What Is The Ion Dragon? Godzilla Show’s New Monsterverse Titan Explained

The latest entry in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise, the series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has exploded onto Apple TV+ with brand-new Titans, the largest and most significant of which so far is the mysterious Ion Dragon that emerges at the end of episode 2. Godzilla himself makes an appearance in a flashback to his battle against the MUTOs in San Francisco at the end of his eponymous 2014 film, and he still figures to remain a key figure in the narrative of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. However, the prospect of new Titans that expand the world in which Godzilla reigns supreme is part of the new show’s allure.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is set in two time periods, which alternate throughout each episode, implying that information revealed in the 1950s timeline will have an impact on what plays out in the 2010s timeline. The reveal of the Ion Dragon in the 1950s brings up more questions than it answers, although its discovery does solve one long-standing mystery from the Monsterverse movies. While the Ion Dragon only gets a few moments of screen time, his environment and appearance give several clues as to where he exists in the Monsterverse and what his abilities might be.

The Ion Dragon’s Monsterverse History Explained

The new Titan has actually been mentioned before in the Monsterverse.

In the second episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Bill Randa, Lee Shaw, and Dr. Keiko Miura discover the wreck of the USS Lawton in the middle of a valley in the Philippines, thousands of miles from where it originally sank. Seasoned Monsterverse viewers immediately recognized the ship from when it was first mentioned in Kong: Skull Island by the older Bill Randa:

You heard of the USS Lawton? Neither did the public. Out of a thousand young men on that ship, I was the only survivor. They told my family she was sunk in battle, but I know what I saw. It had no conscience. No reasoning, just destroy. I spent the last 30 years trying to prove the truth of what I learned that day.

Since that first mention, viewers have speculated about the identity of the monster that sank the Lawton, with many assuming that Randa was referring to Godzilla, especially given his amphibious nature. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters revealed that the Ion Dragon likely destroyed the Lawton, not Godzilla.

While the show has not completely confirmed that theory, the implication is fairly strong given the assortment of soldiers entombed in the translucent organic matter produced by the Ion Dragon. Its destruction of the ship, along with its antagonistic behavior toward the soldiers and Shaw, Randa, and Miura after his emergence from the shipwreck implies that the Ion Dragon is one of the planet’s malevolent Titans. While it is likely not a threat to Godzilla’s status as the Alpha Titan, they may cross paths as Godzilla tries to maintain balance on the planet.

What The Ion Dragon’s Powers Could Be In The Monsterverse

The creature’s unique design hints at some unique abilities.

Series director Matt Shakman revealed some details about the Ion Dragon to Newsweek, and the creature’s design tells a lot about the environment it thrives in and what its abilities might be. Per Shakman, the Ion Dragon’s facial design was heavily influenced by the anglerfish, a deep sea fish that shares the Ion Dragon’s needle-like teeth and dark, clouded eyes. The translucent ooze that the Ion Dragon exudes is also reminiscent of nacre, the shiny substance that lines the inside of mollusk shells. Those features reinforce the notion that the Ion Dragon is amphibious, and may even be a primarily aquatic creature.

If that’s true, the Ion Dragon is a unique threat in that it can live and travel through both the air and sea, giving it plenty of places to both hide and hunt. One of the mysteries surrounding the Ion Dragon is the rainbow streak in the sky that Lee Shaw observed before returning to the Lawton. This, along with the organic material in the ship, could be signs of its ionizing radiation abilities. This could be indicative of some sort of gamma ray power that it is able to use, similar to how Godzilla harnesses radiation to power his atomic breath and atomic pulse.

What Happens To The Ion Dragon In The Monsterverse Timeline?

There are a few different paths the new Titan could have taken between his original discovery and the Monsterverse’s present day.

One of the more fascinating mysteries surrounding the Ion Dragon is how it and the Lawton came to that valley in the Philippines. The Ion Dragon does not appear large enough to have transported the ship there, so it could be the offspring of a larger Ion Dragon. It’s possible both the Ion Dragon and the Lawton passed through one of the Hollow Earth tunnels that line the globe, and that’s how they came to travel so far. It’s safe to assume the show will address the Ion Dragon’s history more as the show progresses, along with what happens to the Ion Dragon between its discovery in the 1950s and the present day.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters revealed that at the time of that movie’s events, there were 17 Titans under the supervision of Monarch at various outposts around the globe. That means there are two likely paths for the Ion Dragon to take: either it makes its way to one of these outposts and is given its own Titan name, or it dies before the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Given its antagonistic behavior toward humans, it seems possible that either Monarch or Godzilla puts an end to the Ion Dragon, perhaps during the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.