Skull Island (髑髏島 dokuro-jima?), officially known as Isla De Craneo[1], is an island located in the Pacific Ocean and a prominent location in the 2017 MonsterVerse film Kong: Skull Island. Surrounded by perpetual storms, it has remained uncharted and contains one of the few openings, known as Vile Vortexes, where superspecies like Titans can emerge from the Hollow Earth.
Name[]
Skull Island received its name based on how the island eerily resembles the shape of a human skull when observed from a birds-eye view. Isla de Craneo is Spanish for Island of Skull.
History[]
Pre-Monarch discovery[]
The Skar King marked Skull Island with his handprint to claim it as one of his properties during his war against Godzilla. After Godzilla imprisoned the Skar King in the depths of the Hollow Earth,[2] several Titanus Kong members remained on Skull Island before the Skullcrawlers wiped them out, leaving Kong the sole survivor after his mother and father were killed.[3]
Dr. Ilene Andrews theorizes that Skull Island is a part of the Hollow Earth that emerged to the surface.[4] There were rumors that a movie crew disappeared within the island in the year 1933.[5]
Kong: Skull Island[]
On April 7, 1973, Skull Island is discovered via satellite imagery. Monarch official William Randa approaches and convinces Senator Willis to allow Monarch to accompany Landsat on a mission to the island with military support before the Russians stumble onto their discovery and go there first. Despite the heavy casualties, the expedition is a success.
Skull Island[]
In the 1990s, a crew led by Hiro tries traveling to the Skull Island, before having their ship destroyed by a sea beast, leaving the group stranded on the island. At the same time, another team led by Irene travelled to the island to retrieve a girl that lived in a nearby island and ended up with the first team, ending up in Skull Island too.
Skull Island: The Birth of Kong[]
On August 7, 1995, a Monarch team led by Aaron Brooks goes on a secret expedition to Skull Island. In the end, Aaron becomes the only survivor and remains on Skull Island to help the Iwi in rebuilding their village.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters[]
By 2017, Apex Cybernetics had established a research station on Skull Island.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters[]
When Ghidorah seemingly defeats Godzilla and becomes the new Alpha Titan, several creatures from Skull Island start to leave Skull Island to follow their new king. Hearing Ghidorah's call to hunt, the Skullcrawlers start waking from beneath the island and Kong has to make sure that none escape.[6] After Godzilla kills Ghidorah and becomes the Alpha Titan again, it's revealed that numerous Titans begin converging on Skull Island as the island grows unstable.
Kingdom Kong[]
In 2021, Monarch had begun developing a more significant presence on Skull Island. Establishing numerous bases and outpost to not only observe Kong but also to find a way towards Hollow Earth. The island had began to suffer sever storms left over from Ghidorah's rampage that began to close in on the island. Eventually, the malevolent Titan known as Camazotz took advantage of the storm, hoping to use it to bring eternal darkness to Skull Island in order to thrive. Kong confronted and battled the creature and was nearly beaten. Fortunately, fighter pilot Audrey Burns managed to distract the creature long enough for Kong to beat him into submission before throwing him back down to the hole from which he came. However, the victory came at a cost as Camazotz had caused the storm to almost fully in close on Skull Island itself, putting many of the living creatures on Skull Island in danger, Kong himself included.
Godzilla vs. Kong[]
In a 2024 morning, Kong wakes up as he begins his morning routine. He then finds a tree before he grabs and shears its leaves off, fashioning it into a spear. Kong is then greeted by the Iwi orphan Jia, who presents him a doll that she made to resemble him. After checking on Jia, Kong eventually throws the tree to the sky as it shatters the illusion and exposes the biodome Monarch had built to contain him, prompting him to roar in anger. Eventually it is revealed that before the biodome was created, the perpetual storms that once shielded the island's existence have slowly begun to overtake it and rendered it an inhospitable wasteland, the storms wiping out all the Iwi people except Jia in the process. In the novelization of the film, it was revealed that the storms overtaking the island were caused by residual energy left by Ghidorah during his attempt to dominate and destroy the Earth. As a result, one of the reasons why Monarch eventually decides to move Kong to the Hollow Earth is because Skull Island, as time passes, would no longer be stable enough to sustain or allow the giant ape to survive. Later in the film it is revealed that Kong's ancestors actually came from the Hollow Earth and that Skull Island is apparently a piece of the biome from the Hollow Earth ecosystem that somehow made its way to the surface, which explains the Titans' presence. In the process of Kong's relocation to the Hollow Earth, the Monarch outpost on the island was partly destroyed when the top was dismantled in order to lift Kong out and onto the ship. The fate of Skull Island's remaining fauna remains unknown, but some may have returned to the Hollow Earth ecosystem as the storms worsened or were driven to extinction.
Local flora and fauna[]
Skull Island is home to a vast expanse of creatures. It is currently unknown what happened to Skull Island's unique fauna after its and Ghidorah's storms merged and took over the island.
- Kong tribe (formerly)
- Kong's father (deceased)
- Kong's mother (deceased)
- Kong (formerly)
- Skullcrawlers
- Skull Devil (deceased)
- Kraken (deceased)
- Camazotz (temporarily)
- Camazotz's minions (temporarily)
- Psychovultures
- Sirenjaws
- Croc Monsters
- Killer Chameleons
- Death Jackals
- Magma Turtles
- Aloe Turtles
- Sker Buffaloes
- Skull Island Deers
- Spirit Tigers
- Grass Hedgehogs
- Trapdoor Crabs
- Spore Mantises
- Swamp Locusts
- Vinestranglers
- Mother Longlegs
- Mantleclaws
- Giant Wasps
- Snarehunter Ants/Singing Ants
- Giant Ants
- Rock Bugs/Rock Bugs
- Giant Centipedes
- The Hawk
- Fern Birds
- Giant Dodos
- Nightboys
- Dog
- Dream Slimes
- Mire Squids
- Shocker Squids
- Snake Squids
- Unidentified snakes
- Vine Snakes
- Trees of Woe
- Carnivorous Plants
- Butterfly Bushes
- Jovian Flytraps
- Venus Fly Trap Creatures
- Unidentified rhino-like creatures
Notable locations[]
Gallery[]
Production[]
Miscellaneous[]
Trivia[]
- Skull Island is based on the island of the same name in the original 1933 King Kong film and its 1976 and 2005 remakes. However, Skull Island was never actually referred to as such in the 1933 film or its sequel.
- Like previous iterations of Skull Island, this one features a human skull etched into a mountain, albeit less prominently and made of separate rocks instead of one rock. This also serves as Kong's den.
- Unlike previous iterations, Skull Island in the MonsterVerse is situated in the Pacific Ocean rather than the Indian Ocean.
- Prior to its appearance in Kong: Skull Island, Skull Island was one of the primary inspirations for the monster-filled islands in the Godzilla series, including Letchi Island, Solgell Island, Monsterland, and Monster Island.
- In King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes, Kong's home island is called Farou Island and Mondo Island, respectively.
- As stated by Houston Brooks, the bedrock of Skull Island is practically hollow.
References[]
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
- ↑ Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
- ↑ Godzilla vs. Kong
- ↑ Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization
- ↑ Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p. 181. ISBN: 9781789090925.
