Monarch: Legacy of Monsters follows two siblings who unravel their family’s past attached to Monarch and the Titans that roam the Earth. All episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
In 2015, the world is still recovering from G-Day, the day Godzilla appeared and fought a MUTO in front of the whole world, causing destruction in San Francisco.
The world is on high alert, and the government has taken measures to identify the arrival of Titans such as Godzilla.
Cate Randa, a school teacher who has seen Godzilla closely, is still traumatized by G-Day.
Cate visits Tokyo, Japan, to settle her dead father’s affairs, only to find out that her father has another family in Japan.
Cate butts heads with her half-brother, Kentaro, who defends their father, Hiroshi, while Cate criticizes him for always being away and not spending time with them.
Together, they discover Bill Randa’s files in their father’s office. Monarch is alerted the moment Cate and Kentaro access these files with the help of Kentaro’s ex-girlfriend, May, who is a tech expert.
Cate, Kentaro, and May find themselves on the run from Monarch. Kentaro thinks of seeking the help of Lee Shaw, a military officer whose file he found in his father’s office.
Shaw has worked with Cate and Kentaro’s grandparents, Japanese scientist Keiko Miura and cryptozoologist Bill Randa.
Shaw, Keiko, and Bill were studying Godzilla and other Titans in the 1950s after finding out that monsters exist.
The government allowed them to continue their research at Monarch, as it’s a matter of global security—monsters that are the size of Godzilla are a threat to humanity.
Shaw, Keiko, and Bill keep a few things from the government, knowing that they are shortsighted and only care about killing these monsters, not studying them.
Godzilla survives a nuclear bomb attack, making them more determined to study these beings. Unfortunately, Keiko meets her end when she falls in the middle of a nursery of monsters during a mission.
Bill and Shaw continued their work and came to understand that there is an ecosystem beneath the Earth where Titans live.
The Titans are able to travel the Earth easily without being seen because the portals to their world allow them to do so.
Monarch conducts an operation that sends Shaw and a team into the world of Titans, which is later called Hollow Earth in the MonsterVerse.
Only Shaw returns, but 20 years later, in 1982, without aging at all. By then, Bill had lost his life during an expedition on Skull Island.
With Shaw by their side, Cate and Kentaro find out that their father is alive. However, Shaw has different goals, whereas Cate and Kentaro only want to reunite with Hiroshi. Hence, they part ways.
Ending explained:
Shaw’s goal
Shaw spent years in an assisted living facility, as the Monarch that he, Bill, and Keiko had created had undergone changes.
According to Shaw, Monarch stopped taking action, and that’s what led to G-Day. Now, he plans to correct their mistakes.
Shaw has come to understand that Godzilla is a thinking creature who is trying to keep his kind in his world and humans in theirs.
Shaw, with a team of his own, plans to close all the portals that lead to Hollow Earth to make sure no Titan ever comes into the human world.
There can be consequences to this move, and hence, Cate, Kentaro, and May, along with Monarch, try to stop Shaw.
Reuniting with Keiko
In the attempt, Shaw, Cate, and May fall into a rift in Kazakhstan and land on the surface of Hollow Earth, where they meet Keiko, who is as young as she was in 1959 when she was presumed dead.
Keiko didn’t die; she fell into a rift, much like how Cate, Shaw, and May have fallen. Time works differently in Hollow Earth.
For Keiko, it’s just been 57 days since she fell in here in 1959, as she is living in Hollow Earth, but on Earth, five decades have passed.
Shaw’s fate
Cate, Shaw, May, and Keiko plan to use the capsule and the gamma radiation simulator Shaw used to travel to Hollow Earth in 1962.
Unfortunately, a Titan attack causes some complications. Though Godzilla comes to their rescue, Shaw, who is not inside the capsule, realizes it’s too late for him.
He lets himself go so that Cate, May, and Keiko can go back home before any more problems come their way. It’s not revealed whether Shaw dies or just stays behind in Hollow Earth.
Returning to Earth
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Monarch focuses on the gamma radiation elevation in other Monarch outposts caused by Shaw trying to close the rifts one by one.
Monarch is receiving Keiko’s signal, but they are choosing to ignore it to focus on the bigger crises.
Tim, a Monarch employee who has long supported Bill Randa’s work, quits Monarch and tries to rescue Cate, May, and Shaw with Kentaro and Hiroshi.
Cate, May, and Keiko successfully return to Earth and reunite with Kentaro, Tim, and Hiroshi.
However, two years have passed since their disappearance. A lot has changed. Monarch hasn’t helped Kentaro, Tim, and Hiroshi; Apex Cybernetics has.
They are all currently on Skull Island, where Apex Cybernetics is conducting research.
Apex Cybernetics is the same company led by Walter Simmons, who planned to kill Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong and make humans the sole dominant species again.
Also Read: Hollow Earth travel in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters explained
