Monsterverse Finally Reveals What Happened After The Military Tried To Kill Godzilla In 1954

Warning: Spoilers for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3

Nine years after the 2014 movie revealed that the military tried to kill Godzilla in 1954, the Monsterverse has finally explained what came next via Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3. The flashback storyline in Apple TV+’s live-action Godzilla series has allowed for a deep dive into the history of the Monsterverse, including the moment that effectively served as its true starting point. First mentioned in the 2014 Godzilla reboot, the military’s plan to kill the King of the Monsters in 1954 is the true beginning of modern humans’ relationship with the creature.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3 took viewers back to 1954 to explore what transpired the day the U.S. military tried to eliminate Godzilla. This major event in the Monsterverse timeline was first laid out by Dr. Serizawa in the 2014 movie, where it was stated that the Castle Bravo “test” in 1954 was secretly a failed attempt to kill Godzilla. But while it was obvious that the plan didn’t work, questions lingered regardless, as it was worth wondering what Godzilla’s response was and what this set up. Finally, the Monsterverse has finally taken an opportunity to shed light on what happened next, and why it occurred in the first place.

How The Military Discovered Godzilla’s Existence

In Godzilla, it was stated that the titular monster was awakened from hibernation in the 1950s by a nuclear submarine. Apparently, this is what culminated in the American military becoming aware of his presence. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters expanded on this by revealing that it was Monarch that found him first. After finding his footprint in the Philippines (as seen in episode 2’s ending), the Monarch trio of Bill Randa (20 years before Kong: Skull Island), Shaw, and Keiko shared their findings with General Puckett, Shaw’s commanding officer. It took some convincing, but the footprint was enough to push Puckett into backing their plan to lure Godzilla into the open.

What’s more, it was Monarch who figured out the key to getting Godzilla to reveal himself. A major part of Titan biology in the Monsterverse is their natural hunger for radiation. The Monarch: Legacy of Monsters characters reached this same conclusion about Godzilla due in large part to an earlier encounter with another Titan. Finding the Monsterverse’s Ion Dragon nesting in the nuclear submarine helped them put two-and-two together when it comes to the connection between Titans and gamma radiation. Because of this experience, they knew that they needed the government’s plutonium storage in order for them to all finally lay eyes on Godzilla.

The Military’s Castle Bravo “Test” & Aftermath Fully Explained

After what Godzilla established about the military’s history with Godzilla in 2014, it came as no surprise that General Puckett didn’t exactly do what Monarch had in mind. Monarch, as it turns out, only wanted to study him, whereas the military was much more concerned about what would happen if Godzilla became an enemy. After running the plan up through the chain of command, it was decided that killing Godzilla – rather than just confirming his existence – was the best available option.

To this end, they arranged the historic Castle Bravo operation in 1954. In real life, Castle Bravo is remembered as a test of the United States’ nuclear arsenal in 1954, but in the canon of the Monsterverse, it was the military’s way of stopping a future attack from Godzilla. After getting Godzilla to emerge from the ocean, they set the bomb off in his face, creating a mushroom cloud. Mysteriously, what impact it had on Godzilla – if there was any at all – wasn’t shown onscreen.

Fortunately for the humans, the nuclear explosion didn’t provoke a retaliation from Godzilla. As evidenced by the following scene, there were no direct consequences for their actions from Godzilla. The human characters were all under the false assumption that Godzilla was killed by the bomb. After being struck, Godzilla must have sunk back into the water, which would explain why the humans made this assertion. What this means is that either Godzilla was knocked unconscious by the blast, or he saw no need to strike back at the humans and simply swam away. If and when the humans became aware that the plan didn’t work remains unclear.

The Military’s Godzilla Plan Is The Reason Why Monarch Knows So Much About The Titans

From the looks of things, trying to kill Godzilla didn’t come back to haunt the humans. That said, there were important ramifications for the Monsteverse – namely, the future of Monarch. The following flashback scene with the 1950s characters revealed that the perceived success of the Castle Bravo test motivated the American government to fully fund Monarch’s Titan investigations. Having found out that monsters are indeed real, the government realized it was in the country’s best interest to find out if there’s more of these creatures, and presumably, kill them as well. For at least a while, Monarch had the United States government’s full support after 1954.

This reveal in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3 confirms how crucial the Castle Bravo test is to Monarch’s place in the Monsterverse. In the present, Monarch is an extremely powerful organization with an impressive reach. By the start of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it had well over a dozen outposts across the globe, monitoring a long list of Monsterverse Titans. Of course, a lot of the power resources they had were developed gradually, but the Castle Bravo test was responsible for a large portion of it. It can be assumed that having access to better equipment and government funding allowed Monarch to discover several of the Titans found before King of the Monsters.

Based on the agreement made by Keiko, Shaw, and Randa, Monarch and the government weren’t on the same page despite Puckett’s promise of funding in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3. Fear that the military would react to any Titan discoveries the same way they did to Godzilla, it was determined that Shaw, as the liaison to Monarch, will only be told what he needs to know. This scene effectively set the stage for Monarch to be the highly secretive organization it came to be in the modern era. Even the government itself most likely doesn’t know everything that Monarch does about the Titans of the Monsterverse.