Spoilers for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 are below!
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is currently in the middle of the show’s second season, with it already introducing an immense new threat in Titan X. While fans continue to speculate on the possible true identity of the latest kaiju to join the Monsterverse, the Apple TV series has been fleshing out the human drama and franchise lore. Many of the characters are looking to stop Titan X’s potential destruction, with several invested in obtaining Hiroshi’s prototype, which could hopefully lure the new kaiju away. Yet there are still numerous players in the game looking to take control in their own way.
Apex Cybernetics has been a persistent presence in the Monsterverse, with Monarch featuring a more in-depth look at their operations. The series has been teasing the company’s work, which fans know leads to Mechagodzilla in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. However, Season 2, Episode 4, “Trespass,” introduced a different, unexpected angle to the narrative. While Monarch has been hinting at a way to control the Titans, audiences now know what Apex was referring to, which presents a dark future for Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and the Monsterverse that is far more terrifying than Mechagodzilla.
‘Monarch’ Season 2 Just Introduced a Way To Control the Titans
May’s storyline throughout Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has given viewers a glimpse behind the curtain at Apex. The character was initially recruited for her coding skills, and her time at the company hints at grand implications. Apex’s work had fans speculating that May was being recruited to work on part of Mechagodzilla, since Monarch takes place before the events of Godzilla vs. Kong. Her code could still end up being part of what brings the mechanical kaiju to life, but the show has finally revealed that Apex is actually working on a different piece of technology meant to control the Titans.
“Trespass” sees the characters getting an inside look at some of Apex’s inner workings. They discover creatures taken from Skull Island, locked away, and experimented on, and even uncover Apex’s deception against Monarch. Still, it’s Brenda Holland who finally clues May into what the cybernetics company has been developing that requires her unique code. Holland shows May the fruits of Apex’s experimentation, which is an inhibitor chip placed in the back of the neck of a small creature from Skull Island. When the chip is activated, the aggressive creature immediately becomes docile, allowing Holland to pick it up like a pet bird.
The impressive chip has a serious flaw, as Holland displays, showing that the effect is only temporary. It seems as though May’s code could be the key to making the inhibitor chip’s effects permanent. Holland dangles the possibility of coexistence with these creatures and the Titans through the chip, leaving May deeply conflicted. She ultimately chooses to stay at Apex and help Holland further develop the chip, recognizing its benefits. However, the new Apex technology actually sets up horrifying possibilities for the future of the Monsterverse that May seems to be overlooking.
‘Godzilla x Kong: Supernova’ Faces Terrifying Implications From ‘Monarch’s Newest Tech
On the surface, Apex’s inhibitor chip appears to be a stellar achievement, giving humans a way to finally neutralize the Titan threat that has been plaguing the world. Yet if the chip can alter the creature’s behavior, it could give Apex the keys to controlling all the Titans. Monarch establishes that the inhibitor chip can change the very nature of the creatures, as Apex wanted them docile, and that’s exactly what happened when it was activated. May is looking to help them make this a permanent change, which would then see those chips put into every creature and Titan in the Monsterverse that it could possibly work on. Once that infrastructure is in place, who’s to say that it won’t give Apex complete control?
If the chips can make the creatures docile, where does it stop? Is the next step making them obey Apex’s every command? The company has already been shown to be deceitful, duping Monarch for its own gains, as evidenced by the latest episode’s whale-tracking diversion. So why would they be telling the complete truth about the inhibitor chips? If Apex is able to control the Titans for their own gains, they absolutely will. While the chip was only shown on a small creature, the company clearly has an eye toward putting them on Godzilla, Kong, and the other Titans, which could turn Apex into the new king of the monsters. The company would be unstoppable, as any government or military that got in its way could be thwarted by Apex’s army of Titans. What starts as a way to coexist could be hiding a far more sinister motive.
Who’s to say that Apex would even stop with Titans? Neuralink’s brain chip is an actual device in development, highlighting real-world parallels to Monarch’s new tech. While the show’s chips are geared toward the creatures, why would the company stop at Titans if there were ways to implement them on the human population? Mass population control would make them the ultimate force on the planet, backed by an army of kaiju. Apex may not just be creating an inhibitor chip. The company could, in fact, be laying the groundwork for an apocalyptic scenario in which it rules the world.
There have been Monsterverse films set after Monarch Season 2, suggesting that Apex hasn’t yet implemented any plans for world domination via the chips. Still, with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova on the horizon, the new technology could play a part in quelling the larger threats set to befall the planet in the forthcoming sequel. The current season of Monarch may resolve the looming problems the chips present before the finale, but if it doesn’t, the future of the Monsterverse may be facing the darkest timeline thanks to Apex’s devious technology.
- Release Date
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November 16, 2023
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Chris Black, Matt Fraction
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
