While the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCU tend to be the biggest topics of conversation among shared universes, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment have had a pretty successful run with their MonsterVerse. The franchise updates two iconic movie monsters, Godzilla and King Kong, and has created its own mythology and recurring characters, and long-form plot developments. Different directors have come in and put their stamp on these characters and audiences have embraced this franchise.

With the announcement of both a sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong and a live-action Godzilla series set for Apple TV+, the franchise is going to continue to grow. For anybody looking to get in on the franchise, or looking just for a good weekend binge of monster mashups, here is how to watch the MonsterVerse in chronological order, or by release order if you prefer.

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MonsterVerse Movies in Chronological Order

  • Kong: Skull Island Godzilla Godzilla and the Titans Godzilla: King of the Monsters Godzilla vs. Kong Godzilla vs. Kong 2

Kong: Skull Island

     Warner Bros.

Chronologically, the first film in the franchise is the second film released, Kong: Skull Island. The film shows a team working for an organization titled Monarch, which specializes in studying giant creatures and developing a Hollow Earth theory. Kong: Skull Island takes place in 1973 (with a prologue set in 1943) and lays a lot of groundwork for the MonsterVerse franchise, establishing Monarch as an organization and how they will come to know about Kong and Godzilla.

The earlier time period also allows the film to explain how Kong can be big enough to fight Godzilla as this is a relatively smaller version of the character that is still growing. The film’s end credit sequence fully connects the Kong and Godzilla franchise, showing cave paintings of Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah as well as a drawing between Godzilla and one of Kong’s ancestors.

Godzilla

The first film released was Godzilla, and the existence of giant monsters seems to be unknown to the general public in the film (although by the time of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it appears that Skull Island and Kong’s existence are known to the hoi polloi, so just when that information became public is unclear). The film sees Godzilla emerge to fight off ancient creatures identified only as MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) that are wreaking havoc and threatening the planet.

Godzilla and the MUTO’s giant battle in San Francisco in 2014 is very much the turning point for the franchise. This is the moment where humans learn about the existence of these massive organisms and also will impact many characters moving forward. Former Monarch husband and wife duo Dr. Mark and Emma Russell lose their son in the battle of San Francisco putting them down separate paths that lead to the event of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Godzilla and the Titans

Though it is not yet released, the recently announced Godzilla and the Titans series is set for Apple TV+ and its timeline has been confirmed to take place within the five-year gap between Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The series is described as focusing on a family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the Monarch.

The cast includes real-life father and son duo Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell, alongside Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, Anna Sawai, Elisa Lasowski, and Ren Watabe. It will also likely explain why the characters stop referring to the creatures as MUTOs and instead as Titans.

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla: King of the Monsters blows the door open on the franchise with more monsters and expands the mythology of the world. The monsters are now theorized to be the legendary titans of myths, the world has now learned more about their existence, and Monarch has become a more public organization.

The film introduces legendary Godzilla mainstays like King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra to the franchise. By the end of the movie, Godzilla has defeated King Ghidorah and is now the new king of the monsters with every other titan bowing before him…except for one. The movie’s end credit scene shows how the world is adjusting to a new status quo, and one headline emphasizes various titans converging on Skull Island.

The final end credit sequence shows one of King Ghidorah’s heads being purchased by Alan Jonah, one of the film’s principal villains and eco-terrorists who wants to level the playing field and restore a sense of balance to the Earth. Ghidorah’s head plays a major role in the next film.

Godzilla vs. Kong

The event film that everyone was waiting for: Godzilla vs. Kong. Set five years after the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2024 (and 10 years since Godzilla’s battle in San Francisco), Kong is being monitored by Monarch in a dome surrounding what remains of Skull Island, as most of the island has been consumed by the storm surrounding it. The humans plan to use Kong to lead them to the Hollow Earth to discover a power source, as Godzilla has started attacking humans for initially unknown reasons.

Tech CEO Walter Simmons is using Ghidorah’s severed head to create MechaGodzilla to combat and destroy the titans. This puts Godzilla and Kong on a collision course towards one another that will eventually result in these two legendary foes putting aside their differences to fight a greater threat.

Notably, the movie was heavily re-edited and was meant to serve as a possible ending for the franchise if need be, due to the poor box office performance of the previous Godzilla movie and the rights deal with Toho set to expire. The film ends with Godzilla going off into the sea and Kong finding a new home in the Hollow Earth, ruling over it.

Godzilla vs. Kong Sequel

     Warner Bros. Pictures

While many figured the MonsterVerse might have been done after Godzilla: King of the Monsters disappointed at the box office, Godzilla vs. Kong rejuvenated the franchise and was a smash hit. This was even more impressive considering it was released in March 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic still had many theaters shut down.

Audiences turned out to see the two legendary titans fight on-screen, and Warner Bros. began work on a sequel. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 is set for release in 2024 (the same year Godzilla vs. Kong takes place), and will mark the ten-year anniversary of when Godzilla was released and kicked off the MonsterVerse franchise.

MonsterVerse Movies by Order of Release

  • Godzilla - May 16, 2014 Kong: Skull Island - March 17, 2017 Godzilla: King of the Monsters - May 31, 2019 Godzilla vs. Kong - March 31, 2021 Godzilla vs. Kong 2 - March 15, 2024 Godzilla and the Titans - TBA