The MonsterVerse television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters uncovers the hidden history behind Monarch, the clandestine agency assigned to monitor Titan activity on Earth. The story spans nearly 60 years within this shared cinematic universe that began with 2014’s Godzilla.
Legacy of Monsters’ chronological placement within the MonsterVerse timeline is a complicated question, with the Apple TV+ original series taking place across multiple time periods and unfolding in a nonlinear narrative. With that in mind, here is when both the primary storyline and Legacy of Monsters’ extensive flashback sequences are set across MonsterVerse history, helping expand and connect the dots within this shared cinematic universe.
When Is the Main Story in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Set?
The inciting incident in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is Godzilla’s battle against the MUTOs in San Francisco, as depicted in the climax of 2014’s Godzilla. The story then jumps a year forward to 2015 as protagonist Cate Randa travels to Japan after learning about the apparent death of her father, Hiroshi Randa. This places Legacy of Monsters approximately four years before the events of 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, where Monarch observed the emergence of a host of Titans, including King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan.
There are multiple scenes where Legacy of Monsters plays within this 21st century period, including showing Cate’s location during the events of Godzilla and its immediate aftermath in the devastated San Francisco. An additional flashback to Japan in 2014 shows the beginning of Kentaro Randa’s relationship with May Olowe-Hewitt and the last time he saw Hiroshi before the latter’s presumed death.
When Are the Flashbacks in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Set?
The very first scene in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a flashback to the events of Kong: Skull Island, showing the adventures of an older Bill Randa being pursued by Titans in the South Pacific in 1973. From there, Legacy of Monsters jumps back approximately 20 years to a much younger Randa working with Army officer Lee Shaw and Randa’s partner Keiko Miura. Most of these flashbacks begin in 1952 when Shaw is assigned to escort Miura while she investigates a radiation spike in the Philippines, where they first encounter Randa.
From there, the flashbacks advance across the subsequent decade, including Miura’s apparent disappearance as the group investigates a cave system with monsters in Kazakhstan. One historical event depicted during these flashbacks is the Castle Bravo test, nuclear testing that, within the MonsterVerse, served as a cover-up to bomb Godzilla in 1954. This grounds the stakes and story in actual history while expanding the MonsterVerse’s ambitious backstory.
