The monster's origins are only revealed in the film's viral marketing campaign (Abrams wanted the movie to be realistic; if a monster did attack, civilians would have no idea where it came from), leaving some who have seen the film confused about where it really came from. Many speculate that it is of extraterrestrial descent, but this has been denied by
J.J. Abrams. The object seen falling into the ocean is actually the Japanese government's
ChimpanzIII satellite.
The monster is a deep-sea creature with an unknown evolutionary history. The species apparently has a very long life-span, as the creature is still an infant during the events of the film, regardless of being alive for thousands of years. It grew to its massive size through consuming large amounts of
Seabed's Nectar, a natural steroid-like substance which is very addictive and causes increased cell division and growth, and is used by
Tagruato's subsidiary company, "
Slusho!", for use as their secret ingredient in their frozen drink of the same name. At some point afterward, the monster went into a sort of hibernation