander Skarsgard and Rebecca Hall."

"Even though like we've only showed just like the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to what there is in the movie, you still want all these like great surprises and these great moments to hit in the most effective way possible," Wingard says.

Want to talk more about Godzilla vs. Kong? Drop your thoughts in the comments or hit me up on Instagram. Godzilla vs. Kong hits theaters and HBO Max on March 31.