5 Years Later, Godzilla x Kong Is Revealing a Formidable New Monster
Godzilla might have finally met his true match.
After defeating Ghidorah, Methuselah, and a slew of other Titans, Godzilla stands alone as the world’s most powerful kaiju. The King of the Monsters even forced Kong to back down and cede his crown in Godzilla vs. Kong, and turned Mechagodzilla into spare parts in the same film, effectively silencing any viable threat.
When Godzilla reluctantly teams up with Kong in the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, it will be to take down a Kong-related adversary. The so-called Skar King — an original villain introduced in the film’s first trailer — seems tailor-made for Kong to defeat. Godzilla himself doesn’t really have anyone else to fight... or does he?
The latest trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire brings the conflict into clearer focus. While we get a better look at the Skar King’s incredible power (and his grappling weapon that can lasso entire buildings), the film also seems primed to introduce an all-new foe for Godzilla. Like Kong’s ape antagonist, this kaiju has been created specifically for Godzilla x Kong.
Teased in promotional materials as Shimo, the new Titan is a fitting counterpart to Godzilla. Kong encounters Shimo in the Hollow Earth, and uses his axe to deflect what looks like an ice blast. We don’t get a very good look at the beast in the trailer, but Shimo has already been teased in action figure sets from Playmates Toys. Marketing depicts them as a quadrupedal lizard with “unstoppable, world-ending” ice powers. Shimo is later seen using those powers to create some kind of ice storm. Their name is a Japanese term for “frost,” so their skill set is certainly fitting.
Our first glimpse of Shimo’s ice powers in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Though Shimo was created specifically for Godzilla x Kong, the MonsterVerse has been teasing their arrival for a few years. Fans got their first glimpse at a legendary battle between Godzilla and Shimo in Call of Duty: Warzone’s tie-in with the MonsterVerse. Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters might have also teased Shimo in its eighth episode when it mentioned a Titan that’s been dormant in Siberia. It would make a lot of sense for an ice monster to be embedded somewhere in the tundra, and it will be interesting to see what stirs Shimo from their decades-long slumber.
The introduction of two once-dormant kaiju is definitely too much for Kong to handle alone, and that’s exactly where Godzilla comes in. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is shaping up to be a two-on-two battle between the Titans and their mirror images. Skar King is obviously an evil parallel for Kong, while Shimo’s power and build make them a perfect match for Godzilla. The new film grows more intriguing the closer we get to its release — we all know Godzilla and Kong will eventually come out on top, but the addition of these impossibly strong foes won’t make victory easy.
