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Warning: This article contains major Godzilla Vs. Kong spoilers. You probably knew that when you clicked on it, but still.
Godzilla Vs. Kong is now streaming on HBO Max, which means the day has finally come for these big boys to go claw-to-paw in the most highly-anticipated monster movie of the year. This fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse stars Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Rebecca Hall, and Alexander Skarsgård. But more importantly, this film has promised to answer the question: In a fight between Godzilla and King Kong, who wins?
In fact, these two kings did fight once before, in the 1962 Japanese film King Kong vs. Godzilla. In that battle, King Kong was kinda, sorta the victor, and the winner of 2021’s Godzilla Vs. Kong—though it does make good on the “One will fall” tagline—comes with a few caveats, too.
The film is a fun watch, but if you’re impatient to get to the results, read on to find out who wins in Godzilla Vs. Kong, and the Godzilla Vs. Kong ending explained.
Who wins in Godzilla Vs. Kong 2021?
Are you sure you want to be spoiled? Are you absolutely positive you want to know? OK, here goes nothing: Godzilla wins in Godzilla Vs. Kong... sort of.
Here’s what happens: Kong and Godzilla have their final face-off in Hong Kong. They are doing their punchy-punchy, smashy-smashy thing, destroying every building in sight. There is a moment there where it seems like Kong has the upper hand—he has Godzilla in a headlock, and he’s choking him. Then Godzilla flips things around with a well-placed bite and tosses Kong like a rag doll. ‘Zilla has Kong cornered and slashes Kong’s chest with his claws. Then he pins Kong down with one of his giant stompers, lets out a victorious roar, leans in to finish the job… and then screams in Kong’s face instead. Kong screams right back. Then, instead of ending it, Godzilla takes his foot off of Kong’s chest and walks away from the fight, leaving Kong severely injured on the ground. Kong tries to stand, but falls back down, hence the tagline of the film, “One will fall.”
So, even though Godzilla doesn’t finish the job, he does technically “win” that fight.
Does Kong or Godzilla die in Godzilla Vs. Kong?
No. However, Kong almost dies in Godzilla Vs. Kong. Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a young deaf girl with whom Kong has a special bond, can feel the vibrations of Kong’s heart slowing down. The human characters save Kong by hitting him with a zap of energy from their high-tech spaceship to “restart” his heart. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)
And it works! Kong wakes up, and he’s back in action, baby.
How does Godzilla vs. Kong end? What is the Godzilla Vs. Kong ending, explained?
While the whole “restart Kong’s heart” thing has been going on, Godzilla has been fighting Mechagodzilla, which is a mechanical version of Godzilla that had been secretly constructed by Apex Cybernetics corporation, as a way to fight Godzilla. Godzilla is not strong enough to defeat Mechagodzilla on his own, but, acting on the advice of Jia, Kong joins Godzilla to fight alongside him, rather than against him. Many likely won’t be surprised to hear this, as it was a common fan theory before the release of the film.
Together the two kings do defeat their mechanical foe, thanks to the fact that Kong has a magical battle axe that can be charged up by Godzilla’s lightning breath. Kong demolishes Mechagodzilla, beheads it, and then sits down, because he’s tired.
Kong and Godzilla look at each other one last time as if perhaps to fight—but then Kong drops his axe, indicating a truce. Godzillla turns away and disappears back into the ocean, just has he always does.
Kong returns to Hollow Earth, enclosed in a “Kong Monitoring Station.” It was hinted at earlier in the film that Kong might find more of his kind here, but for now, we don’t see any fellow giant apes. For some reason, The Hollies “The Air That I Breathe” begins to play, and the movie ends.
And that’s it! There is no Godzilla Vs. Kong after-credits scene, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the gentle sounds of that classic ’70s ballad.
