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The MonsterVerse, the Godzilla shared cinematic universe that began with 2014’s Godzilla and is set to continue on the big screen with next year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, expands to television this week with the Apple TV Plus original series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. With a story spanning from the 1950s to the immediate aftermath of Godzilla’s battle with the MUTOs in San Francisco in 2014, Legacy of Monsters is an ambitious exploration of the history of Titans around the world in the 20th century. Among the figures that helped bring the series to life is acclaimed comic book creator Matt Fraction, who co-developed the show for television with showrunner Chris Black.
For the unfamiliar, Fraction has been creating comic books since 2001, most extensively with Image Comics and Marvel Entertainment. At Marvel, Fraction had celebrated runs on Iron Man and Thor, while his run on Hawkeye, with David Aja, was universally well-received and strongly influenced the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) miniseries Hawkeye, which saw Fraction join the team as a consultant. At Image, Fraction co-created the widely praised Sex Criminals with Chip Zdarsky, and Casanova with Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon.
While very much a Godzilla story and one crafted by a whole host of writers, including Black, Fraction’s influence can certainly be felt throughout the series, with some recurring tropes from his comic book work. As the show progresses, there is a growing wry sense of humor that is taken on, largely delivered by Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw, an older version of a character played by the actor's very own son Wyatt Russell who first crosses paths with Titans in the ‘50s. Shaw fits right into the wheelhouse of Fraction’s hard on their luck protagonists, who rely on a sharp quip to deal with the immense, fantastical pressures they face on their adventures.
Once the story really gathers a pace and picks up the momentum, it takes on a fugitive-style narrative, with the main characters relentlessly pursued by Monarch, the clandestine agency monitoring Titan activity around the world. Fraction often places his characters on the run in some capacity to maintain a constant sense of urgency as the story is propelled forward. This trope is prominent in Sex Criminals, with Sue and Jon being chased by the Sex Police in Sex Criminals, while even Fraction’s Marvel work has utilized this style of pacing before, most notably in a memorable arc of Invincible Iron Man where Fraction and Salvador Larroca had Tony Stark hunted by the intelligence agency H.A.M.M.E.R. headed by Norman Osborn.
But really, Legacy of Monsters leans into something Fraction has been doing with even his most bombastic stories, which is to juxtapose messy human characters with grandiose challenges that can feel like forces of nature. Even veteran Avengers under Fraction, like Tony Stark and Clint Barton, had to sort through their turbulent personal lives while facing off against sinister supervillains. Legacy of Monsters presents audiences with a quartet of main characters, brought together by one man’s marital indiscretions, to explore a world full of Titans capable of razing entire cities to the ground.
To the series’ credit, Fraction is far from the only writer crafting the story of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but his influence is absolutely felt throughout the show. Years of writing some of the Marvel universe’s biggest stories and most iconic characters have inadvertently prepared Fraction to work within the creative licensed parameters of the MonsterVerse. And no matter how high-stakes the story gets, Fraction and his fellow writers are well-aware on how to keep the focus squarely on the human heart between the colossal sense of spectacle.
The first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, starring Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell, are available to stream now on Apple TV Plus. New episodes will follow weekly.
For more, check out the best Apple TV Plus shows currently on streaming.
