There's a lot to unpack in the latest Godzilla flick's ending, from what the human characters
might do next to what this rapidly expanding fictional universe could imply about the future
of the ancient beings known as Titans.
Let's break it all down and explain the ending of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Monster spoilers ahead.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters ends exactly the way you'd expect it to: With a massive
Titan vs. Titan showdown in the ruins of Boston, as Godzilla and Ghidorah battle it out for
apex predator status.
The film ultimately reveals that Godzilla, who seems to be working side by side with
humanity, has prevailed by showing us the King of the Monsters chowing down on one of
Ghidorah's heads before blasting the remains of the alien monster with his atomic breath.
And then this exchange happens:
"Good thing he's on our side."
"For now."
It's an ominous postscript added by Monarch's resident mythologist, who seems to understand
that even though some version of a balance has been achieved with Godzilla's victory,
it could all go very wrong at any moment.
The line "For now" might just seem like a teaser for more sequels, but Dr. Chen's warning
speaks to the fragility of life on Earth in the wake of the film.
Everything old is new again, and that means new rules for everyone that could be breaking
at any moment.
Midway through the film, Godzilla managed to chew off one of Ghidorah's heads before
the Oxygen Destroyer weapon was deployed and rendered Godzilla dormant.
Ghidorah was unaffected by the Destroyer because, it turns out, he's an alien species who invaded
the Earth millennia ago.
"A barren land laid to waste by the vile brute known as...Monster Zero!"
Being an alien means he's also capable of regrowing his head, but what about the original
noggin?
We have to wait until a post-credits scene to find out what happened, but it turns out
that extra severed Ghidorah head was picked up by fishermen and offered to Alan Jonah
and his eco-terrorist group.
Jonah's original plan was to awaken the Titans one at a time to "restore balance" to the
world, and that plan fell apart when Ghidorah woke up all the Titans himself.
So what can Jonah do with a Ghidorah head that he couldn't do before?
Well, he could just be selling off the creature's DNA as a valuable resource, or he could have
grander designs.
A resurrected Ghidorah under the control of a human master could change the game for all
Titans, and Jonah himself could be the King of the Monsters.
That's if he can manage to bring Monster Zero back at all, and that's a big if.
"So this plan is what you would call a long shot."
"Well let's get started."
It's been a common feature of Godzilla films for decades now that Mothra emerges as a benevolent,
self-sacrificing figure who wants to live in harmony with humans rather than battle
them, and the Queen of the Monsters lived up to that legacy in this film.
After defeating Rodan, a weakened Mothra sacrificed herself in battle against Ghidorah to help
Godzilla, with her essence falling on the King of the Monsters to give him a little
added boost when he needed it.
"Mothra can't die now."
Luckily, that's not the end of Mothra.
News clippings in the film's closing credits suggest the Queen is simply regenerating,
and will eventually emerge from another cocoon.
The film also suggests that when she does return, Mothra won't be alone.
The Chen twins seem to be more than just two scientists with an intense interest in monsters.
Their devotion to Titans, plus their status as twins, points to them being the MonsterVerse
version of the Shobijin, the twin fairies in the original films who worship Mothra on
its home of Infant Island.
We very likely haven't seen the last of them.
Throughout the film we see references to Kong, the king of Skull Island who was the star
of the second film in the MonsterVerse and who will return again next year to battle
Godzilla.
What we never actually see in the film is anything new from Kong himself, even as Titans
around the world are waking up and responding to Ghidorah.
So why didn't Kong respond?
Well, the simple answer could just be that he's on an island and isn't equipped to cross
through the storms that surround it and make his way across the ocean, but there may be
more to it.
News clippings at the end of the film note that Titans are making their way toward Skull
Island, seemingly setting the stage for Godzilla vs. Kong.
If Kong is powerful enough to have resisted Ghidorah's orders, that places him in rare
company alongside Mothra and Godzilla as one of the strongest monsters on the planet.
His absence is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength…and, of course, a sequel.
Early in the film, Dr. Stanton theorizes that Godzilla is able to move so quickly underwater
because the earth is, in fact, hollow, and the Titan is using tunnels under oceans that
have yet to be discovered by man.
His theory is laughed off, until the Monarch team follows a dormant Godzilla into the depths
later in the film and discovers that there's more than just tunnels.
There's also an entire underwater city down there.
News clippings in the film's closing credits reveal that this information has been made
public, and now the whole world knows that "Hollow Earth Humans" once worshipped and
co-existed with The Titans.
Of course, the underwater city we see in the film was presumably destroyed by the nuclear
explosion that was set off to re-power Godzilla, but if there really was a culture of people
worshipping "The First Gods," it's hard to imagine that city was the only one.
Even as the cities of the world are destroyed by the Titans, Godzilla: King of the Monsters
also does its best to keep a human heart at its center.
Much of that heart centers on the Russell family, which was torn apart by Godzilla's
battle in San Francisco in 2014.
As the film goes on, Maddie has to watch her mother, who was once her hero, become what
she calls "a monster" before earning redemption by sacrificing herself in the fight to defeat
Ghidorah.
"No sequel for you."
When the dust settles, Mark and Madison are the only two members of the family left.
The film leaves their future open-ended, but we already know Millie Bobby Brown will return
for Godzilla vs. Kong, so the Russells are clearly planning to stick close to the Titans
for at least a little while longer.
King of the Monsters spends most of its runtime focusing on the title monster, Godzilla, and
three other key players among the Titans: Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan.
Despite what the trailers might suggest, though, these creatures are far from the only Titans
in the film.
Though we only glimpse a few of them, they often seem to be creatures we've never seen
before in Godzilla films, most prominently the giant spider Scylla and the mammoth creature
Behemoth.
But Monarch is never done searching, and the revelation of alien Titans as well as underwater
cities leaves them with more places to look.
The world of Titans is vast at the end of the film, but there's always room to grow,
and we can probably expect more Titans to emerge along with more sequels.
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