4 Loose Threads That Apple's ‘Monsterverse’ Series Could Address
After 2021's kaiju punch-up film Godzilla vs. Kong, fans of Universal's Monsterverse wondered what would be next. Each film in the series has been fairly self-contained, though Kong: Skull Island included a number of hints about the next movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which itself also teased Godzilla vs. Kong. But after the credits rolled on the latest film, there was no clear indicator where the series would go.
That changed at the start of this year, when Apple TV+ announced that it had ordered a live-action series delving into Monarch, the shadowy organization that's been tracking the monstrous Titans for decades. But aside from stating that the story would focus on one as-yet-unidentified family, we have no clear indication of what direction the show will take.
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So what are some of the threads from previous Monsterverse entries that the show could explore? We re-watched the movies and have identified four possibilities below.
What Happened To Ford Brody?
Since the series is touted as an immediate follow-up to Godzilla (2014), the most obvious question it could answer is: where is Ford Brody?
Ford was the lead character, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson: a Navy lieutenant and an explosive ordnance disposal expert who gets pulled into Monarch's monster-hunting business by his father Joe (Bryan Cranston). He spends most of the movie struggling to get back to San Francisco where his wife and son live, before helping to save the city from the battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs at the climax. In the film's final shots, Ford is reunited with his family as Godzilla swims away, his mission complete.
It's a solid ending that seems to close the book on Ford's character, but knowing what comes later in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we're forced to wonder what happened to the Brody family. Ford is a military officer with experience dealing with Titans, which makes him an obvious candidate for Monarch. Why didn't we see him during the conflict with King Ghidorah? Was he occupied elsewhere, or did he just say "no thanks" to Monarch's recruitment pitch?
Seeing more about Ford is a distinct possibility in the series, but it's likely he won't be the focus of the story. While Apple's description of a "family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch" could apply to his family, that story was already well-told on the big screen. We'll probably see new characters in that lead role this time around.
What’s The Deal With Alan Jonah?
Speaking of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, there's a strong chance we might see its main antagonist crop up: Alan Jonah, an ex-SAS operative and eco-terrorist played by Charles Dance. In that film, he was responsible for a large number of deaths, as well as releasing King Ghidorah from his Antarctic prison. But for all that, we barely get any information about the man.
Given that he's already on Monarch's radar from the beginning of the movie, we know they saw him as a threat to their operations before all that Ghidorah business went down. This positions him as a likely antagonist for the new series as well, and opens up the possibility for a deeper look into his motivations and deeds. We might also see how Jonah connects with Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga), his co-conspirator for much of the film's runtime.
It doesn't hurt that Dance plays the part in a very complex way, trying to be playful with Millie Bobby Brown's character and genuinely mourning the deaths of his men while carrying out his plans to end human civilization. It's clear that he's exceptionally driven, to the point that when things go sideways and it's clear that the Titans are out of his control, he doesn't show much remorse since he'll still get what he wants.
With this in mind, it's almost certain Alan Jonah will have some role to play as the story unfolds, whether it's in the background or front-and-center. But his SAS past also connects him with more characters...
Where Are The Skull Island Survivors?
Released between Godzilla and King of the Monsters, Kong: Skull Island (2017) tells a tale from Monarch's early days in 1973 under the leadership of William Randa. He convinces the U.S. government to let him lead a scientific expedition to the titular island, where he confirms his suspicions that monsters are real and likely originated in the Hollow Earth. The latter becomes a key plot point in Godzilla vs. Kong, but the former is the reason the expedition goes wrong, with only a handful of characters surviving to walk away.
Of those characters, we only get closure on one: John C. Reilly's Hank Marlow, who crashed on Skull Island during World War II and escaped with Monarch. He gets to return to the world and his family. Two other survivors, San Lin (Jiang Tin) and Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), were already members of Monarch and are shown returning to the organization. (Brooks, in fact, reappears in King of the Monsters, played by Joe Morton.) Three Army soldiers survive as well and are implied to have mustered out and gone home.
That leaves the two leads: ex-SAS tracker James Conrad, played by Tom Hiddleston, and war photographer Mason Weaver, played by Brie Larson. In the movie's post-credits scene, we see them being debriefed by Brooks and Lin and welcomed into Monarch. Beyond that, we have no idea what role they ended up playing in Monarch's history.
Given how the new show is focused on Monarch's history and legacy, it's extremely likely some mention of these four characters—Brooks, Lin, Conrad, and Weaver—will find its way into the story. They could end up being foundational to the Monarch we see in the 21st century, and their shadows could stretch over the series. With the exception of Brooks, the descendants of any of these characters might even be the family spoken of in the press release.
It's also worth noting the similarities between Conrad and Jonah from King of the Monsters. Their shared background in the SAS is interesting, to the point that prior to that film's release, some fans suspected they were the same character, with Conrad eventually souring on Monarch and leading a campaign against them. While this proved not to be the case, there's nothing stopping the new show from coming up with other ways to tie them together.
How Does The Titan Ecosystem Work?
Up to this point, we've been mostly concerned with the human characters, who are arguably the weakest part of the Monsterverse so far. But how about those big, stompy monsters we love to see flatten cities as they fight each other?
Together, the films paint a complicated picture of how the Titans work relative to each other. There are so-called "alphas" like Godzilla and Kong, not-quite-alphas like Mothra, parasitic creatures like the MUTOs, and even outsiders like Ghidorah—he's flagged by Monarch as not being part of the natural order, implying the existence of space monsters as well. In all, there's a lot of information to learn about the ecology of monsters, and a series that explores Monarch in depth is in a good position to start filling in those gaps.
Part of that will also have to involve explaining the Monsterverse's shaky understanding of how radiation works. The Titans are explicitly stated to feed on gamma radiation, but they also emit some other form of radiation that encourages growth in nature without all that pesky cancer. Additional revelations from King of the Monsters show that humans and Titans once coexisted, with one civilization worshiping Godzilla by building him a radioactive temple that may or may not have been on land at some point.
How deep the series goes into these concerns is unclear, but since audiences have been wild about the Titans themselves and relatively cool with regards to those humans that set up and narrate the monster fights, Apple will probably want to invest some time and energy into addressing them.
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Source(s): Apple TV+ Press