Look, you can’t just go into Godzilla vs. Kong cold. How will you be able to understand the characters’ intricate motivations if you haven’t been fully versed on the “MonsterVerse” so far? You’d be totally lost, unsure why the giant monkey was pounding the fire-breathing mega-lizard.

Okay, so really, Godzilla vs. Kong doesn’t really require that much explanation. Still, this is the fourth film in this cycle of MonsterVerse movies from Legendary and Warner Bros., and if you missed any of the previous movies — GodzillaGodzilla: King of the Monsters, and Kong: Skull Island — we’re here to help. In the video below, we lay out the two title characters’ backstories, explain why they’re fighting, and what a government agency called Monarch has to do with it all. We’ll go from the dawn of time up to the 1970s, when the military (including Loki, Nick Fury, and Carol Danvers!) discover Skull Island, and then into the present day San Francisco, where the government is hiding proof of monsters.

Watch our MonsterVerse recap below:

If you liked this video recapping the entire Legendary MonsterVerse, check out some more of our videos below, including a wild Jurassic Park theory, the most important scene in Pixar history, and the scene that explains the difference between The Avengers and Justice League. Plus, there’s tons more videos over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.

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