The Monsterverse has already given what many Godzilla fans have always wanted. Specifically, it has brought iconic kaiju from that 70-year-old franchise to life in American cinema with a big budget (specifically Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla). But here’s the thing about such a long-running franchise: there are plenty of other monsters it could adapt. For instance, in the third Godzilla vs. Kong movie, the title of which has been revealed to be Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. Those are the monsters that follow. Now, the King Kong IP has been running even longer than Godzilla’s, but there have been far fewer movies in it. And, just as often as not, the film has been either the 1933 original or a retelling of that original. The only outliers are Toho’s King Kong Escapes and the wretched sequel to the 1976 King Kong that is King Kong Lives. The latter didn’t introduce any new kaiju outside a second Kong, but the former did.
That said, the chances of Mechani-Kong (basically a Mechagodzilla but for Kong) making it into the Monsterverse are rightfully slim. And, as for Gorosaurus, he’s really just a standard T. Rex-like dinosaur. There would be little point in incorporating him. So, what we’re looking at here are monsters from the Shōwa and Heisei eras of the Godzilla franchise that have yet to see the light of day in the Monsterverse.
1) Hedorah
A supernova is the death of a star. Could the Supernova of the title be a hint that the Earth in the Monsterverse is facing a similar fate? If so, Hedorah would probably be the slimy guy for the job.
A product of humanity’s pollution and lack of desire to do anything about it, Hedorah would be an even more timely inclusion now than he was in the ’70s. With the U.S. basically walking away from any and every effort to preserve the health of the Earth, Hedorah would make for a natural inclusion in the Monsterverse.
2) Gigan
There are two ways of looking at the title Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. On one hand, there are cosmic implications in the inevitable clash. If viewed through this light, there are two clear contenders for the film’s antagonist: Gigan and SpaceGodzilla. We’ll get to the other way of looking at the title in the next entry.
For now, though, it’s worth noting that Gigan is a fan-favorite kaiju. His design is so bizarre that it’s hard not to put him in the top tier of antagonists Godzilla has faced. And, were a poll to be taken on which Godzilla villains should make their way to the Monsterverse, he (or rather it) would very likely find himself at the very top of the list.
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3) Destoroyah
The other way of looking at the title of the forthcoming Monsterverse movie is within the history of the Toho Godzilla franchise’s Heisei era. Specifically, the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, which has the Big-G die via a nuclear meltdown. This is something that, technically, the Monsterverse already did at the tail end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
So, the question is, was that foreshadowing for a true, fatal meltdown or was it just a one-and-done plot point slash reference? If it’s the former, then the villain of Godzilla x Kong: Supernova could very well be Destoroyah. The most intimidating and deadly villain Godzilla has ever faced, Destoroyah was a big monster with small beginnings. This oversized crustacean was created via the Oxygen Destroyer, the device used to kill Godzilla in the 1954 film. It was also the device that very nearly killed him in the aforementioned Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Could the subtitle Supernova be hinting at Godzilla’s upcoming exit from the Monsterverse? Could be.
4) Mecha-King Ghidorah
As mentioned, the end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters had the Big-G over-radiated. Without this, he never would have been able to defeat that film’s main antagonist: King Ghidorah.
So here we are back in potential foreshadowing territory. Could Supernova bring back King Ghidorah? They already essentially brought him back in Godzilla vs. Kong, when Apex Cybernetics used his severed head to establish a link to Mechagodzilla’s body (essentially making that Mechagodzilla a resurrected Ghidorah), so it’s not a concept without precedence. Why not go the whole way this time and making him the mean version of the Mecha-King Ghidorah seen in the third act of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah?
5) SpaceGodzilla
Like with Gigan, SpaceGodzilla is a monster that comes from, well, space. Either one seems like a likely candidate if the franchise is going even further down the cosmic route.
In the ’90s movie, the origins of SpaceGodzilla are directly related to the death of a monster that has never been introduced in the Monsterverse (Biollante, whose movie recently received a terrific Criterion Collection 4K Blu-ray). But then again, Gigan was an assassin monster used at the whim of some cockroach aliens, so either way, the backstory is going to have to change.
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