Godzilla vs. Kong features a showdown between two of the most colossal characters in all of cinematic history, which also paid off the current iteration of the MonsterVerse that kicked off in 2014’s Godzilla, with director Adam Wingard recently detailing how, despite it being a major financial success, he wanted to avoid falling into the setbacks of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The filmmaker noted how he didn’t feel that adventure was entirely fulfilling, given that it served as Ben Affleck’s debut as Batman, whereas Godzilla vs. Kong features figures who had previously appeared in their own adventures.
“I wanted this to feel like it was the real match-up of Godzilla and King Kong,” Wingard explained to Yahoo!. “We’ve already gotten a new Kong film, so he’s established. We’ve gotten two Godzilla movies. And so I didn’t want to change them up too much because I wanted it to feel like this was a legitimate fight. It wasn’t two new characters fighting each other. I have always made this comparison. I’m not cutting down this movie at all. But when they did Batman v Superman that was the first time we had seen Ben Affleck as Batman. Not to say that that’s good or bad, but the fact is it was a new Batman.”
He continued, “So it was kind of hard for me to jump in and say, ‘This is the ultimate Batman versus Superman,’ because I’m still learning who this version of Batman is. And so with our movie, I wanted this to be Godzilla and Kong. You can’t just start there. That’s what’s so cool about the MonsterVerse: this is the culmination of the buildup of those movies. They’ve been established, this version, and now we get to let them fight.”
As noted by the filmmaker, another major difference between this film and the DCEU showdown is that, as its title implied, Batman v Superman was meant to establish the dynamic between the two characters to be continued in future films, as opposed to this MonverVerse adventure and its finality.
Despite no future films currently announced, Godzilla vs. Kong writer Max Borenstein is hoping this isn’t the end of the series.
“Hopefully there will be, I have no idea. If not the peak then the plateau that everyone has been aiming for,” Borenstein detailed to Collider of this film earning follow-ups. “This is a point that has been a part of the ambition since the beginning, so I look forward to whatever the next iteration of this franchise is. This has certainly been getting these two characters, like The Avengers, you build to that place. That’s not to say there aren’t future movies that bring everyone together.”
Godzilla vs. Kong is currently in theaters and on HBO Max.
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