Apple’s New Godzilla TV Show Just Set Up A Titan We Know Nothing About

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters continues to build up a Monsterverse Titan we know nothing about. The second season of Monarch has introduced a new Titan to rival Godzilla itself, Titan X – now officially named Co’cai. But the show is also dropping smart references to other Godzilla and Kong events, with May once again infiltrating Apex to find out the company’s true agenda. Though she doesn’t know it, Apex is on the way to Mechagodzilla.

Apex has managed to “acquire” a lot of confidential information from Monarch, especially pertaining to Skull Island (which makes sense, given Monarch and Apex worked together on a research base there). There’s a lot more than that, though, including both an unexpected Mothra reference (“Titanus Mosura” is named on one file) and a nod to King Ghidorah and Outpost 32. Most curious of all, though, is a subtle nod that continues the buildup to a Titan we know nothing about.

Monarch is Setting Up A Major Titan in Russia

Monarch Season 2, episode 3 features several key files that have been stolen by Apex. One of them, surprisingly, was apparently filed by “Red Monarch” in the USSR on 9/10/1984. What makes this particularly odd is the fact 9/10/1982 was the date of a nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl, which the Monsterverse could easily have rewritten into a Titan incident; the date of the file is two years out, though, so that can be ruled out. It’s true some Soviet investigations into Chernobyl reported back in 1984, so this could still be connected, but they were much earlier in the year.

Regardless of the Chernobyl connection, we’ve been seeing hints of “Red Monarch” for quite some time. Season 1’s outpost map included several in the former USSR, suggesting Monarch worked on both sides of the Iron Curtain; even during the Cold War, the two countries coordinated on many scientific and environmental matters. It’s clear “Red Monarch” found something in 1984, perhaps a Titan frozen in the Siberian permafrost.

Looking beyond Monarch, we know that the Titan Amhuluk is hibernating around the Manpupuner Rock Formation, monitored by Outpost 66, and will eventually be awoken by King Ghidorah. Even more curiously, another Titan is known to have rampaged towards Moscow during Ghidorah’s attack on Earth, and that doesn’t appear to be Amhuluk, given geographical distance. It really does feel as though Monarch is setting up a story that simply has to be told, one that involves not just Titans but Cold War geopolitics. It will be fascinating to see whether this turns into a subplot in future seasons.

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