Skull Devil, also known as Ramarak or The Big One, is a major antagonist in the MonsterVerse, appearing as the main antagonist of the 2017 action/adventure film Kong: Skull Island and a posthumous cameo antagonist of the 2021 film Godzilla vs Kong.
He is the tyrannical alpha of the Skullcrawlers and the arch-nemesis of Kong. He has terrorized Skull Island for thousands of years and is also the one responsible for the mass extinction of Kong's race and his parents, leaving Kong as the sole survivor in the first place.
Despite being the main antagonist, Skull Devil's role is small as he doesn't appear throughout the entire movie until the climax, but is said to be responsible for slaughtering Kong's species and his parents in the past, making him the most terrifying, feared creature on Skull Island.
Fighting Kong and his Allies
After Skull Devil was awakened due to seismic explosives being dropped onto Skull Island along with the rest of his kind and Kong was incapacitated by Preston Packard, he let Skull Devil's presence be known by emerging out from the water. He heads quickly to Kong, who crushes Packard with his fist and then begins to fight against him while James Conrad and the others escape. Skull Devil injures and subdues Kong before he pursues the survivors, who are running towards the waiting boat just as dawn approaches.
Skull Devil soon catches up to the group, but Earl Cole stays to sacrifice himself by blowing himself and Skull Devil up with grenades strapped to him. However, Skull Devil sees this and whips Cole away with his tail into the side of a mountain which causes the grenades to explode, killing him. Before Skull Devil can proceed to kill the survivors, it was revealed that Cole's sacrifice had given enough time for Kong to appear and smash a large boulder over Skull Devil's head, allowing the survivors to escape while the two monsters begin their epic battle. During the fight, Kong picks up a large tree and uses it as a club to swing it against Skull Devil's face. Barely fazed by the hit, Skull Devil wraps his tail around Kong and throws the giant ape onto a wrecked ship where Kong becomes entangled in heavy chains of the ship itself. Before Skull Devil can kill his prey, he is distracted by Houston Brooks and Lin San with gunfire from Hank Marlow's boat armed with mounted guns.
Distracted, Skull Devil turns his attention to the boat until the guns cut off, leaving them defenseless to the Skullcrawler until Mason Weaver, stood atop a cliff, shoots him in the eye with a flare which then explodes, blinding Skull Devil and allowing Conrad to lure him away from Brooks and San on the boat. This distraction gives Kong enough time to free himself and uses a propeller attached to a chain like a flail to land a vicious blow on Skull Devil's back. He then uses the chain to drag the Skullcrawler toward him, pulls the propeller out and uses it as a shuriken to slice Skull Devil's throat open, apparently killing him.
However, Weaver was knocked off the cliff during the battle and had caused her to fall into the water below, but Kong manages to save her from drowning. However, Skull Devil is revealed to be still alive and attacks Kong once more. In the ensuing fight, Skull Devil uses his prehensile tongue to wrap around Kong's fist in order to devour Weaver. As Skull Devil pulls her and Kong's hand into his mouth, Kong uses all of his strength to pull his fist out with Skull Devil's tongue still around it, but also pulled out all of the Skullcrawler's organs, finally killing him and thus avenging both Kong's kind and his parents in the process.
Personality
As the alpha of the Skullcrawlers, Skull Devil had better self-control than the smaller individuals. This was seen when he appeared only once Kong was subdued and incapacitated by Preston Packard. He also seems to have a hint of sadism, as he licks Kong's face maliciously after he has been tangled up in a shipwreck's rudder chain during their battle. Skull Devil was also shown to have a deep desire of killing and eating humans, which was shown several times when he diverted his attention from Kong to James Conrad and Mason Weaver, implying that he acts not only from primal instinct, but some degree of malice and cruelty. Skull Devil also demonstrates some intelligence when he swats Earl Cole away with his tail before the grenades can detonate. He is also vicious, savage, callous, venomous, and malevolent.
Appearance
Skull Devil has the same appearance like his species, except he is much larger since he is almost the same size as Kong. His head is more defined, larger and somewhat angled while his tail is armed with the form of a club or fin. Unlike the other Skullcrawlers, he has distinct bone-like spikes protruding from his elbows.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Titan Skullcrawler Physiology: As a Titan Skullcrawler, Skull Devil is incredibly powerful, possessing several physical and supernatural attributes.
Advanced Strength: Skull Devil is strong enough to send Earl Cole flying a good distance with a tail slap, grapple and wrestle against Kong and also pull his hand into his mouth with his tongue. He even threw Kong a considerable distance, despite the ape weighing 158 tons.
Advanced Durability: Skull Devil is capable of withstanding a boulder smashed on top of his head by Kong, getting whacked across the face with a fallen tree and even having his throat sliced open with a boat propeller.
Advanced Speed and Agility: Skull Devil is fast and agile enough to dodge and counter most of Kong's strikes.
Advanced Stamina: Skull Devil's stamina is shown to be high, never needing to stop or even slow down during his battle with Kong.
Abilities
High-level Intellect/Leader: Skull Devil was the most intelligent of the Skullcrawlers, considering the fact that he swatted Cole away when he tried to get Skull Devil to devour him while he was holding grenades that was about to detonate. As the alpha Skullcrawler, Skull Devil was a very capable leader.
Prehensile Tail: Skull Devil's long prehensile tail can be used as a formidable weapon or even used in a snake-like manner to hold opponents such as Kong in its grasp.
Prehensile Tongue: Just like the other Skullcrawlers, Skull Devil possesses a long triple-forked prehensile tongue that he could use to grab and swallow prey whole.
Weaknesses
Limited Durability: Although Skull Devil is an incredibly powerful fighter, he does have his limits as his tongue is connected to his internal organs, so if it were to be pulled out, his organs would be yanked out as well, as he would die within seconds. His eyes are also vulnerable, seen when one of them was shot out after Mason Weaver fired a flare gun at it.
Trivia
Since after his death at the hands of Kong, it can be assumed that Skull Devil might be the only adult Skullcrawler in the film as there are no sightings of any other adult individuals anywhere on Skull Island.
It is unknown if Skull Devil is the parent of the Skullcrawlers or if he is just the alpha of the pack.
Villains
Villains
