Sandbox:Godzilla (Marvel)
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This page is a sandbox. Sandboxed pages are unfinished and not yet approved. Information found here may be unpolished or unverified. |
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In short, some factors are certain: Godzilla represents a hitherto unknown essence of life and behavior...As such he is highly unpredictable, and definitely the most dangerous living creature on the face of the Earth.
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Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira) is a giant monster who starred in Marvel Comics' Godzilla series. He is the first incarnation of Godzilla to originate in American media, as well as the first incarnation to be featured in an American comic.
A giant prehistoric monster roused by atomic testing, Godzilla first menaced Japan in 1956 and repeatedly attacked the nation's cities before gradually becoming the lesser of two evils, fending off other more malevolent creatures and unintentionally defending mankind in the process. This lasted for 20 years. At some point after that, Godzilla became frozen inside an iceberg, only to break free once the iceberg reached Alaska and either started to melt due to the warm spring weather or Godzilla shattered it from the inside out. Godzilla then began a destructive campaign across the United States, tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D. and crossing paths with the many heroes of the Marvel Universe. This finally culminated in a battle against the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in New York City, which ended in a draw as Godzilla decided to return to the ocean. He was later captured and mutated by his old nemesis Doctor Demonicus and used as a pawn in his evil plans, at one point clashing with Iron Man. Godzilla largely disappeared afterward, though many creatures resembling him have appeared since then. His last known appearance came when he attacked New York City along with several other inhabitants of Monster Island under the control of the Mole Man. By this point, he no longer bore the mutated appearance that he had had while under Demonicus' control.
Name
- See also: Godzilla#Name.
Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira (ゴジラ), comes from a combination of the Japanese approximation of "gorilla" (ゴリラ gorira) and kujira (クジラ), the Japanese word for "whale."
After the close of Godzilla, Godzilla is never referred to by name during any of his subsequent appearances due to Marvel Comics no longer holding the rights to the character even though, perhaps jokingly, the mutated monster which appears in issue #31 of The Thing is referred to as "Godzilla."
Design
Upon finally securing the comics rights to Godzilla, and after opting for an original storyline instead of adapting any of the existing films, Marvel began considering their interpretation of Godzilla's appearance. Due to the campy nature of the contemporary films, they chose to model their Godzilla after the original suit. Despite this, they were willing to make changes to make the character more workable in the new medium.[3]
This incarnation of Godzilla is entirely green, unlike the character's existing film incarnations at the time, and has purely red eyes. His dorsal fins start near the top of his head like the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla. His head is more dinosaur-like with a long snout, sharp teeth, and eyes positioned higher on his head and facing slightly to the sides. His dorsal fins maintain the traditional maple-leaf shape, but are green in color rather than bone-white. The Marvel Godzilla has long, muscular arms with four claws. The Marvel Godzilla tends to keep his tail suspended in the air rather than drag it across the ground. His claws and toe claws change between a light shade of green and bluish white. His head is typically round but rectangular, occasionally with his teeth being incredibly small. Other times, his teeth are very elongated and his head appears closer to previous designs than not. His entire silhouette sometimes appears as a hybrid between the ShodaiGoji and KingGoji designs.
In the Iron Man issues and The Thing #31, Godzilla's mutated form has webbed fingers and large fish-like fins starting at his armpits and going down to his wrists. During his appearances in The Thing #31, the mutated Godzilla has very short arms and large scales on his brow and lip areas. In both comics the mutated Godzilla has a large fish-like fin in place of his dorsal fins and two horns protruding from the top of his snout. He is also a lot smaller than his normal appearance.
In his last known appearance in Mighty Avengers #1, Godzilla has returned to a more traditional appearance, having an appearance that closely resembles his Heisei counterpart. In an early version of the comic, he bore visible dorsal fins, although they were removed in the final comic.
Personality
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"Nor let it be said that Godzilla is unwilling to meet any challenge, anywhere, at any time."
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The Marvel Godzilla is an aggressive creature who often attacks anything in his path. According to Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, Godzilla's behavior is unpredictable, making him particularly dangerous. Takiguchi's assistant, Tamara Hashioka, compares Godzilla to an elemental force, claiming that he has his own dignity and cannot truly be judged as evil. His aggressiveness frequently puts him into conflict with other, more malevolent monsters, painting him as the lesser of two evils as he unintentionally defends mankind from his monstrous foes. This Godzilla's portrayal as a violent force of nature is somewhat in line with the character's portrayal in the first four films of the Showa series, and predates his similar portrayal in the seven films of the Heisei series by several years. However, Godzilla has occasionally displayed inquisitive behavior and has also proved capable of complex reasoning and making moral decisions. In one of his fights against another giant monster, it is explained that Godzilla’s drive for survival is drawn from him tapping into his "inner strength", which consists of courage and rage as already explained.
Origins
The Marvel Godzilla is a prehistoric hybrid of land and marine reptiles who was awakened in 1956 by an underwater joint-nation nuclear weapon test in the Pacific Ocean which split open the ocean floor and released him while also radiologically mutating him. The King of the Monsters first attacked the ship which oversaw the test before attacking Tokyo. Over the ensuing two decades, Godzilla both destroyed several Japanese cities and fended off other malevolent monsters that attacked Japan, becoming the lesser of two evils in the latter case. By unknown means he was eventually trapped in an iceberg, and managed to break free once the iceberg reached Alaska in the 1970s and either started to melt due to the warm spring weather or Godzilla shattered it from the inside out (it is never revealed which one of these scenarios is correct).
History
- Godzilla #1-24 (1977-78)
- Transformers #3 (1984) (mentioned)
- Iron Man #193-194, 196 (1985)
- The Thing #31 (1985)
- Mighty Avengers #1 (2007)
Godzilla
"The Coming!"
Godzilla suddenly erupted out of an iceberg that floated into Alaskan waters and either started to melt due to the warm spring weather or Godzilla shattered it from the inside out (it is never revealed which one of these scenarios is correct), capsizing a supply ship. The monster quickly stomped ashore and destroyed a lighthouse before making his way to the Alaskan Pipeline. The King of the Monsters easily lifted a section of the pipeline and slammed it onto the ground like a whip, causing untold destruction. S.H.I.E.L.D. was alerted to the attack and sent a Helicarrier commanded by Agent Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan to attack Godzilla. Soldiers were deployed on floating platforms and opened fire on Godzilla, who simply swatted them out of the sky. Dugan commandeered a Disc-Plane and flew at Godzilla, but the monster simply snatched it in his mouth, with Dugan barely escaping. Fighter jets began firing missiles at Godzilla to no effect, with the monster snatching one out of the air and breaking it in half. S.H.I.E.L.D. next deployed an advanced Laser Cannon invented by Tony Stark to attack Godzilla, which only succeeded in hurting and enraging him. Godzilla lashed out with his radioactive fire breath, obliterating the cannon. He continued spewing flames from his mouth, igniting the oil which leaked from the destroyed pipeline and setting the surrounding encampment and forest ablaze. Dugan and Agent Jimmy Woo drew Godzilla's attention and made him smash a nearby mountain, triggering an avalanche that smothered the raging fire. Godzilla then walked off into the sunset unopposed.
"Thunder in the Darkness!"
After leaving Alaska, Godzilla rose from Elliot Bay, still in pain from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Laser Cannon, and set the docks ablaze with his fire breath. As Godzilla made his way toward the heart of Seattle, he was observed from above by Agent Gabe Jones, who reported the sighting to S.H.I.E.L.D. As night fell, Godzilla laid waste to the city before being drawn toward the lights of the Space Needle. Godzilla peered into the observation deck and lit it on fire with his fire breath. Jones destroyed the local power plant with bombs and plunged the city into a blackout in order to stop Godzilla, but the monster was still attracted to the fire that he had started at the top of the Space Needle. Using Beacon-Flares, S.H.I.E.L.D. began to lure Godzilla away from the city and toward the ocean. However, the monster stopped following the flares once he reached the coastline. The Helicarrier flew overhead and emitted a blinding bright light that blinded Godzilla. With the monster temporarily stunned, Block-Busters opened fire at Godzilla's back, causing him to fall off the cliffside that he was standing on and into the ocean below. Godzilla's head broke the surface as he turned and began swimming out to sea rather than returning to Seattle.
"A Tale of Two Saviors"
Godzilla surfaced next at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Police watercraft opened fire on him, irritating him enough to smash one. Four of the members of the Champions - the Black Widow, Hercules, the Iceman, and the Angel - sortied to the area. They landed their Champscraft on the bridge as Godzilla shifted his attention to Fisherman's Wharf. Godzilla struck the Angel with an errant swing of his tail as the hero tried convincing police to evacuate, knocking him to the ground. Hercules stopped him from stepping on the Angel, using his incredible strength to topple him. He quickly returned to his feet and unleashed his radioactive fire on the city.
The Helicarrier arrived on the scene and readied Electro-Mag-Nets to stun Godzilla, while Dum Dum Dugan bickered with the Champions over jurisdiction. As he took off on his hoverbike, the Angel startled him by flying too close, forcing him to leap off of it as it sailed into Godzilla's mouth. The monster briefly submerged into the bay, only to emerge beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The Iceman briefly froze Godzilla's head as Hercules swam towards him and an irate Dugan ordered the Electro-Mag-Nets into action. Realizing the danger to Hercules, he tried to call off the attack, failing to do so but spoiling his team's aim. The nets only grazed Godzilla, but his thrashing forced Hercules underwater. The demigod retaliated by throwing a broken-off section of the bridge at Godzilla, only for the monster to dodge it. The missile hit the Helicarrier instead, causing it to drop into the bay directly in front of Godzilla. He paused suddenly amidst the mayhem, gently crumpled one of the Helicarrier's back fins, and returned to the sea. Dugan blamed the Champions for the fiasco, but Jones pointed out that S.H.I.E.L.D. was equally responsible.
"Godzilla Versus Batragon!"
Batragon, a monster that had been attacking oil tankers off the North Pacific Coast for its master, Dr. Demonicus, was intercepted by Godzilla during its latest rampage and injured by him. After their confrontation, Godzilla followed the injured Batragon back to the island of Dr. Demonicus, who had used a glowing meteor that he called the "Lifestone" that was found at the bottom of a crater of a dormant volcano on the island to create his four monsters Batragon, Ghilaron, Lepirax, and Centipor. Because of this, all four of these monsters were dependent on the Lifestone to the extent that if they ever left it, they had to return to it every few hours just to stay alive.
When Godzilla arrived on the island and began both terrorizing Demonicus' Demon-Soldiers and attempting to aid the Inuit slaves that they had forced into laboring for them, Batragon battled Godzilla once more. When Batragon was finally killed by the King of the Monsters, Demonicus almost decided to release all three of his remaining creations to fight Godzilla, just as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Godzilla Squad arrived to attack him. Demonicus then decided to play both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Godzilla against each other, then release his three monsters and send them out to kill the winner of the fight.
"The Isle of Lost Monsters"
As Godzilla battled S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicopters, Dugan and Jones discovered Demonicus' other monsters, prompting the supervillain to release them. The three beasts swarmed Godzilla, though Lepirax soon began terrorizing Dugan's helicopter instead. Dugan called off the helicopters that were overwhelming Godzilla to further investigate the mysterious island, allowing Godzilla to focus on Ghilaron and Centripor. Godzilla quickly vanquished Centripor, but as he began strangling Ghilaron, Demonicus made the mistake of running off to assist his last creation, allowing Jones to catch him by surprise and subdue him.
Meanwhile, after slaying Ghilaron, Godzilla turned his attention to Lepirax, who was still attacking Dugan's helicopter. Godzilla waited until the two were close to the ground before grabbing the moth monster, freeing Dugan's helicopter which fell only a short distance to the ground, saving Dugan's life. Godzilla then killed Lepirax with his radioactive flames, and after exchanging glances with Dugan, left the island. In the aftermath, Jones forced Dugan to admit that Godzilla saved his life and that the monster may indeed be smarter than he originally suspected, though he maintained that he wasn't completely convinced.
"A Monster Enslaved!"
In the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern California, Jones tailed Godzilla until the latter found a massive cave to rest in. Elsewhere, S.H.I.E.L.D. unveiled their new Helicarrier to replace the previously destroyed one, naming this one Behemoth, while also finishing up the anti-Godzilla weapon developed by Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi - SJ3RX. As the Behemoth closed in on Godzilla's location, Jones convinced Dugan to capture Godzilla instead of attacking him. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents filled the cave with gas, and while Godzilla initially appeared unaffected as he emerged, he soon succumbed to the gas's affects and fell.
Godzilla's unconscious body was loaded into the Helicarrier and brought to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base in San Diego, where a reinforced thermal plexilock-gauge mylarox cage had been constructed to contain the beast. That night, as Jones looked over the captive Godzilla, the King of the Monsters abruptly roared to life. Before the cage could be filled with more gas, Godzilla melted the plastic walls with his radioactive breath and burst out of the containment facility.
"Birth of a Warrior!"
Dugan and Jones discovered that the S.H.I.E.L.D. base also housed a secret nuclear missile installation, with Godzilla headed straight for the missles. As Dugan used the Behemoth in an attempt to hold Godzilla off with pulsar torpedoes and other weapons, Takiguchi's mech was activated by his grandson, Rob, and in doing so accidentally made it so the machine would only respond to his brain patterns. Desperate to save Godzilla and ensure the machine would not be used to kill him, Rob stole the mech and flew it to Godzilla's location, rechristening it "Red Ronin" in the process.
Despite their best efforts, S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to prevent Godzilla from reaching the nuclear missiles, threatening to either obliterate the base or trigger World War III if one of the missiles were to be accidentally launched. Fortunately, Rob and Red Ronin arrived in the nick of time, reluctantly landing a hit on Godzilla to draw his attention away from the missiles.
"Titan Times Two!"
As the only thing standing between Godzilla and a stockpile of nuclear missiles, Rob searched Red Ronin's controls to find the means of driving him off without hurting him when he accidentally activated Red Ronin's laser sword. Seeing the blade as a threat, Godzilla attacked Red Ronin, bathing the mech in flames and threatening to burn Rob alive. Rob reduced the blade's intensity to ensure it would not hurt Godzilla and began driving him back. At the same time, Dugan received word that a child was the pilot of the machine and promptly ordered his forces to distract Godzilla in efforts to protect Rob. However, Rob instead used Red Ronin's laser sword on the Behemoth to defend Godzilla from the craft's wrath, disabling its weapons systems. Rob then activated Red Ronin's magneclamp cables, harnessed Godzilla, and flew him off site.
After shaking off his initial disorientation, Godzilla attempted to shake himself loose before melting the cables with his radioactive breath, sending both titans plummeting to Earth. Godzilla landed in the San Diego Bay, and after recovering, immediately attacked Red Ronin and nearby naval vessels. Rob was forced to battle Godzilla and finally gained the upper hand as he successfully employed several of the mech's weapons against the King of the Monsters while their fight moved into the city. However, after the Behemoth arrived on the scene, Rob used Red Ronin's weapons to keep the Helicarrier at bay. Rob then used Red Ronin to point away from the city, and Godzilla, having recognized the machine's attempts to protect him, ultimately left as instructed.
"The Fate of Las Vegas"
"Godzilla vs. Yetrigar"
"Arena for Three!"
"The Mega-Monsters from Beyond! Part One: The Beta-Beast!"
"The Mega-Monsters from Beyond! Part II: Triax"
"Mega-Monsters Part III: The Super-Beasts"
"Roam on the Range"
"The Great Godzilla Roundup!"
"Of Lizards, Great and Small"
"Fugitive in Manhattan!"
"With Dugan on the Docks!"
"A Night at the Museum"
"The Doom Trip!"
"The Devil and the Dinosaur!"
"The King Once More"
"And Lo, A Child Shall Lead Them"
Transformers (1984) #3
"Prisoner of War!"
When the Autobots and the Decepticons' battles were causing trouble in Oregon, Nick Fury lamented to Dum Dum Dugan, "Dum Dum, if that big green, fire-snortin' lizard is loose again, I quit!" referencing his difficult time dealing with Godzilla. However, the Marvel Transformers comics were later retconned to take place on Earth-91274 rather than Earth-616, while the UK version of the story also takes place on Earth-120185, indicating that the events of this comic series are canon to both universes within the Marvel Transformers.
Iron Man #193-194 and 196
"The Choice and the Challenge"
After being captured by his former nemesis Dr. Demonicus, Godzilla was mutated to an unrecognizable extent, with further mutation constantly being threatened as punishment for misbehavior. One day while in the Pacific Ocean, the former Godzilla swatted an Avengers Quinjet out of the sky and onto an uncharted island, though Demonicus was greatly angered by the fact that the beast had not destroyed it completely. On reaching the shore and seeing the ship unoccupied, Demonicus discovered a native village, and ordered the monster to destroy it. However, Tigra, the ship's pilot, attempted to lure him away and leapt at the beast before trying to run away to divert its attention from the villagers. The monster grabbed her, but was then attacked by the Avengers. Hawkeye fired an explosive-tipped arrow into its mouth, causing it to drop her. The mutated monster attempted to swipe at Hawkeye, but was stopped by Tony Stark, who used an old Iron Man suit to carry it away over the ocean.
"Otherwhere"
After the suit's boosters could no longer sustain their combined weights, Stark and the mutated Godzilla fell into the sea, the latter losing interest and swimming away.
Iron Man #196
After abandoning Stark, the creature discovered his abandoned old Iron Man suit and brought it back to Demonicus' lair. There, the doctor took the beast back in and shelved his plans to take over the world with an army of clones of his creature for the time being, now favoring the use of Stark's armor to take personal revenge on him for his interference in his schemes.
Clones of the mutated Godzilla
The Thing #31
"Devil Dinosaur: The Movie"
The mutated Godzilla resurfaced on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean, the filming location of Devil Dinosaur: The Movie. Likely intrigued by the activity, Godzilla poked his head above the water's surface to take a peek at the island one evening, before attacking during the night. Godzilla destroyed the film set before returning to the sea. That afternoon he arose once again to menace the film crew. After getting from the beach to the clifftop off camera, Godzilla posed a threat to the actors, and mistook the Devil Dinosaur animatronic for a rival. The special effects director, Mr. Trimble, swung the suspended "pteradactyl" prop at him to distract him long enough for the actors to escape from the set. Godzilla bit into and crushed the prop, before turning his jaws on the Devil Dinosaur prop. However, when he bit into its back, he was electrocuted by the sparking animatronics. Godzilla then retreated into the ocean, never to be seen again, although it is implied that the Fantastic Four might go looking for him.
Mighty Avengers #1
When the Mole Man invaded New York City with his army of giant monsters from Monster Isle, the unmutated Godzilla was among them.
Abilities
Radioactive breath
Godzilla is capable to breathing a breath weapon of highly concentrated radiation resembling fire from his mouth, referred to as "flaming breath" or "radioactive breath" in issue #5. Godzilla's radioactive breath is strong enough to overpower even the Human Torch.
It is unknown if Godzilla retained this ability following his mutation at the hands of Dr. Demonicus, as it is never demonstrated.
Hot breath
This was used in issue #24, when Godzilla did not feel like using his radioactive breath and blew hot air on the Daily Bugle Building at J. Jonah Jameson, who had been berating him and whom he considered to be just a mere annoyance and not even worth bothering with.
Durability
Like most other incarnations of Godzilla, the Marvel Godzilla displays an impressive level of durability. Godzilla is immune to all conventional weaponry, and appears to be mostly unharmed when hit full-force by Thor's hammer Mjolnir, though it did make him feel enormous pain.
Physical abilities
Godzilla’s strength is unimaginable, being able to match Thor, who even compared Godzilla to the Midgard Serpent, whose reputation revolves around circling around the Earth and biting his own tail. Hercules, the Greek god of strength and known for handling the weight of the universe itself, struggled to hold back Godzilla when the monster tried to crush him under his foot.
Intelligence
Godzilla is somehow capable of understanding human speech, as demonstrated when a young Japanese boy named Robert "Little Rob" Takiguchi persuaded him to stop fighting the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Gallery
Artwork used to announce the Marvel comic book series
Godzilla's first appearance in the U.S.
Godzilla with the downed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier
Godzilla at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in San Diego
Godzilla vs. the Beta-Beast
Godzilla vs. Thor
Godzilla vs. Thor at the Empire State Building
Godzilla vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., the Fantastic Four and the Avengers of the mainstream Marvel Universe of Earth-616
Spider-Man takes a picture of Godzilla as he leaves New York City
Godzilla's original unmutated appearance from The Mighty Avengers #1
Godzilla in the main cover artwork of the Marvel Omnibus volume Godzilla: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus by Junggeun Yoon
Merchandise
The Raymond Toys Marvel Godzilla figure
Roar
Godzilla's roar is spelled "MRAWWW" in the comic.
Trivia
- Artwork of this incarnation of Godzilla was used by Toho to create Godzilla's original trademark icon.
- The Marvel Godzilla's appearance reflects the American poster artwork for Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which depicted Godzilla as green and breathing orange flames. The stereotype of Godzilla being green and breathing fire would be carried over to many other depictions of the character in both American and Japanese media, such as Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla animated TV series and the Godzilland merchandise line, as well as the television series and OVAs based on the latter. Most notably, in the 1999 Toho film Godzilla 2000: Millennium, Godzilla's skin was a dark green color and his dorsal fins were a dark purple color, while his atomic breath was orange rather than blue. These characteristics were carried over into the next film, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, a year later, although Godzilla's skin in this film was a brighter green color and his dorsal fins were a brighter purple color.
- The backstory given for Marvel's version of Godzilla loosely reflects that of the Showa Godzilla films, in that he is said to be a prehistoric monster living deep underwater before being unleashed and both irradiated and radiologically mutated by an underwater nuclear bomb test. After first attacking Tokyo, he gradually began to be viewed over the years as the lesser of two evils as other, more malevolent monsters began to attack Japan. The comic specifies that Godzilla's first attack on Tokyo occurred in 1956 rather than 1954, reflecting the release date of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! instead of the original 1954 Japanese version of his debut film. It also makes no specific mention of any of the other monsters that Godzilla encountered in the Showa films (mainly because Marvel's contract with Toho permitted them the comics rights only to Godzilla and not to said other monsters such as Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Gigan, etc.), nor does it indicate that more than one Godzilla existed, as was the case in said films.
- The Marvel Godzilla's size in his regular form is wildly inconsistent, with him varying in scale when compared to other characters and real-world structures. In the second issue, he was depicted as being nearly the same height as the 184 meter (605 feet) tall Seattle Space Needle, though this height has never been officially recognized.
- With the Monsterverse incarnation of Godzilla appearing in the seven-issue collaboration comic book miniseries Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong in 2023, the character has appeared in the universes of both DC and Marvel Comics.
- Multiple other characters that were similar in appearance to Godzilla would appear in Marvel Comics long after the rights to use Godzilla expired, including Leviathan and the American Kaiju.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla (Marvel). 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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