Scylla
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SPOILER WARNING: This article may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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...They writhed gasping as Scylla swung them up her cliff and there at her cavern's mouth she bolted them down raw - screaming out... lost in that mortal struggle.
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Scylla (スキュラ Sukyura) is a cephalopod Titan who first appeared in the 2019 Legendary Pictures Godzilla film Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and reappeared in the 2024 film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Awakened from her resting place under Sedona, Arizona, by King Ghidorah's call in 2019, Scylla attacked the nearby city of Phoenix before being pacified when Madison Russell activated the Orca in Boston. Scylla and several other Titans that Ghidorah had awakened then converged on Boston, where they submitted to Godzilla after he slayed Ghidorah. Some time later, Scylla attempted to feed on a nuclear warhead lost off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. Godzilla arrived and battled her, eventually forcing her to withdraw. In 2027, she began attacking nuclear facilities around the world, seemingly to gather enough power to challenge Godzilla. He caught up with her in Rome, Italy, killing her after a brief fight.
Name
Scylla is named after the sea monster of the same name (Σκύλλα Skylla) from Greek mythology. Scylla is also the name of a genus of swimming crabs, whose legs resemble those of the Titan. Monarch gave Scylla the Titan classification Titanus Scylla.
In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, a Monarch map tracking Titan locations simply calls her "Titan 024." She is instead called Charybdis in befores & afters' and The Art of VFX's behind-the-scenes articles on the film;[1][2] in Homer's Odyssey, Charybdis is the name of a sea monster who terrorizes Odysseus' ship alongside Scylla. Bernie Hayes' notes in the film also call her Charybdia,[3] a misspelling of the aforementioned Charybdis. It is therefore possible that Scylla was intended to gain the name Charybdis in the film, or that her role was originally filled by a different Titan named Charybdis. The film's prequel comic and novelization nonetheless call her Scylla.
Design
In her debut in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Scylla is a gigantic creature of indeterminate color with a spider-like body and six long legs (mistakenly described as eight legs in Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization) connected together by membranes. Scylla's torso possesses a noticeable ridge and a raised spine, with a large curved extension above her head, in a similar manner to the shell of a chambered nautilus. She possesses a rounded head with two eyes, and several moderately-thick tentacles which hang down from her mouth area, reminiscent of Cthulhu.
Scylla's design conflicts between subsequent appearances. In Godzilla Dominion, she is a yellowish beige color and her mouth tentacles are thinner, longer, and more numerous than in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Her shell was also changed, being more curved with less resemblance to a nautilus shell, and inconsistently depicted as larger in some panels. In Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, she is instead green in color, her mouth tentacles are much thicker and possess suckers like an octopus, her shell has reverted to its nautilus-like appearance, and she possesses a crest of spines behind her head. In Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Scylla is a deeper orange color and maintains the nautilus shell; in at least The Hunted, she also lacks the spines from Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong and her mouth tentacles are closer in thickness to those seen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Scylla does not seem to possess the membranes between her limbs in any of her comic appearances. In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, an organ that resembles a cephalopod's siphon can be seen on her underbelly.
Personality
Monarch classifies Scylla's behavior as that of a "destroyer,"[5] along with fellow Titans King Ghidorah, Rodan, MUTO Prime, Camazotz, Mechagodzilla, Tiamat, and the Skull Devil. She is a Titan scavenger[5] who actively seeks out sources of radiation on which to feed. This at one point places her into conflict with the United States Coast Guard and even Godzilla, even though she had earlier submitted to him. She would later cause conflict with the King of the Monsters when she began destroying and feeding off of sources of nuclear energy around the world, with Bernie Hayes theorizing that she could have been attempting to enhance herself in order to challenge Godzilla for alpha status..
Origins
Scylla was discovered by Monarch in the deserts of Arizona, and Outpost 55 was constructed around her. As told in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization, Monarch found her in an upside down position and assumed she was dead, resulting in Outpost 55 lacking the containment fortifications other Outpost sites had. She is named after a legendary sea monster from Homer's Odyssey. Monarch has also discovered evidence that the Moai statues on Easter Island may have been constructed by the island's ancient inhabitants as "scarecrows" to ward off Scylla.[5] Though she exhibits anatomical traits of various arthropods, Scylla is specifically stated to be a cephalopod.[4]
History
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
- Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) [stock footage]
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Monsterverse
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Scylla was awakened from her slumber in Arizona by King Ghidorah's call, which also awakened many other Titans around the world. Scylla's legs tore through the desert near an oilfield as she erupted from underground. Like the other Titans, Scylla rampaged through populated areas, destroying buildings in nearby Phoenix with her colossal legs. Eventually, she made her way to Boston along with Methuselah, Behemoth, the Queen MUTO, and a flock of Leafwings. There, they found the alpha they were following, Ghidorah, slain at the hands of Godzilla. Rodan approached Godzilla to challenge him, but was intimidated by his gaze and ultimately submitted. The other Titans all followed suit, each "bowing" in their own way to the new King of the Monsters. Later on, Scylla was reported to have left human civilization and taken up residence in a lake. The creature was also credited with slowing down the melting of the polar ice caps.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Scylla wreaked havoc in Rome, Italy, destroying buildings and killing civilians with her legs, and she was soon confronted by Godzilla. After a brief fight, Godzilla threw her into the Victor Emmanuel II Monument and subsequently proceeded to pin her down. She attempted to suffocate Godzilla with her tentacles while stabbing at him with her legs. Godzilla countered by impaling her with one of her own legs before finishing her with a point-blank blast of his atomic breath, blowing her into pieces.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Scylla utilizes her massive legs to effortlessly smash through buildings, and even pierced Godzilla's skin with them in Godzilla Dominion, although she was unable to do so again in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. She is highly maneuverable,[4] able to strike fighter jets mid-air with her pointed legs. When feeding from a nuclear reactor, Scylla used her legs to break open and destroy the structure, releasing all of the energy within.
Temperature manipulation
Through unspecified means, Scylla is able to slow the melting of the polar ice caps. In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization, when she reawakened and began her feeding spree, Scylla began to not only cease cooling the planet's oceans but instead heating the regions she traveled through, damaging the ozone layer.
Bacteria generation
Monarch describes Scylla as "bio-corrosive."[5] After feeding on a slain Titan, Scylla can convert its nutrients into a deadly water-borne bacteria.[5]
Shell
Scylla can exit her shell at will, presumably to escape another Titan's grasp.[5] Though she is vulnerable to attack until she can grow a new shell, she will compensate by burrowing into a rock face or molding sunken warships into temporary armor.
Tentacles
Scylla can launch her tentacles at opponents. This was sufficient to disorient Godzilla and send him stumbling backward in Godzilla Dominion, and she was even able to grab fighter planes out of the air with them. Scylla attempts to use her tentacles on Godzilla again in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, wrapping them around his face and attempting to pull him towards her head and hold his mouth closed.
Webbing
In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Scylla shot bursts of webbing at buildings in Rome.
Amphibiousness
As shown in Godzilla Dominion, Scylla is able to propel herself quickly through the water with her legs. Her top speed underwater is unknown, but she is even faster than Godzilla, whose usual swimming speed is around 40-50 knots.[7] In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization, Scylla walks along the ocean floor to travel underwater.
Fog and energy absorption
In Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, Scylla released a toxic fog that hindered the Flash's super-speed, though it appears to not have affected the various supervillains breaking out of Iron Heights Prison. Supergirl was able to dispel it with her super-breath. In Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted, while standing over the destroyed Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Scylla expelled this or a similar "fog-like pollutant" from her mouth area before sucking it back up again, absorbing nuclear energy from the plant in the process.
Scylla firing the fog
Scylla absorbing radiation through the fog
Durability
In both Godzilla: Dominion and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Scylla was able to endure a few physical attacks from Godzilla. In Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, she was unscathed by punches from the Green Lantern Robo, though they were able to knock her away.
Weaknesses
Scylla was bested by Godzilla in combat in Godzilla Dominion, forcing her to retreat. In Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, her legs were sliced off by Supergirl's heat vision. She was ultimately killed by Godzilla's atomic breath in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Video games
- Pinball FX (2023) - PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Steam, Epic Games [silhouette; targets]
- Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers (2024) - iOS, Android, PC [mentioned]
One of the Scylla targets in Pinball FX
Comics
- Godzilla: Aftershock (2019) [name on monitor]
- Godzilla Dominion (2021)
- Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #1-4, 6-7 (2023-2024)
- Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted (2024)
Godzilla Dominion
Hungry and desperate for sustenance, Scylla attempted to feed on a nuclear bomb in the ocean near Savannah, Georgia, putting her into conflict with the United States Coast Guard. Godzilla soon arrived and, sensing Scylla would not give up her prize without a fight, attacked her. Godzilla tackled Scylla, who stabbed him with her legs and drew blood. She then extended her tentacles at Godzilla's face, but he shook her off and sent her slamming into a cargo ship. The two Titans roared at each other before Scylla again shot her tentacles at Godzilla's face. Godzilla stumbled backward into an electrical sign, which sparked and ignited nearby oil tanks, causing them to explode. Amid the flames, Godzilla lunged at Scylla and launched her into the air. Scylla crashed into the water before getting back to her feet, growling at Godzilla. As the humans lifted the warhead onto a ship, Scylla finally gave up and retreated underwater.
Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong
During a battle between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom in the Fortress of Solitude, the Toyman accidentally activated the Mother Box, transporting him and the rest of the villains to Skull Island in the Monsterverse. The Legion fled from a giant Skullcrawler as it battled Kong, finding an abandoned facility. There they found four other Titans displayed on monitors: Godzilla, Scylla, Behemoth, and Camazotz. The Toyman was dismissed by the rest of the Legion when he announced a plan to unleash these creatures against the Justice League, so he angrily used the Dreamstone he had stolen from the Fortress to transport his team, Skull Island, and several Titans back to the DC Universe. The displaced Titans went on the warpath, with Scylla attacking Iron Heights Prison in Central City. Spread thin, the Justice League sent the Flash, Green Lantern, and Supergirl to defend the city.
Flash arrived at the prison first, but was overwhelmed by escaping supervillains due to the toxic fog Scylla produced hindering his super-speed. This changed when Supergirl arrived and used her super breath to disperse the fog, allowing Flash to fight the villains. She prepared to fight Scylla with Green Lantern, but flew back to Metropolis when she realized that she couldn't hear Superman's heartbeat. Green Lantern and Flash held their own until Flash was frozen by the newly-arrived Captain Cold and Green Lantern was grabbed by Scylla's tentacles, forcing him to form a ball around himself for protection. Flash quickly broke free of the ice and used his tornado arms to force the monster to drop Green Lantern. Green Lantern fired a laser at Scylla as Supergirl returned and joined in with her heat vision, their combined might forcing Scylla to retreat into the ocean.
Over a week later, Lex Luthor lured Scylla, Behemoth, and Tiamat to Metropolis and asserted Mechagodzilla as their alpha. Lex was soon confronted by the Justice League and a battle commenced, with Scylla battling the Green Lantern's energy-created mecha until it was attacked by Kong.
Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted
After being drawn to the meltdown decoy ordered by Raymond Martin at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India, Scylla made landfall and engaged local military aircraft, dispatching them with her legs and tentacles. After dealing with them, she smashed the structure with her legs and used fog to absorb and feed on the radiation released. She returned to the sea and went on a feeding spree across the world, attacking United Kingdom Nuclear Labs, an American nuclear missile base in Italy, and finally arriving in Rome with Godzilla in hot pursuit. As Scylla smashed her way through the city, Godzilla arrived from shore. The Titans stared each other down before Godzilla roared a challenge at the cephalopod monster and they both charged forward.
Books
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization (2019)
- Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (2021) [mentioned]
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization (2024)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization
Scylla performs essentially the same role in the novelization that she does in the film itself.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization
Monarch Director Hampton recalled that Monarch never set up a containment field around Scylla's initial resting place in Arizona due to her appearing dormant, with some scientists even believing she was dead. After the events of Godzilla Dominion, Scylla claimed a frozen pool on a South American island near Antarctica and began cooling the world's oceans. After awakening, she began warming the oceans instead. Her initial destination was the Brazilian-owned island Ilha de Trindade. Monarch attempted to set a trap on the island using a large containment net, a M.U.L.E., and two Osprey Mark IIIs, but Scylla avoided it by utilizing a Hollow Earth vortex previously assumed to be a cave caused by volcanic activity. After feeding on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, warming the area by four degrees and weakening the ozone layer overhead, she withdrew into the ocean and made landfall in Pakistan, then moved northwest towards the United Kingdom. Along the way, she destroyed a nuclear enrichment facility in Iran and plowed through Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Poland, and Berlin along the way. After Godzilla killed Scylla, Hampton and Dr. Ilene Andrews questioned why he did so after sparing her in their previous battle.[8]
Gallery
- Main article: Scylla/Gallery.
In other languages
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Japanese
Mandarin Chinese
Roar
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Trivia
- Possibly due in part to her spider-like legs, Scylla was frequently mistaken for Kumonga by fans and media outlets after viewing the trailers for Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
- Before King Ghidorah awakened her, Scylla slept beneath Monarch Outpost 55 in Arizona, most likely a reference to the 1955 movie Tarantula!, in which a giant spider menaces a small town in the same state.
- Scylla is the second spider-like opponent of Godzilla to emerge from Arizona, after Kumonga in Godzilla Final Wars. However, it is unknown whether this connection was intentional.
- Scylla's scene in Godzilla Dominion was inspired by the 1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision, which resulted in the United States Air Force losing a Mark 15 nuclear bomb. Presumed to rest somewhere in Wassaw Sound, it has never been found. One of the civilian boats opposing the monster hails from Savannah, Georgia, the closest city to the bomb.
- Though Scylla is identified as Titan 024 in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the film's opening credits show a "Titan 007" being located in Sedona, Arizona, the city where Scylla emerged in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
- A symbiote monster resembling Scylla appears in the 2024 Marvel comic Venom War: Spider-Man #2.
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References
This is a list of references for Scylla. 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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Bibliography
- Keyes, Greg (23 April 2024). Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. ISBN 978-1803368108.
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