Godzilla X Kong Promises More Titanus Doug, The Funniest Titan

The American MonsterVerse has its issues, like underwhelming human stories — especially compared to the Japanese "Godzilla" movies — but it does deliver on the big-budget kaiju action and worldbuilding. These movies present the kind of awesome destruction that can only be achieved by spending hundreds of millions of dollars, and it rules. Meanwhile, where most of the Japanese "Godzilla" movies are only loosely connected, the MonsterVerse has created a proper continuity of kaiju mayhem.

The MonsterVerse is full of strange creatures and locations connected through the outlandish concept of the Hollow Earth (a thing that raises twice as many questions as it even begins to answer). Sure, Godzilla and Kong are the stars, but there are so many other kaiju and critters that have got their time to shine, whether it's Japanese icons like Mothra and Ghidora, or new kaiju like Titanus Doug. It's the latter kaiju that has enjoyed the biggest level of spontaneous popularity — because, of course, the internet would take what's otherwise a one-off joke side character and turn them into a fan favorite.

Speaking with IGN, director Adam Wingard explained that Titanus Doug will actually get more screen time in "Godzilla x Kong." According to Wingard, Doug is "a character I think people have ownership of just because they kind of made him viral in a MonsterVerse sort of way."

Titanus Doug is only really seen for a few seconds in "Godzilla vs. Kong" when we visit the Hollow Earth. The lizard-like creature has a rather friendly look that fans took for a smile, comparing him to a dog. This quickly led to Doug gaining a significant fanbase all his own.

You know a franchise is doing something right when its otherwise inconsequential characters become extremely popular with the fan base. After all, it's what transformed "Star Wars" from a popular movie series into a cultural juggernaut with one of the biggest and most fleshed-out fictional universes there is. Take the way Boba Fett went from a weird little cartoon guy to one of the most popular characters in all of "Star Wars" despite having just a few minutes of screen time in the original trilogy.

Granted, the MonsterVerse has a long way to go before it gets to that level of popularity or influence, but it's entries like "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" (which fleshes out the universe while delivering a compelling standalone narrative) that make or break a franchise. And it seems like the upcoming "Godzilla x Kong" will only double down on the fresh new kaiju faces for fans to fall in love with, including the many new giant apes and Shimo. As for Titanus Doug, he will not only get a bigger role in this new movie, but according to Kaiju News Outlet, he is even getting his own toy! Now bad for a character with only a few seconds of screen time previously. Maybe in a few decades, we'll even get a so-so "The Book of Titanus Doug" TV series.

"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" opens in theaters on April 12, 2024.