Monarch

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Beyond logic lies truth.
„ 

— Monarch's motto, circa 1972[1]

MONARCH logo

Monarch is a secret scientific organization created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2014 Godzilla film, Godzilla.

History

Godzilla (2014)

Monarch became active in the South Pacific in 1954, following the USS Nautilus' discovery of Godzilla. Working with the United States military, it participated in the hydrogen bomb attack against the monster in Bikini Atoll the same year, along with the subsequent coverup. Since Godzilla's death could not be confirmed, the organization spent the following decades searching for him and studying the data it had already collected

In 1999, Ishiro Serizawa and his assistant Vivienne Graham were sent by Monarch to the Philippines to investigate the cave-in of a mine. There, they discovered the skeleton of another member of Godzilla's species that died long ago and two parasitic spores, one of which had hatched. The creature that hatched from the spore arrived at the nuclear power plant in Janjira, where it attached itself to the reactor to feed. Monarch quickly quarantined the city of Janjira in order to study the creature, codenamed M.U.T.O.. In 2014, the M.U.T.O. burst free from its cocoon and destroyed Monarch's facilities and flew away. Serizawa and Graham then assisted the U.S. military in tracking and studying the M.U.T.O. and Godzilla once he emerged to hunt it.

"The Godzilla Revelation", a featurette on home video releases of Godzilla, indicates that the world learned of Monarch's existence shortly after the events of the film, with an individual calling themselves MonsterTruth leaking classified videos and documents to the press.

Kong: Skull Island

William Randa, working as a covert agent of Monarch, was responsible for organizing the 1973 expedition to Skull Island. Other employees of the organization who accompanied him were biologist Lin San and seismologist Houston Brooks.

Official Monarch Timeline

Monarch was originally a "small, off-book research team" founded in 1946 by President Truman, in response to an attack on the U.S.S. Lawton by a massive, unidentified creature in 1943.[2]

In 1973, an expedition to Skull Island led by Bill Randa encountered Kong and the Skullcrawlers as well as the native Iwi people and other M.U.T.O.s.

In 1991, Monarch installed an outpost on Isla de Mona in Puerto Rico, laying the groundwork for later construction of a "full containment facility" around the inactive volcano there.[3]

In 1995, a second, off-the-books expedition to Skull Island led by Aaron Brooks became stranded on the island after their aircraft was attacked by Psychovultures. They were then taken in by the indigenous Iwi tribe, who taught them about the origins of Kong.[2]

In 1999, the Janjira nuclear power plant underwent a meltdown after the male M.U.T.O. breached its reactor. The city was evacuated soon after, and a Monarch facility set up around the M.U.T.O.'s chrysalis, which it had constructed around the reactor.

In 2005, Jonah Alan was put in Pakistani prison after he and his band of mercenaries tried to breach the walls of a M.U.T.O. dig site.[2]

In 2009, a Monarch study of Chinese temples led Dr. Emma Russell's team to a temple housing a giant cocoon with a "quickening heartbeat."[2]

In 2012, Houston Brooks received a coded message from his son containing information about Kong.[2]

In 2014, the "Battle of San Francisco," fought between Godzilla and two M.U.T.O.s, revealed the existence of giant superspecies to the world. As a result, Monarch went public.[2]

In 2016, Monarch, led by Vivienne Graham, built a containment and research facility in Antarctica around a three-headed creature found beneath the ice.[2]

Notable Members

Filmography

Comics

Godzilla: Awakening

Monarch was formed in secrecy in 1946[4] as a joint coalition between several governments in order to hunt and study massive unidentified terrestrial organisms. The first such creature Monarch studied was Shinomura, a deadly hive-minded radioactive creature composed of many smaller composite lifeforms. One of Monarch's operatives, Serizawa, also was intrigued by eyewitness accounts of a "giant lizard that walked like a man" that seemed to be chasing Shinomura throughout the islands. Serizawa called this creature "Gojira," after Pacific Island legends describing him. In 1954, Monarch cooperated with the United States military to lure Godzilla and Shinomura to Bikini Atoll, where both were thought to be killed by the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb "test." Decades later, in 1981, Serizawa told his son Ishiro about his experiences and belief that Godzilla was still alive somewhere. After Ishiro's father died, he was approached by Shaw, a representative of Monarch, who offered him the opportunity to join and continue his father's work. Ishiro Serizawa readily agreed and became part of Monarch.

Skull Island: Birth of Kong

In 1995, Houston Brooks' son Aaron led an unauthorized expedition to the island. The team's plane was quickly shot down by a Psychovulture, and they were chased into a cave by Death Jackals. After Kong chased the creatures off, they met a group of Iwi, who led them to their village.

Gallery

Logos

Screenshots

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla (2014) Bonus Features

Kong: Skull Island

Official Monarch Timeline

Merchandise

Trivia

  • According to Godzilla: Awakening, Monarch was the first mixed Japanese-American government unit created since World War II.
  • In Godzilla, Vivienne Graham tells Ford Brody that Monarch was founded in 1954, although Godzilla: Awakening, Kong: Skull Island, and the official Monarch timeline cite 1946 as the year of the organization's formation. It is possible that Graham lied to Ford, but the discrepancy may simply be an act of retroactive continuity.
  • In Godzilla: Awakening, General Douglas MacArthur briefs the founding members of Monarch in 1946 and gives the order to target Godzilla and Shinomura with a hydrogen bomb in 1954. In real life, MacArthur was relieved of his command by President Truman in 1951. This suggests that MacArthur was either never fired in the world of the comic or retained in secret to oversee Monarch.
  • References to Monarch in the script of Kong: Skull Island, establishing a previously-unannounced connection to Godzilla, played a major role in the film's move from Universal to Warner Bros.[5]

External Links

References

This is a list of references for Monarch. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

Legendary
Warner Bros.
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