Vinestrangler
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The Vinestrangler is a predatory insect superspecies which was introduced in the marketing for the 2017 Legendary Pictures Monsterverse film Kong: Skull Island, but did not appear in the film. It has received multiple profiles over the years, including in the 2023 TRPG sourcebook Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure, which also featured one in its campaign, "Sliver of the Skull." The creature is set to make a live-action appearance in 2026 in the second season of the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Name
The Vinestrangler is named after its resemblance to vines and its preferred mode of attack. Though its name has repeatedly been spelled as one word, it is instead rendered as Vine Strangler in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. The Vinestrangler's cryptoozological classification, Vitis Strangulari, comes from Vitis, the name of a large genus of woody vines, and the Latin word strangulari, meaning "strangle."
Development
Like several other Skull Island residents introduced in subsequent media, the Vinestrangler was conceptualized for 2017's Kong: Skull Island, but went unused. It was nonetheless confirmed to exist in the film's universe in "Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive)," a featurette included on its home video releases. It was also among the creatures Legendary Comics would have allowed writer Arvid Nelson to use in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, but he declined.[4] A profile for it was included in the comic's trade paperback edition.
Design
The Vinestrangler is a slender, vine-like insect that somewhat resembles the species Extatosoma tiaratum and a lizard. Unlike all other insects, Vinestanglers have two legs. The underside of a Vinestrangler seems to comprise of a mouth that runs the length of its body, which dozens of tentacles can extend from to drag prey into its massive maw.
Behavior
The Vinestrangler is a carnivorous ambush predator[1] that is mostly active during dawn and dusk.
History
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2026)
Monsterverse
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
To be added.
Tabletop games
- Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure (2023) ["Sliver of the Skull"]
"Sliver of the Skull"
In 2015, a Monarch party on Skull Island can attempt to collect a sample of medicinal sap from a local species of vine for study. If none of the party members pass a DC 15 dexterity check or DC 13 wisdom check, they will be unable to correctly identify the vine and instead accidentally disturb a Vinestrangler, which was attracted to the area by the smell of a Snarehunter carcass. The party must fight off the creature before returning to their task.[5]
Abilities
Camouflage
The Vinestrangler blends into the trees where it dwells, to the point that its Monarch profile noted that "initial findings have been inconclusive as to where the Vinestrangler ends and the tree begins."
Tentacles
Inside the Vinestrangler's stomach is a mesh of tentacles. When potential prey walks under a tree branch that a Vinestrangler is residing in, the vibrations of their footsteps travel up the tree's roots and reach the creature’s nervous system. The Vinestrangler's stomach will open, ensnaring its prey with its tentacles to pull them up into its open stomach, where they will be digested over a period of 72 hours.
Gallery
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Vinestrangler profile from "Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive)" -
Drawings used in the video profile -
Vinestrangler profile (right) from the Skull Island: The Birth of Kong paperback -
Vinestrangler profile shown briefly during the "Secrets of the Monsterverse" panel at Los Angeles Comic Con 2018 -
A Vinestrangler in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
References
This is a list of references for Vinestrangler. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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Bibliography
- Trent, Sigfried; Bramnik, Michael; Flanagan, Ivis (2023). Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9865552-8-7.
- Rowan-Nelson, Awen I.; Ramsley, Chris, eds. (2025). Kong: Skull Island - Creature Codex. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9881882-6-1.
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