King Kong movies have some great human characters sprinkled throughout them, giving the lovable giant ape some relatable boots-on-the-ground to tower over in his many movies. Compared to his rival, Godzilla, King Kong’s movies tend to focus just a little bit more on the human characters, with Kong being inherently more human-like as an intelligent simian able to relate to humanity far better than Godzilla’s reptilian mind could. Like all the best kaiju movies, the giant monsters are still the star of the show, but King Kong movies rarely skimp on good human characters.
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Crafting a memorable human character in a giant monster movie can go several different ways. In many cases, the best route is to create an over-the-top, cartoony character that can have a hope of holding a candle to the bombastic monsters with an equally bombastic personality. Occasionally, however, genuine attempts to craft a deep and complex character can be rewarded even in the chaos of King Kong’s movies.
You are watching: 10 Best Human Characters In The King Kong Franchise
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Ann Darrow
King Kong (1933)
Starting with the original King Kong, the original beauty that killed the beast is still one of the best characters in the monster’s almost 100-year-long movie history. Ann Darrow has appeared in three incarnations of King Kong media, including the first 1933 movie, the 2005 Peter Jackson remake, and even a seldom-known 1998 cartoon musical, The Mighty Kong. However, Fay Wray’s first incarnation of King Kong’s romantic interest is still the best.
Darrow is a demure and relatable character, an out-of-work actress in New York who embarks on a dangerous expedition to Skull Island out of sheer desperation. Though she’s something of a prototypical damsel-in-distress, Ann Darrow is arguably one of the first characters to effectively establish the trope in film, with Wray’s performance strong enough to inspire a whole archetype. Touching, empathetic, and inarguably beautiful enough to pique the interest of another species of hominid, Ann Darrow is a classic poster-girl who has been parodied and homaged countless times.
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Jack Driscoll
King Kong (2005)
Compared to Ann Darrow, Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong altered the character of Jack Driscoll quite a bit. Rather than being the misogynist and superstitious first mate of the ship Ann Darrow and Carl Denham, Peter Jackson turned Jack Driscoll into a sensitive playwright, portrayed by Adrien Brody. This change was likely made to allow for his romance with Ann to be more organic, which the 2005 film certainly succeeds in doing.
Despite being a well-known artist, Jack ends up being a capable adventurer in the face of Skull Island’s harrowing monsters, quickly proving his mettle and gaining enough trust from first mate Benjamin Hayes to be given charge of the crew’s Tommy gun. His relationship with Ann is much better done in the remake, being the only other human character who agrees with Ann that Kong should be left alone. Though Kong may see him as competition for Ann’s affections, his heart is ultimately in the right place, and Brody is able to strike this balance well.
8
Bill Randa
Kong: Skull Island
For only the second movie in Legendary Pictures’ Monsterverse, Kong: Skull Island had quite a stacked cast of Hollywood A-listers, including John Goodman as Bill Randa. As the only survivor of the Ion Dragon’s attack on the USS Lawton, Bill Randa became one of the world’s earliest leading experts on titanic creatures, rising through the ranks of an early Monarch. Though Randa’s theories on Hollow Earth got him laughed out of academia, he was eventually proven terrifyingly correct as the Monsterverse’s story progressed.
In Kong: Skull Island, Randa’s obsession with validating his experiences leads the U.S. Army’s Sky Devils helicopter squadron to disaster, putting his research as a priority over human lives. Despite being hell-bent on bringing back proof of Skull Island’s monsters to the civilized world, Randa is ill-equipped to handle the terrors of the hidden world he sought. John Goodman does as amazing a job as ever as the misguided scientist, being entertaining down to the simple expletive making up his final words.
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Hank Marlow
Kong: Skull Island
Though the adventuring party that makes up the expedition to the titular isle in Kong: Skull Island is full of memorable human characters, John C. Reilly’s Hank Marlow takes the cake. Taking advantage of the film’s 1973 time period, the film posits Hank Marlow as a World War II pilot who crash-landed on Skull Island during a dogfight with a Japanese plane. Though his wartime opponent initially tried to kill him, Hank eventually became close friends with enemy soldier Gunpei Ikari as the two learned to survive the island’s creatures together.
John C. Reilly truly embodies the eccentricity of a marooned man living in relative isolation for years, with an offbeat sense of humor betraying a real grief for his fallen comrade, whom he honors by speaking his language and using his weapon. His kooky mannerisms, heart of gold, and Gilligan’s Island-style island contraptions are a standout gem in an already exciting cast. Hank Marlow isn’t just one of the best King Kong characters, but one of John C. Riley’s best performances.
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Travis “Trapper” Beasley
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
image via Warner Bros. Pictures
A recent addition to King Kong’s retinue of associated human characters, the lovable scientist known simply as Trapper is one of the more memorable non-monster protagonists in Legendary’s Monsterverse. Appearing with little introduction for the first time in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Trapper is described as a kaiju veterinarian working for Monarch. Notably, he helps design and equip Kong’s mechanical gauntlet, giving him a huge advantage in fights against Godzilla and The Skar King.
From the moment he shows up on screen, jamming out to I Got’cha by Greenflow, Trapper makes it clear that he loves his job. His Australian accent, loud Hawaiian shirts, and chill demeanor, even in the face of the Monsterverse’s incomprehensible horrors, make for an astoundingly entertaining supporting character. Hopefully, Trapper will continue to appear in future Monsterverse films.
5
Carl Denham
King Kong (2005)
Like Ann Darrow, Carl Denham is another iconic character that has appeared in multiple iterations of the original King Kong story. Easily the most memorable incarnation is Jack Black’s version in the 2005 King Kong, which pronounced his Kubrick-esque obsession with getting the perfect shot to an absurd degree. Carl Denham is best described as a visionary director who has the bright idea to bring King Kong to New York for entertainment purposes, chasing accolades no matter how hilariously impractical and dangerous his methods may be.
Jack Black’s version of Carl Denham is far more memorable for his conniving deviousness, more concerned with the safety of his camera than he is with even his own health, let alone the lives of the other people he manipulates for his own nefarious schemes. It’s refreshing to see Jack Black take on such a despicable character for a change, and the legendary comedic actor takes the role in stride. Carl Denham is by far the most gripping and hypnotizing aspects of Peter Jackson’s underrated remake.
4
Jia Andrews
Godzilla vs. Kong
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Key characters like Ann Darrow and even Trapper do manage to get quite close to King Kong emotionally, but no one is able to identify with him as closely as Jia Andrews. First appearing in Godzilla vs. Kong, Jia is hypothesized to be the last of Skull Island’s native Iwi people by the time of the modern continuity. Jia’s ancestry reveals her to have strange psychic powers that ties her into both the mind of King Kong and the latent mystical energies of the Hollow Earth itself.
Jia is the center of several stunning reveals in the films she’s in, from being able to communicate with Kong via sign language to being able to telepathically communicate with Mothra. Beyond her importance to the plot of the Monsterverse, however, Jia is a well-realized and interesting character whose struggles with being the last of a dying culture and being deaf are overcome via her love for Kong and her adoptive mother. Kaylee Hottle’s acting in Godzilla vs. Kong is quite impressive for her young age, as well, wordlessly communicating a lot of emotion.
3
Mr. Tako
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Before the Monsterverse’s Godzilla vs. Kong, the concept was put to film not long after King Kong and Godzilla’s respective cinematic debut in 1962. This time around, Godzilla and Kong’s fight plays out quite differently, with a version of Godzilla that isn’t nearly as intelligent as the Monsterverse’s making up for Kong’s lack of atomic breath or natural weapons. Of the human characters, Mr. Tako is an endearingly hilarious troublemaker that pushes the two giants to battle.
Similarly to Carl Denham, Mr. Tako is an entertainment magnate who runs the advertising department of a major pharmaceutical company. His insane scheme to capture a giant monster as a brand mascot is complimented by his wacky mannerisms and Graucho Marx look, a signature of famed comedic actor Ichiro Arishima, who has often been described as Japan’s Charlie Chaplin. In the endearingly terrible English dub of the film, his neurotic speech patterns make for an even more memorably goofy minor antagonist.
2
Dr. Who
King Kong Escapes
Another little-known Toho picture using King Kong, King Kong Escapes was one of the few films to attempt to give Kong a heroic kaiju battle on the same scale as Godzilla’s many films. Interestingly, Kong’s opponent here is actually a human being, the genius mad scientist Dr. Who. Not to be confused with the many lovable British time travelers of the same name, Dr. Who is a shrewd opportunist who builds a robotic replica of King Kong, Mechani-Kong, and pilots him in an attempt to capture and enslave the original model.
Dr. Who’s wild silver hair and eccentric personality make him the standout human character of King Kong Escapes, eclipsing the rather forgettable performances of his peers. He holds a special place as one of the few human villains to ever almost defeat a giant monster as famous as King Kong, nearly snatching victory in a hectic battle in his mechanical creation on Tokyo Tower. His brutal demise and over-the-top evil antics rivaling a Saturday morning cartoon villain hold a special place in the lineage of human characters in King Kong movies.
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Preston Packard
Kong: Skull Island
The trope of a military commander that shoots first and asks questions later is quite a well-worn stereotype in the pulp adventure flick, but it’s a role that Samuel L. Jackson nevertheless devours in Kong: Skull Island. The leader of the U.S. Army helicopter squadron that is sent to investigate the mysterious hidden land, Preston witnesses an unprecedented massacre of his men at the hands of Kong, instilling in him a burning desire for revenge at all costs. His bristly demeanor and conflict of interest with the other human characters adds a palpable layer of tension to the film.
Preston Packard works well as a sort of relentless pursuer in the style of Moby Dick‘s Captain Ahab, consumed by his obsession with taking Kong down. Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t skimp out on emphasizing this madness, screaming with vitriol and popping out his eyes in his feverish, bloodthirsty quest. When he finally does meet his demise, it’s among the more satisfying character deaths of King Kong’s human cast.
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