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This Villain has been Headlined on August, 2018, and is considered one of the best articles of the Villains wiki. | ||
| “ | We call him... Gojira. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Ishiro Serizawa in Godzilla (2014). |
| “ | Godzilla is the Son of the Atomic Bomb. He is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. He is the Sacred Beast of the Apocalypse. | „ |
| ~ Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| “ | When those fleeting lives destined to die, become arrogant and sing praises of their own narcissistic glory, such will shake the very heavens and split the earth. And they shall come to know the Wrath of the Divine. The Incarnation of Destruction... you've shown yourself at last. For you, it's been twenty thousand years... it's been a while, oh King of the Monsters. | „ |
| ~ Metphies, referring to Godzilla's wrath. |
Godzilla, also known in Japanese as: (ゴジラ Gojira), is a fictional character and the titular kaiju protagonist of the Godzilla franchise, including the movie series, comics, cartoons, and video games, most often serving as an on and off villain.
History
Godzilla is a famous daikaijū, or a Giant movie monster, who first appeared as the titular primary antagonist of Ishirō Honda's 1954 classic giant monster film, Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in over 32 Japanese films produced by Toho Co., Ltd., and three American films; one film released in 1998, produced by TriStar Pictures and featuring Zilla and two films released in 2014 and 2019 by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. with a remake to Kong vs. Godzilla to be released in 2020. The 1998 version is widely disfavored and is not considered a real Godzilla film whilst the 2014 version was generally positively received and is considered to be a real Godzilla film.
With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still fresh within the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a monster created by nuclear detonations and a metaphor for nuclear weapons in general. As the film series expanded, the stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla in the role of a hero or an ally of humans, but only when facing a common foe or to protect planet Earth. Sometimes he is admired by children, but even in these depictions, most humans still fear Godzilla. In some films, Godzilla has even teamed up with fellow monsters to save the world or themselves, usually teaming with Rodan and Mothra. Godzilla's most famous enemies are known to be King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla.
Despite being the main protagonist of the series, Godzilla has committed numerous villainous acts of destroying cities, attacking humanity, and wrecking havoc on the world. These actions are also known to have caused Godzilla to cross the Moral Event Horizon.
Appearance
Godzilla is a 50-100 meter kaiju who can shoot a nuclear breath beam from his mouth. He is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 31 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games, novels, comic books, television series, and two American movies (though the first one that made by TriStar was extremely panned due to creature that featured in the first film deemed having many deviating characteristics of Godzilla in the Japanese films that the creature determined to be separate creature called Zilla whereas the MonsterVerse Godzilla is confirmed to be a more faithful adaptation of the character in spite of having more heroic qualities than the previous incarnations that tend to odds with mankind).
With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a monster created by nuclear detonations and a metaphor for nuclear weapons in general. As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla as a hero while other plots still portrayed him as a destructive animal.
General Depiction
Godzilla's appearance has changed between films over the years, but many defining details have endured. In the Japanese films, Godzilla is depicted as a gigantic dinosaur with rough, bumpy, usually charcoal gray scales, a long powerful tail, and generally bone-white dorsal plates, generally shaped like maple leaves, though there are some designs whose traits may differ.
His origins vary somewhat from film to film, but he is almost always described as a prehistoric creature (be it an intermediate reptile that scarred by nuclear radiation, an ancient reptilian lifeform that feed on natural atomic radiation as food whom interested with mankind's usage on atomic power or superorganism evolved from nuclear wastes), and his first attacks on Japan are linked to the beginning of the Atomic Age. In particular, mutation due to atomic radiation is presented as an explanation for his great size and strange powers.
Godzilla's iconic design is composed of a mixture of various species of dinosaurs; specifically, he has the body and overall shape of an old model of a Tyrannosaurus rex, the long arms of an Iguanodon, and the dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus.
MonsterVerse Incarnation
In response of the failed Hollywood incarnation that Toho denounced as a separate kaiju called Zilla, Hollywood filmmakers, who later worked on the ongoing MonsterVerse series, eventually recreated the Hollywood version of the character which is more faithful with Toho's Godzilla where this Godzilla designed to resemble his original counterparts. Even so, this Godzilla was given more natural physiology than the rest of his incarnations because in MonsterVerse series, he was the last known member of prehistoric reptilian kaiju of the same name who naturally evolved to gained their nuclear-based powers due to in prehistoric times where his kind roamed the planet, radiation at that time was higher than in present day, and thus not gained his powers from humans' nuclear tests and therefore, lacked keloid scars other incarnations usually possessed.
For MonsterVerse's incarnation of the character, his face is shaped very squarely, with a broad neck and possesses gills that enable him to stay underwater indefinitely. He has yellow eyes, and his teeth are small and not nearly as straightly lined up as many previous Godzilla incarnations. His nostrils are more separate than previous incarnations, with them being on opposite sides of the snout. Godzilla's head and neck seem to lean forward more so than any previous design.
His dorsal plates are smaller than the previous designs, but they still retain the core maple-leaf shape, although straighter and very sharp, somewhat like the Godzillas from Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. His claws are a black color, and his feet are wider and resemble an elephant's foot more than the other Godzillas' feet do.
His skin is more reptile-like and crocodile-like as opposed to resembling keloid scars and rougher than the other incarnations and is a blackish color. His body and tail are very wide as well, making him look somewhat bulkier than other Godzilla designs.
Legendary Pictures has confirmed that their Godzilla's tail is 550 feet and 4 inches long, his height is 355 feet, there are exactly 89 dorsal plates running down his back, the palm of his hands are 34 feet and 4 inches each, and that his roar can be heard from three miles away.
Godzilla: Resurgence
While Godzilla was still portrayed as a colossal prehistoric reptilian kaiju as before, this version of Godzilla is depicted with more advanced physiology than his predecessors' due to possessing eight times the genetic information of human beings in spite of originally member of an unspecified prehistoric sea creature whom species closely related to prehistoric marine reptiles that first emerged in the Paleozoic Era (which explained this Godzilla's course of evolution where he took more and more reptilian appearance). As result Godzilla had five forms:
First Form
Aside from confirmed to have a long tail and is mentioned by Ogashira that he had gills and fin-like legs, what Godzilla's first form looked like is unclear. However, this information suggested that Godzilla's first form looked similar to his second form albeit more tadpole-like given that in his second form, he still possesses large gills and newly developed legs.
Second Form
Soon after made his presence known, Godzilla makes his way for Tokyo where he now has a pair of fully-functional digitigrade legs that suit for better locomotion on land. Because the legs were newly developed for land movement at that time, Godzilla only able to stands horizontally, with his body held parallel to the ground. He now began to grow arms that developed at a slower rate compared to his legs as they were just in form of small, developing stubs. He also has a pair of huge eyes with small black pupils. His skin is a beige color and has large pulsating gills on the sides of his neck, which leak a red, blood-like fluid as he moves. He also sports several rows of small tan dorsal plates on his back.
Third Form
Upon developed into the third form, Godzilla began to change his posture into more like either Godzillasaurus' from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah or several older theropod reconstructions thanks to further development of his legs. Aside from his more upright posture, his skin now turned reddish in color, which also glows due to the cooling system for nuclear energy in his body is yet to fully developed for adaptation on land. His arms also developed further as well, where the arm now sprouts still-developing fingers. Since the course of his evolution now intended to have better physiology for adapting land environments, Godzilla's gills now closed and reduced in prominence albeit still functions when he needs to go to the ocean to cool off his body until the biological cooling system for nuclear energy in his body fully developed.
Fourth Form
After further evolution to the point his body now suit for adapting land environment as well as completed the development of his nuclear energy's natural cooling system, Godzilla now no longer need to retreat to the ocean to cooling his body. While his appearance now looks more like the rest of his incarnations (particularly the first design featured in the 1954 film), the result of his evolution for fully adapted on land made him completely hideous and looked like a skeletal, undead being: He had numerous gaps on his hide that resulting his muscles over several parts of its body exposed. Godzilla's rib cage protrudes from the rest of his body, coming to a pointed and pronounced sternum, far more pronounced than the Godzilla designs from the Heisei series.
This design also appears to possess a longer neck than previous versions. He also possesses countless uneven rows of jagged, shark-like teeth inside his mouth and a pronounced nose with large round nostrils, and his mouth extends partially into his cheeks, some teeth protruding from the skin above and underneath his mouth. Not only that, he also possesses red scales resembling keloid scars to give of impression that he seems the victim of a Hydrogen bomb, where many of them running into structures in his black dorsal plates which are reminiscent of blood vessels. His arms now more developed albeit looked emaciated and still short compared to the rest of his incarnations'.
Godzilla's tail is noticeably longer than his own body, where the tip of it red and bloody, and is covered in twisted, mangled bones. The very end of his tail appears to have a small, mostly skeletal face/skull that had a prominent jaw that later can be opened like actual jaw. Godzilla used this face/skull to fire his second atomic beam to simultaneously beamed his atomic breath to two targets at once.
In spite of drastic changes on his body due to evolution progress, there are still some traits that still remained. First of all, Godzilla still retained his digitigrade-style posture in spite of the extreme development on his legs. Godzilla also retained his gills, though smaller than in his previous forms and may useless due to his current physiology. Even after his eyes shrunk, Godzilla still lacked eyelids, and only had a protective membrane in place of it instead that both protected them from intense light from his atomic breath and functioned like typical eyelid do that he closed when entering the coma-like state.
Whenever Godzilla released the atomic breath, his skull unhinges upwards, while the bone of his lower jaw splits apart so he can have more room for his atomic beam.
Fifth Form
While this may not count, when Godzilla forced to freeze himself due to blood coagulant, he also attempted to break into smaller Godzillas that having more skeletal, humanoid appearance where his said progenies are sprouted from the fleshy tip of his tail.
Anime Trilogy
The Anime iteration of the character resembles the MonsterVerse incarnation, with a bulky body, a thick and short neck, large arms, jagged triangular dorsal plates, and a crocodile-like head with a relatively long snout. His dorsal plates are somewhat larger than the MonsterVerse Godzilla's, and more closely resemble the traditional maple leaf-shaped plates of past Godzilla incarnations. He also has a more rounded head and thinner neck. He possesses rough bluish skin with a tree bark-like texture covering the entirety of his body, very robust musculature with muscles visible through his skin and pronounced abdominal and pectoral muscles on his chest, and slimmer and longer legs that possess four claws. His tail has a ridged underside and ends with a pointed spear-like tip.
While Godzilla looks more or less like a larger version of his identical progeny and clones Godzilla Filius after 20,000 years, he also possesses a pronounced hunch in his back and several spikes on the bottom of his chin that resemble a beard.
Personality
Over the course of the franchise to the day, Godzilla usually portrayed as an anti-heroic kaiju or force of nature without true malicious intent, and well-known for causing destruction mostly unintentionally and largely ignoring human beings as he developed into a character that we know and love today. The first film of the franchise, Gojira portrayed the original Godzilla as a tragic kaiju whom intentionally harmed humans and reduced Tokyo into ruins in retaliation of nuclear testing that both mutates him and killed his entire family.
But the second Godzilla, particularly both Showa Godzilla and Heisei Godzilla incarnations, began to undergo character development that made both incarnations become lesser of two evils, with Godzilla began to defend Earth from threats that even worse than himself such as Hedorah, King Ghidorah, and Destoroyah. Even so, Godzilla's motivation in dealing those threats are merely for territorial purposes as he makes no special effort to protect human life or property and will turn against his human allies on a whim.
For instance, in Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla crashed Gotengo down soon after Xiliens and their brainwashed monsters defeated due to him still believed the said ship and her crew as a threat until persuaded by Minilla to spare them. His attacks were not motivated by predatory instinct: he doesn't eat people, and instead sustains himself on radiation and an omnivorous diet.
Godzilla's allegiance and motivations have changed from film to film to suit the needs of the story. When inquired if Godzilla was "good or bad", producer Shogo Tomiyama likened it to a Shinto "God of Destruction" which lacks moral agency and cannot be held to human standards of good and evil. "He totally destroys everything and then there is a rebirth. Something new and fresh can begin."
In comics, Godzilla's personality remained consistent, as he can be either neutral protagonist or antagonist depend of the comic's storyline. As with his film counterparts, he displayed persistent and strong determination to survive. For instance, in Godzilla in Hell, after suffering an untimely demise during a ferocious and destructive battle and having arrived in Limbo, Godzilla, having no interest to join either force of Heaven or Hell that wage war against each other during his arrival, decided to return to his dying body to live in the world of the living, which he succeeded to do in spite of horrors he gone through in the said journey.
Godzilla had to take the route straight through hell while facing various demonic creatures such as demonic versions of King Ghidorah and Destoroyah, The Thing-esque demonic imitation of himself, demonic bats, and finally Cthulhu-esque Hellgate Guardian, who stood between him and the world of the living. His determination not to give up went to ridiculous levels, for example, when he was devoured alive to the bone by swarms of demonic bat-like creatures, Godzilla unexpectedly possessed the whole swarm, forced them to fuse with his skeleton and reformed his body, what allowed him to defeat the Hellgate Guardian.
As a Hero
In some films, Godzilla becomes the lesser of two evils and saves mankind from certain threats, such as King Ghidorah or other malevolent terrestrial monsters such as Ebirah and Kumonga. When portrayed as a protagonist, Godzilla is either a heroic monster, a caring but strict parent, or an animal trying to find its place as the last of its kind. It is to be noted that Godzilla defends Earth only, which does not necessarily include humanity, Godzilla defends Earth solely for territorial purposes, which can be seen mostly in the Heisei and Millennium films. However, he is portrayed as an actual hero in the Showa series.
Godzilla appears as a hero in the films Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla in the Showa series. In the subsequent Heisei and Millennium films, Godzilla is usually portrayed as an anti-hero that often comes into conflict with humanity but is ultimately sympathetic to some degree and battles against a more malicious creature. The incarnation and version of Godzilla from the 2014 American reboot is portrayed as a non-malicious creature that only seeks to defend his own territory and preserve his existence by battling other creatures that threaten him (and possibly other life and keep the balance of nature remain intact). This version of Godzilla goes out of his way to avoid conflict with humanity and limit the amount of destruction he causes.
As a hero, Godzilla has gained many allies, such as Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, King Caesar, and Jet Jaguar (just to name a few). In Godzilla Island, a TV Series based on the Godzilla franchise, Godzilla also befriended G-Guard Commander and Torema, who keep an eye on him in the titular island, and even actively aided them in the fight against Xilliens. Their friendship was used against them once when Xiliens sent a Mechagodzilla to disguise as Godzilla both to frame him and destroy cities. Predictably, G-Guard Commander and Torema would hesitate to kill their friend's doppelganger and only incarcerate it, only for disguised Mechagodzilla later escape and resume the rampage. Torema was nearly killed in the attempt to stop the disguised Mechagodzilla, in which real Godzilla immediately come to the rescue and untimely cleaned his name by exposing his doppelganger's true identity before dismantling it.
Showa Godzilla
Starting in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla begins a transition into a heroic character as he joins forces with Mothra and Rodan to fight off the evil space monster King Ghidorah. In subsequent films in the 1960's, Godzilla is often depicted as the lesser of two evils, doing battle with much more malicious and dangerous creatures such as King Ghidorah, Ebirah, and Kumonga. In the film Son of Godzilla, Godzilla discovers an infant member of his species named Minilla, which he decides to raise as a son and train to take up his mantle. Godzilla's loyalty and love for Minilla eventually lead to him becoming a primarily heroic, charming, and sympathetic character.
Heisei Godzilla
This Godzilla became an anti-hero after originally being a villain. He is extremely compassionate and merciful, as he later adopted Godzilla Jr. and revealed to have human-like emotions. He is also shown that he is capable of loving, such as mourning Godzilla Jr. when he is seemingly killed by Destoroyah.
Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
In Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla retains the destructive anti-heroic persona of the Heisei Godzilla, menacing Japan and battling the J.S.D.F. before fending off a much greater threat, in this case, Orga and Megaguirus. He is more hesitant to retaliate against the military than the Heisei Godzilla, as he withstands an entire assault from the J.S.D.F. without ever fighting back, only beginning to charge his atomic breath after being injured by Full Metal Missile Launchers.
However, Godzilla had strategic thinking in dealing his enemies: Upon discovered that Orga can recover from everything he threw on it, Godzilla decided to outsmart Orga by allowing the mutated alien devoured him alive means access the mutated alien's innards. Once Orga is occupied on assimilating the kaiju alive, Godzilla used the opportunity to blast upper half of Orga's body through combined Nuclear Pulse and atomic breath. Godzilla also used a similar strategy in dealing Megaguirus: By memorizing Megaguirus' flying pattern, he successfully regained energy that she stole from him, allowed him to blasted her with his atomic breath.
The Godzillas who were featured in Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus have actually separated incarnations, but both discussed in this section due to both share a similar personality.
Godzilla: Final Wars
In Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla is an anti-heroic monster who harbor deep resentment toward humanity. The reason, why he declares war on humanity, was not just for responsible for his mutation, as Godzilla has seen too much destruction of Earth environment by mankind. Like his Showa and Heisei incarnations, he protected Earth from threats that worse than himself for a territorial purpose: While he managed to defeat Xiliens' horde of brainwashed monsters, he immediately turned against Gotengo crews due to still considered them as a threat for Earth's environment.
However, he does have the capacity for mercy and forgiveness. Out of all monsters that he neutralized over the course of the film, Godzilla only spared Rodan, Anguirus, and King Caesar (which a nod to his previous incarnations whom befriends with those monsters). Though still considered mankind on the list of those who threatened Earth's environment, Godzilla eventually decided to spare them after convinced to do so by Minilla.
Perhaps due to the film's plot or his experience in various battles against humans prior to being sealed inside a glacier, Godzilla in this film was surprisingly smart, cunning, and intelligent akin to seasoned fighter, as he knows how to outsmart most of Xilliens' brainwashed monsters as means to defeat them while saving his energy for finishing his battle against Gotengo crew. The only opponent who he can only defeat with help of someone else was Monster X, wherein the said battle, Ozaki recharged his energy with his powers that allowed Godzilla to quickly destroyed two of Monster X's head to gave the alien kaiju disadvantages before finishing him. Even so, Godzilla still turned against Gotengo crew because of he unaware of Ozaki's intervention due to focused on resisting Monster X instead of being ungrateful.
MonsterVerse series
For the Legendary Films, Godzilla is also portrayed as a territorial animal like the previous incarnations. He is now portrayed as a force of nature who come to restore balance on the entire planet. Perhaps after learned consequences of his past actions in attacking American and Soviet submarines out of its curiosity with their usage with nuclear power that resulting mankind retaliates by using atomic bombs against him under nuclear tests, Godzilla actively avoid another conflict with humanity, which is apparent as he tried his best not to provoke military forces to attack him: When having himself surrounded by navy ships in close proximity during his pursuit for M.U.T.O.s, he carefully (and cautiously) swim near them and even chooses to dive below the said ships to escape instead of ramming them. Even when splitting Golden Gate Bridge into the half, the destruction was purely accidental due to him reacted by artillery shots on the gills that made him panic and flee in confusion. After killing both M.U.T.O.s, he even peacefully left humanity without any conflict.
As a Villain
In the original 1954 Godzilla film, Godzilla was a prehistoric creature who was awakened and mutated by nuclear testing. He destroyed multiple fishing boats. When investigators arrived on Odo Island, they learned that the native islanders believed the attacks were caused by a sea-god named Godzilla ("Gojira" in Japanese), and when the island was attacked by the mutant creature, the name stuck. Godzilla attacked Tokyo multiple times until he was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer, a powerful weapon created by Dr. Serizawa. Dr. Yamane implied that reason of Godzilla's rampage was due to his habitat was destroyed by American hydrogen bomb test that not only wiping his entire family but also mutating him to the point he becomes radioactive kaiju.
In the later films, either a second Godzilla exists, or Godzilla survived the Oxygen Destroyer (the former is much more likely as by the end of 1954 Godzilla film, Dr. Yamane solemnly warned that it was unlikely Godzilla was the last member of his species and that if mankind continued nuclear testing, another Godzilla would almost certainly appear which turned out to be true in sequels). In Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla has been dead for years and has become nothing but a legend that some do not believe in. However, the souls of those who died in World War II merged and resuscitated Godzilla into the apocalyptic undead. When Godzilla is portrayed as a villain, he is usually retaliating against humanity for the nuclear test that awakened him and presumably killed his companions, fighting back against numerous attempts by the human military to kill him, or attempting to recover and defend a juvenile member of his species. The exception is the film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, in which Godzilla is a malevolent undead being formed by restless souls that seek to wipe out Japan.
Original Godzilla
In the 1954 film, Godzilla is portrayed as a tragic monster who lashed out on humanity by destroying any boats that he encountered and later laying waste to the city of Tokyo in retaliation of destruction of his home and family due to American's H-bomb test. The kaiju was traumatized so much that mere sight of bright light made him angrier than ever. Dr. Yamane, who knew that the bright light would provoke Godzilla tried to warn military but is ignored that as he feared, this resulting Godzilla enraged so much that the whole Tokyo is destroyed.
Second Showa Godzilla
For later Showa films, the second Godzilla undergo character development. He started off as a destructive villain whom indiscriminately attacked and even killed other monsters, like Angurius, and caused destruction as well. He has hated mankind and remained a villain until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where he became an anti-hero.
According to Mothra's Shobijin's translation of Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla's conversation in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla only "hates humans because they hate him", suggesting that this Godzilla never had any truly malicious intent but was only reacting to constantly being attacked by humans that explained odds between him and mankind. Rodan later agrees with Godzilla's statement.
Heisei Godzilla
Godzilla in the Heisei films was originally portrayed as a villainous monster who found himself lost in human civilization and tried to find his place on Earth but is very difficult due to constant odds with mankind. He was extremely aggressive with other monsters, including Biollante, Battra, and Mothra. However, Godzilla only wants his place on Earth and a place for his son. When Godzilla found out his son was taken from him in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II, Godzilla went on a rampage, and would let nothing stop him, showing his true destructive nature. When Godzilla met his son for the first time since he was taken away, he went back to his home island and began to raise him.
Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack
The only incarnation of Godzilla that is portrayed as a truly malevolent and acrimonious being was Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack. Unlike the rest of his incarnations, this Godzilla was an entity of pure evil rather than a force of nature. Godzilla also almost never showed any facial expression beyond a cold and terrifying glare. On top of that, he cannot be reasoned with and will not stop until the whole Japan reduced into ashes. Isayama, the prophet whom have the vision of Guardian Monsters whom would rose to stop the kaiju, explained that reason why Godzilla become malevolent being was due to him not truly Godzilla, but rather the amalgam of restless souls of those whom killed or left to die in Pacific War that possessed his remains not long after his demise at hands of Serizawa in 1954, reanimating kaiju into a colossal revenant (which explained his survivability even after reduced into disembodied beating heart and his zombie-like eye).
Kiryu Saga Godzilla (Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Tokyo S.O.S.)
In Kiryu Saga film, Godzilla does not display much of a defined personality, unlike previous incarnations due to depicted more like a destructive force of nature who acting primarily on instinct. It is suggested that a primary reason for this Godzilla's rampages is the fact that he is attracted by Kiryu, who contains the remains of another Godzilla that desecrated by Japanese Government as the part of Kiryu project. This Godzilla does not appear to become violent or attack unless he is attacked first, after which he will lash out and brutally attack his enemies.
Godzilla: Resurgence
In Godzilla: Resurgence (also known as Shin Godzilla), Godzilla was passive and unaware of humans' presence due to his enormous size and clumsiness in his second form. Like Hedorah, Godzilla appeared to primarily driven by instinct and the will to survive: At first, he had no interest to retaliate J.S.D.F. when they attack him and seems to barely notice their assault, at least until he revealed his aggression and awareness once American B-2 Stealth Bombers drop Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) that injure his back and blasted one of his dorsal fins.
By the climax of the film, Godzilla has perceived humanity as a threat to his existence, and not hesitate to use his atomic breath and various beam attacks against them. Unfortunately, he was quite reckless, as he wastes too much energy when released his powers for the first time.
Something that humans later exploited to weakened him so they can freeze him with blood coagulant.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, he and his progenies conquered Earth and drove humanity off of the planet during the 1990s. Humans discovered a new planet called Tau Ceti e, but upon arrival, the planet became uninhabitable for humans. They decide to return to Earth and take it back from Godzilla and his monster minions. The reason for his attacks against humanity appeared to be territorial, perceiving them as a rival over dominant species on earth.
Powers and Abilities
Breath Powers
Godzilla's Atomic Breath.
Atomic Breath
Godzilla's signature weapon is his distinctive atomic breath. Godzilla's dorsal plates glow ominously, and then he lets loose with a concentrated blast of radiation from his mouth. This power is commonly mistaken for breathing literal fire, one of the most common misconceptions of the entire series. Godzilla has been shown apparently being able to adjust the intensity of his ray, varying from a blast of superheated vapor.
Such as in the 1950s and 1960s (in the earliest films, the atomic breath was nothing more than baby powder shot out with a hose), to a beam with explosive and kinetic properties, in the 1970s and onward. The ray is usually portrayed as being neon blue, though in Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, it is a reddish orange to signify an increased level of power.
In Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla's atomic breath was shown as having incendiary properties and was strong enough to destroy a miniature black hole, while in Godzilla: Final Wars, it possessed incredible range, amazing power and pin-point accuracy, able to hit a target in outer space and kill most kaiju with a single shot. Also in Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla also demonstrated his ability to actually change the intensity of his atomic breath when fighting Keizer Ghidorah. With a quick turn, Godzilla's breath went from the iconic blue beam to the intensity of reddish orange which literally caused the monster Keizer Ghidorah to explode in the upper atmosphere.
Godzilla's Spiral Heat Ray.
A variation of the standard atomic ray in the Heisei series was the red "spiral ray" which he acquired as a result of absorbing the Rodan's life energy. This ray was so powerful that only a few blasts of it were sufficient to completely destroy MechaGodzilla and SpaceGodzilla, though Destoroyah was able to withstand several hits. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, a variant of his spiral ray were seen when King Ghidorah used his golden gravity beams on Godzilla.
Godzilla's Atomic Breath seen in the 2014 American reboot.
Godzilla was somehow able to draw strength from the gravity beams and used the absorbed energy to fire a blast of blue energy wrapped in a golden spiral that completely destroyed King Ghidorah. The spiral ray returned in Godzilla: Final Wars, where it was strong enough to push Keizer Ghidorah to the edge of space, destroying him in an explosion visible from the surface of the Earth. In the MonsterVerse, Godzilla's atomic breath was more of a focused, fiery shaped energy beam that Godzilla spews out.
Godzilla only used it against the M.U.T.O.s after he had taken a severe beating and was already growing weaker, showing that Godzilla only uses it as a last resort against opponents he can't physically overpower on his own. This version's atomic breath is obviously not as destructive as its predecessors', but still incredibly deadly in its own right as it can be used to simultaneously both burns and push the female M.U.T.O. and also explodes her neck that resulting in fiery decapitation.
However, it is entirely possible that Godzilla never used his atomic breath at its full power (given that this Godzilla not using the atomic breath as its trump card), seeing as how Godzilla was already extremely weak when he began using it, so whether or not it's capable of more is unknown at this point. In the film's official novelization and in an earlier screenplay, it is mentioned that the M.U.T.O.s' EMP evolved to interfere with Godzilla's atomic breath, meaning it is possible that the atomic breath is not shown at its full strength in the film.
Godzilla’s Atomic Breath In Godzilla Resurgence.
Other possible reason why Godzilla choose to use his atomic breath as last resort weapon may due to usage of the breath would exhausted his energy reserves as after using it thrice against female M.U.T.O.s, Godzilla eventually passed out and recovers on the next day (though this may due to previously battered by both M.U.T.O.s).
The neon-blue glow on Godzilla's dorsal plates begins at the tail and goes all the way to the top of his neck in this film. In Godzilla: Resurgence, Godzilla's atomic breath starts out as a thick black smoke that comes from Godzilla's mouth and spreads around the surrounding area.
Godzilla’s Atomic Breath In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.
The smoke coming from Godzilla's mouth eventually ignites into a stream of flame, producing a huge destructive fireball that sweeps through the area. The fire condenses further into a thin highly-destructive purple beam capable of slicing through buildings. In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla's atomic breath is described to be highly accelerated, particle-charged, and is electronic.
It is highly destructive; according to official records, this beam is capable of annihilating single cities and mountains, penetrating the Rocky mountains, melting parts of Himalayan Range, and destroying continental plates.
The estimated range of the beam is approximately 30 kilometers (18.6411 miles). During the charging process of this attack, Godzilla also produces strong electromagnetic pulses and powerful shockwaves, making any efforts by mankind to hide or withstand meaningless. Anyone at close range will face severe radioactive exposure, and nearby areas will be severely polluted by radioactivity, forcing humanity to abandon the area. Land pollutants were later fixed by technologies provided by Bilusaludos.
This version takes on the form of a thin, focused beam, almost like the atomic breath attacks of the Legendary Godzilla and Shin Godzilla, but there are notable differences in terms of charging up said ability aesthetically. They include things such as the visible electric nature of the creature's overall body and fins rather than vivid luminescence and the generation of a force field out of in front of the face with a large build-up of energy simultaneously focused in front of the mouth before fired, terminating the need to open its mouth wide to discharge his atomic powers.
On an interesting fact, whilst Godzilla's signature atomic breath can easily set entire city blocks ablaze and obliterate most military weaponry on a whim, many of Godzilla's opponents have shown the ability to withstand it, at least in its standard intensity. For example, in the Showa series, both Rodan and King Ghidorah were able to withstand direct hits from Godzilla's atomic breath with little visible harm. In the Heisei series, Rodan was vulnerable to the beam at close range, though King Ghidorah remained immune until Godzilla utilized his more powerful spiral heat ray. The Heisei version of MechaGodzilla possessed a special diamond-plated armor that allowed it to absorb Godzilla's atomic breath and reflect it through the plasma grenade port on its abdomen. Many of Godzilla's more powerful opponents, including King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah, and Monster X, have proven to be resistant to Godzilla's atomic breath until he was forced to utilize a more powerful variation of it. The only exception of this is in his fight against Zilla, where Godzilla only needed a single atomic blast to defeat it.
Fire Breath
This is another ability used in Hanna Barbera's take on Godzilla, as well as the Marvel comic adaptation of Godzilla and the post-Millenium era. However, these are the only three times that Godzilla has been seen using fire breath. It is a common misconception that he uses fire breath instead of his iconic atomic breath since in the post-Millenium era, Godzilla breathes fire at Tokyo before releasing his atomic breath. However, this is only true in Marvel and Hanna Barbera's adaptations, and in Toho's post-Millenium era.
Oscillatory Wave
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, the sheer power of Godzilla’s roar is immense. Likewise, he is able to release a powerful sound wave blast to destroy enemies.
Tail Beam Attacks
Atomic Tail Beam
In Godzilla: Resurgence, upon realizing his dorsal beam attack spent much of his energy reserves, Godzilla redirected some portion of atomic energy to his tail and projected it in form of atomic laser that fired from the mouth on the tip of his tail. This, when used alongside atomic breath, enable him to cut and slice through multiple adversaries from every direction at once. Godzilla used it to conserved his energy better to taking down drones that approach him during Operation Yashiori before collapsed and in the helpless state as blood coagulant will be pumped into his mouth.
Electromagnetic Shockwave
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, by concentrating powerful plasma from his fins, Godzilla sparks its tail and produces plasma blade extending for 600 meters and reduces anything it touch to ashes.
Energy Pulse
Nuclear Pulse
In addition to his very deadly atomic breath, Godzilla can also emit atomic energy in all directions from every inch of his body in a short-range pulse. The pulse was first seen in his fight against Biollante. Godzilla only used the nuclear pulse in the Heisei series, such as when King Ghidorah was constricting him with its necks, although many consider the climactic scene in Godzilla 2000 in which Orga is destroyed while attempting to swallow Godzilla like a snake to be a use of Godzilla's nuclear pulse; and also, Godzilla uses something similar to a nuclear pulse to prevent Keizer Ghidorah from draining any more of his energy from him after being surged with Ozaki's energy.
Godzilla's ability to fire a salvo of atomic lasers from his dorsal plates in Godzilla: Resurgence may inspire by/a variant of nuclear pulse ability. When he fires atomic lasers from his dorsal plates, the plates also emit tremendous amounts of radiation in the same direction where he fired the lasers.
Radiation Stream
As demonstrated in Godzilla: Aftershock, MonsterVerse incarnation of Godzilla has a variation of Nuclear Pulse which, instead of all-direction blast, the energy stream is more focused onto a single direction and apparently projected straight from the kaiju's dorsal fins. The radiation stream is strong enough to gravely wound MUTO Prime.
Electromagnetic Pulse
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla is capable of releasing an electromagnetic pulse. He can discharge the energy after releasing his atomic breath. The electromagnetic pulse is an ability that the Servum had been endowed with when they evolved separately.
Ferrokinesis
In Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, Godzilla found a way to generate powerful magnetic fields from his body after being struck several times by lightning, which proved devastating against his metallic foe. This is the only time Godzilla ever used this power.
Invulnerability
Godzilla has displayed an uncanny ability to sustain damage throughout his films. Starting in the first Godzilla film, Godzilla displayed an immunity to conventional weaponry, virtually impervious to everything the JSDF threw at him. He has demonstrated the ability to survive complete submersion in magma for an extended period of time, sometimes while under extreme pressure from tectonic plates (as seen in Godzilla vs. Mothra). He has even survived being in ground zero of asteroid impacts. The only times his flesh has been visibly pierced were in a battle with the Super X, Showa Gigan, Biollante, King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, MechaGodzilla's weapons in the Showa, Heisei, and Millennium series, and in a lesser extent, by M.O.P. bombs in Godzilla: Resurgence.
Healing Factor
In addition to being extremely resistant to damage, Godzilla possesses an extremely advanced and highly efficient regenerative ability. This power was a crucial plot point of Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla 2000: Millennium. In Godzilla 2000, it is explained that Godzilla's regenerative abilities may have something to do with his radioactive properties, and Regenerator G-1 ("Organizer G-1" in the Japanese version) is the name given to a substance in his cells that is responsible for Godzilla's swift healing. In Godzilla vs. Biollante, Japanese scientists use samples of the Godzilla cells (called G-cells throughout the Heisei series of Godzilla films) to help create the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB). This healing factor would be inherited by all creatures spawned from Godzilla's DNA, those being Biollante, SpaceGodzilla and Orga. While the M.U.T.O.s are shown to face Godzilla to the point of exhaustion, he manages to get back to his feet and return to the ocean in a matter of hours which could either be a testament to his incredible durability and he was simply exhausted, or he healed off the damage by sunrise.
In Godzilla: Resurgence, Godzilla's healing factor is so potent that pieces of his flesh that are broken off from his body can continue to live on their own and evolve and regenerate into entire creatures in the same manner with starfishes.
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla's multi-layered, physaliformed skin enables him to regenerate new skins near instantly, even if the older skin is incinerated or becomes plasma due to several hundred, or even several thousand nuclear bombings, making Godzilla essentially immune to human weapons.
Super-Strength
Godzilla using super strength with his tail to swat Baragon.
As attributed to his size, weight, and mass, Godzilla has displayed varied levels of physical strength sufficient to lift weights exceeding 20,000 tons and smash skyscrapers. He has been depicted lifting and throwing monsters in excess of his own weight, such as King Ghidorah, Hedorah, MechaGodzilla, and others including Biollante, and in Godzilla: Final Wars, he was even able to throw Kumonga clear over the horizon.
Energy Absorption and Manipulation
Ever since the original film, Godzilla has been capable of absorbing huge amounts of energy, often nuclear in nature. This also explained various feats that he can do such as Atomic Breath, Nuclear Pulse, Ferrokinesis, and energize his blows for more destructive effect.
In the Showa series, as result of being irradiated by a hydrogen bomb explosion, Godzilla's body absorbed a tremendous amount of nuclear energy so much that his physiology enhanced to the point that he becomes walking nuclear reactor, gaining the ability to emit high levels of radiation and fire his trademark atomic breath. The same thing occurred on other Godzilla in the Heisei series, where in this case, the said Godzilla was exposed to the detonation of a Soviet nuclear submarine, which irradiates and mutate him into an 80 meter-tall atomic-powered monster. Since his physiology enhanced to the point of his heart become a biological nuclear reactor, the Heisei Godzilla relies on nuclear power to sustain his metabolism and derives his sustenance from absorbing energy from active man-made nuclear reactors.
Godzilla was also able to absorb the energy that generated from nuclear submarines or other man-made nuclear reactors as well; in one case the energy absorbed from a nuclear sub was enough to allow Godzilla's immune system to purge the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria from his body and cause him to grow 20 meters in height. When nuclear reactions in his heart caused uranium deposits under Birth Island to ignite and vaporize the island, Godzilla absorbed the radiation given off by the explosion. While this influx of radiation did eventually cause Godzilla's heart to undergo a catastrophic meltdown and kill him, it made Godzilla substantially more powerful for a period of time. According to Kenichi Yamane, Godzilla's heart contained enough nuclear power to create "a burst of energy unseen since time began" which would cause the Earth's atmosphere to ignite if it exploded. If Godzilla's meltdown was not kept under control by G-Force's freezer weapons, his heart would have melted down into the Earth's core and caused the planet to implode.
In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla still portrayed with the ability to feed on nuclear radiation as sustenance. While at first, he can absorb natural geothermal radiation on Earth when radiation was ten times more than today prior to resort to consuming the same energy on Earth's core, Godzilla later discovered that he can do the same on man-made nuclear reactor from nuclear submarines. It was thanks to his natural abilities in absorbing geothermal radiation from the Earth's core that enable him to survive extinction era.
In Godzilla: Resurgence, Godzilla's ability to manipulate energy was proved more potent than his predecessors. It fact, this version of Godzilla now able to perform feats that never displayed by any of his predecessors as he can fire atomic beams from the tip of his tail and dorsal fins. How Godzilla came to being in the said film was explained to be a prehistoric marine animal that evolved due to surrounded by nuclear waste in his habitat, and with him developed ability to withstand the radioactive material, he began to feed on the said material. As result, he evolved to the point of possessing eight times the genetic information of human beings, becoming a superorganism kaiju he is now. Godzilla derives his energy from nuclear fission occurring within his body, which fueled by air and water that his body synthesized into radioactive substances that filled his power reserves.
Godzilla can also absorb another form of energy, such as electricity that now not only revitalizes him like nuclear energy but also enable him to performed Ferrokinesis. The revenant Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack can also absorb Ghidorah's gravity beam and combines them with his atomic breath, forming a more powerful atomic beam that obliterates King Ghidorah in a single hit. Godzilla can also absorb plasma energy or Keizer energy from Ozaki's that save his life from Keizer Ghidorah's clutches.
Amphibious
Though not an amphibian, Godzilla has an amphibious lifestyle. He spends half of his life in water and the other on land. He is as adept a fighter underwater as he is on land. Capable of marching on the sea floor or swimming by undulating his tail like a crocodile, Godzilla is displayed as being able to breathe underwater, occasionally hibernating in the ocean depths between movies, and being submerged apparently does not impede his atomic ray, as seen in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. He engages opponents in the sea on multiple occasions, fighting King Ghidorah, Ebirah, Battra, Biollante, and Mothra either beneath or on the surface of the waves. In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla now possesses gills so he can stay underwater indefinitely, but he closes them when he's on land and uses his lungs. Godzilla's incarnation in Godzilla: Resurgence also portrayed with unusually large gills in his earlier developed form that eventually shrinks when he evolved to a better form that enable him to adapt to land.
Flight/Jet Propulsion
In a memorable and the somewhat infamous scene in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla used his atomic breath to fly by aiming it at the ground and lifting off like a rocket. How this ability works by manipulating nuclear energy within his body so his atomic breath projected in form of jet propulsion that strong enough to send him flying and catch up with the flying Hedorah.
Godzilla has used this ability two times outside of the said film; in the comic series Godzilla: Ongoing and in Godzilla: The Game, where it is called "Back Charge".
Undead Physiology
In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla whom killed by Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer eventually reanimated and possessed by restless souls of those whom killed or left to die at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War. Though his body appeared to be restored by the said restless souls back to the condition prior to disintegrated by the said chemical weapon upon possession, Godzilla has become undead version of his former self: The proof that Godzilla has become the undead is having white and cloudy eyes, as if they suffer decomposition in spite of not affect the vision. Not only his physiology that supernaturally enhanced tenfold, as he now possesses unusual reflexes where when he pinned prematurely awakened Ghidorah, he reflexively swatted Mothra when the latter tried to approach him. Also, since he now become an undead, Godzilla is capable to remain alive even when in a state of being where death should be unavoidable: By the end of the film, Godzilla is revealed to still alive even after reduced into disembodied beating heart, a state where it's unlikely that the rest of his incarnations able to survive in the same way (with exceptional of his Godzilla: Resurgence counterpart though in the latter's case, due to being composite creature that can regrow from pieces that broke off from his body).
This power is exclusively possessed by the incarnation of Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack.
Extrasensory Perception
According to an American scientist, Godzilla in Godzilla: Resurgence possesses a "phased-array radar" which allows him to detect threats without even needing to see them. Godzilla utilized this to sense his enemies' presence either when hibernating or in combat. This explained how he can destroy drones that went too close in observing him when hibernating and direct his dorsal plate beams' direction straight to oncoming foes behind him so he won't waste too much energy just to attack them. The same ability also allowed him to fire small bolts of atomic energy to shot down drones sent to study him within range.
Self-Mutation
In Godzilla: Resurgence, one of Godzilla's most unique abilities is his capacity to self-mutate. While all other organisms mutate and evolve gradually over countless generations, Godzilla has the ability to mutate his DNA at will as means to adapt to any situation. According to characters in the film, Godzilla is the most evolved creature on the planet, and currently possessing eight times the genetic information of human beings. It explained how Godzilla adjust his own physiology that progressively more to land environment in his last three forms. The same thing also applies for his combat abilities, as not long after release his atomic breath, Godzilla immediately developed advanced techniques of energy manipulation includes dorsal beams to combat foes that approach him from behind and ESP ability to detect oncoming threat without the need to directly seeing them. During Operation Yashiori, Godzilla developed new ability to use mouth on the tip of his tail to fire second atomic breath to sweep multiple foes and conserve his energy reserves. When his body began to burn itself due to blood coagulant, he developed the ability to freeze himself solid to prevent a meltdown, something which predicted by Yaguchi's team.
The last scene of the film shows that on the tip of his tail, several small Godzillas in more humanoid form has sprouted from it, suggested that Godzilla attempted to break himself into multiple smaller progenies of himself to combat humans better.
Self-mutation is arguably Godzilla's core ability in the film as it was through the said power he can evolve to better form and gained new abilities.
Dorsal Plate Beams
In Godzilla: Resurgence, upon sensing multiple American bomber aircraft began to approach him, Godzilla redirected his atomic beam onto his dorsal fins, and project it in form of a salvo of atomic beams to dispatch them. He would later use it again in conjunction with his extrasensory perception ability to shot down drones that approach his comatose body and multiple drones that attacked him in Operation Yashiori.
In spite of the beam's effectiveness in dispatching multiple adversaries that attacked him from behind and above, Dorsal Plates beam technique depleted his atomic reserve more than his atomic breath, so he developed atomic tail beam to conserve his energy better.
Laser Eyes
In addition to all of his other abilities, Godzilla was shown firing laser eyes in Hanna Barbera's take on Godzilla. This ability was never used in any other media besides this show.
Cell-Division and Terraforming
In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, using cell-division, Godzilla produced multiple forms of progeny, from the fauna-like organisms such as Filius and the Servum, to the very flora that build up the forest-dominated terrain.
Energy Conversion
In Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, the humans attempt a strategy to defeat Godzilla’s that was similar to the strategy used on Filius. However, when the EMP Harpoons send electromagnetic energy to overload Godzilla, he is able to convert the excess energy into heat, and uses it as a heat attack, which melted the surrounding area. It also allows him to return to a safe level of electromagnetic energy, which allowed him to use husband atomic breath.
Weaknesses
In spite of being very powerful, Godzilla still has some weaknesses:
Electricity
Early films showed in King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla, he is shown to be vulnerable to strong voltages of electricity. As the series progressed, lightning (i.e., electricity found in nature) has been shown to have the opposite effect, at times serving to revitalize him as later films portrayed him to have the ability to absorb energy.
A.N.E.B. and Cadmium
Both Cadmium shells and A.N.E.B. (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria) can slow down his metabolism and potentially able to kill him.
Secondary Brain
In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2, Godzilla is revealed to have a second brain in his spine, with Super Mechagodzilla being able to paralyze him from the waist down by destroying it. Nevertheless, his secondary brain was restored by Fire Rodan and further films seem to ignore this gigantic weak spot.
Sheer Bulk
Godzilla's sheer bulk proved to be disadvantageous for him to combat more agile and faster enemies such as Megaguirus, forcing him to perform counterattacks as he relies on his endurance. Also, while he has an endurance level beyond measure, his enemies usually counter by trying to crush and batter him. Mechagodzilla managed to overpower Godzilla by firing more weaponry than he could defend against, although this became useless after Godzilla became magnetized.
Limited Energy
In Godzilla Resurgence, Godzilla has limited energy to use for his atomic beams. After using large amounts, he must refuel, essentially. Towards the end, due to excessive use of energy, he could not attack against the Yahuchi Plan’s forces efficiently.
Freezing Coagulant
In Godzilla Resurgence, The Yaguchi Plan, or Project Yashiori, involved a coagulant that disabled Godzilla’s internal cooling and heating system, which caused his isotope to freeze.
Trivia
- In Godzilla Island, Godzilla's house is a large cave which the entrance once blocked with iron bars due to it being used for incarcerating his doppelganger Mechagodzilla that sent to frame him.
- Starring in 35 films, Godzilla has appeared in more films than any other kaiju to date.
- Godzilla is one of the most recognizable symbols of Japanese popular culture worldwide.
- Although Godzilla's first film appearance was in Gojira, released on November third of 1954, he made his first official debut four months earlier, in July, when an earlier version of the film's script was read on a radio as an 11-part radio drama.
- In 2004, as a part of the celebration of the release of Godzilla: Final Wars and the 50th anniversary of the franchise, Godzilla was given a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
- Godzilla's appearance has changed many times over the years. Some changes were subtle differences such as changes in the size of his dorsal plates and others which were much more dramatic, including Godzilla's overall size and appearance.
- The 2014 Godzilla reboot marked the 60th anniversary of Godzilla.
- WatchMojo.com listed Godzilla as #1 on their "Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters" list.
- They also listed the original 1954 Godzilla movie, Gojira, as #7 on their "Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1950s" list.
- Among fights that Godzilla had over the course of the history of the franchise, his most famous and shortest battle was against Zilla in Godzilla: Final Wars. In the said fight, Godzilla simply defeated Zilla by outsmarting it: He tricked Zilla to pounce on him with low-caliber atomic breath as a distraction and once Zilla did, he sends Zilla flying into the Sydney Opera House and finishes him off with his atomic breath. The most surprising fact in the said battle is, the battle only lasts 13 seconds.
- Critics say that this short battle was meant to show Toho's displeasure towards Sony and TriStar with their handling of the Godzilla franchise. Others say the significant difference in size, speed, and abilities between the two showed it truly played out the way it should have.
- Godzilla's characteristics in Godzilla: Resurgence draws parallel from Hedorah and Destoroyah as both theorized to be superorganisms kaiju that had multiple forms and empowered by hazardous material to the point of capable in using them as weapons (Hedorah empowered and utilizes sludge full of pollutants, whereas Destoroyah mutated and empowered by Oxygen Destroyer in the same way Godzilla empowered himself by radioactive materials). This is quite interesting, as Hedorah and Destoroyah are Godzilla' most dangerous adversaries in the previous film.
- Among buildings that Godzilla destroyed in the 1954 film, one of the destroyed building is the Toho Theater. In fact, some moviegoers who were watching the film in that theater actually thought the theater was being attacked and tried to run out of the theater.
- This was reminiscent with the airing of the episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air titled The War of the Worlds about Martians' invasion on earth which infamously caused mass hysteria out of belief where Martians really invade Earth.
- Godzilla's famous roar was not based on any kind of real-life animals as during the production of the 1954 film, as at that time, sound department unable to find which animal sound that fit for the kaiju. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound. Also, Godzilla's thunderous footsteps were made by beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope.
- Godzilla fought his long-time box office rival Gamera in Screwattacks' DEATH BATTLE and won.
- For Godzilla: Resurgence, the early concept of Godzilla's regenerative ability and procreate through fission like starfish shown more disturbing than in final film, as some concept art of him undergo fission process depicted him morphed into a mountain of radioactive fleshy biomass with several of Godzilla's head protruding for them as it split into several new progeny of himself.
- A deleted scene showed JSDF soldiers found the torn pieces of his severed dorsal fin due to M.O.P. bombs already melt into bloody biomass with a number of eyes growing from them. Due to the scene deemed disturbing, this replaced with JSDF soldiers found the severed dorsal fin still intact albeit began to coated with blood and a small piece of it fall near them, alerted its location above them. The scene then shifts to protagonists discovered that the fin has begun to undergo fission into new Godzilla.
- Godzilla's size is inconsistent, changing from film to film and even from scene to scene for the sake of artistic license. It is confirmed that the Godzilla in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is a colossal 300 meters in height, the tallest height of any Godzilla incarnation.
- Koei Horikoshi, creator of My Hero Academia, had made a hero named Godzillo, based off of Godzilla (primarily his Heisei design) for My Hero Academia: Two Heroes as part of a collaboration project.
- Both of Godzilla's shape and roar were used for the Dragon Minosaur in the first episode for the new series called Kishryu Sentai Ryusoulger.
- The Godzillas that have appeared in Godzilla vs Megaguirus, GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and Godzilla: Final Wars are all intended to be the same exact Godzilla from the 1954 film of the same name with different retcons regarding his fate at the end of the film, whereas every other Godzilla that appeared in the three original eras are intended to be a second Godzilla suceeding the original.
External Links
- Godzilla in the Heroes Wiki.
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