King Kong is a giant ape Titan who first appeared in the 2017 Legendary Pictures film Kong: Skull Island. He is the largest incarnation of the character to date.
The last of a race of huge ape-like Titans who reigned over Skull Island, Kong was born in the midst of a battle between his parents and a horde of vicious Skullcrawlers. Kong's mother sealed him safely within a cave before the Skullcrawlers slaughtered her along with Kong's father. The infant Kong witnessed the brutal demise of his parents from the cave and dedicated his life to avenging them by keeping the island's Skullcrawler population in check and defending the other creatures of the island. He was first witnessed by humans other than the island's Iwi tribe when fighter pilots Hank Marlow and Gunpei Ikari crashed on the island following a dogfight over the Pacific in 1944. Nearly 30 years later in 1973, a survey expedition to the previously uncharted island organized by the scientific organization Monarch brought many more people to the island, who unintentionally drew more Skullcrawlers to the surface by dropping seismic charges to map the island. Kong destroyed the helicopter escort carrying the expedition members in a furious rage, causing Colonel Preston Packard to develop a burning hatred for the Titan. Some of the survivors encountered Marlow and the Iwi and learned Kong's true nature as a protector of the island. However, Packard and his surviving men salvaged heavy ordnance from a downed Sea Stallion and sprung a trap for Kong which succeeded in weakening him enough to the point the colossal Skull Devil emerged. Kong killed Packard before the evil creature attacked him, and Packard's men joined up with the other survivors to escape the island. The Skull Devil chose to pursue them, but Kong came to their rescue and slew the beast once and for all. The survivors were successfully extracted from the island, their experience kept a secret to everyone except Monarch.
In 1995, Aaron Brooks, the son of 1973 expedition member and Monarch scientist Houston Brooks, organized a covert return mission to the island out of a belief Kong could not be trusted to keep the volatile ecosystem under control. The mission became a disaster as the island's more malevolent fauna stranded the team and killed many members. Kong rescued them from a pack of attacking Death Jackals, and later from a Sirenjaw. One of the team members, Walter R. Riccio, lost his mind on the island and blasted open a hole in the wall surrounding the Iwi village, meant as a sort of "test" of whether the Iwi were worthy of Kong's protection. Kong quickly sprung into action and saved the Iwi from attacking Mother Longlegs, then killed Riccio once he realized he was the cause of the attack. Brooks, now the last survivor of the expedition, met Kong face-to-face and finally understood his pure intentions and capability to defend the island, and chose to remain behind and help the Iwi rebuild.
29 years later, after Kong drove Camazotz back to the Hollow Earth, Skull Island's climate became unstable due to a perpetual storm, forcing Kong to be contained in a dome-shaped facility that simulated the island's environment, with the sole surviving Iwi named Jia providing him company. After being convinced by Nathan Lind to bring Kong with them on a joint expedition between Monarch and Apex Cybernetics into the Hollow Earth in order to find a power source that could help build a weapon capable of stopping the rampaging Godzilla, Jia and her adoptive mother Ilene Andrews accompanied Kong as he was escorted by sea to an entrance in Antarctica. However, Godzilla arrived and attacked the fleet, battling Kong and nearly drowning him before they were separated by depth charges. Godzilla called off his attack after he no longer deemed Kong a threat and the remaining fleet "played dead" by shutting off their power. Kong was brought to the Antarctica entrance by air and, after some convincing from Jia, headed into the Hollow Earth. After battling a pair of Warbats, Kong made his way to a large throne room where he found an ancient axe that was charged by the same energy that powered the temple. Godzilla drilled a hole into the Hollow Earth with his atomic breath, causing the temple to collapse. After fighting off a swarm of Hellhawks and killing Apex executive Maia Simmons, Kong made his way to Hong Kong where he battled Godzilla. After a protracted battle, Kong was eventually defeated by Godzilla and collapsed to the ground unconscious. After Jia informed Andrews that Kong was dying, Lind landed the remaining HEAV onto Kong's chest and overloaded it, reviving him. Jia convinced Kong to help Godzilla against the newly unleashed Mechagodzilla, and the two Titans managed to destroy the mech with some human assistance. Kong and Godzilla acknowledged each other before Godzilla went back into the ocean and Kong made his permanent home in the Hollow Earth.
