Godzilla Vs. King Kong: The Complete MonsterVerse Timeline Explained

One shared cinematic universe that has only improved in quality as its grown in scope and size is the MonsterVerse. Starting with 2014's "Godzilla," the MonsterVerse quickly grew to include crossovers with other iconic kaiju, most notably including King Kong. The cinematic universe has also spread to television, from the animated Netflix series "Skull Island" to Apple TV+'s live-action series "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." Along with these shows, an extensively detailed history for the MonsterVerse has taken shape, particularly with regards to the role of the monsters, or Titans, in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Meticulously plotted, the MonsterVerse has created an entire timeline of itself, complete with recurring characters at different stages of their lives and, of course, plenty of Titans. Through its different projects, the MonsterVerse offers varied character perspectives on the same major events, including Godzilla's pivotal fight in San Francisco, marking the Age of Titans. 

Here is the complete MonsterVerse timeline explained, letting fans follow along to trace the in-universe history of this growing cinematic universe.

Through confidential documents, cave paintings, and ancient structures, it is revealed that Titans and humanity coexisted in the MonsterVerse millennia before the events of the movies. Prehistoric civilizations revered the Titans as gods on Earth, particularly a reptilian species that took on the name Gojira, which was anglicized as Godzilla. One Titan that opposed Godzilla's species was King Ghidorah, a Titan of extraterrestrial origins that was eventually cryogenically frozen in Antarctica.

The Titans normally reside within the Hollow Earth, a realm under the planet's surface separated by a dimensional rift. Indigenous communities continue to exist inside Hollow Earth, along with Kong's species of Titans, which are various species of towering apes. The Iwi people have an especially close relationship with Kong's race, with select individuals maintaining a telepathic link with them. Kong himself is the last of his species on the surface, with the remainder of the surface apes wiped out by Skull Island's other monstrous species, the Skullcrawlers.

The onset of World War II, particularly with the fighting throughout the Pacific Ocean, brings modern civilization and the Titans together again. While serving in the U.S. Navy, Bill Randa (Anders Holm) is the sole survivor of the USS Lawton, which sank near the Philippines in 1943. Caused by a Titan, Randa becomes obsessed with these creatures for the rest of his life and is pivotal in the creation of Monarch. A clandestine organization observing Titan activity around the world, Monarch and Randa's early days are depicted in "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters."

The prologue to "Kong: Skull Island," set in 1944, introduces a far more iconic Titan. Fighter pilots Hank Marlow (Will Brittain) and Gunpei Ikari (Miyavi) crash on Skull Island after engaging in a dogfight. Running into the island's interior, the two men resume their fight to the death, only to be interrupted by the sudden appearance of Kong. The two pilots set aside their differences and become friends, though Ikari is eventually killed by Skullcrawlers.

In 1952, U.S. Army officer Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell) is assigned to escort scientist Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) as she investigates strange radiation signatures in the Philippines. The group is joined by Randa, who reveals the existence of Titans to his new companions. In 1954, Monarch is quietly formed, with Shaw given a command position as the Army uses the Castle Bravo test as a cover to destroy Godzilla. The following year, Monarch discovers Godzilla survived, and the atomic bomb only made him stronger, while Randa deduces that the Earth is actually hollow.

As Monarch investigates the Hollow Earth theory, Randa and Keiko marry while continuing to work with Shaw. During a 1959 expedition in Kazakhstan, the trio finds a system of subterranean tunnels leading to Hollow Earth. This discovery is derailed by tragedy when Keiko is swarmed by monstrous bugs and falls to her apparent death in the chasm below. Without Keiko, Randa is left to raise her son and his stepson Hiroshi Randa (Takehiro Hira).

Shaw leads a team to explore Hollow Earth in 1962, secretly believing that Keiko is still alive and hoping to find her. Instability surrounding the passage into Hollow Earth and a Titan attack strands Shaw in Hollow Earth as its sole survivor. In the wake of this disaster, Monarch's funding and activities are significantly scaled back by the government. Shaw emerges from Hollow Earth, and though it only feels like several weeks have passed for him, time dilation means decades have since passed on the surface.

Now in 1982, Shaw tries to reunite with Randa only to learn from an adult Hiroshi that he has since died. In the wake of these setbacks and without its founding members, the government has drastically minimized Monarch's scope, preferring to leave Titans and Hollow Earth alone. Frustrated, Shaw attempts to escape from custody, leading to him being remanded to house arrest in Japan. For over 30 years, Shaw begrudgingly accepts his fate — until he sees the reemergence of Titans.

By 1973, an older Bill Randa (John Goodman) has risen to a senior leadership role in Monarch and convinces the government to let him investigate Skull Island. Randa is joined by a U.S. Army helicopter squadron led by Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and mercenary James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston). Unfolding in "Kong: Skull Island," the expedition is downed by Kong defending his territory, with Randa killed by a monster and Packard swearing to avenge his men. In addition to finding an indigenous community, the Iwi, on the island, the team also locates an older Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly).

Most of Packard's team is killed on Skull Island, either by the local monsters or as part of Packard's obsessive vendetta against Kong. After Packard dies, Kong defeats the apex Skullcrawler, effectively becoming the King of Skull Island. Before departing from Skull Island, the expedition determines that Kong is still a juvenile Titan, deducing that he will grow even larger and stronger over time. Monarch forcibly recruits Conrad and photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) after they escape Skull Island, revealing the existence of additional ancient Titans.

The Netflix animated series "Skull Island" primarily takes place in the early '90s with two young explorers, Charlie (Nicolas Cantu) and Mike (Darren Barnet) shipwrecked on Skull Island. The expedition was led by Mike's late father, who obtained the map to Skull Island from the failed 1973 mission led by Bill Randa. The duo meet a girl named Annie (Mae Whitman), who was stranded on a nearby island over the past decade. As the shipwrecked crew struggle to survive on Skull Island, they are defended by Kong, humanity's guardian Titan on the island.

The group meets a detachment of mercenaries led by Irene (Betty Gilpin), Annie's mother who has been searching for Skull Island. It was Irene that secretly bankrolled Charlie and Mike's expedition as part of this ongoing obsession. Flashbacks reveal Kong similarly helped previous groups of shipwrecked survivors on Skull Island, defending them from the Titan that would later shipwreck Charlie and Mike. The first season ends with Kong successfully killing the aquatic Titan while Charlie, Mike, and Annie return to the mainland.

The prologue of "Godzilla" features Monarch scientists Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) investigating a collapsed uranium mine in the Philippines in 1999. Inside, the scientists find a hatched egg and a dormant one, alongside the skeletal remains of a Titan resembling Godzilla. From the hatched egg, there is a trail leading towards the ocean, which Monarch eventually attributes to a Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTO). These creatures feed off radiation, as evidenced by their nesting ground at a site rich in uranium.

Shortly thereafter, a nuclear power planet in Japan, supervised by American Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), experiences strange seismic activity. Joe sends a team, including his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) to examine the situation further only for the reactor to be breached. Sandra dies while the reactor breach is contained, leaving behind Joe and their young son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The cause of this seismic activity is eventually revealed to be the hatched MUTO, which forms a chrysalis inside the plant's quarantined ruins.

Joe becomes obsessed with learning what caused the meltdown and is apprehended after he trespasses the quarantine zone 15 years later. An adult Ford reunites with his father in Japan just as the chrysalis hatches and the adult MUTO emerges, with Joe killed in the subsequent destruction. Working with Monarch, Ford and his unit track the MUTO to Hawaii where the creature battles Godzilla for the first time. After sensing a female MUTO maturing in a Nevada waste repository, the male MUTO travels to America to mate with her.

The three monsters converge in San Francisco, with the MUTOs lured to the location by nuclear warheads transported by Ford. After a grueling battle, Godzilla destroys both of the MUTOs and returns to the sea to recover. 

In addition, "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" reveals that the Russell family loses their young son Andrew in the San Francisco battle. The battle is also witnessed by Cate Randa (Anna Sawai), Hiroshi's daughter and Keiko's granddaughter, who works as a teacher in the area.

The year following the San Francisco incident, Cate learns that Hiroshi secretly fathered a son in Japan and meets her half-brother Kentaro (Ren Watabe). Along with Kentaro's girlfriend May (Kiersey Clemons), Cate and Kentaro investigate Hiroshi's double life in Monarch, meeting an older Shaw (Kurt Russell). With Bill Randa's files in tow, the trio break Shaw out of house arrest and follow Hiroshi's trail, eventually learning he faked his death. Intending to seal the Hollow Earth from the surface, Shaw and his new companions accidentally fall in instead.

Within the Hollow Earth, Shaw reunites with Keiko, who has barely aged because of the time dilation. As the group returns to the surface, Godzilla battles a Titan blocking their escape, while Shaw sacrifices himself to ensure Keiko and others make it home. Arriving on the surface, Keiko meets an adult Hiroshi for the first time as Cate and her team learn two years have since passed and it is now 2017. The group learns they've been taken in by May's former employer, Apex Cybernetics, which has set up an observation station on Skull Island monitoring Kong.

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" begins with Monarch scientist Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) witnessing the hatching of Mothra. This event is interrupted by an attack from terrorists led by Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), whose organization wants to unleash Titans on humanity. Emma joins Jonah's cause, working with him to awaken King Ghidorah, a Titan frozen under Antarctica. Discovering Ghidorah's extraterrestrial origins, Monarch labels Ghidorah an invasive species that will devastate the planet rather than healing it as Emma intends.

Godzilla is overpowered by Ghidorah in their initial skirmishes in Antarctica and Mexico, with Ghidorah using his status as an alpha predator to convince the Titan Rodan to join him. Serizawa tracks down Godzilla at an underwater temple in Hollow Earth and sacrifices himself by detonating a nuclear warhead to heal Godzilla and give the Titan a power boost. Confronting Ghidorah in Boston, Godzilla receives an additional upgrade from a dying Mothra, using it to defeat and devour Ghidorah. As the emerging Titans recognize Godzilla as their new alpha, they begin to restore the ecosystem as Emma predicted.

Five years later, in "Godzilla vs. Kong," Monarch takes Kong off Skull Island, along with Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of the island's Iwi community. Meanwhile, Godzilla begins behaving erratically, attacking Apex Cybernetics' coastal facilities, concerning its CEO Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir). Simmons recruits Monarch scientists Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) and Ilene Andrew (Rebecca Hall) to use Kong to chart Hollow Earth. The group's convoy is intercepted by Godzilla, however, after an epic brawl, Kong and the team narrowly escape and reach Hollow Earth.

As Kong learns his species have an entire history thriving in Hollow Earth, Apex's experiments with a recovered Ghidorah head are revealed as the cause behind Godzilla's hostile behavior. Kong returns to the surface in Hong Kong where Apex uses a power source from Hollow Earth to fuel Mechagodzilla, a mechanical Titan programmed with Ghidorah's neural patterns. After a seismic rematch, Godzilla and Kong work together to destroy Mechagodzilla when it grows out of control. Kong makes Hollow Earth his new home, with Jia and Ilene observing him from a Monarch outpost.

"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" takes place three years after "Godzilla vs. Kong," with Kong settling into living in Hollow Earth. Kong finds a new region within the subterranean realm, including other gigantic apes led by the brutal Skar King and his ice-breathing enforcer, Shimo. Sensing the disturbance from the surface, Godzilla consumes other Titans to augment his power before he is approached by Kong for help. Monarch similarly detects these developments through Jia's telepathic bond with Kong, mounting an expedition into Hollow Earth to learn what's going on.

Though Godzilla is initially hostile towards Kong given their history, a fully grown Mothra, hatched from a second egg, convinces them to work together. Fitted with a powerful exoskeletal glove provided by Monarch, Kong is more formidable, matching Godzilla's upgraded power. After battling the Skar King and Shimo in Hollow Earth, Kong and Godzilla pursue them to Brazil where Shimo changes sides and helps them kill the Skar King. Kong replaces the Skar King as the ape tribe's leader while Jia decides to remain with Ilene despite finding another Iwi community in Hollow Earth.

That's where the MonsterVerse is now, and we'll be waiting to see how the timeline continues to evolve as the franchise grows.