Spoilers! How 'King of the Monsters' sets up that epic 'Godzilla vs. Kong' matchup

Spoiler alert! What follows discusses the end of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," so beware if you haven't seen it yet.

By the last blow of a wholly destructive finale, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (in theaters now) definitely lives up to its title.

The sequel to 2014’s “Godzilla” finds the radioactive thunder lizard standing tall over a very, very wrecked Boston after defeating the three-headed dragon Ghidorah, saving humanity yet again but also becoming the alpha for a host of humongous “Titans” that now walk the Earth.

But he won’t have to wait long for contenders to the throne to step forward, as the credits roll and hint at a couple of upcoming foes – including a fellow creature-feature icon.

***

***

Seriously, this is your last chance to turn away. In the meantime, here's old-school Godzilla and King Kong razing the roof.

***

***

What’s that, did someone say ‘King’?

The next MonsterVerse movie is director Adam Wingard's “Godzilla vs. Kong” (in theaters March 13, 2020), and while King Kong – last seen in the 1970s-set “Kong: Skull Island” – is never shown in all his hairy glory during "King of the Monsters," his presence is definitely felt.

Skull Island is mentioned many times throughout the new film as a site the cryptozoological agency Monarch has flagged as housing a Titan. But the next chapter is set up in a series of newspaper articles that flash across the screen during the first few minutes of the credits.

The world seems to actually be a little bit better with Godzilla running the show – mankind has even made Titan poop an energy resource! – but some headlines also reveal that monsters are beginning to congregate toward Skull Island. There’s a hollow-earth theory in these movies that explains how giant beasts are able to move around the globe so easily, and Kong’s jungle home seems to be ground zero for a new bunch.

The last thing we see is a cave painting with crude drawings of a large ape and a big reptile coming at each other for a throwdown – a tease to the epic matchup promised next year that will continue to explore man's coexistence with monster.

"If you go back and watch the original 'King Kong' movie, he's the god of Skull Island and the civilization that knows him still treats him with a certain amount of reverence," says "King of the Monsters" director Michael Dougherty. "What these ancient civilizations clung to and allowed them to survive was that they did treat these creatures with respect.

"If you really look at the creatures as sort of an allegory for Mother Nature itself, maybe that's the lesson that's meant to be learned: If we're going to survive an age of giant monsters, maybe it's time for us to sort of re-examine our relationship with nature."

An old foe might not be so down and out.

The conclusion of “King of the Monsters” found Godzilla literally tearing apart Ghidorah on the way to a big win. It might be fleeting, though: A mid-credits scene shows the Mexican locale of Isla de Mara, where Rodan emerged from a volcano, and the place is kind of a wasteland now – as well as an underground monster chop shop.

Eco-terrorist Jonah Alan (Charles Dance), the human antagonist of the movie, and his mercenary crew visit to see the new merchandise: one of Ghidorah’s gigantic heads. “We’ll take it,” Alan says in sinister fashion.

So Ghidorah will be back, but in what form? During “King of the Monsters,” the humans blew off one of his heads and it grew back, so it stands to reason – at least in the far-fetched world where Godzilla can evolve into a lava monster with no real explanation – that perhaps he could regrow his entire body if given enough time. Another possibility: a transformation into Mecha-King Ghidorah, a mechanically modified version of the monster that showed up in the 1991 Japanese flick “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.”

However he returns, it might mean that the two leads of “Godzilla vs. Kong” will have to team up against a common enemy after they work out their own issues.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spoilers! How 'King of the Monsters' sets up that epic 'Godzilla vs. Kong' matchup