"Beyond logic lies truth."
-Motto found on Monarch identification card circa 1972
"Our Mission: Discovery and Defense in a Time of Monsters"
-Monarch's mission statement circa 2018
Monarch is a secret scientific organization created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2014 Godzilla film, Godzilla, was a pivotal organization in the 2017 film, Kong: Skull Island, and will appear once more in the 2019 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Monarch was founded in secrecy in 1946 as a joint coalition between several governments in order to hunt and study
massive unidentified terrestrial organisms (MUTOs). The first such creature Monarch studied was Shinomura, a deadly hive-minded radioactive creature composed of many smaller composite lifeforms.
One of Monarch's operatives, Serizawa, also was intrigued by
eyewitness accounts of a "giant lizard that walked like a man" that
seemed to be chasing Shinomura throughout the islands. Serizawa called
this creature "Gojira," after Pacific Island legends describing him. In 1954, Monarch cooperated with the United States military to lure Godzilla and Shinomura to Bikini Atoll, where both were thought to be killed by the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb "test."Decades later, in 1981, Serizawa told his son Ishiro
about his experiences and belief that Godzilla was still alive
somewhere. After Ishiro's father died, he was approached by Shaw, a
representative of Monarch and his father's colleague, who offered him
the opportunity to join the organization and continue his father's work.
Ishiro Serizawa readily agreed and became a member of Monarch.
Mission: Skull
In 1973, Monarch and Landsat conducted an expedition to an island in the South Pacific called Skull Island, with William Randa, Houston Brooks, and San Lin representing the organization. At this time, the organization was nearly bankrupt. After returning from Skull Island, Brooks and Lin debriefed survivors, James Conrad and Mason Weaver, before presenting them with a slideshow, showing four ominous cave paintings, with each depicting a giant creature.
Awakening in 2014
In 1999, Ishiro Serizawa and his assistant Vivienne Graham
were sent by Monarch to the Philippines to investigate the cave-in of a
mine. There, they discovered the skeleton of another member of Godzilla's species that died long ago and two parasitic spores, one of which had hatched. The creature that hatched from the spore arrived at the nuclear power plant in Janjira,
where it attached itself to the reactor to feed. Monarch quickly
quarantined the city of Janjira in order to study the creature,
codenamed MUTO. In 2014,
the MUTO burst free from its cocoon and destroyed Monarch's facilities
and flew away. Serizawa and Graham then assisted the U.S. military in
tracking and studying the MUTO and Godzilla once he emerged to hunt it.
Timeline
Beginning on June 21, 2017, social media pages for
Skull Island began to post weekly videos detailing Monarch's timeline of events from the years 1915 to 2016. While certain timeline events have been named, the full descriptions of said events have not been revealed as of yet.
1915 - Splitting the Atom
Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity ultimately leads to
the splitting of the atom and the dawn of the Atomic Age. This
epoch-defining stage in human evolution will act as a beacon that
awakens ancient superspecies sustained by nuclear energy.
1943 - The U.S.S. Lawton Incident
1946 - Monarch Founded
In the aftermath and cover-up of the U.S.S. Lawton Incident,
President Truman unofficially establishes "Monarch Unit", a small,
off-book research team established to engage in the systematic study of
"massive unidentified terrestrial organisms". Privately, many of
Truman's allies question the validity of the group's theories and work
to keep their existence a secret.
1952 - The Great Smog of London
Baffling meteorologists and defying atmospheric physicists, this
unexplained phenomenon saw London's streets overwhelmed by huge clouds
of air-polluting smoke. Monarch theorizes that the beating wings of a
giant creature could have created an anticyclone that unleashed airborne
pollutants across the city.
1954 - Monarch Goes Global
1959 - Siberian Mystery
At the height of the Cold War, aerial photography taken from a
Russian spy plane reveals a huge containment facility established around
an ice cap in Siberia. The Monarch symbol can be seen emblazoned across
the canopy of the structure.
1973 - Mission: Skull
Monarch surreptitiously partners with Landsat and the 1st aviation
brigade, 3rd assault helicopter company to mount an expedition to the
mythical "Skull Island" in an uncharted corner of the South Pacific.
Encountering the god-like superspecies known as Kong, they soon discover
that mankind does not belong here.
1991 - Isla de Mona
A covert Monarch team establishes a quarantine zone around the
island's dormant volcano, under the guise of "environmental research".
Over the coming years, what began as a small scientific outpost will
expand to become a full containment facility around the mouth of the
volcano.
1995 - Return to Skull Island
Monarch security officer Aaron Brooks defies his father, Houston
Brooks, and leads an off-the-books mission to Skull Island, to not only
determine what has become of Kong since the 1973 expedition, but also
for assurance that Kong is on their side.
1999 - Janjira Meltdown
2005 - A Mysterious Mercenary
Former British Army Colonel and MI-6 agent Jonah Alan
is locked up in Pakistani prison after an encounter with Monarch
agents. Alan and his band of mercenary accomplices were caught trying to
breach the walls of a subterranean M.U.T.O. dig-site.
2009 - Temple of the Moth
Mythographic studies of Chinese temples leads Monarch to the high-altitude jungles of the Yunnan province. Dr. Emma Russell
and her team follow a mysterious bio-acoustic signature to a previously
undiscovered megalithic temple, within which lies a gigantic cocoon. A
quickening heartbeat is detected inside.
2012 - Message in a Bottle
Days before retirement, Monarch veteran Houston Brooks receives an
encrypted recorder bearing a message from his son. His unauthorized
mission to Skull Island has resulted in the death of the whole crew
(except himself) and revealed dramatic new information about Kong's
origins, his role on the island and how Skull Island had evolved since
his dad's "visit".
2014 - The Battle of San Francisco
The existence of giant superspecies is revealed to the world as
Godzilla clashes with two M.U.T.O.s in the center of San Francisco,
unleashing devastation upon the urban center. The world watches as
Godzilla defends our world and restores balance to the natural order.
The time has come for Monarch to step out of the shadows.
2016 - Monster Zero
When Monarch discovers an extraordinary superspecies sealed beneath
the Antarctic ice sheet, Dr. Vivienne Graham leads the effort to build a
covert containment and research facility around the dormant creature.
Her classified field notes contain a mysterious footnote: "The devil has
three heads."
