Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is one of the biggest releases slated on the 2024 movies calendar, with the two title Titans re-teaming three years after they clashed in Godzilla vs. Kong. However, these gigantic monsters don’t look quite the same as they did in that 2021 movie, with Godzilla now rocking pink spines and Kong looking a little older. With just several months to go until The New Empire begins playing on the big screen, director Adam Winged has addressed these tweaked aspects of these Titans.
Starting off, Wingard informed Total Film how when he was making Godzilla vs. Kong, he wanted the towering reptile to basically look the same as he did in Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the first and third MonsterVerse movies, respectively. But when Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire came along, it gave him a platform to put his own spin on the legendary monster’s appearance, with the filmmaker saying:
Very specifically in the last film, I wanted Godzilla to have a continuity, to look the way that he had in King of the Monsters and the 2014 Godzilla. But then I didn’t get a chance at doing my version of Godzilla. So now I wanted to do different things with the spines, and try different colours. I didn't want it to just be random; it's part of the story.
Given that he’s the first director to helm more than one MonsterVerse movie, Adam Winged was certainly well within his rights to come up with a new look for Godzilla, and it wasn’t purely for aesthetic reasons either. As you can see, there will be a narrative reason for the pink spines, though Winged stopped short of providing any specific details. That said, it’s already been speculated that the change in color is because Godzilla is now channeling gamma radiation.
As for Kong, who later joined forces with Godzilla to destroy Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong, and was last seen making himself at home deep within Hollow Earth, here’s what Adam Wingard had to say about the gorilla’s older look:
And similarly with Kong, I wanted to give him some sort of new look as well. We grew his beard out, and gave him a little bit more grey hair and stuff.
It is interesting to note that Kong’s look barely changed in the nearly five decades that passed between the events of Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong, with the only major difference being how much larger he was in the latter movie compared to the former. However, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire only takes place a few years after Godzilla vs. Kong, yet now Kong suddenly has gray hair. So it’ll be interesting to learn if there’s also a narrative reason for Kong’s new look or if this one was purely
The fifth MonsterVerse movie will see Godzilla and Kong teaming up against The Skar King, another Simian Titan who’s wreaking havoc within Hollow Earth and is an original creation rather than one that originated from Toho. As far as Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’s cast of human characters goes, we’ll reunite with Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle’s characters, and the lineup of newcomers includes Alex Ferns, Fala Chen and Rachel House. Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater all worked on the script.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits theaters on April 12. In the meantime, you can watch a more familiar-looking Godzilla out and about in the TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which can be viewed with an Apple TV+ subscription and checks in on the Titan both in the 1950s and the mid-2010s.
