Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Ending, Explained

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has delighted fans since its release in March 2024. It still stands at the top of the US Box Office, with a worldwide gross of $361.1 million thus far, which has exceeded the expectations of its distributor, Warner Bros. It stars Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle and, of course, Godzilla and King Kong in the lead roles.

The big budget blockbuster is a sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong, and is part of the MonsterVerse franchise, with Adam Wingard returning to direct the sequel. The movie pits the almighty Kong against the fearsome Godzilla, but they must join forces against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within their world.

What happens in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire?

The box office hit is set three years after Kong defeated Mechagodzilla and shut down Apex cybernetics, and he has established his new territory in the Hollow Earth and is searching for more of his kind. Elsewhere, on Earth, Godzilla continues to maintain order between humanity and giant monsters, known as “Titans” and kills Scylla in Rome, Italy, and rests in the Colosseum in Rome.

A Monarch observation outpost which is located in the Hollow Earth picks up an unidentified signal. The signal causes Jia, (the last known survivor of the Iwi tribe from Skull Island) to experience hallucinations and visions, which prompts her adoptive mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews, to be very concerned. Godzilla also senses the signal and leaves Rome and attacks a nuclear plant in France to absorb the radiation. Godzilla then heads to the Titan Tiamat’s lair in the Arctic.

The monarch thinks Godzilla is building up his strength to deal with an oncoming threat. When a sinkhole opens near his home, Kong discovers an uncharted region where a tribe of his species has survived, including a juvenile called Suko. Kong forces Suko to lead him to the tribe’s lair, and the two start bonding during their journey. The tribe’s leader is the Skar King, and battles Kong with the aid of an ancient ice-powered Titan called Shimo, who is controlled by the Skar King using a crystal.

Shimo’s icy breath causes damage to Kong’s right arm, causing severe frostbite, but with Suko’s help, Kong manages to escape.

Ilene, Jia, Trapper and conspiracy podcaster, Bernie Hayes travel to the Hollow Earth to locate the source of the signal and find the Monarch outpost destroyed.

The group discovers a temple that leads them to a subterranean section that houses a surviving Iwi tribe, who communicate telepathically with each other. They decipher that the signal was a telepathic distress call sent by the Iwi tribe.

Inside a temple, Ilene discovers hieroglyphics displaying the past and future: Turns out, the Skar King once attempted to conquer the surface world and waged war against Godzilla’s species, but Godzilla was able to defeat him and trapped him and his tribe deep in the Hollow Earth. The prophecy also suggests that Jia is the key to reawakening Mothra. Kong locates the temple and is fitted by Trapper with a prototype exoskeletal arm brace to strengthen and heal his frostbitten limb. The Skar King’s loyalists have followed them and inform him, and he assembles his invasion force for Earth.

How does Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire end?

Kong joins forces with his arch enemy, Godzilla, after they engage in one of the best fights at the pyramids, which is interrupted by Mothra, and the kaijus in the movie arrive to battle the Skar King in Hollow Earth.

Trapper leads some Vertazines to join the fight, and eventually the Skar King, Kong, Godzilla, Shimo, and Baby Kong end up in Rio de Janeiro, where chaos ensues. Rio gets destroyed by the kaiju as Godzilla and Kong try to bring down the Skar King and Shimo. The Skar King has a crystal that controls Shimo, meaning she has no choice but to fight on his side. The combined forces of Godzilla, Kong, and Baby Kong result in the whip with the crystal attached to it getting broken and Shimo is freed.

Shimo helps the others take down the Skar King by using her freeze powers on him, and Kong smashes the frozen kaiju, defeating him once and for all.

Godzilla and Kong go their separate ways, with Kong, Baby Kong, and Shimo returning to Hollow Earth.

Ilene, Trapper, Bernie and Jia all survive, and when Ilene asks if Jia is going to stay in Hollow Earth, she tells her adoptive mother that she’ll go wherever she does, because that is her home. This statement makes Trapper and Bernie all emotional as they look on.

Kong, Baby Kong, and Shimo return to the Skar King’s lair, while Godzilla goes back to sleeping in the Colosseum in Rome. Jia is able to awaken Mothra and the kaiju helps Godzilla and Kong in their battle against the Skar King.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Ending’s Critical Reception

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has had mixed reviews from the critics, with a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Tomatometer approved critic, Dwight Brown said in his review:

Godzilla and King Kong use to have a beef. Now that they’ve kissed and made up, there’s no real meat in this generic big creature smackdown.

However, the fans have been much more positive about the monster movie, with an overall audience rating of 94%.