Director of Godzilla vs. Kong, Adam Wingard, recently explained the reason for Godzilla's more primal demeanor in the film. The latest entry into Legendary's MonsterVerse was a rematch more than half a century in the making, pitting the two monsters against each other for the first time since 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla. Although the previous film in the MonsterVerse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, was a commercial failure, the explosive popularity of Godzilla vs. Kong has proven that there is still lingering interest in the franchise.

In the film, Godzilla adopts a more feral personality than we are accustomed to seeing in the MonsterVerse thus far. In both 2014's Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the titular monster is portrayed a neutral force of nature that only intervenes in human affairs in order to preserve the natural order. However, Godzilla vs. Kong adds a different dimension to Godzilla's character making him much more agile and violent.

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Director Adam Wingard offered an explanation for Godzilla's change in demeanor during a recent Reddit AMA. When asked about the choice to show Godzilla on all fours during the climactic battle, Wingard said that Godzilla was "just so pissed off at the end that he goes full on animalistic on Kong." He also revealed that the desire to see a more animalistic Godzilla came from early VFX test shots. You can read the director's full response below:

Of the three Kaiju present in the film – Apex's Mechagodzilla making a surprise appearance during the film's climax – Godzilla is the only one that displays the ability to move on all four limbs. This may be a minor detail to some, but it is significant to the history of the character in that it departs from the legacy of the franchise's tokusatsu origins. Haruo Nakajima's portrayal in the Godzilla costume back in 1954 cemented Godzilla as a bipedal creature, and the monster's iconic gait has stayed unchanged in every live-action iteration since then (yes, even in the oft-maligned 1998 Godzilla). Godzilla vs. Kong marks the first time where the big G has been able to swap between both.

This detail has shown that Legendary is not afraid to toy with some of the more iconic aspects of Godzilla as a character. When a franchise gets to be as old as Godzilla's, change is necessary to prevent the formula from becoming stale. Hideaki Anno was certainly aware of this in his acclaimed 2016 film, Shin Godzilla, and it seems as though Legendary is now catching on as well. Regardless, Godzilla vs. Kong was clearly a labor of love for Wingard; hopefully he will return to the franchise sometime in the near future.

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Source: Adam Wingard/Reddit