Baby Kong

About

Baby Kong, also known as Mini Kong, refers to a young ape shown in the first trailer for the 2024 film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire which debuted in late 2023. After seeing the first look of Baby Kong in the movie, meme creators on Twitter / X and elsewhere used an image of him standing and looking down at the viewer for meme content.

Origin

On December 3rd, 2023, the YouTube^[1] channel of Warner Bros. Pictures uploaded the official trailer for the 2024 film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, gaining over 10 million views in four days. At the video's 2:35-minute mark, a so-called "mini Kong" is shown standing on top of a rock (shown below).

On Decmeber 3rd, 2023, the X^[2] account @DiscussingFilm posted an image from the trailer showing the mini Kong, writing, "First look at a baby Kong in ‘GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE,’" receiving roughly 44,000 likes in four days.

Viral reactions and memes were inspired by the tweet. The first known was a reply posted by X^[3] user @DeportesConCris on December 3rd, who asked, "Is he voiced by Chris Pratt," in reference to the Chris Pratt Voices Everyone joke, gaining roughly 7,000 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

Going into December 2023, meme creators on Twitter / X continued to reference Baby Kong in viral content. For instance, on December 4th, 2023, X^[4] user @mouthfulofnails shared a different screencap of Baby Kong looking down, paired with the You Smoke Too Tough snowclone. Over three days, the tweet earned over 10,000 likes (shown below, left).

Thereafter, others used the same screencap, such as X^[5] user @dummytiny on December 5th, 2023, who added Impact captions with the When You Gotta Lock In phrase, gaining roughly 2,100 likes in two days (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, fan art of Baby Kong started to surface. For instance, on December 4th, 2023, Tumblr^[6] user ruubesz-draws shared a four-panel comic about Baby Kong, gaining roughly 1,700 notes in three days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References