10 Hidden Details in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters That You Completely Missed

2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a massive movie crammed full of tiny details that fans of Godzilla, old and new, could enjoy in the theater and at home on repeat viewings. There are so many, in fact, that it’s near impossible to spot them all in one sitting.

This list will highlight some of the smaller, but still fascinating, details hidden throughout the movie which may have passed most audience members by. If you think you’ve got everything there is to get out of the movie already, you may be surprised to discover some interesting flourishes that you never noticed before.

10 USS Brody

An easily-missed reference to Warner Bros.’s first MonsterVerse movie, 2014’s Godzilla, can be heard near the beginning of the climax of the movie.

As military forces move in to engage King Ghidorah as he nests over Washington D.C., it can be heard over the radio that one of the ships en route is the USS Brody. This is clearly a reference to Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s protagonist from the previous Godzilla movie, Ford Brody, who has apparently had a ship named after him for his heroism.

9 Jonah’s Past

The movie’s main human antagonist, Alan Jonah, is quite a mysterious figure. There are persistent fan theories that the character, played by the always fantastically villainous Charles Dance, is, in fact, the heroic character played by Tom Hiddleston in Kong: Skull Island.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters does little to confirm this but an interesting piece of his secretive military intelligence background is revealed in Monarch’s files. His file states that he was a POW in a Pakistani prison and his capture, and presumable disavowment, may have played a large part in his turn to disillusionment and terrorism.

8 A Stark Similarity

Frequent moviegoers may have had an odd feeling of déjà vu during Godzilla: King of the Monsters when the story arrives at Mark Russell’s secluded forest cabin.

This is because it is, in fact, the same cabin which appeared on screens only a month earlier as Tony Stark’s lakeside family home in Avengers: Endgame.

7 The Fairies

Fans of Toho’s monster movies were delighted as it was gradually revealed throughout Godzilla: King of the Monsters that the twin fairies, who famously accompany and speak for Mothra in the original movies, are alive and well in the Warner Bros. MonsterVerse. Sort of.

It’s revealed that Zhang Ziyi plays two characters in the movie when the twin sister of Dr. Ilene Chen, Dr. Ling, reveals herself during Mothra’s awakening. Later a family photo is shown which reveals that the twin trait has been running in their family for quite some time.

6 Foreshadowing Emails

As Madison Russell browses through her inbox on her laptop at the beginning of the movie, the audience is given some insight into the strained relationship between her and her father, setting up their character development throughout the movie. But the other emails in her inbox set up much more of the movie’s plot as well.

The Boston Globe establishes that Titan radiation has indeed triggered environmental repair in San Francisco and Las Vegas. NPR foreshadows the use of echolocation in the movie with an article about dolphins. EcoNews Alert and National Geographic ominously warn of environmental collapse due to species disappearing. New Scientist and Mysterious Universe tease the lost civilization discovered near the end of the movie and Newsweek alludes to a colossal easter egg which we’ll get to next…

5 Anguirus?

As Dr. Serizawa detonates the nuclear warhead to revitalize Godzilla in his underwater sanctuary, the blast illuminates more of the wonderfully designed ruins that he inhabits.

As the blast moves out to destroy the surrounding area, a giant Titan skeleton is revealed in the middle of the ruins. It was presumably killed by Godzilla hundreds if not thousands of years prior but fans have noticed an interesting similarity between the shape of the skeleton and an old Godzilla foe, Anguirus, who first appeared in Godzilla’s second movie, Godzilla Raids Again, in 1955.

4 Keeping Andrew Alive

Some eagle-eyed viewers were able to spot an interesting piece of character detail within the costumes right at the beginning of the movie.

As the audience really begins to meet the main characters after the tragic loss of the youngest member of the Russell family, Andrew, the audience sees Emma Russell staring at an old family photo. We see the Boston Red Sox shirt that Andrew is wearing in the photo appear again moments later but on his surviving sister, Madison. Andrew’s death is the cataclysmic moment that causes the events of the movie so it’s interesting to see how present he is in all of their lives even when he’s rarely spoken of.

3 Dr. Brooks

At the site observing Mothra’s cocoon underneath the waterfall in the Yunnan rainforest, the Monarch team is shown to be lead by a scientist being played by a cameoing Joe Morton.

It’s a great moment for sci-fi fans considering Morton’s roles as famous scientists Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Silas Stone in the DCEU. But one thing that’s often lost in the hurried pace of the movie is that Morton is playing a returning character from the Warner Bros. MonsterVerse, Dr. Houston Brooks, who first appeared in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island where he was played by Corey Hawkins.

2 Mothra’s Guards

Like with the references to Mothra’s fairies later in the story, there’s a nice nod to the monster’s roots right at the beginning of the movie hidden back in the shadows.

In the temple built around Mothra’s egg, there can be seen two guardian statues at the very back of the room watching over the slumbering queen until she awakes.

1 A New King Takes the Throne

As the movie comes to a close, and the now-nuclear Godzilla prepares to deal the final death blow to King Ghidorah, we see the city begin to melt around the heat of Godzilla’s overflowing thermonuclear radiation.

As he steps through the streets, a brief shot shows a poster, featuring a roaring lion, melt along with everything else, symbolizing the rise of the new ruler of the Earth’s animal kingdom.

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