How Did King Kong Get So Big?

Quick Links

• Who Is King Kong?

• Is King Kong Supernatural?

• The Top King Kong Origins Theory

You could say that one of the most iconic figures in cinema is King Kong, and you can take that quite literally. I mean, the original King Kong was around the size of an action figure, but through the magic of practical effects and patient filmmakers, the great ape was able to go on a rampage.

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He's been painted as a monster, a protector, a tragic figure, a mystery, and more throughout his film career. With films ranging from solo adventures to fighting other giant monsters, more questions came up about our primal primate. One of the biggest being: how did King Kong get so big?

Who Is King Kong?

King Kong is one of the first major movie monsters to appear in the media. Despite being classified as a "monster", his overall design is quite simple: He's a large ape, most likely a giant gorilla. Even with his monstrous size, King Kong has a history of keeping a low profile, typically being located on a distant and isolated island that may or may not be "lost in time".

The local people there have been seen worshiping King Kong as a deity of sorts, making offerings of food and even human sacrifices to appease him. As a result, he tends to leave the populated areas alone, implying that he has a certain level of reasoning and intelligence.

Is King Kong Supernatural?

Although there has never been any real-life evidence supporting the idea of giant primates existing during the times of dinosaurs, this seems to be the main explanation for King Kong. He is a survivor of the prehistoric era, similar to what the Loch Ness monster is theorized to be. That era was dominated by large creatures because there was plenty to eat and large prey to hunt, but this changed as time went on.

When the asteroid hit, the dinosaurs were killed by theories and fiction would have you believe that certain creatures were lucky enough to survive, such as Nessie, Megalodons, and King Kong. He has managed to maintain his large size by being the only one of his kind, being largely unchallenged for food, space, and, of course, having a society that deliberately offers him food.

The Top King Kong Origins Theory

Since King Kong's origins changed from story to story, there are a lot of conflicting ideas about his origins. However, according to information collected by fans and put on the official King Kong Wiki as well as the King Kong Fandom page, there's one overall theory with the most stability.

Simply put, King Kong is believed to be the last remaining member of a species labeled as Megaprimatus Kong ("mega primate kong"). The term translates to giant ape, and it seems that this species was only native to Skull Island, where other giant species have been found too. It's suggested that before the species ended up on the island, they originated in Asia, since that's the continent that's repeatedly been the closest.

Although we've suggested that King Kong is a relative of our modern-day gorillas, this theory suggests that he may be descended from the Gigantopithecus blacki species. This was a group of large gorillas that supposedly originated from Southern China and lived around the Pleistocene.

Despite never getting as big as King Kong, there were still sizable creatures standing at around ten feet tall and weighing almost 650 pounds. This means that for King Kong to grow as large as he did naturally, there would have to be biological factors such as continued selective breeding between the largest members of the species and a very dense diet.

King Kong's origins will likely continue to change as time goes on, but the current canon from which most of the information follows starts in 2005 with media like The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island. More will be revealed as King Kong's journey continues, but this is a solid grasp of where our giant ape star originated.

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