by Michael Keller

For whatever reason, rumors have persisted and flourished for years regarding the ending of King Kong vs Godzilla. The great belief was that the Japanese and American climaxes of the film differed. In the Japanese, Godzilla was supposed to be the obvious winner, while in the version we all saw, Kong was apparantly victorious. It is now common knowledge among kaiju fans that this was nothing more than a myth. Although there are many differences between the western and eastern versions of the film, the endings are both the same. Kong wins in both.

Or does he? All we know is this: two monsters fell into the sea. One surfaced and swam away, presumably back to his island home. From this ending most surmise that Kong, the monster who surfaced, won the battle. But is this assumption true? The ending is not a clear cut victory, but rather a vague conclusion.

My own belief is that Kong, in fact, did NOT win the battle. I believe that what he is doing in the film is running away. I have some facts to back up this hypothesis:

1. Throughout most of the movie, Godzilla was clearly the stronger and more powerful beast. It was only near the end, when Kong was hit by lightning and made stronger, that the stakes were even.

2. When the two monsters fell into the water, Godzilla had the advantage once again. Water is as much his habitat as land. The same cannot be said for Kong. Although the giant ape might have been strong enough to swim to Japan, he certainly could not survive under the waves. Occasionally long journeys using his simian breast stroke might have been alright every once and a while, but Kong is not the sort of animal built to be constantly swimming. Godzilla is far more alert and agile underwater than is Kong.

3. Godzilla was not killed by Kong. We know that from his appearance in Godzilla vs. The Thing and every subsequent movie.

4. All of the world's known monsters were gathered together on Monster Island in 1999 (Destroy All Monsters) and Kong was not among them. Might it be possible that he was injured to such a great extent in the underwater battle that he ended up bleeding to death in the middle of the ocean before reaching Farou Island? He was certainly never heard from again. It should be noted here that at only forty feet tall, the King Kong in King Kong Escapes was not the same creature as the 45 meter one in King Kong vs Godzilla.

5. Kong's act of swimming outward into the ocean seems to suggest he was fleeing. If he was victorious, why not simply stay put in Japan? When the raft carrying him blew up, he felt no need to swim back to Farou, even though he had every opportunity.

6. The ending of King Kong vs Godzilla is similar to that of Monster Zero where Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidorah fall into the ocean and only Ghidorah emerges. The general assumption is that Ghidorah lost the fight and fled the earth, the same as in his previous film. This seems logical, since he obviosly left the planet and did not continue to ravage it. So using Monster Zero as a guide, the almost identical endings lead to the conclusion that Godzilla won his encounter with Kong.

I now rest my case. I feel that these facts are significant to shed serious doubt on the assumption that Kong was victorious. So the next time someone refers to the two endings of King Kong vs Godzilla, tell them there was only one: