Cadmium

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Cadmium (カドミウム,   Kadomiumu) is a chemical element with an atomic number of 48 and the symbol Cd. Cadmium is a metal that has traditionally been used for various industrial purposes, including controlling nuclear fission reactions. Cadmium has been utilized against kaiju in various films.

History

Showa era

Gamera the Giant Monster

To halt the rampage of the monster Gamera, the JSDF developed a plan to bombard the monster with large amounts of cadmium, believing it will freeze him. Although Gamera was slowed down by the cadmium, he managed to fly away and recover.

Heisei era

The Return of Godzilla

When the Japanese government constructed the Super X in secret, they armed it with cadmium shells for the purpose of cleaning up radioactive fallout left behind in the case of a nuclear accident or attack. When Godzilla returned after 30 years and came ashore in Tokyo, the government decided to launch the Super X against him. Since Godzilla was believed to be a biological nuclear reactor, it was hoped that cadmium might slow down the nuclear reactions in his body and kill him. The Super X flew towards Godzilla and distracted him with flares, then fired cadmium shells down his throat when he roared. Godzilla's heartbeat began to slow and he grew weak. Finally, Godzilla collapsed sideways against a building, apparently dead. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union had accidentally launched a nuclear missile at Godzilla, which was headed right to the heart of Tokyo. The United States launched their own nuclear missile at the Soviet missile, detonating it in the atmosphere above Tokyo. However, this caused a radiation storm that revived Godzilla, allowing him to overcome the cadmium in his system. Godzilla then reengaged the Super X in battle, then destroyed it by toppling a skyscraper onto it.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

By the year 1996, the JSDF and G-Force had collaborated to construct a new Super X, the Super X3. This warship was designed with only freezer weapons, including an ultra-low temperature (ULT) maser beam and cadmium shells. After it was discovered that Godzilla's heart was overloading and that he would soon explode and destroy the world, it was decided to send the Super X3 against him when he appeared in the Bungo Channel, heading for the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant. The Super X3 attacked Godzilla in the channel, bombarding him with cadmium shells to reduce his nuclear power. The combination of the ULT lasers and cadmium shells reduced Godzilla's core temperature and caused him to be encased in ice. With the mission successful, the Super X3 returned to its base.

Meanwhile, the crustaceans that had been mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer were terrorizing Tokyo. Dr. Kensaku Ijuin concluded that extreme cold would liquefy the micro-oxygen in their bodies and kill them. G-Force deployed a platoon of CLT-95 Maser Cannons armed with ULT lasers as well as Type 90 Tanks armed with cadmium shells to engage the creatures. While the attack seemed effective at first, the creatures converged into a gigantic monster that Ijuin named "Destoroyah." Destoroyah annihilated the military's forces and transformed into a flying form and flew away.

Later, when the soon-to-meltdown Godzilla battled Destoroyah's final form at Haneda Airport, Ijuin developed a plan to use all of G-Force's capabilities to freeze Godzilla as he melted down, hoping it could minimize the damage and prevent the apocalypse. When Godzilla's temperature reached critical levels, Destoroyah tried to fly away but was brought down by G-Force's freezer weapons and destroyed when he collided with the super-heated ground. His enemy destroyed, Godzilla began to melt down, and G-Force opened fire with all of its ULT lasers and cadmium shells. These freezer weapons successfully froze Godzilla as he melted down, preventing him from burning down to the Earth's core. However, they did not prevent catastrophic levels of radiation from being released into the air. Thankfully, the previously dead Godzilla Junior absorbed the excess radiation and grew into a new Godzilla, saving the world.

Effects

Neutron poison

Cadmium acts as a neutron poison or neutron absorber, a material used in nuclear reactors that absorbs neutrons before they can crash into atoms to knock off their sub-atomic particles and create additional fission events. This keeps the neutron flux in nuclear fission under control and thus controls the radioactivity, acting as a coolant in nuclear reactors to prevent a nuclear meltdown and nuclear fires. It is for this reason that it is an appealing weapon to use against the nuclear-powered Gamera and Godzilla, being loaded into missiles or bombs to slow down the nuclear chain reactions in their body in order to weaken, knock out, or even potentially kill them. It was also effective in slowing down Burning Godzilla's nuclear meltdown in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.

Books

Godzilla Returns

During Godzilla's 1998 rampage through Japan, Type 75 tanks were armed with cadmium shells to kill the monster. The monster was weakened but otherwise unharmed by the shells, destroying the tanks once they ran low on ammo and attacking several nuclear reactors to not only replenish the energy he lost but to exceed it and become more powerful than he was before the fight.

Godzilla 2000

In 1999, encouraged by the results of cadmium weakening Godzilla a year prior, the U.S. Air Force and G-Force U.S.A. armed their anti-Godzilla aircraft Raptor-One with cadmium missiles along with a variety of other weapons to weaken Godzilla or other nuclear-powered monsters. It is unknown if Raptor-One actually used them during its battle against Godzilla. Raptor-One would use cadmium missiles on King Ghidorah during his battle with Godzilla in New York City in the year 2000, but they had no visible effect on the creature.

Video games

Gamera: Gyaos Destruction Strategy

In the 1995 tie-in game for the Super Famicom, if the player beats the third stage, Gamera is lured into a trap set at an oil refinery. An F-15 fighter jet drops a cadmium bomb on the turtle, flash freezing him. A second F-15 drops a napalm bomb, causing the refinery to blow up in the hopes of destroying Gamera. To the JSDF's dismay, not only does Gamera survive and thaw out, but they learn the hard way Gamera feeds off of fire and heat.

Godzilla

In the 2014 video game for the Sony Playstation 3 and Playstation 4, when the player reaches Disaster Level 5 all remaining military forces will use cadmium missiles that emit a purple smoke upon impact. If they hit the player's monster they deplete them of energy, stop their recharge rate for a few seconds and sometimes stun them. The Super X and Super X3 will use cadmium missiles against the player regardless of the Disaster Level.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The cadmium missiles in The Return of Godzilla may utilize liquid cadmium, as during the film Goro Maki mentions overhearing that the JSDF have talked about trying to get Godzilla to absorb a liquid cadmium solution.

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