| “ | How does it feel? Say hello to the knife I killed your father with. | „ |
| ~ Malness to Princess Selina. |
Malness is an assassin from the fictional Asian nation of Selgina, and the secondary antagonist of the 10th Anniversary Godzilla film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.
He was portrayed by Hisaya Ito.
Origin[]
Malness has an unknown past relationship with Princess Selina Salno, referenced when Malness states that the Princess would definitely recognize him if she saw him, and at the end of the film when Selina angrily calls Malness a traitor. It is possible that Malness is related to Princess Salno, a former friend of hers, or a member of her political party. Whatever the case, Malness became a professional assassin employed by the political opposition of the Princess, and was ordered to kill her.
History[]
Malness was tasked with bombing the airplane taking Princess Selina Salno to Japan. The plane exploded over Japanese waters, and the princess was believed dead. But when a strange woman claiming to be a prophetess from Venus who bore a striking resemblance to the princess appeared in Japan, Malness was sent to Japan with a team of assassins to finish the job, under threat of death. Malness and his assistants tracked the princess down to a hotel in Japan, where she was staying with Junko Nakanishi, a Japanese reporter. Malness and the assassins snuck into the hotel room while Junko was away, and encountered the woman they believed to be the princess. Malness at first doubted that this woman was the princess, as she seemed to not recognize him at all, but when she referenced a bracelet she was wearing earlier, Malness concluded that she was talking about the princesses' royal bracelet and decided to kill her. Before Malness could fatally stab her, the Shobijin, who were hiding in the room, turned off the lights and alerted Junko and her police officer brother Shindo that killers were in the room. Malness and his men engaged in a brief gunfight with Shindo before escaping through a window.
Malness continued to trail Shindo, Junko, and the princess, and followed them to a laboratory in the mountains. As Shindo and Dr. Tsukamoto prepared to perform shock therapy on the princess so as to hopefully restore her memory, Malness and his men broke into the laboratory and turned the voltage to fatal levels, intending to kill the princess without getting their hands dirty. Fortunately, all power to the lab was cut off when Rodan dropped Godzilla onto a power line. Shindo soon discovered Malness and his men in the lab and engaged in another gunfight with them. Shindo escaped the lab with Dr. Tsukamoto, the princess, Junko, and her friend Professor Miura and drove away in a vehicle, pursued by Malness and the assassins. During the chase, an avalanche caused by Godzilla's battle with King Ghidorah caused several large boulders to fall onto Malness' car, killing all of the other assassins. Malness exited the vehicle, wounded but determined to finish his mission. Malness took position on a hill and using his sniper rifle he shot grazed the princess on the forehead, causing her to fall onto a rocky overhang. Shindo jumped down to help her, and discovered she had regained her memory. Malness then opened fire on Shindo, wounding him in the arm. When the princess saw Malness, she angrily accused him of being a traitor. Malness grinned and reloaded his gun, preparing to finish the job for good. But just at that moment, a stray gravity beam fired by King Ghidorah struck the rocks above Malness, causing a small avalanche. One of the boulders collided with Malness and knocked him off of his sniper perch, sending him falling to his death in the gorge below.
Personality[]
Malness is a cold, harmful, manipulative, and calculating killer who shows virtually no emotion at all, and only briefly grins just before he is about to kill the princess with his sniper rifle. Despite his murderous, villainous, and destructive nature, Malness seems to only kill as a profession, and does not exhibit other sociopathic tendencies. In fact, he seems to want to avoid unnecessary killing. This is demonstrated when he waits until Junko leaves the hotel room before entering to carry out the hit, rather than just kill her beforehand. He also does not decide to kill the princess until he is absolutely sure it is her, even after his men urge him to do it anyway and get it over with.
Trivia[]
- Malness never removes his sunglasses in the entire film.
- Malness likely inspired the assassin character SSS9 from Godzilla vs. Biollante. Both characters are political assassins from foreign nations operating in Japan, both utilize sniper rifles, both antagonize the main human protagonists throughout their respective films, and both frequently wear full suits and sunglasses.
