Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire's 'Baby Kong' Has A Name (With A Secret Meaning)
Aside from it being a film full of enormous characters, very little is known about the impending monster mash-up "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," even after watching its mayhem-filled teaser trailer. While some details have been revealed about Kong and Godzilla's new villain, Skar King, fans had to wait for a toy to reveal the name of the tiny titan primate who was shown in the teaser.
Dubbed "mini-Kong" by Bryan Tyree Henry's Bernie Hayes in the preview, toy packaging for the cute orange furball posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by @KaijuNewsOutlet, along with other toys from the film, shows that he's named Suko. While he might share a similar fur color to Skar King, Suko's product description (via Bleeding Cool) confirms that he's on Kong's side. "Don't let his size fool you," the character breakdown reads. "Suko is a scrappy fighter with raw, primal strength and a bad attitude who always has Kong's back."
The reason for this alliance, however, remains unknown. From what has been shown so far, Suko seems to belong to the group of apes ruled by Skar King, suggesting he eventually befriends Kong when our hero encounters them. However, a deeper look into the origins of Suko's name and his place in the history of "King Kong" films might indicate he has a bigger part in "The New Empire" than you might have anticipated.
Is Suko the child of King Kong?
It's nothing new for a younger ape to start beating his chest in a "King Kong" film. After Little Kong in 1933's "Son of Kong" and Baby Kong in 1986's "King Kong Lives," Suko would be the third young ape to get involved in a Kong-related kerfuffle. The difference is that the previous two were, in fact, the sons of Kong, whereas current evidence suggests that Suko is not.
Even so, that doesn't mean he won't have a big part to play in the great ape's mission, especially given that Suko's name, when written phonetically in Japanese, roughly translates to "essential child." This could also explain why, according to THR, an early possible title for the film was "Son of Kong," which appears to cement Suko's importance in the film.
Introducing new blood to the mix could be the way director Adam Wingard shows how time has transformed these titular heroes, for better or worse, and what the future of the Monsterverse looks like. Speaking to Total Film about the young ape, the filmmaker said, "I didn't want it to just be random; it's part of the story. And similarly with Kong, I wanted to give him some sort of new look as well. We grew his beard out, and gave him a little bit more gray hair and stuff."
We'll see if the new and old generations pack a punch when "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" hits theaters on April 12, 2024.