Hedorah is an alien pollution kaiju and one of the six main antagonists (alongside Gigan, Mechagodzilla, Megalon, Ebirah, and King Ghidorah) of the Godzilla franchise; its female incarnation serves as the titular main antagonist of the 1971 Showa Godzilla film Godzilla vs. Hedorah, while its male incarnation serves as a minor antagonist in Godzilla: Final Wars and the main antagonist of the 2021 short film, also called Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
In Godzilla vs. Hedorah, he was portrayed by the late Kenpachiro Satsuma, who would later play Gigan and then the Godzilla in the Heisei series. In Godzilla: Final Wars, he was portrayed by Kazuhiro Yoshida, who also played Gigan in the same film.
Biography[]
Godzilla vs. Hedorah[]
Hedorah is an alien that came from the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion constellation. Being comprised entirely of a mineral substance named Hedrium, as well as the chemicals generated from the reactions within its body, Hedorah came to Earth to seek out chemicals to feed on, finding plenty in the form of Earth's pollution. Starting off as a microscopic, tadpole-like organism, the Hedorah steadily grew larger by feeding on water pollution, until it evolved a form that could bring it out of the water and onto the land. As Hedorah continued raiding cities for all the pollutants it could feed on, killing many people and destroying buildings as collateral damage, its actions eventually attracted the attention of Godzilla who engaged Hedorah as it was feeding from a smokestack. At first, the King of the Monsters had the advantage since the Smog Monster was smaller. The two continued to fight in a series of battles across Japan with Hedorah evolving along the way, eventually gaining a flying form that allowed it to destroy numerous factories and spread acidic mist across Japan.
Eventually, the Smog Monster gained its Perfect Form, a towering bipedal configuration easily capable of fighting on its own, and engaged Godzilla in a final battle near Mt. Fuji. Hedorah almost emerged the victor thanks to the acidic and poisonous quality of its body and powerful eye beams. However, the humans attempted to try and stop the Smog Monster by building a set of electrodes near the battlefield, which could dry out Hedorah since it was made of sludge.
During the fight, the Smog Monster succeeded in knocking out Godzilla and was drawn to the electrodes. Unfortunately for the plan, a fuse blew out and the electrodes didn't work. However, the King of the Monsters came to the rescue and used his atomic ray to restore power to the electrodes. This badly weakened Hedorah and it attempted to escape, but Godzilla knocked it back into the electrodes, drying it out completely.
However, the Smog Monster had some wet sludge left inside and the King of the Monsters tore into it, releasing the sludge to the power of the electrodes. Hedorah was finally defeated, but at the price of Godzilla losing one of his eyes and having his right hand burned to the bone. Additionally, another Hedorah was shown in some water with the caption "And yet another one?".
Godzilla Island[]
In the toy motion TV series titled Godzilla Island, Hedorah appeared as one of the supporting antagonists where it nearly killed Mothra but is immediately defeated by Godzilla who dehydrated it to death.
The TV series also introduced another variation of Hedorah called Neo Hedorah who is far deadlier than regular Hedorah: Neo Hedorah created a strain of mushrooms that not only threatened the food supply for monsters in Monster Island where Godzilla and other monsters lives, but also monsters themselves.
Fortunately, Misato, the G-Guard Commander's daughter, saved the day by a performed ancient ceremony to give Rodan power to become Fire Rodan with aid of Kin Caesar after he learned that high temperature can kill Neo Hedorah and its mushrooms. Fire Rodan then uses his powers to burn Neo Hedorah to death, putting its reign of terror to an end and stopped the mushrooms' spread.
Godzilla: Final Wars[]
Hedorah reappeared in Godzilla: Final Wars where it and Ebirah were blasted out of Tokyo Harbor by Godzilla and sent crashing into a building with the shrimp monster's claw impaling one of Smog Monster's eyes. The two are then destroyed by a blast from Godzilla's atomic ray. It is unknown if the Xiliens were using Hedorah as part of their invasion, but a deleted scene shows that Hedorah was part of their plan, who laid waste throughout Tokyo.
Personality[]
Despite the sheer horror of its abilities and the pollution it leaves behind, Hedorah is, by and large, a surprisingly non-malicious kaiju; the vast majority of the deaths attributed to it were as a byproduct of its efforts to survive, and most of the damage it does to the Earth is similarly an unfortunate consequence of its actions.
However, after Hedorah gains its Perfect Form, its increased intelligence leads it to show some moments of genuine villainy, as it begins intentionally trying to kill Godzilla during the final battle, even laughing as it tries to drown him in sludge after throwing him into a pit. Hedorah also possesses awareness as in Godzilla: Final Wars, in spite of being brainwashed, it was visibly waving its arms in panic before Ebirah had his claw pierced its eye by Godzilla, pinned it before blasted by the latter's atomic breath.
Powers and Abilities[]
Hedorah is one of the toughest enemies that Godzilla ever faced. It feeds on pollutants as both substance and source of its powers in a comparable way to how Godzilla gained strength from nuclear energy. Notable abilities that it has are:
- Pollutant Manipulation and Absorption: Hedorah's primary power is manipulating acid-rich mud and toxic sludge out of pollutants that it consumes by either spraying them in the form of sludge chunks or corrosive toxic mist from its body, which also includes its ability to shapeshift.
- Shapeshifting: After further developing into a better form where its final form was more humanoid, Hedorah can morph into its flying form as means to take flight.
- Self-Liquification: Since Hedorah's body mostly composed of hazardous liquid sludge with the exception of the eyes and two white orbs in its body which function is unexplained, Hedorah can liquefy itself as it, please.
- Intangibility: Hedorah can also pass through solid objects to a limited degree, but enough to made both Godzilla's focused atomic breath and humans' conventional weapons merely pass straight through its disgusting body.
- Regeneration: Hedorah can regenerate on a whim, which contributes its intangibility.
- Swarming: Hedorah can split into multiple smaller Hedorahs and reform at will.
- Sludge Blasts: Hedorah can spray sludge chunks out of its hazardous body.
- Corrosive Mist: Hedorah can spray a highly acidic mist composed of concentrated sulfuric acid, which is capable of corroding any metal and completely disintegrating organic life. Normally used as jet propulsion when in its flying form.
- Shapeshifting: After further developing into a better form where its final form was more humanoid, Hedorah can morph into its flying form as means to take flight.
- Hedrium Ray: Hedorah's eyes can fire a red energy beam that can set objects on fire and burn the flesh off any opponent it strikes.
Trivia[]
- Hedorah is the second alien to fight against Godzilla, the first being King Ghidorah.
- Hedorah was meant to be playable in the two Godzilla games Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed, but was ultimately scrapped due to limitations of the game consoles. Hedorah did not make his playable debut until Godzilla: The Game.
- Hedorah is a homage to The Blob.
- While playing Hedorah, Satsuma was struck with appendicitis during the production. The doctors were forced to perform the surgery while he was still wearing the Hedorah suit, due to the length of time it took to take off. After the operation, Satsuma learned that painkillers have no effect on him.
- Hedorah looks similar to Shoggoth from its design, despite it being a lot more different and a bit more different from its design and everything else from Lovecraft's work and design