With just two months until the film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max, Godzilla vs. Kong has unveiled its first theatrical trailer, which brings the two Titans into conflict and reveals just why they're going to clash.
Here's are the biggest moments from Godzilla vs. Kong's trailer and what they could mean for the movie.
King Kong Is Humanity's Last Chance
The trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong opens with images of an entire city being laid to waste, with inhabitants rushing into the underground subway as skyscrapers topple. Alexander Skarsgard's character, Nathan Lind, declares that Kong is the last chance humanity has in the face of this apocalyptic onslaught. The trailer then shows the overgrown simian unconscious and in chains riding on a large freighter, presumably from his home on Skull Island.
Newspaper headlines seen throughout the end credits in 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters revealed that the sudden upsurge in kaiju activity resulted in the giant beasts converging on Skull Island. Whether this cataclysmic event will be seen in Godzilla v. Kong or if the ape will appear in a different South Pacific location is currently unknown. As such, it's not totally clear just how Kong got bigger or where he's being brought from.
Heart of Kong
As Lind sees Kong, visibly older and larger than his appearance in 2017's Kong: Skull Island, he reveals that the Titan formed a unique bond with a young girl carrying a makeshift doll of her protector. Footage shows that the girl is the only one capable of communicating directly with Kong as Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) observes that she adopted the girl and swore to protect her, and Kong is seemingly doing the same in his own way.
Kong has always possessed more of a soft spot for humanity than Godzilla, and the girl will be key to securing the ape's cooperation against the reptilian kaiju. A previously teased scene for Godzilla vs. Kong even showed her calming the beast as a rainstorm swept across their ship, making clear she's one of his key relationships in the film.
Godzilla Strikes
As the trailer continues, Godzilla strikes a military convoy in the middle of its oceanic voyage. Swimming right through one ship, Godzilla effortlessly cuts through it with his dorsal fins before shrugging off aerial strikes and artillery bombardments from the remaining ships. As Kong roars into the depths, Godzilla emerges in full, attacking his new rival.
In a moment reminiscent of King of the Monsters, Godzilla fires his signature atomic breath up from under the ship, destroying it in a fiery explosion as Kong narrowly leaps to another ship. Hand-to-hand, Kong proves he's up to the task of fighting Godzilla, laying the kaiju low with a powerful right hook.
Godzilla Out of Control
Ever since his debut in 2014's Godzilla, the MonsterVerse's version of the titular reptilian kaiju has worked as something of a defender of humanity, having battled monsters threatening cities in Hawaii and California. This role continued in King of the Monsters, where Godzilla battled King Ghidorah around the globe to drive out the extraterrestrial invasive kaiju and save the planet.
Godzilla's tentative alliance with humanity is seemingly set to change, though. King of the Monsters' Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) and Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) will return in Godzilla vs. Kong, and in the trailer they reveal the reptilian kaiju has mysteriously gone out of control and started attacking humanity. While Monarch isn't sure just what's going on with Godzilla, Madison and Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) speculate an unknown force is controlling the Titan.
Who Is Controlling Godzilla & Where Are the Other Titans?
With King of the Monsters' villainous Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) still on the loose and in possession of one of King Ghidorah's severed heads, the eco-terrorist -- whose agenda had him looking for ways to control Titans so as to restore the planet by attacking humanity -- may have found a way to control Godzilla himself. Still, just how Godzilla is being controlled isn't clear at this time.
In addition to the mystery of who is controlling Godzilla, the trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong leaves open a huge question as to just what happened to the Titans in King of the Monsters. While in that film, kaiju started reviving around the globe, Andrews comments that Godzilla and Kong are the only two Titans left on the planet, indicating something happened to the others.
Kong's Secret Weapon
As first hinted at by the post-credits sequence in Skull Island and expanded upon throughout King of the Monsters, Titans have been a part of Earth's secret history for millions of years. Before being driven into dormancy, Titans informed the course of not only the planet but human history. However, Godzilla vs. Kong reveals that the eponymous conflict isn't just the latest epic skirmish between Titans. Instead, the event has been foretold for millennia.
And as Kong becomes acquainted with his own titanic destiny, he arms himself with a crudely constructed battle axe, which was previously revealed by the Godzilla vs. Kong's official merchandising. Fitted with what appears to be one of Godzilla's dorsal fins, the axe is capable of withstanding the full brunt of reptilian kaiju's atomic breath as Kong leaps down to smite his opponent in a neon-soaked Hong Kong.
Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, Godzilla vs. Kong stars Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max March 26.