Psychovultures, also known as Vultura Insanus, are a large flying reptilian superspecies that first appeared in the 2017 MonsterVerse film, Kong: Skull Island. A smaller, related species to the Psychovultures, simply known as Leafwings or Icarus Folium, also make an appearance in the 2017 film, as well as subsequent films and graphic novels.
Name[]
The name "Psychovulture" comes from a mix of "psycho", a state they go into upon ingesting certain poisonous pufferfish, and "vulture", which is a reference to their avian form.
For their subspecies, "Leafwing" comes from their wing design, which is both green, and shaped much like a leaf, which is multiplied by the veins running through their wings, which look like leaf veins.
Design[]
Appearance[]
Psychovultures are large bat-like creatures, possessing wide wingspans with leathery bat-like wings. They have short robust skulls and jaws sparsely filled with large jagged teeth. Their legs are armed with three clawed digits. Psychovultures also have thick dark manes, with males having a "mohawk" and females having a "cobra hood". An alpha Psychovulture could be seen leading its pack and attacking Kong in Kingdom Kong, with this individual being a male and roughly the size of Kong's head.[1]
Leafwings are smaller, more pterosaur-like creatures that are slightly smaller than an adult human. They are green in color with yellow heads, orange wings, and long spear-like snouts covered with jagged edges.
Leafwings seen in the Hollow Earth are physically similar with their Skull Island cousins, but instead are red and green in coloration.
Roar[]
The roar of the Psychovultures is described as a "sequence of jaw clicks and guttural whines", meant for echolocation purposes.
The Leafwing's roars are made up of various chirps and squeaks.
Personality[]
The Psychovultures are hypothesized to exhibit signs of psychopathy by willingly inducing psychoactive effects by ingesting poisoning pufferfish native to their island. The resulting mania caused by the chemical agent pushes the Psychovulture to indiscriminately hunt down and destroy everything it encounters, even members of its species.
The Leafwings live and hunt in large flocks. They're described as less aggressive than their larger counterparts but are still prone to attacking and are dangerous nevertheless. They can be seen working together to lift and tear apart large prey, as they did to Victor Nieves.
Origins[]
Psychovulture[]
This winged, bat-like predator may be the first creature on Earth to exhibit signs of psychopathy. An airborne creature of pure aggression, it self-induces psychoactive effects activated by ingesting a poisonous pufferfish indigenous to the waters of Skull Island. The mania this chemical agent induces drives the Psychovulture to destroy or disrupt any life form it encounters, even going so far as to hunt and kill its own kind. A relatively small digestive system suggests the creature has evolved to feed on plant life and small animals, yet it has been observed dragging off prey that is far too large for it to ever consume. For the Psychovulture, it seems that to kill is sustenance enough.
Leafwing[]
Though much less aggressive than its deadly cousin the Psychovulture, the Leafwing is nevertheless a dangerous airborne predator. The spikes along its bone trunk are laced with powerful anesthetic agent that is deployed as the creature dive bombs its prey from on high, spearing them with its weaponized snout.
History[]
Kong: Skull Island[]
The main human characters encountered the Psychovultures several times while on Skull Island. Normal Psychovultures don't have a real role in the movie, but their Leafwing subspecies do. Preston Packard sniped one in the head while he and his group tried to rendezvous with the others. Several carried away Victor Nieves and killed him by tearing him apart. Another flock unintentionally aided a Skullcrawler in attacking the humans when they were trying to cross through the boneyard, and James Conrad managed to kill some with Hank Marlow's katana.
Skull Island: The Birth of Kong[]
A flock of Psychovultures attack Aaron Brooks and his team, forcing the team to jump from their aircraft.
After Kong kills the Sirenjaw that attacked Aaron's team, a flock of Psychovultures and a pack of Death Jackals arrive to feed on the carcass.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters[]
Leafwings are present in Boston when the Titans bow to Godzilla after the latter has defeated Ghidorah, acknowledging him as the rightful Alpha Titan.
Kingdom Kong[]
A flock of Psychovultures attack Kong as the Great Ape was attempting to a free a Sker Buffalo trapped underneath a fallen tree. Using the tree lifted off of the Sker Buffalo, Kong swings at the attacking Psychovultures, swatting several out of the sky. The tree bursts into flames after a Psychovulture unintentionally lights it after firing a bolt of electricity from its mouth, which Kong then uses to set several Psychovultures on fire. Having sustained heavy losses, the remaining Psychovultures fly away. The Sker Buffalo Kong was attempting to save, however, died amidst the battle, either accidentally crushed to death by Kong or killed by the Psychovultures.
Godzilla vs. Kong[]
Leafwings inhabit the biodome Monarch constructed to house Kong after Skull Island is completely engulfed in the storm that both Ghidorah and Camazotz created.
Leafwings are also among the many creatures that inhabit the Hollow Earth, with some of them flying away when Kong runs past them.
Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted[]
Psychovultures and Leafwings are among the taxidermized creatures kept in Raymond Martin's personal compound.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire[]
Flocks of Leafwings are seen flying across the Hollow Earth as Kong traverses the landscape.
MonsterVerse Declassified[]
An unusually large Leafwing is being chased by a Wart Dog across the Hollow Earth before a Hollow Earth lizard joins the chase. The Leafwing escapes after the Wart Dog decided to turn its attention on the lizard.
Abilities[]
Anesthetic agent[]
Utilized by the Leafwings, this agent is present on their spear-like beaks. This reduces the victim's sensitivity to pain, thus allowing the Leafwing to attack and eat its prey without contest or resistance from its victim.
Camouflage[]
An entire flock of Leafwings can perch on leafless trees and use their wings as camouflage to hide from both prey and predators.
Echolocation[]
Psychovultures can utilize echolocation to find their prey.
Electricity[]
Psychovultures can emit bolts of electricity from their mouths. The bolt is powerful enough to cause massive fires if caught on wood.
Flight[]
The wings of Psychovultures and Leafwings give them the ability to fly.
Hunting and scavenging[]
Leafwings will swoop down like birds of prey when they see a target that is away from the group to bring it up to the sky, as shown when one dragged Victor Nieves from Hank Marlow's boat. They are also scavengers that feed on the kills of other predators.
Speed and agility[]
Leafwings and Psychovultures can fly through the air with great speed.
Strength and combat[]
Leafwings are strong enough to carry adult humans with their talons, as well as ripping off a man's limbs easily with their sharp snouts. Psychovultures are fearless in combat and will fight against larger creatures, like Kong, without hesitation.
Supersonic shrill[]
Psychovultures can produce supersonic shrill that can disorient the hearing of other creatures. The shrills of alpha Psychovultures are more powerful than those of regular individuals.[2]
Thermal vision[]
The nerve impulses of the Psychovultures allow them to develop a form of thermal vision that enables them to locate prey in total darkness.
Weaknesses[]
Echolocation[]
This can be utilized by Psychovultures against fellow Psychovultures as per the former statements of its self-induced psychopathy. The echolocation would be detected by others who then go in for the attack in their psychopathic states.
Fragile body[]
While deadly in flocks, the Psychovultures are easily killed by single gunshots or from being bisected by sharp objects.
Trivia[]
- Even though that Leafwings are said to be subspecies of the Psychovultures, they have different genus and species names.
- Psychovultures are similar to the bat-like Terapusmordax from the 2005 King Kong film.
- The scene where the Leafwings carry off Nieves and devour him mid-air is similar to a scene from the movie Pitch Black, where the Bio-Raptors carry off a woman and tear her apart in flight.
- Leafwings were originally based on stingrays.
- Some merchandise erroneously refers to the Psychovultures as "pterodactyls".
- The Leafwings are one of the smallest known MonsterVerse kaiju, only being larger than the Giant Wasps and the Giant Ants.
List of appearances[]
Films[]
- Kong: Skull Island (First appearance)
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters
- Godzilla vs. Kong
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Comics[]
Novels[]
- Kong: Skull Island: The Official Novelization
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization
- Godzilla vs. Kong - The Official Movie Novelization
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization
Video games[]
References[]
