King Konghas had a laundry list of fearsome monster opponents in movies over the years, and has sent many a tough foe to an early grave. With a prestige legacy of movie appearances dating all the way back to 1933, King Kong’s biggest enemy has always been humanity itself. That being said,he’s also laid a great number of giant monsters to rest over the years, fromthe creatures of Skull Islandto human-made horrors beyond all comprehension.
Compared to the expansiverogue’s gallery of Godzilla, King Kong admittedly doesn’t have as many iconic names to his villains. Still, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a powerful kaiju opponent, taking down all manner of intimidating giant creatures and colossal robots. From his days as one of the earliest creature features to his bombastic time in the Monsterverse, Kong has left just as many opponents alive, such as Godzilla himself, as he’s permanently taken down.
11The T. Rex/ V. Rex
King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005)
More famous as the poster dinosaur oftheJurassic Parkfranchise, the Tyrannosaurus Rex also has the cinematic distinction of beingKing Kong’s first on-screen kill. The T. Rex was a real creature, the largest terrestrial predator ever discovered with a fearsome toothy maw and powerful, fast legs. In the originalKing Kong, the legendary ape gets into a battle with a stop-motion T. Rex on Skull Island, saving his beloved Ann.
The 2005 Peter Jackson remake upgrades this classic opponentwith the introduction of the fictional Vastatosaurus Rex, also known as the V. Rex, a larger and nastier version of the real prehistoric animal. This King Kong encounters not one, but three of the creatures, again saving Ann from a grim fate as their next meal. These particularly feral animals are deformed by generations of inbreeding caused by Skull Island’s small habitat. One of the best shots of the film is Kong snapping one of their massive jaws with his astounding strength.
10Skull Island Dinosaurs
King Kong (1933)
The mighty T. Rex is far from the only prehistoric predator that menaces the humans on Skull Island in the original King Kong. Shortly after slaying the T. Rex, the film’s damsel in distress quickly finds herself endangered by yet another living fossil, an aquatic creature bearing a resemblance to plesiosaur. Once again,King Kong manages to kill the serpentine creature by snapping apart its jaws, a brutal kill that soon becomes Kong’s iconic finishing move.
To prove the point, Kong does the same thing to the next beast to threaten Ann’s life, a flying pteranodon. The pterodactyl almost flies away with Ann, but King Kong is able to catch up to it, once again ripping its beak in two in an effort to save the object of his affection. It’s quite amazing thatAnn is nearly killed by dinosaurs of the land, sea, and airin the originalKing Kong, but her great ape protector is able to prove himself as the apex predator of the island each time.
9Gorosaurus
King Kong Escapes (1967)
Despitelooking quite similar to the average T. Rex, Gorosaurus is still technically a distinct monster that King Kong faces in the early stages of theToho-produced kaiju movie sans Godzilla,King Kong Escapes.This film describe how King Kong has been living on a new island, Mondo Island, which seems to have just as many terrifying residents as the classic Skull Island. Among them is Gorosaurus, a huge reptilian beast who takes a shot at the King.
Sadly for him, Gorosaurus is soundly defeated by Kong, who once again utilizes his signature move of prying the beast’s jaws open until they snap.This kill is particularly grisly, as Gorosaurus foams violently at the mouth upon his defeat. Another Gorosaurus shows up again in the Godzilla ensemble filmDestroy All Monsters, making him one of the few kaiju with the honor of fighting both Godzilla and King Kong.
8The Giant Snake
Gorosaurus is far from the only fearsome monster native to Mondo Island Kong has to contend with inKing Kong Escapes.As an homage to the ophidian plesiosaur King Kong kills in the original movie,King Kongescapes includes a similarly serpentine aquatic opponent,a massive sea serpent living just off the coast of Mondo Islandin the surrounding waters. The beast has a short spat with Kong when it approaches the human vessel carrying Kong’s new romantic interest, Lieutenant Susan Watson.
The brief scene was sadly excluded from some cuts ofKing Kongescapes.
Hoping to protect his new object of obsession, Kong starts the flight by flinging a boulder at the beast from the shore, which distracts it long enough for the humans to escape. Wading into the water to battle the beast head on, Kong is given some trouble by its attempts to constrict him, but is soon able to get the upper hand,killing yet another creature with his signature jaw-snapping move. The brief scene was sadly excluded from some cuts ofKing Kongescapes.
7Mechani-Kong
While Gorosaurus and the giant sea serpent are all serviceable enough villains, the true antagonist ofKing Kong Escapesis the metallic Mechani-Kong. Essentially King Kong’s ownversion of Mechagodzilla,Mechani-Kong is created by the enigmatic Dr. Who, bearing no relation to the lovable form-changing English time lord. Dr. Who creates the robotic version of Kong at first in order to mine the mysterious Element X from the North Pole.
9 Best King Kong Fights In Movies, Ranked
King Kong has been a part of many cinematic battles over the years, with opponents ranging from Godzilla to terrifying mechanical monsters.
Though the intense radiation emitted by Element X renders Mechani-Kong unsuitable for its initial task, it excels as a fighting force to combat the original King Kong. However, Mechani-Kong is ultimately no match for the real deal when the two duke it out atop the Tokyo Tower.King Kong forces Mechani-Kong to step on a powerful electrical transformerof some kind, shocking the massive mech and causing it to fall to its doom, where it crumbles to pieces.
6The Mire Squid
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Kong’s introduction to the Monsterverse came alongside the continuity’s own take on Skull Island, which serves as a habitat for all sorts of nasty megafauna. One of the most deadly aquatic creatures in the location’s bizarre ecosystem is the Mire Squid,a massive cephalopod-like kaiju armed with deadly sucker-lined tentaclesand, if the official novelization is to be believed, a sack of flammable ink. Kong encounters one of the creatures in a lake while licking his wounds from his fight with the helicopter squadron.
Sensing a ripe opportunity, the Mire Squid ambushes Kong from the murky waters, hoping to score an easy meal. ButKong is more than ready for his opponent, and manages to slay the kraken without much effort, stomping its head beneath his massive foot. Kong then enjoys some free calamari courtesy of the Mire Squid, casually snacking on his would-be predator.
5Skullcrawlers
Though Skull Island is teeming with horrific monsters, the true dangers of the island are the massive Skullcrawlers, so-named by John C. Reilley’s Hank Marlow. These massive predators have a serpentine tail for a lower body with two muscular arms or forelegs, topped with a terrifying skull-shaped head lined with needle-like teeth.Kong fights several of the Skullcrawlers early on, killing two juveniles that have yet to reach maturity.
However, the main event of the film is Kong’s battle with the massive main Skullcrawler, known to locals as the Skull Devil.Kong engages the Skull Devil in a brutal tear-down fight, weaponizing his ingenuity by utilizing a massive boat propeller and anchor chain as a sort of flail. In the end, Kong finishes off the monster in one of theMonsterverse’s most brutal killing blows, reaching into its throat and pulling its gastrointestinal tract inside out.
4Warbats
Godzilla vs Kong (2021)
Just like in their original movie bout, King Kong is given some smaller warm-up opponents before having to fight Godzilla himself in their first Monsterverse meeting. Exploring the Hollow Earth for the first time,Kong encounters a flock of creatures called Warbats. These massive serpents have huge hoods that form bat-like wings that allow them to fly through the air and attack prey like wayward great apes.
Kong manages to kill a couple of the Warbats when they attack, grabbing one by the tail and slamming it to the ground, impaling it on a sharp rock. The other Warbat doesn’t fare much better as Kong beats it with its own kind, only to then ravage it with his own bare fists. In celebration of his kill, Kong rips the beast’s head off and eats from its throat, grossing out the Monarch team trailing him in a plane.
3Mechagodzilla
Even after Kong and Godzilla’s exciting fight, the main villain ofGodzilla vs Kongonly reveals itself at the very end of the film. The Monsterverse introduces its Mechagodzilla asa massive robotic creation made by Apex Cybernetics, using the skull of King Ghidorah as a psychic processor to allow a pilot to control the massive weapon. Before long, Ghidorah’s lingering consciousness proves too much to handle as he takes over control of the machine, giving Kong and Godzilla a common enemy.
Despite still recovering from beating the snot out of one another, Godzilla and Kong team up against the mechanical creation in a 2-on-1 fight.
Despite still recovering from beating the snot out of one another,Godzilla and Kong team up against the mechanical creationin a 2-on-1 fight. Kong is critical to outmaneuvering the cybernetic beast, powering up his Godzilla-scale axe with an atomic blast from the King of the Monsters himself and dismembering Mechagodzilla with a barrage of blows. Kong then tears offMechagodzilla’s head with his own hands, putting an end to the machine’s reign of terror for now.
2Wart Dogs
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
With the Hollow Earth being his new home, Kong soon finds all sorts of new monstrous opponents in the dangerous ecosystem of kaiju. Needing to eat to live, Kong is shown hunting a pack of Wart Dogs,massive canine creatures with rat-like faces and nasty tempers. After provoking a whole group of these animals, Kong is able to use his superior intelligence to lead them into a variety of traps he set ahead of time.
The Wart Dogs fall to their deaths, are crushed, and get impaled bythe variety of complex traps Kong is able to lead themto over the course of his hunt. When some of the survivors still threaten him, he manages to scare them away by tearing one of their comrade’s corpses in half over his head, only to gross himself out when the act leaves him covered in green blood. This sequence highlights just how intelligent and even humanlike the Monsterverse’s verison of Kong is.
