Kaiju Profile: Megaguirus, Meganulon & Meganula
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Megaguirus, Meganulon & Meganula
The Megaguirus, Meganulon & Meganula kaiju profile is the 77th episode of Wikizilla's Kaiju Profiles video series. It was uploaded on November 12, 2023.
Video
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Transcript
Hey kaiju fans, Goldn here, and today we're taking a look at the Rodan-fodder-turned-city-destroyers: Meganulon, Meganula, and their mutant queen Megaguirus!
MEGANULON, Monster Insect
Aliases: Meganuron
Length: 5-8 meters (Showa)
2 meters (Millennium)
Weight: 1 metric ton (Showa)
500 kilograms (Millennium)
MEGANULA, Ancient Dragonfly
Aliases: Meganyura, Meganeura
Wingspan: 5 meters
Weight: 1 metric ton
GIANT MEGANULON
Aliases: Giant-Meganuron, Megaguirus larva
Length: 50 meters
Weight: Unknown
MEGAGUIRUS, Super Flying Dragon
Aliases: Megaguiras, Megagilas, King Meganulon
Length: 50 meters
Wingspan: 80 meters
Weight: 12,000 metric tons
Meganulon are the nocturnal, semi-aquatic, monstrous larvae of a species of gigantic prehistoric dragonfly-like arthropods. Introduced as antagonists during the first half of the 1956 film "Rodan, they terrorized a coal-mining town before being sealed away underground. Eventually revealed to be food for one of the title monsters, the bugs disappeared from the movie altogether as the focus shifted to dealing with the two Rodans.
The monster-bugs returned 44 years later in "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus," where the test-firing of an anti-Godzilla weapon allowed a member of their species to appear in the present and leave behind an egg which soon gave rise to thousands of Meganulon. Originally inhabiting ancient lakes where they fed on fish and other small animals, the Meganulon brought to the present preyed on humans and created a suitable environment for themselves by digging up enough groundwater to submerge Shibuya. This time, we saw them metamorphose into their adult stage: Meganula—fierce, swarming dragonflies with 16-ft wingspans. Eventually, a 164-ft-long Giant Meganulon received energy its subordinates had siphoned from Godzilla, mutating it into Megaguirus. Essentially hijacking the climax of a film about the G-Graspers' struggle against Godzilla, the mutant monstrosity challenged the king of monsters to a battle to the death in Tokyo - using blinding speed in tandem with her combat abilities to overwhelm him. Nonetheless, Godzilla prevailed in the end.
Megaguirus returned briefly for a stock footage montage in the "Godzilla Final Wars" prologue, the only non-Showa monster in the sequence. In "Godzilla Singular Point," the Meganulon were parasites that lived on Godzilla Ultima's skin. For some reason, the audio description track for the episode called them "Kumonga" despite them bearing zero resemblance to Kumonga or the related variants in the show, and looking identical to the 1956 Meganulon. She and her kin haven't shown up in "Godziban" yet… apart from the Meganulon berries that baby Radon loves to eat.
Design
The insect monsters that were to be featured in "Rodan" were originally based on termites, then mole crickets, before Toho finally settled on making them dragonfly nymphs. Teizo Toshimitsu created a clay prototype, and at least ten miniatures of varying sizes were produced too, including a guignol. The Meganulon suit measured almost five meters (15 feet) long, and needed two or three actors at a time to operate its six legs. The visual of one person for each pair of hindlimbs is pretty self-explanatory and it's what most sources repeat, but a couple of books assert the correct answer is "apparently two"; "it can be inferred [...] that the actor in the back moved the central legs with his hands as if using walking sticks." A second suit-sized prop of at least the upper body was also created; it's seen alongside the proper suit in the Mount Aso cavern interior.
Longtime Godzilla series concept artist Shinji Nishikawa designed Megaguirus with the film's director Masaaki Tezuka, who provided input regarding its appearance and how it would be portrayed on film. Special effects director Kenji Suzuki reported a three-month design period for Megaguirus and her subjects, with five sculptures made for the former. Nishikawa details in his book that he wanted to give Megaguirus the shape of a Hind attack helicopter - exemplified by this considered design, whose head also resembles that of the Showa Meganulon. In another concept piece, he contemplated the 'insect queen' aspect from an early script; depicting her floating leisurely in the air and commanding a swarm of Meganula to attack on her behalf. Oh and during that stage she had the ability to SHIFT SPACE-TIME. That would've been neat.
Despite producer Shogo Tomiyama's request for the monster to have a dragon-like face with a reptilian jaw, Nishikawa found himself unable to deviate from giving the beast anything but insectoid facial features to ensure its quote, "consistency as a creature." This mindset is apparent in much of Nishikawa's Megaguirus concept art, as it uniformly features arthropod mouthparts and defined compound eyes. Even on the final "decided design" concept which was used in the storyboards and for the advance poster artwork by Noriyoshi Ohrai, Megaguirus has a lower-jaw resembling spiky mandibles, and six wings instead of two; the original plan was for the wings to be rendered exclusively with CG. When the decision was made to go with physical manipulation instead, practical considerations dictated the merging of the six wings into a single pair.
Ultimately, the final appearance aligns with the vision of a dragon-like face with its defined upper and lower jaws lined with sharp reptilian teeth. Though the design's coloration often appears to be mostly dull gray or muted green, her true color scheme is quite vibrant—involving purple and orange-brown with bright yellow accents. Other striking features are her huge, bulging bright-red eyes and a series of purple-red orbs running down the ventral side of her tail (which seem to just be decorative? There exist earlier concept pieces depicting "monstrous rays of light" being fired from these orbs, but that's it).
Nishikawa designed Meganula and the new Meganulon. Nothing too crazy here; the final concepts reflect what ended up on screen pretty closely, tho it's worth pointing out that the nymphs' cool eye pattern was invented during the sculpting stage. A lightweight puppet was made of its upper half by MONSTERS Inc., with CGI used for any full-body appearances. In order to maximize efficiency, the prop was made to be modular, with detachable legs and two swappable heads - one with radio-control mechanisms and the other without. All of its scenes were shot by Tezuka's drama unit, rather than the special effects unit.
Although the Meganula were realized through even more liberal use of CG, a plethora of small models were created for select scenes by Replica, in cooperation with toy makers Bandai and Fujitoy. In total, 150 25-centimeter models were produced, along with roughly 10 more of the same size with wing-flapping mechanisms and a 75cm model for close-ups. The speed at which the wings flapped could be adjusted by changing the framerate of the camera. Additionally, a full-scale prop of a dead Meganula was used by the drama unit for the scene where it is discovered floating in the ocean.
Last but not least, Megaguirus's props were created by Startrain (another name for modeling company Rainbow) under the supervision of MONSTERS president Shinichi Wakasa. These included a large flying puppet, a smaller one for solo shots, and, surprisingly, a suit! (This was something Tezuka wanted to distinguish her from the other flying insectoid kaiju, like Mothra or Battra.) This costume was donned by "Kamen Rider" and "Sentai" suit actor Minoru Watanabe in his sole Godzilla series outing, though the models made up the majority of Megaguirus' screen time. As in many kaiju builds, fiber-reinforced plastic was used in the suit's construction, specifically for the eyes. For the scene where Megaguirus emerges in her final form, a model of the Giant Meganulon with a split back was used in combination with the Megaguirus suit, this time worn by assistant modeler Kakusei Fujiwara.
A standalone tail prop was also built for closeups, with a spring inside the stinger allowing it to retract upon contact with Godzilla.
The sadistic grin Megaguirus gives as she traps Godzilla was done through a digital morphing effect rather than any practical means. Someone in the effects department evidently discovered Photoshop. Likewise, the high-speed flapping of her wings was the result of digital processing. And no, your DVD's not skipping: the jittering, shots of Godzilla during the Odaiba battle are intentional, so says Mr. Suzuki. It's meant to illustrate that when Megaguirus is flying at incredible hihg-speed things appear to move slowly from her perspective.
Startrain produced a bipedal Megaguirus suit for public appearances, too, allowing the performer to actually walk around. Fans have affectionately dubbed this suit "Legaguirus." It also has a split-second cameo in the 2001 comedy "All About Our House."
"Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla," director Tezuka's second G-film, was at one time planned as a sequel to "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus," with a Meganula swarm appearing at the beginning of the film. Meganulon still exist in the universe of the Kiryu Series by way of "Rodan," however, and composer Michiru Oshima reworked the Meganula/Megaguirus leitmotif for Mothra in "Godzilla: Tokyo SOS."
Origins
In the setting of the original "Rodan," Meganulon are said to have lived between 300 and 200 million years ago, but were 'resurrected' in large numbers as a result of rising geothermal heat and tectonic activity - subsequently proliferating in large caves and coal mines. They wandered to the surface at night in search of prey. We only ever see the larval stage of the Showa Meganulon, but the 1993 book "Encyclopedia of Godzilla [Mechagodzilla Edition]" states that the dragonfly-like adult stage measures 10 meters (over 30 feet) in length.
As for "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus," the in-universe publication "Ancient Animal Encyclopedia" explains that Meganula—scientific name Meganula luisae—and Meganulon—Meganulon hory—lived some time during the Carboniferous period, between 367 and 289 million years ago. Numerous fossils of both were found in China, with another Meganulon fossil unearthed in Germany. Prior to their appearance in present-day Shibuya, it was theorized, but not definitively proven, that the specimens could have represented two stages of the same species. Additionally, it's mentioned in the movie that fossils of a creature similar to Megaguirus were found in eastern China, though we never see these. One book states that these date back to the Cretaceous period…an entire hundred and fifty million years after the Carboniferous ended. (At least that lends credence to the idea of them coexisting with pterosaurs and dinosaurs. More on that in a bit.)
Their life cycle as shown in the film tracks closely with that of real dragonflies, though on a protracted timescale of only a single week so as to fit into an hour-and-a-half runtime. The monstrous arthropods lay their eggs in water, which then split up and multiply over the course of several days until reaching about ten thousand in total. According to both the movie's theater program and the book "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus Super Complete Works," one of the eggs will grow continuously without dividing and give rise to a Giant Meganulon. An alternate explanation presented elsewhere asserts that a dominant Meganulon from the pack simply grows massive prior to maturing. Either way, the other individuals will metamorphose into their flight-capable adult stage within a few days. Only ~1 out of 1,000 Meganula can lay eggs, the rest existing to give energy to Megaguirus. Acting in packs to take on enemies and protect their young, they attack other powerful creatures to steal their life force - transferring it to the Giant Meganulon and giving up their lives in the process. Upon molting, it emerges as a Megaguirus and becomes the leader of the clan. Several sources reiterate her behavior as seeking to expand the clan's territory, and doing so through brutal conquest. In the "GXM Super Complete Works," the TV-kun editorial staff posit that "for the preservation of the species, Meganula would have needed the fighting capability to protect Meganulon from external forces. Perhaps it's for this purpose that the 'leader monster' Megaguirus evolved?" …"It can be inferred that Meganula attacked and absorbed the energy from the most powerful organisms around their breeding territory - mainly carnivorous dinosaurs? - [and] must have injected [it] into one of their companions in order to create the vicious combat beast Megaguirus and eliminate their natural enemies."
History
Rodan (1956): The peaceful coal mining village of Kitamatsu in Kyushu was rocked by a series of grisly killings in the mines. The local authorities struggled to find the culprit until it suddenly appeared and terrorized the village: a Meganulon. Colliery engineer Shigeru Kawamura led a JSDF detachment through the flooded mine to exterminate the Meganulon, successfully crushing it with a minecart. However, there were several more of the creatures and a subsequent cave-in trapped Shigeru with them. Shigeru soon found himself in a huge underground cavern filled with Meganulon as well as a gargantuan egg, which hatched into the giant pterosaur Rodan. The hatchling fed on the Meganulon as Shigeru watched, struck with such terror that he developed amnesia for some time thereafter.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000): By August 2001, in a continuity where Godzilla was never killed by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954 and returned continuously to menace mankind, the G-Graspers—the JSDF's elite anti-Godzilla unit—had completed their ultimate weapon: a gun capable of firing a miniaturized black hole with the potential to send the monster into oblivion. Around the end of the month, they test-fired this weapon, code-named Dimension Tide, on an abandoned school just outside of Tokyo. While the test was a success, the lingering distortion in space-time allowed a Meganula from the Carboniferous to wander into the present day. The giant arthropod laid an egg that was found by young Jun Hayasaka, who dumped it into the sewers under Shibuya when it began to secrete slime. Over the course of a few days, the egg split up and multiplied into several thousand more, which hatched into the Meganula's nymph stage: Meganulon. They backed up Shibuya's sewers, gradually causing the streets to flood. The night of September 3rd, a grown Meganulon brutally killed a pair of civilians before climbing up the side of a building and molting into its adult stage. It flew out south of the Ogasawara Islands, where it was killed by Godzilla with a glancing blast of atomic breath. The occurrence was soon detected by the G-Graspers, prompting them to investigate. They found the carcass of the creature and brought back a tissue sample for analysis. The task of examining the cells fell on biologist Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, who confirmed the organism was a Meganula from the Carboniferous.
Shibuya had become almost entirely submerged by September 7th. Two days later, thousands of Meganulon molted en masse. Unfazed by the handful of JSDF soldiers on the scene, they promptly flew to the island of Kiganjima, where the G-Graspers aimed to fire the Dimension Tide against Godzilla. The horde swarmed the king of monsters and siphoned portions of his atomic energy, though his heat ray and raw strength eventually cut their numbers down. The DT's firing was unsuccessful in defeating Godzilla, and the surviving Meganula returned to Shibuya to deliver the stolen energy to the Giant Meganulon that lay at the bottom of the flooded streets. The dragonflies relinquished the energy in exchange for their lives, and the gigantic naiad soon molted into something even more monstrous.
Megaguirus emerged from the lake at 9:30 PM and flew off into the night. Godzilla made landfall in Odaiba the following afternoon in search of a hidden plasma reactor in the city, but instead found himself confronted by the power-hungry Megaguirus. She delivered the first blow, kickstarting their duel. The high-speed flapping of her wings had the unexpected consequence of interfering with the Dimension Tide, causing it to fall from orbit, and taking the G-Graspers' Griffon out of commission as well. While Megaguirus' speed granted her an immediate advantage against Godzilla, once he began anticipating her attack patterns, he intercepted her repeatedly - ultimately biting off her stinger in his jaws. The dazed and wounded Megaguirus backed up into the sky and was promptly incinerated by two sequential atomic blasts. He was about to get sucked into a black hole, but, for the time being, the king of the monsters had earned another victory.
Godzilla Singular Point (2021): As Yun Arikawa and Jet Jaguar prepared to confront Godzilla Ultima, they briefly encountered a few Meganulon on the monster's skin. Yun evaded them while recovering his backpack.
Abilities
Physical capabilities: Meganulon's primary weapons are their large razor-sharp claws or pincers. The 1956 Meganulon's pincers are comparable in sharpness to a Japanese sword, per a character in "Rodan." Naturally, an individual's sharp teeth aid in feeding. The Millennium 'nulon has fangs on its lower mandible, which we fleetingly see it extending out towards prey. At first you may think this is just a rehash of Destoroyah and/or the xenomorph... but it turns out that real Odonata larvae actually do possess a hinged labium (a toothed mouthpart similar to a lower jaw), sometimes called a "mask" as it is normally folded up below the face.
Carapace: The hard shells of the original Meganulon are impervious to machine gun bullets. The 2nd generation don't seem to be as hardy; we see one stumbling off a building after a single shot.
Agility: The Meganulon from "vs. Megaguirus" are quite speedy despite their size. They can also stealthily crawl up and down the sides of buildings.
Black liquid: Moreover, they spit a sticky black liquid to intimidate and disorient prey. Nishikawa says it's "mucus."
Amphibiousness: Unlike most dragonfly nymphs, which are fully aquatic, both incarnations of Meganulon are amphibious.
Infrared vision: The larvae's nocturnal hunting behavior is aided by their infrared vision. This allows them to detect other living organisms even in pitch darkness.
The Mini SGS unit used for underwater exploration of the submerged Shibuya was destroyed by a magnetic field generated by the giant Meganulon.
Meganula reach speeds of up to Mach 2 when flying; twice that of sound, or nearly fifteen-hundred miles per hour. (That’s 500% the top speed of the fastest animal in the real world - the peregrine falcon.) Like their modern counterparts, they may also hover in midair and change direction suddenly.
Megaguirus, meanwhile, can achieve Mach 4 flight. Godzilla struggled to keep up with her in their fight whenever she went sicko mode. She can flap her wings at such high speed that they generate ear-piercing ultra-high-frequency waves capable of destroying surrounding objects and interfering with electronic equipment.
Megaguirus prefers dealing damage in close quarters. Her repertoire of techniques involve her enormous scissor-like claws, sharp wings, a Godzilla-like maw lined with sharp teeth, and a three-pointed barbed stinger. When she stabs an opponent with the stinger, the needle in the center absorbs energy, while the spikes on either side pinch down to help secure it in place. She impaled Godzilla in the abdomen and siphoned some of his energy, to the point that he was unable to use his atomic breath while jabbed.
Energy Discharge: Megaguirus's sole ranged weapon is an intense 'fireball' of sorts which she projects from her abdomen, it toppled Godzilla the one time she used it. One could easily interpret this as her "stealing" the Big G's atomic breath - like she'd later do unambiguously in "Rulers of Earth"… but retcons notwithstanding, what was this attack actually supposed to be? As it turns out, stuff from around GXM's release only ever described it as "high frequency waves" that turned into an "energy sphere," without a solid connection to Godzilla. The storyboards describe it as “shockwaves” she generated with her body. Still, sources published later on do at least corroborate the notion that the discharge was powered by the energy she stole from Goji.
Weapon Fire: Regardless of original intent, the arena fighters "Godzilla: Save the Earth" and (especially!) "Godzilla: Unleashed" ran with the idea of Megaguirus copying monsters' special weapons, basically making her into these games’ very own Kirby! (minus the cute costume changes.) Unlike every other character in these games she can't build up energy-meter on her own, requiring her to use power-ups or steal opponents' energy by stabbing them with her stinger. She's capable of imitating the ranged attacks of most monsters in "Save the Earth"—even the mechanical ones—with some exceptions. In "Unleashed" however, she can steal and fire EVERY kaiju's ranged attack from her tail - even Anguirus's Sonic Roar (as strange as that is). Once she's got enough energy built up but doesn't have a freshly-stolen compatible weapon on standby, she can launch an Energy Discharge like the one in the movie, where she also has the exclusive ability to steal opponents' health to restore her own.
Meganula swarm: Megaguirus's rage attack in "Save the Earth" stuns an opponent with waves of Meganula (erroneously called Meganulon in the manual), similar to Legion in "Gamera 2." She fights alongside her swarm in "Godzilla: Cataclysm" as well. The extent of their capacity for communication is unclear, in terms of swarm intelligence.
Weaknesses: Megaguirus is pretty much the definition of a glass cannon. While she deserves credit for surviving Godzilla's sky-high body slam, he sliced off one of her claws with his dorsal fin, shattered her stinger with a bite, and utterly annihilated her with two shots of atomic breath. Frankly, she looked toast after the first blast, but after the pummeling he just withstood, it's hard to blame him for double-tapping. In "Rulers of Earth," she survived a direct hit from Godzilla's nuclear pulse, but other IDW comics have retained her vulnerability to beam attacks.
Trivia
Heisei Meganula: You could say that the origin of the Meganula and Megaguirus trace all the way back to pre-production of "Godzilla vs. Mothra." Among several proposals for the next Godzilla film put forward right before the release of "vs. King Ghidorah" was "Micro Super Battle: Godzilla vs. Gigamoth." Of the three Gigamoth designs brainstormed for this initial iteration of the project, the A-Type Gigamoth—designed by Shinji Nishikawa—was modeled after dragonflies…and more specifically, the idea of a mature Meganulon. His notes at the time of drawing are included in his 2016 artbook "Shinji Nishikawa: Drawing Book of Godzilla." He contends that although it'd basically be a wire-operated prop, it would allow a suit actor inside to control the head, claws and body. This is almost exactly how the Megaguirus suit would be configured nearly a decade later. Other notes address the logic of the matchup, acknowledging it wouldn't be likely for even the metamorphosed adult stage of the Meganulon from "Rodan" to be large enough to scale with the Heisei Godzilla. However, he brings up news reports at the time about the use of nuclear weapons in coal mining by the Soviet Union, which "could be used to suggest that the Meganulon that lived there grew to giant size." Additionally, if the scissor forearms were maintained, "it's possible that livestock attacked by the adult Meganulons would show an aspect very similar to the cattle mutilation associated with UFOs, adding a little twist in the scenario." Mr. Nishikawa was certainly up to something with this idea… they should've let him cook!! Next, alien dragonflies turned up in the "Godzilla Super Wars" story proposal which evolved into "Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla." Rather than the God of Destruction trapping LittleGodzilla inside a crystal prison on Baas Island, the dragonflies would fly him to Mt. Aso, then encase him and much of the surrounding area in crystal. Described as "symbiotes" of SpaceGodzilla and his "vanguard," they would try fighting Godzilla themselves, only to be "annihilated in a single instant."
Insects? Well…: Despite their being constantly referred to as "insects" and "dragonflies," the Meganulon and Meganula would in reality not be considered insects, as they possess four pairs of jointed limbs (six legs and two claws), whereas all insects have only three pairs by definition. The very dragonfly nymphs and Carboniferous Meganeura which inspired these kaiju only possess six legs. Even in the early concept art from all the way back in 1956 - all based on hexapods - Meganulon are drawn with eight overall appendages (six legs plus a couple foreclaws). Curiously, the Meganulon mini figure included in the "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" Bandai blister-pack set released when the movie came out did have six total extremities like real insects.
Strange anatomy: A column by the Terebi-kun editorial staff included in the "GXM" "Super Complete Works" book presents the theory that Megaguirus' physiology changes depending on the donor of the energy the Meganula inject, offering an explanation as to why her face is structured like that of a reptile. The surrounding pages also include anatomical diagrams of the three stages in the species' life cycle. Labeled are antennae, hearts and brains, Malpighian tubules and so on. Meganula and Megaguirus are specified to possess book lungs, stated to allow them to remain active underwater for long periods. Moreover, the red orbs on Megaguirus' tail are explained to be "energy storage spheres," and - in addition to the carapace of her relatives - she's drawn as having an actual skull… though the column doesn't ever mention she has an internal skeleton. Oh and uh, *clap*, time for some cool bug fact's. Check this out. Uh-huh… [...] Interesting. OK, so, upon learning this information, you might be asking: 'is Meganulon canonically capable of propelling itself underwater by shooting water out of its anus?'… … … … Yes. Yes it is.
Video games: Megaguirus' video game career started with the last three Godzilla titles published by Atari. She's a playable character in "Save the Earth" and "Unleashed," and the first boss of the Paris stage in "Double Smash." Her bio in the "Unleashed" manual expands her interests, saying she "thrives by parasitically siphoning energy from larger animals" and has a "primal thirst for power." Then came the almost-obligatory parts in "Kaiju Collection" and "Defense Force." She's been in "Battle Line" since its launch, with a unique ability that slows down nearby enemies when she's summoned. That can cause some headaches, especially for ground units who can't attack her, although she tends to be less popular than other five-cost flying units. Still, with how often the game's units are buffed and nerfed through balance patches, her status in the meta is subject to change.
In print: Meganulon appeared in the 1956 "Rodan" manga, their design pasted straight from the concept art. There is a one-shot for "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus," from Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic, but we don't own it (it's very rare). In the "GODZILLA" anime prequel novels, multiple Megaguirus fed on European refugees traveling through Siberia after Godzilla devastated the continent. They had a rivalry with the Rodans, who also drove Meganula into North Africa and feasted on Meganulon in the Himalayas during the preparations for Operation: Great Wall. In IDW's Godzilla comics, Megaguirus is usually a midcard monster. She came to the defense of her Meganulon in "Godzilla: Rulers of Earth," besting both Ebirah and Godzilla in São Paulo. Her fortunes turned after dragging Godzilla to her nest: he wiped out the nest with a nuclear pulse, and the Trilopods arrived to interrupt their fight, stealing her powers in a reversal of roles. They didn't abduct her like most of Earth's monsters, forgetting about her after Godzilla chucked a dead Alpha Trilopod at her back. In the post-apocalyptic "Godzilla: Cataclysm," Megaguirus and her Meganula swarm tried feeding on what little remained of Biollante. Mothra took care of the swarm, while Godzilla shredded one of Megaguirus's wings with his atomic breath. "Godzilla: Rage Across Time" #3 casts her as the lead villain, battling knights and Mothra in England during the Black Plague; the other bug kills her with her wing lightning. (Cool subfossil.) Also, this one's notable for featuring a Showa Meganulon. Most recently, she appears fleetingly in "Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," landing only one hit against Godzilla before the Megazord's… apparently invisible Cranial Laser takes her out.
Due in part to her film's underperformance at the box office, Megaguirus hasn't received the most love from Toho. But I still think she's pretty cool. Much like the Two-Legged Lizard from the original "King Kong," which inspired the Skullcrawlers in the Monsterverse, the humble Meganulon has come a long way. Thanks for watching!
