Long before Godzilla vs. Kong, the King of the Monsters was defeated by one of the ape’s ancestors. What’s interesting about that detail is the fact that Godzilla soundly beat Kong in the fourth MonsterVerse movie and proved his superiority. However, it seems that his victory doesn’t mean that Godzilla will always emerge triumphant in a fight with a member of Kong’s species.

The two titular Titans engaged in three heated showdowns in Godzilla vs. Kong. The second leaned in Kong’s favor, and the other two clearly ended with Godzilla as the winner. In their final fight, Godzilla put any lingering doubts about his dominance over Kong (and all the other Titans) to rest and essentially avenged the Toho kaiju’s loss in the 1962 film, King Kong vs. Godzilla. As Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard has promised for years, the movie delivered an ending that finally settled this old debate. And by throwing down the axe after the Mechagodzilla fight, Kong symbolically accepted Godzilla’s position as the alpha of the Titans.

Despite everything that’s been established about how these two Titans match up, Godzilla’s record against Kong’s species isn’t exactly flawless. Godzilla vs. Kong prequel graphic novel Godzilla: Dominion revealed that Godzilla was beaten by one of the Kongs thousands of years ago. In the comic, it was stated that Godzilla was forced out of his home by a Kong ancestor. The comic didn’t explain how or when this happened, but clues in the MonsterVerse’s tie-in material point to it happening to a very young Godzilla sometime before the Titan War. Godzilla may not have been strong enough to beat an adult Kong back then.

What happened here doesn’t sound like the ending of the original Titan War. The old stories passed down by Jia’s people mentioned in the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization indicate that this war was won by Godzilla, not Kong. According to the myths, the Kongs picked a fight with Godzilla and were driven out of the Hollow Earth as a result. It was because of him that they had to make a home for themselves on Skull Island. Godzilla winning the original Titan War obviously conflicts with Dominion’s reveal about him losing, which suggests that these fights happened at different points in the MonsterVerse’s timeline. Since the Titan War ended with all the Kongs relocating to Skull Island, Godzilla’s loss must have occurred centuries or even millennia before all these events took place.

If that’s the case, Godzilla’s failure to win this particular battle can most likely be attributed to his age at the time. That would make sense, as an adolescent Godzilla may not have been capable of defeating an experienced and mature Kong. Godzilla is undoubtedly much stronger than Kong, but Kong’s ability to challenge him physically in certain scenes makes the idea of a Kong ancestor beating a Godzilla actually seem plausible – especially a younger Godzilla lacking the years of fighting experience his later self showcases in Godzilla vs. Kong.