King Kong (Universal)
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Kong is a giant ape monster created by Peter Jackson that first appeared in the 2005 film, King Kong, based on a story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper. He is the last of his kind and has been alone for some time.
Design
Kong resembles an adult Silverback Western Lowland Gorilla with considerable scarring all over his body and face. Most of his body is covered in thick, matted black hair. Of all Kong's interpretations, the 2005 incarnation is most like that of a real gorilla. However, there were specific design elements implemented to help distinguish official movie merchandise from other generic gorilla designs, like the crescent shaped scar on his right eye, and the tooth jutting out from his lower jaw.
Origins
Kong is the last of the species Megaprimatus kong. In an interview with the BBC, director Peter Jackson states that Kong never knew his parents because they were "probably killed by dinosaurs" when he was still young and that he had siblings which were also deceased.[2] In Cinefex #104, Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop explained of the giant gorilla bones in Kong's lair by stating "We decided to give Kong a graveyard of his ancestors. [...] Gorillas do mourn their dead, and this was where Kong mourned the loss of the only thing that he had social interaction with — it could be his father or mother."[3] The Making of King Kong: The Official Guide to the Motion Picture states that the skull seen among the gorilla remains was Kong's father.[4]
Ecology
Naturally growing to heights of 18 to 25 feet, the Megaprimatus species had an anomalous relationship with Skull Island. They were not native to the island, although they had arrived no earlier than a few thousand years before their discovery. It is theorized that they originated in mainland Asia, and that they may have been brought alongside the original civilization of Skull Island before their disappearance. The Ape-shaped monoliths that the people left behind suggest that Megaprimatus may have been revered or worshiped by the people. After reaching the island, Megaprimatus experienced an exponential increase in size. Whether this growth was a natural response to the hazardous environments of Skull Island, or done through selective breeding is unknown. The Ape-shaped effigies and monoliths left behind by this original civilization suggest a reverence to the Megaprimatus, or possibly a symbiosis with them.
Kong himself, as a part of being alone, was forced to take up some behaviors that are assumed to be atypical of his species.[5] Megaprimatus likely lived in small familial colonies in the jungle, where their numbers could provide some security. Kong, on the other hand lived in a mountain hollow and made trips to the jungle to hunt. Megaprimatus were a very social species, emphasized by a mastery of body language and vocalizations, ranging from grunts and glances to roars and chest pounding. It is theorized that parent Megaprimatus kept their vulnerable young close while teaching them to find food. Adult Megaprimatus, like Kong, were crafty fighters capable of using their dexterous grasping hands and superior brainpower to out-think and defeat opponents.
Scarring found on Kong and the bones of his forebears reveal a consistent clash with the Vastatosaurus rex. V.rexes viewed young Megaprimatus as a food source, and would attempt to steal them away, leading to horrible battles with the adults. Both Megaprimatus and V.rex would gladly kill the young of the other to reduce future competition for resources. Younger V.rexes more often clashed with the apes due to their eagerness to claim territory and undeveloped ability to size up opponents. Megaprimatus could use whatever lay at hand as a weapon, but most battles lead to one party backing off when the odds were out of favor. However, if the stakes of the battle were high enough they could readily become fights to the death.
It is not suspected that the Megaprimatus were ever numerous, but over the centuries, V.rexes, Venatosaurus, sickness, and injury each took their share of the population. These risks, compounded with the primate habit of seldom breeding and taking years to reach self-sufficiency kept them from fully repopulating, leading to their eventual decline. It is theorized that Kong's odd relationship with the island's human population was an attempt to fill his social needs. However, the humans never managed to replace the family Kong had lost.
History
King Kong (2005)
Kong was living on Skull Island in 1933, when a film crew led by Carl Denham arrived on a ship called the Venture to shoot a film. The natives of the island did not take kindly to the film crew's presence, and attacked them when they set foot on the island, killing two members of the expedition. The crew returned to the Venture and remained on board, debating whether or not to return to the island and continue shooting. At night, the natives pole-vaulted to get onto the Venture and kidnapped Ann Darrow, the leading lady. They brought her back to their village on the island and attempted to sacrifice her to their god, Kong. Kong soon emerged from the jungle and grabbed the terrified Ann, then took her away into the jungle. The film crew ran onto the island to rescue Ann, and followed Kong into the jungle. Kong took Ann to his lair, where she saw the remains of several of Kong's previous sacrifices along the way. Ann tried to get free, but to no avail. Ann tried to distract Kong by dancing, which caused Kong to laugh. When Ann became tired and refused to perform anymore, Kong stormed off angrily. Kong then encountered the search party crossing a log bridge spanning a ravine. Kong grabbed the bridge and twisted it, sending the party falling into the chasm below, where most of them were killed by gigantic insects. Jack Driscoll managed to escape from the pit and climb to the other side of the ravine, then continued pursuing Kong.
While Kong was gone, Ann tried to run away but found herself being pursued by a Foetodon, a giant crocodilian-like reptile. Ann ran from it, only to witness the Foetodon being eaten by a Vastatosaurus Rex, the modern descendant of the tyrannosaurus. The V-Rex then chased Ann and was joined by another member of its kind. Kong arrived just in time and tried to fight the V-Rexes off. A third V-Rex entered the battle and the odds were turned against Kong. Kong killed one of the V-Rexes, but the other two continued relentlessly attacking him and Ann. Eventually, Kong and the two remaining V-Rexes fell over a cliff and into a thick layer of vines. Kong grappled with the V-Rexes, causing one to become entangled and trapped in the vines. Ann and one of the V-Rexes fell from the vines to the ground while Kong finished off the other one. Kong fought with the V-Rex once again, and this time gained the upper hand. Kong restrained the V-Rex and pried its jaws apart until they snapped, killing it. Ann, grateful for Kong saving her life, allowed herself to be taken by Kong back to his mountain lair. Kong set Ann down in his lair and sat on a ledge overlooking the sunset. Ann approached Kong and tried to communicate with him using sign language. Jack arrived in Kong's lair and found Ann. Kong then awoke from his slumber and angrily attacked Jack. Suddenly, they were attacked by a swarm of Terapusmordax, giant bats. As Kong fought the bats off, Jack and Ann began rappelling down a vine to escape but Kong noticed and tried to grab them. Ann and Jack jumped from the vine into the water below. Enraged, Kong stormed off from his lair and gave chase. Jack and Ann retreated to the village, where Carl and the remaining members of the expedition were waiting. Kong arrived and broke down the wall. The crew used chloroform bombs to subdue Kong, knocking him unconscious on the shore. Denham decided to bring Kong back to New York and display him as "The Eighth Wonder of the World."
Kong was taken back to New York on board the Venture, and was placed in chrome steel chains and put on display inside a Broadway theater. As the crowds were stunned by Kong and photographers aggressively took pictures of him, Kong became agitated. He broke free from his chains and grabbed the actress pretending to be Ann. Realizing she was a fake, he tossed her aside and tore through the theater, eventually emerging out into the streets of New York. Kong overturned cars and smashed lampposts in rage, searching for Ann. Witnessing the destruction Kong was causing because of her, Ann walked into the open near Kong and allowed him to pick her up again. Kong calmed down and took Ann to Central Park, where he slid on a frozen lake. As Kong began to regain his footing, he was thrown forward when a tank shell blasted the ice. With the military pursuing him, Kong fled to the Empire State Building and climbed it. After reaching the top of the building, Kong sat and looked out over the sunrise. He looked at Ann and made the sign for "beautiful," showing that he understood and remembered the sign she showed him earlier. The peace was interrupted when a group of biplanes armed with machine guns flew near the building and opened fire on Kong. Kong set Ann down and roared defiantly at the planes. He swatted at them and managed to destroy some of them. Unfortunately for Kong, the gunfire was too much and he began to succumb to his wounds. Kong slumped over the top of the tower and looked at Ann sorrowfully, then slid off of the building and plummeted to his death in the streets below. As crowds gathered around Kong's colossal corpse, someone remarked that the airplanes got Kong. Carl Denham sorrowfully said that it wasn't the airplanes, as "It was beauty killed the beast."
Abilities
Filmography
Books
King Kong: The Island of the Skull
During a sacrifice ritual, Kong arrived at the altar to find no girl waiting for him. However, he could hear her running, and began chasing her, but lost her overnight. The next night, Kong arrived at a clearing in the midst of a horrible downpour, where a Vastatosaurus rex was waiting for some humans to exit a cave. Kong, indifferent to them, attacked the dinosaur, buying them enough time to get away.
King Kong (2005)
While deep in the jungles of Skull Island, the screams of Ann Darrow from the distant shore drew Kong to the shore, roaring in return to her every scream. That night Kong arrived at the gate to the Wall that separated him from the humans. There, Darrow was suspended over a stone grotto by bamboo poles. Kong grabbed her and hugged her close to his chest before running back into the jungle on his well remembered path to the ancient alcove where he took all the others. There he examined her in the moonlight before shaking her vigorously. However, she managed to slip free and ran away into the jungle. The old ape roared in frustration before running after her and reclaiming his prize. Clutching her tightly, Kong traveled to an ancient courtyard in the jungle. On the way, two dinosaurs tried to attack, but he crushed one in his hand and smashed the other against the tree with what seemed to Darrow as a routine nonchalance. He took her and one carcass the rest of the way, and he sat to eat the dinosaur after setting Ann down. Unfortunately, she quickly tried to escape. Kong stopped her, but she fell down to Kong's bewilderment. She continued by utilizing prat falls to entertain him and performing her vaudeville routine until she could no more. Kong pushed her over with a single finger, which she slapped away to his bewilderment and anger. Enraged at his denial for an encore, Kong beat his chest, slammed his hands on the ground and broke off a tree trunk to throw into the jungle. She screamed as Kong picked her up and looked at her with a soft expression of confusion. She slipped out of his grip, and he watched her for a moment before fleeing back into the jungle, leaving her behind.
However, when Ann was being menaced by a Vastatosaurus, Kong came running to her rescue, and slammed her attacker to the ground. He leaped on and began pounding the dinosaur, but its screams brought out a second monster that bit down on Kong's arm. As he tore it free from the V-rex's jaws, a third one arrived, and the first got back on its feet. He grabbed Ann to keep her safe, and fought off attacks from all sides, moving her from arm to foot to keep her away from the hungry jaws. He eventually had to let her free, and continued the melee until he tore up a tree trunk and rammed it through a V-rex's jaws and out the back of its head. He then put the next dinosaur in a neck lock and swung it over his shoulder and slammed it down before breaking its back. However, the last V-rex grabbed Ann in its jaws, and Kong fought to pry them open and free her. He eventually slammed its head to the ground and she escaped as Kong continued to pry until its jaws were broken. He roared and beat his chest in victory before walking off, leaving Ann where she was. However, hearing her footsteps, Kong turned his head to see she was following him, and he slowed his pace to allow her to keep up. However, on hearing gunshots, Kong grew agitated and picked Ann up and left her atop a 30 foot statue before leaving to investigate.
Comics
King Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World
After living on Skull Island and receiving ritual sacrifices for untold years, One such sacrifice, that of the American actress Ann Darrow who had been kidnapped by his worshipers, would bring about the end of his long reign. After examining the unusual specimen, he roared and plodded off into the jungle. When he reached his lair, he laid her down with the skeletons of previous sacrifices, and st to examine the skull of one of his own kind until she awoke and began attempting to escape. Kong chased after her, and he burst into laughter when she fell down. She continued to entertain him with these pratfalls until she grew tired, much to Kong's anger and confusion. To him, the wound she inflicted this action with was almost worse that those given to him physically in his life on Skull Island. Not understanding this emotion, Kong, being comfortable in loneliness, left her to be on his own.
Later, Kong discovered the crew of the Venture attempting to cross one of Skull Island's chasms using a fallen tree as a bridge, and grew incredibly angry and began to shake the log, causing some of the sailors to fall before throwing the log itself into the chasm as well. Satisfied with his work, he left the scene.
On finding Darrow being menaced by a Vastatosaurus rex in the jungle, Kong rushed to her rescue by delivering a punch to the beast's jaws before they could snap around her body. Two more V-rexes then came from the jungle to aid their comrade. Kong fought with tenacity he had not had before, that had been awakened by his will to protect Ann, which had awoken new power within him. The three did their best to encircle Kong and to snap at Darrow, despite Kong's constantly moving her out of the way, until they backed him into a corner, where the ape uprooted a tree and drove it through the neck of one of the Vastatosaurus. He quickly pushed the next one over the cliff's edge, and the last dinosaur but Kong's arm. However, Kong rolled forward and grabbed the cliff in an attempt to get it to fall as well. When the piece of rock he was holding broke off, Kong fought through the vines to the rocky floor, where the previous V-rex was waiting. On seeing it, Kong jumped from the vines and crushed it with his body while the final V-rex fell from the vines ready to fight. Kong quickly lunged at its jaws and pried them apart, killing it. He roared in victory, before Ann lead him to the cliffside to watch the sunrise. That night, with Ann sleeping in his hand, Jack Driscoll came to take her away. Kong awoke and was furious. He attempted to attack Driscoll, but awoke a flock of Terapusmordax that had been sheltering above them. They swarmed Kong, and attempted to fly away with Darrow, but Kong swatted them from the air, as the humans made their escape, despite Kong's best attempts. He then chased them through the jungle, and finally caught up at the gate. Kong burst through, only to find himself entangled in a net and bombarded with chloroform gas. Ann tried to get her rescuers to stop, but Kong broke free and chased them to the rocky coast, where he was hit in the leg with a harpoon, and knocked out with one final dose of gas.
A few months later, Kong had been made the star of a Broadway show. Chained and defeated, Kong was shown off on opening night, where he became suddenly reinvigorated when he thought Ann was onstage. On finding out that it was an actress playing her, he became enraged and broke free of his bonds, and burst through the front of the theater to search for the real one. He flipped several vehicles, and threw down other women until, at the foot of the Empire State Building, Ann walked toward him of her own accord. Kong then took her in his hand and scaled the building, and arrived at the top as the sun began to rise. Almost immediately, U.S. Navy planes came to attack. Kong left Ann in safety before climbing to the top of the mooring mast to combat them. He jumped up and swatted one out of the sky, but sustained heavy fire from the other planes. Ann rushed up in an attempt to help him, but as he began to slip from the tower, Kong took one last look at her before allowing himself to fall to his death.
Gallery
- Main article: King Kong/2005/Gallery.
Roar
Trivia
References
This is a list of references for King Kong (Universal). 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]
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Template:King Kong: The Island of the Skull
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