ACT I:
We open on a house in the middle of the woods in Colorado; in the early morning, Emma Russel sitting next to Maddie as they watch a Live Television broadcast of the populace of San Francisco gathering and mourning the victims of those who died in the final battle of San Francisco; as this happens, we trigger a flashback to the events of
Godzilla (2014), where we see Emma and Mark watch with horror as, in the middle of the city, Godzilla and the male MUTO battle right past them before they traverse to the ruined neighborhood where they used to live, foreshadowing a more revealing flashback that will occur later. As the news broadcast goes on, old video footage of Godzilla plays, causing Emma to stare at it with an obvious expression of seething rage. Maddie breaks down crying and Emma comforts her. However, as they share their tender moment, their house is broken into by Alan Jonah and his terrorists, who takes them to
Outpost 32; Emma, due to Alan using Maddie as leverage, is forced to use a device only she knows how to use--the Orca--to scan the bioacoustics of a frozen Kaiju dormant in the ice. As this happens, Maddie looks out to view upon a three-headed dragon-like shadow... ... ...
Cue stock footage of
Godzilla (2014) and "Godzilla Main Title" and roll opening credits
Kong: Skull Island-style.
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS
We cut to Outpost 61 in China; another Monarch study facility is headed by Houston Brooks. Powerful tremors and angelic calls echo through the Temple of the Moth as the second head of Monarch, Vivienne Graham, storms in to view the phenomenon; they all watch with awe as Mothra hatches from her egg. The scene plays out almost identical to how it did in the actual movie, with Mark using the ORCA to calm Mothra instead of Emma. No terrorist attacks. But even while calmed, Mothra still becomes very frantic and visibly anxious, constantly looking about and chirping. It's clear something has her riled up.
Meanwhile, we cut to Outpost 54, where we witness a more-or-less identical moment of Godzilla showing up and giving his "intimidation display" before rapidly departing. Rick Stanton confirms Godzilla is headed for Antarctica. Serizawa calls Vivienne and informs her of the situation, who in turn informs Mark; as a result, she and Mark depart while Houston continues to monitor the still-docile Mothra's activities. After rejoining Serizawa, Illene, Rick and Sam, they, alongside a military escort lead by Colonel Foster and a Brigadier General Gareth Dougherty (an original character of mine and an obvious reference), head out to Outpost 32. Illene, through cave paintings and an ancient scripture discovered from ancient Japan, relays the backstory and identity of "Monster Zero" to the rest of the cast; a three-headed dragon who fell from the stars and purged the world into a total apocalypse, singlehandedly killing men and Gods alike before a "Great Dragon of the Sea" finally put his terrible reign to an end. In this myth, the creature goes by a name only ever written once once, as if its name must at all costs avoid being spoken:
Kingu Gidora. Thus, MONARCH officially designates him as King Ghidorah.
At Outpost 32, Alan interrupts Emma in her scan of "Monster Zero's" bioacoustics and engages her in conversation, telling her that he read her file on how she left Monarch following the battle of San Francisco, and how he found her story most relatable. Thus, we see another flashback; in 2014, after Emma arrived at the devastated neighborhood, she and Mark went into the wreckage and found a hurt but still-living Maddie weeping over a dying, badly-injured Andrew, who got fatally wounded protecting Maddie. As their son passes away in Emma's arms, she looks to the distance upon hearing Godzilla roar as he throws the male MUTO across the cityscape; thus establishing her hatred for the Monster King (as a result, in my version it is Emma and not Mark who loathes Godzilla for the death of Andrew). After Godzilla defeated the MUTOs, Emma angrily quit Monarch without hesitation, and such a rift caused her and Mark to split up. Back to the present, Jonah tells her that he and she are more alike than she might realize, and promises her that the work she is partaking in will grant her wish: the death of Godzilla. As their conversation comes to an end, the ground quakes, and one of Jonah's personnel informs him that "Monster Zero" is beginning to show increasing signs of activity.
However, MONARCH arrives and breaks into Outpost 32, resulting in more or less the same scene as we got in the finished film; the only difference is that Vivienne and Serizawa follow Mark into the Outpost. When the standoff occurs, Maddie runs to Mark immediately, but Emma stands apart and is seemingly well and ready to press the button which will activate an ORCA signal which will surely wake King Ghidorah. At first, it seems Mark and Vivienne's warnings to not detonate the charges will go unheeded, despite Vivienne warning her about the apocalyptic truth of King Ghidorah. But then, Maddie tearfully begs for Emma to reconsider detonating the charges, pleading for her to just come back. For a long moment, Emma reflects as she looks between Maddie, Mark, and the frozen King Ghidorah. Then, she slowly, steadily begins to listen to her daughter's pleas and lower her hand.
Suddenly, one of Jonah's personnel attacks Colonel Foster from above; in the confusion, Jonah seizes his chance and grabs Emma's hand, pressing the button.
The signal activates, and the cast flees the same way as in the finished movie as the icy lair cracks and crumbles apart. Upon the crew reaching the surface, King Ghidorah rises from his shattered prison and gives chase. As most of the group gets in the
Osprey to flee, a group of soldiers including General Dougherty, shoot at the three-headed monster to keep him at bay. The scene plays out just the same: Ghidorah bends down, sniffs them, smiles gleefully, before rearing back and incinerating them with his gravity beams.
The King of Terror returns his attention back to the now-airborne
Osprey, but before he can shoot them out of the air he is interrupted by Godzilla bursting out of an icy cavern and storming to meet him. As the
Osprey flees back to the
USS Argo, Godzilla and King Ghidorah clash. There are no cutaways or teases; we show the fight from beginning to end. Despite Godzilla holding his own fairly well against his old rival, King Ghidorah handily beats Godzilla and blasts him down a fissure in the ice before blasting said fissure apart, burying the Monster King. As a massive Category 6 hurricane forms, King Ghidorah stands on top of the tallest mountain peak he can find, spreads his wings and cackles for all to hear; one by one, many Kaiju around the world begin to mass-awaken upon hearing Ghidorah's laughter.
ACT II:
The
Argo sets course for Outpost 56 in Mt. Aso, Japan, where evacuations on the populace are being sped up due to an awakening Kaiju referred to in designations as "Titanus Radon" or more commonly,
Rodan. Upon arrival, Rodan reawakens and stands atop the mountain; at the same time, the same Category 6 storm that encompassed King Ghidorah begins to change course and head for Japan. To prevent the Monster of the Skies from rampaging and wiping out the still-evacuating populace, Colonel Foster orders a squadron of jets to open fire on him, getting his attention. Enraged, Rodan takes flight and chases after the
Argo, unknowingly being led right towards King Ghidorah. After obliterating the entire jet squadron in a scene more-or-less identical to the one in the finished film, Rodan comes face-to-three faces with King Ghidorah and fearlessly engages him in battle.
Once more, no cutaways; at first, surprisingly, Rodan holds the upper hand of the fight. But eventually, King Ghidorah manages to grab Rodan and flies all the way up above the clouds, before then proceeding to let loose his gravity beams and wing lighting all at once against Rodan's chest, blasting him all the way down to the water below where he crashes into Osaka Bay. King Ghidorah gives chase to the
Argo, and nearly catches them before being ambushed and dragged into the water by Godzilla, who has recovered from his previous battle. Despite gaining an obvious advantage of being underwater and even managing to maul and blow Ghidorah's left head off with his atomic ray, Godzilla is shockingly beaten by the King of Terror and has his energy drained through the dragon's bite. Ghidorah regenerates his lost head; Godzilla apparently dies and sinks, much to Emma's satisfaction.
However, what happened next would change her perception on everything entirely.
As the crew of the
Argo helplessly watches, King Ghidorah descends unto Osaka and sadistically turns his full, horrible power on the city. In a scene that strongly mirrors both Ghidorah's rampage scenes in
Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster and the original Godzilla's rampage in
Godzilla (1954), The King of Terror utterly destroys Osaka and leaves very little survivors, visibly laughing maniacally all the while, before descending to Rodan's former lair of Mt. Aso and releasing a powerful call heard around the world; upon its release, all Kaiju around the planet begin to rampage and destroy everything in their paths. King Ghidorah is finally distracted by an entire battalion of jets which open fire on him, causing him to give chase and depart Japan.
Meanwhile, back in Outpost 61, Mothra, who has cocooned, hatches in her Imago form and takes flight.
The crew touch down and see first hand the utter devastation left behind in King Ghidorah's wake, and it is unlike anything they have ever seen in the past. Traumatized, wounded and orphaned survivors are taken in and airlifted by rescue parties, to the witness of the crew. Emma is unable to bear the sight of the victims, and thus truly begins to see the full picture of the sheer difference between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Immensely regretful of the part she played in allowing Ghidorah's reawakening, spends a long moment alone in the depths of the
Argo, but is later joined by Maddie and Mark, who tell her it wasn't her fault. Maddie compares her mother's plight to how Andrew died protecting her back in 2014, and how Maddie sometimes believed that his death was all on the fault of herself. Mark goes as far as to tell Emma that the reason he stayed with Monarch while she didn't, was because he wanted to double down on finding answers to why the MUTOs, and subsequently Godzilla, had reawakened. The higher powers of humanity had been responsible for the reawakening of the MUTOs--just as they were now for the resurgence of King Ghidorah. In all truth, the real culprit of Andrew's death was not Godzilla or Maddie, but the arrogance of humanity and its capacity to destroy the natural world, to tamper with things that should've been left untouched. Upon this, however, they are then joined by Dr. Serizawa, who overheard their conversation; thus, to comfort them, he proceeds to tell them his "sometimes, the only way to heal old wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them" speech.
The
USS Argo arrives at Outpost 54; upon their arrival, though, Mothra appears in the sky. Recognizing the Goddess of Infant Island, Illene relays her symbiotic relationship with Godzilla to everyone, causing Emma to order Rick to listen for a response to Mothra's calls; just like in the finished film, they thus find out that Godzilla is indeed still alive, but very weak. As a result, the crew boards a nuclear-powered submarine and descends down to the depths of the sea; like in the film, they accidently stumble upon the Hollow Earth, where they discover the undersea temple that Godzilla is resting in (unlike in the film, though, the temple is completely underwater and has no air-laden surface to walk on). With this discovery, the crew makes haste and retreats back to Outpost 54, where they grab and attach two nuclear missiles to the sub--however, detonating them is not their plan.
Wanting a chance to redeem herself for her past faults, Emma volunteers to deliver the warheads to Godzilla; after her family and the rest of the crew wish her good luck, she departs back into the Hollow Earth. Eventually driving the sub nearly face to face with Godzilla, Emma overcomes her demons once and for all and launches the torpedoes at the Monster King's jaws. Catching on, Godzilla summons the strength to lift his head, catching the missiles and devouring them. At first, it seems there are no effects; however, as time passes, Emma see's Godzilla's eyes and dorsal plates suddenly burst to light with newfound power, his wounds regenerating at a rapid pace due to the overload of radiation channeling through his body. Eying the sub, Godzilla suddenly swims forth and grabs it in his hands before taking it with him to the surface. As the crew waits on Outpost 54, Godzilla rises from the depths of the sea, and fires his atomic ray into the sky as a call to arms, and sure enough Mothra responds to his cries. Then, lumbering over to the dock of Outpost 54, Godzilla gently sets the submarine down. Emma climbs out and takes a moment to look the nuclear giant in the eye, sharing a moment of understanding with him before he then departs, and she is reunited with her family.
Meanwhile in Osaka Bay, a familiar winged limb rises out of the water.
ACT III
As the crew set to locating King Ghidorah, they find out that all Titans have ceased their rampages for the time being, seemingly knowing of Godzilla's return; furthermore, it is also discovered that more than a few entire cities have suffered the same fate as Osaka by now. Meanwhile, King Ghidorah is found out to be engaging the entire U.S. Navy and Air Force in the Atlantic Ocean by his lonesome, just off the coast of a now-abandoned Boston. Seizing the opportunity, the
Argo flies to Boston, where Emma, Mark and Maddie activate the ORCA and broadcast a signal that is soon picked up by King Ghidorah. Ceasing his battle with the Navy and Air Force, the King of Terror arrives at Boston, where he is met with yet another resistance. Ghidorah all but crushes the competition, but just before he can kill the protagonists, a deafening
SKREEEEOOOONK! is heard. Godzilla arrives, and King Ghidorah immediately sets to face him. With their purpose achieved, the protagonists board the
Argo and proceed to leave for safer grounds. As Vivienne repeats Serizawa's old words "Let Them Fight", Godzilla and King Ghidorah rush one another and engage in their final battle.
At first, the two combatants are evenly matched; Godzilla is obviously stronger than before, and now possesses an indigo spiral ray (think back to
Godzilla vs King Ghidorah) that he uses to pummel Ghidorah mercilessly; however, the One Who is Many gradually begins to regain the upper hand of the battle as it progresses. As a result, Mothra drops in and assails King Ghidorah with a glowing, reflective, highly poisonous powder released from her wings that stuns and temporarily paralyzes Ghidorah, allowing Godzilla to blast the pollen cloud and engulf Ghidorah in an explosion. However, the King of Terror survives the onslaught and fights back savagely, unleashing his wing lightning to badly injure both Kaiju. As they reel, an unexpected fourth combatant suddenly joins the melee: Rodan!
At first, the Giant Monster of the Skies ravenously attacks King Ghidorah in a blind rage, causing the King of Terror to grab him and throw him into Mothra. As the Queen of the Monsters recovers, however, Rodan suddenly turns his wrath on Mothra and engages her in battle, utterly driven insane by his loss and Ghidorah's "Alpha Call" from earlier. As Godzilla fights Ghidorah, Mothra fights Rodan and, after a lengthy and brutal battle, manages to defeat him and bring him to his senses. Like in the film, Ghidorah eventually grabs, airlifts, and drops Godzilla, but before he can finish him off, the badly injured Mothra attacks him with the last of her powder. Turning on the Goddess of Infant Island, the wounded Ghidorah grabs her in his jaws and prepares to kill her, but before he can do so he is attacked one last time by the now defected Rodan.
Meanwhile, Rick Stanton discovers that Godzilla's radiation levels are climbing to never-before-seen heights, and that in two minutes they will reach a level of critical mass.
Rodan duels savagely with King Ghidorah, tanking a lot of damage just like last time and avoiding many of his attacks due to his speed, forcing the King of Terror to rely on every last ounce of his power to finally beat him. Eventually, King Ghidorah manages to finally render Rodan out of commission; but before he can finish off the crippled Monster of the Skies, Mothra intervenes one last time. Ghidorah finally turns on her and blasts her apart with his gravity beams, killing her.
Before he can turn his attention on the defeated Rodan, however, a loud roar silences him. Godzilla, his eyes and crackling dorsal spines now flashing a scarlet red, returns to the combat. At first, Ghidorah blasts him with his gravity beams, but despite the damage they fail to put down the Monster King. With that, Godzilla unleashes his Red Spiral Ray, continuously blasting Ghidorah apart until his wings, left and right heads, and legs are gone. With the defiant Ghidorah all but helpless, Godzilla smashes his foot upon the dragon's chest before then unleashing a red nuclear pulse which engulfs a majority of Boston in a blinding rupture.
When it clears, the same outcome as the film takes place; Godzilla grabs Ghidorah's only remaining head and destroys it with one last Red Spiral Ray, edning the battle. Upon the King of Terror's death, the other Titans all converge on Godzilla, with Rodan the last to arrive. Rodan, free of Ghidorah's mental influence, acknowledges Godzilla with respect and bows to him, the other Kaiju following suit. Godzilla stands tall and roars, as the protagonists watch from afar, with Maddie labeling him the "King of the Monsters."
Roll first half of end credits; much like finished film, end it with cave paintings of Godzilla fighting King Kong.
After the first segment of credits is over, Alan Jonah and his personnel, having survived the incident, find Ghidorah's severed head from his aquatic battle with Godzilla, and purchase it just like in the film.'
Post credits; Vivienne Graham heads a Monarch expedition to a new location: now dubbed
Outpost 55, in Siberia. As Maddie, Mark and Emma walk with her through the caverns discussing their latest find, the camera pans on a diagram showing a cave painting depicting Godzilla alongside a quadrupedal, spiky Ankylosaurus-like creature... ... ...
Visual Differences from the finished film:
Godzilla's size and design remains unchanged from the 2014 film.
Rodan's roar, while revamped, sounds far more akin to the Toho roar than what we got.
Rodan is roughly as tall as Godzilla (I don't personally have a problem with him being smaller than Godzilla in the finished film, but if I were doing this film I would've made him as tall as the Big G).
In every flashback to
Godzilla (2014), the dark, bleak and gray color scale remains; there are no changes in texture or color made like in the finished film.
When Godzilla marches to meet King Ghidorah in his final battle in Boston, cue the Monster Zero March.
Well, this took hours to write!
Anywho, this is a rough draft of how I personally would've done KOTM had I had the power to direct a movie to the way I envisioned it. I hope you guys liked it.