King Ghidorah (MonsterVerse)

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King Ghidorah incarnations
King Ghidorah 2018
King Ghidorah 2019
None
King Ghidorah® (MonsterVerse) trademark icon
King Ghidorah® (MonsterVerse)
King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Alternate names Ghidorah, Monster Zero,[1][2] The Devil,[1] Death Song Of Three Storms[2]
Subtitle(s) The One Who is Many[2]
Species Titanus Ghidorah[2]
Height 521 feet[2][3] / 158.8 meters[4]
Wingspan Unknown[2]
Weight 141,056 tons[3]
Flight speed 550 knots[3]
Place(s) of emergence Antarctica
Enemies Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan
Played by Jason Liles, Alan Maxson,
Richard Dorton (motion capture)[5]
First appearance Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Roar(s)
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The Devil has three heads.
„ 

— Footnote from Vivienne Graham's classified field notes on King Ghidorah.[1]

King Ghidorah (キングギドラ,   Kingu Gidora) is a three-headed Titan who first appeared in a cave painting in the post-credits scene for the 2017 Legendary Pictures film Kong: Skull Island, then served as the main antagonist of Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019. He is the first incarnation of King Ghidorah to appear in American-made films.

Name

The "Ghidorah" (ギドラ,   Gidora) part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the Japanese word for "hydra" (ヒドラ,   Hidora), which shares two of its three katakana characters with "Ghidorah." It also, coincidentally or not, sounds very similar to the Russian pronunciation of "hydra" (Гидра, ˈɡʲidrə). The addition of "King" (キング) to his name may have been influenced by King Dragon (キング・ドラゴン,   Kingu Doragon), the name given to Zmey Gorynych, upon which King Ghidorah's design was based, in the Japanese version of the Soviet film Ilya Muromets. Monarch calls King Ghidorah Monster Zero (モンスター・ゼロ,   Monsutā Zero), and gives him the Titan designation Titanus Ghidorah.[2] He is typically only ever referred to by these names or just Ghidorah in-universe, with only merchandise and marketing using his full name of King Ghidorah. One ancient Sumerian text discovered by Monarch also called him Death Song of Three Storms.

Design

This incarnation of King Ghidorah maintains the traditional core design of the character, being a giant bipedal dragon with three heads on long serpentine necks, two tails, and two large bat-like wings at his sides, which stands upright on his two hind legs. His body is covered in overlapping golden scales, which according to Monarch actually contain trace amounts of gold. The membranes of King Ghidorah's wings are still gold in color, but are made of smooth skin and not covered in scales. Like past designs, the fronts of King Ghidorah's necks are also not covered in scales, but rather skin with a ridged texture. This skin pattern extends to King Ghidorah's chest, a trait unique to this incarnation. This King Ghidorah's heads are designed similarly to the character's Heisei incarnation, with a set of horns on each side as opposed to the Showa incarnation's single pair of horns and manes of hair. Unlike the Heisei King Ghidorah, each of the MonsterVerse King Ghidorah's heads has ten horns, five on each side, rather than eight. These horns are also slightly larger and more curved, as opposed to the thin straight horns of the Heisei design. There is also a small ridge atop each head. All three of King Ghidorah's necks are very muscular in addition to being very long. Two rows of spikes run down the back of his center neck, while the left and right necks feature one row apiece. The undersides of his necks glow yellow when he charges his Gravity Beams. The MonsterVerse King Ghidorah's central neck is positioned in front of his left and right necks much like Keizer Ghidorah's, whereas all previous incarnations of the character had their middle neck positioned behind the others.

King Ghidorah's body is considerably thinner than that of past incarnations, with the outline of his ribcage visible through his skin. Unlike past incarnations, he has defined arms which extend into his wings, with claws at the end of each fold. His wings are much larger than those of past incarnations, and attach to his body well below his hips. When fully outstretched, they extend well above his heads. This incarnation also uses his wings for support when standing at times. King Ghidorah's legs are thin but muscular, with his knees bent forward in such a way that he has a slight forward hunch. His feet have at least four digits with defined claws. King Ghidorah's tails end in spiky retractable fans similar to the Heisei King Ghidorah. According to Monarch files, injuries have been discovered on several locations on King Ghidorah's body "reminiscent of claw and scorch marks."[2].

Personality

According to Michael Dougherty, King Ghidorah is akin to three conjoined triplets, each with their own independent thoughts and distinct personalities, with the middle head being the "smartest." Monarch's profile on King Ghidorah reiterates this, saying "each head exhibits an individual personality."[3] Monarch classifies King Ghidorah's behavior as that of a "destroyer," and considers him "Godzilla's ultimate nemesis."[3]

Origins

King Ghidorah's origins are currently unknown, though it has been implied that this incarnation "is not of this Earth."[6] Judging by his appearance in ancient cave paintings, he has appeared sometime in the past, and may have clashed with Godzilla and Mothra. He was discovered buried under ice in Antarctica before 2014 by a Monarch team headed by Vivienne Graham.[note 1] Monarch links King Ghidorah to mythical creatures such as the Hydra and the Rainbow Serpent, and describes him as a "living extinction event."[2]

History

MonsterVerse

Kong: Skull Island

A cave painting of King Ghidorah battling Godzilla in Kong: Skull Island

After their adventure on Skull Island, Monarch members Houston Brooks and Lin San showed James Conrad and Mason Weaver two cave paintings of King Ghidorah, along with paintings depicting Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan, as proof that the inhabitants of Skull Island were not the only monsters in the world. In the second painting, he was shown fighting Godzilla.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

On July 26, 2014, King Ghidorah was confirmed to be appearing in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, along with Mothra and Rodan.[7] King Ghidorah is currently frozen in ice at a place called "The Wall of Serpents" located in Antarctica

Abilities

Flight

The muscle tendons in King Ghidorah's wings are described as being incredibly hyper-tensile, and their massive aerodynamics could generate hurricane-force winds when flying. When combined with his body's electro-receptor molecular biology, water vapor in the air would be superheated, creating a localized storm system as he flies. The power of King Ghidorah's flight is so great that as a result, "the stratosphere would be torn open by an otherworldly tempest of thunder and lightning [Earth's] sky has never seen."[2] King Ghidorah flies at a speed of 550 knots,[3] or about Mach .8, while all previous live-action incarnations of the character could fly at least Mach 3 while in the Earth's atmosphere.

Conducting scales

Monarch scientists theorize that King Ghidorah's scales are gilded with trace amounts of aurum which act as conductors, capable of carrying bio-electrical currents throughout his body. This allows Ghidorah to conduct electricity through his body and project it in different ways, either through the gravity beams he spits from his mouth or the lightning bolts he fires from his wings.

Gravity Beams

King Ghidorah fires his Gravity Beams

King Ghidorah can spit bio-electrical Gravity Beams from each of his mouths that are powerful enough to tear through buildings and to disintegrate human beings.[3][8] The fronts of his necks glow yellow while charging this attack.[9]

Intelligence

According to cranial scans, King Ghidorah has a divergent frontal lobe density in the brains of all three heads, indicating that each of his heads can have disparate levels of cognitive functions, possibly including independent thought. Monarch has determined that each of King Ghidorah's heads exhibits its own individual personality.[3]

Wing lightning

King Ghidorah fires lightning from his wings

Like the incarnation of King Ghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra III, the MonsterVerse King Ghidorah can project lightning from the tips of his wings.[10]

Tail spikes

King Ghidorah has retractable spikes on the ends of his tails, though he does not seem to use them specifically in combat.[9] King Ghidorah is seen shaking the ends of his tails in the air like a rattlesnake, possibly as an intimidation display.

Physical capabilites

When not using his gravity beams to attack from a distance, King Ghidorah uses his jaws when in close combat. He also has the ability to constrict an opponent with his three necks, and can fly even while holding an opponent with a comparable weight to his own.

Durability

King Ghidorah is immune to conventional weaponry, and is also able to withstand a blast of Godzilla's atomic breath at point-blank range, though it still pushes him back.[11] Due to his extraterrestrial nature, Ghidorah is immune to the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer, which seriously injured Godzilla and killed all other life within a five mile radius. King Ghidorah was seen using his wings as a shield to protect his heads, but his wings were unable to withstand the full force of heat that Godzilla was producing.

Regeneration

King Ghidorah possesses an exceptional healing factor. After having his left head severed by Godzilla, he was able to completely regenerate it in a matter of moments.

Energy absorption

King Ghidorah can absorb energy through its bites, he bit down on power lines to fire lightning through the tips of his wings. And when he knocked Godzilla down, he was absorbing Godzilla’s energy as he lifted him up.

Filmography

Gallery

Main article: King Ghidorah/Gallery.

Roar

According to Michael Dougherty, King Ghidorah's roar in the MonsterVerse is meant to emulate his original high-pitched cackling roar from the Showa series.

Trivia

  • The script for Kong: Skull Island called for the Iwi petroglyphs inside the Wanderer to depict many monsters, including "one with three heads."[12] In the completed film, only Kong and the Skullcrawlers were shown. The film's novelization, however, does mention a three-headed creature depicted on the murals, along with several other creatures.
  • Monarch's designation for King Ghidorah, Monster Zero, is the name given to King Ghidorah by the Xiliens in Invasion of Astro-Monster.[1]
  • The location where King Ghidorah is frozen in Antarctica, Outpost 32, is a reference to the 1982 film The Thing, in which the primary location is an outpost in Antarctica called Outpost 31. The titular alien monster in The Thing is also discovered frozen in the Antarctic ice, much like King Ghidorah.
  • Excluding the King Ghidorah featured in GODZILLA: The Planet Eater which is an estimated 20 kilometers (65,616.8 feet) in length with no definite "height," this is the tallest incarnation of the character, standing 521 feet (158.8 meters) in height - approximately 29 feet taller than the Heisei King Ghidorah, who was 150 meters. The MonsterVerse King Ghidorah is also the tallest monster featured in a Godzilla film besides Godzilla Earth, who stands over 1,000 feet tall.
    • The MonsterVerse King Ghidorah is also the heaviest incarnation of the character at 141,056 tons, which is nearly double the weight of the Heisei King Ghidorah, and the heaviest member of the Ghidorah group. He is also one of the heaviest kaiju in the Godzilla series, behind the Heisei Mechagodzilla at 150,000 metric tons, Super Mechagodzilla at 150,482 metric tons, M.O.G.U.E.R.A. at 160,000 metric tons, Biollante's Plant Beast Form at 200,000 metric tons, Bagan at 280,000 metric tons, and SpaceGodzilla's Flying Form at 720,000 metric tons.
  • The MonsterVerse King Ghidorah is the first incarnation of the character to be portrayed through motion capture, as well as the first to be portrayed by three actors simultaneously.
  • The MonsterVerse King Ghidorah shares some characteristics with the incarnation of the character from Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. For example, his feet are bird-like with three large claws and a smaller fourth digit, while his wings have visible phalanges which connect to his body, and can be folded at his sides when not in use. He also possesses electrical abilities in addition to his traditional Gravity Beams, much like the GMK incarnation of the character. Like the GMK King Ghidorah, this version of the character is initially discovered frozen in ice.

See also

Notes

  1. The Monarch timeline videos posted to Kong: Skull Island social media accounts in 2017 state that Monarch discovered King Ghidorah in 2016. Godzilla: Aftershock, set in 2014, shows a containment facility already built around him.

References

This is a list of references for King Ghidorah (Monsterverse). 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]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Kong: Skull Island on Facebook: "2016: An extraordinary superspecies is discovered beneath the Antarctic ice. #KongSkullIsland"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 "SPECIMEN: MONSTER ZERO" - Monarch Sciences
    MONSTER ZERO - Monarch Sciences.png
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Specimen: Titanus Ghidorah
  4. MonsterVerse King Ghidorah Japanese stats.jpg
  5. White, James (26 April 2018). "Rampage's Jason Liles Playing King Ghidorah In Godzilla: King Of Monsters". Empire.
  6. Walkuski, Eric (21 March 2019). "Set Visit: Everything we learned from the Godzilla: King of the Monsters set". JoBlo.
  7. Wickman, Kase (26 July 2014). "Holy Mothra: Gareth Edwards Reveals 'Godzilla 2′ Monsters At Comic-Con". MTV.
  8. Meet the G-Team-Godzilla: King of the Monsters
  9. 9.0 9.1 - Godzilla King Of The Monsters 5 Minute TV Spot
  10. Godzilla King Of The Monsters TV Spot
  11. [1]
  12. From Script to Screen - Kong: Skull Island - Wanderer Scene

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