The King's Man
Movie, 2021, The founding, Set in The First World War
The King's Man is #3 of 3 in release order and #1 of 3 in chronological order in the Kingsman.
The story
As a collection of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them.
The King's Man recap
In 1902, during the Boer War, Orlando, Duke of Oxford, sees his wife Emily killed by a sniper, and promises her to keep their son Conrad out of war. Twelve years later, Orlando runs a private spy network with his staff, Shola and Polly. Conrad saves Archduke Franz Ferdinand from a bomb in Sarajevo, but Gavrilo Princip shoots him later that day, starting the First World War. The assassination was arranged by the Flock, a secret society led by a mysterious Shepherd, whose agents include Rasputin, Mata Hari and Erik Jan Hanussen, who wants to bring down the British Empire and its royal cousins in Germany and Russia. Rasputin manipulates the Tsar into leaving the war, and Lord Kitchener dies when his ship is sunk. Orlando, Shola, Polly and Conrad kill Rasputin in Russia. Conrad secretly swaps places with a Scottish soldier, Archie Reid, to go to the front, retrieves proof of the Zimmermann telegram in no man's land and is shot dead by a British soldier who thinks he is a spy.
The King's Man ending explained
Mata Hari has blackmailed President Wilson to keep the United States out of the war. Orlando beats her, traces the Flock to its mountain retreat, and finds that the Shepherd is Max Morton, Kitchener's aide, who faked his death. Orlando kills him with Shola's help, and the United States joins the war. Orlando buys a Savile Row tailor shop and founds Kingsman, with Arthurian codenames in Conrad's honor: Orlando as Arthur, Polly as Galahad, Shola as Merlin, Archie as Lancelot and King George V as Percival.
Post-credits scenes
Yes. In the mid-credits scene, Hanussen, now leading what remains of the Flock, introduces Lenin to the man who killed the Romanovs: Adolf Hitler.
Where to watch The King's Man
The King's Man is streaming on Hulu and YouTube TV in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes 41%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the latest.
- Chronological order: first, before Kingsman: The Secret Service.
What to watch before The King's Man
In release order, the essentials before The King's Man (2021) are Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).
Cast
- Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford
- Gemma Arterton as Polly
- Rhys Ifans as Grigori Rasputin
- Matthew Goode as Morton
- Tom Hollander as King George / Kaiser Wilhelm / Tsar Nicholas
- Harris Dickinson as Conrad Oxford
- Daniel Brühl as Erik Jan Hanussen
- Djimon Hounsou as Shola
- Charles Dance as Kitchener
- Shaun McKee as Camp Guard #1
- Peter York as Camp Guard #2
- Alexandra Maria Lara as Emily Oxford
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.