Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the newest AppleTV+ series. Set in 2015, it follows two siblings as they learn more about their father and his connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch, but as the series jumps around its own timeline, where does it fall into its larger fictional universe?
While it mainly takes place in the 2010s, this series has scenes that take place in different decades to show the origins of Monarch and the work the organization has done behind the scenes, for decades, in service of both human and Kaiju kind. As part of the Monsterverse, it has left some viewers wondering if the series is a sequel or a prequel to the Monsterverse movies we know.
What is the Monsterverse?
The Monsterverse is a shared universe featuring American-made Kaiju movies. It includes Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023), and the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire (2024).
Because it has scenes in 2015 and the 1950s that take place before and after the first film in the series, Godzilla (2014), the Monarch series is both a sequel and a prequel to the rest of the Monsterverse. Films and shows that take place in between films are also known as “Interquels.” It’s an increasingly common film trend, with other franchises and shared universes like the Marvel Cinematic Universe using them to round out characters like Black Widow.
The choice to set this film both before Kong: Skull Island (2017) and after Godzilla (2014) is especially interesting because this is when the world was just learning about Kaiju, before most of them have been awoken. It appears to explore the time when humanity was still recovering from the knowledge that Kaiju exist and could potentially take out all of humanity if they chose to do so, but before they were a more common part of life.
(featured image: AppleTV+)
