Godzilla vs. Kong: Why Is Kong So Big? (Feature )

Godzilla vs. Kong: Why Is Kong So Big? (Feature )

IGN·2021-01-25 22:00

Godzilla vs. Kong, which debuts in theaters and on HBO Max on March 26, will feature a culminating clash between the two headliners of Legendary's Monsterverse - gargantuan primate Kong and mammoth reptile Godzilla.But for those who've seen the new poster and, now, the full Godzilla vs. Kong trailer, a question lingers: Why is Kong the same size as Godzilla? Let's dig into this!Well, the bare-bones explanation is that if another creature is going to take on Godzilla, it needs to be equal in strength and power. And since Kong doesn't fly, he needs to get sized-up considerably in order to square off against "The Zill."But don't worry, this has already been built into the story. They're not retconning anything here by making Kong tower over skyscrapers, though it is a first. This will be the largest Kong has ever been on screen. In fact, since Kong has varied in height over decades of movies, ranging from 25-55 feet, the version in 2017's Kong: Skull Island was the biggest take on the classic movie monster yet at approximately 104 feet.Even at that height though, Kong would still only be laying roundhouses into Godzilla's knees as everyone's favorite city-smasher, Godzilla, is a whopping 393 feet tall in this new franchise. So Kong will have to get a glow (grow) up.The choice to make Kong 104 feet in Skull Island came about for slightly different reasons though, as director Jordan Vogt-Roberts told IGN when the film was released. "Everyone wants to say, 'Oh, he's big because of Godzilla and Kong, right?' No, he's big because I wanted you to stand and look at this thing towering over you and the first decision your brain makes -- not the second, not the third, not the fourth, not the fifth -- but the first instinct you have is, 'That is a god.' And then what happens when you look at that god?"So 100 feet wound up being like, 'Oh yeah, that's the size I would think something's a god.' As opposed to a big ape. As opposed to a big creature."Kong: Skull Island takes place in 1973 and, as the film's creators have stated, Kong's got room to grow. Co-producer Mary Parent said that he is "an adolescent when we meet him in the film. He's still growing into his role as alpha." Promotional materials for the movie also described Kong as an "Apex Primate" and an "Adolescent Superspecies."In the film itself, John C. Reilly's character, a WWII Air Force lieutenant who'd been marooned on Skull Island for nearly 30 years, describes the situation to Tom Hiddleston's James Conrad and Brie Larson's Mason Weaver. "Kongs god on the island, but the devils live below us," he said, describing the Skullcrawlers."They come from the vents, deep down," he says. "Thats why Kong got so mad. Those bombs woke up a bunch of them. Youre lucky hes out there too or you wouldnt have made it this far. He can handle them as long as he gets to them while theyre still small. You dont want to wake up the big one."It wiped out his whole family. Kongs the last of his kind but hes still growing. And you better hope he does."So given that there's roughly 50 years between the events in Skull Island and the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong, it makes sense that Skull Island's lead lizard-smasher would grow up to be (almost) as big as Godzilla. There's no official confirmation yet as to how tall Kong will be for his collision with Godzilla but it sure looks like he's reached peak "alpha" levels for his particular superspecies.Godzilla vs. Kong's titanic tussle between its two titular monsters is what the 2014 Godzilla reboot has been building toward, and it's a fight fans have been eager to see ever since the first footage of Godzilla vs. Kong was released late last year.Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

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