The movie opens with a POV of Emma Russel (Vera Farmiga) and Mark Russel (Kyle Chandler) searching for their son during the San Franscisco battle from the previous movie. We see Godzilla and they stare at him. We then cut to the present with Emma Russel and daughter Madison Russel, it is established that Emma and Mark have both separated since their son was lost.

 

Emma Russel and Madison Russel, both Monarch scientists, investigate an enormous egg inside a temple in China, it soon hatches, giving birth to a larva Mothra, who freaks out due to confusion and webs a couple of soldiers to the temple wall. Emma Russel decides to use a special device her and her ex-husband invented known as “The Orca” to calm the baby Mothra by emitting frequencies that only Titans can respond to. Mothra becomes docile, and we get the scene in the trailer where Madison reaches out to touch her.

 

Eco Terrorists suddenly show up in jets and begin bombing the area. Mothra manages to escape during the confusion and escapes underneath a waterfall, and the terrorists “kidnap” both Emma and Madison.

 

We see Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins), and Sam Coleman (Thomas Middleditch) and many others of Monarch being questioned at a Senate hearing about whether the military should take over operations at Monarch, we are treated to a comical scene involving footage of the MUTO nuzzle scene from the previous film when suddenly Monarch gets the message of the kidnapping and abruptly leave…

 

Monarch reaches out to Mark Russel (who is now photographing wolves) because he can track the frequencies the eco terrorists leave behind when using the Orca. He doesn’t fully warm up to the organization due to their involvement with Godzilla and the Titans, as he blames Godzilla for his son's death.

 

Monarch takes Mark Russel to a secret underwater base called "Castle Bravo" in Bermuda. It’s established Monarch has many facilities all around the world for different Titans still in hibernation. The Bermuda camp is for tracking Godzilla, and it’s stated Monarch has been tracking him since he left San Franscisco bay five years ago. Godzilla approaches the base, and Monarch throws up their defenses and weapons ready to shoot at Godzilla before Mark Russel tells them not to antagonize him and to drop their shields to show they mean no harm.

 

Monarch realizes Godzilla is heading to Antarctica and soon discovers the terrorists are heading to Antarctica as well to free a creature simply called “Monster Zero” at this point. Their leader is a mysterious man named Jonah Allen (Charles Dance) an Ex-British Special Forces who grew to resent humanity after all the wars and environmental destruction its caused.

 

The terrorists lay an ambush for Monarch and kill most of the G-Team. Mark Russel sneaks his way into the containment facility and tries to free his ex-wife and daughter, only to find Emma Russel as she detonates the ice herself and frees the monster.

 

Jonah, Emma, and Madison leave for their chopper. Once they’re at a safe distance in the sky, Emma activates the Orca and awakens Monster Zero. The monster rampages for a bit until Godzilla emerges from the ocean and engages him. It's a pretty even battle at the start, but Monster Zero gains the upper hand and knocks Godzilla into the ocean. Monster Zero continues his rampage, even swooping down and eating Dr. Graham (in a scene reminiscent of the Skull crawler/Bill Randa scene from Kong: Skull Island) before "disappearing" in a freak tropical storm.

 

After regrouping, Monarch is obviously bewildered by Emma's actions, and Monster Zero's sudden disappearance. Monarch realizes the next target is Mexico and ready themselves to head there when suddenly Emma Russel directly contacts them from Mexico herself, revealing she was working for the terrorists group the entire time (Cue speech from the trailer)

 

With the "freak" tropical storm heading for Mexico, Monarch decides to evacuate the city, but before the evacuation is complete, Jonah orders Emma to use the Orca and wake up a new Titan called Rodan. Rodan explodes from his containment chamber causing the volcano to erupt and begins laying waste to the city and people below. It is here that Madison starts to reflect the carnage going on around her and begins to doubt her mom’s intentions, but pushes her doubt in the back of her mind, hoping everything will be fine.

 

The storm begins to swamp over Mexico and Monarch realizes that Monster Zero wasn’t lost in the storm, but is causing the storm.

 

In a last ditch effort to save what's left of the populace, Monarch plans to lead Rodan away from the city with jets and engages him in a dogfight over the ocean. Using a new Monarch hellicarrier, Monarch leads Rodan into Monster Zero’s storm with hopes both Titans will kill each other. The two have a very short, unfocused on battle, ending with Monster Zero easily beating him. Monster Zero then focuses his attention towards our main cast, charging up to kill them.

 

Godzilla suddenly emerges from the ocean just in the nick of time and engages Monster Zero in another battle, saving Monarch. The dragon manages to gain the upper hand again, constricting Godzilla with his body and necks as they fight in the ocean.

 

Admiral William Stenz (David Strathairn) makes a guest appearance via monitor and claims things are getting out of hand, issuing the use of a new, experimental anti-Titan missile known as the “De-Oxygenator”. Dr. Serizawa pleads with him against the idea and says that humanity must “trust in Gojira”, but much like the first film, he’s overruled.

 

Godzilla, while still in the clutches of Monster Zero, manages to tear off one of the heads, but the military already fired the de-oxygenator at the two anyway. When hit, Godzilla seemingly "dies" and sinks into the ocean, hundreds of fish float to the top of the water too in a very eerie scene, with Monster Zero surviving the missile unscathed.

 

Monster Zero flies over Rodan’s volcano, perches atop it, and begins drawing energy through its storm in a really amazing scene. It is here that Monster Zero completely regenerates his missing head. Rodan flies over to him and bows to his new king, becoming submissive.

 

Monster Zero then lets loose a bone-chilling roar and suddenly all across the world, Titans everywhere begin awakening from their hibernation...

 

(One in Germany, one from Mt. Fuji, and many, many others)

 

(Cue Charles Dance’s line “Long Live The King)

 

Monarch realizes through Zhang Ziyi's reading of mythological texts that Monster Zero (now named Ghidorah) was a "demon who fell from the sky”, alluding to a possible alien-origin. It is also revealed that our Godzilla and Ghidorah have history and fought in the past.

 

Shocked by Godzilla's death and the mayhem caused by the awakened Titans, Madison is fully convinced her mom and the terrorist organization are wrong.

 

With Godzilla “dead”, and nothing standing in their way, Rodan, Ghidorah, and the rest of the Titans go on a rampage across the world, destroying various cities and leaving little in their path. Ghidorah even begins roosting in Washington DC.

 

Mothra emerges from her cocoon underneath the waterfall and flies over the Castle Bravo facility in the ocean to lead Monarch to Godzilla, who’s revealed to still be alive, but just barely.

 

It is stated that Godzilla and Mothra’s species had regularly allied themselves together in ancient times and share a special connection to one another.

 

Mark Russel begins to develop a growing affinity for Godzilla and happily joins Monarch aboard a submarine to try and revive him. Monarch locates his resting place inside an ancient underwater city, feeding off radiation from the sea floor to stay alive.

 

In order to revive Godzilla fast, Monarch decides to hit him with a nuke, but due to technical difficulties, the nuke won’t launch, meaning someone must take it to Godzilla manually and detonate it. During a very emotional scene, Dr. Serizawa accepts it HAS to be done and volunteers himself.

 

He dives down and drags the nuke up a flight of ancient steps and sets the nuke down in front of an injured Godzilla. He sets the timer and places his hand on Godzilla’s snout, takes a deep breath and says "Goodbye old friend" in Japanese, then the nuke explodes…

 

A supercharged Godzilla rises out of the water, bigger and stronger than ever, even sporting more traditional dorsal plates reminiscent to Godzilla 1954’s dorsal fins. The Godzilla march plays with Godzilla's name edited in as chants. Godzilla spots the Monarch team and looks Mark Russel in the eye, and they share a moment.

 

Godzilla is rejuvenated and eager to take on Ghidorah one last time… he then releases an ultra powerful blast of atomic breath into the sky, showing off his newfound power.

 

Turns out the eco terrorist’s bunker was in Boston the entire time. Emma finally realizes King Ghidorah will destroy the Earth far worse than humans could ever do, but Jonah doesn’t care and ignores her pleas to turn back.

 

Madison overhears this and decides to take matters into her own hands, stealing the Orca and using it to lure Ghidorah to Boston so the other Titans can destroy him.

 

King Ghidorah gets to Boston first and the destruction begins, chasing Madison through Fenway Park trying to get the Orca, but Godzilla shows up with an entire entourage of jets to stop him. Mothra shows up too and she and Godzilla go after Ghidorah together, but Rodan suddenly shows up too, intercepting Mothra, leading to a solo battle against him and Mothra while Godzilla and Ghidorah fight each other.

 

Rodan comes off as the stronger of the two, he goes in for the kill, talons ready to rip Mothra apart until she reveals a hidden stinger, stabbing Rodan through the chest and taking him out of the battle.

 

Monarch realizes that Godzilla is starting to expend too much energy and will go thermonuclear and explode, so everyone needs to get the hell out of dodge quick!

 

Even with Godzilla’s newly acquired atomic power-up, he’s still incapable of defeating Ghidorah, even though they're almost on equal grounds now. Ghidorah chomps down on some power lines and begins absorbing electrical energy, super-charging himself and easily beats Godzilla down again when he picks Godzilla up and drops him from the stratosphere.

 

Mothra flies in before Ghidorah can deliver the killing blow, landing on Godzilla's downed body to protect him. She ultimately ends up sacrificing herself when Ghidorah strikes her down with his lightning as she flies at him.

 

Mothra’s body burns up, and her ashes rain over Godzilla's body, transferring her energy to him, increasing his power even more so, now sporting a burning red “ember-like” aura around him.

 

The Russell family is brought together again and Emma makes a noble sacrifice to use the Orca and drive Ghidorah’s attention towards her so her family and the Monarch team can escape via chopper.

 

During a car chase, Ghidorah strikes her car with lightning and launches her from her vehicle. Dying and laying on the road, her last words are "Long Live The King".

 

Godzilla's back up and ready to finish it, unleashing a newly gained power, he disperses his swelling energy by burning everything around him and bombarding Ghidorah with atomic pulse stomps that scorch and melt Ghidorah away in fiery explosions, the killing blow is an implied stomp delivered to his chest.

 

Everything is in rubble, it seems Ghidorah is still alive when we see his head emerge from the smoke and debris, but it’s just a psych out, revealing that Godzilla has the severed neck dangling from his mouth. Godzilla fires his atomic breath through its throat and out its mouth, engulfing it in flames, Godzilla then chews up the scorched chunks of fried meat and swallows it.

 

The movie concludes with an injured Rodan approaching Godzilla as all the other Titans finally converge on Boston and begin to surround Godzilla too.

 

Instead of attacking, Rodan chooses to bow to him, followed by the rest of the Titans. The movie ends with Godzilla roaring into the sky with all the titans bowed down in front of him. Godzilla has now been crowned the King of the Monsters.

 

​

 

*Roll Credits\*

 

We see news clippings over the credits claiming Godzilla to be the protector of humanity, while others state where the other awakened Titans are now residing, such as Rodan resting in Fiji and a Titan called the Scylla residing in a lake.

 

The post credit scene consists of Jonah meeting up with a mysterious fisherman who sells him the decapitated head of Ghidorah that Godzilla severed in Mexico…