Cinematic universe timelines can be a tricky thing to disseminate. The Halloween and X-Men franchises are notorious offenders in this regard because there have just been so many reboots and shifts. But the Monsterverse is impressively simple. Two TV series and five movies in and we’re still not at the point where any retcons or sneaky “and this happened too” moments have been thrown our way. It’s all a relatively simple progression throughout a span of 70 or so years, with kaiju, er, Titans, becoming a graver threat all along the way. With that said, let’s make sure you know where to start, if you’re the type of viewer who is new to it and prefers things in the chronological order.
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If you’re interested in a such a thing, the release date order is as follows: Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, the Netflix anime series Skull Island, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, and the forthcoming Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. Where does Monarch Season 2 fit in all this? Let’s find out.
9) Retro Timeline in Monarch
The flashback scenes in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ first season ranged a number of years. Specifically, from 1952 to 1959. It is said that the events of Season 2 will be a bit more focused, in 1957.
It’s in the flashback sequences that we meet the young Bill Randa, the young Lee Shaw, and Keiko Miura. It’s through their eyes that we see the nuclear bomb go off that was supposed to kill Godzilla though, of course, that didn’t pan out.
Stream Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV.
8) The Discovery of Kong
The Vietnam War ran for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975. Kong: Skull Island takes place in 1973, so it’s right towards the tail end of the war. This is also where we met Bill Randa, played here by John Goodman and in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters by Anders Holm (Goodman also put in cameo appearances in the Season 1 premiere and finale).
By film’s end, bot Tom Hiddleston’s James Conrad and Brie Larson’s Mason Weaver are recruited by Monarch, but we haven’t seen them sense. We have, however, seen what they are shown on cave paintings, which is Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah battling it out.
Stream Kong: Skull Island on HBO Max.
7) The Animated Years on Skull Island
The Netflix series Skull Island, the Monsterverse’s first and still most recent foray into animated terrain, takes place at some point in the early ’90s. It takes place 20 years after the events of Kong: Skull Island, which puts it around 1993. The show doesn’t go out of its way to give an explicit date, but it is prior to the canon comic miniseries Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, which was released around the time of Kong: Skull Island and takes place in 1995.
Stream Skull Island on Netflix.
6) G-Day
Some members of humanity, most of them within Monarch, knew about Godzilla prior to G-Day in 2014, when Godzilla fought the MUTOs in San Francisco. But after this the building-sized cat was out of the bag.
Release wise, this is where the Monsterverse started, which is fitting, because it very well may be the most important moment of the in-universe canon. Kong was kept under wraps, but Godzilla and the MUTOs were unavoidable. They changed the world for people in the universe and allowed it all to only get weirder and wilder (and a little less self-serious) from here.
5) “Modern” Timeline in Monarch
The other portion of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the one with Kurt Russell’s more seasoned Lee Shaw, took place one year after G-Day. That puts it at 2015.
However, the finale incorporated a two-year time jump to 2017, and that’s where we find our cast of characters in Monarch Season 2. That means that, like the first season, it takes place between the events of Godzilla and its 2019 sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Speaking of which….
4) The Rise of Ghidorah
Like its predecessor, Godzilla: King of the Monsters takes place during the year in which it was released, which was 2019. We see Ghidorah try to establish his dominance over all other Titans on the planet. The only problem is, while he may be Titan-sized, he’s an alien. He doesn’t belong here, which Godzilla and Mothra recognize even if Rodan picks the wrong side.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the most flawed entry of the Monsterverse, often feeling a little too dour for its own good, but it does establish what is the most crucial element that helps the universe stand apart. Namely, that “King of the Monsters” isn’t just an unnecessary addition to the title Gojira for the Americanized version of the 1954 original. Instead, it’s how this whole hierarchy of kaiju function. There is one who stands above the others and, to a degree, allows them to feel safe. They feel drawn to this top dog, at least when they’re called. Without this addition to the lore, Godzilla vs. Kong wouldn’t have functioned as well as it does, making it the best installment thus far.
Stream Godzilla: King of the Monsters on HBO Max.
3) Godzilla, Meet Kong. Kong, Godzilla
Both of the Godzilla vs. Kong (or, rather, Godzilla x Kong) movies released thus far take place three years ahead of their release dates. So, while Godzilla vs. Kong was released in 2021, its events transpired in 2024.
The two Titans met, duked it out, vied for the title of King of the Monsters, and teamed up to take down Mechagodzilla, partially built using one of the deceased Ghidorah’s three telepathic heads. This is also where we met Kaylee Hottle’s Jia, arguably the Monsterverse’s most important human character, as well as Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews and Brian Tyree Henry’s Bernie Hayes.
Stream Godzilla vs. Kong on TBS.
2) The Skar King
Like with Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire takes place three years after its release date. So, in this case, 2024 becomes 2027 (just as The New Empire was released when vs. Kong took place, so too will Godzilla x Kong: Supernova release when The New Empire took place).
It’s in 2027 we saw Godzilla and Kong once more get at each other’s throats but ultimately decide to team up to take on fellow tag-team the Skar King and Shimo (with a little help Suko, a juvenile member of the tribe Kong begins to lead by film’s end). The question is, will its successor follow the same sort of release date to chronology trend.
Stream Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire on Cinemax.
1) The Supernova Question Mark
The title Godzilla x Kong: Supernova certainly implies a galactic element, but does that mean we’re going to jump a few decades in the future when humanity can pull off a whole Invasion of Astro-Monster thing and ship Godzilla off to space. Likely not, it’s far more plausible that SpaceGodzilla flies his way down here. It stands to reason this one will take place in 2030, three years off from its release date.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 begins streaming on Apple TV on a weekly basis starting February 27th until its finale on May 1st.
What is your favorite installment of the Monsterverse? Which do you think is the most important? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Image Courtesy of Prime Video -
Image Courtesy of Netflix
