SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion.

Wart Dogs are a gigantic canine superspecies in the MonsterVerse created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2024 film, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Name[]

Wart Dogs are named due to their canine appearance and behavior, as well as the warthog-like hooves on their feet and tusks protruding from their jaws. The name of the creatures was revealed on the packaging of a toy in Playmate's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire toy line.

Design[]

Appearance[]

Wart Dogs are enormous, pseudo-canine creatures with large, stocky heads with thin gray skin and armed with an elongated snout filled with long, jagged fangs and tusks protruding from the jaws. Such appearance gives them a resemblance to the extinct Amphicyon, Andrewsarchus, Daeodon, and Hyaenodon. Their body sports brown fur and is powerfully built with a large, deeply descending rib cage, a sloping back, and a heavily muscled neck. Much like conventional canine species, Wart Dogs stand on four long legs, each ending in a broad hoof-like claws. They also sport a long and thick tail. Wart Dog blood is green in coloration.

Roar[]

Wart Dogs produce high-pitched barks and yaps evocative of laughter, similar to those of hyenas. Also, like hyenas, they use these sounds to communicate with the rest of their kind.

Personality[]

Wart Dogs are ravenous pack hunters that roam the fields of the Hollow Earth. They pursue their prey in large packs numbering in the dozens and cooperate to take down their quarry. They are incredibly persistent, and will continue to pursue prey regardless of changes in the environment or of losses inflicted on other pack members. However, if the pack has taken considerable casualties, the surviving members may abandon the hunt in pursuit of more obtainable prey.

History[]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire[]

Kong lures a pack of Wart Dogs in the Hollow Earth into traps that he crafted with boulders and logs. When Kong is cornered, he triggers the trap, killing several Wart Dogs in the process. Undeterred, the surviving pack members continue to close in on the Great Ape. In a display of power, Kong grabs a Wart Dog carcass and tears it in half over his head, letting its green blood and innards spill out over him. Frightened by this display, the surviving Wart Dogs flee the area.

Later, Kong drags two Wart Dog carcasses back to his lair and settles down to eat them. As he takes a bite, one of his canine teeth chips off, revealing a tooth infection. As Kong ponders over the pain in his mouth, a Hollow Earth Lizard sneaks into the lair and attempts to scavenge one of the Wart Dog carcasses. Kong initially fights with the lizard over the carcass but decides to give it up after hearing what appeared to be another Great Ape roaring in the distance. Intrigued, he follows the sound as the Hollow Earth Lizard escapes with the Wart Dog carcass.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization[]

In the film's novelization, it is revealed that Ilene Andrews and her adoptive daughter Jia moved out of the Hollow Earth sometime before the events of the film due to a Wart Dog attack that left two Monarch agents dead and required Kong to step in. Later, as Kong and Suko flee the Skar King's stronghold, a group of Wart Dogs take notice of Suko, but do not attack the juvenile ape out of a fear of Kong.

MonsterVerse Declassified[]

Somewhere in the Hollow Earth, a lone Wart Dog chases after a gigantic Leafwing, but finds itself in conflict with a Hollow Earth lizard known as "Doug". The Wart Dog then breaks off from its chase with the Leafwing and chases the lizard along the rim of a massive volcanic pit. As the Wart Dog lunges at the lizard, "Doug" is distracted by the appearance of a large dragonfly and chases after the oversized insect, inadvertently dodging the Wart Dog's attack in the process. Missing its quarry completely, the Wart Dog accidently leaps into the volcanic pit where it attempts to catch its footing and slow its descent, but ultimately falls into the lava to its fiery death.

Abilities[]

Jaws[]

The jaws of the Wart Dogs are filled with razor-sharp teeth and long jagged tusks, both of which are used to lacerate and gore prey.

Speed and agility[]

Wart Dogs can run fast enough to catch up to Kong. They can also use their legs to perform high and long jumps.

List of appearances[]

Films[]

• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (First appearance)

Comics[]

• MonsterVerse Declassified

Novels[]

• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization

References[]