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Walter Simmons is the primary antagonist of the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong.

Personality[]

On the surface, Walter presents himself as an affable, well-spoken and calm if albeit eccentric man with a charismatic flare of bravado, who seeks to better mankind and help the world become a safer place - to that extent, he's expressly distrustful of Godzilla, seeing him as a threat to mankind rather than its savior. He justifies his machinations by saying that humanity retaking their former place as the sole dominant species is the only way mankind will survive and that the mere existence of any other apex predator is unacceptable in that respect. In actuality, Simmons' charisma and mask of nobility veils an obscenely reckless, arrogant, ruthless, unfettered and morally-bankrupt man, whose only true motivation is to feed his own ego and ambitions via surpassing Godzilla as the reigning King of the Monsters with his own artificial Titan no matter the cost or loss of human life; something he'd been intending to do ever since the events in San Francisco in 2014. No cost is too high for Simmons in the pursuit of his goals, as he callously and deliberately endangers millions of innocent civilians to turn the world against Godzilla and make Apex look like heroes for killing him, Walter doesn't so much as bat an eye when called out by Madison Russell on his actions' consequences and how unjustified said grandiose designs were.

Simmons believes that mankind's ability to innovate and technologically advance at a rapid rate makes humanity inherently superior to MUTOs, seeing the superfauna as an obstacle that the human race should be trying to harness, conquer and surpass rather than peacefully coexist with. He's incredibly smug, being largely overconfident in his plan and his lesser-then-less competent daughter. According to Ren Serizawa, Simmons' talents lie more in his vision and knowing who to hire to get a job done than in actually understanding how his company's cutting-edge technology works, not to mention he tends to take credit for his underlings' achievements.^[1] Simmons also displays inherent impatience in his ambitions - when the energy formula needed to lastingly power Mechagodzilla is obtained, he was immediately excited to upload it to the automata while showing frustration at Ren's cautious protests. Simmons displays an inability to take criticism, seen in his reaction to Ren's warnings that the formula is untested and that applying it while Godzilla is scouring Hong Kong for the mecha's location will give them a dangerously narrow time window to fight back before The Alpha Titan kills them. Simmons' inability to comprehend his own limitations were also seen in his expressed disdain for environmentalists purely because they interfere with his company's activities.^[1]

Simmons shows many signs of narcissism and high-functioning sociopathy. He believes himself alone deserving of praise, power and acclaim over all others; feigning empathy to manipulate others despite seemingly completely lacking it, exuding a superficial charm while thriving on manipulation, having had an inherent lack of impulse control, being easily preoccupied by fantasies of greater success, Walter also shows to be envious of Godzilla's position as Earth's ultimate lifeform, nor does he show any signs of caring about his daughter's welfare. This is further explored in the novelization, where he sends Maia on a life-threatening mission while deliberately leaving out important intel in advance just to see if she's smart enough to be worthy of inheriting his corporate empire.

Overall, Simmons demonstrated himself to be a flamboyantly self-absorbed man, whose truly monstrous ambitions and lack of character leading up to ultimate hypocrisy in regards towards his own claims about the wellbeing of anyone in the world who isn't him made him too dangerous for his or anyone else's good.

Relationships[]

Maia Simmons[]

Although Maia and Walter are never seen interacting directly, Maia seems to trust her father completely and is wholly on-board with his philosophy. For his part, Walter relies on Maia in turn, entrusting her with the mission to take point on Apex Cybernetics operations involving Hollow Earth and seeing to it that the energy source found there is secured for Apex's use, expressing misplaced high hopes that she will succeed. According to the novelization, Walter tends to set up mind-games for Maia on her assignments to test if she's worthy to inherit his corporate empire - keeping her in the dark about Kong's involvement on her mission was one such test, and Maia suggests it was his idea of a joke.

Ren Serizawa[]

Walter relies on Ren as Apex's chief technology officer to make Mechagodzilla work using Ghidorah's remains, the two working rather closely together given they are often seen with one another. Based on Ren's high-ranking position in Simmons' corporate conspiracy, as well as on the looks they exchange with each-other when manipulating Nathan Lind, Simmons apparently trusts Ren. Ren however quietly displays a sense of weariness towards his employer's plans. All of that being said, when Ren protests to an overenthusiastic Simmons rushing the use of the Hollow Earth energy formula in Mechagodzilla without testing, Simmons reacts like an eager child annoyed at an elder for interrupting them, quickly losing his patience and coldly hissing at Ren to "get in the goddamn chair [referring to the Mechagodzilla-piloting cockpit]".

In the novelization, Walter shows no signs of being aware that Ren sees him as a means to his own ends. Ren having no general care, nor respect, for his employer in the slightest. More over, the younger Serizawa only ever agreeing to the Mechagodzilla project not only as a means of venting his underlying resentment at the original Titan said powered robot was based off of. But as a way for Ren to ascend his own mortal coil and become a god in name if not by right. His resentment for Walter was such that he'd intended to kill him the very second they managed to get their own synthetic MUTO online.

Brenda Holland[]

Walter relies on his subordinate Holland as the head of the Seattle branch of the newly renamed Apex Cybernetics. Following the deal struck with Monarch, Walter contacted her to celebrate their new contract whilst also sending over the rebranding for the company's new image, one which Holland reflected better fit the company's intentions and future.

Godzilla[]

Walter considered Godzilla a threat to humanity, insisting that the existence of any Alpha Titan that isn't under complete human control is a threat by its mere existence. Ever since Godzilla's existence first became known to the world in 2014, Simmons dreamed of surpassing Godzilla, eventually deciding to pour his ambitions into building his own artificial Titan in Godzilla's image and then using it to challenge as well as kill him.

History[]

Simmons stated he was first inspired to commit the actions that ultimately led him to creating Mechagodzilla when Godzilla's existence was first revealed to the world at large in 2014. Using his multinational tech company Apex Cybernetics (formerly Applied Experimental Technologies), he planned to kill and usurp Godzilla (and implicitly any other Alpha Titan that humans encountered, based on his remark that "[there can only be one Alpha") by creating an artificial Titan in Godzilla's likeness that was under Apex's control and setting it on him; so that humanity (Simmons himself in particular) would be the reigning dominant species of Earth, and so that Simmons and his company would be glorified by the world as heroes before they ushered in an era of corporate hegemony with Mechagodzilla as their enforcer.^[2] To that end, Simmons obtained the upper skull of Ghidorah's severed left head sometime after the global Titan rampage of 2019 to create the psionic uplink required for a human pilot to make the Mecha work.

The novelization goes into further details about Simmons' past and motivations. Here, it's revealed that Simmons, his company and seemingly also a branch of Monarch were contracted by the U.S. military sometime before Ghidorah's rampage, and they secretly provided a component for the Oxygen Destroyer's construction. In the aftermath of the weapon's catastrophic misuse which directly enabled King Ghidorah's reign of terror, Simmons bribed his way out of accountability. The novel states that sometime after Ghidorah's death^[3], Simmons was discreetly contacted at his Pensacola office by a globally-wanted man (heavily implied to be Alan Jonah), who offered him two Ghidorah skulls in exchange for a heavy payment -- Simmons subsequently had these skulls incorporated into Mechagodzilla's psionic uplink.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters[]

Walter is still the CEO even before his company was known as Apex Cybernetics. He is mentioned several times but never seen in person. He is aware of the data breach caused by Corah Matteo and later contacts Brenda Holland following the company's new deal with Monarch. Not before sending over the rebranding of the Company from AET to now Apex.

Godzilla vs. Kong[]

Although Apex successfully managed to build Mechagodzilla, they are unable to fully power it. When the Mecha is almost complete, its signal instigates Godzilla to return and attack an Apex factory in Pensacola where the Mecha's eye is being held, with Simmons and his chief technology officer Ren Serizawa fleeing by helicopter as Godzilla arrives. In the aftermath of the attack, which has caused the world to assume Godzilla is attacking humanity and has turned public opinion against the King of the Monsters; Simmons, though he hadn't expected Mechagodzilla's creation to have such an effect on Godzilla^[1], takes advantage of it to paint Godzilla as a villain, expecting that he and his company will look like heroes when they use Mechagodzilla to kill Godzilla and that the fact they're entirely responsible for the destruction will be masked. Simmons and Ren next seek out the help of geologist Nathan Lind in obtaining an energy source in the Hollow Earth to fuel their weapon, and they motivate him by showing off their company's Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle, which should be capable of reaching the subterranean world. Walter also sends his daughter Maia to represent Apex for the expedition.

While Maia is off traveling with the expedition, Walter arrives in Apex's headquarters in Hong Kong to oversee the completed Mechagodzilla's test run against an adult Skullcrawler. The Mecha effortlessly tears apart the beast as Simmons looks on in delight from an observation station, before shutting down from severe power drain. When Godzilla subsequently arrives in Hong Kong and fires his atomic breath at the ground, Walter is ecstatic since he correctly deduces that it means Maia has discovered and activated the energy source they need for Mechagodzilla. Upon receiving the analysis of the power source, Simmons insists on using it immediately, brushing off Ren's warnings that they can't know how the energy source will affect the Mecha without basic testing and that they'll have an uncomfortably narrow time window to get the activated Mecha outside before Godzilla pinpoints its exact location within the HQ and destroys the building with Simmons and Ren inside.

Shortly afterwards Walter meets Madison Russell, Josh Valentine, and Bernie Hayes when security guards catch them inside the Skull Room. Walter proceeds to gloat to them as Mechagodzilla is being infused with the Hollow Earth energy. He continues to gloat about his success, and thus fails to notice that his newly-empowered creation has been hijacked by the remnants of Ghidorah's consciousness and is about to kill him, until it is too late and he is killed by a swipe of Mechagodzilla's claw.

List of appearances[]

Films[]

• Godzilla vs. Kong (First appearance)

Television[]

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
  • 7. "Will the Real May Please Stand Up?" (Mentioned)

Novels[]

• Godzilla vs. Kong - The Official Movie Novelization

Trivia[]

• In the Godzilla vs. Kong film, Walter Simmons does not recognize Bernie Hayes, mistaking him for a member of Greenpeace, to which Hayes replies "I'm just saying Greenpeace wishes." In the film's novelization, however, he recognizes him by name as being the host of the podcast "Mad Truth" and praises his four-part series on chemtrails, saying that it gave him a lot of ideas for future projects.
• In the film, it's unclear precisely what Simmons' plans for the other Titans after killing Godzilla and replacing him with Mechagodzilla were; although he makes it clear he wants humanity (himself and his company in particular) to be the dominant force on Earth, and his remark to Madison about how "there can only be one Alpha" heavily implies he intended to murder Kong and any other Alpha Titans that humanity haven't yet encountered, whilst the early official plot summary for the movie suggests Apex likely aimed to eradicate all Titans on Earth^[4]. In the novelization; Bernie theorized at one point that Simmons intended to control and enslave the Titans if possible, outright exterminate them if he couldn't, and Ren is shown to be unsure whether Apex will exterminate the Titans outright or "repurpose" them as tools for humanity. In the novel, Simmons himself indicates that he intends to rule the world after killing Godzilla. The art book Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall: The Art of the Ultimate Battle Royale further confirms that in the long term, Simmons intended to bring about an age of corporate world domination with Mechagodzilla as his company's global enforcer^[2].

References[]