CinemaBlend participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
Warning: SPOILERS for Godzilla vs. Kong are ahead!
Moviegoers know exactly what they’re getting when they decide to check out Godzilla vs. Kong in theaters and/or on HBO Max: two titans of pop culture, figuratively and literally, colliding on the big screen for the first time in nearly 60 years. But there’s a greater threat that emerges towards the end of the latest MonsterVerse movie: Mechagodzilla, another fan-favorite kaiju from the Toho monster film series. Unfortunately, a series of Godzilla vs. Kong toy leaks ended up spoiling the twist long ago, and needless to say that this was frustrating for director Adam Wingard.
In a recent interview, Adam Wingard expressed gratitude that who ultimately emerged victorious in Godzilla vs. Kong managed to stay a secret, but it was nonetheless disappointing to him that the looks at Mechagodzilla in toy form emerged online long before they were supposed to. As he put it to io9:
The toy stuff...it leaked over a year ago—no, it was almost two years ago, when the initial toy stuff leaked, and that was really annoying because it was so early on. Like, ‘Really guys? That’s what we’re gonna do?’ So, [Mechagodzilla’s] kind of the worst kept secret.
You have to remember that although Godzilla vs. Kong was released last week, there was a time when the movie was supposed to come out in May 2020. So the tie-in toys had been put together long beforehand, but the longer a toy connected to a major franchise goes without being released, the likelier it is that a picture of said toy will be posted online. And yes, there are instances where tie-in toys don’t end up actually factoring into the plot of the movie, but that was not the case with Mechagodzilla.
Eventually the day came when the Godzilla vs. Kong toys were released to the public, but then Adam Wingard ended up drawing the ire of certain MonsterVerse fans because he posted something Mechagodzilla-related on social media ahead of Godzilla vs. Kong’s release. As the filmmaker recalled:
I know some people were mad at me online—probably rightfully so—because I posted a picture of me with a Mechagodzilla toy. But, the toy is in storage right now—you can buy it at Wal-Mart! The Funko version of him is out...this is not a secret. I’m very social media illiterate, so I probably should have put a spoiler page before it— that probably would have made people feel pretty good, but...at the end of the day, I was asked specifically by Warner Bros. to post a picture of [the toy]. Well, you know, the thing’s already out there, so I did it, and then you kind of realize that may have upset some people. But you can’t please everybody.
In any case, Godzilla vs. Kong is out now, so people know how Mechagodzilla precisely fits into the cinematic picture. Within the MonsterVerse continuity, the mechanical Titan was built by Apex Cybernetics and operated by Ren Serizawa using a neural uplink through the skull of one of Ghidorah’s heads. Apex CEO Walter Simmons intended to use Mechagodzilla to destroy Earth’s Titans and reassert humanity’s dominance, but upon being fully charged by the energy from Hollow Earth, the robot overcame its programming and went rogue. Luckily, Godzilla and King Kong put aside their differences and join forces to vanquish Mechagodzilla before it could wreak havoc past Hong Kong. Unless someone in this universe gets the bright idea to build Mechagodzilla 2.0, we don’t have to worry about this threat reemerging.
Godzilla vs. Kong will be available to watch on HBO Max until the end of the month, and you can use this link to sign up for the streaming service. Keep track of the movies that will play later this year with our 2021 release schedule.
