Oxygen Destroyer
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Ogata, if the Oxygen Destroyer is used even once, politicians from around the world will see it. Of course, they'll want to use it as a weapon. Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus missiles, and now a new superweapon to throw upon us all! As a scientist - no, as a human being - I can't allow that to happen!
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— Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Godzilla) |
The Oxygen Destroyer (オキシジェン・デストロイヤー is a fictional chemical weapon of mass destruction invented by Dr. Okishijen Desutoroiyā)Daisuke Serizawa and used to kill the original Godzilla in the 1954 film Godzilla. It has appeared or been referenced in several other pieces of official Godzilla media since then.
Origins
The Oxygen Destroyer was the invention of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa. Having devoted his studies to the element oxygen, Serizawa accidentally stumbled upon a volatile and deadly chemical reaction. Though horrified by the destructive potential of his discovery, he nonetheless continued his research, optimistic that some beneficial outcome could be produced from it.
Design
The Oxygen Destroyer is a heavy device composed of a metal capsule with a glass central chamber. Within this chamber is a second capsule attached by rods at either end. Contained within the capsule is a large amount of what would be later known as Micro-Oxygen, the weapon's payload. Numerous gauges and pressure meters are present on the larger capsule. To operate the Oxygen Destroyer, the two ends of the larger capsule have to be pushed inwards. This causes the rods securing the inner capsule to pull apart, releasing the Micro-Oxygen within.
History
- Godzilla (1954)
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955) [mentioned]
- Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) [mentioned]
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) [stock footage]
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
- Godziban (web 2019-) [episodes 33-34, 41, and 56]
Showa era
Godzilla (1954)
The weapon was first revealed to Emiko Yamane by Daisuke Serizawa when they were in his laboratory. He demonstrated it on a tank of fish, which were instantly reduced first to skeletons and then to nothing, much to Emiko's horror.
After Godzilla destroyed Tokyo, Serizawa reluctantly agreed to allow the Oxygen Destroyer's raw form to be used against the kaiju, but only after destroying all of his research documents and materials. The formula was still in his memory, however, and fearing that it would lead to another arms race, the doctor knew that he would need to sacrifice himself as well. On the fateful morning in Tokyo Bay, Serizawa and Hideto Ogata descended into the water to find Godzilla, with Serizawa carrying the Oxygen Destroyer. Soon, Godzilla was located, and despite sighting the two divers, the monster was apparently unaware of their presence. Serizawa activated the device, then urged Ogata to return to the boat, though Ogata pleaded with Serizawa to return with him. As Ogata was pulled upwards by the boat's crew, Serizawa set the device down and then cut his diving suit's air tube. As the Oxygen Destroyer released its payload of Micro-Oxygen, Serizawa stood and waited to be disintegrated by the corrosive chemical as clouds of Micro-Oxygen swirled around him.
The surface of Tokyo Bay began to churn; in bouts of horrendous pain, Godzilla surfaced from the water and uttered one final roar before sinking back into Tokyo Bay. As the Micro-Oxygen continued to take effect, Godzilla's flesh was dissolved completely, followed by his skeleton, leaving no trace of him. Both the monster and the brilliant scientist were no more.
Heisei era
Godzilla vs. Biollante
For a brief moment, the Oxygen Destroyer appears alongside a statue of the KingGoji suit in Colonel Gondo's office, resting against the wall.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
In 1996, Dr. Kensaku Ijuin unveiled an invention he called Micro-Oxygen, which he intended to benefit humanity, like Serizawa before him. Ijuin confessed that he made reference to Serizawa's surviving work when working on Micro-Oxygen, but never intended to recreate the Oxygen Destroyer after his analysis of the soil where the weapon was fired, determining that it would have "turned Tokyo into a cemetery" if it were used on the ground. Emiko Yamane saw Ijuin being interviewed about the invention by her niece Yukari, and became concerned that Ijuin's invention was dangerously similar to the Oxygen Destroyer. Emiko begged Yukari and Kenkichi Yamane to convince Ijuin to shelve the project, since Serizawa had given up his life to ensure that the Oxygen Destroyer could never be used again for any purpose because of how dangerous it was. Despite their aunt's pleas, Yukari and Kenichi attempted to convince Ijuin to recreate the Oxygen Destroyer, believing it was the only way to stop Godzilla's impending meltdown and save the world. However, Dr. Ijuin revealed another concern; a lifeform had escaped from a soil sample recovered from the site where the Oxygen Destroyer was detonated to kill the first Godzilla in 1954. Soon, Ijuin was called to investigate when all of the fish in a local aquarium were mysteriously killed. Ijuin determined that the fish were killed by several microscopic creatures that had been mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer and were coming ashore after being disturbed by the construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line. These creatures began combining with each other into larger and more fearsome forms and wreaking havoc, eventually combining into a gigantic living incarnation of the Oxygen Destroyer, which Ijuin named Destoroyah. G-Force determined that their best option was to lure Godzilla to Tokyo and have him fight Destoroyah and hopefully be killed before he melted down. G-Force had Miki Saegusa and Meru Ozawa use their telepathy to lure Godzilla Junior to Tokyo, knowing that Godzilla would follow him. Junior was attacked by Destoroyah and managed to defeat him after a brutal battle. While Godzilla and his adopted son tried to reunite near Haneda Airport, they were attacked by Destoroyah in his Perfect Form, who killed Godzilla Junior and battled Godzilla. When Godzilla's temperature reached critical, Destoroyah tried to fly away, but was shot down by G-Force's freezer weapons and collided with the superheated ground, vaporizing him and ending the Oxygen Destroyer's destructive legacy once and for all.
Millennium era
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
In the continuity of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, the Japanese government covered up the use of the Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla. It was feared that the military would face ridicule over its inability to defeat Godzilla and thus the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were officially credited with the victory.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the Oxygen Destroyer didn't dissolve the first Godzilla's skeleton, and Kiryu's blueprints incorporated said skeleton within it to make the design process and construction less strenuous.
Monsterverse
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
As the USS Argo battled with Monster Zero near Isla de Mara, Monarch was contacted by Admiral William Stenz, who asked them to evacuate immediately. He informed them that the military had developed a prototype weapon specifically to combat the Titans: the Oxygen Destroyer. The chemical weapon, attached to a missile, was already inbound to the area and would kill every organism within a five-mile radius. After dispatching Rodan, Monster Zero turned his attention to the Argo only for Godzilla to erupt from the sea and drag Monster Zero down with him. Godzilla seemed to be winning the fight, keeping Monster Zero under the water and even tearing off one of his heads, but the Argo was forced to withdraw as the Oxygen Destroyer prepared to impact. As soon as the warhead struck the water, it produced a colossal mushroom cloud emitting an eerie green glow. As the smoke cleared, dead fish began floating to the surface of the water.
Suddenly, the now two-headed Monster Zero flew out of the water seemingly unaffected by the blast and made his way to the Isla de Mara volcano. Shockingly, he near-instantaneously regenerated his severed head and was none the worse for wear. Godzilla, however, was seriously injured by the blast and began to sink into the deep, his vital signs rapidly decreasing. Finally, Dr. Rick Stanton informed his colleagues that Godzilla was dead. The military had apparently killed its best hope for defeating Monster Zero, or "Ghidorah" as he would subsequently come to be known. Fortunately, Godzilla was not killed by the Oxygen Destroyer and had retreated to his lair to feed on radiation and heal. Monarch's Dr. Ishiro Serizawa gave his life to accelerate this process by detonating a thermonuclear warhead next to the resting Godzilla, the radiation immediately rejuvenating him. Godzilla was revived to fight another day, and with the assistance of Mothra triumphed over Ghidorah.
After Godzilla's victory, the waters surrounding Isla de Mara were still contaminated by the Oxygen Destroyer, leaving the locals unable to catch fish. They caught something else, however: Ghidorah's severed head. Alan Jonah and his men traveled to Mexico to examine it; upon doing so, Jonah simply said, "We'll take it."
Reiwa era
Godziban
The Oxygen Destroyer was invented by the boy genius Young Serizawa, who chose to abandon civilization and the greedy people within out of fear of its destructive power. Becoming shipwrecked on Godzi Godzi Island, the Three Godzilla Brothers built him a cabin and helped him stash away the Oxygen Destroyer within, though it would attract the attention of "Reaper Roaches" that sought to feed off of the device. When the low oxygen "Reaper Roach Traps" he set for the creatures ended up forcing their evolution, he focused his concerns on the traps themselves and had Godzilla-kun destroy them while leaving the original Oxygen Destroyer alone.
Mechanisms
Micro-Oxygen creation
The device works by activating a chemical stored within its spherical center, which causes the center to split in half and open. Once released, the chemical (later dubbed Micro-Oxygen by Kensaku Ijuin) reacts violently with the water, isolating oxygen molecules and splitting them. The molecules are then liquefied. This means that any organism exposed to the chemical will first suffocate from the lack of oxygen, and then disintegrate. Depending on the amount of the oxygen destroying chemical released, the body of the victim will either be eaten down to the bone or destroyed completely. When used to its full potential, the Oxygen Destroyer will leave no remains. According to Dr. Ijuin, if the Oxygen Destroyer had been used on land, it would have turned Tokyo into a cemetery. Creatures that thrive in anaerobic environments, however, such as the Precambrian crustaceans that became Destoroyah, can actually be empowered by the Oxygen Destroyer's chemical reactions and mutate to incorporate Micro-Oxygen within their bodily processes.
Explosion
In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the basic shape of the device itself is evidently mostly unchanged, as seen on a digital schematic. However, the Oxygen Destroyer is now fired while attached to a missile. Upon striking the water, rather than simply causing a violent chemical reaction, the Oxygen Destroyer produces a powerful explosion that creates a mushroom cloud. The blast does not reduce its victims to skeletons and appears to leave their bodies relatively intact, though it effectively kills all sea life nonetheless. The explosion given off by the device was sufficient to seriously injure and weaken Godzilla, while the extraterrestrial King Ghidorah proved immune to both the blast and the chemical itself.
Books
- GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla (2018)
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization (2019)
- Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (2021) [mentioned]
- Godzilla Singular Point (2022)
GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla
Hoping to provide hope for humanity in the wake of widespread despair and rioting across the globe, a researcher named Kane Hilter fabricated a story about the Oxygen Destroyer, claiming it was a chemical weapon capable of destroying the seemingly invincible Godzilla. According to the story, the Oxygen Destroyer was the invention of Dr. Serizawa, who feared that war between humanity, the Exif, and the Bilusaludo was inevitable and did not want his weapon to be used in the coming war. In 2037, Serizawa allegedly used the device to kill Godzilla off the coast of France in 2037, taking his own life in the process after destroying all of his research. The Godzilla which appeared in Antarctica and destroyed Gorath in 2042 was simply another member of the species. Hilter's story soon became an urban legend, and in 2047 a team of scientists led by Kensaku Ijuin began researching a way to recreate the Oxygen Destroyer at the abandoned North American Hedorah Research Laboratory. They specifically focused on a bizarre microorganism dubbed J-MO7, which had been discovered in the Tokyo Bay area and which the scientists believed was somehow connected to the Oxygen Destroyer. However, the J-MO7 specimens merged together into a single crustacean-like aggregate form, which broke loose in the institute and killed all of the researchers. Hilter, himself working at the institute at the time, locked himself in a shelter and composed an email to Akira Sakaki, informing him of what had happened and admitting that he had made up the story of the Oxygen Destroyer. After Hilter sent the email, the aggregate J-MO7 melted the iron door to the shelter and killed Hilter.
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization
Bernie Hayes's wife Sara quit her job at Apex Cybernetics a year after the Battle of San Francisco. Following her death in an apparent car accident, he discovered a note she left which read "Godzilla > Apex > Monarch Contract > shipping manifest > component for bomb." He immediately secured a position at the company to investigate it, believing his wife had been killed because she knew too much. After King Ghidorah's rampage, he concluded that the bomb in question was the Oxygen Destroyer (this seems to contradict Godzilla: King of the Monsters and its novelization, where Admiral William Stenz told senior Monarch members of its existence just before using it).
Comics
- Monster Picture Story: Godzilla (1955)
- Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1 (2012) [allusion]
- Godzilla: 70th Anniversary (2024) [mentioned in "Of Gods and Con Artists"]
Monster Picture Story: Godzilla
To be added.
Godzilla: The Half-Century War
At the end of the first issue, a weapon strongly implied to be the Oxygen Destroyer was deployed against Godzilla in Tokyo Bay. The unnamed inventor destroyed his blueprints before committing suicide as the weapon activated. Godzilla's fate was left ambiguous; either he survived or another monster of the same species appeared several months later.
Video games
- Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters (1992) - Nintendo NES
- Godzilla (1993) - NEC PC-9801 [stills]
- Godzilla Generations (1998) - Sega Dreamcast
- Godzilla (2014) - PlayStation 3 and 4 [mentioned, indirect]
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android and iOS [artifact]
- Godzilla (2021) - Pinball
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
The Laboratory takes five turns to build the Oxygen Destroyer (simply called "Destroyer" in the game's instruction manual), which can kill Godzilla instantly if it is deployed in the water within five spaces of him.[1]
Godzilla Generations
Dr. Serizawa-Giant holds his Oxygen Destroyer in front of him as he rampages through Japan. For his most devastating attack, he holds it above his head as it spews lightning bolts in every direction.
Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)
In the tutorial level, the G-Force Operator alludes to the Oxygen Destroyer, saying that Godzilla was only driven away from Japan back in 1954 because of "Dr. Serizawa's sacrifice."
Gallery
Daisuke Serizawa holds the Oxygen Destroyer
A computer-generated Oxygen Destroyer appears in the title sequence of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
Koichi Kawakita with the Oxygen Destroyer and a maquette of the BioGoji suit
The Oxygen Destroyer in the Godzilla Encounter exhibit
A reproduction of the Oxygen Destroyer (far left, behind glass) in one of the Hotel Gracery's rooms
Akira Takarada and Koichi Kawakita with the Oxygen Destroyer
The Oxygen Destroyer on the set of Godzilla: King of the Monsters
The Oxygen Destroyer in Godziban
Toys
X-Plus Oxygen Destroyer
X-Plus Oxygen Destroyer (RIC-Boy exclusive)
X-Plus Oxygen Destroyer on the sea floor
Bandai Hyper Godzilla +1 Oxygen Destroyer
Super7 Silver Screen Godzilla '54 with Oxygen Destroyer (Super7.com exclusive)
Miscellaneous
Doctor Serizawa and the Oxygen Destroyer card featured in the Godzilla Wars 2 line of Toy Card 100 trading cards
Keychain of Daisuke Serizawa with the Oxygen Destroyer
Monogram International 2022 Godzilla Classic Series 4 3D foam figural bag clips
Trivia
- The Oxygen Destroyer is the only man-made weapon to have successfully killed Godzilla, aside from the F-18 Hornets which killed the TriStar Godzilla in the 1998 American film.
- The Oxygen Destroyer is one of the oldest surviving props from the Godzilla franchise, first being used in the original 1954 film and being placed on display as recently as 2013 as part of the Godzilla Encounter. Other props from the original film that were intact as of 2004 were a diving helmet and a pair of boots.
- The View-Master story "Godzilla's Rampage" references the Oxygen Destroyer, with Dr. Morris inventing an Oxygen Bomb which drives off Godzilla after he and his children attach the weapon to the monster's leg and detonate it.
- A weapon called the Reiconium fills a role similar to the Oxygen Destroyer in the 1980 and 1983 Resurrection of Godzilla story proposals which were intended to revive the Godzilla series prior to the release of The Return of Godzilla in 1984. While a nuclear fission device rather than a chemical weapon, the Reiconium is a deadly experimental weapon created by a Japanese scientist who is ultimately convinced to use his invention against Godzilla. Another scientist named Dr. Radner even sacrifices his life to detonate the Reiconium in the story's climax. Unlike the Oxygen Destroyer, however, the Reiconium would be revealed to have failed to kill Godzilla at the end of the story.
- The Oxygen Destroyer is referenced in I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla through two shirts the character Satomi wears, which read "Oxygen" and "Destroyer."
- The Orthogonal Diagonalizer in Godzilla Singular Point is based on the Oxygen Destroyer, keeping its general shape and initials, and is ultimately used to defeat Godzilla in the final episode.
- In the Pipeworks Godzilla video games, Destoroyah possess an ability named after the weapon.
References
This is a list of references for Oxygen Destroyer. 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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