Varan (In Japanese: バラン Baran) is the titular main antagonist of the 1958 Japanese film Varan the Unbelievable, and a supporting protagonist of the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters.
He was suit portrayed by the late Haruo Nakajima and the late Katsumi Tezuka.
Biography[]
Varan[]
Varan was worshiped by a village near the Kitami River as their mountain god. When a team of scientists visit the area in search for a rare species of butterfly, Varan disliked their presence and awakened from his slumber, killing the crew and destroying the village. When the national defense force invaded the river in which Varan came from, he proceeds to cause destruction across Japan before being presumably killed by a eating a bomb while underwater.
Destroy All Monsters[]
In 1999, 41 years after the incident at Haneda airport, a small, possibly infantile Varan is found living on the human monitored Monster Land. When the Kilaakian take control of the island, and its inhabitants, Varan disappears as the alien invaders global assault is initiated. After the control is broken, Varan joins the other Earth monsters in the fight against King Ghidorah at Mount Fuji, although he does not participate directly in the conflict itself. Once the space demon is defeated, the spiked creature returns to Monster Land to live out his days with the rest of the kaiju.
Trivia[]
- Varan's name comes from "Varanidae", the family that contains monitor lizards and komodo dragons.
- Varan is one of the few monsters in the Godzilla franchise who hasn't fought against Godzilla in any film.
