Even though neither of Hollywood’s attempts at Godzilla movies in 1998 and 2014 are that fondly remembered, America’s love for Godzilla has endured as strongly as ever.
Of course, the canon of Japanese films that Godzilla fans have at their disposal helps a lot with that.
But there’s just something inherently impressive about a giant lizard with radioactive fire breath.
That’s especially true when it has a scream as iconic as Godzilla’s.
But as one illustrator shows, there’s only so long that sheer coolness can hold people’s attention before they start asking questions.
The subject in question involves the movie poster for the latest Godzilla flick that just recently hit theaters.
As expected, the poster for ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ had the monster doing what he does best.
This was likely a way of assuring audiences that this Godzilla movie actually puts the kaiju itself at the forefront as opposed to sidelining him as they did in the 2014 movie.
They also included a way to emphasize just how big Godzilla is by putting him next to an Ohio Class submarine.
We already knew the monster is huge, but this really helps puts it into perspective.
However, there is something off about the poster that has one Instagram user second guessing this scene’s authenticity.
As illustrator Ernest Ng outlined in an Instagram post, that put Godzilla’s height at 393 feet tall, while the submarine was about 76 feet long.
Unfortunately, this also gave Godzilla: King of the Monsters one of the only movies with a plot hole in the poster.
Namely, how was Godzilla able to stand atop 12,100 feet of ocean?
After all, he wasn’t swimming and the waters were deep enough to accommodate a submarine, so what gives?
That question is exactly what Ng sought to explore through a series of illuminating comics.
One possibility was that we’ve been misinterpreting Godzilla’s mighty roar and flaming attack all along.
Perhaps a very concerned Godzilla was just warning those in the submarine that they were about to hit a giant underwater mountain. Maybe their radar wasn’t working.
Considering it was often the actions of humans that started Godzilla on his roaring rampage, there’s another possibility.
Just as our nuclear testing had enraged him back in the 1954 original, maybe we’ve just left so much trash in the ocean that he could stand on it to tell us how fed up with our nonsense he is.
Or perhaps Godzilla is more friendly to humans than we thought if this figure is of any indication.
I’m not sure how you order the world’s largest forklift using only a series of ear-splitting roars, but I can almost hear the operator bubble out, “It’s a living” from their wetsuit.
Of course, nobody ever said it specifically had to be humans who helped Godzilla make his point.
Maybe Goku let him use his Flying Nimbus to impressively float atop the ocean depths. Who’s got the most ambitious crossover the world has ever seen now, Marvel?
However, Godzilla could just as easily stand on something that actually exists.
Since the monsters themselves are supposed to be the only outlandish things in the new movie, maybe he was just standing on a particularly sturdy iceberg all along.
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If an iceberg seems too cold and impersonal, Ng thought of something else you might like a little better.
Godzilla may terrify the human race whenever he shows up, but this friendly whale was obviously a lot more understanding and didn’t mind ferrying him around.
Friendship goals.
Maybe Godzilla knew full well that he wasn’t tall enough for the ocean and felt a little insecure about his height.
In that case, it’s incredibly fortunate for him that the submarine happened to come along and hear him roar.
Imagine setting up all of those platform shoes only for nobody to even glance at your brilliant blue flames.
Finally, Ng thought of an explanation that seemed to satisfy him.
I guess the left it off the poster because it doesn’t sound as impressive as “king of the monsters,” but Godzilla apparently also commands royal sovereignty over legs themselves.
Based on this figure, it seems he has a legitimate claim.