Godzilla’s iconic roar shook San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H on Saturday as Warner Bros. unleashed the first trailer for Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The sequel follows Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014) and Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Kong: Skull Island (2017), setting up for a clash between the two iconic monsters in Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020.
Warner Bros.’ “Monsterverse” has been one of the few non-superhero based cinematic universes to be met with critical and financial success, proving the lasting appeal of these characters for modern audiences. Dougherty, who directed the holiday cult-classic Trick ‘r Treat and Krampus, is joining the world of blockbuster filmmaking with his take on the Japanese lizard who first made his debut in Ishiro Honda’s Gojira (1954). Despite some audience complaints about the film’s pacing and human characters, Edwards’ Godzilla successfully brought back the moodiness, scale and war-tinged dread of Honda’s original film. Dougherty is faced with not only following in Edwards’ footsteps but living up to the long legacy of the Godzilla franchise, 29 Japanese films total, and the various monsters it incorporated. The trailer, which was one of the best pieces of marketing to emerge from this year’s Comic-Con, makes it apparent that Dougherty isn’t only up to the challenge, but may very well exceed all expectations in his efforts to showcase the majesty of monsters.
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In one of the trailer’s most beautiful shots, we see Mothra spread her wings. Mothra is Toho studios’ most popular character after Godzilla, having first starred in her own self-titled film in 1961 before going on to star in Mothra vs Godzilla (1964) in one of the earliest and biggest examples of a shared-universe film. Appearing in her own series of features, along with a frequent supporting role in Godzilla’s, Mothra is often depicted as an ally of Godzilla. In the Toho pics, she is often accompanied by human-looking fairies. While this latter aspect probably won’t be adapted directly, it’s highly likely that we’ll see Mothra and Godzilla join forces in the film.
The movie’s third monster is Rodan, who, like Mothra, appeared in his own self-titled film, in 1956, before becoming a major recurring figure in the Godzilla pics, starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). The relationship between Rodan and Godzilla is often adversarial, though he did lean towards a more heroic position over the years. In King of the Monsters, it appears he will be largely antagonistic and responsible for the massive amounts of destruction we see in the trailer.
Although we don’t see any of the Titans battle in this trailer, you can be sure that when Godzilla: King of the Monsters arrives next summer, audiences will get their share of kaiju mayhem between the four creatures. In the immortal words of Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, “Let them fight.”
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is set to be released May 31, 2019.
