A Kong: Skull Island character to appear in a Godzilla movie, he’s the only person in the MonsterVerse with a link to both Titans. For that reason, it would have felt fitting for him to play a role in their big fight.
In Kong: Skull Island, Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) was introduced as a scientist who had developed the Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was set over 40 years after the events of Kong: Skull Island, except this time he was played by Joe Morton. His scene showed him witnessing Mothra’s metamorphosis in China.
He was featured prominently in Kingdom Kong, a graphic novel set two years after Ghidorah’s defeat in King of the Monsters. Apparently, Brooks was put in charge of Monarch’s activities on Skull Island. During the story, he faced a major dilemma when a storm created by Ghidorah started to take over the island. Brooks coordinated Monarch’s efforts to stop the storm from ravaging Kong’s home, but they were unsuccessful. They also failed to prevent the arrival of Camazotz, a nocturnal bat Titan who wanted to attain alpha status by beating Kong. In the end, Kong defeated Camazotz and the island was unfortunately consumed by Ghidorah’s storm. As a result, Brooks announced his retirement from Monarch.
Brooks made this choice because he felt that if he had seen Camazotz coming and had made better decisions, perhaps things would have gone differently for Skull Island and its inhabitants. After taking responsibility from what happened, Brooks decided to hand over leadership of Monarch’s Skull Island outpost to Dr. Ilene Andrews, which explains how she acquired the position that she has at the beginning of Godzilla vs. Kong. This story also shed light on why Skull Island had become an unsuitable environment for its ruler.
It’s a shame that Brooks left Monarch ahead of Godzilla vs. Kong, as he – perhaps more than any other MonsterVerse character – did deserve a place in the story. After all, it was he who introduced the most franchise’s most important concept, which was integral to the movie’s plot. As previously noted, the Hollow Earth was originally a theory pushed by Brooks, but then it grew into something much bigger. The Hollow Earth mystery finally culminated in the discovery, of a massive, vibrant world found deep underground. Brooks sadly didn’t get to be involved in this, but it’s possible that since Monarch has established a base down there, he’ll renew his ties to the organization and get a chance to study this new world first-hand.
