Godzilla vs Kong — Iconic 2021 battle scene with Godzilla on left with glowing spikes and Kong on right in aggressive posture with urban destruction.

Godzilla vs Kong

2021Exploitable template / debate meme / reaction imagesemi-active

Published March 10, 2026 · Updated March 23, 2026

Also known as: Team Godzilla vs Team Kong · GvK Memes

Godzilla vs. Kong memes grew out of the heated online debate over which titan would win in the 2021 MonsterVerse film of the same name. The "Team Godzilla vs. Team Kong" format took off on Twitter and iFunny after the movie's trailer dropped in January 20213, turning a decades-old kaiju rivalry into a fresh meme template. The format expanded beyond the film itself, with users pitting any two competing concepts against each other while a third unexpected winner (often Cheems with a baseball bat) steals the scene4.

monsterverse memes who would win memes exploitable templates kaiju memes

Overview

The Godzilla vs. Kong meme format uses the two iconic movie monsters as stand-ins for any pair of opposing forces, fandoms, or ideas. In its simplest form, users pick sides in the Godzilla-or-Kong debate, declaring loyalty to one titan over the other. The template works because the rivalry is immediately recognizable: two massive creatures squaring off, each with devoted fans who will argue endlessly about who would win.

A popular variation adds a third element. Two powerful forces (labeled as Godzilla and Kong) fight while a much smaller, seemingly weaker third option dominates both. The Cheems-with-a-baseball-bat version became one of the most widely shared takes on this format, where the dog character chases away both titans as the "winning third concept"4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter, iFunny
Creator
Unknown
Date
2021

The rivalry between Godzilla and King Kong on film dates back to the 1962 Toho production *King Kong vs. Godzilla*, directed by Ishirō Honda5. That film, the most attended Godzilla movie in Japanese history, planted the seed for decades of "who would win?" arguments among monster movie fans5.

The modern meme wave traces directly to Legendary Entertainment's MonsterVerse. In October 2015, Warner Bros. and Legendary officially announced *Godzilla vs. Kong* as the culmination of a shared universe that included *Godzilla* (2014), *Kong: Skull Island* (2017), and *Godzilla: King of the Monsters* (2019)2. The announcement framed the film as "the ultimate showdown," with Legendary CEO Thomas Tull stating, "As a lifelong fan of these characters, I've always wanted to see the ultimate showdown"2.

The meme explosion happened in January 2021, when the official trailer for the Adam Wingard-directed film dropped1. The trailer showed the two titans battling on an aircraft carrier and across neon-lit cityscapes, giving fans plenty of raw material for screen grabs and reaction images1. Within days, "Team Godzilla vs. Team Kong" memes were trending across iFunny and Twitter3.

How It Spread

The trailer's January 2021 release was the ignition point. Polygon described it as promising "a true blockbuster, with two titans battling it out as other nefarious forces descend about Earth"1. The film's simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release on March 26, 2021, as part of Warner Bros.' pandemic-era strategy to combat lockdowns, meant the movie was accessible to a massive audience from day one1.

On social media, the debate format spread rapidly. Users created side-by-side images declaring allegiance to either monster, often with increasingly absurd justifications. The format proved flexible enough to outlast the film's release window. People started swapping in any two competing things: programming languages, fast food chains, political figures, sports teams. The Godzilla and Kong labels became shorthand for "two big forces that think they're the main characters."

The Cheems crossover added another layer. In this variation, Godzilla and Kong represent two competing concepts while Cheems, the Shiba Inu armed with a baseball bat, is "the winning third concept, chasing the other two away"4. This format pulled from the broader Cheems meme ecosystem on Reddit's r/dogelore4 and gave the GvK template new life beyond the movie's cultural moment.

How to Use This Meme

The basic "Team Godzilla vs. Team Kong" format is straightforward: pick two opposing sides in any debate, label one as Godzilla and the other as Kong, and declare a winner (or let the audience fight it out in the comments). Images from the film's trailer or promotional material typically serve as the visual base.

For the three-way variant, users set up two powerful or obvious choices as Godzilla and Kong, then introduce a third, unexpected option as a smaller character (often Cheems) who beats both. The humor comes from the contrast between the two heavyweight contenders and the absurd underdog winner.

Common applications include:

1

Pick two things people argue about endlessly

2

Label them as Godzilla and Kong in a confrontation image

3

Optionally add a third, seemingly insignificant thing that wins

4

Post and watch people take sides

Cultural Impact

The *Godzilla vs. Kong* film itself was a product of years of franchise-building. Warner Bros. and Legendary structured an entire cinematic universe around the eventual showdown, with Project Monarch serving as the connective tissue across four films2. The 1962 original had already proven the concept's commercial power, grossing ¥352 million and becoming the second-highest-grossing Japanese film at the time of its release5.

The 2021 meme wave rode the film's pandemic-era release strategy. Warner Bros.' decision to put the entire 2021 slate on HBO Max simultaneously with theaters was described as "industry-rattling"1. This meant more people saw the film quickly, feeding the meme cycle with fresh material.

The debate format tapped into something older than internet culture itself. As SlashFilm noted back in 2015, "The notion of King Kong and Godzilla sharing the screen is a fun one, even if the discrepancy in their sizes is kind of puzzling"2. That size discrepancy became its own running joke in meme communities, with users questioning how a giant ape could realistically fight a radioactive dinosaur.

Fun Facts

The 1962 *King Kong vs. Godzilla* was the first time either character appeared in color and widescreen on film5.

The original concept for what became *King Kong vs. Godzilla* was actually "King Kong Meets Frankenstein," where Kong would fight a giant Frankenstein's monster. The project was reworked by Toho without the original creator's knowledge5.

Director Mike Dougherty intentionally gave Godzilla a belch in *King of the Monsters* to make the character more relatable, citing decades of suit-acting tradition that gave Godzilla "a surprisingly large emotional range"1.

The 1962 film was so successful in Japan that it single-handedly convinced Toho to restart the Godzilla series after seven years of dormancy5.

Derivatives & Variations

Cheems with Baseball Bat

Cheems chases away both Godzilla and Kong, representing a third option that beats two obvious competitors[4].

Team Godzilla / Team Kong profile pictures

Users changed their social media avatars to declare allegiance during the January-March 2021 hype cycle[3].

"Let Them Fight" reaction GIFs

Ken Watanabe's line from the 2014 *Godzilla* became a go-to reaction for any online argument, with Polygon calling it "the best GIF ever"[1].

Size comparison memes

Jokes about how Kong was scaled up to fight Godzilla, riffing on the acknowledged size discrepancy between the two characters[2].

Frequently Asked Questions