Description

King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in several movies and television series as well as repeatedly crossing over with the Godzilla franchise. Kong has been dubbed the King of the Beasts.

His first appearance was in the novelization of the 1933 film King Kong from RKO Pictures, with the film premiering a little over two months later. A sequel quickly followed that same year with The Son of Kong, featuring Little Kong. The Japanese film company Toho later produced King Kong vs. Godzilla, featuring a giant Kong battling Toho’s Godzilla, and King Kong Escapes (1967), a film loosely based on Rankin/Bass’ The King Kong Show (1966–1969). In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis produced a modern remake of the original film directed by John Guillermin. A sequel, King Kong Lives, followed a decade later featuring a Lady Kong. Another remake of the original, set in 1933, was released in 2005 by filmmaker Peter Jackson.

Kong: Skull Island (2017), set in 1973, is part of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse, which began with a reboot of Godzilla in 2014. A sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong was released in 2021. It was followed by the film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in 2024, which featured more of Kong’s kind.

King Kong has inspired a number of imitators, parodies, cartoons, books, comics, video games, theme park rides, and a stage play. King Kong has also crossed over into other franchises, such as Planet of the Apes, and encountered characters from other franchises in crossover media, such as pulp characters Doc Savage and Tarzan, and the Justice League. His role in the different narratives varies, ranging from an egregious monster to a tragic antihero.