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Spoiler SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion.

M.U.T.O. is an umbrella term used by the organization Monarch in the MonsterVerse to designate superspecies before proper identification. After identification, the M.U.T.O.s receive a scientific name, and if they meet specific parameters, become referred to as Titans and given a scientific name under the indicatory designation Titanus.

Background[]

Name[]

M.U.T.O. is an acronym for "Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism," a catch-all term used by Monarch to designate superspecies before they are given proper identification. Superspecies are anomalous, often gigantic fauna and flora that usually have origins in the Hollow Earth. If a creature is discovered to share close ancestry with any currently known species, it may be exempt from the superspecies classification and thus not considered a M.U.T.O., such as Shocker Squids sharing a close relation to Humboldt squids. Once a superspecies is appropriately identified, the term M.U.T.O. is no longer applied to them.[1][2]

Beyond M.U.T.O. exists another classification referred to as "Titan". While there are no strict size or ability requirements for a M.U.T.O. to be considered a Titan, Monarch instead determines Titan status based on resilience, travel range, and durability to conventional weaponry. Once a M.U.T.O. has been identified and determined to be of Titan status, the indicatory title of Titanus is attached to the species' name, which is often inspired by a mythological figure, and the term M.U.T.O. no longer applies. Despite this, as of the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, for unknown reasons, Monarch continues to refer to members of the Titanus Jinshin-Mushi superspecies, who are considered Titans, as M.U.T.O.s (often shortened to simply "MUTOs").

In some very rare cases, Titan status may only apply to one individual creature rather than the entire species. Snarehunter Queens, for example, are considered Titans by Monarch while smaller castes of the same species are not. Interestingly, Snarehunter Queens lack an official Titanus title despite being considered as Titans.[3]

Behavior[]

Long Live the King

Godzilla reclaims his position as Alpha Titan.

The Titans operate in a form of hierarchy, with the most powerful among them being referred to as the Alpha Titan, regardless of species. The Alpha Titan rank is earned through combat and any Titan possesses the potential to become an alpha if they are willing to challenge one that is already present. A battle between an alpha and a challenger ends with the loser either submitting or being killed. Godzilla, for example, regained his position as the Alpha Titan after killing Ghidorah. The victor wins the allegiance of almost all Titans, although rebellious Titans and rival alphas will refuse to submit, such as Godzilla and Ghidorah refusing to submit to each other throughout their history, or Kong refusing to submit to either of them. The alpha possesses the power to command all the allied Titans, who will follow through with these commands, regardless of whether they are for benevolent or malevolent intents. The alpha is able to send subservient Titans into dormancy, as Godzilla did in Godzilla Dominion, or on destructive rampages as Ghidorah did in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

History[]

Prehistory and ancient past[]

The M.U.T.O.s are various different superspecies of massive ancient chimeric creatures that predate mankind. Some like the MUTOs and Godzilla's species thrived as far back as the Permian era[4] - the former species in particular is believed to be responsible for causing at least two of the five recorded mass extinctions in Earth's history.[5] Monarch theorizes that the ancient monsters evolved in the Hollow Earth, a lush ecosystem near the Earth's core which radiates radioactive energy more potent than any other energy source available to mankind, and which is capable of supporting the size of the creatures.

Various extinction events and other unknown means caused the Titans' numbers to dwindle, and thus many survived by going into hibernation, subsisting on the natural radiation from the Earth's core. Despite this, some of the creatures remained active throughout early human history. The ancestors of the Iwi tribe deified and lived alongside Kong's ancestors, initially in the Hollow Earth and then on Skull Island after the war between Titanus Kong and Titanus Gojira apparently drove them out of the former location.[6] Similarly, Godzilla was worshipped by a large gathering of humans, who built a lair for their god in reverence of him long before all the other civilizations on Earth existed.[7] Another member of Godzilla's species was worshipped by several different ethnic groups, who referred to him as Dagon and Raijin, until his death by MUTO spores as a result of his battle against Jinshin Mushi in 11000 BCE. As a result, many mythological creatures and cryptids are based on sightings of the monsters.

Some time after Godzilla's war against Titanus Kong,[6] he did battle alongside his symbiotic partner Mothra against the extraterrestrial Titan Ghidorah, who, according to legend, had massacred humans and Titans alike with his storms before being stopped. The conflict between these Titans was recorded in the walls of the aforementioned lair that Godzilla's worshippers built for him. The last confrontation with Ghidorah before the 21st century ended with Godzilla defeating Ghidorah which caused him to be frozen solid.[8] It's theorized that the ancient titan Shimo may have been the one who froze Ghidorah.

Monarch's findings revealed that during the time when prehistoric humans originally lived alongside Titans, they formed symbiotic relationships, building homes near the nests of benevolent Titans who would fend off the more hostile Titans, scavenging the remains of dead Titans for materials, devising horns which could mimic the Titans' calls; and humans potentially even developed telepathic communication with some of the creatures. However, in time, these humans attempted to enslave and control the Titans for warfare. Some of the Titans rebelled against their human captors, and this triggered a full-scale war between humans and monsters, which culminated in a vague geological cataclysm that left both sides decimated. The cataclysm set off the ice age, which in turn prompted the surviving Titans to withdraw into deep hibernation, while the surviving humans' former civilizations were left in scattered tatters and eventually forgotten.[7]

20th century[]

In 1954, a nuclear submarine awakened Godzilla who presumably destroyed it, causing not for the Russians and Americans to blame each other for this incident also resulted in nuclear bombs being used to kill him before they covered up these attempts as simply atomic tests.

In 1973, Monarch agents, along with a contingent of U.S. Marines, spearhead an expedition to Skull Island, where the organization believes ancient monsters still exist. The expedition quickly goes awry after Kong, the last surviving member of his superspecies, attacks the soldiers and agents after they had begun detonating seismic charges on the island. Over the course of a few days, the expedition's numbers are further cut down from attacks by the island's various deadly fauna. The seismic charges also awaken the Skullcrawlers, a hyper-carnivorous superspecies rivaled with Kong. While the majority of the awakened Skullcrawlers are juveniles, the creature's massive alpha soon awakens and attempts to kill Kong. With help from the Monarch expedition, Kong is able to defeat the Skullcrawlers and allows the surviving agents and soldiers to leave the island.

In 1999, a strip-mining disaster in the Philippines leads to the discovery of two parasitic spores attached to the ribcage of an ancient skeleton. One of the spores hatches and the larval monster tunnels out to sea, while the other is declared inert by Monarch and stored in the Yuuca Mountain Nuclear Waste Facility. The larva eventually attacks the Janjira nuclear powerplant and cocoons itself on the plant's reactors. The city of Janjira is subsequently abandoned and the disaster is covered up. Monarch sets up an outpost to observe the creature as it grows.

21st century[]

In 2014, the cocooning larva hatches as an adult male MUTO. The MUTO breaks free of its containment and flies away. The airborne MUTO then flies to Hawaii, where it dredges a Russian nuclear submarine from the ocean and feeds on its payload before terrorizing Honolulu's airport, where it is confronted by Godzilla. The male MUTO's awakening coincides with the the awakening of a female MUTO, who had hatched from the inert spore and grown inside Yucca Mountain. The two monsters soon begin heading to each other in order to mate. Ishiro Serizawa recognizes the MUTOs as parasites to Godzilla and urges the U.S. military to let the monsters fight, as nature would always resolve things naturally. The two MUTOs meet up in downtown San Francisco and transform the city into their nest. Godzilla arrives in the city to fight the duo, but is overwhelmed and nearly killed. A military strike team manages to destroy the MUTO's nest, which distracts the creatures long enough to allow Godzilla to kill them. Sometime after, MUTO Prime, a matriarch-like MUTO, awakens and fights Godzilla throughout several battles but is eventually defeated with Monarch's assistance.

The awakening of the MUTOs and Godzilla and the destruction they had caused forced Monarch to reveal itself, as well as previously discovered M.U.T.O.s found long before the San Francisco incident, such as Kong, Mothra, and Rodan. Since the San Francisco incident, when their presence was made known to the world as a whole, the creatures have been classified as Titans, which originates from the prefix in their biological designation, Titanus.

In 2019, King Ghidorah was awakened by Emma Russell, who was working with an eco-terrorist group led by Alan Jonah in a misguided attempt to restore balance, The eco-terrorists would go on to awaken Rodan from his containment site on Isla de Mara, who would be drawn into fighting Ghidorah. The two briefly engaged in a brutal fight until Ghidorah overpowered Rodan. Ghidrorah turned his attention to Godzilla, who in a surprise attack, managed to rip off one of Ghidorah's heads. However, the victory was short-lived as the Oxygen Destroyer was dropped in attempt to kill both monsters. Unfortunately, Ghidorah was unaffected due to his extraterrestrial origin and regenerated his severed head.

Following Godzilla's supposed death, Titans around the globe start to awaken from their slumber upon hearing the call of Ghidorah, the new Alpha Titan. Ghidorah commands all the Titans, except Kong and Mothra who refuse to acknowledge the call, to attack major cities as a plan to terraform the planet into a suitable habitat. All across the world, the Titans escaped from their containment sites and began to wreak havoc upon the world under Ghidorah's orders.

However, Godzilla manages to recover from his wounds by Ishiro Serizawa's sacrifice, and with the aid of Mothra, as well as human military forces cooperating with Monarch, he kills Ghidorah and reassumes his position as the Alpha Titan, allowing him to render the Titans docile and restore the Earth's ecosystems, making them stronger than ever before.

Sometime between 2019 and 2024, most Titans were sent back into hibernation, though there were some brief uprisings from Titans like Camazotz, Scylla, Amhuluk, and Tiamat. By 2024, Kong and Godzilla are the only two active Titans on the surface. However, Ghidorah's Titan uprising also had major consequences as it would also partially play a role in the creation of Mechagodzilla, an anti-Titan mech manufactured by Apex Cybernetics.

Godzilla and Kong would battle several times, with their final battle in Hong Kong ending in Godzilla's victory and Kong's near-death. Sensing remnant's of Ghidorah's influence inside the Mecha, Godzilla would then go on to fight Mechagodzilla, and with a recovered Kong's help, would destroy the machine. The two alphas would go on to cease their rivalry and form an uneasy respect for each other, with Godzilla ruling over the surface and Kong ruling the Hollow Earth.

Known M.U.T.O.s and Titans[]

Unidentified[]

Superspecies that have not been properly identified or given a classification.

Unidentified Titans[]

Superspecies that have been referred to as Titans, but lack a formal classification.

Titans[]

Superspecies that have been properly identified and designated as Titans.

Alpha Titans[]

Titans that have been identified as being alphas.

Superspecies from Skull Island, Hollow Earth, and the Siren Isles[]

Superspecies that have been properly identified and documented living on Skull Island, the Siren Isles, or in the Hollow Earth.

Trivia[]

  • The name "Titan" originates from the race of deities that served as the first pantheon and predecessors to the Olympian gods of Greco-Roman mythology. Unlike their successors, the Titans were naturally immense, some embodying the various aspects of nature as opposed to simply overseeing it. The word has thus come to refer to beings of great size and power.
    • The original mythological Typhon was also considered a member of the Titan pantheon, matching his namesake in the MonsterVerse.
  • Although the Titans serve as the MonsterVerse version of kaiju within the Godzilla franchise, they are not called as such due to "kaiju" already being the name of the monsters from Legendary's Pacific Rim franchise.[9]
  • All of the Titans communicate using the same bioacoustic frequency, effectively allowing them to communicate. The ORCA device enables humans to replicate these bioacoustics.
  • While Titans feed off of the radiation in the ground, they are also able to consume each other for sustenance, as Titan meat is a source of radiation.[10]
    • This radiation is also beneficial towards plant growth.
    • It is revealed through MUTO Prime's profile that Titan blood contains uranium.[11]
  • Titan waste has been seen as a viable fuel source.
  • For the scripts of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, dialogues were written for some or all of the Titans to make their interactions clearer to the motion capture actors and the animators.[12]

References[]

  1. https://twitter.com/Mike_Dougherty/status/1137071829900644353
  2. Mosnterverse (April 23, 2020). Difference between Titans and MUTO. X. “People have asked why we refer to the creatures as Titans instead of MUTOs or Kaiju. 1) MUTO stands for Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism, so once a creature is identified & classified, it’s technically no longer a MUTO so Monarch had to come up with a new term: Titan.”
  3. Trent, Sigfried; Flanagan, Ivis K.; Bramnik, Michael. Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure (2023). Evil Genius Games.
  4. Godzilla
  5. Godzilla: Aftershock
  6. 6.0 6.1 Keyes, Greg. Godzilla vs. Kong - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. ASIN: B08R6PKDFS
  7. 7.0 7.1 Godzilla: King of the Monsters closing credits hidden text.
  8. https://twitter.com/GodzillaMovie/status/1253479851714985984?s=20
  9. Monsterverse (April 23, 2020). Difference between Titans and MUTO. X. “3) Kaiju was already taken by @PacificRim, but I like the idea that the English translation of Kaiju could be Titan, because then everybody wins.”
  10. https://twitter.com/Mike_Dougherty/status/1142537826388414464
  11. MUTO Prime file
  12. https://twitter.com/Mike_Dougherty/status/1174366214421794816
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