As was revealed in Season 1 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Axis Mundi is essentially a world between worlds. It is what exists between Earth and the Titans’ primary habitat, the Hollow Earth. And, just as with the Hollow Earth, you’re going to find a lot of monsters in Axis Mundi, both big and small. The same could be said of Kong’s Skull Island but suffice to say, the beasts of Axis Mundi seem to be even more ferocious than the ones seen in Kong’s habitat. And, as Season 2 makes clear, Kong only really gets outraged when humanity keeps opening portals into Axis Mundi, jeopardizing the safety of the island he rightly calls home.
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In the final moments of Season 2’s debut, “Cause and Effect,” we meet what must be the greatest threat in Axis Mundi. At the very least it’s hard to imagine anything worse. In fact, this may be the biggest bad of all the MonsterVerse big bads seen thus far.
Spoilers for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, Episode 1 “Cause and Effect” follow.
What Is Titan X?
The 1957 sequences in “Cause and Effect” have Keiko Miura, Bill Randa, and young Lee Shaw go to the island of Santa Soledad in Chile in search of a sea monster. They don’t find one, at least not in this episode, but they do find what appears to be a mutated horseshoe crab in a bar filled with unfriendly locals. The bartender takes pity on Randa’s curiosity and, with the promise that they’ll leave afterwards, shows them cave drawings of an extra-large tentacled monster that has, for generations, been worshipped as a god.
In the 2017 scenes, we are told by Monarch deputy director Natalia Verdugo that it’s entirely unsafe to so much as attempt to bring (older) Lee Shaw back from Axis Mundi because, as mentioned, Kong is getting upset about we people messing with his homeland. But Cate Randa and Keiko sneak off on a rescue mission anyway, bringing along May Olowe-Hewitt, Kentaro Randa, and Cate and Kentaro’s father, Hiroshi. Soon enough, Verdugo and friendly Monarch employee Tim show up.
They succeed in bringing Lee back, but just before he makes it up, the portal allows through this technically unnamed “Titan X,” who grabs Verdugo and scurries off through the forest, smashing down trees en route to the ocean. Hearing all the ruckus, Kong makes his way to the portal, smashes the machine that has opened it, and gives chase.
However, not only is Titan X just as fast as Kong, but it also has a head start, so it gets into the ocean, leaving Kong angry with our protagonists and unable to do anything to keep his world safe. So, what you have is a Titan that is just as big as Kong, just as fast as Kong, and is inaccessible to Kong. Hence, we’re also getting Godzilla this season.
The Ion Dragon had a neat design in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1, but it wasn’t much of an opponent to Godzilla. Titan X looks to be a far tougher fight than the Season 1 baddie. We’ve yet to see much of what it can do, but it has a fish-like or reptilian head as well as eight tentacles each equipped with jagged hooks.
It will be interesting to see how Kong can join the fight when this thing calls the ocean its primary home. However, equally interesting is how it can be worshipped here on Earth yet also be a resident of Axis Mundi. Was it sent there decades ago via antiquated technology? How will the island residents of Santa Soledad feel now that its back. Furthermore, how do all of these horseshoe crab-like “Scarabs” factor in? Those questions will be answered in time as Season 2 progresses.
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