Godzilla vs. Kong Writer on Kong’s Chances in Mismatched Fight
With Godzilla: King of the Monsters opening wide this Friday, folks are already starting to ask the next logical question—how in the world will King Kong last even a single round with his lizard king counterpart in Godzilla vs. Kong? King of the Monsters pits Godzilla against fellow titans like Rodan and the three-headed super-predator King Ghidorah. The early reactions hyped the epic clashes between the Titans, with the colossal Godzilla going clawed toe to clawed toe with beasts that can breathe fire, fly, and are roughly his size. So how, then, could King Kong, who is smaller, covered in fur rather than bullet-proof scales, and without any extra firepower like, well, fire, stand a chance? Just look at the size of Godzilla and his most recent challenger!
Who better to answer this question than Godzilla vs. Kong writer Michael Dougherty, who also co-wrote and directed King of the Monsters. Doughtery spoke to Bloody Disgusting about the massive size and strength discrepancy between the two monsters and urged us to consider Kong more like an underdog than a guaranteed victim.
“We’re looking at an almost David versus Goliath situation. Because everyone, the moment you say Godzilla’s going to fight Kong, your first reaction is ‘Kong doesn’t stand a chance,’” Doughtery told Bloody Disgusting. “You know, it’s like watching Rocky go up against Ivan Drago. It seems like it’s unfair—but clearly, this means the underdog might have a few surprises.”
The Kong we saw in Kong: Skull Island was certainly no chump. He was massive, aggressive, and most importantly, smart. He was also merely an adolescent, which means the Kong that’ll show up in the battle against Godzilla is larger.
“But then if you really take the time to look at Kong as a character, it’s like, okay, in Skull Island he was an adolescent, so he was still growing,” Dougherty explained. “So who knows how big he is since the 1970s when they first met him? Kong is extremely intelligent. As a primate, he’s a tool-user. So he’s got speed, he’s got agility, he might have some good size.”
As for why these two are fighting, that’s a plot point we likely won’t know for sure until we’re much closer to the film’s 2020 release date. The film has been in the works since 2014, with Warner Bros. building the world of both Godzilla and Kong out in Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, then Skull Island and now King of the Monsters. Watching massive monsters fight each other is, clearly, something we love to do.
“I think there’s something primal in human beings to want to see a fight like that,” Dougherty said. “I think it goes back to all of our myths and legends, ancient Greek myths about gods battling each other. It’s just part of who we are as a species. Half the reason I think people watch the Planet Earth nature specials is to watch animals going up against each other, to see crocodiles going up against water buffaloes.”
Yet Dougherty promises their fisticuffs, so to speak, will have a reason beyond it just looking cool.
“So there’s that, but it just seems like it’s written in the stars for this to happen. It’s no accident that Kong was a direct inspiration for Godzilla, that the Japanese filmmakers watched King Kong and were hugely inspired by him and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and came up with Godzilla as an answer to that. So it just seems like it’s destiny.”
Their destiny is our viewing pleasure. And if Kong is the Rocky in this scenario, we might find ourselves hailing a new king of the monsters next year.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters smashes into theaters on May 31. Godzilla vs. Kong is due out on March 13, 2020.
Featured image: Caption: GODZILLA in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release
