When the trailer for season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters teased Titan X, fans immediately zoomed in on one unsettling detail: the creature’s tangle of massive, whipping tentacles.
The mystery Titan is framed as a threat big enough to challenge both Godzilla and Kong, and its design clearly suggests a giant cephalopod, somewhere between squid and octopus. The twist is that for Kong, this is not fresh territory at all. It is a strangely specific déjà vu that stretches back 93 years.
In the original 1933 King Kong, one of the most memorable encounters on Skull Island pits the ape against a huge octopus-like creature, echoing pulp-era fears of the deep and the unknown.
That odd set piece quietly planted a seed. Over time, it turned into a pattern: whenever creators revisit Kong, the temptation to throw another giant cephalopod at him seems irresistible. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is about to repeat that pattern on a much bigger canvas.
The Cephalopod Curse: How Kong Got Stuck With Squids
Kong’s history with tentacled opponents reads like an oddly specific running gag that became franchise DNA. After the 1933 original, Toho’s King Kong vs. Godzilla reintroduced the idea, sending Kong into a fight with a giant octopus on Skull Island before his showdown with Godzilla.
The sequence helped establish Kong as a protector figure for the island’s people and underlined his role as a brawler who could handle any bizarre kaiju the writers dreamed up.
Decades later, Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island updated the concept for modern blockbuster audiences. That film features the Mire Squid, a massive, fleshy cephalopod that attacks Kong in a swamp, its limbs coiling around him as he tears through them one by one.
It is a brutal, physical encounter meant to highlight his raw power and survival instincts, and fans quickly connected it back to the 1933 octopus fight as a deliberate homage.
What makes Titan X particularly striking is how it escalates this cephalopod streak. Marketing materials for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 suggest that Titan X is not just another mid-tier creature but potentially larger than both Godzilla and Kong.
Turning the “Kong vs squid” trope into a central apocalyptic threat crystallizes a decades-long obsession: creatives keep returning to the visual drama of fur versus tentacles, of a primate grappling with a shapeless, slithering foe that feels fundamentally alien.
This repetition raises an interesting question for fans and critics alike. Is Monsterverse honoring a long-running tradition, or is it leaning too heavily on a niche visual motif at the cost of originality?
Nostalgia Hit Or Creative Rut for the Monsterverse?
The Monsterverse has always walked a careful line between throwback fan service and new mythology. Godzilla (2014) leaned into grounded disaster storytelling, Kong: Skull Island channeled Vietnam-era war cinema, while later entries like Godzilla vs. Kong pushed harder into comic-book spectacle and Titan lore.
Each step forward has tried to balance references to classic Toho and RKO history with modern, franchise-minded stakes.
Titan X brings that tension into sharp focus. On one hand, cephalopod enemies tap into deep-seated pop culture fears: giant tentacles suggest unknowable depths, oceanic horror, and creatures that defy familiar anatomy.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Credit: Apple TV+)
Horror and sci-fi have relied on similar imagery for decades, which makes a city-cracking Titan X feel both iconic and instantly readable to audiences. On the other hand, for long-time Kong followers, another squid-like opponent risks feeling like a remix of scenes they have already seen multiple times.
ScreenRant’s breakdown of Titan X argues that this is precisely why Godzilla should probably be the one to defeat the creature in the narrative. Since Kong has already faced multiple cephalopod monsters, a final boss fight between him and Titan X could end up looking repetitive, no matter how big the stakes.
Letting Godzilla handle the climactic showdown would create fresher visuals, pit the lizard titan against something that plays against his usual reptilian or insectoid adversaries, and preserve Kong’s earlier cephalopod wins as special rather than routine.
There is also the franchise timing to consider. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters sits in a continuity space before Godzilla vs. Kong, which limits how far the show can rewrite Titan relationships or power balances.
The writers have to ramp up the threat of Titan X without contradicting the films that come after, which likely nudges them toward spectacle fights that feel huge and consequential but still slot neatly into the existing canon.
From a business perspective, the choice to spotlight Titan X as a tentacled villain also fits streaming-era strategy. Monsterverse content now stretches across theatrical films and Apple TV, and recognizable visual hooks help keep the brand coherent across formats.
That may be where Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 finds its most interesting opportunity.
If the show acknowledges Kong’s long record against cephalopods and uses Titan X to say something about cycles of violence, human attempts to weaponize Titans, or the way stories keep rewriting the same primal fears, the old obsession could feel newly charged.
If it does not, Titan X risks becoming just another tentacled entry on a very crowded list.
Either way, the Monsterverse is about to test how far a strangely specific tradition can go before fans start asking for a different kind of nightmare.
Fans remember the moment that teaser trailer dropped like it was yesterday. Colleen Hoover’s Ugly Love , the raw tale of pilot Miles Archer and nurse Tate Collins tangled in a friends-with-benefits setup haunted by past trauma, had already hooked millions through its print and audio versions.
Then in 2015, a polished preview surfaced online, starring model Nick Bateman as the brooding Miles, complete with moody airport scenes and that signature Hoover tension. Social feeds exploded with excitement, casting wishlists and predictions of an indie romance smash.
Yet years passed with no casting calls, no set photos, and no premiere dates. The project that felt so close simply vanished from active development.
Hoover herself confirmed the film option had reverted back to her control, a key signal that the production team could not push forward. This left readers piecing together the puzzle: what exactly derailed a movie that seemed ready to roll?
Rights Slip Away Amid Studio Shifts
Hollywood development often hinges on fragile timelines for book options, and Ugly Love hit that wall hard. Producers secured rights from Hoover around 2014, enough to fund the teaser and announce Bateman in the lead.
But options expire if a full package director, full cast, budget, or distributor does not lock in, sending control back to the creator. Hoover noted this exact outcome in a direct update, framing it as her decision to reclaim the property when momentum faded.
Ugly Love (Credit: Colleen Hoover)
Industry observers point to small-scale backing as another hurdle. Unlike Hoover’s later hits like It Ends with Us, which landed major studio muscle, this adaptation relied on indie financiers and fan interest without a big distributor attached.
When funding talks stalled or priorities shifted in a crowded romance market, the project lost steam. Creative friction may have factored in, too; Hoover has hinted at protecting her stories from mismatches in tone or execution, pulling the plug to avoid a subpar result.
Teaser Hype Meets Empty Promises
That 2015 YouTube teaser became both a blessing and a curse. Clocking in at under two minutes, it captured Miles’ guarded intensity and the book’s steamy push-pull dynamic, racking up views and shares across platforms.
Bateman’s look matched fan art perfectly, fueling endless speculation about Tate’s counterpart and sparking mock trailers from enthusiasts. Platforms like Reddit and TikTok kept the chatter alive, with users dissecting every frame and begging for updates.
But the preview also set unrealistic expectations. Without a locked script or greenlight, it acted more like a proof-of-concept pitch than a production milestone.
Fans tuned in expecting trailers to evolve into full films, only to face radio silence as years ticked by. Recent Goodreads threads and Instagram posts still surface with questions about streaming availability, underscoring the lingering disappointment.
Future Flickers in Hoover’s Orbit
With rights back in Hoover’s hands, the door stays cracked for revival. Her track record speaks volumes: other titles have surged to screens amid BookTok booms and streaming deals. A refreshed take could leverage today’s hotter romance slate, perhaps with a Netflix or Prime Video push tailored to younger viewers.
Fan pressure persists, too. Viral TikToks revisit the teaser, tagging Hoover and demanding answers, while forums debate recasts like a more seasoned Bateman opposite a breakout star. Hoover’s silence on specifics keeps hope alive without commitments, a smart play in an industry where reboots thrive.
Picture scrolling your feed and spotting a fresh Ugly Love announcement tomorrow; it would hit different after all this wait.
The story’s messy hearts and second chances mirror the adaptation’s own stalled path, turning what could have been a quick win into a patient game. For now, readers hold the book close, teaser on repeat, betting the right spark reignites it all.
