King Kong is a giant gorilla and one of the most iconic giant monsters in film history. King Kong has appeared in several films since his debut in 1933's groundbreaking King Kong, both American and Japanese. Kong's most recent film is Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong.
Appearance
King Kong is simply a giant gorilla. His size ranges anywhere from 6 to 102.718 meters, depending on the incarnation. In the original King Kong, Dino DeLaurentis' remake, its sequel King Kong Lives, and Peter Jackson's 2005 remake, King Kong is 9 meters tall and weighs 30 tons. In King Kong vs. Godzilla, he is 45 meters tall and weighs 25,000 tons. In King Kong Escapes, Kong is 20 meters tall and weighs 1,000 tons. In Kong: Skull Island, Kong is 31.6992 meters tall and weighs 158 tons. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Kong is 102.718 meters tall.
Origins
King Kong is the last member of a species of giant prehistoric apes called Megaprimatus Kong. He remained secluded on a remote island populated by other giant creatures and was worshiped as a god by the island's natives. Kong's exact origins vary from film to film.
History
King Kong (1933)
Filmmaker Carl Denham and his crew arrived on the uncharted Skull Island to film a motion picture. The natives of the island kidnapped the film's leading lady, Ann Darrow, and sacrificed her to their god, King Kong. Kong burst through the jungle and beat his chest fiercely. Upon seeing Ann, Kong picked her up and admired her beauty. He then took her away into the jungle. Kong set Ann on a tree and wandered off to deal with members of the expedition who were pursuing him. As the men crossed a fallen log bridge, Kong grabbed and twisted the bridge, sending all of the men plummeting to their deaths except Jack Driscoll. Meanwhile, a tyrannosaurus noticed Ann and tried to eat her. Kong hurried back to the scene and battled the T-Rex. After a fierce battle, Kong broke the T-Rex's jaw and retrieved Ann. Kong took Ann to his mountain lair, where he was suddenly attacked by pterodactyls. In the confusion, Jack rescued Ann and the two escaped from Kong's lair. After killing the pterodactyls, Kong chased after the two. He followed them to the natives' walled-off village, where the rest of the crew was hiding out. Kong tore the village apart in anger, but the film crew threw chloroform bombs at Kong, putting him to sleep. Denham decided to take Kong back to New York City and put him on display, claiming it would be a major attraction.
Kong was put on display inside of a theater in downtown New York before a stunned crowd. Denham assured all in attendance that they were in no real danger as Kong was held by unbreakable chrome steel chains. However, when photographers began taking pictures of Ann, Kong felt they were attacking her and broke free from the chains. Ann, Carl, and Jack evacuated safely, but many civilians were crushed by Kong as he smashed through the theater. Kong rampaged through the city streets, tossing cars and trains aside like toys. Kong followed Ann and kidnapped her from her apartment. Kong then began to climb the Empire State Building. The army deployed a squad of biplanes armed with machine guns to pursue Kong. Kong set Ann down on the very top of the building and roared defiantly at the planes. The planes opened fire on Kong with their machine guns, seriously wounding him. Kong still managed to tear the wing off of a plane and knock others out of the sky. Eventually, the bullet wounds were too much for Kong and he began to weaken. Kong looked down at Ann one more time and then fell from the building, smashing violently into the sides of the skyscraper as he plummeted. Crowds gathered around Kong's lifeless body in the street below. A policeman remarked to Carl Denham that the planes successfully stopped Kong, while Denham solemnly replied "It was beauty killed the beast."
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Mr. Tako, the head of the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Company, sent an expedition to the remote Farou Island to search for a giant monster that was rumored to live there. The expedition were immediately met by natives, who begrudgingly permitted the party to stay on the island but claimed no responsibility if their god, King Kong, ate them all. Kong's roar pierced the skies, and the natives bowed and prayed to him. Even the explorers were shaken by the roar. The next morning, the expedition tried to find the source of the roar, but were driven back to the village as the mountain began to collapse. The natives prayed again, believing it to be a sign of Kong. Meanwhile, a Giant Octopus came ashore in search of the Soma berry juice produced by the natives. The villagers attacked the Giant Octopus, but were thrown violently aside by its tentacles. Suddenly, King Kong tore through the gate protecting the village and beat his chest fearsomely. Kong tossed rocks at the Giant Octopus, which responded by jumping on Kong's face. Kong threw the Octopus off and pelted it with rocks again. Defeated, the Giant Octopus slithered back to the sea. Kong then picked up large jugs of Soma juice and began drinking them. The juice made Kong drowsy, and eventually he fell on his back. The natives chanted an danced until Kong finally fell unconscious. With Kong incapacitated, the party decided to bring him back to Japan as a publicity stunt for their company.
Along the way, the ship pulling the raft carrying Kong was stopped by the Japanese Coast Guard, who told Mr. Tako that he was financially liable for any destruction Kong caused. Suddenly, Kong began to stir. The men aboard the ship detonated the dynamite on the raft carrying Kong, only for Kong to rise from the water in anger. Kong swam to the Japanese mainland and wreaked havoc along the coastline. Meanwhile Godzilla, who had just awakened from his seven-year hibernation in an iceberg, arrived on the mainland an encountered Kong in the wilderness. Kong threw rocks at Godzilla, only for Godzilla to respond by blasting Kong with his atomic breath. Burnt from the fiery blast, Kong walked away, leaving the victorious Godzilla clapping and mocking Kong. Later, after Godzilla was repelled from Tokyo by an electrical barrier, Kong tore the wires down and absorbed the electrical energy before entering Tokyo himself. Kong grabbed a passing subway train and kidnapped a woman from it. Kong then climbed onto the Diet building. Using rockets filled with Soma berry juice and the music of the natives, the Defense Forces put Kong to sleep and caused him to slide off the building. His hostage was recovered, and Kong was tied to giant balloons in order to be taken to Mt. Fuji and fight Godzilla again.
Kong was dropped on the slopes of Mt. Fuji the next morning and landed on top of Godzilla. The two monsters battled again, but Godzilla gained the advantage after Kong hit his head on a boulder and was left dazed. Godzilla set the forest ablaze with his atomic breath and seemingly was about to burn Kong alive, but suddenly a lightning storm passed overhead. The lightning revitalized Kong, who rose to his feet and shocked Godzilla with his touch. Godzilla and Kong grappled once more, with Kong's supercharged electrical attacks doing effective damage to Godzilla. Kong and Godzilla eventually fell over the side of the mountain and into the ocean, causing an earthquake. As the waves settled, Kong rose victorious from the water, with Godzilla nowhere in sight. Kong swam back to Farou Island to live in peace, while the humans decided to let him be and not pursue him any further.
King Kong Escapes
To be added.
King Kong (1976)
To be added.
King Kong Lives
To be added.
King Kong (2005)
To be added.
Kong: Skull Island
In 1973, he makes his first proper appearance as Preston Packard and his crew drop seismic bomb charges on the land below to map it. Enraged, Kong attacks the helicopters, swatting them out of the air and killing many of Packard's men, to which Packard swears vengeance against Kong. Following the conflict, Kong reappears at a lake, heavily wounded from the earlier fight. As he washes his wounds and drinks from the lake, a Mire Squid attacks Kong, but he manages to kill the creature by stomping on its head and proceeds to make a meal of the giant cephalopod.
Later, Kong is seen jumping from one mountain to another as he looks over the island. Kong finds a dead Sker Buffalo being eaten by a Skull Crawler near a large underground vent. As he is about to engage the creature, another one ambushes Kong from behind. He kills them by throwing one to the ground, breaking its neck, and stomping the other's head. Some time later, Weaver tries and fails to save a Sker Buffalo trapped under a downed helicopter outside the Iwi village. Kong appears and rescues the buffalo. He encounters Weaver for the first time and looks at her curiously before leaving her be. Later that night, he is seen sitting atop a mountain, somberly watching the aurora.
The following night, Kong sees both Weaver and Conrad on the top of a tall ledge through a blanket of fog and approaches them. While frightened at first, Weaver sees no signs of aggression. She touches his face, and he visibly weeps before retreating. Immediately afterwards, Kong is drawn to a distant explosion, which happens to be a napalm trap set by Packard. Kong is lured in and set on fire by Packard. Several of Packard's men get crushed in Kong's ensuing rampage, but the fire renders Kong unconscious, and Packard then prepares to kill Kong with explosive charges. However, Conrad, Weaver, and Marlow intervene, creating a standoff between them and Packard's men. In the midst of the standoff, the largest of the Skull Crawlers, the Skull Devil, emerges from the swamp. Everybody flees except for Packard, who is crushed by the awakened Kong moments before he can set off the charges. Kong attempts to fight the monster, but the Skull Devil manages to overpower him.
As the morning comes, the Skull Devil turns its attention onto the humans and chases them into a marsh. Kong returns and saves them by smashing a giant boulder against the Skull Devil's head, giving the humans the chance to get to safety. The fight continues with Kong managing to get the upper hand by wielding a tree trunk as a bat at one point. However, the Skull Devil uses his tail to throw Kong into a shipwreck, where he becomes tangled in its chains. As the Skull Devil prepares to deliver the killing blow, the humans distract the giant monster long enough for Kong to free himself.
Using a ship's propeller attached to a chain like a flail, Kong manages to snag and pull the Skull Devil towards him. Kong throws the Skull Devil against the cliff Weaver is standing on, causing her to fall into the water. He fights and seemingly kills the Skull Devil when he slashes the giant reptile's throat with the propeller. However, as Kong rescues Weaver, the Skull Devil springs back to life and attacks. The Skull Devil wraps his tongue around Kong's arm where Weaver is enclosed and pulls it down his throat. Kong violently tears out his opponent's tongue, finally killing his enemy for good.
Kong gently sets Weaver down. As Conrad reunites with Weaver, Kong looks back at them before wandering off. As the humans depart from the island in the rescue helicopters, Kong beats his chest and loudly roars, proclaiming himself the King of Skull Island.
Godzilla vs. Kong
In 2024, three years after his battle with Camazotz, Kong wakes up and begins his morning routine. After standing underneath a waterfall, he finds a tree and yanks it out of the ground before shearing its leaves and branches off, fashioning it into a spear. Kong is then greeted by the Iwi orphan Jia, who presents him a doll that she made to resemble him. After checking on Jia, Kong throws the tree into the sky and watches as it shatters biodome Monarch had built to contain him, prompting him to roar in anger.
Later Monarch decides to move Kong, deciding that Skull Island is no longer stable enough to sustain him and allow him to survive. Chaining Kong to a massive barge, Kong, Jia, scientist Ilene Andrews, geologist Nathan Lind, and Apex Cybernetics Executive Maia Simmons depart along with military escorts to take Kong to Hollow Earth where he will be able to thrive. One night an upset Kong pulls on his chains and shackles. Jia arrives and the two touch fingers gently, calming the Titan. As Ilene communicates with Jia through sign language telling her Kong does not understand they are trying to help take him to a new home, Kong shocks everyone and uses sign for "home", revealing that he is capable of communication with humans.
On their way, they are attacked by Godzilla who capsizes the carrier they are on nearly drowning Kong as well as the others inside the carrier. Fortunately Nathan manages to unlock Kong shackles allowing him to fight off Godzilla long enough to swim to the surface and flip the carrier back on its head, saving everyone inside from drowning. Kong then jumps to the next aircraft carrier to challenge Godzilla, who climbs aboard ready to do battle. Kong strikes Godzilla with a blow to the head only for Godzilla to knock him on his back with a swipe of his claws. Godzilla then prepares to fire his atomic breath at Kong but the fighter jets distract Godzilla long enough for Kong to punch and push Godzilla back into the ocean.
Godzilla, however, fires his atomic breath from beneath the ocean at the carrier. Kong realizing this manages to jump off and evade the blast just in time. However, this puts Kong at a disadvantage as Godzilla begins to drown Kong as the ape fights to get air only for Godzilla to drag him back down. Fortunately, before Godzilla can drown him, the military fires depth charges that distract Godzilla enough for Kong to make it to the carrier again and catch his breath. Exhausted and defeated, Kong passes out as Godzilla, convinced that he had won due to the convoy shutting down all of their weaponry, leaves. Realizing that Godzilla will return as soon as they move again, the group decides to airlift Kong with helicopters for the rest of the way. Landing at an outpost in Antarctica that holds the entrance to Hollow Earth, Kong is unwilling to go even with Jia's insistence. Realizing Kong can't survive the cold and that they can't return him to Skull Island, Nathan suggests telling Kong that the rest of his kind could possibly be down there.
With this, Kong charges ahead as Jia, Ilene, Nathan, and Maia follow him in aircrafts made to withstand the gravity of the Hollow Earth. Landing relatively safety Kong leads the group through the terrain where they encounter Warbats. Fortunately, Kong manages to kill the creatures before feasting on them. Continuing their journey, they make their way to a fortress that seemingly was the home of Kong's ancestors as Kong discovers a handprint of one of his kind on the entrance. Inside the fortress, he finds an axe embedded in the corpse of one of Godzilla's species. Picking it up, Kong notices what appears to be a throne and sits on it, establishing and accepting the Hollow Earth as his new home and kingdom. Suddenly, the axe starts to glow and Kong instinctually lies it down on the ground, revealing powerful energy within the fortress. However, when Jia, Ilene, and Nathan find themselves threatened at gunpoint by Maia and her personnel, Kong angrily roars and prepares to defend them when Hellhawks begin to descend from the ceiling of the fortress and a hole is burnt into it by Godzilla sensing the energy spike. As the fortress starts to collapse, Kong notices Maia's aircraft and grabs it and after peeking inside to make sure that Jia wasn't inside, he crushed it when the latter attempts to shoot him to escape, killing her in the process. Kong hears Godzilla's roar, issuing the ape another challenge, which an angered Kong accepts and proceeds to make his way up to the surface of earth with his axe in hand. Arriving in Hong Kong and face to face with Godzilla, the two Titans prepare for their final battle.
Kong picks up his axe and leaps at Godzilla, who dodges the strike. While trying to take his axe out of the building it is stuck in, Godzilla attacks lunges after Kong, biting the simian Titan and rag-dolling him into buildings. Kong wrestles himself free, landing several decisive blows on Godzilla before knocking him back and retrieving his axe. As Godzilla attempts to fire his atomic breath, Kong rams the handle of his axe down the Titan's throat, blocking it. Godzilla knocks Kong back and tries again, but this time Kong uses his axe to not only block the energy, but seemingly absorb it. Godzilla attacks again, knocking Kong down, who in turn slams the axe into Godzilla's thigh, leaving a deep wound. Godzilla removes the axe and throws it away and continues his attack. Separated from his weapon and vulnerable to Godzilla's atomic breath, Kong proceeds to evade the Titan's ranged attacks by using the buildings of Hong Kong and his superior agility to dodge. Using the environment, Kong fashions a makeshift shield to get close enough and retrieve his axe, before, leaping off a building and bringing down the now charged-up axe down on Godzilla's head, knocking the reptilian Titan out and incapacitating him, giving Kong the win of that initial battle.
As Godzilla recovers and gets up, Kong ambushes him from above, using a crane to distract him. Placing Godzilla in a chokehold, Kong proceeds to brutally pummel him from behind. Godzilla manages to clamp his jaws down on Kong's arm, yanking it out of its socket and throwing him off. Now on the defensive, Kong backs away in fear as Godzilla viciously crawls at him on all fours. After brutally clawing and stomping on Kong, Godzilla finally manages to subdue the ape Titan and roars at him in a show of dominance. Kong, defeated, but still unwilling to yield, roars back in defiance. Godzilla, as if impressed by Kong's resilience and prowess, shows mercy and spares him, leaving Kong alive but close to death.
Later, as Godzilla is battling the unleashed Mechagodzilla, Nathan, Ilene, and Jia all come up to Kong's unconscious body. With Kong's heartbeat growing weak, Nathan uses the Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle to jumpstart Kong's heart, saving him. As Kong awakens, he sees Godzilla being overwhelmed by Mechagodzilla and is convinced by Jia to help the alpha Titan after telling him Godzilla is not the enemy which Kong roared in anger over but puts aside his grudge to help the titan after fixing his dislocated shoulder. As Mechagodzilla prepares to fire a fatal blast to kill Godzilla, Kong intercepts by jumping on top of the Mecha diverting the blast away from Godzilla and saving him. Mechagodzilla knocks Kong off and prepares to blast him fortunately a recovered Godzilla recognizes Kong as an ally and not an enemy and comes to his aid in return. However, Mechagodzilla proves to be stronger then their combined might, easily throwing Kong aside before overpowering Godzilla again. Seeing his axe among the wreckage, Kong retrieves it and lands several blows on Mechagodzilla. However, the axe is ineffective and Mechagodzilla prepares to fatally stab the ape Titan with his tail. However, Godzilla fires his atomic breath at the axe, empowering it and allowing Kong to dismember the mecha before tearing off his head and roaring in triumph.
Exhausted and battered, Kong sits down, but his rest gets interrupted by the roar of Godzilla, who approaches him. Kong retrieves his axe, and prepares to continue the fight, but Godzilla doesn't attack, and merely stares him down. Understanding that the true enemy has been defeated, Kong drops the axe, signaling an end to the feud between his kind and Godzilla's. The two then briefly regard each other as equals and allies before Godzilla returns to the ocean.
After having parted with Godzilla on good terms, Kong withdraws to the Hollow Earth and embracing it as his new home and kingdom, thus earning his happy ending, as Monarch continues to monitor him.
Gallery
