Kong's species

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Kong's species
Members of Kong's species battle Skullcrawlers in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
Alternate names Kongs, Kong
Class-
ification
Apus GiganticusMV[1][note 1]
Species Giant apes (Megaprimatus kong,KK05 Gorilla gigansKR)
Allies Humans
Enemies Vastatosaurus rex, Venatosaurus, Foetodon, Deathrunners, Gaw, Godzilla, Skullcrawlers, Tiamat
First appearance Latest appearance
King Kong (1933) Godzilla vs. Kong
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Kong's species, also known simply as Kongs, are a race of gigantic apes which in the various continuities that encompass the King Kong franchise typically inhabit the remote Skull Island in the Pacific Ocean. King Kong himself is the most well-known member of the species, and is often depicted as its last living member. However, other members of his kind are alluded to in some media, and even appear via flashbacks or directly in other media.

Name

In the continuity of Peter Jackson's 2005 King Kong film, Kong's species is scientifically designated Megaprimatus kong. In the Monsterverse, Monarch assigns it the cryptozoological classification Apus Giganticus.[1][note 1] Walter R. Riccio also refers to the species as "Kongs" in the Monsterverse comic Skull Island: The Birth of Kong. In the novel Kong Reborn, Kong's species is given the scientific name Gorilla gigans. In Joe DeVito's King Kong of Skull Island media franchise, members of the species are called "Kong" or "Kongs" by the Tagu and Atu people of Skull Island.

Origins

In King Kong Lives, it is proposed that Skull Island and Borneo were once part of the same land mass, explaining why members of the species were found in both locations. Outside of that, no details of the species' origins are discussed.

Supplementary materials for Peter Jackson's King Kong provide a great amount of detail on Kong's species, Megaprimatus kong, which is hypothesized to have branched off from a common ancestor of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest primate ever to have lived, despite Megaprimatus' closer resemblance to gorillas. Megaprimatus were not native to Skull 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, who could have lived in symbiosis with them. 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. It is unknown exactly why Kong was the last living member of his species by 1933; however, it is likely that disease, injury, and rival species such as Vastatosaurus rex and Venatosaurus took their toll on the species and, combined with slow primate breeding patterns, led to their decline. The filmmakers stated that Kong had parents and siblings who died when he was young, with his parents "probably killed by dinosaurs."

In Russell Blackford's 2005 novel Kong Reborn, a troop of gigantic apes, dubbed Gorilla gigans, is found living on Skull Island, with their exact origins shrouded in mystery. For whatever reason, the original Kong lived separately from this self-sustaining troop of his species, though his clone is repatriated into it.

The comic book series Kong of Skull Island reveals the origins of the Kongs within Joe DeVito's multimedia universe of Kong media. The Kongs were large apes brought to Skull Island by the Tagu and Atu people, and were selectively bred to reach their gigantic size, with the final result in King Kong being enormous even by the standards of his species. The Kongs were originally domesticated and lived in harmony with the people of Skull Island prior to the civilization's eventual retreat behind the wall, after which the Kongs dispersed into the jungle. Eventually, only a single family of Kongs remained in the wild, with Gaw and her Deathrunners killing Kong's mother and father and leaving only the juvenile Kong behind who'd later grow up into becoming King Kong.

In the Monsterverse, Kong's species originated within the Hollow Earth, the evolutionary source of the Titans. Kong's species lived in harmony with the humans who dwelt within the Hollow Earth, with many ancient carvings and paintings remaining behind which depict members of Kong's species. At some point, the species even possessed a large temple-like structure within the Hollow Earth which contained a throne as well as a statue of a member of the species. According to Iwi mythology, Kong's species engaged in an ancient war with Godzilla and his species, with the Kongs filling their throne room with axes made from the dorsal fins of fallen members of Godzilla's species as a symbol of their triumph. Eventually, Godzilla and his species drove Kong's species from the Hollow Earth, and they relocated to Skull Island, a theorized "emergence point" for the Hollow Earth ecosystem to the surface. There, Kong's species met a new mortal enemy: the Skullcrawlers. The two species battled in a protracted war which was ongoing when the Iwi first arrived on the island, with only a male and female of Kong's species remaining. Kong's mother became pregnant, and went into labor on the battlefield as she and her mate battled a horde of Skullcrawlers. Kong was born during this battle, and sealed in a cave just before his parents were slaughtered, leaving him as the last member of his kind. Monarch has speculated that Kong's species is "the primary template of all human life" due to its size compared with other primate species.[1]

History

Books

Comics

Known members

Gallery

The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island

Kong of Skull Island

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla vs. Kong

Godzilla Dominion

Trivia

  • The first half of the Kongs' cryptozoological classification in the Monsterverse, Apus, is also the name of a genus of birds.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Hidden text accessible only in the revised PDF of the collection.

References

This is a list of references for Kong's species. 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. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Napton, Robert (2023). Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus. Legendary Comics. p. 442. ISBN 978-1681161174.

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Joe DeVito's Kong of Skull Island
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