Every Entry in Godzilla & King Kong’s MonsterVerse, Ranked

In 2014, Legendary brought Godzilla back to the big screen in America. Little did we know that the kaiju’s triumphant return would not just kickstart a series of Godzilla films but also a cinematic universe. Here’s every MonsterVerse entry ranked.

All MonsterVerse Movies and Shows, Ranked From Worst to Best

7. Godzilla vs. Kong

Despite what many might think, the MonsterVerse films, on the whole, are not just dumb movies with giant monsters destroying things. That, of course, happens, but as we’ll discuss in this article, the films and shows like to subvert expectations and deliver films with relatively strong storylines — at least for fare where the last quarter of every film is indeed just monsters destroying things.

That, however, is not true of 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which is not just a dumb movie with giant monsters but also a mostly bad one. While the previous films have plenty of cliches in them, this one is all cliche, as if written by an early version of an AI bot with the parameters that the red-hot Millie Bobby Brown had to return in it, it had to feature a trip into the Hollow Earth, and it had to end with Godzilla and King Kong fighting Mecha Godzilla.

The King Kong side of the story, featuring a trip to the center of the Earth, is at least tolerable, but Godzilla’s story features the worst kind of action movie cliche: kids and a hapless adult finding themselves in the middle of everything through dumb luck and bad guy stupidity. That half of the film is unbearable to watch and sidelines Godzilla until the final battle, which is, in fairness, a ton of fun. Director Adam Wingard handles the two big Kong/Godzilla showdowns well, but the dud of a screenplay delivers the only MonsterVerse film/show so far to be truly bad, earning it the lowest spot on this ranking.

6. Skull Island

No, not Kong: Skull Island. That will come later in the list. Here we’re talking about Netflix’s Skull Island, an anime series that takes place between the events of Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla, giving us a look at what Kong’s life was like before Monarch put him in a dome but after the island was discovered by Monarch. Produced by powerhouse animation studio Studio Mir (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, The Legend of Korra), the show would honestly be ranked higher on this MonsterVerse list if it wasn’t for the fact that a second season hasn’t been greenlit yet after the first season ended on a cliffhanger.

Taking place in the ’90s and following a small group of kaiju hunters and a group of trained mercenaries looking for a missing girl, the story is a chance to not only learn more about Kong’s past but to explore Skull Island and its natives a bit more as well. There’s plenty of bloody monster fighting, too, including a Kong showdown with a giant squid thing. There’s a streak of sarcastic humor throughout the proceedings that makes the show feel tonally different from the films, but it all works – it just doesn’t look like we’ll be getting more of it anytime soon.

5. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

There is an argument to be made, albeit a weak one, that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire could be the number one movie on this list. If all you’re looking for is the kind of film where Godzilla suplexes King Kong off of a pyramid in Egypt, then there is no better film. Completely abandoning any pretense that the humans in these movies matter and jumping so many sharks that it’s a wonder that Henry Winkler didn’t show up, the fifth film in the franchise is a complete and utter spectacle and all the better for it.

Unlike Godzilla vs. Kong, which felt the need to fill itself with some of the strangest human storylines ever put to film, Godzilla x Kong smartly realizes that if you’re not going to deliver a truly good kaiju film, just have the monsters fight. That is indeed what returning director Adam Wingard does over and over, and it works. Hell, even Baby Kong works for some really stupid reason. The near antithesis of Godzilla Minus One, which came out just a few months prior, Godzilla x Kong is the franchise’s shift into pure, unadulterated kaiju action, and it’s not exactly good, but it is a lot of fun.

4. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

As a show sitting on Apple TV+, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters may be the least-watched project on this list, though it has strong competition from Skull Island. The series takes place between Godzilla and Godzilla: King of Monsters and fills in a ton of backstory about Godzilla’s history with the government and the establishment of Monarch itself. It’s also a perfect capsule of the MonsterVerse franchise as a whole, as it is, at times, a thoughtful, metaphorical piece and, at other times, some of the most cliche storytelling in the entire franchise.

There’s some great stuff to like in here, especially fantastic world-building around how humanity reacts to a giant monster stomping around on its cities, but unfortunately, none of it actually transitioned to the films. In fact, Godzilla x Kong completely ignores it in the brief glimpses we get of humanity in that film. Definitely worth a watch if you’re diving into the MonsterVerse, but it’s far from its greatest entry.

3. Godzilla

You could pretty easily swap Godzilla and its sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, on this MonsterVerse ranking, depending on what you’re looking for in your movies. Godzilla is a surprisingly giant-monster-fight-free movie that still works, making it the “thinking man’s” Godzilla film.

Director Gareth Edwards makes the surprising choice of basically cutting away from any monster fighting until the final battle scene, turning the battles into either street-level catastrophes or literal blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments. This subversion of expectations (along with the surprise killing of Brian Cranston’s character) helps turn the film into something far more than just a monster movie, though the rest of its characters often wallow in half-hearted cliches. The directorial choice also means that when the final showdown between Godzilla and the breeding MUTOs occurs, it is truly a triumphant return for the King of Monsters.

Related: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Revealed in Ominous Teaser Trailer

2. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

There are those who would argue that Godzilla: King of the Monsters is just too much. Too many monsters, too much world-building. But if you’re looking for giant monsters absolutely wrecking each other over and over again, then this is the film for you.

In contrast to Godzilla, King of the Monsters literally throws Godzilla’s cadre of monsters onto the screen, and while we don’t get to see all of them fight, the battles between the ones that do are great. There’s also more subversion of expectations, with Vera Farmiga’s character turning evil, and, unlike Godzilla vs. Kong, Millie Bobby Brown’s role is at least somewhat excusable. Throw in a pretty heart-wrenching end to Ken Watanabe’s Godzilla-loving scientist, and it all ends up working more than it should. King of the Monsters is all about more and being bigger, and it delivers on that front for better or worse, but mostly for better.

1. Kong: Skull Island

Japan’s original Godzilla was more than just a movie where a man in a rubber suit stomped on buildings – it was a reactionary metaphor for World War II and the dropping of the atomic bombs. The film deeply impacted Japanese audiences before being whitewashed for American release. However, it is not the Godzilla films that brought back this social commentary to the franchise but King Kong’s.

Kong: Skull Island, set in 1973 as the Vietnam War ended, features not just a well-executed version of the traditional tale of Kong being a misunderstood monster but a metaphorical deconstruction of the U.S.’s role on a global scale as an intervening war machine. Shot by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts as if he were filming Full Metal Jacket, the film deftly weaves action movie tropes, a giant gorilla, and actual heart, creating a movie that is far more than the sum of its parts. It all concludes with an ending that is more man versus monster than monster versus monster. It helps as well that the movie has done almost all the heavy lifting for the MonsterVerse, establishing Monarch and the Hollow Earth theory in one go and truly launching the entire franchise. A perfect example of how the MonsterVerse films can be both trope-filled and original, Kong: Skull Island proves that, for now, Kong is king.

And that’s every entry in Godzilla and King Kong’s MonsterVerse, ranked.

The above article was updated on 3/29/2024 by Matthew Razak to include Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.