Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

READ MORE

Villains Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Kong is God on the island, but the Devil lives below us… I call them "Skullcrawlers".
~ Hank explaining about the Skullcrawlers.

The Skullcrawlers are the secondary antagonists of the 2017 action adventure monster film Kong: Skull Island, the second installment of the MonsterVerse franchise. They also appear as minor antagonists in both its 2021 sequel Godzilla vs. Kong and Season 1 of the 2023 Netflix animated television series Skull Island.

They are an invasive species of two-legged reptilian-like creatures that seek to kill Kong and eliminate all life on Skull Island. They are also led by Skull Devil, the alpha-female of their kind.

Appearance[]

Skullcrawlers are large, slender, muscular reptilian creatures having two legs, but no arms. Much like crocodiles, they have V-shaped snouts. Their skin is gray, and they have long tails as well, possibly for balance. Skullcrawlers also have large nostrils near the end of their jaws, which can make the nostrils easily mistaken for large black eyes. Their real eyes are behind their jaws.

Personality and Behavior[]

Skullcrawler Trap

Two Skullcrawlers lay a trap on Kong.

Skullcrawlers are subterranean pack-hunting predators with mostly primal mindset. They are very aggressive as well as incredibly persistent in pursuing their prey. Even so, they are not instinctive monsters for two reasons; varying intelligence between individual members of the species (Skull Devil being the most intelligent) and insatiable appetite from heightened metabolism which forced them to constantly eat unfortunate creatures they come across lest their metabolism would feed on their bodies from inside out.

The creatures' inherent cunning and cruel nature stressed the danger they pose as bad as other hostile Titans such as King Ghidorah, if not worse, as they were responsible for slaughtering Kong's brethren at Skull Island in a brutal conflict. Notably, individual Skull Crawlers who killed Kong's parents left their corpses to rot instead of feeding on them. Two notable Skullcrawlers exploited Kong's kindness against him by luring the ape-like Titan into a trap where one of them killed a Sker Buffalo, one of the species Kong altruistically helps and protects, while another ambushed him from behind.

Biography[]

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong[]

As revealed in the prequel comic, the Skullcrawlers arrived on Skull Island millions of years ago, where they engaged in a war with the indigenous tribe of giant apes. By the time the Iwi tribe arrived on the island, the Skullcrawlers killed off the apes leaving Kong's parents as the only survivors. When the female went into labor, the male held off the Skullcrawlers as his mate gave birth. After giving birth to Kong, his mother hid him in a cave before rushing to help his father. Ultimately, both apes were overwhelmed and the infant Kong watched in horror as the Skullcrawlers brutally slaughtered his parents.

Kong: Skull Island[]

Knowing the Threat[]

After the Sky Devils Team incident with Kong, Conrad and the survivors are in an old structure which is under the control of an ancient community. There they meet Marlow who tells them that it is not with whom one should fear but a few creatures called Skullcrawlers, monsters who were responsible for the death of his partner and are looking to feed to square their never-ending hunger. This explained why Kong attacked Conrad and co. because the giant ape was aware that their actions will inevitably release surviving Skullcrawlers that he drove away from the island's surface, as his parents have given their lives to stop the monsters from destroying all life on the island. One of Sky Devils' commands by the name of Jack Chapman was killed by one of them while he was distracted by a Spore Mantis.

The Battle in the Death Valley[]

When Conrad and Skydevils arrive, they encounter one of the Skullcrawlers who murder Randa and several members of Sky Devils. During the battle, it is revealed that this Skullcrawler is the one who killed Chapman, and two members of the survivors are in open areas that made them easily spotted by predators of the island. Conrad runs to save his friends in an attempt to kill them. Weaver with a lighter manages to kill it in a fiery explosion.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters[]

In 1973, as Bill Randa's bag of confidential material was swept away by the waters around Skull Island, a dead Skullcrawler could be seen onshore. Decades later in 2015, an image of a Skullcrawler was among the files which were decrypted from one of Randa's tapes by May Olowe-Hewitt.

Skull Island[]

Following Monarch's 1973 expedition to Skull Island, a Skullcrawler chased a Skull Islander girl through the forest and backed her against a cliff face. Just before it could pounce, however, she smiled and Kong sprang their trap. He pounced from behind, driving a sharpened tree stump through both its upper and lower jaws, which quickly killed it.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters[]

As revealed in the novelization of the film, when King Ghidorah defeated Godzilla and became the ruler of the Earth's Titans, the Skullcrawlers were among the monsters he summoned to assist in his goals of destroying humanity and all life on earth. However, Kong, who was unable to be controlled by Ghidorah due to his own status as an alpha Titan, stayed on Skull Island to control the Skullcrawlers and keep them from escaping to help ravage the planet.

Godzilla vs. Kong[]

Following the destruction of one of their facilities in Florida, Apex Cybernetics continued to carry out their operations in secret in Hong Kong, where it is revealed that they had taken Skullcrawler eggs and had them transported to Hong Kong. When Madison, Josh and Bernie infiltrate their base, they release a large Skullcrawler labelled as "Number 10", who spots the group and proceeds to charge towards them. However, the Skullcrawler is immediately grabbed by Apex's latest weapon, Mechagodzilla, piloted by Ren Serizawa. Mechagodzilla then proceeds to kill the Skullcrawler with its proton scream, ripping it in half as a means to test its might against the Titans.

Notable Skullcrawlers[]

Powers and Abilities[]

  • Titan Physiology: Being identified by Monarch as a race of Titans, Skullcrawlers are incredibly powerful, possessing various physical and supernatural attributes which allow them to fight on equal terms with other titans such as Kong and possibly, Godzilla himself.
    • Enhanced Agility and Speed: Skullcrawlers can run extremely fast despite having only two legs, and their speed matches or surpasses that of an adult human, making it very difficult to outrun them. They can also make quick turns as well.
    • Burrowing Skills: Being subterranean in nature, Skullcrawlers are capable of using their limbs to burrow deep into the Earth.
    • Enhanced Durability and Stamina: Skullcrawlers' bodily tissues are substantially hard enough to withstand bullets from rifles and the searing heat of a flamethrower. They also have incredible stamina, being able to stay in a full-fledged fight for several minutes even whilst being incredibly injured.
    • Hunting Skills: Skullcrawlers are both solitary and pack hunters. One can kill a Sker Buffalo on its own, and they can cooperate to take down more powerful creatures such as Kong.
    • Enhanced Strength and Combat: As the apex predators of Skull Island, Skullcrawlers are fearsome and deadly in battle, using their jaws full of razor-sharp teeth as their primary weapons along with their large limbs. They can hold their own against opponents like Kong, able to withstand the blows and pummeling of the ape. Their serpent-like tails are used for swatting or for wrapping around an opponent during combat.
    • Prehensile Tail and Tongue: Skullcrawlers have prehensile tongues that they use to grab and quickly devour small prey, or for gripping large prey in combat. The tail is heavily muscled and extremely powerful. As stated before, the tail is also for wrapping around large prey, possibly to latch onto them for balance or to constrict them.

Weaknesses[]

  • Starvation: As stated previously, Skullcrawler'e heightened metabolism resulted these creatures to possess insatiable appetite which forced them to constantly consume unfortunate creatures they come across lest their body would feed on itself from inside out.
  • Tongues: The Skullcrawlers' powerful tongues can also be a lethal weakness. This was shown at the final battle of the film when the Alpha Skullcrawler wrapped her tongue around Kong's arm. Kong used this advantage to rip it out of the latter's innards, killing her.
  • Mechagodzilla: Number 10 was no match for Mechagodzilla as the mechanical Titan easily overpowered it as it sperad it's legs out to incapacitate it before killing and slicing it in half with it's Proton Scream.
  • Limitations: Younger Skullcrawler who have yet to fully develop the physical attributes of adult members of their kind are more vulnerable considering adolescent Kong had easier time in dispatching them compared to against Skull Devil. This didn't help by them more impulsive to sate their appetite compared to their older and more experienced kin.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Their design is influenced by the two-legged lizard from the original 1933 King Kong movie.
  • Chronologically, Skullcrawlers are the second hostile giant monsters documented by Monarch, the first being the Shinomura. This statement is no longer canon as of MonsterVerse series' lore and plot update through Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
  • In the official novelization for Godzilla vs. Kong, the true name for the Skullcrawlers is revealed to be the Halakrah, which translates to "persistent enemy" in the Iwi language.

Navigation[]

           MonsterVerse Logo Villains

Titans
King Ghidorah | Rodan | M.U.T.O. (M.U.T.O. Prime) | Skullcrawlers (Skull Devil) | Shinomura | Camazotz | Camazotz's Minions | Genitor | Genitor Swarm | Scylla | Amhuluk | Tiamat | Kraken | Ion Dragon | Frost Vark

Apex Cybernetics
Walter Simmons | Ren Serizawa | Maia Simmons | Brenda Holland | Mechagodzilla

Terrorists
Alan Jonah | Emma Russell | Asher Jonah | Asaj | Sergeant Baker | Lieutenant Bottin | Corporal Winston | Sergeant Travis

Others
Preston Packard | Walter R. Riccio

           King-kong-1933-movie-logo Villains

Movies
King Kong (1933) - Carl Denham | Skull Island Natives
Son of Kong - Carl Denham | Nils Helstrom | Skull Island Natives
King Kong vs. Godzilla - Godzilla
King Kong Escapes - Dr. Who | Madame Piranha | Mechani-Kong
King Kong (1976) - Petrox Corporation (Fred Wilson) | Skull Island Natives
King Kong Lives - Lt.Col. Archie Nevitt | Major Peete | Hunters
The Mighty Kong - Carl Denham
King Kong (2005) - Carl Denham | Skull Island Natives
Kong: King of Atlantis - Queen Reptilla | Lord Sicaphud
Kong: Return to the Jungle - Hunter Stag III | Professor Ramone De La Porta
Kong: Skull Island - Skullcrawlers (Skull Devil) | Preston Packard
Godzilla vs. Kong - Mechagodzilla | Apex Cybernetics (Walter Simmons, Ren Serizawa, & Maia Simmons) | Skullcrawlers

TV Shows
The King Kong Show - Dr. Who | Mechani-Kong
Kong: The Animated Series - Professor Ramone De La Porta | Chiros | Tiger Lucy | Andre | Harpy
Kong: King of the Apes - Dr. Richard Remy | Botila | Richie | Brag and Wheeler
Skull Island - Kraken | Skullcrawlers

Comics
Kingdom Kong - Camazotz | Camazotz's Minions

Advertisement