Vinestrangler
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The Vinestrangler is a predatory insect superspecies which was introduced in the marketing for the 2017 Legendary Pictures Monsterverse film Kong: Skull Island, but did not appear in the film. It has received multiple profiles over the years, including in the 2023 TRPG sourcebook Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure, which also featured one in its campaign, "Sliver of the Skull." The creature made its live-action debut in 2026 with the fourth episode of the second season of the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, "Trespass", and returned in the season's ninth episode, "Ends of the Earth".
Name
The Vinestrangler is named after its resemblance to vines and its preferred mode of attack. Though its name has repeatedly been spelled as one word, it is instead rendered as Vine Strangler in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. The Vinestrangler's cryptozoological classification, Vitis Strangulari, comes from Vitis, the name of a large genus of woody vines which includes numerous species of grapes, and the Latin word strangulari, meaning "strangle."
Development
Like several other Skull Island residents introduced in subsequent media, the Vinestrangler was conceptualized for 2017's Kong: Skull Island, but went unused. It was nonetheless confirmed to exist in the film's universe in "Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive)," a featurette included on its home video releases. It was also among the creatures Legendary Comics would have allowed writer Arvid Nelson to use in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, but he declined.[4] A profile for it was included in the comic's trade paperback edition.
Design
In the Skull Island: The Birth of Kong Vinestrangler profile, the creature is depicted as a slender, leaf-like insect that somewhat resembles the species Extatosoma tiaratum. The superspecies possesses a tail and four limbs. The underside of a Vinestrangler comprises of a mouth that runs the length of its body, including its round head which has beady black eyes. Dozens of tentacles can be extended from its mouth in order to drag prey into its massive maw.
In Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure, the Vinestrangler is described as having eight vestigial legs and two clawed arms. Artwork of the Vinestrangler Alpha in Kong: Skull Island - Creature Codex depicts it as resembling its regular variant but with large insectoid mandibles, red beady eyes, several tree branch-like growths on its head and thorn-covered vines.
In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters the Vinestrangler is significantly redesigned, having a more humanoid body with several vine-like tendrils that sprout from its body. The creature lacks a tail and has thick vine covered-branch-like clawed limbs with a smaller set of thin mantis-like limbs on its underside. The superspecies' underside mouth no longer runs the length of its body, being isolated to the creature's chest with teeth that somewhat resemble a ribcage. The Vinestrangler's head is now boomerang or hammerhead shaped with its own separate mouth and appears to lack eyes.
Behavior
The Vinestrangler is a carnivorous ambush predator[1] that is mostly active during dawn and dusk.
History
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2026) [episodes 14, 19]
Monsterverse
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
"Trespass"
After infiltrating Apex Cybernetics headquarters in Pensacola, Florida, Lee Shaw, Kentaro Randa, Keiko Randa, and Hiroshi Randa discovered surveillance footage of creatures being contained in the facility that Apex had smuggled from Skull Island, including a Vinestrangler, Leafwings, and Needlewalkers. After Keiko and Hiroshi's efforts to access Apex's lower levels were repeatedly impeded, Kentaro and Shaw decided to release some of the creatures to create a diversion to grant May Olowe-Hewitt more time to help them access restricted areas. Shaw was wary of freeing a Vinestrangler as it spat out the bones of a recent meal, though Kentaro had no desire to free that particular superspecies and instead instructed Shaw to free the nonpredatory Needlewalkers.
"Ends of the Earth"
After Titan X returned to Skull Island, a Monarch team led by Tim and including Lee, May, and Keiko followed her ashore. As the group traversed through the forest, Tim tripped over what appeared to be a branch on the ground. The tentacle began to move once the group advanced past it, wrapping around one of the Monarch agents and lifting him into the air. He gave a cry of alarm, but was gone by the time the others turned around. The Vinestranger abducted another agent as the team spotted it above them in the trees and opened fire. They rapidly claimed two more victims as the humans retreated, hauling them into the enormous mouths in their chests, before one grabbed May by the leg. Tim seized her arms, entering a tug-of-war with the creature, and it ultimately gave up, releasing her. While they and the others successfully escaped the Vinestranglers, Lee and Keiko became separated from the rest of the group.
Tabletop games
- Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure (2023) ["Sliver of the Skull"]
"Sliver of the Skull"
In 2015, a Monarch party on Skull Island can attempt to collect a sample of medicinal sap from a local species of vine for study. If none of the party members pass a DC 15 dexterity check or DC 13 wisdom check, they will be unable to correctly identify the vine and instead accidentally disturb a Vinestrangler, which was attracted to the area by the smell of a Snarehunter carcass. The party must fight off the creature before returning to their task.[5]
Abilities
Camouflage
The Vinestrangler blends into the trees where it dwells, to the point that its Monarch profile noted that "initial findings have been inconclusive as to where the Vinestrangler ends and the tree begins." In the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode "Ends of the Earth", the creatures used this natural camouflage to stalk and ambush a group of Monarch agents from above. Though the team opened fire on them with machine guns, no bullets were shown hitting the creatures.
Tentacles
Inside the Vinestrangler's stomach is a mesh of tentacles. When potential prey walks under a tree branch that a Vinestrangler is residing in, the vibrations of their footsteps travel up the tree's roots and reach the creature’s nervous system. The Vinestrangler's stomach will open, ensnaring its prey with its tentacles to pull them up into its open stomach, where they will be digested over a period of 72 hours. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Tim alerted a Vinestrangler to his Monarch team's presence by tripping directly on one of its tentacles. It and two others of its kind killed four Monarch agents with their tentacles and stomach-mouths before the remaining humans escaped them.
Gallery
- Main article: Vinestrangler/Gallery.
References
This is a list of references for Vinestrangler. 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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Bibliography
- Trent, Sigfried; Bramnik, Michael; Flanagan, Ivis (2023). Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9865552-8-7.
- Rowan-Nelson, Awen I.; Ramsley, Chris, eds. (2025). Kong: Skull Island - Creature Codex. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9881882-6-1.
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