The latest Monsterverse outing, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire offers some truly enormous battles as the titular Titans face off against the Skar King and his band of ape minions. But they aren’t the only such behemoths to appear in the movie, not by a long shot! One of these other titans has a history within the franchise, but Godzilla x Kong offers them their first major big screen appearance: Tiamat!
Who Is Tiamat?
Tiamat is the enormous sea serpent titan. Her name comes from the Ancient Babylonian salt sea goddess who gave birth to gods that later killed her and used her carcass to create the world. Pretty gruesome stuff. According to the official Monsterverse files, Tiamat is 847 feet long and possesses several tendrils coming off her face.
When Did Tiamat First Appear in the Monsterverse?
The first Monsterverse mention of Tiamat came in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Her name appears on a Monarch map as one of many Titans who begin attacking under the control of King Ghidorah. We can assume she went back to hiding when Maddie Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) turned on the Orca machine in Boston.
The first time we actually see Tiamat is in the 2021 comic Godzilla: Dominion, the prequel to Godzilla vs. Kong. In it, Godzilla traverses the Hollow Earth looking for one of his old lairs and finds Tiamat had taken it over. She becomes very territorial and the two creatures fight, as they often do. Under the water, Tiamat had the advantage; the tide only turned to Godzilla’s favor when he dragged her to land. She eventually disengaged and skulked away to fight another day.
Tiamat Fought the Justice League
Tiamat also appeared in issues four and five of DC and Legendary’s Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong event. After Toyman fused the two universes, Tiamat attacked Atlantis. Aquaman tried to quell the sea serpent but could not and was forced to release the Kraken, Clash of the Titans-style. Godzilla eventually joined the battle, naturally, and Green Lantern and Flash had to join in to keep the three giant creatures from destroying the underwater city.
Later in the saga, Lex Luthor and Mechagodzilla brought Tiamat and some other Titans to Metropolis where she nearly ate Hawkgirl. Luckily, Red Hood piloted a transforming Batplane, in humanoid form, into Tiamat and broke off her tooth allowing Hawkgirl to escape. (Sidebar: What a wild sentence series of sentences to have to type.)
What Does Tiamat Do in Godzilla x Kong?
Finally we come to Tiamat’s first on-screen appearance. During the early part of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the Skar King begins to shore up his plans to return from his forced exile in the lowest depths of the Hollow Earth. Simultaneously, Godzilla awakens from his new lair in the Roman Colosseum and begins seeking out other Titans to pick fights with. We learn later he’s absorbing energy from them in order to evolve to better fight off the Skar King’s coup attempt.
One of these Titans is Tiamat. We see Godzilla and Tiamat fight briefly in the movie. The battle ends with Godzilla syphoning power from her which gives him his pink power upgrade.
Will we see Tiamat in the future? We know she’s resilient, so only time will tell.
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Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.