Godzilla
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That monster...will never forgive us.
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— Koichi Shikishima (Godzilla Minus One trailers) |
Godzilla (ゴジラ is a Gojira)daikaiju who first appeared in the 1954 Toho film Godzilla.
The primary focus of his franchise, Godzilla is typically depicted as a giant prehistoric creature awakened or mutated by the advent of the nuclear age. For the early part of the Showa series of films, he was depicted as a villainous and destructive force of nature, punishing humankind for its use of nuclear weapons, which disturbed and burned him. Over the remainder of the series, Godzilla gradually developed into a heroic character, defending Japan by fending off other more malevolent creatures such as King Ghidorah, many of them either extraterrestrial or controlled by extraterrestrials. When Toho rebooted the franchise in 1984 with The Return of Godzilla, ignoring every film in the series except the original, Godzilla became a menace to Japan and the world once more. The Heisei series saw Godzilla battle some of his foes from the Showa era, such as Mothra and Mechagodzilla, as well as new monsters like Biollante and Destoroyah. Despite his destructive tendencies, this Godzilla incidentally saved humanity from greater evils on occasion. The Heisei series was followed by the Millennium series, an anthology in which nearly every film took place in its own continuity, often connected in some way to the original 1954 film. Godzilla was often the villain in these films, though in some he was instead an anti-hero similar to the Heisei series. Twelve years after the end of the Millennium series, Toho rebooted the franchise again with Shin Godzilla, a completely standalone film in which Godzilla appeared for the first time in modern-day Japan. This Godzilla was a bizarre new species spawned by the dumping of nuclear waste in Tokyo Bay in the 1950s, with the capacity to adapt to any situation by spontaneously mutating his own DNA. Toho introduced a new continuity the following year with the GODZILLA anime trilogy, in which Godzilla successfully drove humanity from the Earth in 2048 and reshaped the planet in his own image over the next 20,000 years. When refugees from the Aratrum returned to reclaim the planet, they were faced with a Godzilla that had continuously grown and evolved to reach a height of over 300 meters. Most recently, Godzilla appeared in the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One, yet another reboot.
Outside of the 33 films produced by Toho, Godzilla has starred in five Hollywood adaptations. The first, GODZILLA, was produced by TriStar Pictures in 1998 and became controversial for its radical reinterpretation of the character, which was now an iguana mutated by nuclear testing rather than a prehistoric reptile. The TriStar Godzilla also lacked some of the character's signature traits, such as his atomic breath and invulnerability to military weapons, and gained the ability to asexually reproduce. The second Hollywood adaptation of the franchise, Godzilla, was produced in 2014 by Legendary Pictures, and featured a more traditional interpretation of the titular monster. This film marked the beginning of the Monsterverse, a shared universe of giant monster films produced by Legendary and distributed by Warner Bros., focusing on Godzilla and King Kong. He has since starred in three more Monsterverse films, Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, Godzilla vs. Kong in 2021, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in 2024, and appeared in the 2023 Monsterverse television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
This is an overview page. To view information on specific incarnations of Godzilla, please click on their corresponding boxes in the table below.
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Name
Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira (ゴジラ), comes from a combination of the Japanese approximation of "gorilla" (ゴリラ, and kujira gorira) (クジラ), the Japanese word for "whale." The name is said to have been chosen to represent the size and strength of both animals.[46] In Shigeru Kayama's story treatment for the original 1954 Godzilla film, Godzilla's name was spelled in katakana as ゴヂラ (Godzira).[47][48] In the original film, Godzilla's name is originally spelled in kanji as 呉爾羅 by the Odo Island natives, though these characters were chosen for sound only. This kanji spelling of Godzilla's name is also used in Shin Godzilla, where it is said to mean "Incarnation of God" in the dialect of Odo Island, and in GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse, the official prequel novel to GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters, where it is said to be the name of a mythological dragon from the island's folklore.[49]
Contrary to popular belief, the English name "Godzilla" was not invented by the American distributors of the original film. Before Toho sold the film to U.S. distributors, the company's international division had originally marketed English-subtitled prints of the film under the title of Godzilla, which were shown briefly in Japanese-American theaters. Toho themselves had decided on "Godzilla" as the English transliteration of Gojira. According to the 2002 book Since Godzilla, the English name "Godzilla" produces connotations such as the words "God," "lizard," and "gorilla." The word "God" is applicable to Godzilla because of his immense size and destructive power, which causes him to be seen as a god by some, "lizard" is applicable due to his reptilian appearance and ties to the time of the dinosaurs, and "gorilla" is applicable due to his strength and his creation having been inspired by the famous gorilla-like giant monster King Kong.[46] "Godzilla" may be approximated into Japanese as ガッズィラ (Gazzira)[14] or ガッズィーラ (Gazzīra).
Design
- Main article: Category:Godzilla designs.
Specific details of Godzilla's appearance have changed between films over the years, but many defining details have endured. In the Japanese films, he is depicted as a gigantic, bipedal reptilian creature with rough, bumpy, usually charcoal gray scales with a keloid scar or tree bark-like texture, a fairly small head with prominent eyebrow-like ridges over the eyes, moderately long, humanoid arms with four fingers including an opposable thumb, thick, muscular legs, a long, powerful, segmented tail, and three rows of generally bone-white dorsal fins, usually shaped like maple leaves, though there are some designs whose traits may differ. Godzilla's origins vary somewhat from film to film, but he is almost always described as a prehistoric creature, and his first attacks on Japan are linked to the beginning of the Atomic Age; in particular, mutation due to nuclear radiation is presented as an explanation for his great size and strange powers. Godzilla's iconic design is often said to be composed of a mixture of traits from various dinosaurs; specifically, he has the body and overall shape of a pre-1990s reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus rex or an Allosaurus, the long arms and "thumbs" of an Iguanodon, and the dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus.
Personality
Godzilla, in the original 1954 Godzilla, is a creature whose underwater habitat was completely destroyed by a hydrogen bomb test which also killed his family and burned and scarred him. Enraged and driven from his home, Godzilla took out his rage upon humanity, destroying any boats that he encountered and later laying waste to the city of Tokyo.[50] In the subsequent films of the early Showa era, the Heisei era, some of the Millennium era, and the Monsterverse, Godzilla is an animal with at least semi-sapience that stumbles upon human civilization without any malicious intent, only destroying man-made structures or obstacles like buildings when the humans provoke him, or, when dead-set on arriving at a certain location. As the Godzilla series continued into the 1960s and 1970s, the terrifying monster developed as a character, and has since become a savior of the Earth, saving the world from other monsters like King Ghidorah, Hedorah, the Showa Mechagodzilla, and Monster X, alone or alongside other monsters like Rodan, Anguirus, and Mothra.
According to Mothra's Shobijin's translation of Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla's conversation in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla only "hates humans because they hate him," suggesting that Godzilla never had any true malicious intent but was only reacting to constantly being attacked by humans. Rodan later agrees with Godzilla's statement.
In the 1998 American film from TriStar Pictures, Godzilla is an elusive, animalistic, yet clever creature. He does not prefer to confront his attackers head on, but rather evade and confuse them before attacking them back. This strategy allows him to survive several encounters with the U.S. military. In one instance, Godzilla even fakes his own death after two Ohio-class submarines fire torpedoes at him. According to Niko Tatopoulos, Godzilla is not acting maliciously, but is simply providing for his own survival and that of his offspring. The destruction Godzilla causes is generally the result of his gigantic size as he searches for food or attempts to evade the military. Godzilla is visibly saddened and enraged after he finds his offspring dead in the ruins of Madison Square Garden, and seems to associate the humans who are present as being responsible, immediately giving chase after them.
In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla is a malicious entity created from the restless souls of the dead from World War II who seeks vengeance against Japan for its role in the war.
In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla's behavior seems to be that of a territorial animal. Ishiro Serizawa theorized that this Godzilla is the driving force to restore balance to nature whenever that balance is disrupted, suggesting that he essentially considers the entire Earth to be his territory. However, unlike previous incarnations, he doesn't blatantly attack or plow through ships at sea simply because they are there. In fact, with larger ships like aircraft carriers, he simply dove down under them. Even when he was attacked by the military, he didn't noticeably react or fight back and simply continued to hunt the MUTOs, even when he was being followed in close proximity by four naval ships. He also does not seem to intentionally cause destruction. Even when he destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge, it did not appear to be intentional, but rather just him reacting from being hit in the gills by missile fire. He shows little interest in humans, instead focusing his attention entirely on the MUTOs. After defeating both MUTOs, he leaves the humans alone without any more conflict. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla continues to behave in this manner. He maintains a patrol route around his territory and uses his glowing dorsal plates to perform an intimidation display. While Monarch initially assumed Godzilla was demonstrating aggression toward them, they later realized he was reacting to the presence of the ORCA before pursuing it to Antarctica. Godzilla recognizes the threat posed by his ancient nemesis King Ghidorah and goes out of his way to seek out and try to defeat Ghidorah on three occasions. Godzilla recognizes Mothra as his ally and communicates with her through sonar. He demonstrates inquisitiveness toward humans, first when he sees Serizawa approaching him and placing his hand on his face, and later after he resurfaces and leans forward to inspect Mark Russell. Godzilla never demonstrates outright hostility toward humans when he notices them and allows himself to be surrounded by a full military escort when he heads to Boston to confront Ghidorah. As the new alpha of the Titans, Godzilla is said to actively steer other Titans away from human cities and prevent any further destruction.
In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla is somewhat passive and unaware of humanity at first, only causing destruction at first due to the cumbersome and clumsy nature of his earlier forms, then later as a result of his final form's size as he walks through Tokyo. Godzilla does not retaliate against the JSDF when they attack him, and seems to barely notice their assault. However, when American B-2 Stealth Bombers drop Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs onto his back and actually injure him, Godzilla becomes enraged and immediately retaliates with his atomic breath, not only destroying the attacking forces but obliterating a huge part of Tokyo at the same time. When Godzilla is assaulted at the film's climax, he retaliates against the humans using his atomic breath and various beam attacks.
In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla is an incredibly aggressive creature who seems to deliberately seek out and destroy human civilization, as well as other monsters. Shortly after Kyohei Yamane proposed his existence on Odo Island in 2038, Godzilla made landfall in the United States and immediately obliterated the city of Los Angeles along with the monsters Anguirus IV, Baragon II, and Varan II. Godzilla traveled the globe in the ensuing years, bringing human civilization to its knees and resisting all attempts to destroy him. Even after refugees of humanity returned to the planet after 20,000 years, Godzilla attacked them on sight. Despite being a seemingly emotionless and impersonal force of destruction, characters noted that Godzilla's eerily human-like eyes appeared to denote both awareness and intelligence. Godzilla also defends the Earth from potential threats, solely in the interest of his own survival. In the 21st century, he detected the approach of the Gorath asteroid and stored enough energy to destroy it before it struck the planet. 20,000 years later, he fights off Mechagodzilla City and Ghidorah, both of whom would have destroyed the Earth had they successfully killed him.
Origins
In the original 1954 Godzilla, it is proposed that Godzilla was a type of prehistoric intermediary reptile related to both land and sea reptiles that slept deep underwater for millions of years feeding on deep-sea organisms before being disturbed and enhanced by an American hydrogen bomb test. Dr. Yamane proposes that the original Godzilla might have been living among others of his kind prior to the detonation, but the H-bomb completely destroyed his home and drew him out. This idea is supported by official artwork of the 1954 Godzilla living with other Godzillas underwater before a huge explosion destroys his habitat, killing his companions, burning and enraging Godzilla, and drawing him to the surface.[50] After the original Godzilla is killed, Yamane proposes that other Godzillas may have survived to the present day and could be awakened by future nuclear tests. This explains how, in the various continuities that encompass the series, multiple individual Godzillas have appeared. In the continuity of the Showa era, a second Godzilla appeared only less than a year later alongside Anguirus, and proceeded to be featured in the remaining films until Terror of Mechagodzilla.
In the Heisei era, it is theorized that Godzilla was a type of dinosaur called a Godzillasaurus that had survived the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period living on Lagos Island in the Marshall Islands that was mutated by nuclear tests performed on a nearby island called Rongerik in the 1950s. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the Futurians took the Godzillasaurus away from Lagos Island and placed him in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea, hoping to prevent his creation, only for him to become Godzilla anyway by being mutated by a Soviet nuclear submarine crash in the altered timeline. Godzilla was then awakened by a volcanic eruption 30 years later in 1984 and turned his sights on Japan. It is later clarified that the first Godzilla which attacked Tokyo in 1954 was a separate individual from this Godzilla, and still was awakened by the H-bomb test in 1954 and attacked Tokyo before being killed by the Oxygen Destroyer.
In the 1998 film, Godzilla is a mutated iguana that hatched from an egg that was exposed to a 1968 French nuclear test conducted in Moruroa Atoll of French Polynesia.[51] The creature apparently grew over a period of 30 years, and by the year 1998 had reached a size of about 180 feet as a result of his mutation.
In Godzilla: Awakening, the prequel to Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla was explained to be an ancient life form from the Permian Period, having survived various extinction events by consuming geothermal radiation in a hibernation-like state at the bottom of the sea. Godzilla was theorized by Ishiro Serizawa to have been the alpha predator of his ecosystem and prevented the other species from overpopulating and overrunning the world, acting as a force of nature that maintained balance. Godzilla's mysterious past is further explored in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Painted murals found by Monarch, including several on the walls of the sunken ruins of an entire city, depict Godzilla being worshipped by ancient civilizations as a god-like figure along with the other Titans. At one point, he possessed a symbiotic relationship with the benevolent lepidopteran Titan Mothra, and together, surrounded by human warriors, clashed with the malevolent King Ghidorah when he invaded Earth. Taking their battle to Antarctica, Godzilla eventually defeated Ghidorah and sealed him beneath the ice.[52]
Godzilla's origin is greatly altered for the film Shin Godzilla. In this film, it is proposed that Godzilla is some kind of prehistoric sea creature that found itself surrounded by nuclear waste on the sea floor in the 1950s and rapidly adapted to withstand it. As the creature evolved and began feeding on radioactive material, it gradually grew over a period of 60 years before taking on a form able to come onto land. After coming ashore, the creature continued evolving and growing until it sprouted arms and began standing upright.
In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla is said to be the "end result of natural selection on Earth" and to have evolved from plant-based life to become the largest and most powerful creature on the planet.[11]
History
- Godzilla (1954)
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
- Varan (1958) [stock footage from Godzilla, erroneous]
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
- Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
- Monster Booska (TV 1966-1967) [episode 1, stock footage from Godzilla]
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
- Son of Godzilla (1967)
- Destroy All Monsters (1968)
- All Monsters Attack (1969)
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
- Zone Fighter (TV 1973) [episodes 4, 11, 15, 21, and 25]
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
- Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
- Godzilla (TV 1978-1979) [26 episodes]
- Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) [stock footage from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster]
- The Return of Godzilla (1984)
- Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
- Adventure! Godzilland (TV 1992-1993)
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
- Get Going! Godzilland (OVA 1994, 1996)
- Godzilla Island (TV 1997-1998) [185 episodes][note 4]
- GODZILLA (1998)
- Godzilla: The Series (TV 1998-2000) [40 episodes]
- Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)
- Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
- All About Our House (2001)
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
- Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)
- Godzilla Final Wars (2004)
- Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007)
- 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope (2009) [stock footage from Son of Godzilla]
- Godzilla (2014)
- Crayon Shin-chan (TV 1992-) [episode 901 segment "It's Crayon Shin-Chan vs. Shin Godzilla!"]
- Shin Godzilla (2016)
- Kong: Skull Island (2017) [mentioned but unnamed; cave paintings]
- GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017)
- GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
- GODZILLA: The Planet Eater (2018)
- Dream Challenge: Godzilla Appears in Sukagawa (2019)
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
- Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Movie: The Marvelous Fast ALFA-X That Comes From the Future (2019)
- Godziban (web 2019-2023) [episodes 1-25, 27-28, 30-58, 60, and 62-63; special episodes 1-4 and 7-12]
- Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest (2020)
- I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla (web 2020-2021)
- Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
- Godzilla Singular Point (TV 2021) [episodes 3, 6-11, and 13]
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2022)
- Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022)
- Chibi Godzilla Raids Again (TV 2023-2024)
- Godzilla Minus One (2023)
- Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023)
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023-2025)
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
- Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo (2024)
- Fest Godzilla 5: All Monsters Showdown (2024)
Showa era
The Godzilla series began with the Showa series, which ran from 1954 to 1975. Aside from the first 15 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 enemies King Ghidorah and Gigan also made appearances in five of the 26 episodes of the TV series Zone Fighter in 1973. This TV series is considered to be canonical with the Showa Godzilla films,[53] set between the events of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
Godzilla (1954)
- Main article: Godzilla (First Generation).
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, the 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).
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 also 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 1 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.
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 into outer space.
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 into outer space moments later, while Godzilla and Rodan were nowhere to be seen.
A group of castaways hiding 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, making it impossible to disarm the nuclear self-destruct countdown for the entire island that had been activated. 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, trying to goad 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.
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 third Kamacuras, and Kumonga captured both creatures and killed the Kamacuras. 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.
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."
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 makeshift 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.
By the end of the 20th century, humanity had contained Godzilla and nine other monsters of Earth on Monsterland in the Ogasawara Islands. After the Kilaak aliens gassed the island and took control of its inhabitants, they sent 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)
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 TV screens in animated form for the first time. The animated TV series, simply titled Godzilla, began airing in the United States on NBC in 1978. Due to the network's Standards and Practices policies 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. 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 up 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.[54] 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).
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 No. 5. Any crew members not killed in Godzilla's initial attack were subsequently hunted down and killed by Shockirus, a mutated parasitic wharf roach 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 Ihama 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, rendering 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.
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.
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 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 reprogrammed 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.
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 as bait, luring Godzilla there to be killed once Mechagodzilla destroyed his secondary brain, rendering him helpless and unable to move. However, Rodan was resurrected as the more powerful 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 off, 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 heat ray, Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla. United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (U.N.G.C.C.) 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.
One 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 U.N.G.C.C. 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 heat ray to destroy SpaceGodzilla, the resulting explosion consuming MOGUERA and most of Fukuoka. With his son freed, Godzilla returned to Baas Island.
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 again-improved 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 as the new King of the Monsters.
Adventure! 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
- Main article: Godzilla (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
Although Toho intended their Godzilla series to go on hiatus for 10 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 Independence 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.'"[55] 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).
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.
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 on 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 10-year hiatus in order to renew interest.
Godzilla 2000: Millennium
- Main article: Godzilla (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).
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).
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).
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 first 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 first 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 had still managed to drive him away, meaning humanity finally had a weapon that was 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 mecha 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 off the helpless Godzilla, but the first 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).
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 Gotengo'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 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. The fifth entry in the Monsterverse, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, was released in 2024, and saw Godzilla and Kong teaming up to face the Skar King and Shimo. Godzilla appears in the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, an interquel set between the events of Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while Kong starred in the animated series Skull Island. In addition, Godzilla stars in four graphic novels set within the continuity of the Monsterverse: Godzilla: Awakening, Godzilla: Aftershock, Godzilla Dominion, and Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted.
Godzilla (2014) to Godzilla vs. Kong
- Main article: Godzilla (Monsterverse).
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 the 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. At one point, Godzilla and his kind 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.
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 Russell 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.
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 used his atomic breath to breach an ancient temple within the Hollow Earth, where Kong and the expedition had located the energy source. Kong climbed up 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 tokusatsu and anime 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 and numerous short films which premiered at Godzilla Fest from 2020 onward.
Shin Godzilla
- Main article: Godzilla (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
- 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.
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 meters 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.
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 submit to 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.
A family of monsters called the Godzilla Clan lived on Godzi Godzi 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.
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).
An apocalyptic beast from another dimension prophesized to bring about the end of 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.
Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex and Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023)
- Main article: Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex).
As Gigan Miles destroyed a city, Godzilla engaged one of them, making his presence known by hurling the dead and battered Gigan Miles at the feet of its allies, before roaring a challenge at the invaders. The three Gigan Miles leaped towards Godzilla, but he destroyed them by stomping on one, using his nuclear pulse on another that jumped on his back, and finally obliterating the last with his atomic breath.
Suddenly, Gigan Rex smashed down into the ground behind Godzilla. The monster turned to face his opponent as Gigan Rex extended his Rex Blades, whipping Godzilla with them before and firing a massive laser from his chest. Gigan Rex dodged Godzilla's beam and used his Rex Blades to slice towards the reptilian, but Godzilla caught them, yanking Gigan Rex to the ground. As Godzilla fired his atomic breath, Gigan Rex used his blades to block the blast and called in nine more Gigan Miles, who interrupted Godzilla's assault with their lasers. Gigan Rex commanded the Gigan Miles to extend their buzzsaws, and they began to dive down and slash Godzilla with the saws while joining Gigan Rex in utilizing their lasers against Godzilla. Four of them piled on top of Godzilla, and he began to glow a bright white before using a powerful version of his nuclear pulse to kill three of them and completely vaporizing the last cyborg with a single blast of white-hot atomic breath. Gigan Rex telekinetically ripped the cores from the remaining Gigan Miles and fired a far more powerful, crimson chest laser. Godzilla and his levitating foe entered a Beam-Fight, with Godzilla coming out on top. Godzilla, now triumphant, let out several roars in victory.
Sometime after the Gigan invasion, Godzilla reappeared in Japan, rumored to be searching for remaining Gigan Miles corpses. The military attacked him with tanks and jets as he walked through the city, with Godzilla retaliating a one of the aircraft with his atomic breath. A soldier noted that Godzilla was suffering from exhaustion and only had 30% of the radioactive energy he previously possessed following his battle with Gigan Rex.
Later on, Megalon located Godzilla and touched down in front of him, challenging him in battle. After initially struggling against Megalon's mobility and weaponry, Godzilla gained the upperhand in melee combat, grabbing onto and destroying the insect monster's horn and knocking him to the ground. Although Godzilla sustained heavy burns on his arm from making direct contact with Megalon's horn, he appeared victorious. However, his foe was revitalized by the Seatopian who summoned him, and attacked Godzilla by interlocking his drills into a single combined weapon. As he propelled Godzilla through the cityscape and drilled into him, the King of the Monsters activated his special state, glowing a bright white and unleashing his white atomic breath, blasting through a large swath of the city and cleaving Megalon in half. As Megalon's top half came to a halt and his eyes darkened, Godzilla roared in victory before collapsing to the ground.
Sometime later, Godzilla's eyes opened and he awoke.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah through Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar
- Main articles: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (short film), Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks, Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar.
When Hedorah attacked a refinery in the Keihin Industrial Zone to feed on the pollution, Godzilla arrived on the scene to battle the Smog Monster. Grappling through the complex and avoiding Godzilla's attempts to use his atomic breath, Hedorah was eventually able to knock Godzilla down and began spraying sulfuric acid mist, burning one of Godzilla's eyes. Godzilla managed to kick Hedorah back into a group of high tension wires, shocking the sludge creature long enough for him to get back onto his feet and finish him off with a blast of atomic breath. Triumphant, Godzilla let out a victory roar before walking further into civilization as the sun began to set.
Arriving in the city as nighttime fell, Godzilla confronted Gigan, who appeared in a blue flash in the skies above. After the cyborg landed, Godzilla opened the fight with a blast of atomic breath, but Gigan shielded his face with his Hammer Hands and returned fire with his forehead laser. Godzilla stumbled backward before charging Gigan as he continued firing lasers. Godzilla engaged him in close quarters combat, eventually breaking Gigan's forehead aperture. Enraged, Gigan activated his buzzsaw, cutting a deep wound into Godzilla's chest. He collapsed onto an overpass, dazed. Gigan prepared to finish him off, but Godzilla caught his Hammer Hands mid-swing and rose to his feet. Godzilla breathed atomic fire into Gigan's face; the cyborg fell backward and exploded. Godzilla let loose a long victory roar.
Godzilla, left with no other kaiju to battle, began attacking Japan, stomping through a city and firing his atomic breath at one of the buildings. As Godzilla continued his destruction, Jet Jaguar was deployed and engaged the attacking monster in defense of the city. Eventually, Godzilla got the upper hand and cornered the robot, preparing to deliver a final blow. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity struck Godzilla in the face, knocking him to the ground. King Ghidorah appeared in a massive fireball, cackling as he landed in the city. He began spewing gravity beams throughout the cityscape, destroying many of the structures. Seeing this, Jet Jaguar walked over to the struggling Godzilla, grabbing the monster's hand and lifting him to his feet. Godzilla gave a small roar to his new ally and Jet Jaguar returned a thumbs up. The two turned to face the golden invader, and Godzilla roared defiantly.
Abilities
Over the years Godzilla has possessed many powers and abilities to use against his foes. Godzilla is generally considered to be the most powerful kaiju within the context of the films, as is expressed by his title, "the King of the Monsters." As Godzilla's abilities have varied to some extent over his film appearances, refer to the Godzilla incarnation subpages to view the abilities of specific incarnations of Godzilla.
Atomic breath
Godzilla's signature weapon is the distinctive atomic heat ray he fires from his mouth. Godzilla's dorsal fins glow ominously, and then he lets loose with a concentrated blast of radiation from his mouth. Uniquely among all other versions of the character, Godzilla Filius and Godzilla Earth from the GODZILLA anime trilogy project the ray from the electromagnetic field in front of their faces rather than from their mouths. This power is commonly mistaken for breathing literal fire, which Godzilla only does in the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla cartoon and other non-film media such as the Chibi Godzilla series.
The nature and intensity of Godzilla's breath attack has changed over the course of his film appearances. In his debut film and Godzilla Raids Again, the attack is known as the incandescent light (白熱光, or radioactive spray hakunekkō) (放射能噴出 in the latter, hōshanō funshutsu)[56] and takes the form of a stream of misty, superheated radioactive vapor. The incandescent light possesses less force than subsequent iterations of Godzilla's breath attack, but is hot enough to melt tanks, fighter jets, and metal structures. It also creates raging fires that can quickly consume entire city blocks. In Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla uses his incandescent light to incinerate Anguirus after fatally wounding him with his bite. Starting in King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla's breath attack became better known as his atomic breath (放射熱線 or radioactive flame hōsha nessen, lit. '"radioactive heat ray") (放射火炎. The atomic breath is a focused beam of atomic energy which is typically neon blue in color. In the hōsha kaen)Showa series, Godzilla uses his atomic breath to destroy buildings and military weaponry, and to burn enemy monsters. In the Heisei series, Godzilla's atomic breath is portrayed as a powerful focused blue laser capable of causing large explosions and severely wounding some monsters such as Rodan and Battra when fired at point-blank range. According to the book Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works, the temperature of Godzilla's standard atomic breath in the Heisei series is 500,000 degrees Celsius.
In TriStar Pictures' GODZILLA, Godzilla lacks a traditional atomic breath but instead exhales a highly flammable power breath which produces a strong gust of wind and can cause explosions when it comes into contact with open flame. In the film's animated sequel, Godzilla: The Series, that Godzilla's son possesses a green atomic fire breath, similar to the atomic breath of past versions of the character. This attack is extremely hot and possesses long range, capable of melting steel and turning sand into glass, as well as injuring or even killing many other monsters. The Godzilla from the 1998 film, when revived as the cybernetic Cyber Godzilla by the Leviathan Aliens, gains a blue atomic fire breath.
In Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla's atomic breath is hot orange instead of the typical neon blue, and is shown as having incendiary properties. In Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, it was strong enough to destroy the miniature black hole fired by the Dimension Tide. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla's atomic breath returns to its standard blue color, but demonstrates impressive range and can generate a mushroom cloud upon impact. In Godzilla Final Wars, it possesses incredible range, amazing power and pinpoint accuracy, able to hit and destroy a target in outer space and kill or disable most kaiju with a single shot. Godzilla has also demonstrated his ability to actually change the intensity of his atomic breath at will. This is first seen in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla when Godzilla's atomic breath changes to his red spiral heat ray to finish off SpaceGodzilla, and later in Godzilla Final Wars during Godzilla's battle against Keizer Ghidorah. With a quick turn, Godzilla's breath goes from the iconic blue beam to the red Burning G Spark Heat Ray, which literally causes the monster Keizer Ghidorah to explode in the upper atmosphere.
In the Monsterverse, while Godzilla seems to use his atomic breath as a weapon of last resort rather than as his primary weapon in his battle with the MUTOs, he uses it more frequently in his battles with King Ghidorah and Kong. When Godzilla charges his atomic breath, he draws energy from his bio-nuclear circulatory system which activates when he is threatened. This triggers a neutron flux that manifests as a blue glow which slowly moves from the tip of his tail up his protective dorsal fins, which serve as energy reserves for his atomic power.[57] Finally, the energy reaches the nucleosynthetic glands in Godzilla's throat chambers,[58] where it explodes into a concentrated wave of atomic energy.[59] Godzilla then spews this atomic energy from his mouth as a blue blast of flame which is capable of destroying Shinomura, wounding and knocking down the female MUTO, pushing back and burning King Ghidorah, and drilling a hole straight into the Hollow Earth. In addition to serving as a weapon, Godzilla's atomic breath can be utilized as a "dominance display,"[57] while he also uses the bluish glow which emanates from his dorsal fins as an intimidation display. When he fires his breath directly into the female MUTO's mouth, it decapitates and kills her almost instantly. After their battle in Boston, Godzilla ultimately incinerates Ghidorah's last head by holding it in his mouth while firing his atomic breath. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla used his atomic breath to dig through the surface of the Earth in Hong Kong straight toward the Hollow Earth in seemingly a matter of minutes. It appears that once Godzilla has fully charged his atomic breath, he can fire it multiple times, the best example being when he fires it multiple times in rapid succession during his battle with Kong in Hong Kong.
In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla's atomic breath starts out as a thick black smoke that comes from his mouth and spreads around the surrounding area. The smoke coming from Godzilla's mouth eventually ignites into a stream of flame, called the Super Thermal Radiation Particle Belt Flame (超高熱放射性粒子帯焔 or Thermal Flame Chō Kōnetsu Hōshasei Ryūshi-taien) (熱焔 for short, producing a huge destructive fireball that sweeps through the area. The fire condenses further into a thin highly destructive purple beam, the Radiation Heat Ray Netsuen) (放射熱線, which is capable of slicing through buildings. When Godzilla first uses his atomic breath in the film, he completely destroys three districts of Hōsha Nessen)Tokyo. In addition to firing his ray from his mouth, this version of Godzilla can redirect the beams and fire them from in between his dorsal fins. Godzilla also possesses a small vestigial head on the tip of his tail, out of which he can fire another ray. When Godzilla fires his atomic breath, his body becomes covered in a bright purple glow and his upper jaw unhinges while his lower jaw splits open. Godzilla has protective nictitating membranes that form over his eyes when he fires his atomic breath.
In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla's atomic breath (熱線 is still a neon-blue beam but is more electromagnetic in nature rather than incendiary. Godzilla generates the electromagnetic energy required for the attack in his dorsal fins, then forms an electromagnetic field around his entire body. The atomic breath is fired from the front of this field, directly in front of Godzilla's face. This version of the atomic breath behaves more or less the same as past incarnations and is demonstrated to be extremely powerful and accurate. Nessen, lit. "heat ray")
In Godzilla Singular Point, each of Godzilla's last three forms have the ability to fire a breath weapon. Godzilla Amphibia breathes a flammable vapor with a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius, which generates a massive explosion if ignited. Instead of a ray, Godzilla Terrestris's atomic breath takes the form of a large blue ring of nuclear energy which forms in front of his mouth. It proved powerful enough to knock a large black Rodan out of the sky and destroy it instantly. Godzilla Ultima's more focused atomic breath is a condensed blue-violet beam of ionized radiation that destroyed a column of JSDF tanks and cleaved straight through multiple buildings and was potent enough to leave large areas of buildings destroyed and engulfed in flames. The atomic breath is also strong enough to slice straight through a Manda with ease. After Godzilla's size surpassed 100 meters, his atomic breath increased considerably in power; it sliced a building in half in mere seconds and blasted a hole straight through a supersized Jet Jaguar's face, later destroying the robot with another blast at point-blank range. Godzilla's dorsal fins glow when firing his atomic breath, flickering from neck to tail, rather than in the opposite direction as with most other versions of the character.
In Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla's dorsal fins will glow, and stick out of his back one-by-one starting from the tail, and going up his back. He appears to inhale lots of surrounding air before all his fins retract into his body and a superheated ray of atomic energy fires out of his mouth, and creates an enormous explosion upon hitting the target, creating extremely powerful shockwaves, a crater, and a mushroom cloud. It was powerful enough to burn his face, and destroy most of Ginza.
In the 2004 video game Godzilla: Save the Earth, the character Godzilla 90s can also use a more powerful purple variation of his atomic breath called the "Finishing Breath" for his rage attack. In Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee and Godzilla: Save the Earth, both Godzillas can also launch huge fireballs from their mouths as well, which are referred to as the "Atomic Fireball" in Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters Melee and simply "Fireball" in Godzilla: Save the Earth.
While Godzilla's atomic breath has typically been shown to set entire city blocks ablaze and easily obliterate skyscrapers and most military weaponry, many of Godzilla's opponents have shown the ability to withstand it, at least in its standard intensity. For example, in the Showa series, both Rodan and King Ghidorah were able to withstand direct hits from Godzilla's atomic breath with little visible harm. In the Heisei series, Rodan was vulnerable to the beam at close range, though King Ghidorah remained immune until Godzilla utilized his more powerful spiral heat ray. The Heisei version of Mechagodzilla possessed a special diamond-plated armor that allowed it to absorb Godzilla's atomic breath and reflect it through the plasma grenade port on its abdomen. Mechagodzilla City from the GODZILLA anime trilogy can deploy a field of Nanometal particles that deflect Godzilla's atomic breath and scatter it in several directions. Many of Godzilla's more powerful opponents, including King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah and Monster X, have proven to be resistant to Godzilla's atomic breath until he was forced to utilize a more powerful variation of it. Mothra is typically able to use the scales dropped from her wings to reflect Godzilla's atomic breath back at him. Kong's axe, which seemingly used the dorsal fin of another member of Godzilla's species as its blade, was able to absorb Godzilla's atomic breath and release its stored energy upon impact. Godzilla's ray was also overpowered by the Monsterverse Mechagodzilla's proton scream in a beam lock when the mecha amplified its beam. Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization suggests that the atomic breath Godzilla used in the beam lock with Mechagodzilla was the same one he used to drill into the Hollow Earth.
Spiral Heat Ray
A stronger variation of Godzilla's standard atomic breath introduced in the Heisei series was the spiral heat ray. This version of Godzilla's atomic breath is typically portrayed as much more powerful than his normal atomic breath and is wrapped in an electrical spiral. The first variant of this attack, simply called the Spiral Heat Ray (スパイラル熱線, is used by Godzilla in Supairaru Nessen)Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah to decapitate King Ghidorah's middle head after his normal atomic breath was shown having little to no effect on his enemy. In this film, the spiral heat ray is still blue in color but is surrounded by a purplish spiral of energy. Before Godzilla fires the spiral breath, his dorsal fins are surrounded in blue electricity.
As a result of Godzilla absorbing Fire Rodan's life energy in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla gained a more powerful spiral heat ray called either the Hyper Uranium Heat Ray (ハイパーウラニウム熱線, Super Flame Heat Ray Haipā Uraniumu Nessen) (超火炎熱線, or Red Heat Ray Chō Kaen Nessen) (赤い熱線. This beam is considerably more powerful than the original spiral breath, with a temperature of 1 million degrees Celsius, hot enough to burn Godzilla's mouth. The Hyper Uranium Heat Ray is red in color rather than blue, and is powerful enough to overpower Akai Nessen)Super Mechagodzilla's Mega Buster and subsequently destroy the mech in only a few blasts. Because it places a considerable burden on Godzilla's body, he cannot fire it for extended periods of time. In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla uses runaway cosmic energy he absorbed after the destruction of SpaceGodzilla's shoulder crystals to fire a version of the spiral heat ray called the Burn Spiral Heat Ray (バーンスパイラル熱線 or Nuclear Fusion Heat Ray Bān Supairaru Nessen) (融合反応熱線. This beam only reaches a temperature of 900,000 degrees Celsius, but demonstrates even more destructive power than the Hyper Uranium Heat Ray, as it completely destroys both SpaceGodzilla and Yūgō Han'nō Nessen)MOGUERA in three blasts, along with a large portion of Fukuoka. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla's standard atomic breath is permanently replaced by a red beam called the Burning Heat Ray (バーニング熱線 after he absorbs a large amount of atomic energy from the explosion of Bāningu Nessen)Baas Island and becomes Burning Godzilla. He uses this beam to devastate Hong Kong, and also utilizes it in battle with the Super X3, with Sho Kuroki even remarking that it is stronger than his normal atomic breath. Once Burning Godzilla begins to enter meltdown, he begins using the Infinite Heat Ray (インフィニット熱線, also called the Burning Spiral Heat Ray Infinitto Nessen) (バーニングスパイラル熱線 or Hyper Heat Ray Bāningu Supairaru Nessen) (ハイパー熱線. This beam is said to increase infinitely in power each time Burning Godzilla uses it, and is capable of blasting off part of the frill on Destoroyah's head and severely wounding his shoulder while setting the entire surrounding area ablaze, forcing Destoroyah to try and retreat. Haipā Nessen)
In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, a variant of Godzilla's spiral heat ray called the Gravitational Atomic Breath (引力放射熱線 is seen after Inryoku Hōsha Nessen)King Ghidorah uses his golden gravity beams to attack Godzilla. Godzilla is somehow able to draw strength from the gravity beams and use the absorbed energy to fire a blast of his atomic breath wrapped in a golden spiral that completely destroys King Ghidorah. Like Godzilla's original spiral heat ray in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, this beam is blue in color like Godzilla's standard atomic breath and his dorsal fins become surrounded in electricity before firing it.
In Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla fires a blue Hyper Spiral Heat Ray (ハイパースパイラル熱線) to strike Gorath as it enters Earth's atmosphere. After Shinichi Ozaki infuses him with Keizer energy, he uses the red Burning G Spark Heat Ray (バーニングGスパーク熱線) to push Keizer Ghidorah to the edge of space, destroying him in an explosion visible from the surface of the Earth.
In the continuity of the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla possesses a more powerful variant of his standard atomic breath described as being crimson in color and shaped like a spiral. He uses this beam to destroy the Gorath asteroid as it approaches Earth and to obliterate the Nanometalized Gigan when his regeneration proves too potent for his standard atomic breath.
Nuclear Pulse and magnetic powers
In addition to his very deadly atomic breath, Godzilla can also emit atomic energy in all directions from every inch of his body in a short-range attack dubbed the Nuclear Pulse (体内放射. The pulse is first seen in his fight against Tainai Hōsha, lit. Internal Radiation)Biollante. Godzilla uses the nuclear pulse throughout the Heisei series, and in the climax of Godzilla 2000: Millennium to destroy Orga. In the climax of Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla uses something similar to a nuclear pulse to prevent Keizer Ghidorah from draining any more of his energy from him after being surged with Shinichi Ozaki's energy.
In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla found a way to generate powerful magnetic fields from his body after being struck several times by lightning, which proved crucial in defeating his metallic foe, as Godzilla's magnetism was strong enough to repel and eject several of Mechagodzilla's finger missiles embedded in his skin, rip electrical pylons out of the ground and onto his body, and counteract Mechagodzilla's attempt at flying away, dragging the giant machine back through the air towards him. This is the only time that Godzilla has ever used this power.
In the 1993 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla demonstrated another ability that may have been a variant of his Nuclear Pulse. After being struck with Mechagodzilla's Shock Anchor harpoons, Godzilla discharged a form of energy up the cables, severely damaging the robot's internal mechanisms. However, this was not the only time Godzilla has ever used this ability. In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla discharged energy through his physical blows in his offensive against the sinister space mutant SpaceGodzilla. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla also demonstrated the ability to give off huge amounts of radiation and heat after absorbing Fire Rodan's energy. This heat proved to be so intense that it caused Super Mechagodzilla's synthetic diamond armor to literally melt, allowing the mech to be easily destroyed by Godzilla's Spiral Heat Ray.
In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, during the lead-up to Godzilla's meltdown, he frequently emits more powerful orange Nuclear Pulses. While these pulses were ineffective against the armor plating of the Super X3, they were capable of briefly stunning Destoroyah on several occasions. After Godzilla gained access to the Infinite Heat Ray, these Nuclear Pulses became even stronger, taking on a flame-like appearance and erupting out of his melting dorsal fins in the form of concentric circles that caused the ground to burst into flame. In this case, Godzilla's Nuclear Pulses appear to be uncontrollable and are a symptom of his impending meltdown.
In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla appears to possess a variation of the Nuclear Pulse. In this film, Godzilla can fire countless beams of atomic energy from in between the dorsal fins on his back, allowing him to strike down targets approaching him from behind.
The Monsterverse incarnation of Godzilla is also capable of performing a Nuclear Pulse. During his final battle with MUTO Prime in Godzilla: Aftershock, Godzilla projects waves of atomic energy from his shattered dorsal fins that blast MUTO Prime into the air and badly wounds it. Godzilla uses a more powerful version of the Nuclear Pulse in Godzilla: King of the Monsters to defeat King Ghidorah. After absorbing Mothra's energy, Godzilla begins to emit intense heat and glow bright orange. He then projects a series of incendiary Nuclear Pulses that incinerate King Ghidorah faster than he can regenerate and allow Godzilla to finally kill him.
In the 2002 video game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, both Godzillas have an attack called the "Atomic Shockwave" for their rage attacks, which strongly resembles his Nuclear Pulse from the Heisei series. In the 2004 video game Godzilla: Save the Earth, the character Godzilla 2000 retains this ability, although it has an orange coloration this time and is renamed "Nuclear Pulse".
Durability
Godzilla has displayed an uncanny ability to sustain damage throughout his films.
Starting in the first Godzilla film, Godzilla displayed immunity to conventional weaponry, being virtually impervious to everything the JSDF threw at him. Dr. Yamane states that the very fact Godzilla survived exposure to a hydrogen bomb explosion is a testament to his durability. He has demonstrated the ability to survive complete submersion in magma for an extended period of time, sometimes while under extreme pressure from tectonic plates (as seen in Godzilla vs. Mothra). He has even survived being in ground zero of asteroid impacts. The only times Godzilla's flesh has been visibly pierced were in battle with Gigan, Biollante, King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, and all three versions of Mechagodzilla. In Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Megaguirus and her Meganula swarm managed to sting Godzilla with their tails and drain his blood, but his flesh was not visibly wounded or damaged.
In addition to being extremely resistant to damage, many incarnations of Godzilla possess an extremely advanced and highly efficient regenerative ability. This power was a crucial plot point of Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla 2000: Millennium. In Godzilla 2000: Millennium, it is explained that Godzilla's regenerative abilities may have something to do with his radioactive properties, and Organizer G-1 ("Regenerator G-1" in the American version) is the name given to a substance in his cells that is responsible for Godzilla's swift healing. In Godzilla vs. Biollante, Japanese scientists use samples of the Godzilla cells (called G-cells throughout the Heisei series of Godzilla films) to help create the ANEB. This healing factor would be inherited by all creatures spawned from Godzilla's DNA, those being Biollante, SpaceGodzilla and Orga. In the case of Biollante and Orga, their healing factor appears to even exceed Godzilla's own in terms of speed and effectiveness.
In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla was stated to have survived exposure to the nuclear tests carried out in the South Pacific in the 1950s, even appearing to have withstood the detonation of Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, at Bikini Atoll while directly next to the bomb. A testament to his durability is his survival of the various prehistoric extinction events that happened before his encounters with humanity. Additionally, like his previous incarnations, Godzilla showed no outwards signs of damage from any weaponry used by the United States Armed Forces, including heavy gunfire, missiles, tank shells, and various other weapons. In fact, Godzilla seemed to not even notice most of these attacks, only flinching slightly at artillery fire striking him at point-blank range and briefly showing visible pain after being struck directly in his gills. Godzilla was also pinned underneath a skyscraper that collapsed on him while he paused to catch his breath, but it did not keep him subdued for long, as he quickly got back to his feet to continue pursuing his enemy. While the MUTOs fought Godzilla to the point of exhaustion, he managed to get back to his feet and return to the ocean in a matter of hours, showing no physical fatigue or injury. This could be a testament to Godzilla's durability, meaning he was simply exhausted, or to his healing factor, meaning he recovered from any wounds he sustained by sunrise. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla is shown to endure several vicious attacks from King Ghidorah, including several strikes from his jaws, shots from his gravity beams, being strangled by his necks, and being dropped from extremely high in the air to the ground below. However, while these attacks are not able to kill Godzilla, they all visibly injure him and the last one nearly killed him before Mothra intervened. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla recovered quickly from a powerful punch thrown by Kong during their first battle. In their second fight in Hong Kong, Godzilla was unfazed when Kong sunk his axe into his thigh, removing it with his jaws and throwing it into a building. A blow to the face from the axe felled him after he powered it up with his atomic breath, giving Kong time to set up a trap. Though Godzilla ultimately prevailed, the toll of that battle and firing his atomic breath into the ground to breach the Hollow Earth meant he was easily outmaneuvered and overpowered by Mechagodzilla and faced death from its proton scream. Even so, he retained enough strength to battle alongside Kong when the Titan came to his aid.
In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla's healing factor is so potent that it is proposed that pieces of his flesh that are broken off from his body can continue to live on their own and potentially evolve and regenerate into entire creatures. This Godzilla is also immune to virtually all conventional weaponry, barely seeming to notice when he is attacked. However, Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs that struck Godzilla directly on the back were able to injure him and cause him to bleed.
Godzilla Earth and Godzilla Filius from the GODZILLA anime trilogy each possess enhanced healing factors that allow them to completely regenerate from injury in a matter of seconds. They rarely need to rely on this ability, however, as the Asymmetrically Permeable Shields they generate protect them from any and all damage whenever they are deployed.
In Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla was able to withstand heavy fire from ships, as well as survive the sudden pressure change of being yanked down to 1,500 meter depths, and the explosive compression of suddenly being yanked back up shortly afterwards. He also has enhanced cellular regeneration abilities. When a mine was detonated in his mouth and blasted a large hole in his face, it healed instantly, only leaving a white scar. Even after his body was completely destroyed by explosives flown into his mouth while he was recovering from the explosion compression, a chunk of flesh began to regenerate.
Physical abilities
As attributed to his size, weight, and mass, Godzilla has displayed varying levels of physical strength that are, at the very least, sufficient enough to lift weights exceeding 2,000 metric tons and smash skyscrapers. He has been depicted lifting and throwing monsters in excesses of his own weight, such as King Ghidorah, Hedorah, Mechagodzilla and others, and in Godzilla Final Wars was even able to throw Kumonga clear over the horizon. He is shown using various martial arts techniques in a comical fashion during the Showa series, or moving very quickly in spite of his size, such as in Zone Fighter. In the Millennium series, he has also been able to leap high into the air.
Godzilla's long tail is also a formidable weapon. It has been shown to be very flexible and powerful, able to lash out quickly and topple over buildings and enemy monsters. In Godzilla vs. Megalon, he was able to slide on his tail a great distance to deliver a devastating kick, and in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, it was revealed to be prehensile as well. In all of his incarnations, he has been shown to have powerful jaws and sharp teeth and claws, although these are more prominent in some incarnations than in others. Rarely, Godzilla has also showed the ability to use his dorsal fins as a weapon, such as in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, when he uses their jagged tips to slice off Megaguirus' claw, and Godzilla vs. Hedorah, where he used them to cut into Hedorah during the flying scene. Also in Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, the dorsal fins create a tremendous amount of heat when the atomic breath is being prepared.
However, many of the films show Godzilla preferring to battle his opponents from a distance, particularly in the Heisei series, either by using his atomic breath or by throwing objects like boulders at them.
Like his previous incarnations, the Legendary Godzilla possesses immense physical strength and can use his huge mass as a weapon. He is able to toss both the male and female MUTOs around with ease by biting into their bodies and he is able to effortlessly push the female MUTO through a building. The strength of his tail swings is great enough to kill the male MUTO outright as well as knock over a large skyscraper by accident. Unlike previous incarnations, however, he didn't use his arms much to toss them around. This is due to his fighting style being modeled after bears which, despite having powerful front legs, use their jaws as their primary weapon. Overall, the Legendary Godzilla's fighting style seems to be somewhat of a reversal of the typical Godzilla fighting style, preferring to be in close and in direct combat with his targets rather than relying on his atomic breath or throwing objects. Godzilla is also able to cause tsunamis by just going to shore. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla is shown to possess impressive speed when he charges at King Ghidorah and considerable strength during their numerous bouts, the most notable of which being hurling his over 141,000-ton nemesis a good distance during their final battle in Boston and even biting off his left head during their previous bout in Mexico. Godzilla's dorsal fins can also be used for attack, as they were capable of cutting through a ship when he swam through it. During his first fight with Kong, a single swipe of Godzilla's claws was sufficient to knock him off his feet. In their rematch in Hong Kong, Godzilla tackled Kong into the nearby harbor. The extent of Godzilla's savagery is shown when he bit down on Kong's hand and threw him across the city, dislocating his shoulder in the process. Godzilla also once again displayed considerable speed and agility for his size, angrily charging toward the injured Kong, knocking him down with his tail, crawling towards him on all fours, and leaping onto him before lacerating and stomping on his chest. When he fought Mechagodzilla, Godzilla briefly matched his mechanical duplicate in strength by pushing him back after charging at the mecha and managed to slam it through a nearby building with assistance from Kong.
In Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla was able to destroy buildings with a swipe of his tail, crush entire crowds in one step, and use his clawed hands to tear apart buildings, punch a hole in the cruiser Takao, and effortlessly throw large trains and boats through the air across incredibly long distances.
Amphibiousness
Though technically a reptile and not an amphibian, Godzilla has an amphibious lifestyle. He spends half of his life in water and the other on land. He is as adept a fighter underwater as he is on land. Capable of marching on the sea floor or swimming by undulating his tail like a crocodile, Godzilla is displayed as being able to breathe underwater, occasionally hibernating in the ocean depths between movies, and being submerged apparently does not impede his atomic breath, as seen in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. He engages opponents in the sea on multiple occasions, fighting King Ghidorah, Ebirah, Battra, Biollante and Mothra either beneath or on the surface of the waves.
In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla now possesses visible gills/amphibious lungs so he can stay underwater indefinitely, but he closes them when he's on land and uses his lungs. These gills appear to be weak points, as Godzilla reacts whenever he is struck in the gills by artillery fire or strikes from the MUTOs' claws. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, he's shown to be an incredibly powerful combatant in the water, ripping off King Ghidorah's left head and most likely would've won if the Oxygen Destroyer had not interfered. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla utilizes his amphibiousness when attacking the fleet escorting Kong to the Hollow Earth, slicing through the ships with his dorsal fins and destroying a group of them with his tail. Additionally, while Kong managed to hold his own against Godzilla underwater, the larger Titan eventually overpowered him and was able to swim while towing Kong behind him with his tail.
In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla began as a prehistoric sea creature that fed on nuclear waste on the sea floor, causing it to evolve rapidly. When Godzilla finally came onto land, he possessed gills on the sides of his neck. When Godzilla initially came ashore, these gills leaked red fluid, possibly his blood. The gills closed and decreased in size as Godzilla grew and evolved further, but were still present and could be seen glowing whenever he charged his atomic breath.
Backwards flight
In a memorable, and somewhat infamous, scene in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla used his atomic breath to fly by aiming it at the ground and lifting off like a rocket. Godzilla has used this ability in media outside of Godzilla vs. Hedorah such as in the IDW Publishing comic series Godzilla and in Godzilla for the PlayStation 4, where it is called "Back Charge." In the Godziban episode "Fly, Godzilla-kun!," flight is said to be an ability of which all members of the Godzilla clan are capable, but only if they truly believe they can. Godzilla-kun's preconceptions about members of his clan not being built for flight keeps him earthbound, while Minilla and Little's childhood innocence allows them to soar for a day.
Laser vision
In Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla, Godzilla could shoot red laser beams out of his eyes in addition to breathing fire.
Intelligence
The extent of Godzilla's intelligence varies throughout the character's history, but Godzilla is generally depicted as a thinking creature. The Showa incarnation in particular is depicted as being close in intelligence to a human, capable of abstract thought, and able to communicate with other monsters. Other versions of Godzilla display a simple animal cunning.
Though the additional scenes in Universal's English-language version of King Kong vs. Godzilla have little consistency with the continuity and lore of the Showa Godzilla films, one character in these scenes says that Godzilla has a brain about the size of a marble: "He is sheer brute force." In comparison, the character states that King Kong "is a thinking animal." Again, this is largely inconsistent with Godzilla's character, although this is possibly done just to show Kong, being a mammal, would be much more intelligent than Godzilla, who is a reptile, as well as leaning on the "walnut-sized brain" reputation of dinosaurs at the time.
In the Heisei series, Godzilla reacts on animal cunning and instinct more consecutively than in his Showa counterpart, as demonstrated by his conditioned response in The Return of Godzilla. He was still capable of independent thought, however, and according to Miki Saegusa, of human-like sentiments as well. This was corroborated by his mourning the death of Godzilla Junior in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, during the final battle, Godzilla was the first to figure out that SpaceGodzilla was drawing energy from the Fukuoka Tower and, with the help of Land Moguera, Godzilla demolishes the tower and saps SpaceGodzilla's energy. It was insinuated in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah that he also remembers the distant past. The Heisei Godzilla was psychic on some level, possibly the most powerful in existence. His evasion of the JSDF in Godzilla vs. Biollante seemed to carry implications of precognition. Additionally, he had some manner of psychic link with Godzilla Junior and has several times demonstrated the ability to locate potential opponents from great distances. The Heisei Godzilla was able to shrug off Miki Saegusa's attempts to telepathically influence him on two occasions, first when she tried to halt his approach to Osaka in Godzilla vs. Biollante, and later in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla when she was aided by the technology of Project T.
Another example of Godzilla's intelligence was displayed in Godzilla 2000: Millennium when he was facing Orga. When Orga kept regenerating himself at a fast pace, Godzilla decided to go after Orga's core and used a nuclear pulse to destroy it, thus exploiting that weakness and ultimately defeating Orga.
While fighting the MUTOs in Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla figures out their strengths and weaknesses through repeated clashes with them. He lets the male MUTO fly to attack him, and he then used his tail to slam him into a building, killing him. With the female MUTO, he fired his atomic breath right into her mouth after forcing it open, making her neck explode. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla is shown to acknowledge Monarch members numerous times and exploits his advantage during his second fight with King Ghidorah in Mexico, very nearly defeating his ancient nemesis before the Oxygen Destroyer interfered. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla singles out Apex Cybernetics facilities to destroy while searching for Mechagodzilla, showcasing that he is capable of pinpointing exact groups of people that represent a threat to him. This is further demonstrated when the fleet escorting Kong opens fire on Godzilla to defend the primate Titan, causing Godzilla to attack it out of retaliation before battling Kong. However, he continues to avoid unnecessary conflict, as showcased when he ceases his assault once the fleet decides to "play dead" by shutting off their power, making Godzilla believe it is no longer a threat and leave the area. This is further demonstrated with his rematch with Kong in Hong Kong when Godzilla manages to overpower his rival, but spares his life before leaving to continue searching for Mechagodzilla. During the following fight, he recognizes Kong as an ally and in turn assists him by tag-teaming Mechagodzilla and then powering Kong's axe with his atomic breath to deliver the killing blow against the mechanical Titan. After their battle, Godzilla acknowledges Kong and returns to the ocean without further conflict once again.
Energy absorption and projection
Ever since the original film, Godzilla has been capable of absorbing huge amounts of energy, often nuclear in nature. In the Showa series, Godzilla absorbed nuclear energy from a hydrogen bomb explosion, which granted him the ability to emit high levels of radiation and fire his trademark atomic breath. In the Heisei series, while still a Godzillasaurus, Godzilla was exposed to the detonation of a Soviet nuclear submarine, which mutated him into an 80-meter tall atomic-powered monster. Because his heart is a biological nuclear reactor, the Heisei Godzilla relies on nuclear power to sustain his metabolism and derives his sustenance from absorbing energy from active man-made nuclear reactors. Godzilla was also able to absorb the energy of nuclear submarines; in one case the energy absorbed from a nuclear sub was enough to allow Godzilla's immune system to purge the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria from his body and cause him to grow 20 meters taller in height. When nuclear reactions in his heart caused uranium deposits under Baas Island to ignite and vaporize the island, Godzilla absorbed the radiation given off by the explosion. While this influx of radiation did eventually cause Godzilla's heart to undergo a catastrophic meltdown and kill him, it made Godzilla substantially more powerful for a period of time. According to Kenkichi Yamane, Godzilla's heart contained enough nuclear power to create "a burst of energy unseen since time began" which would cause the Earth's atmosphere to ignite if it exploded. If Godzilla's meltdown was not kept under control by G-Force's freezer weapons, his heart would have melted down into the Earth's core and caused the planet to implode. In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla still feeds on nuclear radiation, and aside from feeding on nuclear submarines is able to sustain himself for millions of years at a time absorbing geothermal radiation from the Earth's core. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, he's shown to be completely healed with a point-blank nuclear blast as well as a massive boost in internal nuclear power. In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla evolved as a result of consuming nuclear waste on the ocean floor. This version of Godzilla derives his energy from nuclear fission occurring within his body.
Godzilla has been shown absorbing other forms of energy besides nuclear radiation. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla is able to harness electricity after being struck repeatedly by lightning, granting him the ability to become a living magnetic pole. Godzilla was previously shown being energized and awakened by lightning in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, and was later revitalized by lightning from a radiation storm in The Return of Godzilla. Godzilla absorbs King Ghidorah's gravity beams in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and combines them with his atomic breath, forming a more powerful atomic beam that obliterates King Ghidorah in a single hit. In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, lightning is shown striking Godzilla's dorsal fins, causing them to glow. In the absence of nuclear power in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla seeks out and feeds on plasma energy instead. In Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla absorbs Shinichi Ozaki's Keizer energy, empowering him and allowing him to easily defeat Keizer Ghidorah. During his final battle in Boston with King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla absorbs Mothra's energy after her death to transform into Burning Godzilla, giving him the power to kill King Ghidorah once and for all.
Godzilla also has the capacity to emit various forms of energy. Godzilla is able to weaponize his own nuclear power in the form of his atomic breath or nuclear pulse, and constantly gives off strong nuclear radiation that is lethal to humans. In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla emits energy through his punches to overload SpaceGodzilla with power and cause him to explode. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla attempts to revive Godzilla Junior by breathing energy into him. This does manage to briefly stir Junior to life after he is seemingly killed by Destoroyah, but only temporarily. When Godzilla melts down, he imparts his energy into Junior's lifeless body, reviving him and mutating him into a fully-grown Godzilla. In the Godzilla vs. Megalon short film, Godzilla is able to channel his energy into his claws to parry Megalon's attacks, as well as use energy projection from his dorsal fins to help propel him through the air for a flying kick.
Weaknesses
Despite his incredible power, Godzilla has displayed a few weaknesses over the years. In King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla, he is shown to be vulnerable to strong voltages of electricity. As the series progressed, lightning (i.e., electricity found in nature) has been shown to have the opposite effect, at times serving to revitalize him. In The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla is shown to have a critical weakness to cadmium, an element commonly used to slow nuclear reactions. The Super X fired its full payload of cadmium missiles into Godzilla's mouth, and this had the effect of temporarily stopping his heart and knocking him unconscious. Cadmium was also utilized by the Super X3 to freeze Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla is revealed to have a second brain in his spine, with Super Mechagodzilla being able to paralyze him from the waist down by destroying it. Nevertheless, his secondary brain was restored by Fire Rodan and further films seem to ignore this gigantic weak spot. It was also suggested in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla that Godzilla has a soft spot under each armpit. However, the validity of this claim was highly dubious and this alleged weak point was never successfully exploited. Godzilla's sheer bulk has also been depicted as a disadvantage, making it difficult for him to keep up with the more agile Megaguirus, who was able to outmaneuver him as well as forcing Godzilla to have to rely heavily on his endurance. Also, while he has an endurance level beyond measure, his enemies usually counter by trying to crush and batter him. Mechagodzilla managed to overpower Godzilla by firing more weaponry than he could defend against, although this became useless after Godzilla became magnetized.
In every film era, Godzilla has displayed at least some weakness to ice and freezing temperatures. In Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla was frozen in an iceberg for seven years before emerging again in King Kong vs. Godzilla. In Son of Godzilla, Godzilla was forced into hibernation when a massive manmade snowstorm descended on Sollgel Island. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, G-Force utilized special freezing weapons to freeze Godzilla solid for several hours, and later attempted to freeze him as he melted down, which partially succeeded in minimizing the damage. In Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla was sealed under ice in Antarctica for several decades. In each of these scenarios, ice has proven an effective way to trap Godzilla and cause him to go dormant temporarily, although Godzilla has never suffered any visible physical harm from being frozen.
To date, the only weapons ever shown to be close to effective against Godzilla were Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer and to a lesser degree, Dr. Shiragami's Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB). The ANEB was a special bacteria genetically engineered from Godzilla's own cells and designed to consume radioactivity. The bacteria managed to lower the radioactivity within Godzilla's body to the point of causing him to hibernate in the sea for three years. Godzilla was then revived in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah when he intercepted and fed on a nuclear submarine, causing him to grow in size and power. There were apparently no further attempts to use the ANEB against Godzilla. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla went through meltdown, a process that killed him.
To an even lesser extent, in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla was eventually defeated after a D-03 Missile was fired by the Satsuma from inside Godzilla's body. This opened a large wound on the side of Godzilla's neck that had earlier been inflicted by King Ghidorah, and when Godzilla attempted to fire his atomic breath, it shot out of the wound. Godzilla continued to attempt to fire his atomic breath, eventually causing him to explode and be reduced to just his heart. The D-03 Missile only seemed to be effective against Godzilla when fired from inside his body, as Godzilla had been bombarded by multiple D-03 Missiles earlier and was not visibly injured at all.
A weakness that the MUTOs exploited in Legendary Pictures Godzilla were the gills Godzilla possessed on his neck. Puncturing them caused him great pain and weakened him from repeated blows. This is also seen when he tried to make his way to San Francisco; a stray shot from the naval fleet managed to hit his gills and he smashed through the Golden Gate Bridge as a reaction. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla is visibly hurt by Ghidorah's gravity beams and is outmatched against him in physical combat on several occasions. Ghidorah is strong enough to restrain Godzilla with his three heads and can pin him to the ground or lift him into the air. He is also susceptible to the Oxygen Destroyer, which lowered his vital signs and forced him to retreat back to his lair to recover. In Godzilla vs. Kong, while Godzilla proved himself superior to Kong in terms of sheer strength and durability, he was repeatedly outmaneuvered by the smaller Titan and was tricked by Kong when he threw a crane to distract him before pouncing on his larger rival from behind. He was also injured by Kong's axe when he swung it into his leg, drawing blood.
In Shin Godzilla, the nuclear fission inside of Godzilla's body generates a large amount of heat, and Godzilla must return to the ocean in order to cool himself. Godzilla's blood and dorsal fins are also stated to act as natural cooling mechanisms. Godzilla is finally defeated in this film when huge amounts of blood coagulant are pumped directly into his mouth, forcing him to perform a reactor scram and freeze himself solid in order to stay alive. When frozen like this, Godzilla is completely immobile and essentially comatose. Another weakness Godzilla exhibits in Shin Godzilla involves his supply of nuclear power. Utilizing his atomic breath drains Godzilla's internal nuclear energy, and when he expends enough energy he will be forced to enter a temporary state of immobility and hibernation that lasts 15 days.
In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, the United Earth exploits the fact that Godzilla's Asymmetrically Permeable Shield briefly collapses when deployed to target and destroy his dorsal fins, temporarily disabling the shield as the tissue heals. When this strategy is employed against the smaller Godzilla Filius, soldiers wearing Powered Suits inject EMP Probes into his body, overloading him with electromagnetic energy until he explodes. When this strategy is employed on a larger scale against Godzilla Earth, this time using EMP Harpoons fired from Mechagodzilla City, Godzilla demonstrates the ability to convert the excess energy into heat, rendering the strategy ineffective. Mothra is able to force Godzilla to retreat from battle in GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla using her defensive scales, which both interfere with his shield and reflect his atomic breath, injuring him.
Anti-Godzilla weapons
Due to Godzilla's size, super-strength and regenerative abilities, he is invulnerable to most forms of conventional attack. However, over the years, there have been some weapons that were able to at least hurt and damage Godzilla.
- This list is for man-made weapons. Other monsters and forces of nature do not count.
- Oxygen Destroyer - The Oxygen Destroyer was a weapon that contained a chemical compound designed to remove all oxygen from water when put into contact with it, causing living creatures to die of asphyxiation as their remains were liquefied by the now-highly corrosive surrounding water. The Oxygen Destroyer was the first, and in many ways the only, weapon to defeat Godzilla, completely disintegrating him in the original film. In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, Godzilla was reduced to a skeleton by the Oxygen Destroyer, but his soul remained attached to his remains while living nervous cells survived within his spinal column.
- Super X - The Super X was a hovercraft designed with cadmium missiles, radiation shields and high-intensity lasers to fight Godzilla in The Return of Godzilla. Its missiles were almost able to kill Godzilla by slowing down the nuclear reactions in his body which ended up stopping his heart, but Godzilla was revitalized by a radiation cloud caused by Russian and American nuclear missiles colliding. The Super X was ultimately destroyed when Godzilla dropped a building on it. Upgrades of the Super X, the Super X2 and the Super X3, appeared in the later films Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, respectively, each managing to hold its own against and, in the case of the Super X3, defeat Godzilla.
- Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria - The Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria, or ANEB, was a strain of bacteria genetically engineered using Godzilla's own cells in order to break down and feed on nuclear materials. The ANEB was designed to both clean up nuclear accidents and severely slow down Godzilla's metabolism to the point of killing him. Godzilla was injected by several ANEB-loaded rockets, but his body temperature was too low for the ANEB to take effect. Using MBT-MB92 Maser Cannons and the M6000 T.C. System, the JSDF successfully began to raise Godzilla's body temperature and weaken him, while Biollante raised it to the point that Godzilla passed out. Godzilla's body temperature was lowered by the ocean water and he gained enough strength to retreat underwater, where he remained mostly dormant for the next two years due to his continued ANEB infection. Eventually, Godzilla was cured of the ANEB when he fed on a nuclear submarine, which also caused him to grow in height to 100 meters. The ANEB was never utilized against Godzilla again, as humanity opted to build mechas to battle him instead.
- Mecha-King Ghidorah - This cyborg was built over the corpse of King Ghidorah and was piloted by Futurian Emmy Kano. Despite taking heavy damage, Mecha-King Ghidorah was able to grapple with Godzilla for a time, until Godzilla unleashed his atomic breath, slaying Mecha-King Ghidorah and sending them both plummeting into the ocean.
- Freezer Weapons - In an attempt to stave off Godzilla's impending meltdown, which threatened to destroy the world, G-Force developed a series of ultra-low temperature (ULT) "freezer weapons" designed to lower Godzilla's temperature and freeze him solid. The Super X3 was equipped with cadmium shells and cryolasers, while a new type of Maser Cannon, the CLT-95, was developed with a cryolaser in place of the traditional Maser beam. The existing MBT-MB92 and MBAW-93 Maser Cannons were also modified to sport cryolasers. These freezer weapons were successful in freezing Godzilla solid in the Bungo Channel while he attempted to feed on a nuclear power plant and were also employed in combat against Destoroyah, eventually contributing to the monster's defeat. When Godzilla finally melted down in Tokyo, G-Force's arsenal of freezer weapons was able to freeze him as he melted down, minimizing the damage and preventing Godzilla from burning into the Earth's core. The deadly radiation expelled by Godzilla was later absorbed by Godzilla Junior, completely averting the apocalyptic scenario mankind had feared.
- Mechagodzilla - The first Mechagodzilla was created as a weapon of destruction by the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens. Mechagodzilla's body was constructed of a nearly indestructible alloy known as "space titanium," was equipped with a staggering amount of firepower, and had rockets for flight. Godzilla defeated it by pulling its head off. An updated version of the same mecha returned in Terror of Mechagodzilla, and this time it survived its head being ripped off. A second version of Mechagodzilla appeared in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. This one was built by the JSDF as a defensive weapon against Godzilla and other monsters like Rodan. It was designed from Futurian technology taken from the severed mechanical middle head of Mecha-King Ghidorah. It still had a large assortment of weapons and was able to fly. It was even able to join with a shuttle-craft called the Garuda to form Super Mechagodzilla. It was successfully able to paralyze Godzilla from the waist down and might have even been able to beat him if Rodan had not sacrificed his life to save Godzilla. Mechagodzilla was then destroyed by Godzilla. A third version of Mechagodzilla, Kiryu, appeared in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. This time, the mecha was built around the skeleton of the original Godzilla from 1954. However, DNA in the bones caused Kiryu to remember that it was once Godzilla and it went on a rampage. Once the JSDF was able to get Kiryu under control, it forced Godzilla to retreat. Godzilla and Kiryu would meet again in Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, but this time, Mothra would intervene. Mothra demanded that Godzilla's bones (which were inside Kiryu) be returned to their grave. The JSDF agreed, but only after Godzilla was defeated. Ultimately, Kiryu made the final decision and returned to the sea on its own will, carrying Godzilla with him and plummeting into the ocean. A fourth version of Mechagodzilla was constructed to battle Godzilla in the GODZILLA anime trilogy, this time by the combined efforts of human and Bilusaludo scientists working under the United Earth. Mechagodzilla failed to activate when Godzilla attacked its development facility and was destroyed in the ensuing battle. However, its head survived and became the control center for Mechagodzilla City, a gigantic replica of its facility built from the Nanometal used to construct it. 20,000 years later, United Earth troops took control of Mechagodzilla City and carried out a complex operation to trap and destroy the now-300 meter tall Godzilla Earth. Godzilla did not react as planned to the attack and when Haruo Sakaki learned that the Bilusaludo intended to use Mechagodzilla City to Nanometalize the entire planet, he chose to destroy the City's control center, allowing Godzilla Earth to escape the trap and obliterate the City with his atomic breath. The Monsterverse incarnation consistently outmaneuvered his organic counterpart and bombarded him with its missiles, Proton Scream, and energy-charged punches from its rotor claws. Mechagodzilla would have finished off Godzilla in a fashion similar to the female MUTO were it not for Kong's interference. By cooperating, Godzilla and Kong were able to triumph over the Ultimate Destroyer when Godzilla charged Kong's axe with his atomic breath, allowing Kong to slice Mechagodzilla apart.
- Operation Yashiori - Operation Yashiori was a complex operation undertaken to defeat Godzilla in the film Shin Godzilla. It involved trains laden with explosives being rammed into Godzilla when he was dormant in the middle of Tokyo, forcing him to awaken. Waves of drones then began firing rockets at Godzilla, forcing him to fire his atomic beams and deplete his stores of energy to destroy them. Skyscrapers surrounding Godzilla were then blown up with explosives, causing them to collapse onto Godzilla and pin him to the ground. As Godzilla lay immobile on the ground, crane trucks began pumping blood coagulant directly into his mouth. When Godzilla destroyed the crane trucks and rose back to his feet, more explosive-laden trains were sent ramming into him, causing him to fall forward again and allow more trucks to pump coagulant into him. When Godzilla rose back to his feet, the coagulant took full effect and he froze solid. While Operation Yashiori could not kill Godzilla, it did leave him in an immobile and essentially comatose state.
- EMP Probes: In GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters, Captain Haruo Sakaki of the United Earth devised a plan to destroy Godzilla by planting EMP Probes into his body after disabling his Asymmetrically Permeable Shield by destroying his dorsal fins, causing the energy to build to critical levels inside Godzilla's body until he exploded. The plan was carried out against Godzilla Filius, a smaller subspecies of the original Godzilla, and was also successful in destroying him. The plan was carried out on a larger scale against the much larger Godzilla Earth in GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle, this time with EMP Harpoons fired from Mechagodzilla City. The strategy was not effective against Godzilla Earth, however, as he possessed the ability to convert the excess electromagnetic energy into intense heat.
Attractions
- Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994)
- Godzilla: The Real 4-D (2017)
- Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D (2017)
- Godzilla VR (2018)
- Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji (2020)
- Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021)
Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D
A government observation team was touring the advanced city of Osaka-III aboard the GLAUX when suddenly Godzilla appeared and knocked the craft out of the sky. Just before the colossal kaiju could stomp on it, the GLAUX was picked up by Evangelion Unit-01, piloted by Shinji Ikari. Evangelion Unit-00 and 02 arrived piloted by Rei Ayanami and Asuka Shikinami Langley and began attacking Godzilla along with Unit-01. However, their attacks had seemingly no effect on Godzilla, who easily swatted the Evangelion Units aside by moving his body and swiping them with his tail. Just as Godzilla had the upper hand, he began glowing purple and fired his atomic breath. However, rather than fire at the Evangelion Units, he spit the beam into the sky, where it struck an invisible target and triggered a fiery explosion. The explosion congealed into the form of King Ghidorah, who descended into the city and confronted Godzilla. Godzilla fired his atomic breath, but King Ghidorah deflected it and caused it to scatter in several directions. King Ghidorah then fired his gravity beams, which lifted the surrounding buildings into the air before hurling them at Godzilla. With Godzilla incapacitated, the Evangelion Units attempted to fight King Ghidorah themselves, but to no avail. Godzilla got back to his feet and King Ghidorah flew toward him. Godzilla then proceeded to fire his dorsal fin beams at King Ghidorah, knocking him backwards. Godzilla continued to barrage King Ghidorah with his atomic breath until his body ceased glowing and he entered a state of suspended animation. King Ghidorah got back up and the three Evangelion Units continued trying to fight him. Unit-02 and Unit-00 jumped onto King Ghidorah, only to be shot back by his gravity beams. Unit-01 then tore off a spike from a nearby tower and plunged it into King Ghidorah's chest, causing the space monster to crash into the buildings below. The pilots wondered if they had succeeded before King Ghidorah rose from the rubble completely unharmed. He turned his wrath toward the motionless Godzilla, blasting him with his gravity beams. Godzilla awakened and began to emit a purple glow once again, then fired his atomic breath. Godzilla's beam locked with King Ghidorah's gravity beams and eventually began to overpower them and push closer and closer to King Ghidorah. As Godzilla's atomic breath finally reached and struck King Ghidorah, it triggered a blinding explosion. When the smoke cleared, the Evangelion Units were unharmed and King Ghidorah was nowhere to be found. His enemy defeated, Godzilla returned to the sea peacefully and dove beneath the waves.
Video games
Original games
Collaborations
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Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!
One of two monsters the player can control. Unlike Mothra, Godzilla excels at combat versus other kaiju. Godzilla's fault lies in his mobility: in the Japanese version of the game, Godzilla's movement is affected by terrain and he could move either one or two spaces, while his movement is simply two spaces in the U.S. version. Godzilla also presents a bigger target, making stage navigation harder, and has less overall power and life compared to Mothra. To compensate for this, Godzilla deals much more damage than Mothra and has double the number of offensive moves.
Godzilla: Unleashed
Height: 100 meters [62]
Weight: 55,000 tons [62]
Godzilla 2000 bio
"Godzilla is the most powerful of Earth's Defenders. Godzilla lives beneath the ocean's waves, slumbering until he is called upon to face some fearsome threat. Although he has often defended the Earth from aliens, mutants, and other external threats, Godzilla has never included "humans" in the list of things he deliberately protects. To the contrary, it is often human folly that arouses Godzilla's ire. Because of this fact, the Global Defense Force considers Godzilla to be an extremely dangerous potential adversary. Godzilla uses his atomic fire to destroy most threats from a distance, but has proved to be a fearsome hand-to-hand combatant, especially when he can bring his powerful tail into play. Godzilla's most mysterious ability may be his uncanny sixth sense, which always gives him time to travel to exactly where he needs to be."
Godzilla 1990s bio
"Born of a failed attempt by aliens from the future to destroy Godzilla in the past, Godzilla '90s is a larger, stronger version of his original form. This 'reborn' version of the original mutated Godzillasaurus ravaged an unprepared human populace with a renewed thirst for destruction. Godzilla 90s' reemergence as a monster superpower reminded all those standing in his way that the "King of the monsters" had returned."
Godzilla 1954 bio
"The original king of the monsters, this towering behemoth was the first post-war radioactive monster unleashed upon the world. Godzilla '54's atomic-powered body was so powerful that each footprint he left was a crater seeping with lethal radiation. The infamous day that Godzilla rose from the sea to conquer Tokyo will be remembered as the beginning of the humanity's epic struggle against the reign of giant monsters."
In the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed, all three Godzilla incarnations are playable, each with a few differences between them, but all are fairly alike. Godzilla is simple to control and with many different fearsome attacks, he is able to easily floor multiple monsters at once. Although his combat ability might be lacking in some regards, he still retains his deadly atomic breath which is an easy attack to execute and does a lot of damage.
In the Wii version of the game, Godzilla 2000 is the only incarnation that can be played in story mode. Godzilla 1954 and Godzilla 1990s are only playable in Brawl mode, although Godzilla 1990s is playable in story mode in the PlayStation 2 version of the game.
Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)
Godzilla, using his likeness from Godzilla vs. Biollante, appears as a playable character in Bandai Namco's Godzilla. He utilizes a very chainable moveset involving swipes with his claws, kicks, charge attacks, and swipes from his tail. He can also use his Atomic Breath and Nuclear Pulse; however, by doing certain things in the game, the player can unlock extra attacks for Godzilla, such as his dance from Invasion of Astro-Monster, his flight from Godzilla vs. Hedorah and extra versions of the atomic breath such as: Minilla's smoke rings, a black and white atomic breath as homage to the first two Godzilla films[63], and a much stronger version of the normal atomic breath that has purple spirals, but takes much longer to charge.[64]
In a secret ending that is unlocked after reaching past 100 meters in height, Godzilla will enter Meltdown and transform into Burning Godzilla and the true final boss of the game will be revealed, the Hollywood Godzilla. Upon completion of the stage, both the Hollywood Godzilla and Burning Godzilla are unlocked as playable characters in King of Kaiju Mode. The Hollywood Godzilla is playable only in this mode in the PlayStation 3 version of the game, while the PS4 version includes him as playable in all game modes. The PlayStation 4 version of the game also adds Godzilla 1964 as a playable monster.
Moveset (1964, 1989, Burning):
Square
One tap: Right Punch
Two taps: Left Punch
Three taps: Tail Combo
One tap (While Grabbing): Throw
Triangle
Tap: Strong Tail Attack
Tap + Up: Grab
Tap + Down: Tail Attack
Tap + Left/Right: Side Attack
Tap (While Charging): Front Kick
Tap (While Grabbing): Bite
X
Tap: Charge
Tap + Roar: Strong Charge
Tap (While Charging): Jump Attack
Circle
Tap: Atomic Ray*
Tap + Roar: Strong Atomic Ray*
Tap + Down: Back Charge*
Tap + Up: Sweeping Breath*
Tap (While Grabbing): Sweeping Breath*
R2
Tap: Nuclear Pulse
L1 + L1/R1 + R1: 180° Turn
*Godzilla has 4 types of Atomic Ray attacks: Normal Ray (Default), Spiral Ray (Very Powerful attack, Gauge charges Slowly), Vapor Ray (Weak attack, Gauge charges Quickly) and Radioactive Smoke Rings (Fires Smoke Rings, Multiple Rings Fire Slowly)
Note: Burning Godzilla Uses Spiral Fire Ray, Godzilla 1964 uses Vapor Ray
Moveset (2014)
Square
One tap: Right Scratch
Two taps: Left Scratch
Three taps: Slap Down
Triangle
Tap: Bite
Tap + Up: Grab Press
Tap + Down: Tail Sweep
X
Tap: Tackle
Tap + Roar: Armor Tackle
Circle
Tap: Atomic Ray
Tap + Roar: Rushing Blast
R2
Tap: Double Tail Attack
Kaiju Guide
- Main articles: Kaiju Guide: Godzilla (Showa Series), Kaiju Guide: Godzilla (Heisei Series), Kaiju Guide: Godzilla (Millennium Series), Kaiju Guide: Godzilla (2014).
City Shrouded in Shadow
Godzilla, bearing his Heisei appearance, appears in the survival RPG City Shrouded in Shadow developed by Granzella and Bandai Namco for the PlayStation 4. Godzilla appears in stage six, where he attacks a freighter; stage eight, where he battles against King Ghidorah; and stage 13, where he destroys a city before being repelled by Kiryu. As with the other kaiju in the game, the player cannot fight or resist Godzilla and must try to evade him to avoid being killed.
GigaBash
Godzilla, modeled specifically after his appearance in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, was added to Passion Republic Games' brawler GigaBash through a DLC pack on December 6, 2022. He uses moves from various films from the Heisei and Showa series, and his S-class form is Burning Godzilla. One of his taunts is the shē dance from Invasion of Astro-Monster.
Moveset
All button prompts correspond to the PlayStation 4 and 5 version of the game.
- Light Attack (tap Square): Two quick strikes followed by a powerful tail swipe. Hold down the button during the final attack to bounce the enemy upwards.
- Heavy Attack (hold Square): Winds up its tail and slams it forward.
- Special Attack (tap Triangle): Charges forward and grabs onto an enemy caught in its path. Steer and ram the victim into a building to deal even more damage.
- Charged Special (hold Triangle): Fires a beam of heat ray. Can be charged to deal more damage. S-class deals additional burn damage.
- Air Attack (tap X > tap Square): Sweeps its tail in a wide arc in front of it.
- Air Grab (tap X > tap Circle): Fires its heat ray in mid-air at point-blank range. S-Class deals additional burn damage.
- Air Charged Special (tap X > hold Triangle): Fires its heat ray forward in mid-air, pushing it back slightly while also damaging anyone behind it. S-class deals additional burn damage. This attack is a reference to Godzilla's flight in Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
- Block Attack (hold L1 + tap Square): Unleashes an energy burst in a radius around it. Can be charged to increase damage and area of effect. Has super armor. This attack is based on Godzilla's nuclear pulse from the Heisei series.
- Block Special (hold L1 + tap Triangle): Fires its heat ray toward the sky, catching enemies above it. S-class deals additional burn damage.
- Grab Special (tap Circle > tap Triangle): Sears its foe with its heat ray at point-blank range. S-class deals additional burn damage.
- Dash Attack (tap R1 > tap Square): Thrusts forward with a powerful dropkick. This attack is a reference to Godzilla's sliding dropkick from Godzilla vs. Megalon.
- Ultimate: Channels all its energy towards its jaws and unleashes a stream of fiery destruction, also dealing additional burn damage. This attack is based on Godzilla's red spiral heat ray from the Heisei series.
Profile
- As Seen In: Godzilla vs Destoroyah
- Japan Release: 1995.12.9
"Almost 70 years after the first Godzilla, a new incarnation of the monster arrives to threaten mankind's existence. As Godzilla's look changes according to each era, its new look in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) features a smaller and more predatory-looking head with a sleeker and more powerful body. By the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Godzilla won a deadly battle against Destoroyah. However, the costly victory caused Godzilla's energy level to become so overloaded that Godzilla finally melted down and perished in the smoke."
Godzilla in Godzilla vs. 3 Giant Monsters
Godzilla in Multiplayer Adventure: New Godzilla
Godzilla in Fierce Dragon Godzilla: Metropolis Destruction!!
Godzilla in Godzilla-kun
Godzilla in Monster's Fair
Godzilla in The Movie Monster Game
Godzilla in Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!
Godzilla in Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
Godzilla in the Godzilla arcade game
Godzilla 90's in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Godzilla 2000 in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Godzilla's icon in Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla in Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla's character box from custom mode in Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla's battle sprite in Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla's icon in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla's character box from versus mode in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla's battle sprite in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Domination!
Godzilla 90's in Godzilla: Save the Earth
Godzilla 2000 in Godzilla: Save the Earth
Godzilla 1990s in Godzilla: Unleashed
Godzilla 1954 in Godzilla: Unleashed
Godzilla in Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
Godzilla slot machine icon from CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle
Godzilla's slot in Godzilla on Monster Island
Godzilla in Godzilla on Monster Island
Godzilla in Godzilla: Smash3
Godzilla in Godzilla: Strike Zone
Godzilla in Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)
Burning Godzilla in Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)
Shin Godzilla and his upgraded form (禍焉獣シン・ゴジラ) in Pocoron Dungeons
Godzilla Filius in Eternal Linkage
Godzilla Earth in Eternal Linkage
Godzilla 4th Form in Eternal Linkage
Books
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1996)
- Godzilla Returns (1996)
- Godzilla Saves America: A Monster Showdown in 3-D! (1996)
- Godzilla on Monster Island (1996)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan and the Smog Monster (1996)
- Godzilla Invades America (1997)
- Godzilla 2000 (1997)
- Godzilla at World's End (1998)
- Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island (1998)
- Godzilla Likes to Roar! (1998)
- Godzilla vs. the Robot Monsters (1998)
- Godzilla vs. the Space Monster (1998)
- Who's Afraid of Godzilla? (1998)
- GODZILLA (1998) [HarperPrism novelization]
- GODZILLA: A Junior Novelization (1998)
- GODZILLA (1998) [Scholastic junior novelization]
- GODZILLA (1998) [Scholastic picture book]
- The Godzilla Movie Scrapbook (1998)
- Godzilla: The Official Movie Novelization (2014)
- GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse (2017)
- GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla (2018)
- Do Your Best, Chibi Godzilla (2018)
- Close Friends, Chibi Godzilla (2019)
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization (2019)
- Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (2021)
- Godzilla vs. Kong: Sometimes Friends Fight (But They Always Make Up) (2021)
- Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One (2023)
- Love from Godzilla (2023)
- Brave Like Godzilla (2024)
Random House
Between 1996 and 1998, Random House published 13 books featuring Godzilla and other monsters from the Toho movies. Four novels for juvenile readers were written by Scott Ciencin: Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla Invades America, Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island and Godzilla vs. the Space Monster. These characterized Godzilla as a lonely monster who gains a found family in the Earth monsters he comes to live with on Monster Island. Mark Cerasini wrote four novels for teenagers and young adults: Godzilla Returns, Godzilla 2000, Godzilla at World's End and Godzilla vs. the Robot Monsters. His fifth and final novel, Godzilla and the Lost Continent, was finished pending approval from Toho, but cancelled after books associated with the 1998 film GODZILLA sold poorly.[65]
Monsterverse tie-ins
All of the Monsterverse films received novelizations, although references to Godzilla in Kong: Skull Island were omitted from its novelization. In the board book Godzilla vs. Kong: Sometimes Friends Fight (But They Always Make Up), Godzilla and Kong travel the world demonstrating key tenets of friendship.
Brave Like Godzilla
Tired of living in fear of the bully Gabara, the juvenile kaiju Minilla took inspiration from their father, Godzilla, and attempted to stand up to the bully. Though defeated, Minilla refused to give up and sought assistance from Godzilla, who taught Minilla to use their heat ray. Using this new skill - along with help from their friends Anguirus, Rodan, and Mothra - Minilla went on to defeat Gabara, though ultimately ended up befriending the former bully.
Comics
- Science Adventure Picture Story Godzilla (1954)
- Kaiju Godzilla (1954)
- Godzilla (1955) [Bokura]
- Godzilla (1955) [Shonen]
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955) [Reimisha]
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955) [Shonen]
- Rampage Godzilla (1955)
- Godzilla's Last Moment (1957)
- Godzilla (1958)
- Continuation: Godzilla and Anguirus Raid Again (1958)
- Monster Raban (1958)
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1965)
- Invasion of Astro-Monster (1966)
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1967)
- Son of Godzilla (1968) [Shonen]
- Son of Godzilla (1968) [Adventure King]
- Destroy All Monsters (1969)
- All Monsters Attack (1970)
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
- Godzilla (1972-1973)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
- Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) [Shonen]
- Terror of Mechagodzilla [Adventure King] (1975)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (1976)
- "A Space Godzilla" (1979)
- Godzilla #1-24 (1977-1979)
- A Beautiful Day for a Godzilla Sandwich (1984)
- Movie Comics: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1984)
- Movie Comics: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1984)
- Movie Comics: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1984)
- Movie Comics: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1984)
- Movie Comics: The Return of Godzilla (1984)
- Iron Man #193-194, 196 (1985) [unlicensed]
- The Thing #31 (1986) [unlicensed]
- Godzilla, King of the Monsters Special (1987)
- Godzilla (1985) [reprinted in English by Dark Horse in six issues from 1988-1989, then again in color as Terror of Godzilla from 1998-1999]
- Godzilla Portfolio #1-2 (1988)
- Insane #1 (1988)
- Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
- Godzilla 1990 (1990)
- The Godzilla Comic (1990)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
- The Godzilla Comic Raids Again (1991)
- Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1992)
- Godzilla Color Special (1992)
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) [Kodansha]
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) [Shogakukan]
- Dark Horse Comics #10 (1993)
- "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (1993)
- Dark Horse Comics #11 (1993)
- Godzilla vs. Barkley (1993)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) [Kodansha]
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) [Shogakukan]
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Monster Island Unleashed! (1994)
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
- "Trampling Tokyo" (1994)
- Godzilla versus Hero Zero (1995)
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
- Godzilla #0-16 (1995-1996)
- Dark Horse Presents #106 (1996)
- A Decade of Dark Horse #4 (1996)
- Godzilla 2000: Millennium (2000)
- Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1-12 (2011-2012)
- Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths #1-5 (2011)
- Godzilla: Legends #1, 3-5 (2011-2012)
- Godzilla #1-13 (2012-2013)
- Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1-5 (2012-2013)
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #1-25 (2013-2015)
- Godzilla: Awakening (2014)
- Godzilla: Cataclysm #1-5 (2014)
- Godzilla in Hell #1-5 (2015)
- Godzilla: Oblivion #1-5 (2016)
- Godzilla: Rage Across Time #1-2, 4-5 (2016)
- Skull Island: The Birth of Kong #1 (2017) [photographs]
- Chogokin Mechagodzilla (Noriyoshi Ohrai Poster Ver.) Birth Secret Story (2017)
- Godzilla: Aftershock (2019)
- Godzilla Dominion (2021)
- Kingdom Kong (2021) [cave painting]
- Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors #1-5 (2021)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (2021)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Hedorah (2021)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Mothra (2021)
- Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1-5 (2022)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. King Ghidorah (2022)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra (2022)
- Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King! #1-5 (2022-2023)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan (2022)
- Godzilla Rivals: Rodan Vs. Ebirah (2023)
- Godzilla Rivals: Biollante Vs. Destoroyah (2023)
- Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #1-5 (2023)
- Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - Summer Smash (2023)
- Godzilla: Fight or Flight (2023)
- Godzilla: War for Humanity #1-5 (2023)
- Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #1-7 (2023-2024)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Mechagodzilla (2023)
- Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special (2024)
- Godzilla Rivals: Mothra Vs. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. (2024) [mentioned]
- Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted (2024)
- Which is Stronger!? Godzilla x Kong (2024)
- Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II #1-5 (2024)
- Godzilla: 70th Anniversary (2024)
- Godzilla: Mechagodzilla 50th Anniversary (2024)
- Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons II - Sons of Giants #1-5 (2024) [flashbacks]
- Godzilla: Skate or Die #1-5 (2024)
- Godzilla vs. Cthulhu: A Death May Die Story (2024)
- Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Manda (2024)
- Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp (2024)
- Godzilla Rivals: Mechagodzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (2024)
- Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #1-3 (2024)
- Godzilla Rivals: King Ghidorah Vs. SpaceGodzilla (2024)
- Godzilla: Heist (2025)
- Godzilla vs. America (2025)
- Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 (2025)
Marvel
The Marvel Comics series Godzilla told original stories and attempted to both fit into the official Toho continuity and avoid referencing it too directly. It also integrated Godzilla into the Marvel Universe, making use of many of its main regular characters, such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
Godzilla
Marvel's Godzilla was first awakened in 1956 after an underwater H-bomb test and later destroyed the Japanese countryside. He also protected Japan for years from other monsters before he disappeared in the 1970s. He reappeared in Alaska and soon made its way down to the mainland of North America. S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to stop it, but failed. He fought other monsters and superheroes on his way down and was used to stop an alien invasion. He was shrunken down in size and sent back to the Cretaceous Period through a time machine, but soon appeared in New York again at his full size. He fought the Fantastic Four and the Avengers along with S.H.I.E.L.D., but was eventually turned away by a young Japanese boy named Rob Takaguchi. He swam out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Later Marvel Comics stories
Years later, Godzilla was captured and mutated by Doctor Demonicus, turning him into a more water-based reptile. He no longer had his atomic breath and was mind-controlled by the mad doctor. He later attacked the Avengers, but the pilot, Tigra, escaped. He was stopped from attacking a village and was taken out to sea by Iron Man. Iron Man took off his armor and Godzilla took it back to Demonicus. He later escaped into the ocean, found the set of Devil Dinosaur: The Movie, and was attacked by a robotic Devil Dinosaur. He fought and destroyed it and returned to the sea. After an unknown amount of time, Godzilla returned to his original form and attacked New York under the control of the Mole Man. Godzilla has not been seen since then, though other Godzilla-like creatures have occasionally been sighted.
Dark Horse
Godzilla
The Dark Horse series Godzilla had Godzilla fighting many new and original monsters.
Kodansha's Godzilla, King of the Monsters manga
In this manga series made by Kodansha, Godzilla serves as the primary protagonist and fights against a variety of monsters revived by Dr. Mad Oniyama, culminating in a climactic battle against a clone of himself named King Godzilla.
The Godzilla Comic
In this manga illustrated by "Hurricane" Ryu Hariken, Godzilla battles to save Earth from a host of robots built by humans.
IDW
IDW Publishing has released several Godzilla comic book series. The three main series, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, Godzilla and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, are part of a single ongoing storyline, while the various miniseries are each self-contained stories.
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters
Godzilla awakened one day from underneath a beach near Japan. The military attempted to kill Godzilla with an atomic bomb, but it only made him more powerful and granted him the ability to fire atomic breath. Elsewhere around the world, the monsters Rodan, Anguirus, Kumonga and Battra appeared and began to wreak havoc. Eventually, all of the monsters converged on the United States and battled each other, causing untold destruction. The U.S. government built a giant robot, Mechagodzilla, in order to battle the monsters while in Asia, a monk awakened King Ghidorah to battle them. Godzilla arrived in Washington D.C., where he was attacked by King Ghidorah. Mechagodzilla, piloted by Steven Woods, arrived and defeated both monsters, earning Woods a hero's recognition. Meanwhile, the evil psychic twins Minette and Mallory took control of Rodan and Battra and came to the U.S. to try and control Godzilla. Godzilla managed to overcome and defeat both monsters and later returned to the sea, leaving human civilization devastated and rushing to prepare for future monster attacks.
Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
Godzilla was living on Monster Island along with most of the other kaiju on Earth. When Tokyo police detective Makoto Sato brought the Elias to Tokyo, Godzilla and the other monsters came ashore and laid waste to the city. Sato's son, a pilot in G-Force, took command of Mechagodzilla and used it to fight Godzilla while Sato brought down the evil Yakuza boss Ryota Takahashi and returned the Elias to Mothra. After the Elias were safely returned, Godzilla and the other monsters returned to Monster Island in peace.
Godzilla: Legends
The Godzilla: Legends miniseries focused less on Godzilla and more on different monsters during its five issues. In the first issue, Godzilla only appeared briefly after Anguirus and the G-Graspers drove off Destoroyah. In the third issue, Godzilla was mentioned in a flashback about how Miki Saegusa used her telepathy to briefly control Godzilla. In the fourth issue, Godzilla appeared in China and teamed up with Mechagodzilla to battle Hedorah. In the fifth issue, an adventurer was tasked with studying Godzilla by climbing on his back, all while Godzilla battled Kumonga.
Godzilla
In this follow-up to Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, Godzilla appeared in Washington D.C. once again, where the ex-British Special Forces agent known as Boxer, whose daughter was killed by Godzilla, was hired to protect a wealthy Japanese businesswoman's daughter. Boxer's client was killed during their attempted escape, so Boxer decided to join with his former acquaintances to form the "Kaiju Kill Crew," a group of mercenaries hired to bring down attacking kaiju. After several successful missions, Boxer's crew was sent to California, where a billionaire industrialist had just unleashed his new Mechagodzilla to battle Godzilla. After Godzilla defeated Mechagodzilla, Boxer and his team tried to bring Godzilla down as he headed north along the Pacific Coast to Seattle. But when the space monsters Hedorah, Gigan, SpaceGodzilla and Monster X arrived on Earth, Boxer was forced to temporary abandon his vendetta against Godzilla to defeat the space monsters. While Mechagodzilla freed the monsters held on Monster Island, Godzilla battled and defeated Hedorah in California, then traveled to New York to take on SpaceGodzilla and Monster X. There, he was joined by Mechagodzilla and Kumonga, who were both promptly defeated. But when the immobilized Mechagodzilla froze SpaceGodzilla with the Absolute Zero Cannon, Godzilla took the opportunity to defeat his extraterrestrial clone with a blast of his atomic breath. With only him and Godzilla still standing, Monster X transformed into Keizer Ghidorah and quickly overwhelmed Godzilla. Thankfully, Rodan arrived and decapitated one of Keizer Ghidorah's heads with a sonic boom from his wings. With Rodan's help, Godzilla severed another one of Keizer Ghidorah's heads, then killed him by crushing his remaining head with his foot. As Godzilla started walking back to the ocean, Boxer jumped into Godzilla's mouth in a last-ditch attempt to hurt him using a miniature version of his "headache gun." This action only slightly irritated Godzilla, at the cost of Boxer's life.
Godzilla: The Half-Century War
Godzilla suddenly appeared in Tokyo in 1954, setting the entire city ablaze. Ota Murakami and his friend Kentaro Yoshihara were sent in as part of a JSDF platoon to deal with the crisis. The two managed to save countless civilians from Godzilla, and barely escaped the disaster area with their lives. A few days later, a special chemical weapon was detonated in Tokyo Bay and seemingly killed Godzilla; however, Godzilla was soon spotted elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean and Ota and Kentaro were recruited into the Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF), a special international military force dedicated to hunting giant monsters. In 1967, Godzilla was sighted in Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War. The AMF deployed a unit of Maser Cannons to battle the creature, but their assault was interrupted by the appearance of another monster, Anguirus. Godzilla and Anguirus battled each other until Anguirus found himself overwhelmed and decided to flee. As the Maser Tanks prepared to fire at Godzilla, their view was obscured by the smoke from a bombing run and Godzilla escaped. In 1975, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Battra, Hedorah, Ebirah, Megalon and Kumonga appeared in Ghana, prompting various elite AMF teams to respond. There, Ota discovered that Dr. Deverich, a former AMF scientist, had stolen an experimental device and weaponized it to attract monsters, intending to sell it to the criminal underworld. During the chaos, Deverich attracted all of the monsters to his location, allowing him to escape while the monsters overran the AMF's forces. The AMF's commander, Colonel Schooler, was killed in the attack, only strengthening Ota's hatred of Godzilla. In 1987, Godzilla appeared in Bombay, drawn there by Deverich's transmitter. Ota and Kentaro traveled there to hunt down Deverich while the AMF deployed their latest weapon, Mechagodzilla. Ota and Kentaro apprehended Deverich, but not before he activated his new more powerful monster transmitter, which summoned SpaceGodzilla to the city. SpaceGodzilla severely damaged Mechagodzilla and began to overpower Godzilla. Ota took command of the damaged Mechagodzilla and used it to destroy the giant crystals giving SpaceGodzilla his power, toppling it onto him. Godzilla used this opportunity to blast SpaceGodzilla with his atomic breath, killing him. In 2002, the AMF had developed two new anti-Godzilla weapons; a new Mechagodzilla and the Dimension Tide, an artificial black hole gun. Godzilla was lured to Antarctica, but the space monsters King Ghidorah and Gigan, who had been drawn to Earth by Deverich's transmitter years ago, arrived there as well. While the Dimension Tide prepared to fire, Ota wished Kentaro farewell and took command of Mechagodzilla, assisting Godzilla in battling the space monsters. After the Dimension Tide was fired, Mechagodzilla and Godzilla ensured that both space monsters were banished into the resulting black hole. Before Godzilla could leave, Ota restrained Godzilla with Mechagodzilla and yelled at him, telling him to look at him. As Mechagodzilla was torn apart by the force of the black hole, the cockpit was exposed, allowing Ota to briefly make eye contact with Godzilla. Mechagodzilla then released Godzilla, causing both monsters to apparently be pulled into the black hole; however, Godzilla escaped and was seen swimming away after the black hole dissipated.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Godzilla from Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters and Godzilla returns once again in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.
Godzilla: Cataclysm
Godzilla appears in Godzilla: Cataclysm, where he fights King Ghidorah and defeats him. Godzilla, like all the other monsters, suddenly vanishes sometime after that and, years later, reappears to fight Biollante in Tokyo.
Legendary Comics
- Main article: Godzilla (Monsterverse)#Comics.
Godzilla has appeared in some capacity in all six of Legendary Comics' graphic novels set in the continuity of the Monsterverse. His starring roles in Godzilla: Awakening, Godzilla: Aftershock, Godzilla Dominion and Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong are covered in this page's main History section. Additionally, he had a cameo in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong in the form of a photograph taken of him surfacing at Bikini Atoll in 1954 prior to the detonation of Castle Bravo, which was hung on a map in Houston Brooks' office at Monarch Field Office Sigma in 2012. Kingdom Kong ended with Kong uncovering an ancient Skull Island mural depicting a member of his species battling Godzilla.
Misconceptions
- Main article: Godzilla misconceptions.
Cultural impact
- Main article: Godzilla in popular culture.
Godzilla is one of the defining aspects and most recognizable features of Japanese pop culture for many people worldwide. Though his popularity has both increased and decreased many times over the years, Godzilla is still one of the most renowned monster characters in the world. To this day, Godzilla remains an important facet of Japanese films, embodying the kaiju subgenre of the tokusatsu genre. Godzilla has been called a filmographic metaphor for the United States, starting out as a terrifying enemy and later becoming a strong ally and defender in times of need, as well as an allegory of nuclear weapons in general. The earlier Godzilla films, especially the original one, attempted to portray Godzilla as a frightening nuclear-spawned monster. Godzilla represented the fears that many Japanese held about the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the possibility of recurrence.[66] As the series progressed, so did Godzilla himself, changing into a less destructive and more heroic character as the films became increasingly geared toward children. Since then, the character has fallen somewhere in the middle, sometimes portrayed as a protector of Earth (notably Tokyo) from external threats and at other times portrayed as a bringer of destruction.
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Godzilla remains one of the greatest fictional heroes in the history of film, and became the second fictional character to have won the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society named its then-newly acquired fast interceptor vessel MV Gojira in reference to the Godzilla character and as an ironic comment on the Japanese whalers' activities. Its purpose was to target and harass Japanese whalers in defense of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. However, its name was later changed to MV Brigitte Barbot due to copyright issues with Toho.
No later than 2008, a brand of mosquito coils named "Godzilla" appeared.[67] In 2018, this repellent was banned in Thailand after publicity about a case where three puppies died after inhaling its fumes.[68]
On May 31, 2015, Godzilla was officially made a legal resident of Japan. The first 3,000 fans who showed up at the residence office in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward were given copies of Godzilla's official residence papers.[69]
On November 3, 2016, Godzilla was presented with an Arigato award at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival. The award recognizes individuals who help to further develop the Japanese film industry and promote Japanese productions overseas.[70]
In parallel with the recognition among film fans, events that pose a great threat to humanity and wildlife are often compared to Godzilla. In March 2003, an outbreak of SARS began in Ontario, Canada. The level threat caused by this epidemic has been compared to the invasion of Godzilla.[71] An increased El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that had a negative impact on the life of Cassin's auklets and other seabirds in 2016 was named "Godzilla".[72][73] Godzilla-El Niño has also led to coral bleaching events around the world, even in places previously thought to be resilient to such events, including the southeastern Indian Ocean.[74] A Trojan malware observed in 2018 was named Godzilla.[75] In his book Insect-Borne Diseases in the 21st Century, Marcello Nicoletti from the Sapienza University of Rome compares Xylella fastidiosa and other tree pests to Godzilla in terms of how governments and international agencies are actually unprepared for unfamiliar threats.[76] Godzilla is a name given to a powerful storm that transported masses of dust from the Sahara to the Caribbean basin in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The great dust intrusion into Caribbean cities of that time was called "Godzilla" African Dust (GAD).[77][78][79][80]
UGC 2885, a spiral galaxy, was nicknamed the "Godzilla galaxy" in 2020 due to its huge size, 2.5 times wider than the Milky Way.[81] Another space object named after Godzilla is a star in the Sunburst Arc galaxy, possibly the most luminous star ever discovered.[82][83] Yet another celestial object bearing Godzilla's name is 101781 Gojira, first discovered on April 14, 1994 by R. A. Tucker.[84]
In 2023, a new soup called Godzilla Ramen appeared in a Taiwanese store. The dish includes the forelimb of a crocodile.[85][86]
Biological taxa named after Godzilla
Several extinct and extant taxa were and are named after Godzilla. Usually, such names are given as a reference to the large size and/or the behavioral or visual features of the taxa.
- In 1997, paleontologist Kenneth Carpenter described a new genus of dinosaur from the U.S., which he named Gojirasaurus after Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira. The naming was given "in reference to the large size of this Triassic theropod" which, according to him, could reach about 5.5 meters in length.[87] It is interesting to note that Gojirasaurus is pronounced almost like the Japanese name of Godzillasaurus from the Heisei era of Godzilla films.
- Dakosaurus andiniensis, a marine crocodile which lived between the Late Jurassic Period and Early Cretaceous Period, was nicknamed "Godzilla" due to its short snout, unusual for other members of its family.[88] Under the nickname "Godzilla", Dakosaurus is mentioned in the film Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World (2010).
- "Godzilla" is the name of a protein ligase (an enzyme that forms a new chemical compound by combining two molecules) which is located on endosomes of flies of the genus Drosophila.[89]
- The Godzilla goby is the common name of Varicus lacerta, a goby from the southern Caribbean region that was described in 2016. Both its common and scientific names refer to the reptilian appearance of this fish.[90]
- Amblyrhynchus cristatus godzilla is a subspecies of the marine iguana from the northeastern part of San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Islands. It was named in 2017 as a reference to the Godzilla from TriStar Pictures' GODZILLA, who is a mutated iguana.[91]
- A New Zealand parrot from the Early Miocene Epoch, named Heracles inexpectatus, was nicknamed "Squawkzilla" in 2019 due to its enormous 3-foot stature.[92]
- In 2020, a parasitoid wasp from Japan was named Microgaster godzilla due to its tendency to dive underwater to force Elophila turbata larvae out of their casing before suddenly surfacing like Godzilla. The name also indirectly references Mothra, who is described in the article on M. godzilla's discovery as a kaiju that "has sometimes been associated, albeit in different ways" with Godzilla.[93]
Gallery
- Main article: Godzilla/Gallery.
Sightings
- Main article: Godzilla in popular culture.
Roar
- Main article: Godzilla's roar.
Godzilla's roar is a famous sound effect. Originally created by composer Akira Ifukube, his assistant Sei Ikano, and sound technician Ichiro Minawa in 1954 using a contrabass, gloves covered in pine tar, and several audio manipulations[94], it has been reinterpreted by various other sound designers over the decades.
Godzilla's roar can be written in readable characters and has been done so in comics and not only by a simple "roar." In the Marvel Comics stories, Godzilla's roar was spelled "Mrawww." In the Dark Horse Comics stories and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Godzilla's roar was spelled "Skreeongk." In most of the IDW Comics stories, Godzilla's roar is spelled "Skreeonk." In Japanese, the official onomatopoeia for Godzilla's roar is "Gyaoon" (ギャオーン — additional "o"s can be added to extend the roar. Another onomatopoeia used for Godzilla is "Gaooo" Gyaōn) (ガオオオ).
"Gaooo" used in Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works, page 175
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In other languages
Godzilla's name remains the same across many Latin alphabet-using languages. Due to his popularity, he has more name translations than most other kaiju.
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Trivia
- Starring in over 30 films, Godzilla has appeared in more films than any other kaiju to date.
- Although Godzilla's first film appearance was in Godzilla, released on November 3, 1954, his media debut was in July 1954 in the form of a radio drama based on an early version of the film's script.[95]
- Godzilla's different designs over the years were first given names by model collectors in the 1980s.[96] Typically, the names are derived from the title of the film each suit debuts in; in cases where this would result in a duplicate name or a name too similar to another kaiju (like Mechagodzilla), the name of another kaiju from the film is substituted. For instance, the 1992 film Godzilla vs. Mothra introduced a new Godzilla suit, but thanks to 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla, a suit called MosuGoji already existed. Instead, the new suit was named BatoGoji, after Battra.
- The characteristic blue glow which precedes Godzilla firing his atomic breath has been attributed to the real-world Cherenkov radiation, a blue "aura" which is given off by the effects of highly active and supercritical radioactive material. This is pointed out in King Kong vs. Godzilla, when a scientist states that the radioactive aura being given off by Godzilla inside an iceberg is "Chelenkov (sic) light."
- The image used for Godzilla's trademark icon comes from the small image of Godzilla in the corner box of Marvel's Godzilla comic book. The new Godzilla trademark icon that is used in various Japanese merchandise comes from an image of the KingGoji suit.
- In 2004, as a part of the celebration of the release of Godzilla Final Wars and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the franchise, Godzilla was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Producer Shogo Tomiyama claimed in 2004 that Godzilla's most dangerous adversary was Pikachu and that, hopefully, "Godzilla's new film will finally win the hearts of children back from" the Pokémon franchise.[97]
- In the 80th Academy Awards opening, for a brief moment Peter Jackson's King Kong can be seeing fighting against TriStar's Godzilla.[98]
- A still from Godzilla vs. Hedorah showing Godzilla holding Hedorah's two white orbs in his hands was used on card #109 of Topps' 1973 You'll Die Laughing trading card series, with the caption "Brand 'A' gives faster relief than the other leading brand!"
Related characters
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Videos
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Notes
- ↑ In Netflix's subtitles for episode 12 of the series, Colonel Matsubara states that Godzilla "[has] been growing and is now over 100 meters in height." However in the English dub, this is changed so that he says Godzilla "[will] soon breach 100 meters in height."
- ↑ The novelization for the 1998 film repeatedly states that Godzilla is over 300 feet (91.44 meters) long from head to tail; however, some publications like Shin Godzilla Walker: The New Legend of the King of the Monsters elect to approximate this to simply 90 meters.
- ↑ The Official GODZILLA Movie Fact Book claims that Godzilla's tail is 256 feet (roughly 78 meters) long by itself, while the film's novelization states that it is 200 feet long.
- ↑ Episodes 1-7, 9-15, 20-23, 25-44, 46-47, 49-50, 52, 54, 57-64, 66-68, 70-84, 87-88, 90-93, 97-98, 101-103, 105-110, 115-120, 123-125, 127-130, 132-134, 136-149, 155, 157, 161-163, 165-167, 169-170, 172-179, 181-182, 184, 186-188, 190-201, 205-209, 213-214, 216-218, 222-226, 230-234, 237-240, 244-246, 250-252 and 255-256.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla. 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]
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