Meganulons are the secondary antagonists in the 1956 film Rodan, the 2000 film Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, and minor antagonists in Godzilla Singular Point. They are giant prehistoric Dragonfly kaiju.
History[]
Rodan[]
The Meganulon were a species of prehistoric dragonfly nymph which escaped a mass extinction in the past by burrowing underground. The Meganulon were awakened in the present day by volcanic activity at Mount Aso, and subsequently infiltrated and flooded a nearby coalmine in the village of Kitamatsu. There the creatures attacked two miners, Yoshizo and Goro, killing them both with their pincer-tipped claws. Colliery engineer Shigeru Kawamura and his fellow miners recovered Yoshizo's body, but could not find Goro. Local authorities, assuming that Yoshizo had been murdered by another human being wielding a weapon, launched an investigation to locate both the murder weapon and the murderer. The authorities dispatched a police officer and two miners to the flooded mine shaft where Yoshi's body was uncovered to try and locate Goro. However, the three met a grisly demise at the claws of a Meganulon that was hiding below the water which had leaked into the area.
The mounting deaths and Goro's still-unknown whereabouts prompted suspicion that the missing miner was in fact behind the series of killings. This suspicion was quickly dismissed when one of the Meganulon ventured out of the mine and entered the local mining village of Kitamatsu. The Meganulon attacked Goro's surviving sister, Kiyo, and her fiance, Shigeru, who fled to get help. Shortly after, the police arrived on the scene and ineffectively opened fire at the giant insect with their handguns while it bid a hasty retreat back to its lair. The police were quick to pursue the creature toward the mountain and continue firing at it, but their gunshots had no effect against the thick carapace of the ravenous insect. The Meganulon pounced and killed two officers who advanced too close before returning to the mine shaft, killing more innocents along the way.
With the killer finally revealed, and the gravity of the situation grasped, the JSDF was quickly dispatched to the area by Inspector Nishimura to exterminate the threat. Armed with mountable machine guns, a few regiments of soldiers, along with Shigeru and Nishimura, marched into the mine to hunt down the creature. While searching for the Meganulon, Shigeru entered the deepest part of the mine shaft and finally found Goro's butchered body as a Meganulon entered the mine shaft. The JSDF opened fire at the creature with their machine guns, but their weapons also proved ineffective. The Meganulon chased the humans back to the mine shaft, where Shigeru released a mine cart loaded with coal, which rolled down the shaft and collided with the insect, crushing its exoskeleton and killing it. However, another Meganulon emerged and attacked Shigeru as he tried to retrieve Goro's corpse. An earthquake suddenly struck, causing the tunnel to begin caving in, killing another Meganulon but trapping Shigeru in the mine.
Shigeru was able to regain consciousness after he survived the cave-in and realized that he was now trapped inside the Meganulon's lair, surrounded by hundreds of the monstrous insects. In the center of the chamber was a colossal egg, which hatched into the giant Pteranodon known as Rodan. Rodan proceeded to eat the entire group of Meganulon in the cave until he had enough strength to break through the ground and fly away.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus[]
The JSDF's elite anti-Godzilla unit, the G-Graspers, tested a miniature black hole gun called the Dimension Tide on an abandoned building in the outskirts of Tokyo. The test-firing was a success, but left behind a wormhole through which a Meganula entered the present day and left behind a giant egg before returning to the ancient past from whence it came. A young boy who had witnessed the test-firing, Jun Hayasaka, found the egg and brought it back to his apartment in the city, but dumped it into the sewer when it began discharging a strange ooze. Beneath the city, the egg split apart into countless more eggs, which hatched into Meganulon. The giant dragonfly nymphs backed up the water in the sewers, causing the streets of Shibuya to begin flooding. One Meganulon ventured to the surface and brutally killed a couple before scaling a nearby building and molting into a Meganula and flying off. While tracking Godzilla underwater, the G-Graspers discovered the carcass of a Meganula which he had shot out of the sky with his atomic breath.
Soon, the entirety of Shibuya was underwater, with authorities evacuating residents by boat. Hundreds of Meganulon crawled onto the side of a building and molted at once into a swarm of Meganula which flew to the remote island of Kiganjima where the G-Graspers prepared to fire the Dimension Tide at Godzilla. The swarming insects interfered with the weapon's ability to target Godzilla as they latched onto him and drained his energy through their stingers. Godzilla managed to dissipate the swarm by incinerating several Meganula with his atomic breath or crushing them with his tail, allowing the Dimension Tide to fire, though it failed to stop him. The surviving Meganula flew back to the flooded Shibuya, where they transferred the energy they stole from Godzilla into a giant Meganulon before dying. Infused with Godzilla's power, the giant Meganulon molted into the monstrous Meganula queen, Megaguirus. Megaguirus soon flew to the surface and set off in search of the rest of Godzilla's energy.
Godzilla Singular Point[]
Several parasitic Meganulon lived on Godzilla Ultima's skin as he rampaged through Tokyo, with some menacing Yun Arikawa after he crash-landed on Godzilla's skin.
Other Media[]
Godzilla Project Mechagodzilla[]
In addition to Megaguirus preying on refugees in Eurasia, Meganula were confirmed living in North Africa along with Rodan. Meganulon preyed upon United Earth soldiers taking part in "Operation: Great Wall," along with Rodan as well.
Godzilla Rulers of Earth[]
A Meganula was included among the "air" monsters in a cave mural on Infant Island.
Lucy Casprell and her team traveled to Brazil to investigate mysterious eggs that had been uncovered in a nearby rainforest. Just after Lucy and her team arrived, the eggs began to hatch, revealing Meganulon who were quick to attack any humans in the nearby area. As the Meganulon moved into São Paulo, Godzilla and Ebirah suddenly surfaced nearby and continued their battle on land. The Meganulon climbed onto Ebirah and pierced through his shell, while Megaguirus arrived and entered the battle. After Ebirah retreated, Megaguirus captured Godzilla and brought him to her nest, where he found hundreds of Meganulon and Meganula surrounding him. The Meganulon and Meganula climbed onto Godzilla and bit into his flesh, drawing blood. Angered, Godzilla released a nuclear pulse, which incinerated the insects and destroyed the nest.
Godzilla: Cataclysm[]
After the kaiju "gods" returned, a swarm of Meganula arrived in the refugees' village along with Megaguirus in order to feed on Biollante, who was still regenerating from her battle with Godzilla. Mothra arrived to protect Biollante and battled Megaguirus. The Meganula attempted to swarm and bite Mothra to protect their queen, but were promptly knocked away by her wings.
Godzilla Rage Across Time[]
In medieval England, a group of knights led by Gilder were seeking to slay a dragon believed to be the source of the Black Death. They soon happened upon a Meganulon, which some of the knights mistook to be the dragon. After killing several of the men, the Meganulon was slain by an axe to the head. Gilder refused to believe that the creature was the only evil to be found on their land, and soon encountered the "true" dragon - Megaguirus.
Trivia[]
- The Meganulon are based on the real prehistoric insect genus Meganeura, which lived during the Late Carboniferous Period and included some of the largest known flying insects. Of course, Meganeura never reached the size of the Meganulon that appeared in Rodan and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
- The Meganula are some of the smallest monsters to have ever fought a battle against Godzilla and survived.
- According to Shinji Nishikawa in his book Shinji Nishikawa: Drawing Book of Godzilla, a winged version of Meganulon (not a Meganula) was considered to make an appearance in a movie in 1991, after production of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was finished. Nishikawa drew concept art for the Meganulon and how a suit for the monster could be handled.
- A Meganulon-shaped plant appears in the Godziban episode "Fly! Toward the Future", appropriately eaten by Radon.
- The Meganulon are the only kaiju in Godzilla Singular Point to be animated entirely in 2D.
External Links[]
Meganulon / Meganula | Wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia
