| “ | Kong is God on the island, but the Devil lives below us… I call them "Skullcrawlers". | „ |
| ~ Hank explaining the Skullcrawler species. |
The Skullcrawlers are the main antagonists of the 2017 adventure film, Kong: Skull Island, the 2nd film of the MonsterVerse franchise. They are two-legged reptilian-like monsters that live within Skull Island and are lead by Ramarak, the alpha of their kind.
History
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 neverending 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 gave their lives to stop the monsters from destroying all life on the island.
Jack Chapman, who was one of Sky Devils' commands, is killed by one of them while he was distracted.
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 area 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.
Ramarak
During the attempted assassination of Kong by Preston Packard, Ramarak appears from the lake and heads quickly to Kong, who kills Preston and then begins to fight against him while Conrad escapes. Ramarak subdues Kong and pursues the survivors who are running to the waiting boat
Ramarak catches up to them and Cole decides to sacrifice himself by blowing up himself and Ramarak with Grenades. Ramarak sees this however and tail whips Cole into the side of a mountain where he explodes only killing himself. Before Ramarak can engage in killing the survivors, a rock comes from above onto his head and Kong leaps down afterwards to begin a battle. Ramarak manages best Kong and even wraps his tail around him and throws Kong into a wrecked ship where Kong becomes entangled in the heavy chains of the ship itself. Before he can kill Kong, he becomes distracted by gunfire from Marlow's boat with the mounted AA guns.
Distracted, he turns his attention to the boat where the guns cut off, leaving them defenseless to Ramarak until Weaver (stood atop a hill/mountain area) shoots him in the eye with a flare which then explodes, causes him pain. This distraction allows Kong time to free himself off the chains and use a propeller attached to them as a chain-mace ad lands a blow on Ramarak's back. He then wraps the chains around his fist to use the propeller as a form of knuckle duster/bladed gauntlet and slices Ramarak's throat open who falls below the area where Weaver was. This causes her to fall into water below and Kong fishes her out, unconscious.
Ramarak rises once more and uses his extendable tongue to wrap around Kong's fist to eat Weaver. As he pulls her into his mouth, Kong pulls his fist out, still with Ramarak's tongue around it which also pulls out his throat and organs, finally killing him.
Behavior and Traits
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. One is their intelligence that vary between one and another (with Skull Devil the most smartest of all) and why they constantly hunt and devour creatures they come across: As result of their unusually heightened metabolisms, they suffer insatiable appetite that more than often drove them rabid in feeding frenzy as prolonged hunger would threatened to killed them from the inside, forcing them to constantly devouring unfortunate creatures they come across.
The older Skullcrawlers such as Ramarak, however, had better intelligence and self-control than the smaller ones. This was seen when he appeared only once Kong was subdued by Preston Packard. It 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 it acts not only from primal instinct but some degree of malice and cruelty.
Appearance
Skullcrawlers are large 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.
Powers and Abilities
- Enhanced Agility and Super 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: Being subterranean in nature, Skullcrawlers are capable of using their limbs to burrow deep into the earth.
- Enhanced Durability and Stamina: Skullcrawlers' bodily tissues substantially hard enough to withstand bullets from rifles and the searing heat of a flamethrower. The Alpha Skullcrawler was only dazed when Kong slammed his head with a boulder or smashed his face with a tree branch. 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 Physical 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 there 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 shown when the Alpha Skullcrawler, Ramarak, lifted and flung Kong like a football across the lake with his tail. As stated before, the tail is also for wrapping around large prey, possibly to latch onto them for balance or to constrict them.
Weaknesses
Unfortunately, in spite of their great strengths, Skullcrawlers still have lethal weaknesses.
Starvation
Due to their extremely enhanced metabolism, Skullcrawlers theoretically had to endure constant hunger and had they not devour at least one prey for too long, their body's metabolism will start feeding on their own bodies, slowly killing them in agonizing pain. This form of weakness, however, merely implied and left to speculation as it's unclear how long a Skullcrawler had to endure the hunger before its own metabolism began to feed on its body. Although, it's apparent that many Skullcrawlers, especially smaller ones encountered by protagonists were the underfeeding frenzy that made them extremely aggressive due to the hunger. Even so, larger Skullcrawlers like Skull Devil, being the most experienced and oldest, had greater control over his hunger and self-control as it not taking reckless approach against Kong.
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 his tongue around Kong's arm. Kong used this advantage to rip it out of the latter's innards, killing him.
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 Shinomura.
