Leaked Promotional Material and Designs Show King Kong Sports a Beard in Godzilla vs. Kong

JB Augustine |

Jan 22, 2020

King Kong will be taller, older, wiser in Godzilla vs. Kong and he will have the facial hair to go along with that. That’s right, Kong grows a beard for when he throws down with his “god”-like, reptilian rival.

Leaked promotional material and monster designs give it away, including those from the toy expo in Hong Kong that went viral earlier this month. We didn’t get a good look at Kong at the time, though his face was close up in the background.

Godzilla-Movies.com fixed that. The site offers the clearest look at Kong’s updated facial features in the following new image:

KING-Kong_Beard

Again, this image comes from the same display in the spoiler image tweeted weeks ago that confirmed the presence in the movie of a revamped Mechagodzilla. In case you don’t recall, check it out below:

Who saw the leaked Godzilla vs Kong items pic.twitter.com/hMAeaIswGp

— NerdViper (@fisherdaman1) January 8, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Kong’s bearded face in extreme close-up is on the right between the two smaller Godzilla figures, one white and one green.

As you can see above that, the King has a very defined orange beard with thick hairs which is sort of odd. Facial hair is common among some species of apes and monkeys, like orangutans, but not gorillas – the closest approximation to Kong’s form. Of course, being unique, Kong might share similarities with all sorts of primates.

King Kong’s new beard is nothing out of the blue. It’s been there the whole time. Godzilla-Movies.com pointed it out months ago, urging readers to “look closely” at an official poster.

Twitter user GORMARU was nice enough to cleanse the poster of logos and provide a better view. See below, the beard is clear and defined:

Respect the Beard Game #GodzillavsKong

"Following the success of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), comes Godzilla vs. Kong, the next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse. " pic.twitter.com/djuoog0aCy

— GORMARU (@GormaruIsland) October 14, 2019

Some designs give it away, too – such as this one from user Devin Miller:

Check out this Newly Design Of KING KONG for Godzilla Vs Kong. It was just Revealed. To the General Public. 😱🙂 it’s Kong with a Long Beard. pic.twitter.com/2qlfbMvPU5

— DEVIN MILLER (@SpinoDevin) November 9, 2019

It wasn’t completely verified at the time but Miller claimed it was legit.

It is Legit.

— DEVIN MILLER (@SpinoDevin) November 10, 2019

Kong’s beard growth punctuates his massive increase in size to match Godzilla’s. The big ape grew up a lot in the 50 years between Kong: Skull Island and the latest installments in the MonsterVerse – Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the upcoming matchup.

Godzilla vs. Kong is almost finished with reshoots, according to recent accounts. Meant for spring/summer, the film was delayed a few times. Warner Bros. finally settled on a November 2020 release and appear to be sticking to it.

What do you think of King Kong’s beard? Is it weird, a departure? Leave your thoughts below.