Leafwing

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Leafwing
A Leafwing from Kong: Skull Island
A Leafwing from Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
A Leafwing from Godzilla vs. Kong
Alternate names Pterodactylus
Species Icarus Folium
Wingspan 3-5 feet[1]
Controlled by King Ghidorah
Relations Psychovulture (subspecies of)
Allies Other Leafwings
Enemies Humans
First appearance Latest appearance
Kong: Skull Island Godzilla vs. Kong
Roar(s)
That is one ugly-ass bird.
„ 

Preston Packard (Kong: Skull Island)

The Leafwing is a species of avian reptile monster that first appeared in the Legendary Pictures films Kong: Skull Island, and reappears in the film's tie-in comic Skull Island: The Birth of Kong. The creatures are also featured very briefly in the next two entries in the MonsterVerse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters[2] and Godzilla vs. Kong.

Development

The creature design team for Kong: Skull Island included Zach Berger, Carlos Huante, Simon Lee, and Stephanie Levallois. Berger had a significant role in designing the Leafwings, based on director Jordan Vogt-Roberts's request for a "fucked up stingray with a bayonet for a face."[3]

Design

Leafwings are bat-like creatures with pronounced rostrum-like horns on their foreheads, covered in spines. Their wings are green and they resemble green leaves, allowing them to camouflage themselves as the leaves of trees when in groups. The Leafwings in Kong: Skull Island have yellow stains on their heads and on the back of their bodies. In Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, they are depicted with green, leaflike wings and brown bodies. The Leafwings who reside in the Hollow Earth, as seen in Godzilla vs. Kong, have red and green stains on their bodies instead.

Personality

While less aggressive than their Psychovulture cousins, the Leafwings are still dangerous airborne predators. They are omnivorous.[4]

History

MonsterVerse

Kong: Skull Island

The Monarch expedition to Skull Island encountered Leafwings on three occasions. While Preston Packard and several soldiers were looking for Chapman, they spotted a tree with dozens of Leafwings perched on its branches. Packard took aim at one of the creatures with the scope on his M14 rifle, shooting it in the head and scaring away the others.

James Conrad's group was beset by several Leafwings while traveling by river on the Grey Fox. Conrad and Slivko were unable to get a clean shot at the birds as they carried off Nieves, and the group could only watch as he was dismembered and devoured in mid-air.

Leafwings disturbed by the battle between a Skullcrawler and the remaining members of the expedition attacked the latter, killing several soldiers. Conrad sliced several of them in half with Hank Marlow's katana while rescuing Slivko.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Several Leafwings flew around Godzilla moments after he killed King Ghidorah in Boston, having emerged from the Hollow Earth after Ghidorah's cries awakened all of the Titans around the world.[2]

Godzilla vs. Kong

After the perpetual storm surrounding Skull Island consumed it, multiple Leafwings lived within the domed habitat Monarch built for Kong. They lived peacefully alongside the discontent Titan. The joint Monarch-Apex Cybernetics expedition to the Hollow Earth discovered more Leafwings shortly after entering the realm.

Abilities

Flight

The Leafwings are capable of flight.

Thermal Vision

Leafwings have thermal sight.

Spike anesthetic

The Leafwings have spikes on their horns that contain an anesthetic agent.

Camouflage

When congregating in groups, Leafwings can effectively camouflage themselves by mimicking the leaves of trees.

Books

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization

The Leafwings' role in the novelization is the same as in the film, although they are specified to have originated from Skull Island and escaped Monarch Outpost 33.

Kong and Me

Leafwings flew near Kong as he first stepped into view. Jia described them as "trees with wings."

Comics

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong

The People Who Came from the Sky

After their V-22 Osprey was shot down over Skull Island by Psychovultures, a team of Monarch operatives witnessed a flock of Leafwings fly overhead.


Trivia

  • The taxonomy used for the Leafwing has numerous issues that go against conventions used in the field:
    • Although the Leafwing is described as being a subspecies of the Psychovulture, the creatures' species names indicate that they belong to different genera entirely, with the Leafwing's genus being named as Icarus while the Psychovulture's genus is Vultra.
    • The Leafwing's genus name conflicts with the initial genus name of the Spirit Tiger, Icarus Tigris.

See also

References

This is a list of references for Leafwing. 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]

  1. George Tew (April 16, 2020). "Superspecies Profile: Leafwing Classification: Florafauna Wingspan: 3-5 FT Predation: Omnivorous #MonsterverseWatchalong". Twitter.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Bibbiani, William (1 June 2019). "[SPOILERS] Michael Dougherty Explains the OTHER Monsters in 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters'". Bloody Disgusting.
  3. Zakarin, Jordan (16 March 2017). "New 'Kong: Skull Island' Concept Art Reveals Wild and Unused Monsters". Inverse.
  4. K-SI Monarch Superspecies Profile Leafwing.jpg

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