Godzilla (original)/Synopsis

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The history of the tragic monster, Godzilla, from Toho's 1954 film of the same name.

NOTE: This article includes only the history of the original Godzilla and later installments that mention him directly.

SECOND NOTE: While the Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Megaguirus was stated to be the same Godzilla from 1954, it is treated as a separate incarnation of the character.

Early Life

Godzilla coexists with his relatives prior to his mutation.

“	Why such a creature would appear in our territorial waters is the next question. He was probably hidden away in a deep sea cave, providing for his own survival, and perhaps for others like it. However, repeated underwater H-bomb tests have completely destroyed his natural habitat. To put it simply, hydrogen bomb testing has driven him from his sanctuary.	„
	~ Dr. Yamane presenting Godzilla's tragic backstory to Japan.

Godzilla began his life as a prehistoric reptile related to terrestrial and aquatic creatures that resided in a deep underwater cavern at Bikini Atoll for millions of years, and might have lived and coexisted among others of his species with peace. Eventually in 1954, an American hydrogen bomb test was deployed near his habitat in the South Pacific Ocean, which completely destroyed his sanctuary and killed his entire species, leaving only the now-mutated Godzilla. Disturbed and awakened from his slumber, Godzilla rose to the surface and, enraged over his present situation, witnessed humanity as responsible for the agony they inflicted on him, prompting him to take his vengeful rage against them, sparing nobody.

Godzilla

Emergence

Godzilla first emerges as a white-hot flash of light.

“	I knew it. It must be Godzilla.	„
	~ The old fisherman of Odo Island knowing Godzilla as the culprit behind their mysteriously poor fishing.

Not long after his mutation, Godzilla came to the surface (initially) as a white-hot, blinding light offshore of Odo Island. On the evening of August 13, 1954, he shipwrecked a Japanese cargo ship Eiko-maru in a sudden flash. Later on, a Japanese rescue ship Bingo-maru and fishing vessel from Odo Island carrying survivors met the same fate. The result of his aquatic massacre left the island's fishermen unable to catch anything. According to Odo Island legend, Godzilla was a kaiju who came from the ocean to feed on humanity and survive, and whenever fishing was poor, the civilians used to sacrifice women to keep Godzilla from attacking the island. After an exorcism ceremony was held in hopes of warding Godzilla off, the kaiju came ashore as a storm struck Odo Island at night. He rampaged the village by crushing 17 houses (including Shinkichi Yamada's) and killing nine civilians, as well as 20 of their livestock.

Revelation

Godzilla reveals himself at Hachiman Hill.

“	Representative Oyama: What I mean is if this Godzilla thing is the result of H-bomb tests— Woman Representative: It is! That's exactly what it is! Representative Oyama: That's my point. Make this public and our fragile diplomatic relations will be further strained. Woman Representative: The truth is the truth! Representative Oyama: That's what makes it so serious! If we announce this too rashly, the public will panic. Our political life, economy and foreign relations will be plunged into chaos. Woman Representative: YOU FOOL! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!	„
	~ Oyama and a woman representative debate whether to make Godzilla's existence public until she insults Oyama and chaos breaks loose.

The next morning, as a research party, headed by paleontologist Kyohei Yamane, was sent out to investigate the disaster, they came upon Godzilla's gigantic footprint, embedded with massive amounts of strontium-90 along with a trilobite Yamane discovered. Before long, the village alarm bell rang (indicating Godzilla's awakening) and the party rushed towards the other side of Hachiman Hill, where they came face-to-face with Godzilla himself. As he raised his head behind the hill, the kaiju shrieked at the skies and the fleeing crowd (particularly at Yamane's daughter, Emiko) before walking back into the ocean, leaving footprints behind. After Yamane confirmed Godzilla's existence publicly, the kaiju destroyed 17 more ships as he approached Japan. In response to the public outcry, the Japan Self-Defense Forces deployed ten frigates equipped with depth charges to kill Godzilla, which disappointed Yamane, who believed the kaiju should be studied due to his unique ability to withstand high radioactivity.

Nationwide Panic

Godzilla surfaces in Tokyo Bay.

“	Chief of Task Force: Professor, we're really at a loss. If this continues, we'll soon have to close our international shipping lanes. Do you have any ideas? Even the slightest hint would help. Kyohei Yamane: Indeed... Chairman of Diet Committee: Professor Yamane, I'll be blunt: We want to know if there's a way to kill Godzilla. Kyohei Yamane: Impossible. Godzilla was baptized in the fire of the H-bomb and survived. What could kill him now? Right now our priority should be to study his incredible powers of survival.	„
	~ Yamane being asked by the chief of task force and the chairman of Diet committee if there's a way to kill Godzilla, but he insistently protested in keeping him preserved and studied.

Later that night, Godzilla surfaced near a pleasure boat in Tokyo Bay, unharmed by the depth charge assault. As the kaiju was only taking a breather, those onboard the boat were too terrified of his stomping presence. Within a minute, Godzilla descended back into the ocean, but his brief appearance plunged Japan into a state of emergency and panic. The next night, the kaiju surfaced in Tokyo Bay again, ignoring the JSDF's gunfire as he approached Shinagawa. He rampaged through its port facility and severely dismantled a passing train before slinking back into Tokyo Bay. Though Godzilla's attack on Shinagawa was relatively short, the devastation and death toll he inflicted upon became severe. The next day, the JSDF hastily enacted a countermeasure capable of stopping Godzilla should he inevitably return again: they constructed a 30-meter-tall electric fence alongside the coast of Tokyo that would send 50,000 volts to electrocute him to death.

Devastating Tokyo

Godzilla unleashes his atomic power against Tokyo.

“	Godzilla has turned central Tokyo into a sea of flames! He's proceeding from Ueno to Asakusa, possibly heading for the sea.	„
	~ The news reporter broadcasting on TV as Godzilla finishes his rampage.

When night fell, Godzilla surfaced in Tokyo Bay once more and slowly approached the coast of Tokyo at Shibaura, where the blockade was stationed. He effortlessly broke through the fence with no pain inflicted and started destroying the pylons. While he was at it, the JSDF opened fire with their Howitzer shells and machine guns but they had no effect on him. In a raging response, Godzilla unleashed a stream of superheated radioactive vapor from his mouth to melt the high-tension wires. The kaiju then reached to the heart of Tokyo and continuously set the metropolitan area ablaze with his atomic breath. Around this time, the JSDF's deployed Chaffee tank division was also useless against and simply annihilated by Godzilla. His rampage continued well through the night, until he uplifted the Kachidoki Bridge and waded back into Tokyo Bay. Meanwhile, a squadron of Sabre fighter jets arrived and launched rockets at Godzilla, which, while they didn't phase him, helped drive the kaiju away.

Aftermath

Tokyo is an uninhabitable wasteland filled with Godzilla's radioactivity.

“	Godzilla seems to have retreated to the sea for now. A research team headed by Professor Yamane has been formed to find countermeasures. Those are the top stories at this hour.	„
	~ The news reporter broadcasting on radio after Godzilla devastated Tokyo.

Tokyo became an uninhabitable wasteland contaminated with Godzilla's radioactivity, its survivors were subjected to his lethal doses, and Japan was at a loss of fighting the kaiju and his future attacks back. It wasn't until Emiko and her fiancé, Hideto Ogata, convinced reclusive scientist Daisuke Serizawa to use his Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla, despite Serizawa's warnings that politicians would inevitably turn it into something way worse than nuclear weapons if they knew of its existence.

Death

Godzilla is disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer.

“	The decisive moment draws near. We'll soon know if this monster terrorizing the world will be buried forever in the ocean's depths.	„
	~ The news reporter as the Shikine locates Godzilla in Tokyo Bay to kill him with Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer.

The next day, the Shikine carried Ogata, Serizawa, Emiko, Yamane, as well as a horde of scientists and journalists at Tokyo Bay to locate Godzilla. Ogata and Serizawa descended to the ocean depths with diver suits while the kaiju woke from his slumber, seemingly aware of them, and began wandering around the seabed trying to find them. They carefully approached him with Serizawa having Ogata pulled back to the surface and finally activated the Oxygen Destroyer, while also taking his own life so the weapon would never be used again. In his last-living moments, Godzilla surfaced near the Shikine and gave one last cry before sinking to his death. Unable to withstand the Oxygen Destroyer's volatile effects, the kaiju dissolved first into a skeleton and then into nothingness.

Legacy

“	I can't believe that Godzilla was the last of his species. If nuclear testing continues... then someday, somewhere in the world... another Godzilla may appear.	„
	~ Yamane warning that a second Godzilla will probably appear so long as nuclear testing remained active.

After Godzilla's death, those aboard the Shikine celebrated it and then collectively mourned Serizawa. However, Yamane solemnly warned that it's unlikely for Godzilla to be that last surviving member of his species, and that as long as nuclear testing continued, another Godzilla would almost certainly appear someday.

Godzilla Raids Again

After pilots Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi noticed a second Godzilla battling another kaiju, Anguirus, at Iwato Island, Yamane was brought to Osaka in a JSDF conference to discuss countermeasures. Yamane showed stock footage of the first Godzilla's rampage in Tokyo the year before, and he regrettably stated that there was no reliable method to fight the new Godzilla, with Serizawa and the Oxygen Destroyer gone forever. However, Yamane did remark that the first Godzilla had a peculiar instinct to bright lights and was attracted to them, likely because they reminded him of the hydrogen bomb that mutated and awakened him. Assuming the second Godzilla had the same instinct, Yamane proposed that if a blackout was enforced and flares were dropped off Osaka, the kaiju would be lured away.

The Return of Godzilla

When interviewing Hiroshi Okumura about a kaiju that attacked a Japanese fishing vessel named Yahata Maru No. 5, Professor Makoto Hayashida showed him pictures of the original Godzilla's rampage in Tokyo, 30 years prior. After viewing the pictures, Okumura confirmed that the culprit behind the slaughter was Godzilla.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

When Godzilla absorbed massive amounts of radioactivity from uranium deposits that exploded on Baas Island, his atomic energy went out of control and the nuclear fission in his heart would eventually ignite the Earth's atmosphere as well as vaporize the entire planet, eliminating all life in the process. Kenkichi Yamane proposed that the only way to put a stop to the cataclysmic consequences was to kill Godzilla. He also initially suggested using the Oxygen Destroyer, which was the same weapon its inventor, Serizawa, previously used to kill the original Godzilla, 42 years prior. Meanwhile, Dr. Kensaku Ijuin recently performed analysis on the soil from Tokyo Bay where the Oxygen Destroyer was triggered underwater, and found that the soil generated microbes trapped in the strata, since the Precambrian period, to revive and begin evolving abnormally.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

In 1954, Godzilla devastated Tokyo and was ultimately killed by Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer in secrecy. The newly formed JSDF, fearing they would face ridicule, claimed public credit for vanquishing the kaiju themselves. After 48 years, humanity gradually began to forget about Godzilla, with many assuming he never existed and was simply a legend. However, a second Godzilla appeared to seek horrifying vengeance against Japan for forgetting their imperial past.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

The original Godzilla as he appears in a flashback of 1954.

“	45 years ago, the first Godzilla creature laid waste to Tokyo. It was killed with a secret weapon invented by Dr. Serizawa. But it can never be used again; Dr. Serizawa was afraid of the terrible power he'd unleashed, and he refused to reveal its secret. He took it to the grave with him.	„
	~ Prime Minister Machiko Tsuge recalling the first Godzilla's rampage on Tokyo to Hayato Igarashi after a second Godzilla rampaged Tateyama.

In 1954, Godzilla devastated Tokyo and was ultimately killed by Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer (although his skeleton was left intact this time), but Japan still found itself threatened by other kaiju, such as Mothra and Gaira, in the next decade. As of 1999, a second Godzilla appeared in Tateyama and shrugged the JXSDF's Maser Cannons off. Their Anti-Megalosaurus Force proposed salvaging the skeletal remains of the first Godzilla off Boso Peninsula, and decided to use the bones as the framework to construct an anti-Godzilla weapon. By 2003, the weapon, codenamed Kiryu, was completed, but the first Godzilla's spirit was attached to the robot, as shown during the battle at Yokohama where the spirit reawakened after Godzilla roared, affecting Kiryu and causing him to rampage the city until his energy reserves depleted. Hastily recalled, Kiryu received upgraded reprograms to stop the first Godzilla's spirit from controlling the robot.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

“	Shobijin: It's Godzilla's bones. You must send them back to the sea. Human beings made a weapon using the bones from Godzilla. That was a mistake. Yoshito Chujo: It was a mistake to build Mechagodzilla? Dr. Shinichi Chujo: My nephew, Yoshi. He's in the air force on the Mecha G crew. Shobijin: No human being may touch the souls of the dead. We came to tell you that Godzilla's bones must return to the sea and remain there. Yoshito Chujo: Forever? But Mechagodzilla is our only protection. Shun Chujo: That's right. What if Godzilla attacks us again one day? Shobijin: If that happens, then Mothra will be there to protect you. Yoshito Chujo: But 43 years ago, Mothra destroyed Tokyo. Tell me, why would it choose to protect us this time, huh? Shobijin: Please, listen. Godzilla's bones must be returned to the sea. If they're not, then Mothra will declare war on the human race. Naturally, we don't want that war to happen, and neither does Mothra.	„
	~ The Shobijin warn the Chujo family that the first Godzilla's bones (inside Kiryu) must be returned to the ocean in exchange of Mothra's protection of Japan against the current Godzilla.

In 2004, one year after Kiryu and Godzilla's battle, Mothra's Shobijin appeared to Dr. Shinichi Chujo, and claimed that using the original Godzilla's bones during Kiryu's construction was a violation of the natural order, and was responsible for luring the current Godzilla to Japan. If the first Godzilla's bones were returned to the ocean, Mothra would protect Japan from the new Godzilla, in place of Kiryu, otherwise she would declare war on humanity (something in which Mothra didn't naturally choose to). JXSDF Lt. Akane Yashiro remarked to mechanic Yoshito Chujo that she felt sympathy for Kiryu and sensed he did not want to fight Godzilla. Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi dismissed Chujo's offer of the Shobijin due to Mothra attacking Japan in 1961; however, Igarashi agreed to scrap Project Kiryu as long as the robot destroyed Godzilla.

When Godzilla rampaged Tokyo and fought Mothra through the evening, Kiryu eventually joined the battle to help the divine moth. After the kaiju was subdued with the combined efforts of Kiryu's weaponry and the webbing of Mothra's larvae, the robot was ordered to kill Godzilla once and for all, but the first Godzilla's spirit reawakened once again after hearing his painful cries. Yoshito realized that Kiryu's spirit was a truly tragic being who wanted to sleep in peace with the new Godzilla and he tearfully said sorry. Touched by Yoshito's redemptive apology, Kiryu decided to restrain Godzilla and fly towards the Japan Trench. JXSDF Lt. Azusa Kisaragi shot Kiryu's maintenance hatch and the robot rotated to allow Yoshito to escape, displaying a farewell message to him before closing the inner hatch. As Kiryu and Godzilla dove and sunk together into the ocean depths, the first Godzilla's spirit was finally put to rest peacefully and Kiryu deactivated permanently.

Meanwhile at a secret AMF lab, several cryogenic tanks are holding DNA of various kaiju, including that of the original Godzilla.