User:The King of the Monsters/Sandbox/Condensed histories

This sandbox contains potential condensed "History" sections for monsters who possess incarnation pages which cover their histories, thus reducing the length of and lag on the main pages.

Godzilla

History

Showa era

The Godzilla series began with the Showa series, which ran from 1954 to 1975. Aside from the first fifteen Godzilla films, the continuity of the Showa series includes various other kaiju films produced by Toho, including Rodan and Mothra. The Showa series is characterized by a loose sense of continuity, with most films only referring to the events of the film directly before them, as well as a lighter tone, save for the original Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again. It introduced some of Godzilla's most famous monster co-stars, including Anguirus, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla and his co-stars King Ghidorah and Gigan also made appearances in the television series Zone Fighter in 1973. This show is considered to be canonical with the Showa Godzilla films, set between the events of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla (1954)

Main article: Godzilla (First Generation).

Godzilla crashes through a wing of the National Diet Building in Godzilla (1954)

Irradiated and driven from his underwater sanctuary by an American hydrogen bomb test, Godzilla began sinking ships in the waters off of Japan. He next came ashore on Odo Island during a typhoon, causing great destruction to the island's village. A fact-finding party led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane went to the island to investigate the damage, but came face-to-face with the monster when he revealed himself over a hill. The JSDF attacked the monster with depth charges, but they had little effect and Godzilla subsequently appeared in Tokyo Bay before coming ashore and destroying a section of Tokyo in a brief raid. The JSDF next erected a barricade of high-tension wires carrying 50,000 volts of electricity around the city to try and prevent Godzilla from entering, but the monster melted the pylons with a blast of superheated radioactive vapor from his mouth. With the JSDF's artillery useless against him, Godzilla rampaged through the heart of Tokyo, transforming the Japanese capital into a sea of fire. Godzilla returned to Tokyo Bay as fighter jets futilely launched missiles at him. Dr. Yamane's daughter Emiko and her fiancé Hideto Ogata attempted to convince her childhood friend, brilliant chemist Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, to use his experimental chemical weapon known as the Oxygen Destroyer to stop Godzilla. Despite his misgivings about revealing such a dangerous weapon to the world, Serizawa eventually agreed after witnessing the devastation in Tokyo. Serizawa and Ogata donned diving suits and located Godzilla resting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay, after which Ogata was lifted back to a boat and Serizawa activated the device. Seeing it working, Serizawa wished Emiko and Ogata happiness and severed his line to ensure the secret of his weapon died with Godzilla. Godzilla surfaced and roared defiantly at onlookers gathered on the boat before sinking beneath the bay to his death. Despite Godzilla's demise, Dr. Yamane warned that Godzilla was likely not the last of his kind, and that so long as nuclear testing continued, another Godzilla could appear.

Godzilla Raids Again to Terror of Mechagodzilla

Main article: Godzilla (Second Generation).

Godzilla duels with Anguirus near Osaka Castle in Godzilla Raids Again

Dr. Yamane's warning came true less than a year after the first Godzilla's demise, as two fishery scout pilots sighted a second one locked in battle with the monster Anguirus on the remote Iwato Island. Yamane believed that both monsters had been awakened by repeated hydrogen bomb testing, and that with Dr. Serizawa's death and the loss of the Oxygen Destroyer, there was no conceivable way to destroy them. At Yamane's suggestion, the city of Osaka enforced a blackout while flares were dropped in the waters outside of the city in order to exploit Godzilla's fury at sources of light and keep him from coming ashore. Unfortunately, an accident at a refinery triggered a chain reaction explosion that produced a huge fire and led both Godzilla and Anguirus into Osaka. The monsters resumed their duel, which devastated the city and reached Osaka Castle before Godzilla finally killed Anguirus. His enemy defeated, Godzilla calmed down and left Osaka, leaving it in a similar state to how his predecessor had left Tokyo a year before. However, he later began sinking fishing trawlers in the waters off of Hokkaido, prompting a search for him. When one of the scout pilots, Shoichi Tsukioka, spotted Godzilla coming ashore on the icy Kamiko Island, he alerted the JASDF, who bombarded the slopes of the island until Godzilla was buried in ice and trapped. The Japanese government knew that Godzilla would not stay frozen forever, and approximately seven years later the chunk of ice he was trapped in broke off from Kamiko Island and drifted into warmer waters to the south, causing it to begin thawing. When the United Nations research submarine Seahawk crashed into the iceberg, Godzilla awakened and broke free, immediately attacking a Soviet military base before landing in Japan once again. Godzilla eventually encountered the giant ape monster King Kong, himself brought to Japan through a botched publicity stunt by the Pacific Pharmaceutical Company. Godzilla forced Kong to retreat with his atomic breath, then began making his way to Tokyo, escaping a pit trap set by the JSDF. Next, they placed a line of high-tension wires carrying one million volts of electricity around Tokyo as a last resort to stop him from reaching the city. This operation worked, convincing Godzilla to trek to Mount Fuji instead. After the JSDF subdued Kong in Tokyo, they opted to transport him to Fuji and force him and Godzilla to fight, hopefully to the death. Helicopters airlifted Kong to Mt. Fuji and dropped him onto Godzilla, causing the two to resume their battle. While Godzilla held the upper hand, lightning from a passing thunderstorm revitalized Kong and he turned the tide. After destroying Atami Castle, the monsters fell into Sagami Bay, with only Kong surfacing afterwards.

Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra join forces against King Ghidorah in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

After a fierce typhoon caused severe flooding, washed Godzilla ashore in Japan, and buried him under the floodplain, he eventually surfaced and attacked the nearby city of Nagoya. As Godzilla began to approach the giant incubator Happy Enterprises had constructed around Mothra's egg, which the typhoon also brought to Japan, a group of Japanese citizens convinced Mothra to fly to Japan and fight Godzilla. Using the last of her strength, Mothra protected both her offspring and the country. Repeated blasts from Godzilla's atomic breath were too much for the aging Mothra, and she collapsed onto her egg and died. Godzilla continued on his way, eventually swimming to Iwa Island, where a teacher and her students were trapped. Mothra's twin larvae hatched from their egg and followed him to the island, working together to encase Godzilla in a silken cocoon. Blinded and barely able to move, he fell off of the island and into the sea below. Not long after, Godzilla resurfaced in Tokyo Bay and destroyed a cruise ship with his atomic breath before coming ashore in Yokohama. After seeing Rodan flying overhead, he followed the winged kaiju to Mount Fuji, where they engaged in a protracted battle. With the evil three-headed space monster King Ghidorah laying waste to Tokyo, the surviving Mothra larva attempted to convince Godzilla and Rodan to end their fight and help her drive off Ghidorah. Both monsters initially refused, but after seeing Mothra bravely take on Ghidorah by herself they decided to help her. Together, the three Earth monsters were able to defeat King Ghidorah and force him to retreat back to outer space.

An Xilien UFO brings Godzilla to Planet X in Invasion of Astro-Monster

When astronauts Kazuo Fuji and Glenn visited the newly-discovered Planet X, the native Xiliens informed them that they were constantly under attack by King Ghidorah, or "Monster Zero" as they called him, and requested permission to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan from humanity in the hope that they could once again defeat him. World leaders ultimately agreed, and Xilien UFOs abducted Godzilla from his sleep under Lake Myojin and brought him to Planet X along with Rodan. The two were immediately attacked by King Ghidorah, but worked together to force him to retreat. However, the Xiliens had double-crossed mankind; King Ghidorah was under their control the whole time. Now, they had control over Godzilla and Rodan too and unleashed all three monsters in a bid to conquer Earth. Fortunately, the JSDF used their newly-developed A-Cycle Light Ray Guns to sever the Xiliens' mind control over the monsters, with Tetsuo Torii's Lady Guard alarm being used to weaken the Xiliens so they could be defeated. Once Godzilla regained consciousness, he woke up Rodan and the two attacked King Ghidorah once again. After a short fight, Rodan carried Godzilla through the air and into Ghidorah, causing all three monsters to plummet into the ocean. King Ghidorah flew out of the water and back to outer space moments later, while Godzilla and Rodan were nowhere to be seen. A group of castaways hiding in a cave on Letchi Island from members of the terrorist organization Red Bamboo discovered Godzilla sleeping in a sea cave. With no other conceivable way to fight the terrorists, they made a makeshift lightning rod to awaken Godzilla. When a thunderstorm reached the island, lightning struck the rod and caused Godzilla to awaken and burst from the cave. As he approached the shoreline, he was challenged by Ebirah, the giant crustacean guarding the island's waters. The two initially threw boulders back and forth at each other before Godzilla finally charged into the water to fight his foe up close. While Ebirah held a decided advantage over Godzilla in the water, Godzilla was able to force him to retreat by superheating the water with his atomic breath, practically boiling Ebirah alive. Godzilla returned to Letchi Island and began resting on a hill, only to be attacked by the Giant Condor. Godzilla was able to quickly dispatch the creature with his atomic breath, but was next attacked by a fleet of Red Bamboo fighter jets. Godzilla destroyed them and retaliated by assaulting the Red Bamboo's base of operations, unknowingly arming the nuclear self-destruct countdown for the entire island. Godzilla approached the shore and was confronted by Ebirah once again. While Ebirah managed to drag Godzilla underwater, Godzilla was able to overpower him and bring them both above the surface, after which he tore off both of Ebirah's claws and forced him to flee. Godzilla witnessed Mothra fly overhead and followed her back onto the island, goading her into a fight. As Mothra was only there to rescue the castaways and the Infant Islanders the Red Bamboo had enslaved, she used her wing to knock Godzilla down before escaping with a net holding the captives. Godzilla then escaped the island just before it exploded and began swimming away.

Godzilla and Minilla hibernate in Son of Godzilla

A distress signal coming from an egg left by a member of his species drew Godzilla to Sollgel Island. He arrived just as three Kamacuras cornered the hatchling, Minilla. Godzilla quickly dispatched two of them, causing the third to flee. As Minilla grew, Godzilla decided to take him under his wing and train him to take up his mantle. Minilla accidentally awakened the island's native apex predator, the giant spider Kumonga, during a fight with the last Kamacuras, and Kumonga captured both creatures. Godzilla arrived to rescue his newly-adopted son just before Kumonga could kill him, and the father-son duo worked together to kill the giant spider. As the island began to freeze over as a result of weather controlling experiments carried out by a team of UN scientists, Godzilla attempted to leave the island, only to turn back to comfort Minilla after he had fallen over in the snow. The two monsters then went into hibernation together.

Godzilla, now living with Minilla and other kaiju on Monster Island, appeared in the dreams of young Ichiro Miki, who imagined traveling to the island and befriending Minilla. Ichiro and Minilla witnessed Godzilla fight and defeat Kamacuras, Ebirah, Kumonga, and the Giant Eagle. Godzilla called Minilla over to teach him how to fire his atomic breath. When Ichiro and Minilla devised a way to beat Minilla's bully Gabara, Godzilla arrived to congratulate his son. However, Gabara bit Godzilla on the leg out of spite, enraging him and prompting him to savagely beat Gabara into submission and force him to flee. When the alien creature Hedorah arrived on Earth and began growing in size and power by feeding on manmade pollution, Godzilla confronted its Landing Stage at a port while it was feeding on a smokestack. The monsters fought, destroying the area in the process, before Hedorah fled back into the sea with Godzilla giving chase. Later, Godzilla headed to Fuji City to intercept Hedorah as it spread toxic sulfuric mist through the city in its Flying Stage. Hedorah suffocated Godzilla with a blast of this mist, leaving him gasping for air as the factories around him exploded as a result of chemical reactions caused by the mist. Godzilla followed Hedorah to Mt. Fuji, where it took on its final Perfect Stage, which dwarfed Godzilla himself. In this stage, Hedorah proved too much for Godzilla, horrifically wounding him and leaving him to die. The JSDF tried to dry Hedorah with a Giant Electrode, but the power failed. Fortunately, the wounded Godzilla powered it with his atomic breath. Hedorah's Flying Stage burst from its dried husk and tried to flee, but Godzilla used his atomic breath to take flight and chase it down. Godzilla overpowered Hedorah and dragged it back into range of the Electrode, drying it out once more and tearing it apart to ensure no moisture remained in its body. With Hedorah destroyed, Godzilla weakly returned to the ocean to recover. After overhearing the playing of the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens' "action tapes" from his home on Monster Island and becoming aware of their nefarious plan, Godzilla instructed Anguirus to head to Japan to investigate. When the JSDF, unaware of his intentions, prevented Anguirus from landing, he returned to the island to ask Godzilla for assistance. Both monsters then headed to Tokyo together, where they were confronted by the Nebulans' pawns: Gigan and King Ghidorah. The duo were outmatched once Godzilla came within range of the lasers of the Nebulans' Godzilla Tower, but a group of humans sabotaged the aliens' base in the tower and caused it to explode. As Gigan and Ghidorah awaited orders from their defeated masters, Godzilla used this reprieve to regain his strength. Godzilla and Anguirus used their superior teamwork to overcome both Gigan and King Ghidorah and send them retreating back to space. Godzilla and his friend then returned to Monster Island together.

Godzilla slides on his tail towards Megalon in Godzilla vs. Megalon

An underground nuclear test conducted at Asuka Island in the Aleutians triggered seismic aftershocks which reached Monster Island, tearing it apart. Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus were all caught in the seismic destruction of Monster Island, with Anguirus falling into a fissure. In retaliation for the damage caused by the nuclear test, the underground kingdom of Seatopia sent their guardian monster Megalon to destroy the surface world. The heroic robot Jet Jaguar flew to the ruined Monster Island to ask for Godzilla's help in stopping Megalon, and the King of Monsters obliged and began swimming to Japan. Learning of this, the Seatopians contacted the Nebulans to ask for Gigan's help against him. Jet Jaguar grew to giant size to stall Megalon and Gigan until Godzilla arrived. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar worked together to combat both villainous monsters until Gigan eventually retreated once the odds were no longer in his favor. Godzilla and his ally proceeded to beat up Megalon until the Seatopians recalled him and ended their invasion. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar shook hands, after which Godzilla returned to the sea and departed.

Godzilla befriended the Sakimori family, who were actually refugees from Planet Peaceland which was destroyed by the evil Garoga aliens. The Sakimoris fought to prevent the Garogas from visiting the same fate upon Earth, with Hikaru Sakimori having the ability to transform into the giant hero Zone Fighter to combat their legion of Terror-Beasts. Godzilla often came to Zone Fighter's aid, earning a reputation as the "Monster of Justice."

Godzilla and King Caesar tag-team Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

When a Fake Godzilla emerged from Mt. Fuji and began terrorizing the Japanese countryside, Anguirus surfaced from underground to call for the real Godzilla and alert him to the threat. The impostor savagely beat Anguirus and broke his jaw before the monster finally fled, then attacked Tokyo. Godzilla finally arrived to confront Fake Godzilla, revealing it as the robotic Mechagodzilla. The two monsters fought, with an explosion resulting from their beam attacks clashing in midair blasting Godzilla into Tokyo Bay and damaging Mechagodzilla's head controls. The Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens recalled Mechagodzilla to their base in Okinawa for repairs, while Godzilla came ashore on an island and allowed himself to be struck repeatedly by lightning in order to harness magnetic energy and turn it against his metallic foe. Godzilla later arrived in Okinawa for a rematch with Mechagodzilla, who was locked in battle with the guardian monster King Caesar. While the machine was more than a match for both monsters combined, Godzilla called upon his new magnetic powers to pull it out of the sky and grab it. He and King Caesar then pummeled the helpless machine before Godzilla tore off its head and disabled it. A chain reaction explosion started in the aliens' base caused Mechagodzilla to self-destruct, blasting Godzilla into the sea. However, he triumphantly resurfaced shortly thereafter before swimming away. When the dinosaur monster Titanosaurus attacked Tokyo under the command of the deranged Dr. Shinzo Mafune, Godzilla arrived to confront him. Both monsters exchanged blows until Mafune, reacting to a soldier shooting his daughter Katsura, turned off his control device. The normally meek Titanosaurus withdrew, much to Godzilla's confusion. Titanosaurus later returned to destroy Tokyo, accompanied by the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens' rebuilt Mechagodzilla 2. Godzilla took on both monsters, but was outmatched and swiftly beaten unconscious and buried alive in a ravine. Fortunately, INTERPOL used a sonic wave oscillator to incapacitate Titanosaurus, with Godzilla emerging from his grave to deal with Mechagodzilla. Godzilla once again beheaded his mechanical duplicate, but this time Mechagodzilla had a laser-firing apparatus installed under its head which it used to blast Godzilla repeatedly. Katsura, now housing Mechagodzilla's controller inside her cybernetic body, sacrificed her life to shut it down, allowing Godzilla to destroy it once and for all. He then destroyed the aliens' fleeing UFOs and dispatched the helpless Titanosaurus before triumphantly returning to the sea.

Godzilla, Anguirus, and Gorosaurus maul King Ghidorah in Destroy All Monsters

By the end of the 20th century, humanity had contained Godzilla and the other monsters of Earth on Monsterland in the Ogasawara Islands. After the Kilaak aliens gassed the island and took control of its inhabitants, they Godzilla to attack New York City. He later appeared alongside Manda, Rodan, and Mothra to assault Tokyo. Next, they recalled him to the Mt. Fuji area to guard their base from a military assault with Rodan and Anguirus. The crew of the Moonlight SY-3 assaulted the Kilaaks' Moon base and destroyed their mind-control device, allowing humanity to give orders to the monsters from the Monsterland base instead. Godzilla led his fellow monsters in an assault on the Kilaaks' Mt. Fuji base, but they were confronted by the aliens' trump card: King Ghidorah. Working together primarily with Minilla, Anguirus, and Gorosaurus, Godzilla finally killed his arch-nemesis once and for all, with Mothra and Kumonga encasing his carcass in silk and webbing. The Kilaaks unleashed a burning UFO to destroy the humans' control device on Monsterland, but even without humanity's direction, Godzilla still recognized his enemy and destroyed the Kilaaks' base. He and his cohorts then returned to Monsterland to continue living in peace.

Godzilla (1978-1979)

Godzilla fires his eye lasers in Godzilla

With the Godzilla series' on hiatus following the disappointing box office returns of 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, Hanna-Barbera, Toho, and Benedict Pictures collaborated to bring Godzilla to television screens in animated form for the first time. The animated series, simply titled Godzilla, began airing in the United States on NBC in 1978. Due to television standards and practices at the time, the show was forced to abstain from showing Godzilla causing destruction, instead portraying him as a friendly and heroic monster akin to his depiction in the most recent films at the time. Godzilla was slightly redesigned, bearing the stereotypical green color he was often associated with outside of Japan, despite never being green in any of his film appearances to that point. His blue atomic breath was also replaced with an orange fire breath, and he could also now fire red laser beams from his eyes. His trademark roar was absent as well, with actor Ted Cassidy providing the monster's vocalizations instead.

After the crew of the research boat Calico discovered Godzilla's young cousin Godzooky trapped in a coral reef and rescued him, they earned the friendship of Godzilla himself. As the Calico crew traveled the world to investigate attacks by giant monsters, they gained the ability to call Godzilla to their aid whenever they were in danger.

Heisei era

The Heisei series marked Godzilla's return to the big screen after almost an entire decade's absence, as well as a transition between the reign of the Showa Emperor Hirohito to that of his son Akihito, now dubbed the Heisei Emperor. After several failed attempts to revive the Godzilla series, Toho finally produced the sixteenth entry in the franchise, The Return of Godzilla, in 1984. It was a reboot to the series, ignoring all previous films except for the original 1954 film. Despite being released during the Showa era (as the Heisei era did not begin until 1989), The Return of Godzilla is considered the first entry of the Heisei series, due to sharing continuity with all of the films in the Heisei series which succeeded it and the nine-year gap between it and the last Showa film, Terror of Mechagodzilla. The Heisei series lasted for seven films and ended with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995.

The Return of Godzilla to Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

Main article: Godzilla (Heisei).

Godzilla feeds on a nuclear reactor in The Return of Godzilla

In 1984, 30 years after the appearance and subsequent destruction of the original Godzilla, a volcanic eruption at Daikoku Island awakened a second, larger, Godzilla. Not long after the eruption, this Godzilla attacked the fishing boat Yahata-Maru V. Any crewmembers not killed in Godzilla's initial attack were subsequently hunted down and killed by Shockirus, a mutated parasitic sea louse that had been feeding on him, save for the sole survivor, Hiroshi Okumura. Newspaper reporter Goro Maki found the derelict ship adrift at sea and rescued Okumura, who reported his story to the authorities. The Japanese government forcibly suppressed Okumura's story to avoid a panic. However, Godzilla attacked a Soviet nuclear submarine in order to feed on its atomic power, prompting the USSR to accuse the Americans of being behind the attack. With nuclear war on the horizon, the Japanese government revealed Godzilla's involvement in the attack to the world. Both the U.S. and USSR intended to test their nuclear arsenals against the King of the Monsters, but the Prime Minister convinced them to stand down. After attacking the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in order to feed on its reactor, Godzilla appeared in Tokyo Bay, annihilating the JSDF fleet assembled along the shore. He damaged the Soviet freighter Balashevo, covertly holding the control device for a nuclear attack satellite, as he swam through the bay, causing the satellite to arm automatically and launch a nuclear missile at Tokyo. Godzilla wandered through the city before being confronted by several N1-00 laser cannons and the advanced hovering warship Super X. The Super X managed to stall Godzilla's heart by firing several cadmium shells down his throat, knocking him unconscious. The American military launched a nuclear missile to intercept the misfired Soviet warhead, detonating it in the atmosphere above Tokyo. However, the radiation from the explosion rained down onto Godzilla, revitalizing him. Enraged, Godzilla destroyed the Super X, but Dr. Makoto Hayashida activated a magnetic transmitter to exploit Godzilla's homing instinct and lure him to Izu Oshima. Once Godzilla was lured to the rim of Mount Mihara's crater, explosive charges inside the volcano detonated, triggering a controlled eruption that caused him to plummet into the molten magma below, sealing him within the crater.

Godzilla battles Biollante at Wakasa Bay in Godzilla vs. Biollante

Five years later, increased seismic activity at Mt. Mihara prompted the JSDF to implement new measures to combat Godzilla should he escape. This included the engineering of Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB), a biological weapon designed to consume the nuclear energy that sustained Godzilla's metabolism and kill him. The rogue American genetic engineering corporation Bio-Major planted bombs at Mt. Mihara and threatened to detonate them unless the ANEB was handed over to them. However, the ransoming was botched by the interference of the Saradian agent known only as SSS9, who stole the ANEB for his government. With no one to defuse them, Bio-Major's bombs detonated on schedule, freeing Godzilla from Mt. Mihara. The JSDF deployed warships and the improved Super X2 to intercept Godzilla, but he defeated the resistance and made his way to Lake Ashi in response to the call of Biollante, a hybrid monster unintentionally created through Dr. Genichiro Shiragami's tampering with his cells. Biollante attacked Godzilla, who retaliated by burning her alive with his atomic breath. Biollante broke apart into spores of energy and escaped, while Godzilla returned to the sea. Anticipating Godzilla's next landing at Ise Bay, the JSDF deployed forces to meet him there, only for him to unexpectedly surface at Osaka Bay instead. The JSDF managed to recover the ANEB and mobilized to infect Godzilla with it as he moved through Osaka. The Super X2 bought the JSDF enough time to fire ANEB-loaded rockets at Godzilla, but the ANEB did not seem to affect him. The JSDF attempted to raise his temperature using MBT-MB92 Maser Cannons and the experimental M6000 T.C. System at Wakasa Bay in order to make the ANEB take effect, but Biollante arrived in an evolved form to take revenge on Godzilla, destroying the JSDFs' units in the process. Biollante's onslaught raised Godzilla's temperature until the ANEB caused him to collapse headfirst into the bay. The water lowered his temperature to the point he regained consciousness and returned to the sea, while Biollante broke apart once again and escaped to outer space.

Godzilla is attacked by Mecha-King Ghidorah in Shinjuku in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

While Godzilla had remained dormant in the Sea of Japan for three years due to his ANEB infection, time-travelers from the year 2204 arrived in 1992 Japan and warned that he would soon return and completely destroy the country. To prevent this, they organized a mission to Lagos Island in 1944, where a Japanese army garrison had witnessed the dinosaur that would be exposed to the Castle Bravo H-bomb test 10 years later and become Godzilla. The Futurians teleported the Godzillasaurus to the bottom of the Bering Sea, but in his place secretly left behind three genetically-engineered creatures called Dorats which would be exposed to the H-bomb in his place, fusing them together into the monster King Ghidorah. The Futurians had lied about Godzilla's return, instead using the opportunity to create their own monster to destroy Japan in the past before it could become a corrupt world superpower by 2204. The Japanese government sent a nuclear submarine to the Bering Sea in a desperate attempt to transform the dinosaur into Godzilla so he could fight King Ghidorah, but were unaware that an earlier Soviet nuclear submarine crash in the Bering Sea had already mutated him in this altered timeline. Godzilla destroyed and fed on the submarine sent by Japan, making him bigger and stronger than ever before. The Futurians sent King Ghidorah to Hokkaido to intercept and kill Godzilla, while Futurian defector Emmy Kano and android M11 helped writer Kenichiro Terasawa assault her comrades' ship MOTHER and sever their control over King Ghidorah. Godzilla managed to turn the tide and blast off Ghidorah's middle head. Emmy and M11 then teleported MOTHER in front of Godzilla, who destroyed it along with the Futurians. Ghidorah tried to flee, but Godzilla blasted out his wings and sent him plummeting into the Sea of Okhotsk. With the powered-up Godzilla now free to destroy Japan unopposed, Emmy and M11 returned to 2204 to salvage the comatose body of King Ghidorah, modifying him into the cybernetic Mecha-King Ghidorah and traveling with him back to 1992 to stop Godzilla from destroying Tokyo. Mecha-King Ghidorah subdued Godzilla and carried him to the ocean, but Godzilla used his atomic breath to disable the cyborg and cause them both to fall into the sea. Godzilla later regained consciousness on the ocean floor and escaped from the lifeless Mecha-King Ghidorah's grasp.

In 1993, a meteor that crashed in the Pacific Ocean awakened both Godzilla and the ancient monster Battra. Godzilla appeared off the coast of the Philippines and attacked a transport carrying Mothra's egg from Infant Island to Japan, forcing the larval Mothra to hatch and fend for herself. The larval Battra arrived as well and attacked Godzilla, with both monsters subsequently disappearing into a volcanic fault on the ocean floor. While both Godzilla and Battra were presumed dead, they simply swam through the molten magma until they reached an emergence point. Godzilla escaped from the erupting crater of Mount Fuji and began approaching Yokohama, where the imago Mothra and Battra had converged to finish their ancient war. Mothra and Battra were forced to put aside their differences and work together to subdue Godzilla. As both monsters carried Godzilla over the sea, Godzilla bit into Battra's throat and fired atomic breath into the wound, killing him. Mothra then dropped both Godzilla and the carcass of Battra into the ocean below.

Revived by Fire Rodan's energy, Godzilla locks his red spiral atomic breath with Super Mechagodzilla's Mega Buster in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Godzilla appeared on Adonoa Island in 1994 in an attempt to recover a Godzillasaurus egg on the island currently being watched over by the giant irradiated Pteranodon Rodan. Godzilla seemingly killed Rodan, but a team of scientists extracted the egg in the confusion. The egg later hatched into an infant Godzillasaurus named BabyGodzilla at an institute in Kyoto, with Godzilla heading there to try and recover him. G-Force's anti-Godzilla superweapon Mechagodzilla intercepted and nearly defeated him, but Godzilla was able to reverse the electrical discharge from Mechagodzilla's shock anchors and short-circuit the machine. The scientists hid Baby in the basement of the institute, rendering Godzilla unable to locate him and causing him to finally give up and return to the sea. G-Force began repairing Mechagodzilla, with studies of BabyGodzilla's anatomy revealing a surprising weakness: Godzillasaurus possessed a secondary brain in its hip region which controlled motor function in its lower body. Since Godzilla and Baby were of the same species, it stood to reason that Godzilla possessed the same weakness. A plan, codenamed "G-Crusher," was set into motion. Baby would be airlifted to the Ogasawara Islands, luring Godzilla there to be killed once Mechagodzilla destroyed his secondary brain, rendering him helpless and unable to move. However, Rodan revived as Fire Rodan and intercepted the transport carrying Baby, forcing Mechagodzilla and the aircraft Garuda into action to stop him. Mechagodzilla mortally wounded Rodan in the Makuhari Bay area, but Godzilla arrived shortly afterward. Mechagodzilla combined with Garuda to form Super Mechagodzilla, which destroyed Godzilla's secondary brain and crippled him. Before Mechagodzilla could finish Godzilla, Baby called to his surrogate brother Rodan to save him. Rodan landed on top of Godzilla and transferred his life force into him, healing his secondary brain and imbuing him with a huge increase in energy. Using his newly acquired red spiral-wrapped atomic ray, Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla. United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center psychic Miki Saegusa used her abilities to tell Baby and Godzilla that Godzilla must take Baby away from civilization. The two monsters understood and departed together.

Godzilla prepares to defend LittleGodzilla from SpaceGodzilla in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

A year later, Godzilla and his newly-adopted son, now grown into the larger LittleGodzilla through exposure to his father's radiation, had taken up residence on Baas Island. The UNGCC was attempting to carry out Project T, a plan to install a psychic transmitter on Godzilla allowing Miki Saegusa to telepathically control him. Meanwhile, G-Force major Akira Yuki was stationed on the island planning to kill Godzilla with a bullet he developed full of blood coagulant. SpaceGodzilla, a malevolent extraterrestrial clone of Godzilla born from his cells being carried into space by either Biollante or Mothra, arrived on the island and threatened LittleGodzilla in a bid to draw out Godzilla. Godzilla came to his son's defense, but was no match for his clone, who knocked him down before trapping Little in a crystal prison. Godzilla pursued SpaceGodzilla to Fukuoka, where he collaborated with G-Force's latest mech, MOGUERA, to defeat him. Godzilla absorbed SpaceGodzilla's runaway cosmic energy and once again called upon his red spiral ray to destroy SpaceGodzilla, the resulting explosion consuming MOGUERA and most of Fukuoka. With his son freed, Godzilla returned to Baas Island.

Burning Godzilla melts down in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

In 1996, uranium deposits under Baas Island ignited, triggering a nuclear explosion that wiped the island off the map and transformed Godzilla into the more powerful Burning Godzilla. Godzilla attacked Hong Kong in a blind rage, after which G-Force determined that the radiation he absorbed from the Baas Island explosion was too much for his internal nuclear reactor in his heart to withstand. According to Kenkichi Yamane, grandson of Dr. Kyohei Yamane, Godzilla would continue to increase in power before ultimately exploding. This explosion would release so much energy that it would cause the Earth's atmosphere to ignite and wipe out all life. Kenkichi argued that the only way to prevent this disaster was to kill Godzilla before he could explode, and that their only hope was to kill him the same way the original Godzilla was killed: with the Oxygen Destroyer. However, Precambrian microbes who had survived in the strata under Tokyo Bay had been mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer's detonation in 1954. The construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line awakened them and drew them to the surface, where they merged into a gigantic monster called Destoroyah. G-Force and the JSDF used the Super X3's cryogenic and cadmium-based weaponry to freeze Godzilla when he appeared in the Bungo Channel to feed on the reactor of the nearby Ikata Nuclear Power Plant. While this brought the fission in Godzilla's heart under control, his heart began breaking down. Kenkichi determined that this would lead Godzilla to undergo a nuclear meltdown, which would also destroy the planet. The only option seemed to be to pit Godzilla against Destoroyah, the living Oxygen Destroyer, in the hope that the new monster would kill him before he could melt down. Miki Saegusa and fellow psychic Meru Ozawa used their powers to draw Godzilla's son, now grown into the sub-adult Godzilla Junior after the Baas Island explosion, to Destoroyah's location in Tokyo so that Godzilla would follow. He arrived after Junior had seemingly managed to beat Destoroyah, necessitating a new plan to freeze Godzilla as he melted down in order to minimize the damage. However, Destoroyah returned in his colossal Perfect Form and killed Junior in front of his father. Enraged, Godzilla battled Destoroyah, with both monsters brutally injuring each other. As Godzilla neared meltdown, he grew in power to the point that Destoroyah could no longer stand against him and attempted to retreat. The JSDF fired its freezer weapons at Destoroyah's wings, causing him to strike the superheated ground and explode. Godzilla began to melt down, but the combination of cryolasers and cadmium shells prevented him from melting into the planet's core. As Godzilla died, he released lethal amounts of radiation into the air that threatened to render Tokyo uninhabitable. However, Junior's lifeless body absorbed the radiation, reviving and transforming him into an adult Godzilla, ready to take up his father's mantle.

Adventure! Godzilland

Godzilla holds hands with Gojirin in Get Going! Godzilland

In 1992, Toho produced a trivia show titled Adventure! Godzilland to promote the upcoming film Godzilla vs. Mothra. The show featured miniature game shows centered around the Godzilla franchise as well as appearances by actors from Godzilla vs. Mothra and even Godzilla himself. The following year, Toho aired a second season of the show titled Adventure! Godzilland 2, which was produced to promote Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. This season was similar to the first, but was notable for including animated segments featuring super-deformed variants of Godzilla and the other kaiju. These animated segments went on to inspire Gakken's Get Going! Godzilland OVAs.

Get Going! Godzilland

In 1994 and 1996, Gakken produced four educational OVAs entitled Get Going! Godzilland, which revolved around a young Godzilla and his friends living together on Monster Island. There, they learn about the hiragana alphabet, counting, addition, and subtraction. In these OVAs, Godzilla has a love interest named Gojirin, a pink female Godzilla with heart-shaped dorsal fins.

Godzilla Island

Godzilla and his allies in Godzilla Island

Although Toho intended their Godzilla series to go on hiatus for ten years following Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla returned in a low-budget television series titled Godzilla Island in 1997, which utilized Bandai action figures and stock footage from previous films to portray the monsters. Godzilla Island returned Godzilla to his heroic role from 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster to 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla; however, unlike in the Showa era, Godzilla was already a hero from the first episode.

In 2097, Godzilla and nine of Earth's monsters found themselves confined to an island in the Pacific Ocean dubbed Godzilla Island. When the Xiliens came to conquer Earth with their horde of evil monsters, Godzilla resisted them with the help of the other monsters and G-Guard's array of mechs.

TriStar Pictures

In 1992, Toho sold the rights to produce an American Godzilla film to Sony Pictures Entertainment, who designated the project to their subsidiary TriStar Pictures. Toho intended for their series to end with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995, and go on hiatus while TriStar released a trilogy of American Godzilla films. After difficulties getting the project off the ground in 1994 due to budget conflicts, TriStar brought in the Indepedence Day team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who completely reimagined Godzilla as an agile and elusive creature similar in appearance to a theropod dinosaur. When Toho ultimately approved TriStar's changes to the character, the studio's film GODZILLA was released theatrically in 1998. Heavily advertised as the must-see film of the year, it was met with considerable backlash, especially among Godzilla fans, who felt the titular creature departed too much from Godzilla's established character. The negative reception led TriStar to scrap the proposed sequel, though an animated series spinoff still aired from 1998 to 2000. Toho saw an opportunity to bring their series out of retirement early with Godzilla 2000: Millennium in 1999, which kickstarted the Millennium series of Godzilla films. When TriStar and Sony allowed their rights to revert back to Toho in 2003, Toho registered TriStar's version of Godzilla as a new character called Zilla, as Shogo Tomiyama claimed it "took the 'God' out of 'Godzilla.'" Zilla debuted in the film Godzilla Final Wars in 2004, and Toho has subsequently declared that any future depictions of TriStar's Godzilla will be under the name Zilla.

GODZILLA (1998)

Main articles: Godzilla (TriStar), Baby Godzilla (TriStar).

Godzilla roars in triumph after conquering a helicopter squadron in GODZILLA (1998)

A French nuclear test conducted in French Polynesia in 1968 irradiated an iguana egg, which hatched into a mutated creature who grew to gigantic size over the course of 30 years. In 1998, the creature attacked the Japanese fishing boat Kobayashi-Maru in order to feed on its haul, then dragged it ashore in Jamaica. Hoping to clean up its own mess, the French government sent Secret Service agent Philippe Roaché to investigate the monster's activity. The sole survivor of the Kobayashi-Maru identified the culprit of the attack as "Gojira," a mythological sea creature. The monster eventually swam to New York City, using the city's subway system to move underground and avoid detection by the military. The military used large amounts of fish to lure the creature above ground, where scientist Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos managed to observe it up close. However, the military's attempt to exterminate the monster failed as it evaded their attacks and escaped. Nick studied a tissue sample left behind by the monster and learned that the creature was capable of asexual reproduction, worrying that it had already nested and reproduced somewhere in the city. Nick's ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds stole Nick's research on the monster and leaked it to the media, who dubbed the beast "Godzilla" after mispronouncing "Gojira." The military engaged Godzilla once again, and seemingly killed him with torpedoes in the East River. The military threw Nick off their task force, but Philippe and the French Secret Service recruited him to help locate and destroy Godzilla's nest. After the team found the nest inside Madison Square Garden, the eggs hatched into hundreds of Baby Godzillas. The humans were able to contact Colonel Anthony Hicks, who called in several fighter jets to destroy the Garden just after they escaped. The adult Godzilla, having actually survived, burrowed up from the street and found the charred carcasses of his young, associating the nearby humans as being responsible. He gave chase after them, but they managed to lure him onto the Brooklyn Bridge, where he became entangled in the suspension cables. Three fighter jets bombarded the trapped Godzilla with missiles until he finally collapsed and died. However, one single egg had survived deep within the ruins of Madison Square Garden, and hatched.

Godzilla: The Series

Main articles: Godzilla (Godzilla: The Series), Cyber Godzilla.

Godzilla perches himself atop the Empire State Building in Godzilla: The Series

Following Godzilla's destruction, Nick received permission from Major Hicks to search the ruins of Madison Square Garden to ensure none of the monster's young had survived. Nick came upon the last surviving egg, which hatched into a Baby Godzilla who imprinted on him. Nick scared the hatchling off rather than let the military find and kill him, and he later returned to Nick's dockside lab as a sub-adult. Nick studied the new Godzilla and determined that he was more intelligent than his father and friendlier to humans, and was also sterile and incapable of reproducing. Another French agent, Monique Dupre, learned of the new Godzilla's presence and informed Hicks about it, resulting in the military confronting and seemingly killing him. However, Godzilla survived and matured into an adult, then appeared in Jamaica to save Nick and his colleagues from Mutant Giant Squids and Crustaceous Rex. Seeing Godzilla's heroics, Hicks decided to spare his life so long as Nick kept him on a leash, so to speak. Godzilla went on to accompany Nick and his humanitarian research outfit H.E.A.T. across the globe to defend innocent people from other, more malevolent, mutations.

In the meantime, the American military brought the original Godzilla's carcass to Sandy Point Military Base for study. The base was eventually infiltrated by the Leviathan Aliens, who revived Godzilla as Cyber Godzilla. Cyber Godzilla used his parental influence to make his son submit to him, allowing the aliens to take control of his mind. The aliens then unleashed both Godzillas along with most of Earth's other mutated monsters in cities around the globe in an attempt to conquer humanity. H.E.A.T. destroyed the aliens' control device at Site Omega, freeing all of the monsters from their control, save for Cyber Godzilla. Godzilla chose the father who raised him over his biological father and attacked Cyber Godzilla, finally destroying him by tearing out his internal mechanisms.

Millennium era

While Toho had intended to place their series on a hiatus following the release of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, which would continue as TriStar Pictures released a planned trilogy of Hollywood Godzilla films, the negative fan response to TriStar's GODZILLA in 1998 prompted them to bring Godzilla out of retirement early. Toho produced the film Godzilla 2000: Millennium in 1999 to take advantage of the new demand to return the Japanese Godzilla to the big screen. This film began the third series of Godzilla films, known as the Millennium series, which ran for six films and ended with Godzilla Final Wars in 2004. The Millennium series is unique in that, unlike previous series, its films do not all share a single continuity, and are usually completely stand-alone, using the original film as a backdrop. Only Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS share continuity. In the leadup to the final entry in the Millennium series, Godzilla Final Wars, which also served as Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, Toho announced that the series would be placed on a ten-year hiatus in order to renew interest.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium

Main article: Godzilla (Godzilla 2000: Millennium).

Godzilla charges a nuclear pulse in order to destroy Orga from the inside in Godzilla 2000: Millennium

With Godzilla being a literal force of nature to Japan, the government's Crisis Control Intelligence Agency (CCI) was tasked with finding ways to combat him, while scientist Yuji Shinoda founded the independent Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) to study him and predict his movements. While CCI head Mitsuo Katagiri was fixated on destroying Godzilla, Shinoda believed Godzilla should be kept alive and studied, albeit contained. On a night where the GPN tracked Godzilla as he came ashore and rampaged through Nemuro, CCI discovered an ancient rock on the ocean floor and raised it to the surface. Godzilla later landed at Tokai to feed on the nuclear power plant there, with the JSDF engaging him. The JSDF mobilized its new Full Metal Missile Launchers, designed specifically to penetrate Godzilla's armored hide, which managed to injure him. As Godzilla prepared to retaliate with his atomic breath, the giant rock took flight and flew to Tokai, where it blasted him into the sea with a plasma cannon fired from a hole on its side. CCI determined that the rock was actually an advanced alien spaceship which they had unwittingly reactivated. The craft's occupants, having converted their bodies into antimatter, were searching for data in order to determine the ideal vessel whose DNA would allow them to take physical form and adapt to Earth's atmosphere. The UFO flew to Tokyo and landed on the City Tower, hacking into all of the city's computers to access data. The aliens broadcasted their intention to establish a thousand-year empire on Earth, but Godzilla landed in Tokyo to seek revenge on the UFO. After a fierce battle, the UFO trapped Godzilla underneath a building then began to absorb the regenerative Organizer G1 substance from his cells. The aliens incorporated the Organizer G1 into their biomass and exited the UFO in a combined form, but had failed to fully parse the Organizer G1 from Godzilla's DNA, causing the collective form to mutate rapidly into a deformed, imperfect clone of Godzilla called Orga. Godzilla freed himself and blasted the unmanned UFO, but was confronted by Orga. The two monsters fought, with Orga possessing an even faster healing factor than Godzilla himself that allowed him to quickly regenerate any damage inflicted on him. Godzilla realized that Orga was attempting to absorb more of his DNA in an attempt to stabilize his form, so Godzilla allowed Orga to begin swallowing him whole. As Orga continued to mutate into a more accurate clone, Godzilla charged and unleashed a devastating nuclear pulse that blew off all of Orga's upper body, after which he collapsed to the ground and disintegrated. Victorious, Godzilla approached a group of onlooking humans on a nearby balcony, all of whom fled except for Katagiri. Katagiri screamed Godzilla's name before the monster killed him by destroying the balcony. Godzilla then began rampaging through the city unopposed.

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

Main article: Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Megaguirus).

Godzilla catches Megaguirus' stinger with his prehensile tail in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

In 1954, Godzilla was roused by nuclear testing and vented his rage on Tokyo, destroying the city in a single night before slipping back into Tokyo Bay. He returned 12 years later in 1966, feeding on the reactor of the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant. The Japanese government outlawed nuclear energy to prevent Godzilla from returning, ultimately developing clean plasma energy as an alternative. However, Godzilla was drawn to a plasma reactor in the new Japanese capital of Osaka in 1996, and slaughtered a group of soldiers who attempted to stop him. By 2001, an elite anti-Godzilla unit of the JSDF called the G-Graspers was researching a sure way to stop Godzilla once and for all. Led by Major Kiriko Tsujimori, a survivor of his 1996 attack bent on revenge, they completed a weapon called the Dimension Tide, which could fire a miniaturized black hole capable of sealing anything caught within it in another dimension for all eternity. The weapon was test-fired in the outskirts of Tokyo, and unbeknownst to the G-Graspers opened a wormhole which allowed a prehistoric Meganula to deposit its egg in the modern day. When Godzilla was sighted at sea, the G-Graspers lured Godzilla onto the island of Kiganjima with the GX-813 Griffon so he could be targeted by the Dimension Tide, which was now mounted on a satellite. However, a swarm of Meganula born from the egg flew to Kiganjima and attacked Godzilla, draining his energy through their stingers. Godzilla killed several of the giant insects and was targeted by the Dimension Tide, which only managed to bury him underground. Godzilla then returned to the sea. The surviving Meganula flew beneath the flooded streets of Shibuya, where they transferred Godzilla's stolen energy into their gigantic queen, who molted into the monstrous Megaguirus. Godzilla was drawn to Tokyo by a plasma reactor that was illegally being concealed in the city, prompting the G-Graspers to confront him in the Griffon. However, Megaguirus appeared to challenge Godzilla and steal the rest of his energy. The two monsters began their deathmatch, with Megaguirus' speed giving her a decided advantage. However, Godzilla managed to anticipate her attack patterns and turn the tide, finally destroying her with a blast of atomic breath. The Dimension Tide, rendered inoperable by interference generated by Megaguirus, began falling out of orbit. Tsujimori flew the Griffon over Godzilla and allowed the Dimension Tide to lock onto it before ejecting to safety. Godzilla blasted the Dimension Tide as it fired and crashed into him, the resulting explosion seemingly wiping him from existence. However, the weapon had once again only succeeded in burying Godzilla underground, and he escaped not long after.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Main article: Godzilla (GMK).

Godzilla battles both Ghidorah and Mothra in Yokohama in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

In 1954, Japan suffered an attack by Godzilla. A scientist invented a chemical weapon that he used to destroy Godzilla, but he died in the process as well and left no way to recreate the weapon. The JSDF claimed credit for the monster's defeat, with the truth being suppressed and only known to a select few. While Japan enjoyed a long period of peace following the attack, a giant monster similar to Godzilla attacked New York City near the end of the 20th century, after which monster sightings skyrocketed around the world. A second Godzilla soon appeared to attack Japan in 2002. According to the prophet Hirotoshi Isayama, Godzilla contained the restless souls of all the lives lost in the Pacific War, and sought vengeance against Japan for its readiness to forget its role in the horrific battles of the war. He claimed that the only way to stop the monster was to awaken the three Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah. Baragon appeared first and challenged Godzilla, but was overpowered and swiftly destroyed by his atomic breath. Godzilla made his way to Tokyo, eventually arriving in Yokohama where the JSDF had set up a final defense line. Mothra and Ghidorah arrived to battle Godzilla in the city, but even their combined efforts could not overcome him. After seemingly dispatching both Guardians, Godzilla prepared to annihilate the JSDF's fleet with his atomic breath, only for Mothra to intercept the blast and be incinerated. Mothra's energy flowed into the unconscious Ghidorah, reviving him as the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon, King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah took flight and blasted Godzilla into Tokyo Bay. After fighting underwater, King Ghidorah flew to the surface and bombarded Godzilla with his gravity beams. However, Godzilla absorbed the beams and combined them with his atomic breath, which destroyed Ghidorah. Ghidorah had succeeded in opening a wound on Godzilla's shoulder which was exploited when Admiral Taizo Tachibana allowed Godzilla to swallow the submersible Satsuma so he could fire a D-03 Missile at the wound from inside his body. The missile opened the wound, causing Godzilla's atomic breath to fire out of the wound whenever he tried to fire it. The Satsuma escaped Godzilla's body just before the pressure from Godzilla's atomic breath built to critical levels and caused him to explode. While Japan celebrated Godzilla's defeat, the monster's disembodied heart began beating continuously at the bottom of the bay.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla to Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Main article: Godzilla (Kiryu Series).

Godzilla stomps on Kiryu's chest in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

In 1954, Godzilla appeared and laid waste to Tokyo before being killed by Dr. Daisuke Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer. In the decades since, giant monsters frequently menaced Japan. The Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) was founded to combat these creatures, making use of advanced weapons such as the space-age Maser Cannons. In 1999, a second Godzilla appeared in Tateyama, with the AMF deploying its new Type 90 Maser Cannons to combat him. However, the weapons had little to no effect on the creature, who easily destroyed them, killing several soldiers in the process. To deal with this latest threat, the Japanese government dredged up the intact skeleton of the original Godzilla from the sea, recruiting a team of brilliant scientists to use it as the basis of a new anti-Godzilla weapon: the cybernetic Kiryu. Kiryu was completed in 2003, and was immediately sent into action against Godzilla. However, Godzilla's roar awakened the spirit of the original Godzilla which was still attached to Kiryu, causing the mecha to go berserk and rampage until his power supply ran out. Repairs were conducted on Kiryu to prevent this from happening again, but Godzilla returned and landed at Shinagawa. The government was forced to deploy Kiryu once again, and he engaged in a fierce battle with Godzilla. Kiryu eventually grabbed Godzilla and flew him into Tokyo Bay before firing his Absolute Zero Cannon. Godzilla surfaced, alive but with a gaping wound in his chest, while Kiryu remained intact but inoperable. While Kiryu failed to kill Godzilla, he managed to drive him away, meaning humanity finally had a weapon able to stand against him.

Only a year later, Mothra's Shobijin appeared to Shinichi Chujo and warned him that the use of the first Godzilla's bones to create Kiryu violated the natural order, meaning they had to be returned to the sea or else Mothra would be forced to declare war on mankind. Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi informed Chujo that he could not afford to scrap the project so long as Godzilla still posed a threat. Godzilla soon landed in Tokyo once again, with Mothra facing him herself. The AMF deployed Kiryu to assist her, with Mothra's newborn twin larvae arriving to support them both. Godzilla knocked Kiryu out of commission and killed the adult Mothra, but the larvae distracted Godzilla long enough for Chujo's grandson Yoshito to repair Kiryu. The mech exploited the unhealed wound on Godzilla's chest in order to defeat him, with the Mothra larvae trapping him in a silken cocoon. The AMF ordered Kiryu to finish the helpless Godzilla, but the original Godzilla's spirit took control of the machine once again and decided to spare Godzilla, carrying him to the Japan Trench and submerging himself along with him.

Godzilla Final Wars

Main article: Godzilla (Godzilla Final Wars).

Minilla convinces Godzilla to end his war with humanity in Godzilla Final Wars

In 1954, Godzilla first emerged to menace humanity as retaliation for its reckless testing of nuclear weapons which disturbed his ancient slumber. The international community put aside its differences following decades of warfare and joined together to form the Earth Defense Force (EDF) in order to battle Godzilla and the other kaiju who appeared in his wake. While the EDF found success against the other kaiju, it could never defeat Godzilla until a fateful confrontation in Antarctica. Godzilla destroyed the EDF's battalion of tanks and Type 90 Maser Cannons, but the flying warship Gotengo managed to open a fault in the ice which Godzilla fell into, after which he was buried by an avalanche created by the ship's missiles. The EDF constructed a facility known as Area G around Godzilla's icy prison, and humanity enjoyed a 20-year period of relative peace after this battle. However in 20XX, an alien race known as the Xiliens took control of the planet's kaiju and unleashed them in major cities across the globe in a bid to conquer the Earth and enslave humanity. With their forces depleted and hopelessly outmatched, surviving remnants of the EDF took command of the upgraded New Gotengo and freed Godzilla from Area G. Godzilla was immediately met by the Xiliens' own cybernetic monster Gigan, but he beheaded the creature with a blast of his atomic breath. The Gotengo led Godzilla around the world, as he defeated the mind-controlled Zilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Anguirus, Rodan, King Caesar, Hedorah, and Ebirah in succession. When Godzilla reached Tokyo, the Xiliens unleashed their trump card: Monster X. Godzilla and Monster X were evenly matched until the Xiliens sent the repaired Modified Gigan to turn the odds in their favor. Fortunately, Mothra arrived to even the odds and took Gigan out of the fight in a suicide attack. The crew of the Gotengo boarded the Xilien Mothership and defeated the Xiliens, after which the ship self-destructed. Monster X then transformed into the even more powerful Keizer Ghidorah, who quickly overpowered Godzilla. As Keizer Ghidorah began draining Godzilla's energy, the mutant Shinichi Ozaki used the GotengoTemplate:'s Maser Cannon to imbue Godzilla with a surge of his own Keizer energy, which allowed him to triumph and destroy Keizer Ghidorah. However, Godzilla immediately shot down the Gotengo with his atomic breath and prepared to finish its crew. Just in time, his son Minilla arrived and convinced him to stand down and end his war with mankind. Godzilla and Minilla then departed to the sea together.

Always: Sunset on Third Street 2

Main article: Godzilla (Always: Sunset on Third Street 2).

Godzilla in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2

Godzilla made a cameo appearance in the 2007 Toho film Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 as a character in one of Ryunosuke Chagawa's stories. In this story, Chagawa imagined Godzilla attacking Tokyo, even blasting Tokyo Tower in two with his atomic breath, and wiping out Norifumi Suzuki's car dealership, much to Suzuki's anger. Suzuki challenged Godzilla for destroying his business, and Godzilla roared back. Back in reality, a young boy named Junnosuke interrupted Chagawa, telling him that Godzilla was already a real character and couldn't be used in the story, so the author decided to start anew.

MonsterVerse

Godzilla's decade-long hiatus finally ended in 2014 with the release of Hollywood studio Legendary Pictures' Godzilla. The film was successful enough to inspire the greenlighting of two sequels, with Legendary then expanding the concept into an entire cinematic universe dubbed the MonsterVerse which would bring together Godzilla and King Kong for the first time since 1962. The MonsterVerse continued with Kong: Skull Island in 2017, which introduced a new incarnation of Kong. Godzilla: King of the Monsters, featuring Godzilla's classic co-stars Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, followed in 2019. In 2021, Godzilla clashed with Kong once again along with classic foe Mechagodzilla in the crossover film Godzilla vs. Kong. A fifth entry in the MonsterVerse, currently known only by the working title Origins, is in development, though it is still unknown whether Godzilla will have any role in it. Godzilla is confirmed to be appearing in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Monarch, an interquel set between the events of Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while Kong is set to star in an animated series called Skull Island. In addition, Godzilla appears in three graphic novels set within the continuity of the MonsterVerse: Godzilla: Awakening, Godzilla: Aftershock, and Godzilla Dominion.

Godzilla (2014) to Godzilla vs. Kong

Main article: Godzilla (MonsterVerse).

Godzilla roars victoriously while holding the female MUTO's head in Godzilla (2014)

During the Permian Period, Godzilla was an apex predator who maintained balance over the primordial ecosystem, deriving sustenance from the plentiful atmospheric radiation bombarding the Earth's surface. His natural enemies included the parasitic Shinomura and MUTOs. When a meteor struck the planet during a battle between Godzilla and Shinomura, it triggered a mass extinction that forced Godzilla and other Titans like him to retreat deep underground in order to absorb geothermal energy from the planet's core in the absence of the once-plentiful radiation on the surface. While all other known members of his species eventually perished, Godzilla himself persisted for eons, forming a symbiotic relationship with the ancient human civilization that once inhabited the Hollow Earth, who saw him as a god. Godzilla defended these humans from threats, and in exchange they provided him with a sanctuary within one of their cities where he could rest and continuously feed on the radiation present there. When the evil extraterrestrial three-headed dragon King Ghidorah invaded the Earth, Godzilla joined forces with Mothra, an immortal and benevolent insect Titan who shared a symbiotic bond with him, in order to stop the wicked creature. Godzilla eventually clashed with Ghidorah in Antarctica, triumphing and sealing his nemesis beneath the ice. Godzilla also waged war with a species of huge ape Titans in the Hollow Earth, eventually triumphing and driving them to Skull Island. While the Hollow Earth civilization eventually vanished, Godzilla continued to inhabit the home they built for him, surfacing only occasionally and being witnessed by select groups of humans, inspiring numerous myths.

In 1945, both Godzilla and Shinomura were drawn to the surface by the huge amount of radiation released by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Godzilla spent the next decade hunting his ancient foe, which threatened to disrupt the natural order as it grew in size and power. The United States and Japanese governments formed a task force called Monarch to study and search for Godzilla and Shinomura and keep their existences a secret from the world at large. In 1954, Monarch, in collaboration with the American military, lured Godzilla and Shinomura ashore at Bikini Atoll, where they detonated a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb, presented to the world as a "test" dubbed Castle Bravo. While Shinomura was vaporized by the blast, Godzilla survived and returned to his ancient rest now that the threat was eliminated. Monarch continued its mission after this event, but struggled to maintain relevance and secure funding until a fateful mission to Skull Island in 1973. After this, it resumed searching for and studying Titans, including Godzilla.

In 1999, miners in the Philippines unwittingly unearthed the tomb of the ancient Titan once known as Dagon, releasing the parasitic larval male MUTO which had been gestating in his carcass. The MUTO burrowed his way to the nuclear power plant in Janjira, Japan, attaching himself to its reactor and forming a chrysalis around it. Monarch evacuated and quarantined the city, claiming that it contained lethal levels of radiation, in order to contain and study the MUTO. In 2014, the MUTO finished feeding on the reactor and escaped, making his way to Honolulu. Godzilla emerged and confronted him at the Honolulu International Airport, proving to the world at large that monsters existed. The MUTO escaped, but Godzilla continued to pursue him toward the American mainland, where the MUTO's female counterpart had escaped from her dormant spore being stored in the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. Godzilla battled both MUTOs in San Francisco in an attempt to stop them from reproducing, and eventually triumphed after a grueling battle. However, their death awakened their parent, MUTO Prime, who sought out Godzilla so that it could infect him with more of its parasitic young as it had done to Dagon long ago. Godzilla was badly injured over the course of several encounters and nearly killed in his final battle with the creature in Nevada, but Monarch's interference stalled MUTO Prime long enough for Godzilla to seize the opportunity and kill it.

Godzilla roars victoriously as the other Titans submit to him in Godzilla: King of the Monsters

While Godzilla was not seen publicly for five years, Monarch kept tabs on him during this time, establishing an underwater outpost in his territory in the Bermuda Triangle to study him. Godzilla approached the outpost unexpectedly and flashed an intimidation display before abruptly swimming toward Antarctica, where eco-terrorist Alan Jonah and Monarch defector Dr. Emma Russell were working to awaken all of the dormant Titans, starting with King Ghidorah. Godzilla was too late to prevent his ancient nemesis' awakening, and was forced to do battle with him in Antarctica. However, Ghidorah flew away and disappeared within a tropical storm. Godzilla followed Ghidorah to the waters around Isla de Mara, Mexico, where Ghidorah fought and defeated the recently-awakened Rodan. Godzilla dragged Ghidorah underwater and tore off his left head, but was prevented from finishing him by the military's ill-advised use of the Oxygen Destroyer in an attempt to kill them both. Godzilla was severely weakened by the weapon and retreated to his lair to recover, while Ghidorah was unaffected and quickly regenerated his missing head before awakening all of the still-dormant Titans and bending them to his will. Mothra led Monarch to Godzilla's lair, where Dr. Ishiro Serizawa sacrificed his life to detonate a nuclear warhead that revitalized Godzilla. Godzilla and Mothra confronted Ghidorah and Rodan, who was now serving him after his defeat, in Boston. While Mothra incapacitated Rodan, Ghidorah nearly killed Godzilla before Mothra was forced to sacrifice her life to protect him. Godzilla absorbed Mothra's energy, and used the reprieve Emma Russel sacrificed her life to give him to transform into the empowered Burning Godzilla. Burning Godzilla swiftly vaporized Ghidorah, and after he returned to his normal state he found himself surrounded by Ghidorah's former Titan pawns. However, each Titan submitted to Godzilla, accepting him as the new alpha Titan.

Godzilla roars into Kong's face after defeating him in Godzilla vs. Kong

In the time after Ghidorah's defeat, Godzilla worked to maintain order among the newly-awakened Titans as he searched for a new home. Godzilla stopped a confrontation between Scylla and the U.S. Coast Guard, drove the invading Amhuluk from Behemoth's territory, and rescued Na Kika from pirates. Godzilla eventually found an old lair in the Hollow Earth he had previously been driven from by an ancient rival, but was confronted by its new occupant: Tiamat. Godzilla defeated Tiamat and forced her to withdraw, claiming the lair as his new home. Before he could rest, he set out to return each Titan to their ancient rest.

In 2024, Godzilla sensed the construction of a robotic Titan meant to replace him by Apex Cybernetics. In response, he attacked Apex's facility in Pensacola, Florida, prompting humanity to believe he had turned against them. Apex organized a mission with Monarch to travel into the Hollow Earth and recover an energy source capable of powering Apex's weapon. As Kong was being transported by a naval fleet so that he could lead the expedition through the Hollow Earth, Godzilla attacked him in the Tasman Sea. Godzilla nearly drowned Kong before the fleet used depth charges to disorient him. Godzilla eventually left once he deemed Kong no longer a threat, and was later drawn to Hong Kong after sensing the activation of Apex's artificial Titan: Mechagodzilla. Godzilla reached the heart of the city and burrowed into an ancient temple in the Hollow Earth, where Kong and the expedition had located the energy source. Kong climbed to Hong Kong and engaged in a rematch with Godzilla, which Godzilla ultimately won. When Apex activated Mechagodzilla with the new energy, it unexpectedly went berserk due to its use of Ghidorah's surviving skull as a neural processor. Mechagodzilla freed itself and entered Hong Kong, fighting and nearly killing Godzilla. However, Kong was revived by a group of humans and entered the fight on Godzilla's side. Together, both Titans destroyed Mechagodzilla and peacefully went their separate ways.

Reiwa era

Following the success of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Toho announced a new Japanese reboot to the series titled Shin Godzilla that would be released in 2016, in between Legendary's 2014 film and its 2019 sequel. The film, co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, was released in Japanese theaters on July 29, 2016. It is not connected to the MonsterVerse, marking the first time two individual Godzilla film series have been in progress at the same time. The film is notable for being the first Toho Godzilla film to portray Godzilla entirely through CGI. It also launched the Shin series, a series of reboots of famed Japanese science fiction series, all produced with Anno as the director and/or screenwriter. After the film's release, Toho collaborated with animation studio Polygon Pictures to produce a trilogy of animated Godzilla films in 2017 and 2018, which were accompanied by two prequel novels written by Renji Oki. While counted along with Shin Godzilla as part of the Reiwa series, the GODZILLA anime trilogy does not share continuity with the film. The web series Godziban and I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla were both released during the Reiwa era, as was the Netflix Original anime series Godzilla Singular Point.

Shin Godzilla

Main article: Godzilla (Shin Godzilla).

Godzilla unleashes his atomic breath in Tokyo in Shin Godzilla

In the 1950s, a prehistoric marine animal which had managed to survive into the modern day began feeding on barrels of nuclear waste which were illegally dumped into Tokyo Bay by the United States. Eventually, Japanese biology professor Goro Maki discovered the creature, which had adapted and mutated to withstand the radiation. Recognizing the incredible potential power of the creature, Maki gave it the name "Godzilla," which meant "incarnation of god" in the local dialect of his home on Odo Island. After decades of rapid self-mutation, Godzilla damaged the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line and swam up the Tama River before coming ashore in an amphibious second form in the neighborhood of Kamata. Godzilla made his way through Kamata and into Shinagawa, crushing cars and toppling over buildings as he moved. The JSDF scrambled attack choppers to deal with the monster, who evolved again into an upright third form. However, the presence of civilians in the area forced the choppers to stand down, allowing the overheating Godzilla to flee back into the bay to cool himself. Godzilla later came ashore in Kamakura, grown into a towering fourth form. As he made his way to Tokyo once more, a defense line was erected to stop him. However, their weapons had no effect, and the monster marched to the heart of the city. The U.S. military deployed B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to attack Godzilla with bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, but they only served to enrage the monster, who retaliated by expelling his internal atomic energy in the form of an atomic ray from his mouth and several beams shooting into the sky from his back. After destroying the bombers and much of Tokyo, Godzilla entered a state of suspended animation in order to replenish his nuclear power. Analysis of Godzilla's tissue which had been severed in the attack revealed that the monster possessed an incredible capacity for regeneration, so strong in fact that his severed tissue could potentially reanimate and grow into functioning creatures, overrunning the world with a progeny of Godzillas. Furthermore, Godzilla's capacity for self-mutation meant he could take on even more dangerous forms, potentially sprouting wings capable of intercontinental flight and allowing him to spread around the world. The United Nations Security Council opted to call for a nuclear strike on the still-dormant Godzilla in the heart of Tokyo, but a ragtag team of bureaucrats and scientists developed an alternate plan to force Godzilla to ingest a blood coagulant which would shut down his internal cooling system and force him to perform a reactor scram to stay alive. The plan, codenamed Operation Yashiori, was approved and put into motion just before the countdown was about to expire on the nuclear strike. Unmanned train bombs rammed into Godzilla to awaken him, while drones lent by the U.S. military fired at him and forced him to expel his atomic energy. Surrounding skyscrapers were destroyed with bombs, pinning Godzilla to the ground where trucks pumped the blood coagulant into his mouth. Godzilla rose back to his feet, but was floored again by more train bombs, allowing trucks to force the rest of the coagulant down his throat. Godzilla got back to his feet, roared, and promptly froze solid. While Operation Yashiori was a success, the UN warned that the countdown to the nuclear strike would resume as soon as Godzilla thawed and resumed movement. As Godzilla stood frozen in the ruins of Tokyo, multiple humanoid fifth forms were seen frozen in the midst of fissioning from the tip of his tail.

GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters to GODZILLA: The Planet Eater

Godzilla destroys Paris in GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters

Main articles: Godzilla Earth, Godzilla Filius.

In 2030, over three decades after kaiju first began appearing around the world and terrorizing mankind, Godzilla landed on the west coast of the United States, quickly establishing himself as the most powerful and dangerous kaiju to date. Godzilla not only fought and killed many other kaiju, but devastated human civilization as he proved completely immune to even the most advanced weaponry. The United Earth, even supported by the superior weaponry of the Exif and Bilusaludo aliens, could not find a way to harm the creature. The United Earth began constructing its ultimate weapon: a huge robot in Godzilla's image dubbed Mechagodzilla. The United Earth used the monster Gigan to lure Godzilla deeper inland to buy time for Mechagodzilla's completion, until he was eventually trapped in an artificial fault in China. Godzilla escaped from his premature earthen tomb and escaped to the sea before resurfacing in Japan in 2046. Godzilla made his way to Mechagodzilla's development facility at the foot of Mount Fuji and engaged in a decisive final confrontation with the United Earth. Mechagodzilla failed to activate during the battle, and was lost when Godzilla destroyed the facility with his atomic breath. In the wake of this crushing defeat, the United Earth turned to its plan of last resort, evacuating 15,000 selected refugees aboard the interstellar emigration ships Oratio and Aratrum in 2048, which would search for new homes on the planets Kepler-452b and Tau Ceti e. Before the Aratrum could take off from its landing pad in Rio de Janeiro, Godzilla appeared and shot down a Landing Ship, but a nuclear strike bought the Aratrum enough time to take off with its 5,000 passengers.

Godzilla Filius charges his atomic breath moments before exploding in GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters

After 20 years of space travel, contact was lost with the Oratio while the Aratrum's new destination of Tau-e was found to be uninhabitable. With no way to sustain the remaining passengers long-term, the Aratrum's Central Committee voted to use the ship's experimental warp drives to return to Earth. The vengeful young Captain Haruo Sakaki, who blamed Godzilla for the deaths of his parents when he was a child, proposed a plan to destroy Godzilla and allow humanity to retake the Earth. The operation was put into action, but when the landing troops arrived on the surface they found that approximately 20,000 years had passed in their absence and that the planet's flora and fauna had mutated to serve Godzilla. Despite some difficulties caused by the winged Servum which inhabited the new environment, the United Earth forces executed Haruo's plan and destroyed a smaller subspecies of Godzilla called Godzilla Filius, which they mistook for the actual Godzilla. After Filius' destruction, the now 300-meter-tall Godzilla Earth erupted from underground and effortlessly wiped out the United Earth's forces. The few soldiers who did survive were taken in by the indigenous Houtua tribe, the descendants of the humans left on Earth who were protected from extinction by Mothra. The Bilusaludo soldiers Mulu-elu Galu-gu and Rilu-elu Belu-be learned that the Houtua crafted their weapons from Nanometal, the autonomous metal substance used to create Mechagodzilla. They traveled to the metal's source at the former site of Mechagodzilla's development plant, only to find that Mechagodzilla's carcass had recreated the entire facility from its own Nanometal. Haruo and Galu-gu prepared Mechagodzilla City to carry out his anti-Godzilla operation on a large enough scale to destroy the larger Godzilla Earth. Using upgraded Powered Suits called Vultures, Haruo, Yuko Tani, and Belu-be lured Godzilla toward the city where he was trapped in a pool of liquid Nanometal. Rather than explode like Filius did after being overloaded by electromagnetic energy from Mechagodzilla City's EMP Harpoons, Godzilla converted the excess energy into heat. Haruo realized that if they were to kill Godzilla, Mechagodzilla City's Nanometal would spread unchecked across the globe, assimilating all life. When Galu-gu refused to stop the Nanometal's encroachment, Haruo regretfully destroyed him along with the City's control center, allowing Godzilla to immolate it with his atomic breath.

Godzilla Earth is attacked by Ghidorah in GODZILLA: The Planet Eater

The Exif archbishop Metphies presented Haruo as a messianic figure to the surviving members of the United Earth for his resistance to the Nanometal, in reality a bid to amass support in order to summon the Exif God: Ghidorah. The plan succeeded, and the extradimensional monster emerged from a singularity in the atmosphere and promptly destroyed the Aratrum, killing all aboard. Ghidorah next turned his attention to Godzilla, who found that he could not fight back due to his enemy's intangibility. Haruo learned that once Ghidorah eliminated Godzilla, he would consume the entire planet. Metphies used his telepathy to try and force Haruo to give into Ghidorah, but Martin and the Houtua priestess Maina called upon Mothra to intervene and help Haruo resist. Haruo managed to shatter the Garbetrium bead in Metphies' eye that he was using to guide Ghidorah, after which the creature became subject to this dimension's physics. Godzilla promptly banished Ghidorah back to the void from whence he came. Months later, Haruo came to the conclusion that so long as his thirst for vengeance and humanity's desire to resist Godzilla remained, the cycle of violence that nearly resulted in its extinction would continue. Haruo flew the Vulture containing the last traces of Nanometal at Godzilla, who used his atomic breath to destroy it. The surviving humans then integrated with the Houtua, and were able to coexist with Godzilla.

Godziban

Main article: Godzilla-kun.

Godzilla-kun with his brothers Minilla and Little in Godziban

A family of monsters called the Godzilla Clan lived on Gojigoji Island alongside the rest of Earth's monsters. Godzilla-kun, the island's protector and the eldest of the Three Godzilla Brothers, was left in charge of his younger brothers Minilla and Little after his father and mother, Taigo and Mirei, departed on a quest to save the Earth and never returned. In the time since, Godzilla-kun focused his time on teaching his brothers all the important monster skills they would need to become great Godzillas like their parents. Also living on the island were the elderly mage and family patriarch Grandpa Zilla, the brothers' gigantic Uncle Zilla and his son Kamachi, and Godzilla-kun's friendly childhood rival Kingoji-kun, who left the island for a time on a training quest.

I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Main article: Chibi Godzilla.

Chibi Godzilla in I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Young Chibi Godzilla, not yet grown into the King of the Monsters he would become, lived as the roommate of a woman named Satomi. As Satomi struggled to make ends meet at her job, she would frequently be encouraged and cheered up by Chibi Godzilla and his friends Chibi Rodan, Chibi Mothra, and Chibi Ghidorah.

Godzilla Singular Point

Main article: Godzilla (Godzilla Singular Point).

Godzilla Ultima battles Jet Jaguar in Tokyo in Godzilla Singular Point

An apocalyptic beast from another dimension prophesized to bring about the world once the seas turn red in an event called the Catastrophe, Godzilla attacked a fishing village in Misakioku during World War II before being killed through unknown means, with most records of the attack later being lost. Scientist Michiyuki Ashihara discovered Godzilla's skeleton and hid it in a basement, where he and members of the mysterious SHIVA.consortium studied it and the signal it emitted in the form of the Indian folk song "ALAPU UPALA." Ashihara later disappeared, but SHIVA continued its investigation into Godzilla's skeleton and the Catastrophe. In 2030, other monsters from the same dimension as Godzilla began emerging through a singularity and entering this reality. While the relatively small Rodan and Anguirus were eventually killed, a second Godzilla destroyed a nuclear submarine in his aquatic form called Godzilla Aquatilis before following schools of Manda to Tokyo Bay. Godzilla metamorphosed into Godzilla Amphibia and came ashore in Tokyo, with the JSDF attacking him. He formed an armored cocoon and emerged from it as Godzilla Terrestris and began terrorizing the city, killing a huge Rodan in the process. Eventually, he attained his massive final form, Godzilla Ultima, obliterating the JSDF's units and incinerating the heart of the city with his atomic breath. In the process, Godzilla emitted the extradimensional energy known as Archetype, terraforming the city around him and bending space and time. Brilliant college student Mei Kamino traveled to SHIVA headquarters in India with her A.I. companion Pelops II, and working with Bearach "BB" Byrne and his daughter Lina, deciphered the clues left behind by Ashihara and the code needed to activate a weapon called the Orthagonal Diagonalizer. Members of the Otaki Factory brought their robot Jet Jaguar into the besieged Tokyo and recovered the OD in order to use it against Godzilla. Engineer Yun Arikawa and Jet Jaguar reached Godzilla, after which Jet Jaguar attained gigantic size to fight the monster. Wielding the OD, Jet Jaguar activated it as Godzilla destroyed him, transforming all of Godzilla's Archetype into blue crystals and causing him to disappear.

In the aftermath of Godzilla's defeat, the SHIVA.consortium were in the process of transforming the first Godzilla's skeleton into a cyborg called Robogodzilla.

King Kong

History

RKO films

The character of King Kong was conceived by Merian C. Cooper, who licensed his idea to RKO Radio Pictures. RKO released King Kong, directed by Cooper, in 1933. The film was a huge success and would later become one of the most famous and influential motion pictures of all time. Its success led to RKO quickly greenlighting a sequel, Son of Kong, which was made by much of the same filmmaking crew and released later the same year. This lower-budgeted sequel was not the success its predecessor was, and another film based on Kong would not be produced until almost three decades later.

King Kong (1933)

Main article: King Kong (RKO).

King Kong confronts a biplane atop the Empire State Building in King Kong (1933)

King Kong was worshiped as a god-like figure by the natives of the remote Skull Island, who were the remnants of a once-great civilization which once ruled the island and built the ruins inside their village and the huge wall surrounding it. To appease Kong, the natives would select a "bride" to sacrifice to him, performing a wedding ritual before tying her to a post just outside the wall where Kong would find and carry her off to the interior of the island. An American film crew led by enterprising director Carl Denham eventually landed on the island to film his latest picture, catching the natives in the midst of a wedding ritual. Though the chief and witch doctor were initially angered by the intrusion, they were struck by the beauty of the crew's leading lady Ann Darrow, believing she would make a perfect offering to Kong. When the crew refused, the natives used canoes to head to their docked ship, the Venture, under cover of nightfall and abduct Ann. Ann was offered to Kong, who emerged from the jungle to claim his new bride. The Venture crew pursued the giant ape in an attempt to rescue Ann, but were forced to contend with the other monstrous prehistoric beasts inhabiting the island. Hearing the crew continuing to pursue him, Kong set Ann down in a tree before confronting them as they tried to cross a chasm on a falling log. Kong twisted the log and caused all of the crew members to fall to their deaths in the pit below, save for Denham and Venture first mate Jack Driscoll. A huge meat-eating dinosaur attempted to prey on Ann while Kong was away, but Kong returned just in time to fight the beast, killing it by breaking its jaws. Kong brought Ann to his mountain lair, where he was attacked by an Elasmosaurus and later a Pteranodon. During Kong's battle with the latter creature, Jack rescued Ann and escaped with her back to the native village. After dispatching the pterosaur, Kong pursued the two to the village, tearing down the gate in a blind frenzy and rampaging through the village before being subdued by a gas bomb thrown by Denham. Denham brought Kong to New York City to be displayed on Broadway, but he escaped from his chrome steel bindings and escaped, tearing through the city before finding and abducting Ann once again. After destroying a train, Kong scaled the Empire State Building, where he was met by a squadron of Curtiss F8C Helldiver biplanes. The planes' gunfire mortally wounded Kong, who fell from the building's summit to his death on the street below. As crowds gathered around Kong's bloodied carcass, Denham somberly remarked that "It was beauty, killed the beast."

Son of Kong

Main article: Kiko.

Kiko in Son of Kong

Beset by lawsuits and facing criminal charges for the damage wrought by Kong, Denham fled New York City aboard the Venture once again with Captain Englehorn and the ship's loyal cook Charlie. Following a mutiny by the new crew, the trio ended up on Skull Island once again, accompanied by disgraced Captain Nils Helstrom and stowaway Hilda Petersen. There, they encountered Kong's friendly albino son Kiko, rescuing him from a pit of quicksand. Grateful for Denham's help, Kiko defended him and Hilda from a giant cave bear and a dragon and helped them recover the island's hidden treasure. When an earthquake struck the island and caused it to begin sinking into the ocean, Kiko sacrificed his life to save Denham.

Toho films

Willis O'Brien, famed stop motion animator on the original King Kong, conceived of a story pitting Kong against a giant creature created from assembled animal body parts built by Victor Frankenstein's grandson. O'Brien contacted independent producer John Beck to help him pitch the story to studios, with Japanese studio Toho ultimately being interested. However, Toho preferred to replace the giant Frankenstein creature as Kong's foe with their own monster, Godzilla, currently on hiatus following the release of Godzilla Raids Again in 1955. Toho negotiated with RKO for the rights to Kong and produced King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962, though O'Brien was cut out of the deal completely and received no notice or compensation. The film was wildly successful both in Japan and abroad, inspiring the development of an animated series featuring Kong co-produced by Rankin/Bass and Toei. Toho was contacted once again to produce a live action film adaptation of the cartoon, with its initial attempt tentatively titled Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah. When Rankin/Bass rejected this story, it was repackaged as the Godzilla film Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, with Toho instead producing the more faithful King Kong Escapes in 1967. Though Toho's rights to the character expired after the release of this film, it used the Kong suit created for the film as the monster Gorilla in the 1974 television series Go! Greenman.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Main article: King Kong (King Kong vs. Godzilla).

King Kong and Godzilla destroy Atami Castle during their battle in King Kong vs. Godzilla

During his travels in the Solomon Islands, pharmacologist Dr. Makioka discovered a red narcotic berry called Farolacton on the remote Faro Island. Upon returning to his employers at the Pacific Pharmaceutical Company in Japan, he also reported that the island's natives spoke of a "Giant Demon God." Advertising director Tako believed this mysterious god was a great way to generate publicity for the company and sent two Tokyo Television employees, Osamu Sakurai and Kinzaburo Furue, to the island to find it. The Giant Demon God, a huge ape known as King Kong, revealed himself when he burst through the wall separating the native village from the rest of the island to fend off an attacking Giant Octopus. After sending the huge cephalopod retreating back to the sea, Kong drank jars of the Farolacton juice and fell asleep to the sound of the islanders' rhythmic prayer. Sakurai and Furue arranged for Kong to be transported to Japan aboard a raft, with Tako excitedly arriving on the ship towing it during Kong's transport. However, the Japan Coast Guard arrived and warned that the company was illegally smuggling Kong into Japanese waters and would be held liable for any damage he caused. Kong began to awaken, after which the dynamite wired to the raft was detonated. It failed to harm Kong, who immediately swam to Japan and came ashore. He ran amok until he encountered the recently-awakened Godzilla. Kong threw boulders at his foe, who retaliated by firing his atomic breath at the surrounding forest. Burned by the radioactive flames, Kong retreated. Godzilla was eventually repelled from entering Tokyo by a barricade of high-tension wires carrying one million volts of electricity, but Kong arrived later and simply bit down on the power lines, drawing strength from the electrical current. Kong then rampaged through Tokyo, during which he abducted Sakurai's sister Fumiko and scaled the National Diet Building. Shells loaded with Farolacton juice were fired into the sky and detonated above Kong, accompanied by loudspeakers playing the Faro Islanders' chant. Kong collapsed and fell unconscious, with Fumiko being rescued from his clutches. The JSDF decided to airlift Kong to Mount Fuji, where Godzilla had traveled, in order to stage a rematch between both kaiju in the hope they would kill each other. Kong was lifted by balloons pulled by several helicopters and dropped onto Godzilla. The two monsters resumed their battle, but Godzilla triumphed yet again, knocking Kong unconscious and setting the area around him ablaze. A passing overhead lightning storm revitalized Kong, who used his electrified punches to even the odds. Kong and Godzilla's clash reached Atami Castle, and after the two beasts destroyed it they tackled each other into Sagami Bay. Moments later, Kong surfaced from the water and began swimming back to his island home, with Godzilla nowhere to be seen.

King Kong Escapes

Main article: King Kong (King Kong Escapes).

King Kong battles Mechani-Kong in Tokyo in King Kong Escapes

A legendary giant ape held to inhabit Mondo Island in the Java Sea, Kong was the subject of study by United Nations Commander Carl Nelson, who prepared several anatomical sketches of the mythical beast. International criminal Dr. Who stole Nelson's sketches and used them as blueprints for a robot built in Kong's image called Mechani-Kong, designed to mine the radioactive Element X from the North Pole. Nelson, Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura, and Lieutenant Susan Watson came ashore on Mondo Island after their research submarine Explorer was damaged in the nearby waters and had to anchor for repairs. When Gorosaurus menaced Susan, Kong came to her aid and slew the dinosaur monster by breaking his jaws. Kong became infatuated with Susan, saving her and her colleagues once again from a Giant Sea Serpent as they tried to return to the Explorer. When Dr. Who learned of the real Kong's discovery, he decided to abduct him in order to mine Element X in place of his robot, which could not withstand the intense radiation. Who sent several Jet Helicopters to knock Kong unconscious and airlift him to his Arctic base, then captured Nelson, Nomura, and Susan in order to make them get Kong to cooperate. Kong escaped from Who's base and began swimming to Japan, with Who pursuing him in his ship. Nelson and his allies arrived in Tokyo to warn the JSDF not to attack Kong, but Dr. Who deployed Mechani-Kong into the city to recapture him. When the robot could not defeat Kong in one-on-one combat, it abducted Susan and scaled the Tokyo Tower. Who threatened to drop Susan if Kong did not surrender, but he continued pursuing them up the tower. Kong caught Susan once the robot dropped her, then continued after his robotic double. Madame Piranha, formerly Dr. Who's financial benefactor, turned on him and gave her life to disable the robot's controls, causing the top of the Tower to break off and send Mechani-Kong plummeting to its destruction on the streets below. Kong chased down Who's ship in Tokyo Bay and destroyed it, then began making his way home to Mondo Island.

The King Kong Show

King Kong in The King Kong Show

In 1966, Rankin/Bass acquired the rights to Kong from RKO and collaborated with Japanese animation studio Toei Animation to develop an animated series based on the character. The show, originally airing as just King Kong but widely known as The King Kong Show, ran from 1966 to 1967, and formed the basis for Toho's 1967 film King Kong Escapes. It followed the Bond family, who befriended Kong on him home of Mondo Island and worked with him to battle multiple monsters and villains who threatened both the island and the world at large.

De Laurentiis films

In the 1970s, RKO entered a contract with Italian-American movie producer Dino De Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures allowing them to produce and distribute a remake of the original King Kong, a pivot from RKO's "no remakes" policy that had blocked studios such as Britain's Hammer Films from producing remakes of the film in the past. Universal Pictures, who had previously handled the King Kong copyright on RKO's behalf, objected to this announcement, alleging that it already had secured the remake rights to King Kong through an oral agreement with RKO. All parties were brought to federal court to settle the matter, with both De Laurentiis and Universal fast-tracking their remakes into production in the hope of the other backing down. When the case was settled and the federal judge ruled that De Laurentiis had the right to proceed with its remake, Universal shelved The Legend of King Kong, content with acquiring the character rights to Kong from Merian C. Cooper's son Richard for future use. De Laurentiis' King Kong was released theatrically by Paramount in late 1976, and despite mixed audience and critical reception was a financial success. De Laurentiis produced a much less successful sequel, King Kong Lives, a decade later.

King Kong (1976) to King Kong Lives

Main article: King Kong (De Laurentiis).

King Kong frees himself from his bindings in King Kong (1976)

After satellite imaging revealed images of a previously-uncharted island hidden in a perpetual fog bank, ambitious Petrox executive Fred Wilson convinced the company's board to approve an expedition to the island to search for vast petroleum reserves he believed were hidden there. Princeton University primatologist Jack Prescott stowed away aboard the Petrox Explorer, believing that the island was home to a gigantic undiscovered species of anthropoid spoken of only in legends and accounts by explorers. Along the voyage, the Explorer rescued a castaway named Dwan. Wilson, Prescott, Dwan, and much of the crew came ashore once they reached the island, discovering a native village in the shadow of a massive wall. Prescott believed that the natives were holding a sort of wedding ceremony, preparing to sacrifice a young woman to the mythical ape god on the other side of the wall. The priest presiding over the ceremony was angry at the outsiders for interrupting the ceremony, but upon seeing Dwan he attempted to bargain for her in order to sacrifice her to Kong instead. When the crew did not comply, the natives followed them back to the Explorer and abducted Dwan, drugging her and tying her to a post just outside the wall. The natives' god, a 50-foot ape called Kong, approached the wall and grabbed Dwan before slipping back into the jungle. While Dwan initially assumed Kong meant to eat her, she soon began to sympathize with him after it was clear he meant her no harm. Prescott led several of the crew members into the jungle in pursuit, but Kong cut them off at a log spanning a chasm, throwing the log into the pit below. Only Prescott and another crew member, Boan, survived, with Boan heading back to the village and Prescott continuing his pursuit. Prescott reached Kong's mountain lair, where the ape was attacked by a colossal boa constrictor. Using this opportunity, Prescott retrieved Dwan and escaped back to the village. Filled with rage, Kong snapped the snake's jaws and chased them back to the village, where Wilson had set a trap. Once Kong broke through the gate, he fell into a pit filled with chloroform, rendering him unconscious. With the oil deposits on the island worthless, Wilson decided to bring Kong back to New York City as a publicity stunt for Petrox. Kong was kept in the cargo hold of an oil tanker and fed with tons of fruit. As the beast grew restless and began pounding on the walls of his prison, Dwan tried to calm him only to fall into the hold. Kong rescued her and let her climb back above deck. While Kong was being exhibited in New York, he became furious as he saw photographers aggressively taking pictures of Dwan. He broke free of his steel restraints and began to rampage, trampling several fleeing people in the crowd, including Wilson. Jack rescued Dwan and the two tried to escape to Manhattan, but Kong swam across the Hudson River and abducted Dwan from a bar. Noticing the resemblance between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and Kong's mountain lair, Prescott advised the military to let Kong climb them where he could be safely caught by helicopters carrying metal nets. The military followed his advice, but had no intention of capturing Kong alive. Once Kong reached the top of the South Tower, he was attacked by a group of flamethrower-wielding soldiers. He leapt to the North Tower and threw a fuel tank at the soldiers, which exploded and killed them. The military next sent in a detachment of UH-1 Iroquois choppers armed with machine guns. Dwan begged Kong not to set her down or else they would kill him, but he opted to keep her out of harm's way and put her down. The choppers opened fire, riddling Kong with bullets and causing him to bleed profusely. Despite taking down two choppers, Kong finally succumbed to his wounds and fell off of the North Tower into the plaza below. Dwan made her way to Kong, then wept as his heart stopped beating.

King Kong with Lady Kong in King Kong Lives

Placed into a coma by his fall rather than killed, Kong was sent to the Atlantic Institute and cared for by Dr. Amy Franklin for a period of 10 years. The institute planned to revive Kong by transplanting a mechanical heart into his body, but Dr. Franklin warned that he would need a large infusion of blood from a compatible donor to survive the procedure. Fortunately, explorer Hank Mitchell discovered a female member of Kong's species in Borneo, which was brought to the United States and dubbed Lady Kong. Using a blood donation from the female, Dr. Franklin was able to complete Kong's surgery and successfully revive him. However, Kong heard the cries of the captured Lady Kong and broke out of the institute to rescue her. The two giant apes escaped into the wilderness together, where they mated. The Army sent in Lt. Col. Archie Nevitt to find both apes, seemingly killing Kong and capturing his mate. Franklin and Mitchell later learned that not only was Lady Kong pregnant with Kong's child, but that Kong had survived the attack, though his artificial heart was now failing. They freed Lady Kong from her holding cell, and she made her way to a barn and went into labor. Nevitt stationed infantry and tanks to meet Kong when he arrived, and after a grueling battle Kong managed to destroy the Army's forces and kill Nevitt. With the failure of his heart accelerated by the wounds he sustained, Kong collapsed next to his mate just after she gave birth. Lady Kong showed Kong their infant son, causing Kong to smile proudly before finally dying peacefully, content that his family was safe. Lady Kong and her son were then transported back to Borneo to live in peace together.

The Mighty Kong

Utilizing the public domain status of the 1932 novelization of the original King Kong, multiple studios co-produced an animated musical adaptation of the story in 1998. While primarily an adaptation of the novelization's story, it incorporates some elements from the 1976 remake as well, and features a more lighthearted ending than previous adaptations.

Filmmaker C.B. Denham organized a voyage to the mysterious Skull Island aboard the Java Queen in order to film his next picture on location. When the ship arrived, the local native tribe abducted leading lady Ann Darrow in order to sacrifice her to their god, the giant ape known as Kong. First mate Jack Driscoll led several of the crew members into the jungle to rescue Ann, encountering a host of prehistoric beasts. Ann began to sympathize with Kong after realizing he was actually gentle and friendly and meant her no harm. After Kong protected Ann from a Tyrannosaurus rex, several Pteranodons, and a giant snake, Driscoll rescued her and escaped back to the native village. When Kong gave chase, Denham used gas bombs to knock Kong unconscious, intending to bring him back to New York City as his next production. Kong escaped while being exhibited on Broadway, grabbing Ann once again and climbing to the top of the Empire State Building. Denham proposed capturing Kong with a giant net held between two blimps, but his weight caused the net to tear, sending him falling to the street below. However, Kong managed to survive the fall, with Denham planning to relocate him to a new island where he could live in peace.

BKN International productions

With Universal Pictures' planned King Kong remake on indefinite hold and Godzilla: The Series airing on television in the late 1990s, BKN International capitalized on demand for a new adaptation of Kong and produced Kong: The Animated Series from 2000 to 2001. The series follows a clone of Kong created by Dr. Lorna Jenkins after his death in New York City. The cloned Kong, working together with Lorna's grandson Jason and his friends, fights to prevent the evil Dr. Ramone De La Porta from acquiring the Primal Stones of Kong Island and using them to conquer the world. The show ran for a total of 40 episodes over two seasons. With Universal's King Kong set for release in 2005, BKN capitalized by reuniting the cast and crew for a direct-to-video film based on the series titled Kong: King of Atlantis. A second direct-to-video film, Kong: Return to the Jungle, was released the following year around the same time as the extended cut of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Kong: The Animated Series to Kong: Return to the Jungle

Decades after Kong fell to his death from the Empire State Building, Dr. Lorna Jenkins recovered a sample of his DNA and used it to create a clone of him. The clone was relocated to the original Kong's home of Kong Island in order to defend it and the legendary Primal Stones it housed. Kong joined forces with Lorna's grandson Jason, his friend Eric Tannenbaum IV, and the native girl Lua to stop the mad scientist Dr. Ramone De La Porta from recovering the Primal Stones and using them to awaken the legendary demon known as Chiros.

Universal film

Universal planned to produce a remake of the original King Kong titled The Legend of King Kong in the 1970s, going so far as to bring RKO Pictures and Paramount Pictures to court over the remake rights to the original film. Though a federal judge ruled that Paramount and Dino De Laurentiis' remake could proceed, RKO lost any ownership of the King Kong character, which reverted to the estate of his original creator, Merian C. Cooper. Cooper's son Richard sold most of his rights to Universal, who waited until the late 1990s to begin development on a new King Kong remake. The studio approached Peter Jackson to direct and write the film in 1996, but this initial attempt was abruptly canceled the next year. Universal later reapproached Jackson while he was directing the highly successful The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and offered him the chance to direct King Kong again. This attempt materialized in the 2005 film King Kong. While Universal had considered a sequel to the film titled Skull Island at one point, any plans were abandoned once Kong was extensively incorporated into Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse.

King Kong (2005)

Main article: King Kong (Universal).

King Kong prepares to battle a Vastatosaurus rex in order to protect Ann Darrow in King Kong (2005)

In 1933, struggling film director Carl Denham organized an expedition to the uncharted Skull Island aboard the Venture in order to film his next picture. When the ship arrived on the island, Denham and several of the crew members came ashore and found the ruins of a once great civilization, now inhabited by a derelict tribe. The natives savagely attacked the crew, who managed to escape through the use of firearms. However, the natives made their way to the anchored Venture and abducted leading lady Ann Darrow, bringing her back to the village to sacrifice her to their god: the giant ape known as Kong. Kong accepted the offering and carried Ann into the jungle. When the Venture crew tried to pursue Kong, he intercepted them as they tried to cross a log bridge spanning a chasm, sending them all falling into the pit below, where they were beset by the creatures dwelling there. Ann tried to escape from Kong while he was distracted, but was menaced by a family of Vastatosaurus rexes. Kong came to her rescue and slew all three dinosaurs, earning Ann's trust and admiration. Screenwriter Jack Driscoll, having survived the pit, continued his pursuit of Ann and reached Kong's mountain lair. Jack escaped with Ann while Kong battled a swarm of Terapusmordax and brought her back to the native village. Kong followed them and broke through the village's wall and through a sea cave before being subdued and knocked unconscious by the Venture crew. Denham had Kong brought back to New York City to be exhibited on Broadway, but the enraged giant ape escaped his bonds and began rampaging through Manhattan. In order to calm the beast, Ann approached Kong and allowed herself to be taken by him again. The military attacked Kong with artillery in Central Park, leading him to escape by climbing the Empire State Building. Biplanes were sent to engage Kong, and riddled him with machine gun fire until he was mortally wounded and plummeted to his death in the streets below. As crowds gathered around Kong's carcass, Denham somberly remarked "It was beauty, killed the beast."

Kong: King of the Apes

Kong in Kong: King of the Apes

In 2016, 41 Entertainment and Arad Animation co-produced a CG animated series featuring Kong titled Kong: King of the Apes, which streamed exclusively on Netflix.

The infant Kong, who, at the time of his discovery, was thought to be the last great ape alive in the wild, was taken from his home by poachers and was able to use his abnormal strength to escape their helicopter and find his way into the California Redwood forests where he was discovered by Lukas Remy, who treated Kong like a brother. The two were later framed for terrorism by Lucas' brother Richard Remy, a mad scientist responsible for creating an army of robotic dinosaurs called Biono-bots. Kong worked together with Lukas and his friends to battle the various Biono-bots and thwart Richard's schemes.

MonsterVerse

In 2014, Legendary Pictures entered a distribution deal with Universal after concluding its previous deal with Warner Bros. One of the first projects they announced was an origin story for King Kong titled Skull Island and set for release in 2016. Following the success of Legendary's Godzilla in 2014, Legendary decided to retool the Kong film, retitled Kong: Skull Island, to take place within the same universe as that film and enable a future rematch between Godzilla and Kong. For this reason, the project switched distributors from Universal to Warner Bros., and was released in 2017. Kong: Skull Island became the second entry in a cinematic universe officially dubbed the MonsterVerse, with Kong returning in the crossover film Godzilla vs. Kong in 2022. An animated series set in the MonsterVerse and focusing on Kong titled Skull Island is set to stream on Netflix later in 2022. A fifth film in the MonsterVerse is currently in development under the working title Origins, but it is not yet confirmed whether Kong will appear in it. Outside of Kong's film appearances, he appears in two comics set in the MonsterVerse as well: Skull Island: The Birth of Kong and Kingdom Kong.

Kong: Skull Island to Godzilla vs. Kong

Main article: King Kong (MonsterVerse).

Kong battles the Skull Devil in Kong: Skull Island

Many thousands of years ago, Kong's species were a race of Titans who inhabited the Hollow Earth and lived alongside humans in a great civilization. They eventually went to war with Godzilla and his kind, ultimately being driven from their home and forced to relocate to Skull Island. There, they found a new enemy in the vicious Skullcrawlers, who whittled their numbers down over centuries of conflict. By the time the Iwi, remnants of the human civilization which once inhabited the Hollow Earth, arrived on Skull Island, only a single mated pair of Titanus Kong remained. The female was pregnant, and went into labor as she and her mate were beset by a pack of Skullcrawlers. The male defended the female long enough for her to deliver their son, Kong. Knowing her demise was imminent, Kong's mother sealed her son in a cave, where he could only watch helplessly as the Skullcrawlers slaughtered his parents, who died clasping their hands together. When the battle was over, the newborn Kong crawled from his sanctuary and knelt next to the bodies of the parents he never knew, weeping. From that day, Kong vowed to avenge his parents and honor their memory by defending the other denizens of the island from the Skullcrawlers and the other more malevolent creatures inhabiting it. In 1944, World War II fighter pilots Hank Marlow and Gunpei Ikari shot each other down over Skull Island and resumed their duel, only to be interrupted by the appearance of Kong. They were welcomed by the Iwi, who lived under Kong's protection, and became close friends, until a Skullcrawler killed Gunpei. In 1973, the Titan-hunting scientific organization Monarch sent an expedition to Skull Island to test William Randa's theory that it was an emergence point for the Hollow Earth Titan ecosystem. Recognizing that the expedition's seismic charges would draw more Skullcrawlers to the surface, Kong brought down their helicopter transport and stranded them on the island. Colonel Preston Packard, leader of the Army helicopter squadron transporting the expedition, became obsessed with avenging his fallen comrades by killing Kong. Some of the survivors encountered Marlow and the Iwi, and learned of Kong's true purpose and benevolent nature. They interfered with the deranged Packard's attempt to kill Kong using an explosive trap, but the colossal 95-foot Skullcrawler known as the Skull Devil soon appeared to take advantage of Kong's weakened state. Kong killed Packard before the Skull Devil attacked him, but the creature's attention was drawn by the fleeing humans. As the humans tried to escape the island via an extraction point on the north side, the Skull Devil menaced them before Kong arrived to save them. When the Skull Devil overpowered Kong, the humans drew its attention so that Kong could recover. Using an improvised mace created by an anchor chain tied to a ship propeller, Kong turned the tide against his mortal enemy, eventually killing it by tearing out its innards. The humans escaped, keeping the experience a secret to everyone but members of Monarch.

In 1995, Aaron Brooks, son of two of the 1973 Monarch expedition members, organized an off-the-books return mission to Skull Island to evaluate the security of the ecosystem, believing Kong could not be trusted to keep it in check. This expedition too became stranded after a Psychovulture attack, but Kong rescued them from a pack of Death Jackals. The team was taken in by the Iwi, who educated them about Kong's purpose and past. One of the expedition members, Walter R. Riccio, was driven insane by consuming the Iwi's ceremonial hallucinogenic brew and used remaining seismic charges from 1973 to blow open the wall of the Iwi village, allowing several Mother Longlegs to enter. Kong came to the rescue and swiftly dispatched the giant arachnids, then killed Riccio after determining he was responsible for their incursion. Brooks, by now the only surviving expedition member, accepted Kong's role as protector and decided to stay among the Iwi and help them rebuild after the attack.

By 2019, Monarch had formally established a research station, Outpost 33, on Skull Island to monitor Kong. When the ecoterrorist Alan Jonah and rogue Monarch operative Emma Russell unleashed the dreaded King Ghidorah from his Antarctic prison in an ill-advised attempt to reawaken all Titans and restore the natural order, the three-headed alien Titan emitted an alpha call that reached the ears of every living Titan on Earth, awake or dormant. Kong rejected Ghidorah's summons to join his reign of terror, one of only three known Titans to oppose it. However, Ghidorah's call awakened the Skullcrawlers still dormant under the island's surface, forcing Kong to battle them. While Kong triumphed, a powerful storm that Ghidorah had generated over the ocean began approaching Skull Island. By 2021, Aaron Brooks' father Dr. Houston Brooks was leading efforts on Skull Island to lead an expedition into the Hollow Earth through a entrance on the island dubbed the "vile vortex." The storm generated by Ghidorah eventually merged with the perpetual storm cell surrounding the island, creating an uncontrollable superstorm that plunged the island into permanent darkness. This turned out to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy; with the island blanketed in darkness, the evil bat-like Titan known as Camazotz flew from the Hollow Earth with his hell swarm in a bid to kill Kong and usurp his position as an alpha Titan. Kong was forced into battle with Camazotz, but was outmatched until a squadron of G-Team fighter pilots intervened. With their help, Kong overpowered Camazotz and banished him back to the dark recesses of the Hollow Earth from whence he came. With the storm unrelenting, Monarch evacuated any of the Iwi as it could, though many refused to leave the island and promptly vanished.

Kong wields his battle axe, charged by Godzilla's atomic breath, against Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong

Kong befriended a young Iwi girl named Jia after her parents were killed by a Sirenjaw, forming a protective bond with her. By 2024, Monarch built a huge dome replicating Skull Island's original climate to house Kong, but it was clear it would not be able to hold him much longer. Dr. Ilene Andrews opposed suggestions to move Kong off the island, believing Godzilla, by now the undisputed alpha Titan, would come for him. However, Godzilla had recently begun attacking Apex Cybernetics facilities seemingly unprompted, leading Monarch to agree to lead a joint expedition with Apex into the Hollow Earth in order to recover an energy source capable of powering an anti-Godzilla weapon. Kong was to help locate the energy source, using his species' genetic memory. While Kong was being transported by a naval fleet in the Tasman Sea, Godzilla arrived to attack him. Godzilla destroyed much of the fleet and nearly drowned Kong before he was disoriented by depth charges. Deeming Kong to no longer be a threat, Godzilla withdrew, while Kong was airlifted to the Hollow Earth entrance in Antarctica. Escorted by two HEAVs, Kong reached the Hollow Earth and was immediately forced to battle two Warbats. Kong came upon an ancient temple dedicated to his ancestors, discovering a huge battle axe inside a giant throne room. Apex located and copied the energy source to power its artificial Titan, Mechagodzilla, drawing Godzilla to Apex HQ in Hong Kong. Godzilla used his atomic breath to blast into the temple and bellow his challenge at Kong, who climbed through the opening and into the city, axe in hand. The two Titans engaged in a rematch, with Kong utilizing his axe to even the odds. While Kong held his own and managed to land several punishing blows on his foe, he was ultimately overpowered by Godzilla and left on the brink of death. In the meantime, the Hollow Earth energy source had caused Mechagodzilla to go berserk due to its the use of King Ghidorah's surviving skull as a neural processor. Mechagodzilla broke free of the Apex facility and stormed into Hong Kong, rampaging before attempting to kill Godzilla. Dr. Nathan Lind used a HEAV as a defibrillator to revive Kong, with Jia convincing him to help Godzilla against Mechagodzilla. Kong leapt to Godzilla's aid, and the two former enemies joined forces against the robotic Titan. Mechagodzilla nearly killed Kong using the spinning blades on the end of its tail, but the intervention of a group of humans stalled the machine long enough for Godzilla to power Kong's axe with his atomic breath. Kong proceeded to slice Mechagodzilla apart before tearing off its head. Godzilla and Kong ended their conflict and went their separate ways. Kong was relocated to his ancestral home in the Hollow Earth, where he made his new home.

Supporting roles in Warner Bros. films

Due to its ownership of the original 1933 film as a result of acquiring RKO's film library in its acquisition of Turner Entertainment, Warner Bros. has featured Kong in supporting roles in its own films, which typically include ensemble casts of other popular characters either owned or licensed by Warner Bros.

The LEGO Batman Movie

King Kong in The LEGO Batman Movie

King Kong was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone along with other notorious villains of the LEGO multiverse. He was one of the villains freed by the Joker as part of his plan to exact revenge on Batman and destroy Gotham City. Kong was defeated when Robin crashed the Batmobile into his face, knocking him unconscious into the water.

Ready Player One

King Kong in Ready Player One

James Halliday, the creator of a popular virtual reality game called the OASIS, devised a series of challenges called Anorak's Quest to determine his successor after his death. In the first challenge, players raced through the streets of a simulated New York City, evading various obstacles. King Kong was the final hazard, leaping off the Empire State Building to attack the racers. Just before the finish line, Kong would crash through the racetrack itself and lurk out of sight, swatting any player who tried to drive over him. It is possible that Halliday programmed Kong to be impassible; the solution that Wade Watts discovered was to drive in reverse at the start of the race, revealing a hidden corridor that ran underneath the racetrack.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

King Kong in Space Jam: A New Legacy

As a resident of the virtual Serververse where Warner Bros. properties reside, King Kong attended the high-stakes basketball match between teams led by LeBron James and his son Dom. He pouted when the malevolent artificial intelligence Al-G assumed control of Dom's team and boasted, "King Kong ain't got nothing on me."

Rodan

History

Showa era

Rodan debuted in his own self-titled film in 1956. In 1964, Toho continued the practice of incorporating its other monster characters into the Godzilla series as it had just done with Mothra by featuring Rodan in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Rodan went on to appear alongside Godzilla in two more entries in the Showa series, as well as a few other appearances through stock footage.

Rodan to Destroy All Monsters

Main article: Rodan (Showa).

Rodan terrorizes Fukuoka in Rodan

Radiation from repeated nuclear bomb tests seeping underground irradiated a Pteranodon egg in a subterranean cavern underneath Mount Aso in Kyushu, causing it to grow to gigantic size. Rising global temperatures caused by human activity and accumulated volcanic gases led to the egg hatching into the monster Rodan, who flew out of the cavern. UFO sightings skyrocketed worldwide, with the flying object reaching supersonic speeds and outmaneuvering fighter jets. Scientists determined that the UFO was Rodan, with JSDF fighter jets attempting to bring the creature down over Japan. Rodan landed in Fukuoka and used the hurricane force winds generated by the flapping of his wings to tear the city apart. A second Rodan, the monster's mate, flew to the city and joined her mate before both escaped together. The JSDF determined that the Rodans were nesting in Mt. Aso, and so used missile launchers to trigger a volcanic eruption that consumed and seemingly killed them both.

Rodan carries Mothra on his back as they battle King Ghidorah in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Eight years later, a prophetess claiming to hail from Venus appeared in Japan and warned that accumulated volcanic gases under Mt. Aso would soon resurrect Rodan. Her warnings were not taken seriously until Rodan, either a surviving Rodan from 1956 or potentially their son, emerged from the volcano's crater and took flight. Rodan flew over Yokohama and drew the attention of Godzilla, who followed him to the Mount Fuji area. The two monsters clashed in a clearing and seemed evenly matched until the larval Mothra interrupted their duel. She pleaded with them to help her drive off King Ghidorah, an evil three-headed space dragon in the process of invading Earth. Rodan and Godzilla stubbornly refused and preferred to continue their petty conflict, but were inspired by Mothra's courage when they witnessed her challenge Ghidorah alone. Godzilla and Rodan put aside their differences and joined forces with Mothra, and together the three Earth monsters forced Ghidorah to withdraw into outer space.

In 196X, astronauts Glenn and Kazuo Fuji visited the newly-discovered Planet X and learned that it was inhabited by an intelligent alien civilization known as the Xiliens. The Xiliens' leader, the Controller of Planet X, revealed that they were constantly under attack by King Ghidorah, who they knew as Monster Zero. He asked permission for the Xiliens to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan in the hope that they could once again defeat King Ghidorah. The Xiliens sent their UFOs to Earth and abducted Godzilla and Rodan, bringing them to Planet X. Godzilla and Rodan immediately joined forces once more and forced King Ghidorah to flee. However, the entire situation had been staged; the Xiliens were controlling King Ghidorah the entire time and now had full control over Godzilla and Rodan as well. They unleashed all three monsters on Earth and demanded humanity's surrender, but Fuji developed a way to sever the Xiliens' mind control waves and free Godzilla and Rodan from their influence. Their plan worked, while the JSDF used a weaponized sound frequency to destroy the Xiliens' forces. With their free will restored, Godzilla and Rodan teamed up against King Ghidorah again, with their battle ending with all three monsters falling into the ocean. While Ghidorah surfaced shortly afterward, Godzilla and Rodan remained nowhere to be seen.

By 1972, Rodan had taken up residence on Monster Island alongside Godzilla, Anguirus, Mothra, Minilla, Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Gorosaurus. The evil M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens intended to wipe out all of the monsters on the island in order to eliminate potential resistance to their planned invasion of Earth, but Godzilla and Anguirus became aware of this plot and managed to secure the safety of their monster brethren by defeating the Nebulans and their monster pawns King Ghidorah and Gigan. Not long after, an underground nuclear test conducted in the Aleutian Islands triggered devastating seismic aftershocks that reached Monster Island, tearing it apart. Rodan was caught in the destruction along with Godzilla and Anguirus, falling from his perch.

Sometime following the destruction of Monster Island, Rodan and the majority of Earth's other monsters were relocated to a new facility in the Ogasawara Islands called Monsterland. There, Rodan was free to fly around a designated range bounded by an invisible electromagnetic shield and catch prey in the waters surrounding the island. At the close of the 20th century, an alien race calling themselves the Kilaaks seized control of the island, using special transmitters to take mental control over the island's human research staff and all of the monsters. Rodan was sent to attack Moscow, then joined Godzilla, Mothra, and Manda in assaulting Tokyo. After Tokyo was devastated, Rodan and several other monsters were deployed to the Mount Fuji area in order to guard the Kilaaks' underground base located there. Rodan gave chase after the Moonlight SY-3, but gave up his pursuit once it reached the upper atmosphere. The SY-3 crew successfully disabled the Kilaaks' monster control device on the Moon, allowing the United Nations to give orders to the monsters instead to attack the Kilaaks' base. Rodan assembled in the Aokigahara forest near Mt. Fuji along with Godzilla, Anguirus, Mothra, Minilla, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, Manda, Baragon, and Varan as they prepared to assault the invaders' base. However, the Kilaaks summoned their trump card, King Ghidorah, to defend their stronghold. Rodan briefly used his wings to blow powerful gusts of winds at King Ghidorah, but retreated after the latter fired a hail of gravity beams at him. Godzilla, collaborating primarily with Anguirus, Gorosaurus, and Minilla, managed to bring King Ghidorah down and kill him once and for all. In a final desperate move, the Kilaaks sent a flame-cloaked UFO dubbed the "Fire Dragon" to hold back the monsters and destroy the humans' control device on Monsterland. The Fire Dragon flew past Rodan and set him on fire before moving on to Monsterland. Even without the humans' orders, the monsters recognized the Kilaaks as their enemy, and Godzilla promptly destroyed their base. Rodan and his comrades were then returned to Monsterland to live together in peace.

Heisei era

After Toho successfully returned both King Ghidorah and Mothra to the screen for the rebooted Heisei series of Godzilla films, it decided to do the same for the remaining two "Big Five" monsters, Mechagodzilla and Rodan. While Rodan only appeared in one film during the Heisei era, he also appeared in non-film media such as Gakken Video's Get Going! Godzilland OVAs and the television show Godzilla Island. Toho considered featuring Rodan as the antagonist in Rebirth of Mothra 3, but opted to use King Ghidorah in the role instead.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Main article: Rodan (Heisei).

Fire Rodan sacrifices himself by giving up his life force to revive Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Russian petroleum workers on Adonoa Island in the Bering Sea discovered a Pteranodon nest complete with fossilized remains and a seemingly intact egg, attracting the attention of a Japanese scientific team led by Professor Hiroshi Omae. The scientists attempted to bring the egg back to Japan, but were attacked by its brother, Rodan, mutated to colossal size from exposure to the nuclear waste frequently dumped on the island. Godzilla arrived on the island and attacked Rodan, intending to recover the egg himself. Rodan used his aerial superiority and quick reflexes to hold his own against Godzilla, but was eventually overpowered by his foe's raw strength. Godzilla strangled Rodan and repeatedly blasted him with his atomic breath until he apparently died from his injuries, then departed to pursue the egg. The egg hatched at an institute in Kyoto, revealing itself as a Godzillasaurus egg rather than a Pteranodon egg. The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center cared for the hatchling, dubbed BabyGodzilla, in the hope of learning potential weaknesses in the species that would be shared by Godzilla himself. When a group of psychic students sang a song to Baby which they learned from psychically analyzing the ancient fern adhering to his egg, it provided a huge boost in power to the wounded Rodan, reviving him as the crimson-hued Fire Rodan. Still seeing Baby as his younger brother, Rodan flew to Japan to rescue him. He intercepted a transport moving Baby to the Ogasawara Islands in order to lure Godzilla there as a trap, then landed in the Makuhari Bay area. G-Force sent Mechagodzilla and the Garuda to rescue Baby and his human surrogate mother, Azusa Gojo, from Rodan. Rodan was able to knock the Garuda out of the sky and held his own against Mechagodzilla in up-close combat, but was critically wounded by the latter's Plasma Grenade cannon. After repeated blasts, Rodan fell onto his back, his chest shredded and blood pouring from his mouth. Godzilla soon arrived to battle Mechagodzilla, which combined with the Garuda to form Super Mechagodzilla. Super Mechagodzilla crippled and nearly killed Godzilla, prompting Baby to call out to Rodan. Hearing his brother's call, Rodan used the last of his strength to fly to Godzilla's aid, with Mechagodzilla using its Mega Buster to shoot him down. Rodan landed on top of Godzilla and imbued him with his life energy, after which he dissipated into nothingness. Revived and empowered by Rodan's sacrifice, Godzilla swiftly obliterated Super Mechagodzilla with his newly-acquired red spiral-wrapped atomic ray, then adopted Baby in order to raise him in Rodan's place.

Get Going! Godzilland

Rodan was one of Godzilla's childhood friends, and lived alongside him, Anguirus, Baragon, King Ghidorah, Gojirin, Gigan, Moguera, and Mechagodzilla on an island called Godzilland. Rodan had a reputation for being greedy and gluttonous, often using his speed and ability to fly very quickly to sneak food away from the other monsters. Rodan had a cocky personality due to his ability to fly faster than any other monster, though Godzilla and the others still considered him a good friend. Unlike the other boy monsters, Rodan never once tried to romantically impress Gojirin, which was a source of conflict between Godzilla, Anguirus, and Baragon. It was Rodan who warned Godzilla and Anguirus that Gojirin had been kidnapped by Mechagodzilla while they were surfing together.

Godzilla Island

In the year 2097, Rodan was a resident of Godzilla Island, along with virtually all of the other monsters of Earth. Working with his allies, who principally included Godzilla, Anguirus, King Caesar, Baragon, Mothra Leo, Gorosaurus, and Junior, Rodan helped G-Guard protect the island and the entire Earth from the invading Xiliens and their monster servants. Rodan at one point took on the more powerful form of Fire Rodan, which left him surrounded in a fiery aura and granted him the ability to spit a heat ray.

Millennium era

Rodan was the last of the Big Five monsters to appear in the Millennium series of Godzilla films, appearing as part of the ensemble monster cast for Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, Godzilla Final Wars.

Godzilla Final Wars

Main article: Rodan (Millennium).

Rodan perches atop a building as he attacks New York City in Godzilla Final Wars

Rodan was one of the many giant monsters to appear during the 20th century following decades of warfare and nuclear testing, necessitating that the nations of Earth put aside their differences and work together to form the Earth Defense Force. The EDF found success in combating the monsters, and after sealing Godzilla beneath the Antarctic ice enjoyed two decades of relative peace. In the year 20XX, Rodan suddenly reappeared alongside several other monsters, who attacked major cities around the globe. Rodan destroyed the jet transporting United Nations Secretary General Naotaro Daigo, allowing the Xiliens to abduct him and replace him with an impostor. Rodan then assaulted New York City before being abruptly transported away by the Xiliens, who did the same to all of the other rampaging monsters. The Xiliens attempted to convince humanity that they were here to save them by teleporting the monsters away, but certain members of the EDF learned that the aliens were in fact controlling the monsters and slowly infiltrating positions of power within both the UN and EDF. When their deception was publicly exposed, the Xiliens released all of the monsters once more to eliminate all human resistance. Rodan attacked New York City once more, engaging and destroying the EDF warship Rumbling before being sent to Mount Fuji alongside Anguirus and King Caesar to intercept the recently-unleashed Godzilla. The three monsters worked together to try and bring down Godzilla, but were defeated one-by-one and stacked unconscious on top of each other in a pile.

MonsterVerse

Following the success of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla in 2014, the studio announced that it had acquired the rights to use Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah in a sequel from Toho. All three monsters appeared alongside Godzilla and a select few new monsters in Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, the third film in what had been officially dubbed the MonsterVerse.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Main article: Rodan (MonsterVerse).

Rodan duels with Mothra in the skies over Boston in Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Rodan, known to some ancient civilizations as the "Fire Demon," was a colossal winged Titan with an affinity for magma and volcanoes. He was dreaded by ancient humans for his ability to level entire cities by simply flying over them. Rodan eventually took up residence in the volcano on what was later Isla de Mara in Mexico, entering a state of suspended animation within the magma-filled crater. Monarch, a scientific organization founded in the aftermath of World War II in order to study and search for Titans, had become aware of Rodan's existence by 1973 through analysis of ancient cave paintings depicting him and other Titans such as Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. Monarch eventually found Rodan in pyrostasis within the Isla de Mara volcano in 1991, forming Outpost 56 around the volcano in order to contain and study him. Rodan continued to remain dormant until 2019, when eco-terrorist Alan Jonah and rogue Monarch scientist Dr. Emma Russell used the sonar device Orca to begin awakening dormant Titans in an attempt to restore the natural order. They remotely disabled the containment system at outpost 56 and broadcast the Orca's signal in order to awaken Rodan, who burst from the crater. Monarch's G-Team engaged Rodan with fighter jets and the flying fortress USS Argo in order to lure him away from the nearby village and into the path of the approaching King Ghidorah, who had previously been awakened by Jonah and Emma. Rodan gave chase after the G-Team squadron, bringing down all of the fighters and nearly grabbing the Argo with his talons before encountering Ghidorah. Both Titans clashed in the air, with Ghidorah triumphing and blasting Rodan into the sea with a gravity beam. After the United States military used the Oxygen Destroyer in an attempt to kill both Ghidorah and Godzilla, the three-headed Titan emerged from the blast unharmed and landed atop the Isla de Mara volcano, regenerating the head that Godzilla had just torn off and emitting a cry that awakened all of the other dormant Titans and bent them to his will. Rodan too submitted to the new alpha Titan, landing at the foot of the volcano and bowing before Ghidorah.

Rodan accompanied his new master to Washington, D.C., where they battled attacking military forces. When Emma's daughter Madison stole the Orca and used the loudspeakers at Fenway Park in Boston to halt the rampaging Titans, King Ghidorah flew there to deal with the interference. The revitalized Godzilla and his ally Mothra soon arrived in Boston alongside a military escort in order to confront Ghidorah one final time. Realizing he was outmatched, Ghidorah called Rodan to his aid to deal with Mothra. Rodan and Mothra dueled in the sky, with the magma dripping from the ends of his wings burning Mothra's wings. Rodan pinned Mothra to the top of a skyscraper and attempted to stab her with his beak, but she impaled him through the chest with her stinger, incapacitating him for the remainder of the fight. Mothra then gave her life to protect Godzilla, with her life energy flowing into him and transforming him into the empowered Burning Godzilla, who promptly incinerated Ghidorah. Methuselah, Behemoth, Scylla, and the Queen MUTO, all formerly under Ghidorah's control, surrounded the victorious Godzilla. Rodan, still alive despite the gaping wound in his chest, landed before Godzilla as well and roared at him. Godzilla returned a gaze that convinced Rodan to back down and submit to him, with all of the other Titans following suit. Rodan began nesting in a volcano in Fiji, and resumed his ancient rest.

Reiwa era

Rodan was the only Big Five Toho kaiju to not play a major role in the GODZILLA anime trilogy, instead being relegated to its backstory as related in the prequel novels GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse and GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla, while appearing briefly as a skeletal carcass during the opening credits sequence of GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters. Rodan appears in a larger capacity in non-film media produced during the Godzilla series' Reiwa era, such as the web series Godziban and I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla and the anime Godzilla Singular Point.

GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters

Rodan's skeletal remains in GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters

The first Rodan, later designated "Rodan I," emerged from Paektu Mountain in November 2005 and flew southwest to Beijing, where it was joined by Anguirus I. The Chinese military unleashed the experimental bioweapon designated Hedorah to exterminate both kaiju. Hedorah was successful, killing both Rodan I and Anguirus I and leaving behind only skeletal remains, but proceeded to go berserk and destroy the city before vanishing. Not long after, a second Rodan designated "Rodan II" passed through Kyushu, Japan. After Godzilla attacked Europe in the late 2030s, multiple Rodans appeared in Rome and claimed the Italian peninsula as their feeding ground. European refugees moving through Siberia were also preyed upon by flocks of Rodans and Megaguirus. More Rodans were confirmed to be present in North Africa, alongside Meganula. Larval Meganulon living in the soil in China during the United Earth's Operation Great Wall were frequently hunted by Rodans in the area, though both species began preying on the soldiers as well.

Godziban

Main article: Radon and Rodan.

Radon and Rodan in Godziban

Minilla discovered an egg on Gojigoji Island, which he decided to protect as if it was his own child. He protected the egg from the Three Dorat Brothers, and it later hatched into a monster that Minilla named "Radon." Radon saw Minilla as his "mama," and Minilla raised him until the Dorats returned and combined together into King Ghidorah. Minilla continued to protect Radon, who tried to protect him as well once he was outmatched. However, Minilla's older brother Godzilla-kun and his monster friends soon arrived to help, and worked together to drive Ghidorah away. Radon's older brother from Kyushu, Rodan, soon came to Gojigoji Island to take his little brother back home. Radon said goodbye to Minilla and departed with Rodan. However, the two brothers would often return to Gojigoji Island and befriend the monsters living there, with Rodan once assisting Godzilla-kun and Moshu-Moshu in battle against King Ghidorah.

I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Main article: Chibi Rodan.

Chibi Rodan in I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Chibi Rodan was one of Chibi Godzilla's best friends, who often visited him at the apartment he shared with the human woman Satomi.

Godzilla Singular Point

Main article: Rodan (Godzilla Singular Point).

A Rodan battles Jet Jaguar in Godzilla Singular Point

Mothra

History

Showa era

Mothra made her onscreen debut in a self-titled film in 1961, which was adapted from the serialized novel which introduced her, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra. Following the film's success, Toho decided to pit her against one of their other most popular monster creations, Godzilla, in a crossover film titled Mothra vs. Godzilla in 1964. Mothra was subsequently incorporated into the Godzilla series and became one of its most popular recurring characters, making appearances in three more films during the Showa era.

Mothra

Main article: Mothra (First Generation).

After shipwreck survivors were reportedly rescued by natives of the seemingly uninhabited nuclear testing site of Infant Island, the Rolisican and Japanese governments organized a joint scientific expedition to the island in order to determine whether it was inhabited. The expedition members encountered a native tribe as well as two miniature women dubbed the Shobijin, prompting the greedy Rolisican entrepreneur Clark Nelson to abduct them and bring them to Japan to perform in a show he organized. The natives called upon their goddess Mothra to rescue the Shobijin, and she hatched from her gigantic egg and began swimming toward Japan. The JSDF attacked Mothra at sea with napalm, but she emerged unscathed and came ashore in Tokyo. Nelson escaped back to Rolisica with the Shobijin while the JSDF attacked Mothra with Atomic Heat Ray Guns loaned by the Rolisican military. Mothra cocooned on the Tokyo Tower and emerged in her imago form before flying to the Rolisican capital of New Kirk City. After Nelson was killed in a gunfight with local police, a group of humans recovered the Shobijin and summoned Mothra to an airport, where she was reunited with them. Mothra then flew back to Infant Island, leaving human civilization in peace.

Mothra vs. Godzilla

Main articles: Mothra (First Generation), Mothra (Second Generation).

After a fierce typhoon struck Infant Island, it unearthed Mothra's egg and washed it ashore in Japan. Mothra returned to Japan with the Shobijin to request the egg's return, but the greedy promoters Kumayama and Jiro Torahata had taken ownership of the egg to be used for a tourist attraction and refused to return it. When Godzilla, who had also been washed ashore in Japan by the typhoon, awakened and began rampaging, a trio of humans traveled to Infant Island to request Mothra's help. The natives and Shobijin both refused, but Mothra was moved by their pleas and agreed to travel to Japan and fight Godzilla with the last of her strength. Mothra intercepted Godzilla just before he could reach her egg and the two began a fierce struggle. While Mothra was able to hold her own and keep Godzilla at bay with the winds generated by her wings, her strength quickly began to fail her. Godzilla fatally wounded her with a blast of atomic breath, and she collapsed onto her egg, defending it with her dying breath. The prayers of the Shobijin and Infant Islanders caused the egg to hatch into two twin larvae, who pursued Godzilla to Iwa Island. Working together, the two larvae used hit-and-run tactics to encase Godzilla in a silken cocoon, after which he fell off of the island and into the sea below. The Mothra larvae then returned to Infant Island with the Shobijin.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster to Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Main article: Mothra (Second Generation).

Shortly after their battle with Godzilla, one of the twin Mothra larvae died, though her surviving sister continued to serve as Infant Island's guardian deity. The Shobijin called Mothra to Japan to recruit Godzilla and Rodan's help in stopping the evil space monster King Ghidorah from destroying the Earth. She interrupted the two monsters' battle at Mount Fuji and asked them to help her, but they stubbornly refused to put aside their differences and expressed no desire to help humanity. Mothra was forced to confront King Ghidorah by herself, and was hopelessly outmatched by the demon. However, Godzilla and Rodan were both inspired by her courage and charged into battle to help her. The three monsters worked together to overpower King Ghidorah, with Mothra encasing him in a silken cocoon while Godzilla threw him off of a cliff and pelted him with boulders before he finally retreated back to outer space. Mothra and the Shobijin bid farewell to Godzilla and Rodan and returned to Infant Island.

Only a few years later, Mothra had metamorphosed into an adult and slept on an altar on Infant Island. A terrorist organization headquartered on the nearby Letchi Island, the Red Bamboo, had begun raiding Infant Island to abduct its natives and use them as slaves. The Shobijin led prayers to awaken Mothra, then traveled with her to Letchi Island to rescue the captive natives. Godzilla, having just defeated Ebirah in the island's waters, saw Mothra fly overhead and came ashore to challenge her to battle. With the Red Bamboo's nuclear self-destruct system armed, Mothra decided not to waste her time with a fight and used her wing to knock Godzilla down before grabbing a giant net holding the natives and flying back to Infant Island.

Godzilla vs. Gigan

By 1972, a larval Mothra was living on the human-monitored Monster Island along with Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Minilla, Kumonga, Gorosaurus, and Kamacuras. The evil M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens planned to destroy the island and its monster inhabitants as part of their invasion of Earth, but Godzilla and Anguirus learned of their plan and defeated them along with their pawns Gigan and King Ghidorah, ensuring the safety of Mothra and the others.

Destroy All Monsters

Main article: Mothra (Third Generation).

At the close of the 20th century, a larval Mothra was a resident of Monsterland, a facility in the Ogasawara Islands housing the majority of the planet's monsters, far from human civilization where they could cause any damage. When the Kilaak aliens invaded the island and took control of its inhabitants, they sent Mothra to attack a train just outside of Beijing. Mothra was next called to Tokyo to attack the city along with Godzilla, Manda, and Rodan. Fortunately, the United Nations managed to sever the Kilaaks' control over the monsters and give their own commands to them instead, sending them to destroy the aliens' base near Mount Fuji. The Kilaaks unleashed King Ghidorah to intercept the monsters in the nearby Aokigahara forest, but Godzilla and a few of his monster allies managed to kill him once and for all. Mothra encased King Ghidorah's carcass in silk in tandem with Kumonga's webbing, after which it was swallowed by a fissure as the Kilaak's base exploded. Mothra and her comrades were then returned to Monsterland to continue to live in peace.

Heisei era

After rebooting the Godzilla series in 1984 following a near-decade-long hiatus, Toho planned to reintroduce Mothra as well in a new film titled Mothra vs. Bagan, set in the same universe as the new Heisei series of Godzilla films and setting up a future meeting between both monsters. The project was shelved following the disappointing box office returns of Godzilla vs. Biollante, but the success of King Ghidorah's return in 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and the continued popularity of Mothra in polls inspired Toho to revive her next. Mothra starred in Godzilla vs. Mothra in 1992, but despite the film's success she did not reappear in the Heisei series outside of a minor role in 1994's Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Nonetheless, Mothra's popularity led to the greenlighting of a trilogy of Mothra-focused films following the close of the Heisei Godzilla series.

Godzilla vs. Mothra to Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

Main article: Mothra (Godzilla vs. Mothra).

Twelve thousand years ago, Mothra served as the guardian of an ancient civilization. When the civilization created a device in order to control the climate, the very Earth itself became offended and created a dark counterpart to Mothra called Battra in retaliation. Battra destroyed the climate controlling device, but saw all of humanity as a threat to the planet and decided to drive it to extinction. Mothra objected and fought Battra to defend humanity, with their battle eradicating the ancient civilization before Mothra defeated Battra and sealed him under the North Sea. Mothra retreated to Infant Island alongside two miniature priestesses called the Cosmos, living in seclusion for millennia. When a meteor struck the planet in 1993, both Godzilla and Battra were awakened by the impact. The Cosmos explained the danger to a group of humans sent to survey Infant Island, and agreed to allow Mothra's egg to be transported to Japan. Godzilla intercepted the ship carrying the egg off the coast of the Philippines, forcing the larval Mothra to hatch from her egg and defend herself. Battra arrived as well and battled Godzilla until both monsters were swallowed by an underwater fault. Mothra swam back to Infant Island, but headed to Japan when the Cosmos were abducted by the Marutomo Company. Mothra survived a JSDF napalm attack at sea and reached Tokyo, where she was reunited with the Cosmos. The JSDF continued to attack her, after which she built a cocoon on the National Diet Building. She emerged in her imago stage and flew to Yokohama to engage in a final duel with Battra. Battra overpowered Mothra, but Godzilla soon arrived and attacked him. Realizing that alone they were no match for Godzilla, Mothra and Battra agreed to join forces against their common enemy. Their combined assault was enough to subdue Godzilla, after which they grabbed him and began flying him out to sea. Godzilla bit down on Battra's throat and killed him with his atomic breath, forcing Mothra to drop them both into the ocean. Mothra had made an agreement with Battra to destroy another meteor set to impact and destroy the Earth in 1999 in the event of his death, and departed to outer space to intercept it.

Two years later, Mothra was still in space flying toward the meteor, but became aware of another threat approaching the Earth: SpaceGodzilla. She sent a tiny magical projection of herself called Fairy Mothra to Earth to warn the psychic Miki Saegusa of the threat. Fairy Mothra transformed into a projection of the Cosmos, who warned Miki that SpaceGodzilla intended to kill Godzilla and conquer the planet, and that Godzilla must be kept alive as he was the only hope against the creature. Miki helped G-Force collaborate with Godzilla to confront and destroy SpaceGodzilla in Fukuoka, after which Fairy Mothra thanked her for her role in saving the planet.

Get Going! Godzilland

When Godzilla and the other monsters were still children, they lived together on an island called Godzilland. Mothra was the only adult monster on the island, and in addition to raising her twin larvae served as a mother figure to the others as well. She often served as a the voice of reason when Godzilla would get into fights with his best friend Anguirus, or if other conflicts arose between the younger monsters. She tended a garden on the island, and one time invited the other monsters to a picnic. As the only adult, Mothra often taught Godzilla and the other monsters about the hiragana alphabet, counting, and math.

Rebirth of Mothra to Rebirth of Mothra 3

Main articles: Mothra (Rebirth of Mothra), Mothra Leo, Fairy Mothra, Primitive Mothra.

Many millions of years ago, giant moths called Mothras served as the guardians of Earth. By the present day, the last surviving Mothra lived in seclusion on Infant Island along with two miniature priestesses named Moll and Lora, who together with their wicked sister Belvera formed an order known as the Elias Triangle. As her final days approached, Mothra used her powers to summon forth an egg, which would hatch after her death and continue her legacy. When a logging company uncovered the tomb of the evil space monster Desghidorah in Hokkaido, Belvera planned to awaken the beast in order to wipe out humanity. The Elias and their companion Fairy tried to stop Belvera, but were too late and Desghidorah was unleashed. As the three-headed monster laid waste to the forests of Hokkaido, the aging Mothra flew from Infant Island to confront him. This caused her egg to hatch prematurely, and her larval son headed to Hokkaido to help her. Even together, Mothra and her son were unable to overcome Desghidorah, and Mothra used the last of her strength to carry her son to safety out at sea. Mothra's strength finally failed her, and she drowned, much to her son's sorrow. The young larva swam to a remote island and formed a cocoon, later emerging as the imago Mothra Leo, made even more powerful than his mother due to the power of the ancient trees near which he built his cocoon. Mothra Leo flew to Hokkaido for a rematch with Desghidorah, successfully sealing him back within his ancient tomb.

The Elias called Mothra Leo to the Nilai-Kanai Temple to rescue a group of children searching for its ancient treasure from the monster Dagahra. Dagahra proved more than a match for Leo, and defeated him with a combination of his own attacks and by summoning a swarm of Barem to attach to Leo and drain his energy. The Elias and their friends learned that the treasure of the Nilai-Kanai civilization was the small monster Ghogo, which they created to destroy Dagahra, their previous creation. Ghogo merged his life force with the defeated Mothra Leo, allowing him to transform into the more powerful Rainbow Mothra. Rainbow Mothra battled Dagahra once more, making use of his newfound ability to transform into AquaMothra to engage him on equal footing underwater. Ultimately, he split apart into countless MicroMothras which swarmed inside Dagahra's body, destroying his Barem-producing organs and incapacitating him. Rainbow Mothra then reformed and carried the motionless Dagahra into the air before dropping him onto the Temple, which exploded.

When the evil space monster King Ghidorah came to Earth and began abducting children in order to feed on their life forces, Rainbow Mothra arrived to challenge him. However, even Rainbow Mothra was no match for the King of Terror, and was soundly defeated. Moll gave her life to allow Rainbow Mothra to transform into Light Speed Mothra and travel back to the Cretaceous Period, when King Ghidorah first attacked Earth while he was smaller and weaker. Upon arrival, Mothra battled the younger Cretaceous King Ghidorah and defeated him by dropping him into the mouth of a volcano, though he was badly wounded in the fight. A group of Primitive Mothras appeared and used their silk to build a cocoon around Rainbow Mothra, which would preserve and heal him until the present day. While Mothra's actions caused King Ghidorah to temporarily vanish in the present, he soon reappeared, having regenerated from the tip of his tail which Mothra had severed in the past. Mothra burst from the cocoon in his most powerful form, Armor Mothra, and engaged King Ghidorah in a final battle. This time, he was the stronger combatant and successfully destroyed King Ghidorah once and for all. He then shed his armor and became Eternal Mothra, then returned to Infant Island with the Elias.

Godzilla Island

Mothra was a resident of Godzilla Island in the year 2097, where she lived with her larval son and the egg carrying her unborn daughter. Mothra's son cared for her as she grew old and neared death, but the space monster Hedorah arrived on the island and threatened them both. Mothra and her son fought together against Hedorah, with Mothra utilizing the last of her strength to carry Hedorah into the air and drop him into the mouth of the Gorath Volcano. Mothra's strength failed her at last, and she fell into the volcano as well. The larva cocooned and transformed into the imago Mothra Leo, then teamed up with Godzilla to defeat Hedorah once they learned he survived falling into the volcano. Mothra Leo then cared for the egg of his sister, which eventually hatched into a larva named Baby Mothra. Mothra Leo watched over his little sister, defending her from evil monsters such as Battra.

Millennium era

Following the disappointing box office returns of Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Toho decided to increase the marquee value of the third entry in the new Millennium series of films by requesting director Shusuke Kaneko incorporate the highly popular Mothra and King Ghidorah into it. After the success of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Mothra was featured in the last two entries of the Millennium series before the Godzilla franchise began a decade-long hiatus.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Main article: Mothra (GMK).

Many thousands of years ago, ancient Japanese warriors slew the monsters Mothra, Ghidorah, and Baragon, laying them to rest and praying for their souls that they might one day return to defend Japan. In 2002, sensing that Godzilla would soon attack Japan to seek vengeance for the lives lost in World War II, the mystical Professor Hirotoshi Isayama attempted to awaken the three Guardian Monsters by destroying ancient stone statues containing the energy from the souls of Japan's honorable dead. Mothra appeared in her larval stage underneath Lake Ikeda, rescuing a dog from a group of hooligans attempting to drown it. She encased their bodies in silk, then constructed a massive cocoon atop the lake's surface. After Godzilla destroyed Baragon and reached Yokohama during his rampage, Mothra hatched from her cocoon in her imago stage and flew there to confront him. She was joined by Ghidorah, but even the combined efforts of the two Guardian Monsters were futile against Godzilla's colossal strength. After subduing both of his foes, Godzilla prepared to annihilate the JSDF's fleet in Tokyo Bay with his atomic breath. Mothra flew behind him in order to stop him, but he anticipated her attack and turned around in time to incinerate her. Mothra's energy flowed into the unconscious Ghidorah, reviving him as the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon, King Ghidorah. After Godzilla later destroyed Ghidorah, the spirits of all three Guardian Monsters materialized in the sky above him and flowed into his body, dragging him underwater and allowing Admiral Taizo Tachibana to defeat him using the submersible Satsuma.

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Main article: Mothra (Godzilla: Tokyo SOS).

In 1961, Mothra attacked Tokyo in her quest to rescue the Shobijin from the villainous Rolisican businessman Clark Nelson. The Rolisican military loaned the JSDF the use of its experimental Atomic Heat Ray Guns to attack the colossal moth. While the weapons burned Mothra's cocoon, she emerged unscathed in her imago form before flying to Rolisica, where she successfully recovered the Shobijin thanks to the efforts of a group of humans. Mothra's attack, in addition to other kaiju attacks on Japan dating back to Godzilla in 1954, convinced the JSDF to invest more heavily in weapons capable of harming the creatures. The technology of the Rolisican Heat Ray Guns was later utilized for the revolutionary Type 66 Maser Cannon, which first saw action against Gaira in 1966 and became a staple of the JSDF's arsenal.

In 2004, a descendant of the Mothra who attacked Tokyo in 1961 traveled to Japan to request that the first Godzilla's remains be returned to the bottom of the sea, as their use to create the robotic weapon Kiryu violated the natural order. The Shobijin appealed to Professor Shinichi Chujo, who had played a major role in reuniting them with Mothra over four decades prior, but he could not convince Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi to shelve the project while the second Godzilla was still at large. The Shobijin had warned that Mothra would be forced to declare war on humanity if Godzilla's bones were not returned to their resting place, but promised that Mothra would defend Japan from Godzilla in Kiryu's place. As Godzilla rampaged through Tokyo, Chujo's grandson Shun recreated Mothra's symbol using desks from a school, summoning Mothra to Tokyo. Mothra battled Godzilla, but was outmatched, forcing Igarashi to deploy Kiryu in order to assist her. Mothra was seriously injured by Godzilla and forced to use her weapon of last resort: poisonous powder released from her wings that reflected Godzilla's atomic breath but compromised her ability to fly. An egg that Mothra had laid on a nearby island hatched into twin larvae, who swam to Tokyo to aid their mother. Godzilla attempted to blast the larvae with his atomic breath, but Mothra used the last of her strength to fly into the path of his beam, causing her to burst into flames and explode. Heartbroken and enraged, Mothra's offspring collaborated with Kiryu to defeat Godzilla. After Kiryu seriously injured Godzilla by opening a wound on his chest, the larvae encased him in a silken cocoon. Kiryu carried Godzilla to the Japan Trench, sinking himself with him. The larvae then departed with the Shobijin, bound for their home of Infant Island.

Godzilla Final Wars

Main article: Mothra (Godzilla Final Wars).

Thousands of years ago, Mothra defended the Earth from an evil alien monster called Gigan. She managed to defeat Gigan, but his mummified body was uncovered in Hokkaido by the Earth Defense Force in the year 20XX. Mothra's Shobijin warned members of the EDF that Gigan was still incredibly dangerous, a warning that was proven prophetic when the Xiliens reactivated him to assist in their conquest of Earth. The EDF released Godzilla from his imprisonment in Area G in order to battle Gigan and the Xiliens' other monster pawns. While Godzilla was battling the Xiliens' ultimate weapon, Monster X, Mothra left Infant Island to assist him. The Controller of Planet X sent the repaired Modified Gigan to intercept her, and he seemingly incapacitated her after a brief clash. Gigan then assisted Monster X against Godzilla, but Mothra recovered and knocked both monsters down while they had Godzilla at their mercy. Gigan once again left to deal with his ancient nemesis, seemingly destroying her with his Gigarium Cluster. However, two Bladed Slicers Gigan had launched at Mothra boomeranged back at him and sliced off his head, after which Mothra flew at him while on fire and destroyed him in a suicide attack. Mothra's sacrifice was not in vain, as Godzilla was then able to defeat Monster X after he transformed into Keizer Ghidorah, while the EDF destroyed the Xilien Mothership.

MonsterVerse

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Main article: Mothra (MonsterVerse).

In the ancient past, human civilizations worshiped a benevolent lepidopteran Titan known as Mothra, who possessed a symbiotic relationship with Godzilla and had the ability to reincarnate herself by laying an egg before death which would hatch into a larva that genetically retained her mother's memories. When the evil three-headed extraterrestrial dragon known as King Ghidorah invaded the Earth, Mothra joined forces with Godzilla to fight him and protect the ancient humans who worshiped them. Godzilla ultimately defeated Ghidorah by sealing him beneath the Antarctic ice. WAfter the ancient Titan-worshiping civilization within the Hollow Earth ultimately fell, Mothra eventually relocated to China's Yunnan rainforest, where her remaining worshipers constructed a massive temple around her egg. In 2009, members of the scientific organization known as Monarch discovered the "Temple of the Moth" and constructed a research outpost around it. In 2019, Mothra's egg hatched, but the newborn larva panicked and attacked the Monarch guards surrounding her. Dr. Emma Russell used her invention, the sonar device Orca, to calm Mothra, allowing her and her daughter Madison to get close to the Titan. Eco-terrorists under the command of Alan Jonah then assaulted the outpost, killing the Monarch personnel and absconding with Emma, Madison, and the Orca. Mothra escaped the temple and cocooned herself under a nearby waterfall. Monarch learned that Emma had been working with Jonah to enact a plan to release all of the Earth's dormant Titans in order to save the planet from the impending ecological disaster caused by human activity. In doing so, they had unleashed King Ghidorah, oblivious to his true intentions. Godzilla attempted to defeat Ghidorah once and for all in the waters off of Mexico, but the United States military intervened by firing the Oxygen Destroyer at the battling Titans, critically weakening Godzilla and leaving Ghidorah unharmed. With Godzilla out of the picture, Ghidorah used his status as the new alpha Titan to awaken countless other Titans and bend them to his will.

Mothra emerged from her cocoon in her imago stage and flew to Monarch's Outpost 54 in the waters off of Bermuda, then guided its members to a sunken city within the Hollow Earth where Godzilla's lair was located. Monarch's Dr. Ishiro Serizawa gave his life to detonate a nuclear warhead which revitalized the weakened Godzilla, allowing him to head to Boston for a final confrontation with Ghidorah. Mothra joined him in assaulting the three-headed terror, but Ghidorah called Rodan to his aid to deal with Mothra. Rodan badly burned Mothra's wings with the molten lava dripping from his own, then pinned her on top of a building. Before he could land a killing blow with his beak, Mothra pierced through his chest with the concealed stinger on her abdomen, taking him out of the fight. Ghidorah, meanwhile, had overpowered Godzilla and was about to finish him. Mothra crawled on top of Godzilla, then spread her wings and defiantly flew at Ghidorah, who promptly vaporized her with his gravity beams. Mothra's life energy floated down onto Godzilla, but Ghidorah bit down on him and tried to drain it through his bite. Emma, seeing the error of her ways, gave her life to draw Ghidorah away from Godzilla using the Orca, allowing Mothra's energy to take effect and transform Godzilla into Burning Godzilla: the final stage of his symbiosis with Mothra. Burning Godzilla unleashed two nuclear pulses which took the shape of Mothra's wings and made the sound of her roar, incinerating Ghidorah's wings and two of his heads. Godzilla then stomped down on Ghidorah's chest and unleashed all of his internal nuclear power in a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared, Godzilla emerged from the debris holding Ghidorah's remaining head in his mouth, then incinerated it with his atomic breath. The Titans who were once subservient to Ghidorah gathered around Godzilla, then one-by-one submitted to him, accepting him as the new alpha.

Having anticipated her demise in the final battle with Ghidorah, Mothra had returned to China and laid an egg before flying to Boston, ensuring her survival. Her sacrifice had also granted Godzilla heightened senses, allowing him to view the entire planet as an extension of himself. Godzilla made use of Mothra's gift to locate a new home in the Hollow Earth following the destruction of his previous lair.

Reiwa era

While Mothra does not directly appear onscreen in the films of the GODZILLA anime trilogy, nor is she ever named, she is chronicled in the second official prequel novel to the trilogy GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla. She is only ever referenced as the Houtua's God in GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle, while her egg appears in GODZILLA: The Planet Eater, which also features a brief telepathic manifestation of her imago stage. Mothra appears in the web series Godziban and I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla, while the anime series Godzilla Singular Point features a flock of large silkworm moths identified as Mothra in supplementary materials.

GODZILLA: The Planet Eater

Main article: Mothra (anime trilogy).

Mothra was a benevolent kaiju who lived in harmony with an isolated tribe of humans known only as "Mothra's People" who lived in the Amazon rainforest. While other kaiju began appearing across the world in the 21st century and brought human civilization to its knees, Mothra's People remained relatively safe. Mothra possessed a counterpart known as Battra, and together the two were believed to hold enough power to defeat even Godzilla, the most dreaded and powerful of the kaiju terrorizing mankind. However, Battra had awakened prematurely after sensing the approach of the Gorath asteroid and was killed by Godzilla, who destroyed Gorath himself. In 2048, after 15,000 human refugees selected by an artificial intelligence fled the Earth aboard the extraterrestrial emigration ships Oratio and Aratrum, Mothra's priestess Lira revealed her people's existence to the remnants of the United Earth who were left behind. When Godzilla attacked the United Earth's final stronghold in Buenaventura in order to eliminate humanity once and for all, Mothra arrived to intercept him. She forced Godzilla to retreat by reflecting his atomic breath back at him using the protective scales secreted from her wings, which also interfered with Godzilla's shield. The United Earth remnants, led by Akira Sakaki in cooperation with a group known as the Monster Coexistence Sect, organized a plan called Operation Cradle to relocate Mothra's eggs to Japan, where they would remain safe and hidden from Godzilla while her offspring could defend future generations of humanity living there. Mothra's eggs were placed on the flight deck of the USS Saratoga, which began transporting them to Japan. Godzilla intercepted the transport, but the wounded imago Mothra arrived and held him off long enough for the Saratoga to escape and finish the operation, after which she was killed by Godzilla.

Sometime during the ensuing millennia, Mothra's eggs hatched, but the next generation of the creature still failed to defeat Godzilla. The carcass of one Mothra crashed into a volcanic caldera within the vicinity of what was once Oyama, then decomposed and left behind a single egg. The remaining humans took up residence within the caldera, evolving into a new humanoid species known as the Houtua, who inherited Mothra's "monster factor" just as all other life on Earth took on traits of Godzilla. The Houtua lived underground in Godzilla's shadow, harvesting Nanometal left behind from Mechagodzilla's remains in Hamamatsu in order to forge weapons. After approximately 20,000 years, the twin sisters Miana and Maina served as Mothra's priestesses, communing telepathically with her egg and translating her messages to the rest of the tribe. The crew of the Aratrum returned to Earth after finding their destination of Tau Ceti e uninhabitable following a 20 year space voyage, then encountered the Houtua during their ill-fated attempt to retake the planet from Godzilla. The Houtua rescued many of the survivors of their disastrous confrontation with the now-300 meter-tall Godzilla and treated the wounded, then warned them about the futility of continuing to fight Godzilla. Miana and Maina led the troops to Mechagodzilla City, a replica of Mechagodzilla's development plant constructed by the robot's A.I. entirely from Nanometal, but warned of the dangers associated with it before departing. After Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla City when it was revealed that the Bilusaludo aliens intended to use the Nanometal to assimilate the entire planet, the surviving humans took refuge within the Houtua's underground city. The Exif cardinal Metphies used the humans' desperation to gather a cult which could summon the Exif God, Ghidorah, who would destroy both Godzilla and the entire planet. With Miana captured, Maina and Martin Lazzari called upon Mothra to help Captain Haruo Sakaki resist Metphies' telepathic influence. Mothra manifested in a vision that Haruo was experiencing, allowing him to speak to Maina and Martin. They informed him that Metphies was guiding Ghidorah somehow, which was how the creature was able to defy the laws of physics within this dimension. Haruo escaped the vision and shattered the Garbetrium bead in Metphies' eye, allowing Godzilla to dispatch Ghidorah back to the void from whence he came. The remaining humans then assimilated with the Houtua, adopting their peaceful lifestyle and coexisting with Godzilla under Mothra's guidance and protection.

Godziban

Main articles: Moshu-Moshu and Moshuu-Moshuu, Mothra (Godziban).

Mothra lived on Infant Island with her priestesses, Lune and Luna. She battled the evil Desghidorah and sealed him away, then used the last of her strength to summon forth an egg before dying and ascending into the sky. The egg hatched into the twin larvae Moshu-Moshu and Moshuu-Moshuu, who communed with the spirit of their mother using a cup attached to a string. With Mothra's spirit watching over them, the larvae swam to Gojigoji Island, home of the Three Godzilla Brothers and many of Earth's other monsters, whom they quickly befriended. Moshu-Moshu in particular demonstrated herself to be one of the most physically powerful monsters on the island, and at one point fought alongside Godzilla-kun and Rodan against King Ghidorah.

I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Chibi Mothra in I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla

Chibi Mothra was a friend of Chibi Godzilla, and often visited him and his human roommate Satomi along with Chibi Godzilla's other friends Chibi Rodan and Chibi Ghidorah.

Main article: Chibi Mothra.

Godzilla Singular Point

Main article: Mothra (Godzilla Singular Point).

Huge silkworm moths called Mothras appeared in Tokyo as Goro Otaki, Yun Arikawa, and other members of the Otaki Factory made their way toward Godzilla, with one briefly landing on Jet Jaguar's hand. A large swarm of Mothras later appeared seemingly out of thin air in the heart of the city. Goro, likening them to yellow butterflies spoken of in the historical chronicle Azuma Kagami, suggested the creatures were an omen of warfare - a foreshadowing of the confrontation with Godzilla which lay ahead of them.

King Ghidorah

History

Showa era

King Ghidorah debuted in the 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster as the titular antagonist who forces Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan to work together. Due to his popularity, he went on to become a recurring villain in the series, opposing Godzilla in three more films and appearing as one of the Garogas' Terror-Beasts in the television show Zone Fighter.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster to Destroy All Monsters

Main article: King Ghidorah (Showa).

Approximately 5,000 years ago, King Ghidorah attacked Venus, completely wiping out its highly advanced civilization in a matter of days. The few Venusians who survived fled to nearby Earth, where they assimilated with the native humans and gradually lost their alien identity. When King Ghidorah arrived on Earth in a meteor in the present day, the spirit of a Venusian contacted one of the race's living descendants, Princess Maas Doulina Salno of Selgina, awakening her Venusian identity so that she could warn the people of Earth about the impending danger. Few took the princess' warnings seriously until the meteor split open and unleashed King Ghidorah, who flew to Tokyo and rained down devastation upon the city with his gravity beams. With the situation desperate, humanity asked the Shobijin to call upon Mothra in order to stop King Ghidorah. They stated that the larval Mothra was too weak to take on the space monster by herself, but if she had the assistance of Godzilla and Rodan, together they might stand a chance. Mothra approached Godzilla and Rodan, who were engaged in a petty fight near Mount Fuji, and asked for their help. Both monsters stubbornly refused, forcing Mothra to stand up to King Ghidorah by herself. The space monster dismissively blasted Mothra with his gravity beams, enraging Godzilla and Rodan and convincing them to join the fight. While Ghidorah was stronger than each monster individuality, their combined might was more than a match for him. After being encased in a silken cocoon, thrown from a cliff, and pelted by boulders, King Ghidorah finally retreated back to the depths of outer space.

Only about a year later, King Ghidorah had fallen under the control of an alien race known as the Xiliens, who intended to use him in their planned conquest of Earth. The Xiliens broadcast a frequency that prompted the World Space Agency to send astronauts Kazuo Fuji and Glenn to Planet X, where the Controller of Planet X convinced them that his people were being terrorized by Ghidorah, who they called "Monster Zero." He requested that the Xiliens be allowed to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan so that they could repel him from Planet X just as they had done on Earth. Glenn and Fuji were suspicious of the Xiliens' motives but nonetheless reported their story to the WSA. The Xiliens sent UFOs to Earth to abduct Godzilla and Rodan and bring them to Planet X. With Glenn, Fuji, and their superior Dr. Sakurai observing, King Ghidorah attacked the two monsters and they engaged in a rematch. Godzilla and Rodan were again triumphant, and Ghidorah retreated. The Controller sent the trio back to Earth with a tape he said contained the cure for cancer, with Godzilla and Rodan left behind on Planet X. The tape in actuality contained an ultimatum demanding the Earth's surrender to the Xiliens, who had been controlling King Ghidorah the entire time. Now, they had control of both Godzilla and Rodan as well, and threatened to unleash all three kaiju on Earth if their demands were not met. Fortunately, Glenn and Fuji helped develop a method of fighting back against the invaders, which the JSDF successfully used to sever the aliens' control over the monsters and defeat their forces. With the mind control broken, Godzilla and Rodan immediately attacked King Ghidorah. Their fierce battle ended when all three collided and fell into the ocean, after which Ghidorah emerged from the water and flew back into outer space.

In 1972, King Ghidorah had become the pawn of the insectoid M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, who aimed to use him and their own cybernetic creation Gigan to conquer the Earth. Operating from a base disguised as a theme park called World Children's Land, the Nebulans played a series of "Action Tapes" which relayed commands to the two monsters and summoned them to Earth. King Ghidorah and Gigan assaulted Tokyo, but were confronted by Godzilla and his comrade Anguirus, who overheard the playing of the tapes and learned of the Nebulans' scheme. The four monsters clashed near Tokyo Bay, with their battle gradually moving inland until it neared World Children's Land. The Nebulans used a laser installed in the mouth of their base, the Godzilla Tower, to turn the odds in their favor and bring down Godzilla, allowing Gigan and Ghidorah to easily overpower him and Anguirus. A group of humans privy to the Nebulans' plan used explosives to destroy the Tower, leaving Gigan and Ghidorah without orders and giving Godzilla a brief reprieve. Gigan and Ghidorah attempted to keep up their assault, but could not work together while Godzilla and Anguirus' superior teamwork gave them the advantage. With the battle thoroughly turned against them, Gigan and Ghidorah both retreated into outer space.

Shortly after their defeat, both King Ghidorah and Gigan were recruited into the ranks of the Garogas' Terror-Beasts. Gigan was sent to Earth first, where he fought Godzilla once again before being slain by the hero Zone Fighter. The Garogas later sent King Ghidorah to destroy an invention called the Blue-Green Device which was designed to reduce carbon monoxide pollution. Zone Fighter confronted Ghidorah several times, with the two clashing a final time on Venus, the world Ghidorah had destroyed thousands of years ago. After a vicious struggle, Zone Fighter defeated Ghidorah, who still managed to escape with his life and live to fight another day.

At the end of the 20th century, the Kilaak aliens summoned King Ghidorah as their trump card when Godzilla and his monster allies assembled in the Aokigahara to destroy their base at Mt. Fuji. King Ghidorah attacked his nemesis, but this time found himself overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies he was facing. Collaborating primarily with Anguirus, Minilla, and Gorosaurus, Godzilla brought down Ghidorah and brutally stomped on his necks until his heads coughed up blood and went limp. Minilla spat a smoke ring which strangled Ghidorah's last surviving head, finally killing the extraterrestrial evil and ending his long reign of terror. Mothra and Kumonga encased his carcass in silk and webbing, after which it was swallowed and destroyed by a fissure created by the destruction of the Kilaaks' base.

Heisei era

Following the disappointing box office returns of Godzilla vs. Biollante, Toho opted to maximize profits for the next Godzilla film by bringing back a familiar enemy for Godzilla, ultimately choosing King Ghidorah for the role. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was successful enough to encourage Toho to continue this strategy for the other "Big Five" monsters: Mothra, Mechagodzilla, and Rodan. While Toho considered using King Ghidorah or another monster like him in another Heisei Godzilla film and even reportedly planned a spin-off film focused on the character, he did not return until 1998's Rebirth of Mothra 3. During the franchise's Heisei era, King Ghidorah also made appearances in the educational Get Going! Godzilland OVAs and the 1997 television series Godzilla Island.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Main articles: King Ghidorah (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah), Mecha-King Ghidorah.

Time travelers from the year 2204, when Japan had become a corrupt global superpower which could not be controlled by the Earth Union, traveled back to the year 1992 in the stolen time machine MOTHER in order to prevent the nation's rise. The Futurians claimed to the Japanese government that Godzilla, currently weakened by the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria and hibernating in the Sea of Japan, would soon return and completely destroy the country, resulting in it no longer existing by the 23rd century. Using MOTHER's subship KIDS, Futurian Emmy Kano and her android M11 traveled back to Lagos Island in 1944 with a team of modern Japanese experts on Godzilla. There, they witnessed a Godzillasaurus appear during a battle between Japanese and American forces and drive the Americans off, indirectly saving the Japanese garrison. After the soldiers bid farewell to the dinosaur, wounded by artillery fire, M11 used KIDS to teleport it to the bottom of the Bering Sea, far from the nuclear testing which would later transform it into Godzilla. In the dinosaur's place, Emmy left behind three genetically engineered pets from the future called Dorats. The Dorats were exposed to the Castle Bravo H-bomb test in 1954 in the dinosaur's place, merging them together and transforming them into King Ghidorah. The Futurians took control of King Ghidorah in 1992, unleashing him to bring Japan to its knees. Disillusioned after seeing her colleagues' brutal methods in action, Emmy defected and attempted to help the Japanese fight back. As King Ghidorah attacked Fukuoka, the government formed a desperate plan to send a nuclear submarine owned by the Teiyo Group to the Bering Sea to transform the Godzillasaurus they presumed was still dormant there into Godzilla so that he could fight Ghidorah. However, a Soviet nuclear submarine had already crashed in the dinosaur's vicinity years before, transforming it into Godzilla in this altered timeline. Godzilla intercepted the submarine and fed on its power, increasing in size and power before coming ashore in Hokkaido. The Futurian leader Wilson ordered King Ghidorah to kill Godzilla, and the two monsters began to fight in a clearing. Emmy, M11, and writer Kenichiro Terasawa mounted an assault on MOTHER and destroyed the computer used to control Ghidorah, granting Godzilla an edge in the battle. Godzilla severed Ghidorah's central neck with his spiral atomic breath and defeated him, but Wilson warned Emmy that the empowered Godzilla would simply destroy Japan now in Ghidorah's place. The trio used KIDS to teleport MOTHER in front of Godzilla, who destroyed it along with the remaining Futurians. King Ghidorah tried to fly away, but Godzilla blasted out his wings and sent him falling into the Sea of Okhotsk.

As Wilson's prediction began to come true, Emmy and M11 decided to return to 2204 and recover King Ghidorah's preserved remains so that they could revive him and send him back to 1992 to stop Godzilla from destroying Japan. With the help of Morrys, Emmy and M11 salvaged the comatose King Ghidorah from the ocean floor and used futuristic technology to transform him into the cybernetic Mecha-King Ghidorah. Piloted by Emmy and controlled by M11's A.I., Mecha-King Ghidorah time warped to 1992 and engaged Godzilla as he attacked Tokyo. Despite sustaining serious damage from Godzilla's atomic breath in the battle, Mecha-King Ghidorah eventually subdued him with his electrified capture cables and Machine Hand, then carried him away from the city. Godzilla shot Mecha-King Ghidorah out of the sky with his atomic breath, causing both to fall into the ocean below. Emmy and M11's A.I. escaped Mecha-King Ghidorah's wreckage in KIDS, then returned to 2204.

Not long after the battle, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center dredged up Mecha-King Ghidorah's mechanical central head, studying its advanced future technology in order to develop a new anti-Godzilla weapon: Mechagodzilla.

Get Going! Godzilland

As a child, King Ghidorah was a resident of an island called Godzilland, where he lived alongside fellow monsters Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Mothra, Baragon, Gojirin, Gigan, and Moguera. Each of Ghidorah's individual heads had its own personality and was capable of independent thought, causing them to sometimes argue and fight with each other.

Godzilla Island

The Xilien Zagres used mind control to force the monster residents of Godzilla Island to fight amongst each other, then sent King Ghidorah to Earth. Members of G-Guard broke the mind-control over the monsters, but most of them were left too injured to continue fighting once Ghidorah arrived. Godzilla and Rodan battled King Ghidorah, with all three monsters falling off of a cliff. King Ghidorah lay at the bottom of the ocean, but Zagres zapped him with a beam and revived him. He battled furiously against Godzilla, whose atomic breath did nothing against him. Godzilla fell, but Torema unleashed a psychic wave that knocked King Ghidorah back. Godzilla recovered and fired his atomic ray again, and this time King Ghidorah could feel it. Torema eventually weakened from an attack from Zagres, allowing King Ghidorah to continue his fight with Godzilla. Godzilla eventually gained the upper hand, biting one of King Ghidorah's necks. King Ghidorah tried to fly away, but Godzilla bit on King Ghidorah's leg. King Ghidorah used all of his strength to free himself, even lifting Godzilla into the air, and eventually broke free and flew away.

Rebirth of Mothra 3

Main article: King Ghidorah (Rebirth of Mothra 3).

The dreaded King of Terror, King Ghidorah attacked Earth during the Cretaceous Period, feeding on the life energy of the countless creatures he killed before encasing himself within a meteor and departing. A less powerful relative of King Ghidorah, Desghidorah, arrived on the planet several million years later and caused the total extinction of the dinosaurs before being sealed away by the planet's guardians: the Mothras. A prophecy warned that King Ghidorah would return in 1999, and this came to pass as he arrived in Japan within a meteor. He flew over Japan and abducted children, teleporting them into a gigantic dome near Mount Fuji from which he could drain and feed on their life forces. Rainbow Mothra flew into action to confront King Ghidorah and save the children, but was hopelessly outmatched by the space demon. Brutally beaten, Mothra crashed in the Aokigahara forest, after which the Elias teleported him to the Cretaceous Period where he could fight King Ghidorah when he was much younger and weaker. Even the smaller Cretaceous King Ghidorah was a fearsome foe, shredding Mothra's wings and nearly killing him before Mothra managed to drop him into the mouth of an active volcano and destroy him. However, part of King Ghidorah's tail was severed in the struggle and burrowed underground. Primitive Mothras formed a cocoon around the wounded Mothra, which healed and preserved him until the present day. King Ghidorah reappeared in the sky, having regenerated from the severed tail, but Mothra emerged from the cocoon as Armor Mothra. In this form, Mothra was far superior to Ghidorah in power and completely destroyed him.

Millennium era

With the second Millennium film, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, performing poorly at the box office, Toho sought to bolster the next film's marquee value by requesting that director Shusuke Kaneko include Mothra and King Ghidorah in the story. The two more popular monsters replaced Varan and Anguirus in the story, which became Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, the most successful film of the Millennium series. This success convinced Toho to repeat the practice of utilizing its most popular monsters in new movies. While Mothra reappeared in two more films in the series, King Ghidorah did not make another appearance, although another member of the Ghidorah species called Keizer Ghidorah appeared as Godzilla's final foe in the last film, Godzilla Final Wars.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Main article: King Ghidorah (Millennium).

In ancient times, Ghidorah was known as Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed dragon. Ancient Japanese warriors slew Ghidorah and his fellow beasts Mothra and Baragon, laying them to rest and praying for their souls that they might one day rise again to defend Japan in the future. In 2002, the mystical Professor Hirotoshi Isayama sensed that Godzilla would soon appear to seek vengeance against Japan for the countless deaths caused by World War II in the Pacific. He sought to awaken the three Guardian Monsters by destroying ancient statues containing the energy from the souls of Japan's honorable dead, which would be channeled into the resting monsters and awaken them. Ghidorah was at rest frozen in ice under the Aokigahara, having only regenerated three of his eight heads so far. A suicidal businessman stumbled upon Ghidorah's resting place while trying to hang himself, while Isayama later traveled there in order to finally awaken him. Ghidorah made his way to Yokohama, where Mothra was already engaged in battle with Godzilla. The two Guardians joined forces, but were still outmatched by the God of Destruction. Ghidorah was badly injured after Godzilla bit down on his neck, then threw him into a building and blasted him with his atomic breath. Mothra protected Ghidorah from a killing blow by Godzilla's atomic breath, then sacrificed her life to protect a JMSDF fleet from him. Mothra's energy flowed into the unconscious Ghidorah, reviving him as the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon, King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah took flight, forming a shield around himself that blocked Godzilla's atomic breath, after which he launched it at Godzilla and blasted him into Tokyo Bay. The two monsters clashed underwater before Ghidorah flew into the air and began pelting Godzilla with his electrified gravity beams. Godzilla absorbed the power of the beams and combined it with his atomic breath, destroying Ghidorah with a powerful spiral-wrapped blast of his ray. However, Ghidorah had opened a wound on Godzilla's neck that would prove crucial in his subsequent defeat at the hands of Admiral Taizo Tachibana.

MonsterVerse

Following the box office success of Godzilla in 2014, Legendary Pictures announced that it had licensed King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan to appear alongside Godzilla in the planned sequel. The three monsters made early cameos in the post-credits scene of Kong: Skull Island through cave paintings, and went on to appear in major roles in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. King Ghidorah served as the film's primary villain, and despite being destroyed at the film's climax he went on posthumously to play a major role in the next film, Godzilla vs. Kong.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Main article: King Ghidorah (MonsterVerse).

King Ghidorah invaded Earth in the ancient past, laying waste to the global ecosystem and threatening the human civilization of the Hollow Earth until Godzilla and his ally Mothra challenged him. The Titans' struggle eventually led Ghidorah and Godzilla to Antarctica, where Godzilla triumphed over his nemesis by trapping Ghidorah under the ice. While Ghidorah inspired mythical creatures from around the world, many civilizations attempted to erase all mention of the creature from history, believing he and his name were meant to be forgotten. Despite the ancients' efforts, some references to Ghidorah survived, including at least two cave paintings which had been uncovered by the Titan-hunting organization Monarch by 1973. A Monarch research team led by Dr. Vivienne Graham found Ghidorah's tomb in Antarctica sometime prior to 2014, though due to limited ancient records of the Titan they were unable to fully identify it. Dr. Emma Russell gave the creature the designation "Monster Zero," and Outpost 32 was established around him. Emma later defected from Monarch and joined forces with eco-terrorist Alan Jonah in 2019, using her sonar device the Orca to awaken the planet's dormant Titans in order to restore the natural order. They first traveled to Outpost 32 and unleashed Ghidorah, who was promptly confronted by Godzilla. Ghidorah flew away once the USS Argo intervened on Godzilla's behalf, and vanished into a tropical storm over South America. Monarch learned that Ghidorah was generating the storm and approaching Isla de Mara, Mexico, where Emma and Jonah had just awakened the winged Titan Rodan. Ghidorah dispatched Rodan and attempted to bring down the Argo, but Godzilla erupted from the sea below and dragged Ghidorah beneath the waves. Godzilla tore off Ghidorah's left head and nearly killed his foe, but the U.S. military launched the experimental Oxygen Destroyer at the battling Titans, seemingly killing Godzilla but leaving Ghidorah unharmed. Ghidorah regenerated his missing head and emitted a cry that awakened the planet's remaining dormant Titans and convinced them to submit to his rule.

With the Titans under his control rampaging across the globe, Ghidorah flew to Washington, D.C. with Rodan, where they battled the U.S. military. Mothra flew to Monarch's base at Outpost 54 and used her bioluminescence as a beacon leading to Godzilla's location. Members of Monarch followed Mothra until they were pulled into the ruins of an ancient city within the Hollow Earth, near Godzilla's lair where he had retreated in order to recover by feeding on the radiation pocket there. Dr. Ishiro Serizawa gave his life to detonate a nuclear warhead next to Godzilla, supercharging him with radiation and giving him the strength to confront Ghidorah once again. Meanwhile, Emma's daughter Madison stole the Orca from her mother and Jonah and used it to broadcast a signal through the Fenway Park sound system in Boston that halted the rampaging Titans around the world. Ghidorah flew to Boston to deal with the interruption, but was confronted by the revitalized Godzilla before he could kill Madison. Ghidorah battled his nemesis once again, but Mothra soon arrived to assist Godzilla. Ghidorah called Rodan to take Mothra out of the fight, then overpowered Godzilla after feeding on a power substation. Mothra incapacitated Rodan with her stinger, then came to Godzilla's aid just before Ghidorah could finish him. She flew at Ghidorah and took the full force of his gravity beams, which disintegrated her but allowed her energy to flow into the weakened Godzilla. Ghidorah attempted to drain this power by biting down on Godzilla, but Emma sacrificed herself by activating the Orca and driving away, causing Ghidorah to leave Godzilla and follow her. He fired his gravity beams at Emma's car and destroyed her along with the Orca, but turned to see Godzilla rising behind him, transformed into the immensely powerful Burning Godzilla by Mothra's energy. Godzilla emitted a powerful nuclear pulse that incinerated Ghidorah's wings, followed by another that melted his left and right heads. Godzilla stomped down on Ghidorah's chest as his nuclear power exploded out of his body, leveling the city around them both. Godzilla emerged from the rubble with Ghidorah's last head in his mouth, then vaporized it with his atomic breath. With Ghidorah's death, all of the Titans who had once served him submitted to Godzilla, the new King of the Monsters.

However, fishermen in Isla de Mara managed to dredge up Ghidorah's severed head from the Oxygen Destroyer-polluted waters and sold it to Jonah and his men. Jonah himself later sold the skull from the head to businessman Walter Simmons, head of Apex Cybernetics. Apex integrated the neural pathways within the skull into the control system for its ultimate weapon: Mechagodzilla. In 2024, Apex harnessed an energy source from the Hollow Earth and fed it into Mechagodzilla, but rather than simply power the mecha, it caused Ghidorah's consciousness to override control from pilot Ren Serizawa. The possessed Mechagodzilla destroyed its creators and began to rampage through Hong Kong before attacking Godzilla. Kong soon joined the battle on Godzilla's side, and the two Titans were able to destroy Mechagodzilla and end Ghidorah's resurgence.

Reiwa era

GODZILLA: The Planet Eater

Main article: King Ghidorah (anime trilogy).

References

This is a list of references for The King of the Monsters/Sandbox/Condensed histories. 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]