On June 24, 2012, the Australian Navy responds to a mayday signal in the South Pacific and finds a Kevlar float bag bearing the Monarch logo. Two weeks later, on July 9, Houston Brooks, who is one day away from retirement after working for Monarch for 40 years, is visited by a colleague named Singh at Monarch Field Office Sigma. Singh presents Houston with the item recovered by the Australian Navy, which is a recording device that belonged to Houston's son Aaron, who disappeared on an expedition to Antarctica in 1995. Houston accesses the recorder using the password "GJALLARHORN," referring to the horn of Heimdall from Norse mythology, which Houston often read to Aaron as a child. While driving home, Houston listens to the recording, which contains Aaron's account of what happened 17 years ago.
In a flashback to 1995, Aaron gets into an argument with his father regarding Skull Island, outraged that his father and Monarch allowed an island full of M.U.T.O.s to remain a secret, and that they entrusted Kong to guard it. Houston explains that Kong is the island's king and capable of keeping it under control by himself. Aaron asks what humanity's second line of defense will be if Kong can't keep things on Skull Island under control, and how they are even sure whether or not Kong is still alive. Houston says Monarch is monitoring everything via satellite, and that many of his colleagues died on the island in 1973, believing that it was a secret worth keeping. Aaron storms off as his father calls after him.
On August 7, 1995, under the guise of visiting a M.U.T.O. fossil bed in Antarctica, Aaron and a team of Monarch operatives fly out to Skull Island aboard a V-22 Osprey sometime afterward. Accompanying Aaron are cryptobiologist Evgenij Medov, Evelyn Matemavi, whom Houston Brooks personally recruited for Monarch, Helen Karsten, a survival instructor considered a legend in the U.S. Navy, Karsten's friend Cejudo the pilot, and Walter R. Riccio, a mythographer. Aaron plans to spend at least three days gathering evidence, as he doesn't entrust Kong with humanity's survival and believes that the world has the right to know about Skull Island. As soon as the V-22 penetrates the storm cell around the island, it is attacked by a flock of Psychovultures, who damage the craft and send it crashing to the island below. Everyone except Cejudo parachutes out and lands on a cliff overlooking the island, seeing a flock of Leafwings flying past. The V-22 crashes to the west, and Aaron and his team decide to head that direction to try and rescue Cejudo, despite Riccio's protests.
They are almost immediately ambushed by a pack of Death Jackals, which kill and dismember Karsten while the others retreat to a cave. The Death Jackals chase the remaining humans into the cave, but before they can finish them off, a huge fist comes crashing down just outside the cave. Then the giant hand reaches into the cave, grabbing several Death Jackals and crushing them. The rest run out of the cave, only to be crushed by the beast's foot. The colossal ape stares at the cave entrance for a moment and walks away. Matemavi tends to Medov, who was mauled by the Death Jackals, saying that he's stable but they need to recover the medical supplies aboard the V-22, while Aaron is still amazed, recognizing the giant ape that saved them as Kong. Riccio alerts Aaron that they are not alone, as several Iwi natives enter the cave. A young Iwi boy introduces himself as Ato and welcomes Aaron and the others, addressing them as "Awati." Riccio asks Ato what "Awati" means, to which he replies "The people who come from the sky."
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In a flashback to 1995, Aaron gets into an argument with his father regarding Skull Island, outraged that his father and Monarch allowed an island full of M.U.T.O.s to remain a secret, and that they entrusted Kong to guard it. Houston explains that Kong is the island's king and capable of keeping it under control by himself. Aaron asks what humanity's second line of defense will be if Kong can't keep things on Skull Island under control, and how they are even sure whether or not Kong is still alive. Houston says Monarch is monitoring everything via satellite, and that many of his colleagues died on the island in 1973, believing that it was a secret worth keeping. Aaron storms off as his father calls after him.
On August 7, 1995, under the guise of visiting a M.U.T.O. fossil bed in Antarctica, Aaron and a team of Monarch operatives fly out to Skull Island aboard a V-22 Osprey sometime afterward. Accompanying Aaron are cryptobiologist Evgenij Medov, Evelyn Matemavi, whom Houston Brooks personally recruited for Monarch, Helen Karsten, a survival instructor considered a legend in the U.S. Navy, Karsten's friend Cejudo the pilot, and Walter R. Riccio, a mythographer. Aaron plans to spend at least three days gathering evidence, as he doesn't entrust Kong with humanity's survival and believes that the world has the right to know about Skull Island. As soon as the V-22 penetrates the storm cell around the island, it is attacked by a flock of Psychovultures, who damage the craft and send it crashing to the island below. Everyone except Cejudo parachutes out and lands on a cliff overlooking the island, seeing a flock of Leafwings flying past. The V-22 crashes to the west, and Aaron and his team decide to head that direction to try and rescue Cejudo, despite Riccio's protests.
They are almost immediately ambushed by a pack of Death Jackals, which kill and dismember Karsten while the others retreat to a cave. The Death Jackals chase the remaining humans into the cave, but before they can finish them off, a huge fist comes crashing down just outside the cave. Then the giant hand reaches into the cave, grabbing several Death Jackals and crushing them. The rest run out of the cave, only to be crushed by the beast's foot. The colossal ape stares at the cave entrance for a moment and walks away. Matemavi tends to Medov, who was mauled by the Death Jackals, saying that he's stable but they need to recover the medical supplies aboard the V-22, while Aaron is still amazed, recognizing the giant ape that saved them as Kong. Riccio alerts Aaron that they are not alone, as several Iwi natives enter the cave. A young Iwi boy introduces himself as Ato and welcomes Aaron and the others, addressing them as "Awati." Riccio asks Ato what "Awati" means, to which he replies "The people who come from the sky."