As we wait for news on any upcoming Monsterverse projects, there is a new monster movie coming to Apple TV+: THE GORGE. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, it is about two special forces operatives tasked to guard a large gorge at an unknown location. Despite being restricted from communication, the pair grow closer in their new relationship until they are jumped by an evil force. They must fight to contain the evil that lies beneath if they want to survive.
I cannot help comparing a lot of the movie with elements from the Monsterverse even though THE GORGE is made by Skydance and the Monsterverse series is made by Legendary Entertainment. A containment facility at an unknown location, special forces operatives hired by Dark Lake CEO Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver) guarding the containment area, and monsters living deep in the gorge all have similarities with the Monstervere's organization Monarch, which operates to contain and study the existence of monsters called Titans and their place of origin, the Hollow Earth.
With those similarities it is easy to see how The Gorge and the Monsterverse can fit. However, what would happen if these two were placed in the same universe?
For one, Monarch could see them as a potential partner for genetic research on Titan DNA or potential threat. As a partner, Monarch and Dark Lake could research ways to revolutionize medicine and organically grow crops and cattle faster without GMOs. Monarch would want to search for a way to use Titan DNA to benefit mankind. With the discovery of the Hollow Earth, I can see part of the deal is allowing Dark Lake access and setting up their own outposts only for specific purposes. However, Dark Lake would probably use Monarch's partnership as a cover to invest in darker projects such as their super soldier project.
If you remember, Monarch and APEX had a partnership when it came to technological end. APEX built the HEAVs for Monarch to help with following Kong into the Hollow Earth and find the Hollow Earth energy that APEX needed. However, APEX had their plans as they built MechaGodzilla to rival Godzilla and the Titans. After they extracted the energy in the Hollow Earth and duplicated the energy signature, the mechanized Titan went out of control. This is because APEX was using King Ghidorah's skull as a super computer to pilot the robot and the Hollow Earth energy brought the devil's consciousness back to life allowing it full control of MechaGodzilla.
Monarch's partnership with Dark Lake would be a similar scenario. Dark Lake and Monarch would have a partnership for the purpose of researching Titan DNA. Monarch would want to research Titan DNA for the betterment of mankind revolutionizing medicine and perhaps a more organic way to grow crops and animals without the need of GMOs. Dark Lake, on the other hand, has a completely different agenda to use the Titan DNA and the DNA of the Hollow Men for a new generation of super soldiers just like in THE GORGE, but amplified to a hundred.
Monarch will learn about the gorge after Godzilla's activity has brought them to an undisclosed location. Bartholomew, who leads Dark Lake, will know that Monarch will learn about the gorge due to Godzilla's constant visits. The king of the monsters knows something is up and will demand to challenge who or whatever is disturbing the natural order.
Just for perspective, In THE GORGE, the Hollow Men are actually a mutation of plant, animal, and human DNA blended into one. The gorge was originally a research lab site during World War II to create a chemical weapon that would rival the atomic bomb, but an earthquake caused these chemicals to break containment and spread. A lot of people either died or mutated into the Hollow Men. Soon after, a cavalry of 2,400 soldiers on horse back were even sent into the gorge and never returned. All who are exposed to this DNA mixing virus will see changes on their bodies after five days of exposure.
Dark Lake has always had a tight grip on keeping the gorge secret. They don't want the public to know that they have been doing inhumane experiments with Hollow Men DNA. The movie even shows that Dark Lake will even go out to kill their own men after serving a year of guarding the gorge just to keep it secret. I can see this going similarly as soon as Monarch finds out, but because Monarch is better equipped with artillery and has better resources there is a chance that Dark Lake would take a different approach before considering going to war. Bartholomew, who is the head of Dark Lake, would want to have a meeting with Monarch's head director, which I will say is Mark Russell for this scenario.
The two will sit down and Bartholomew will start the discussion on how Monarch learning about the gorge has become a conflict of interest since Godzilla has been snooping around and Monarch wasn't tightening their leash on the G-Man. Mark would rebuke saying that Monarch doesn't control the monsters. They only research them. Monarch wants to understand the monsters and find a way for both Titans and humanity to co-exist. He would then lean into how Dark Lake broke the terms of agreement on this partnership. The research on Titan DNA was suppose to benefit mankind and was instead twisted in something much more horrific. The overall conversation that was supposed to be about how to resolve this issue turns sour. Dark Lake doesn't want to back out of their super soldier research nor give up the Titan DNA they are using to combine with Hollow Men DNA.
Mark does try to warn Bartholomew about the dangers of chasing power as he has witnessed it twice and both have ended in disaster. He had witnessed it in 2019 when his ex-wife, Emma, used the ORCA to wake up King Ghidorah and Rodan and then the second time when APEX's MechaGodzilla went wild and destroyed half of Hong Kong. So he will try to plea with Bartholomew that it is not too late to stop these experiments before that power lashes back at her. Yet, she will not want to hear it and leaves him at that.
After the fall out in negotiations, Dark Lake will start cutting off communication with Monarch as well as disposing any Monarch researchers who are still using Dark Lake's labs. As war is about to begin, Bartholomew checks on her newly created Titan codename ERIKA. This monster was genetically designed with human, animal, plant, and Godzilla DNA. An abomination whose roar sounds more like cries of pain from people she has absorbed and integrated into her body to change them into Hollow Men. The Hollow Men worship her as a god and call her BIOLLANTE.
Mark's warning would repeat over and over as Bartholomew contemplates over whether she should end it all. She would question if this was all worth it and if Erika and the super soldier project are really the legacy she wanted to leave behind. She is going to find out the hard way much like those before her and when she does learn it will already be too late. Her lesson begins very early with Godzilla shows up and heads for the gorge. Bartholomew will find out she is going to be fighting two wars.
Godzilla is going to do what he does best. He is gonna go to the gorge to fight this monster, but he is going to find heavy retaliation from Dark Lake. Dark Lake is going to be so distracted by Godzilla appearing that they won't have enough ammo to fight this war with Monarch. Godzilla is not going to back down especially he does get to the gorge. He will strike back at those that get in his way and Dark Lake really gets their butts handed to them.
The actual fight I will leave to your imagination, but I can see Biollante getting the upper hand. Her roots are through the ground and all through the walls of the gorge allowing her to toss Godzilla around or bury him. Meanwhile, Godzilla has not fought a monster like this. He has fought Kong, King Ghidorah, the MUTOs, and many other Titans, but this is a first time fighting a Titan like this. Godzilla is use to charging in and doing the beat down without any actual thought. He has always had a very animalistic way of fighting. Yet, he also learns to adapt as he fights. So while Godzilla is getting a beat down by Biollante he learns how to get around the vines and close in the gap.
That is where I am going to need to stop. In the middle of writing this post I had a bunch of ideas that was getting too out of control. As much as I love THE GORGE and the Monsterverse, it was getting to the point that it was turning into a story rather than an analysis. I had some wild ideas too. Ideas such as the G-Team infiltrating the gorge and finding the laboratory and discovering what Dark Lake has been up to, an idea for Erika being a female Hollow Man that was able to gain some intelligence to talk and remember bits and pieces of her past life before her transformation, and an idea for a Hollow Man whose name was "Jet" that saves Mark and the G-Team from other Hollow Men as well as sacrificing himself by punching the bomb that was inside the gorge. Perhaps in a future "How I Would Do It" post I could use a couple of these ideas. For now, I just want to focus on the "What If" aspect of the scenario.
I want to know what you think. How would Dark Lake from THE GORGE interact with the Monsterverse? Do you think they would be at odds with Monarch or do you think they would get along? Do you think they would expand their horizons and set their sights on the Hollow Earth or stick with running experiments on the Hollow Men? Leave a comment in the comments section of how you imagine the two worlds would interact. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.
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