Godzilla/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Let's face it, there's a lot of Kaiju in this series of films, as well as other Toho films. Let's learn more about them. The main page is here.

Godzilla, Kaiju A-K

Godzilla

King of the Monsters

First appearance: Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters, 1954

The main monster himself. A giant, prehistoric aquatic reptile who lurked in the darkest depths of the ocean, until the fateful day a nuclear weapons test destroyed his habitat, caused him to absorb massive amounts of radiation and unleashed him upon the unsuspecting world. Born from the atomic fires, Godzilla was a metaphor for the horrors of nuclear destruction. Godzilla began as a neutral being, a living force of nature, but through the years he's also been a protector of the Earth, a monstrous engine of vengeance, and even a caring parent. One thing is constant, though: Godzilla is unstoppable, and will face all challengers with his size, power, ferocity, and devastating uranium heat ray.

  • Anti-Hero: Has run the gamut from villain to hero before settling in this position by and large. In the early years, he was Type IV to a Type I before becoming a full blown hero. In the Millennium series, when not villainous, he's a solid Type V. He tends to stick to that form later on.
  • Anthropomorphic Shift: During the Showa Era, Godzilla went from a fairly animalistic monster that fought using his teeth and claws (along with his Thermonuclear Breath) to something of an anthro-animal superhero who would pretty much fight using kung fu moves. This is up to and including an Ali-Shuffle in Monster Zero.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority - He's called the King of Monsters for a reason.
  • Badass
  • Bash Brothers: With Anguirus and Rodan, depending on the film.
  • Berserk Button - Though he already has a short temper, harming Godzilla's son is most definitely the very last thing you'll ever do.
    • He generally has a problem with stronger monsters beating up on weaker ones, as King Ghidorah found out.
  • The Big Guy
  • Breath Weapon: The most famous radioactive breath in the business.
  • Character Development: If one watches the Showa movies from first to last, one notices Godzilla progressing from cranky and destructive to cranky and apathetic, to slowly developing a mild, if distant respect for his new neighbors, the humans.
    • Likewise, Son Of Godzilla is the start of showing Godzilla's more compassionate side by having him not only adopt Minya as his son, but also hugging him to keep him warm as the island they are both on freezes over.
  • Combat Pragmatist: There is no honour when you're a four hundred foot tall reptile with an attitude problem.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Described in-universe as having characteristics of various dinosaurs. In addition, at least one incarnation is mutated from a Godzillasaurus, below.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Rodan and the first known male Mothra in Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. Appears to have continued this friendship with every generation of Mothra in the Showa Era, though the friendship was often rocky at best.
  • Flight: Godzilla has shown at least once (during the film Godzilla VS Hedorah) that he is capable of using his thermonuclear breath to propel himself through the air. Of course, it's never been shown or mentioned since.
  • Gaia's Vengeance: "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of man!"
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: It was the Heisei series that cranked Godzilla's healing powers up. G2K cranked it up to where a monster that stole it regenerated almost a quarter of its body in seconds.
  • Good Parents: For a giant city-destroying monster, he sure is a loving and protective father towards his son.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door
  • Human Popsicle: Buried Alive in ice at the end of Godzilla Raids Again, and in the beginning of Final Wars.
  • It's Personal: With Destoroyah (who killed his son) and Arch Enemy King Ghidorah. The latter is made quite explicit in one of the novelisations.
  • It Can Think: Godzilla has shown a surprising amount of cunning and intelligence throughout the films.
  • Jerkass: Has a particularly bad attitude in King Kong vs. Godzilla. Towards the the end of the fight Godzilla trips Kong with his tail. When Kong regains his balance he hits him again and laughs his head off!
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • The Juggernaut
  • Lightning Bruiser / Mighty Glacier: Depends on the film.
  • Manly Tears: Godzilla, The King, wept for his son, dead at the claws of Destoroyah.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: His most consistant character trait, up until GMK; the 1954, Showa, Heisei, 2000 and Gx M incarnations were all portrayed, ultimately, as sympathetic in some fashion, no matter how wrathful he was sometimes shown to be. To date, only the GMK version has been portrayed without sympathy.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: The GMK incarnation of Godzilla is the 1954 Godzilla re-animated and driven by the vengeful spirits of the forgotten soldiers who died in WWII to destroy Japan.
  • Papa Wolf - Only a complete moron would try to harm Godzilla's offspring.
  • Pet the Dog: Gets one near the end of the original film where he is found sleeping in the ocean. I think this quote from this review says it best: we have it here as its compassion reaches out to embrace even the destructive power at the center of its story. Here, for the first and last time, we catch a strangely touching glimpse of Godzilla at peace, going about the normal life from which forces beyond his control or understanding have so violently wrenched him. Even in the face of all the death and chaos, even as mankind strikes back with a power even more terrible than Godzilla himself, the film takes a moment to remind us that Godzilla, too, is in his way a victim.
  • Physical God: The original Godzilla was worshipped by the natives of Oto Island.
  • Power Trio: With Rodan and Mothra in the Showa Era.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: Justified as a nuke detonated atmosphere brings him back from a losing fight with the Super-X in Godzilla 1985
  • The Soulless: In one of the films he comes back as an undead white eyed monster possessed by evil spirits of dead WW 2 soldiers. Kananko explicitly said in interviews that the pure white eyes means either Godzilla had his soul exorcized by the evil spirits or he never had one to begin with.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Breaks out of his Iceberg Imprisonment during the events of King Kong vs. Godzilla to the surprise of a weary American Nuclear Submarine crew.
  • Serial Escalation: Godzilla's rage in "Destoroyah". Then there's the fact he'll get temporary upgrades in several movies.
    • His breath weapon was kicked up a notch, into red fire, after Rodan's heroic sacrifice in Mechagodzilla II.
    • "Destoroyah" started off with Godzilla's breath attack ALREADY being red, then kicked up to near nuke levels when his power level rises to near-critical near "Destoroyah's" end.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: Can stay underwater without going up to breathe. It's explained in the first film that Godzilla belongs to a family of transitionary marine dwelling dinosaurs. Godzilla's Revenge retroactively established that Godzilla is also able to breathe underwater, though he is apparently not an amphibian. It may be part of the mutations that gave him his powers.
  • Took a Level In Kindness: Son of Godzilla was when he started showing his more compassionate side.
  • Tragic Monster
  • Unstoppable Rage: Combine with Serial Escalation in Destoroyah. He's royally pissed when Destoroyah mortally wounds Jr. and then somehow that is topped off when Godzilla fails to save him. Easily the crowning moment of pissed-off for Godzilla.

Godzillasaurus

"See me as I was, not as I am today."

First appearance: Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, 1991

The dinosaur that would become the (second of the) greatest kaiju the world has ever known. During World War II, the Godzillasaurus lived on a small Pacific island that was then captured by the Japanese. American forces soon attacked the island and cornered the Japanese forces, until the Godzillasaurus appeared, chasing the Americans to the beach (and killing many of them with its feet and by knocking trees onto them). Gravely wounded by warship shelling, Godzillasaurus retreated into the jungle, having inadvertently saved the Japanese troops. A few years later the comatose dinosaur was caught in the blast of an A-bomb test and mutated into the second Godzilla, which attacked Japan in Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla vs Biollante. However, in 1992 the Futurians traveled back in time and teleported the injured Godzillasaurus to the Bering Strait, where he lay until the 1980's when the radiation of a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine revived and mutated him, and later a modern Japanese nuclear submarine stumbled upon him and was destroyed, the stronger present-day nuclear sources birthing a much larger, stronger, and angrier second Godzilla.

  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: So much so that a certain filmmaker is inspired by his sailor father's tales of UFO's and a prehistoric monster on a lush island.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Godzillasaurus' screams of agony are the roars of his most famous non-Toho rival, Gamera.
  • Stable Time Loop: According to this article, what happened in Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah was that instead of erasing the original Godzilla, the time travel adventure ended-up fulfilling one of these and created the Godzilla seen from Godzilla 1985 to Godzilla VS. Destoroyah in the first place. There is evidence in both the sequels (Vs. Space Godzilla mentioned Biollante as a possible cause for the Space G's origins) and in Vs. King Ghidorah itself (everyone remembering Godzilla; Miki sensing Godzilla, not the Godzillasaurus; the Godzillasaurus being placed in a spot that'd later served as the site of a nuclear sub crash; and lastly, the Godzillasaurus already being Godzilla when the JSSF sent a sub to the area to mutate the dinosaur).
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex: Averted, as it is a new unknown species, but Godzillasaurus definitely calls to mind the tripod-stance look of Tyrannosaurus in older films.

Godzilla Jr

Prince of the Monsters

First appearance: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, 1993

Godzilla's son in the 1990's Heisei series. Discovered as an egg on an island that was used as a nuclear waste dump site, he was taken to Japan, where he hatched. In contrast to Godzilla, Junior is a peaceful herbivore and kind to humans. He underwent large physical changes as he matured, from a very lizard-like newborn to a tubby big-eyed child to a proto-Godzilla teenager. Though killed by Destoroyah, Godzilla's meltdown released enormous amounts of radiation, which revived and empowered Junior, maturing him into a new Godzilla.

  • Badass Adorable: By the time of Godzilla vs Destoroyah. He's the first one to actually do some damage to the titular villain, one of the most Badass enemies in the whole franchise.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Even as a teenager, he didn't do much harm. When lead to Destroyah, though, he put up quite a fight.
  • Cute Giant
  • Determinator: Against Destoroyah
  • Disney Death: In Godzilla vs Destoroyah. But after the original dies, he is resurrected into an adult.
  • Gentle Giant: The most threatening thing he's ever done to humans is frighten a bunch of beachgoers.
  • Legacy Character
  • Morality Pet: For Godzilla throughout the Heisei series.
  • Teens Are Monsters: Only in strength. Teenage Junior's actually pretty friendly--unless you happen to be Destoroyah.
  • Took a Level in Badass: People liked Baby Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II) all right, disliked Little Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla), but he outgrew it to become a kick-ass teenzilla. And mopped the floor with Destoroyah in the process.
    • Final Wars was initially written as Junior's adventures, but it remains vague enough that one could still interpret it that way and see the movie as Junior surpassing his father in ass-kicking ability.
      • That interpretation leaves you wondering why Gordon aged so much in only nine years, though.
      • The original script in question, according to Word of God, had the movie take place in 2032, hence the handheld maser cannons, lasers, and other assortments of futuristic technology. Though that tidbit was eventually written out, one can assume it still takes place in the future.

Minilla/Minya

Son of the King of the Monsters?

First appearance: Son of Godzilla, 1967

Godzilla's son in the 1950's-70's Showa series, and in the latest film Godzilla: Final Wars. An enigma, his origins are unknown. Minilla's egg was uncovered by several Kamacuras on a Pacific island from inside a pile of rock. Godzilla soon appeared, having been drawn to the location by Minilla's powerful electromagnetic cries. Saving Minilla from the Kamacuras, Godzilla took the infant under his wing and began raising him (after a rough start). Minilla later faced Kamacuras, the spider Kumonga, and then participated in a giant brawl against King Ghidorah during an alien invasion. He later appeared in a young boy's dreams, and had a small but pivotal role in Final Wars.


Anguirus

King of the Monsters' Right Hand Mon

First appearance: Godzilla Raids Again, 1955

The second kaiju to appear in the franchise and Godzilla's first opponent. Anguirus is a giant, aggressive, carnivorous, multi-brained "Ankylosaur" with a spiked shell and long spike-lined tail. He's one of the "mundane" monsters, possessing only his teeth, claws, spikes and attitude to battle his foes. Anguirus makes up for his lack of flair with immense stamina and determination, and can take an incredible beating before going down while delivering as much as he gets. After almost defeating and being defeated by Godzilla, Anguirus has been one of his closest allies. While he's not very popular in Japan, he has a huge fanbase in America.

Bagan

Great ugly beast

First appearance: Super Godzilla for the Super Nintendo, 1993

The phrase "Better luck next time, buddy" best describes Bagan, a creature intended to be used in a handful of Toho daikaiju movies, none of which ever came to be: the original draft of The Return of Godzilla, Mothra vs. Bagan and Godzilla vs. Bagan, before finally appearing in the video game Super Godzilla. The Bagan in The Return of Godzilla is completely different from the later version of the beast, which would stay more or less the same in each of its subsequent "appearances." From a shapeshifting creature that heals with each change, to a protector of China freed from ice in the Himalayas seeking to punish mankind for global warming, to virtually unknown about what he was, to a creature from Earth's ultra ancient past controlled by alien invaders and containing the DNA of Godzilla and King Ghidorah, Bagan has possibly had the roughest history of all kaiju. He's only apparance has been in a video game called Super Godzilla for the SNES as the Final Boss. Despite this, Bagan has managed to gain quite a following, in part because of how powerful he is in the game requiring Godzilla to turn into Super Godzilla to stand a chance against him. His attacks in the game consist of claw slashes, shooting white stars that look like shurikens from his horns, and a white energy beam.

  • The Big Bad
  • Breath Weapon: A white beam from his mouth that does more damage than anything else in the game.
  • Final Boss
  • For Massive Damage: His attacks do more damage than anything else in the game.
  • Made of Iron: He's got the most health any enemy, and Godzilla's attacks will barely do anything to him, some don't even hurt him at all.
  • One-Shot Character: Like Krystalak and Obsidious, Bagan was in one video game.
    • Bagan also appeared in the little known 1998 Godzilla Studio Movie Tour along with fellow unmade monster Dogolas.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: Happens in Super Godzilla after he destroys all of Tokyo.
  • Rule of Cool: He gets three. Looms over to...
  • Rule of Three: For the original draft of Godzilla 1985, he was going to appear as a living giant totem pole of monsters, in Mothra vs Bagan, he was going to appear as a Chinese legend and for Super Godzilla, he is a monster brought to the modern day from Earth's "Ultra Ancient Past" by aliens and aside from his own formidable form and powers, also gains extra powers after having the DNA strands of Godzilla and King Ghidorah spliced into him.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Destoroyah and Monster X
  • What Could Have Been: Mothra fighting Bagan and a movie of the SNES video game, Super Godzilla.
    • And was considered for Godzilla Unleashed.

Baragon

Aaaawww, puppy! Too bad he wants to eat you!

First appearance: Frankenstein vs Baragon, 1965

A reptilian monster that survived the dinosaur extinction by going underground. Baragon has large floppy ears and a horn on his nose that glows to illuminate subterranean passages. He can also emit a beam of fire from his mouth to aid in digging and as a weapon. In his first appearance, Baragon was an antagonistic monster who fed on humans and cattle, which led to battle with Frankenstein and ultimately mutual defeat as the two were swallowed by the earth in a cave-in. From then on, Baragon's history was rocky, as his intended appearances in later films were removed or reduced to cameos as the Baragon suit was heavily modified to play Ultraman villains and was too badly damaged, so the costume had to be rebuilt, but it was not finished in time. Baragon finally returned to the screen in Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as a Yamato Monster, protecting Japan from the wrath of Ghost Godzilla. In contrast to Anguirus, Baragon has a so-so American fanbase but is very popular in Japan.

  • Acrofatic: For his stocky build, he's surprisingly agile. Especially so in the video games, where he fights by breakdancing.
  • Big Eater: Has a thing for eating cattle and people.
  • Bioluminescence Is Cool: His nasal horn glows. Helps him see underground.
  • Berserk Button: Harm Earth and he'll defeat you.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: In GMK. Leads to fighting Godzilla.
  • Breath Weapon: But only in Frankenstein Conquers the World and various games. Supposedly helps him burrow quicker.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: In Godzilla: Monster of Monsters for the NES, Baragon would occasionally face the screen to mock the player.
  • Dirty Coward: Causes major property damage and kills and devours dozens of people only burrow away without a trace, misguiding the authorities to blame the Frankenstein Monster.
  • The Cameo: In Destroy All Monsters he only two quick scenes. He's also had appearances in other shows such as Dragonball Z.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Sadly the receiving end to Godzilla.
  • Determinator: Pretty damned determined to kill Frankenstein's Monster and eat the cast. Determined to hold back Godzilla.
  • Dishing Out Dirt / Playing with Fire: Baragon can dig quickly and efficiently, and has used his ability to good effect (digging a trap for Godzilla, burrowing around to surprise Frankenstein). He also possesses a fiery beam weapon (either from his mouth or his horn depending on the media). In Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed Baragon can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions by digging.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Super-Evolved burrowing fire breathing Dinosaurs that is.
  • Fat Bastard: More rotund than most monsters and the antagonistic versions love to eat.
  • The Heart: Fits this to a tee in GMK who died trying to help buy time for people to escape from Godzilla.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: The Showa-era Baragon has the same roar as Varan.
  • Honor Before Reason: Baragon knew he couldn't defeat GMK Godzilla but faced him anyway, bad ass.
  • Spring Jump: A good leaper in all versions.
  • Tunnel King
  • You Shall Not Pass: Attempts this with Godzilla in GMK, is only able to buy valuable time for people to escape.

Battra

Demon moth will eat your family

First appearance: Godzilla vs Mothra, 1992

A dark version of Mothra, Battra is the protector of the Earth and its natural processes. However, he doesn't extend this to the creatures living on the planet, especially those that try to change or control the natural order. In ancient times, Battra destroyed the weather-control device of an advanced civilization and then devastated the population, drawing Mothra's ire. The two fought and defeated each other, returning to slumber until they were needed again. That time came in 1992, when a small chunk of an incoming asteroid impacted Earth, awakening Mothra, Battra and Godzilla. Battra sensed Mothra was awake and hurryied to find her, engaging Godzilla in battle. After a series of battles, Mothra and Battra made peace long enough to defeat Godzilla, though Battra was mortally wounded and died carrying Godzilla to sea, and Mothra left into space to stop the asteroid in Battra's place.

Biollante

"Feed me, Seymour!"

First appearance: Godzilla vs Biollante, 1989

After Godzilla's rampage in Godzilla 1985, his cells were collected from the wreckage and found their way to the hands of a scientist, who began using them to create a strain of bacteria that could feed on radiation and render it safe. However, his laboratory was bombed and his daughter killed in the roses she loved. Distraught, the scientist combined the G-cells with the rose bush, convinced that his daughter's spirit lived in the plant, giving rise to the gigantic repto-flora creature Biollante. Initially a towering plant with a toothy rose flower, she faced Godzilla and was defeated, her physical form burning into golden spores that ascended into the sky. Later, the spores returned when Godzilla was infected with the ANEB and Biollante revealed her newly-evolved crocodilian-like form, a towering behemoth of a creature. Fighting Godzilla to a draw, Biollante returned to the sky, where her particles could have later run afoul of a black hole and be changed into a creature of evil...

  • Anti-Villain: Despite her downright horrific appearance and the savage fight she had with Godzilla, Biollante may actually be one of the most peaceful monsters in the entire Toho canon.
  • Biological Mashup: Part Godzilla's DNA, part rose DNA, part human DNA. And with the ghost of said human inside.
  • Breath Weapon: Not a beam but her headed tentacles and second form spat acid.
    • Radioactive acid.
  • Combat Tentacles: Even used one to pierce through Godzilla's hand! OW!
  • Darker and Edgier: Her second form. Well her first one wasn't exactly pretty, but less ugly and more fragile.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Despite being the size of a small mountain she moves mighty quickly!
  • One-Winged Angel: One of the most frightening in all cinema.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In her second form she was much cooler and could take more hits from Zilla's breath weapon.
  • Ret-Gone: Averted. Despite the attempt to erase Godzilla via time travel, as this article ponts out (with evidence within the movie itself), the time travel plot in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah ended up fufilling a Stable Time Loop and instead of erasing Godzilla, it created the Heisi Godzilla in the first place; in fact, Biollante is mentioned again in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla as a possible means of how Space Godzilla came to be.

Dagahra

I'm BP, but with starfish for oil!

First appearance: Rebirth of Mothra 2, 1997

A monster created by the advanced seagoing civilization Nilai Kinai, Dagahra was meant to consume the toxins and pollution his creators fouled the waters. He did his work too well, however, and used the pollution he consumed to create toxic sea stars called Barems, which overwhelmed and destroyed the civilization. Falling into slumber, Dagahra later awakened from humanity's pollution of the oceans and resumed his mission, filling the waters with Barems and threatening the Earth. Challenged by Leo Mothra and temporarily defeating him, Dagahra was ultimately destroyed by Leo Mothra's new Aqua form, dissipating his Barems and purifying the oceans.

  • Blow You Away: He once created a water spout!
  • Creating Life: Was created in order to clean up pollution. But...
  • Flying Seafood Special: He swims, he flies, he walks on land...
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: The opposite happened and he contributed to that civilization's downfall.
  • Mook Maker: His Barem.
  • Sea Monster: In more ways than one.
  • Superpower Lottery: In addition to the regular heat beam, Dagahra has shoulder cannons, aerial and swimming capabilities, the ability to summon water spouts, his Barem, and lazer discs. No wonder Leo had trouble with him!

Desighidorah/Death Ghidorah

Four legs good! Two legs bad!

First appearance: Rebirth of Mothra, 1996

Returning to the roots of King Ghidorah, Desighidorah is a demonic space beast that ravages living worlds and leaves them as apocalyptic wastelands. Coming to Earth sixty-five million years ago, he engaged the ancient civilization (good grief, how many of these did Earth have?!) of Elias and their guardians, the Mothras. Desighidorah was defeated and sealed away, but not before destroying the Elias, most of the Mothras, and the dinosaurs. In the present, he was released by one of the three surviving Elias, Belvera, and began his destruction anew, defeating Mothra and her son. The larval Mothra matured to Leo Mothra and battled Desighidorah again, defeating him and sealing him away once again.

  • Clipped-Wing Angel: Desighidorah's wings had atrophied and become useless during his imprisonment, as well as his powers diminishing. After draining enough life energy his wings were restored and his power returned to full. It didn't help.
  • Expy: Of King Ghidorah.
  • For the Evulz: His main reason for making planets barren and lifeless.
  • Giant Flyer
  • Life Energy: Desighidorah feeds on the life energy of plants, draining worlds dry of all plant energy and leaving them to die.
  • This Ghidorah Is Different: Unlike King Ghidorah, Desighidorah is a quadruped, but still has wings. His abilities are also fire-based, and his color is a dark charcoal gray/black with red wings.
  • Playing with Fire: Spits fireballs from his mouths, has a fiery bite, and can open rifts in the ground to scorch foes with lava

Destoroyah

Death incarnate

First appearance: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, 1995

Arising from the graveyard that was created by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954, Destoroyah is a creature of nihilsm, anti-life in origin and function. Near-microscopic crustaceans that lived in anaerobic conditions were awakened and mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer, and they grew in number until they made their existence known in 1995 when they first attacked an aquarium, then an abandoned building, facing the JDF in combat. The creatures have a hive mind and can combine into larger and deadlier forms, from man-sized long-limbed crown-headed crustaceans to a Godzilla Junior-sized custacean and a flying squirrel-like flying form to their ultimate form, a towering demonic bipedal beast that towers over Godzilla. Their only weakness is extreme temperatures.

  • Achilles' Heel: Destoroyah does not deal well with extreme cold or extreme heat.
  • Arch Enemy: Many fans see him as this, even though he only appeared in one film.
  • Asteroids Monster
  • Badass: He is considered by many Godzilla fans to be the most powerful enemy Godzilla has ever fought. He's able to fight him to a near standstill even though Godzilla is both at the peak of his power and rage.
  • Breath Weapon: Of a similar compound to Serazawa's Oxygen Destroyer. Means he can suffocate another kaiju without being anywhere near it.
  • Captain Ersatz: Posses a hive-like mind and extend-able mandibles, along with the fight with military, seems similar to Alien.
    • Him being a bunch of smaller monsters forming one larger monster, going through different forms throughout the film, and being defeated by humans rather than by Godzilla alone is also quite reminiscent of Hedorah.
  • Diabolus Ex Nihilo: Comes out of nowhere in time to help kill Godzilla and end the Heisei franchise.
  • Dynamic Entry: The reveal of Destoroyah's final form is AWESOME.
  • Disney Villain Death: Well, sort of. He was frozen by the Super X-3 and fell to the ground, where he exploded on impact.
  • Evil Laugh: Present in the games, but also whenever the thing roars, one gets the impression of maliciousness.
  • Final Boss: Of the second franchise.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: Well, giant enemy pincered, monster with a shell.
  • Giant Flyer
  • Hero-Killer: Personifies the one weapon that killed Godzilla; does kill Godzilla Jr.
  • Hive Mind
  • It's Personal: Following its execution of Junior it certainly is.
  • The Juggernaut: His battle with Godzilla shows what happens when two of these go head to head.
  • Kick the Dog: Tries its best to kill Junior as slowly and painfully as possible in the above form.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down
  • Know When to Fold'Em: One of the few monsters to realize that retreating from a very pissed off Godzilla is a good strategy.
  • Laser Sword: His horn could extend into one and slice Godzilla apart.
  • Made of Iron: Despite being weak against extreme temperatures, Destoroyah survived repeated hits Godzilla's red spiral breath (though from the looks it hacking up blood it still did a lot of damage), which killed Mechagodzilla and Space Godzilla, two of the toughest opponents in the series.
  • Metamorphosis Monster: From microscopic organism, to insect sized monster, to ten foot killers, to Godzilla Junior sized Giant Flyer, to a towering demonic colussus larger than even Godzilla himself.
  • Mook Maker: Played straight and inverted. The big Destoroyah grew from a bunch of little ones joining together. It can break apart into smaller kaiju ones and swarm Godzilla.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The name is meant to sound like "Destroyer" after all.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Of Junior.
  • One-Winged Angel: As James Rolfe said, "He looks like the goddamn devil."
  • She's a Man In Japan: Subverted, a number of fans, possibly mostly American, call Destoroyah a 'she' though Toho officially stated it's a 'he', despite the fact Destoroyah is more of an 'it'.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": It's pronounced "Destroyer" but spelled Destoroyah due to odd rights with using the word.
  • Time Abyss: He's the oldest monster of the Godzilla franchise born in the Precambrian Era. How old is he? Around 2.5 billion years old.
  • The Swarm: Destoroyah could break apart into smaller monsters and attack from everywhere.
  • Sword Beam: What its horn may have really been doing.
  • What Could Have Been: Destoroyah was supposed to have a different death. After his fall to the ground he was supposed to get up and Godzilla would grab him by the horn and pound him, as he began to meltdown, until the beating, radiation and freezer weapons finally cause him to die. It was thought that it took away from Godzilla's death, so they had him explode on impact.
    • He was also apparently considered for Final Wars, though the size of his role was unknown. Considering Final Wars was initially conceived as Junior's adventure, maybe it was going to be a rematch.
  • The Worm That Walks: Made up of thousands of microscopic creatures pretending to be one giant one.
  • Villain Decay: In the newest American comic series, it's defeated with one freeze bomb (which only freezes about half of it) followed by one hit from Anguirus. You can even see half of the unfrozen corpse remaining, which means he he really should have been able to regenerate, or at least break back up into a swarm.
  • Villain Exit Stage Left: Tries to fly away when Godzilla starts to take the upper hand, but gets shot down by Super-X3 in the attempt.
  • Zerg Rush: See The Swarm.

Dogora

"Krystalak is yummy."

First appearance: Dogora, 1964

A mysterious creature that lived in the upper atmosphere of Earth. Growing from a microscopic cell bathed in solar radiation caught by the atmosphere, Dogora began to feed on materials rich in carbon, like coal and diamonds. Now a titanic one-celled being encased in a cryastalline shell, Dogora feasted on minerals, using its tentacles to scoop them up, until it was temporarily destroyed by missiles. That was a big mistake, however, as each piece began to grow into new Dogoras. It was discovered that bee and wasp venom was deadly to the cells, in the final battle was used to utterly defeat the Dogoras.

Ebirah

Pass the butter

First appearance: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, 1966

An enormous shrimp mutated by the nuclear waste of the terrorist organization Red Bamboo, Ebirah guarded their island base and destroyed any ship that attempted to arrive or leave. The terrorists used the juice of a special plant on the island to drive away the monster so their ship could come and go. During a stormy night, Ebirah attempted to attack two men trying to get to the island to save the enslaved natives of Infant Island, only to engage in battle with an awakened Godzilla. Driven away, Ebirah returned the next day and destroyed Red Bamboo's escaping ship before battling Godzilla again, which ended when Godzilla ripped off Ebirah's claws and forced him to retreat. In the Millennium series, Ebirah returned in Final Wars as one of the monsters controlled by the Xilliens. He attacked an industrial site and fought against the JDF's mutant human soldiers, then was later killed by Godzilla along with Hedorah.

  • Angry Guard Dog: Somewhat averted, the evil organization has to spray a chemical to keep Ebirah at bay but he doubles as a good guard dog for keeping prisoners ON the island.
  • Call Back: First seen in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, returned in Final Wars. (AMA doesn't count, stock footage).
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Poor Ebirah was way out of his league. The movie was originally going to have King Kong instead of Godzilla, but when the studio couldn't use Kong they substituted Godzilla... without beefing up Ebirah in any way.
  • Friendly Enemy: Played 'throw the rock' with Godzilla in the middle of their fight! (I'm scraping here I know).
  • Giant Enemy Crab: Well, shrimp...
  • The Lancer: To Hedorah.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite getting being put on the edge of defeat by mutants with lasers in Final Wars, Ebirah got a scene to shine, more than Caesar, Hedorah, Kumonga, and maybe even Mothra got.
  • Stock Footage: Kinda appeared in All Monsters Attack, but not really, zero new scenes.

Frankenstein's Monster

Mmm...cows

First appearance: Frankenstein vs Baragon, 1965

When Frankenstein's Monster was killed in the fire of a burning windmill, his heart survived. Captured by the Nazis during World War II and shipped to Hiroshima, Japan, the still-living heart was caught in the atomic bomb and irradiated. Ten years later, a wild boy was captured and found to be the heart of Frankenstein's Monster, having regenerated a body. The boy quickly grew into a towering giant and escaped into the countryside. Wrongly blamed for the actions of the monster Baragon, Frankenstein battled the reptile in a long and brutal affair that ended with both kaiju entombed in the earth. However, Frankenstein's legacy would continue...

  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Frankenstein's Monster, grown to Kaiju-size!
  • Gentle Giant: Is willing to eat cattle, but won't even think of touching a human.
  • I Love Nuclear Power: The heart of the Frankenstein monster was shipped by the Nazis to Japan so it wouldn't fall into the Allies's hands. What city was the heart shipped to? Hiroshima.
  • I Am Not Shazam: Naturally, he is only referred to as "Frankenstein" for most of the film.
  • Healing Factor: One of his hands was left behind after escaping some shackles. It regrows.
  • Misblamed: Before Baragon's existence is revealed, Frankenstein is accused of the disappearance of people and destruction of towns.
  • What Could Have Been: There was a plan for him to fight Godzilla!
  • Wild Child: Was discovered as a normal-sized feral boy in the ruins of Hiroshima. He was well taken care of and began to grow. And grow. And grow...
  • You Shall Not Pass: Intervenes just in time to stop Baragon from finishing off the scientists that raised him, plus the subsequent towns and villages.

Gabara

"Gimme your lunch money, punk!"

First appearance: All Monsters Attack, 1969

A bully of a beast, Gabara exists only to torment the small and meek Minilla. Created in the imagination of a young boy (who is often bullied by an older boy named Gabara), he uses his size and electrical powers to antagonize Godzilla's son. After Minilla gains enough confidence from Ichiro and turns the tables on Gabara, he takes his frustration out on Godzilla, leading to a throw-down between the pissed-off father and the angry bully. Gabara is defeated and runs away, out of the movie and (so far) out of the series.

  • Biological Mashup: Face of a cat, green warty skin, reptilian belly. Officially, though, he's an ogre.
  • Butt Monkey: Out of universe, there have been ZERO talks about bringing this guy back. And notice how he didn't have an entry until now?
  • Dirty Coward: Prefers to pick on Minya since he can't fight back. Learned the hard way that Godzilla is a papa wolf.
  • I Am Not Shazam: Thanks to a TNT music video, people used to think he's Baragon thanks to a mis-label.
  • Jerkass: He is content with beating up Minya.
  • Shock and Awe: The horn on his head generates electricity but only when he touches his target.


Gaira (Green Gargantua)

The Not-So-Jolly Green Giant

First appearance: War of the Gargantuas, 1966

Appearing a year after the death of Frankenstein and Baragon, Gaira is one of two monsters that grew from pieces of Frankenstein left after the battle. The piece that became Gaira washed out to sea, and he grew into a vicious and flesh-hungry monster that prized humans as food. After he began to attack ships and devour their crews, the JDF lured him into a trap, but he was saved by his "brother" Sanda. However, Sanda turned against him when he learned of Gaira's dietary habits, and their blood feud carried them across Japan, through Tokyo, and into the sea, where both perished in a volcanic eruption.

  • Big Eater
  • Cloning Blues: Sort of, he was born/regrown of a piece of Frankenstein's Monster that washed out to sea after his fight with Baragon. Unlike his "dad" and "twin", though, he became a man-eating menace.
  • Evil Twin: If only because he eats people, but that's enough for his brother Sanda to turn against him.
  • Healing Factor: Shares it with his brother and their "father", Frankenstein's Monster from Frankenstein Conquers The World.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: He loves to munch on humans.

Ganimes

Ebirah's got nothing on me.

First appearance: Space Amoeba, 1970

After Gezora was defeated, the space amoeba Yog fled the lifeless body and entered a stone crab, mutating it into the gigantic Ganimes. It returned to the island to seek vengeance on the humans who attacked it, but was quickly destroyed by explosives. Yog then possessed a second stone crab, as well as a turtle and one of the humans, creating another Ganimes along with Kamoebas. The two monsters attacked the islanders, but the man broke Yog's control and released a swarm of bats, which interfered with Yog's control of the monsters and caused them to battle each other. Both Ganimes and Kameba fell into a volcano, destroying them and Yog once and for all.

  • Brainwashed: When possessed and grown by Yog. When freed by the sound of bats, the second one immediately battled with Kameba.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: Giant stone crab. Well, two of them.
  • Spiteful Spit: Spits blinding saltwater into the enemy's eyes.
  • Touched by Vorlons: The Yog entity possessed it and both stone crabs grew to Ganimes.
  • Weakened by the Light: His eyes are very sensitive to anything too bright.

Gezora

"Back off Oodako, the Giant Squid is mine!"

First appearance: Space Amoeba, 1970

A cuttlefish possessed by the space amoeba Yog and grown to enormous size. Gezora then terrorized the small island Yog had crashed onto, killing several people before being driven off by the high-pitched cries of a swarm of bats and later a pod of dolphins. His final attack saw Gezora lured into a field and set alight by gasoline and torches, mortally injuring the beast and driving it into the sea, where Yog fled the dying body to find another host.

  • Bioluminescence Is Cool: Can emit a low level light when it's dark.
  • Brainwashed: Yog possessed him and terrorized the Seiga Island inhabitants.
  • Combat Tentacles: Tries to grab people with them. Takes a few tries.
  • Dojikko: Incredibly clumsy on land.
  • Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Despite his rather lacking abilities, and his fairly swift defeat in the movie, Gezora was brought back for the NES videogame Godzilla: Monster of Monsters with no explanation. He's neither particularly powerful nor even appeared in any Godzilla films, so his appearance in the game is somewhat confusing, since even Mogera and Baragon have been in Godzilla films, though admittedly not during the Showa Era, which was what the game was based on. However, given that Gezora, like Ganimes and Kameba was brainwashed and slain and Yog itself is also dead, this may just be a case of Throw It In on the part of Toho. Sadly for Gezora, he's less than useless in the game as an antagonist, with no real weapons at all and is one of the easiest monsters to beat within a few rounds at most. Sadly, all the monsters on the previous level are constantly brought back in the next level right up until the finale, so this poor guy gets Curb stomped repeatedly. Almost makes you feel sorry for him.
  • Harmless Freezing: He can emit a very cold atmosphere around himself, freezing the water around him and giving any human he touches frostbite.
  • Kill It with Fire: His greatest weakness. After he is severely wounded by fire and retreats into the sea, Yog abandons him.
  • Sea Monster: Unlike Ganimes and Kamebas, Gezora is a regular sea monster Yog possessed.

Gigan

Total Badass

First appearance: Godzilla vs Gigan, 1972

One of the most unique and popular of Toho's monsters, Gigan is a cyborg serial killer with a sadistic streak a mile wide. Flesh and mechanics combined into a cycloptic engine of destruction, Gigan lives to destroy and mutilate. His first attack on Earth was alongside King Ghidorah as part of the Space Hunter Nebula M aliens' attempt to take over the planet, and he fought against Godzilla and Anguirus. Though the battle was long and brutal, Gigan and King Ghidorah were defeated and fled back into space. Gigan returned the next year to aid the giant beetle kaiju Megalon in his attack on Japan, and faced Godzilla and Jet Jaguar. Once again Gigan fled into space after being bested, abandoning Megalon to his fate. Gigan was then captured by the alien race known as the Garoga, modified and sent back to Earth, where he faced Godzilla and then Zone Fighter in combat and met his end on the wrong side of Zone Fighter's Meteor Missile Might. Gigan returned in 2004's Final Wars as the vanguard of the Xillien invasion force. Having seeded earth with the M mutant gene 12,000 years in the past, Gigan was defeated and mummified by Mothra, then awakened by the Xillien leader to attack mankind. He was defeated by Godzilla in Antarctica, recovered and modifed, and aided Monster X against Godzilla before being destroyed for good by Mothra.

  • Alien Invasion: No one knows where Gigan's from, but it clearly isn't anywhere around here. He's been the vanguard of two separate alien invasions thus far (more if you include some of the video games).
  • Ax Crazy: Only a maniac would wear a buzzsaw in his stomach. Or attach chainsaws to their hands. Judging from his love of slowly carving his opponents to pieces, calling him insane--even by Kaiju standards--is not much of a stretch.
  • Badass
  • Bash Brothers: With Megalon and King Ghidorah.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: His Hook Hands and double-bladed chainsaws.
  • Chainsaw Good: When upgraded in Final Wars, his hook hands are replaced with double-bladed chainsaws, which deliver pain to both Godzilla, and by accident, Monster X (impressive considering Monster X is the only monster to survive Godzilla's thermonuclear breath in the film). He also has a buzzsaw in his stomach.
  • Cyber Cyclops
  • Cyborg: There is a living being inside all of that machinery.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Caused Godzilla to bleed for the first time. But then again what did you expect from a giant monster with a buzzsaw in his stomach?
  • The Dragon: To King/Kaiser Ghidorah in two different movies.
  • Eye Beam: Video games had an odd tendency to give him this despite him not having one in his first two appearances, which most games based him on. The films added it in Final Wars.
  • Epic Flail: Final Wars he was given four chain-shots to pulls his enemies closer to his buzz-saw.
  • Heroic Sacrifice : In Godzilla Island, after spending several episodes trying to defeat Godzilla, Gigan ends up sacrificing himself to stop Kumasogami (Called "Doroin" in the series) and ends up being turned into a sword.
  • Hook Hands: What he normally has in lieu of actual hands.
  • Know When to Fold'Em: Gigan tends to bail whenever the going gets rough. Whether this makes him a Dirty Coward or not is sort of up to you.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: The addition of his double-bladed chainsaws in Final Wars; it's implied they upgraded the rest of his systems as well.
  • Mutual Kill: With Mothra in Final Wars.
  • Off with His Head: In Final Wars, where this seems to be the only way to disable him.
  • Psycho for Hire: Despite being under-mind control he seems to enjoy all the stuff he does, and the sheer number of alien species he's fought for can cause one to wonder if he is, in fact, for hire.
  • Redemption Equals Death / Heroic Sacrifice: Occurs in the series Godzilla Island where he sacrifices himself to kill another evil monster.
  • Stripped to the Bone: On Zone Fighter.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Between his Zone Fighter appearance and Final Wars where he goes from a vaguely chicken looking monster to an incredibly Badass cyborg who serves as The Dragon to Ghidorah himself. He takes another level within Final Wars, following his initial defeat by Godzilla. Upgraded with better tech and chainsaws instead of his trademark Hook Hands he's able to injure Godzilla and kill Mothra before being eliminated.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: The Xillians resurrect him twice in Final Wars; the second time they add chainsaws to his already impressive arsenal.

Gorosaurus

Everybody walk the dinosaur!

First appearance: King Kong Escapes, 1967

A giant dinosaur who originally lived on Mondo Island before being relocated to Monster Island. Gorosaurus is similar to Anguirus in that he is a "no-frills" type of monster, lacking a breath weapon or energy powers and relying on his size, strength and devastating kangaroo kick. While attempting to eat some visiting scientists, Gorosaurus became embroiled in a duel with King Kong, a savage battle that ultimately ended with Kong breaking Gorosaurus' jaw and sending him into retreat. He survived and healed, and was soon placed on Monster Island, where he soon became part of the Kilaak invasion of Earth, attacking Paris (originally it was Baragon, but the suit was on loan). When humans broke the mind control, Gorosaurus joined Godzilla and the other monsters at Mount Fuji and was one of the main participants in the battle with King Ghidorah, where his determination and kangaroo kick turned the tide against the space monster. Gorosaurus also has an incredibly robust fanbase.

  • Ascended Extra: Because Baragon's suit was so damaged and he had to be reduced to brief appearances in Destroy All Monsters!, Gorosaurus got to fill in for him for the attack on France and the battle at the end. He even got to show just how awesome he was by being the monster that turned the tide against King Ghidorah.
  • Badass Normal: Just got his fangs, and that kangaroo jump kick! Yet he went up quite well against King Ghidorah!
    • Hell, it was thanks to Gorosaurus that they were able to defeat Ghidorah. He's the only monster who brought him down, and twice at that.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex: Possibly. He looks more Allosaurus than Tyrannosaurus, especially his three-fingered hands. But he was originally King Kong's adversary, so yeah.

Hedorah

"I have come for Captain Planet."

First appearance: Godzilla vs Hedorah, 1971

An alien creature that came to Earth to feed on mankind's pollution. Starting as tiny tadpole-like things living in the ocean, the "baby" Hedorah began to seek each other out and combine into an ever-larger form, becoming a giant quadruped mound of shambling muck and filth. In this form Hedorah left the water to feed on pollution straight from the source and soon encountered Godzilla. The two had a short and inconclusive confrontation, which would become a common occurrence as Hedorah continued to grow larger and stronger. The filthy beast then assumed a new form, a UFO/slug-like flying form that left acid mists in his wake, killing thousands and destroying anything it touched. He then faced Godzilla on Mount Fuji in a towering bipedal form, using his own sludge and eye-lasers as weapons. Only through a combination of Godzilla's power and mankind's ingenuity was the pollution-born monster stopped, his body dehydrated to powder.

  • Alien Invasion
  • Asteroids Monster: Played straight and reversed, actually. It starts out as trillions of polution eating organisms that are very tiny that pull themselves together as they go through their life cycle--getting bigger. Rip the bugger apart, though, without dehydrating/burning it well enough, those remaining pieces will get up and try to get back to the main organism ASAP.
    • Briefly, two Hedorahs exist simultaneously. The younger one split off from the elder when the latter fought Godzilla, then they recombined to form the gigantic form in the picture above. They split again when the elder is killed by Godzilla. This is only barely mentioned even in the Japanese version and not really explained at all in dubs.
  • Badass: Showa Era Hedorah damn near killed Godzilla, providing him with his most difficult fight up to that point. Even Mechagodzilla didn't come that close to killing him.
  • Body Horror: Yoshimitsu Banno, the producer of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, even acknowledged that Hedorah's eyes were meant to resemble vaginas. There's a red beam fired from the area where the clitoris would be. And then there's the scene where Godzilla punches his hand straight into one of these vageyenas and causes a dark, sludgy liquid to come out.
  • Butt Monkey: In Final Wars Hedorah didn't even get introduced before getting its butt kicked by Godzilla!
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: At one point Hedorah is hanging out by a factory, leaning over the smokestacks and sucking up the smoke and pollutants. And he closes his eyes in bliss while nodding a little. Duuuuuuuude...
  • Dummied Out: Yes, he was gonna be a playable character in Godzilla Unleashed but he was scrapped due to complex cell shading that was required due to his blob like form, as well as due to his changes of forms, which were impossible to do with the Wii. However its sound files are still left in the game and Hedorah's wire frame also appears in the game but cannot be used.
  • Evil Laugh: Yes, it proved a kaiju can have this.
  • Eye Scream: Shoots Godzilla in the eye with acid sludge, doesn't get better. Godzilla repays it in due course at least.
    • He also gets stabbed in the eye by Ebirah in Final Wars before Godzilla uses his atomic breath to destroy both of them.
  • Flying Saucer: Gets around its slow speed by being able to transform into this, WITH LIGHTS and SPARKLES!
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Red and orange.
  • Metamorphosis Monster
  • Mighty Glacier: Its adult form.
  • My Brain Is Big: It appears that at certain times its brain will rise out of its head.
  • Shaky POV Cam: When Godzilla confronts it a second time, during the day, and he wrestles it to the ground, there is a brief shot from Hedorah's POV when the Big G pulls back to punch it.
  • Silicon-Based Life: Hedorah feeds on toxic chemicals, but the creature itself is stated in-universe to be a mineral lifeform, with a base composite of crystallized carbon that bonds with waste particles. This is why it needs to be moist and why electricity is so deadly against it; if it dries out, it becomes nothing but dust.
  • Spring Jump: The other way it got around its Mighty Glacier statues.

Jet Jaguar

He jock it made of steel!

First appearance: Godzilla vs Megalon, 1973

A robot created by Dr. Goro Ibuki, the Seatopians stole Jet Jaguar to guide Megalon in the vengeance on the surface world. Once Ibuki regains control, Jet Jaguar is sent to recruit the help of Godzilla. Once he returned, he gains sentience of his own and somehow grows in size to fight Megalon. He was doing well until Gigan came along but was saved by the arrival of Godzilla. Together, they drove back both monsters and they parted on good terms. Originally going to get his own show, Jet Jaguar didn't get his debut and was tied in legal troubles with Tsubaraya. These troubles were eventually settled in time for the Godzilla video games, where he was much better recieved.

Kamacuras

You don't have a prayer...

First appearance: Son of Godzilla, 1967

Not one monster but a number of them, the Kamacuras, or "Gimantis", were a species of praying mantids on Sollgel island which had been radiated and subsequently grown to roughly the size of humans. After an intense storm laced with nuclear fallout lashed the island, they grew large enough to attempt to prey on Minilla. Two of them fell to Godzilla and the third became the meal of Kumonga. After their appearance in Son they were limited to basically cameo shots whenever the action drifted to Monster Island. In Final Wars, they returned, gaining a camouflage ability and the skill to destroy a Gotengo-level craft. He fell easily to Godzilla.

  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: And you think he'd be more of a threat since he's a praying mantis...
  • Giant Mook: Godzilla wipes the floor with them! No seriously he does!
  • Kick the Dog: Forcing Minilla to hatch so they can try to feast on him before Godzilla destroys two of them.
  • Red Shirt: Just Watch Son of Godzilla. Godzilla kills two of them. And the last one is eaten by Kumonga.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The Final Wars version put up a fight against one of the EDF crafts and eventually destroyed it! Also gained camouflage powers!

Kamoebas/Kameba

I premiere dead

First appearance: Space Amoeba, 1970

After Yog's second host, the mutated rock crab Ganimes, was fatally injured, the parasitic alien retreated from the body and divided itself into two halves before possessing another rock crab (which became a second Ganimes) and a rock turtle, mutating it into a giant predatory version called Kamoebas. These two monsters working in tandem almost finished off the humans, until they used their weakness to ultrasonic waves to disrupt Yog's control over them, causing the two behemoths to fight and drag each other into a volcano, which destroyed the Space Amoeba once and for all. Kamoebas makes a cameo appearance in Tokyo S.O.S., washed up on a beach after having been killed by Godzilla.

King Caesar

Arf, I say.

First appearance: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, 1974

A strange monster that resembles a humanoid Shisa, or guardian dog-lion spirit, King Caesar is the protector of the Azumi Royal Family. A construct of stone over a mechanical endoskeleton, he is vital to a prophecy of a monster that would destroy the world. The invading Simeans believe this means MechaGodzilla, so they do anything in their power to prevent to its revival. But King Caesar is revived and squares off against MechaGodzilla. The battle doesn't go in his favor until Godzilla arrives. Together, they manage to destroy MechaGodzilla. King Caesar returns to dormancy, and isn't seen again until Godzilla Final Wars. One of many monsters under Xilien control, he attacks Okinawa and fights Godzilla. Like Rodan and Anguirus, he is spared in defeat.

  • Attack Reflector: One eye absorbs beams, the other shoots it back.
  • Call Back: Not seen since Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, at least until Final Wars.
  • Golem: His body is composed of rock and earth. An interesting cutaway image also shows that King Caesar is actually a construct with an internal metal framework covered with stone.
  • King of Beasts: He's part lion.
  • The Lancer: Not the most effective one to Godzilla but still...a lancer.
  • Pet the Dog: Like Rodan and Anguirus, allowed to live since he was an ally of Godzilla in Final Wars.
  • Shown Their Work: King Caesar's role in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is very similar to that of the Shisa in Okinawa folklore.
    • In fact, the song used to awaken him roughly translates into "Kill the dragon, King Shisa!" which references a famous Okinawa legend in which a Shisa is awakened in order to slay a dragon that's terrorizing the people much like how King Caesar is awakened to kill Mechagodzilla.
  • Spell My Name with an "S"

King Ghidorah/Mecha-Ghidorah

The great King of Terror

First appearance: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster , 1964

One of several kaiju that have different origins depending on what film series one is talking about. In the Showa continuity, he is introduced as a rapacious space-faring demon, who wanders the galaxy destroying worlds for his own amusement -- ironically, he is actually a puppet monster being controlled by alien invaders in all of his appearances except for two movies (and his introductory movie isn't one of them)! In the Heisei continuity, he is the result of exposing three genetically engineered pet-creatures called "Dorats" to the same explosion that created Godzilla, in order to create a mutant bioweapon that could be used to conquer the world. When Godzilla killed this Gidorah, its remains were salvaged and rebuilt with cybernetics to create Mecha-King Ghidorah, which was used to fight the rampaging Godzilla. In the Rebirth of Mothra series, he is depicted as what his introductory movie claimed he was; a space-traveling living disaster that takes cruel delight in the destruction of life.

  • Alien Invasion: A Cosmic Horror for hire.
  • Anti-Hero: Type V in the finale of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, where Mecha-Ghidorah is a villain being controlled by the heroes to stop a rampaging Godzilla.
  • Arch Enemy: The top contender for the title; he's opposed Godzilla across eight movies and four continuities. Both he and Godzilla seem to take it personally too.
  • Armless Biped: In fighting games, he uses his left and right heads as arms to lift an opponent up.
  • Back from the Dead/Not Quite Dead: Often.
  • Badass: One of the few monsters to consistently overpower Godzilla. At his weakest he's still able to fight the big guy to a draw.
  • Big Bad: King Ghidorah not only became Godzilla's (and all life in the universe's!) arch-nemesis in the original series but he also became the Big Bad in the Rebirth of Mothra series (even having an Expy in one film) and even fought Zone Fighter on his own show twice and ended the fight in a draw.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Mecha-Ghidorah returns from the future just in time to stop a crazed Godzilla.
  • Breakout Villain: Has become the definitive Godzilla villain to many.
  • Breath Weapon: Lightning for King Ghidorah; Mecha-Ghidorah adds a laser.
  • Chest Blaster: Not quite, but Mecha-Ghidorah can deploy an enormous clamp and electrical cables from his chest armour.
  • Cosmic Horror: He's destroyed countless worlds that had life, some with civilizations more advanced and powerful then ours.
  • Cyborg: Mecha-Ghidorah, who has a mechanical head and wings, plating over his chest and legs, and a vast array of built-in weapons. How much of him is mechanical tends to vary depending on the media and the continuity.
  • Disc One Final Boss: In Godzilla vs King Ghidorah where Godzilla beats him and takes over as Big Bad. King Ghidorah doesn't take this lying down, returns as Mecha-Ghidorah and fights Godzilla to a Mutual Kill. King Ghidorah and Mecha-Ghidorah also serve as literal Disc One Final Bosses in several of the Godzilla video games.
  • Draconic Demon: King Ghidorah is often portrayed as a sadistic sociopath who lives to destroy everything in his path, and is one of Big G's most hated enemies. Legendary Pictures' Godzilla: King of the Monsters in particular makes him out to be the Kaiju equivalent to Satan, complete with hellish imagery during his rampages.
  • The Dragon: Plays this role to various aliens.
  • Dynamic Entry: When Showa Ghidorah re-awakens from a meteorite it's bad ass.
    • King Ghidorah is never without a Dynamic Entry. In every movie he's in, he somehow makes his entry epic. This also extends to his expies, as Kaiser Ghidorah's transformation from Monster X is equally awesome.
  • Evil Laugh: His trademark cackle is very recognisable.
  • Expy: Has two in Desighidorah and Kaiser Ghidorah. It's worth noting that many fans believed Kaiser Ghidorah to be King Ghidorah.
  • Final Boss: The Kilaaks deploy him at the end of Destroy All Monsters, after their control over Godzilla and the other monsters is broken; he procedes to fight all ten of Earth's monsters at once. His Expy, Kaiser Ghidorah, does the same thing in Final Wars. As far as video games go, King Ghidorah has been the final boss in Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, and Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters, while in Destroy All Monsters Melee, Mecha-Ghidorah serves as the final opponent in Mechagodzilla's Adventure Mode.
  • For the Evulz: In Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, the Mothra trilogy, and any of the other films where he is a self-employed Big Bad.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Mecha-Ghidorah can fire a laser from his central, mechanical head.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Heisei King Ghidorah starts out as three tiny batlike creatures. One nuclear explosion later and you've got a Cosmic Horror who's ready to take out most of the planet.
  • Giant Flyer: Emphasis on the giant part. He towers over Godzilla himself.
  • The Hero: GMK Ghidorah was The Hero and The Big Guy of the Guardian Monster Trio.
  • Hero-Killer: Billed as such and usually lives up to it, forcing one team-up after another in order to take him down. In Godzilla vs King Ghidorah Mecha-Ghidorah the two of them even fought to a Mutual Kill.
  • Humongous Mecha: In a weird way, Heisei Mecha-Ghidorah, who had a cockpit built into his chest from which Emi could operate his weapons systems and direct his actions.
    • Mechanical Monster: Mecha-Ghidorah, with extra emphasis on monster.
    • Robeast: Mecha-Ghidorah's mechanical parts seem every bit as alive and enraged as his living ones.
  • It's Personal: He and Godzilla certainly seem to take their rivalry this way. Made explicit in the Scott Ciencin novel, Godzilla vs. The Space Monster where Ghidorah's mockery of his victims, revelry in destruction, and general sadism have Godzilla wanting his head(s) on a platter.
  • Large and In Charge: He's often The Big Bad, at least The Dragon, and is one of the largest--if not the largest--of Toho's monsters, towering a good hundred feet above Godzilla's head.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Always big, always fast, typically very strong. This is also true in the video games, although some of them slow Mecha-Ghidorah down in order to compensate for his higher defence.
  • More Than Mind Control: Emiko may be piloting Mecha-Ghidorah but it's pretty clear he wants to be there.
  • Multiple-Tailed Beast: He has two long tails.
  • Mutual Kill: Mecha-Ghidorah and Godzilla in the 1991 film.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: He can be interpreted as this.
  • Nuclear Nasty: Heisei continuity.
  • Off with His Head: A few times. One time this resulted in him getting a mechanical one and coming back stronger than ever.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Our dragons are viciously evil Cosmic Horrors.
  • Planet Eater: Planet killer anyway.
  • Psycho Electro: Has Shock and Awe powers. Definitely a psycho.
  • Psycho for Hire: When in the employ of various aliens. He really seems to get a kick out of his work, letting out one Evil Laugh after another. Made explicit in the novelization, Godzilla vs The Space Monster, where Ghidorah's constant mockery of his victims is one of the many, many things that makes Godzilla want to kick his ass.
  • Put the Laughter In Slaughter: He never, stops, cackling, usually intensifying it as he reduces major metropolitan centres to rubble.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Well, the Mecha-Ghidorah version.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Arrives concealed in a meteor in Three-Headed Monster and Rebirth of Mothra 3.
  • Shock and Awe: GMK version has an electric bite. All versions spit lightning, or gravity bolts.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, Mecha-Ghidorah succeeds in stopping a superpowered Godzilla where King Ghidorah could not.
  • Walking Armoury: Mecha-Ghidorah, who boasts lasers, electric cables, and a massive clamp in addition to King Ghidorah's lightning spitting heads and its own immense size.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Heisei King Ghidorah was rebuilt into Mecha-Ghidorah; this plotline also appears in several of the video games.
  • Worf Effect: Occurs in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah to show how tough Godzilla is. Mind you it was Super Godzilla, where a Godzilla got pumped up into an even more powerful monster by a nuclear sub!
    • He then promptly returns as Mecha Ghidorah and fights Godzilla to a Mutual Kill.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Or drain their lifeforce. All of the Godzilla characters have probably killed children at some point, but Ghidorah's the only one we see specifically targeting them.

King Kong

Copyright Nightmare

First appearance: King Kong vs Godzilla, 1962

  • Badass Normal: Started off as this in the movie then...
  • Badass Abnormal: Was given electricity powers to help even the odds.
  • Darkest Africa: Inverted, the King actually hails from the pacific islands.
  • Everything's Better With Apes: Yep.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover
  • The Rival: In a meta-sense.
  • Shock and Awe: Electricity makes Kong stronger, and he can channel electric shocks through his hands.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The first brief battle Kong quickly runs away from Godzilla's fire breathe, and then internally getting his ass kicked during their fight. An electricty power up later and the battle ends with Kong ignoring two fire blasts and running through them to get to Godzilla.
  • What Could Have Been: Originally, Toho wanted to bring back Kong in the 90s for a rematch against Godzilla. Unfortunately, RKO Pictures wanted too much money for it.
    • Even sooner than that, There were plans for a direct sequel back in the 60's. Following the immense success of the first film (which when adjusted for inflation would be the highest grossing Godzilla film of all time), it's not surprising that the first concept considered for the next Godzilla movie was one that pitted the two monsters against each other again. Literally titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla, the proposal for this project was written by Shinichi Sekizawa, who also worked on the previous film, and the draft was submitted in 1963. Unfortunately, the concept never got past the proposal stage, and a more fleshed out script was never commissioned while Sekizawa's ideas for the sequel remain mostly unknown.
    • Was also considered for Godzilla Unleashed but was scrapped because Universal was charging a $1,000,000 for him. Each of the monsters Toho charged pipeworks only cost $25,000 U.S. dollars and there's 23 of them in the game in total. Do the math.

Krystalak

Diamonds are a girl's best-AAARRRRGH!

First appearance: Godzilla: Unleashed, 2008

Appearing in the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed, Krystalak is a semi-sentient crystal organism, spawned by the same meteor shower that threatens to rip the earth apart. Born from the crystals, Krystalak seeks to bring all of their energies together to make himself into the ultimate monster. Like the crystals that spawned him, Krystalak is quite resistant to most forms of energy weapons, forcing opponents to fight him tooth and claw. Krystalak can expel crystal shards in a solid stream, bludgeoning foes from a distance. Krystalak can also overload his crystal heart - sacrificing his own physical integrity to damage everything nearby. With no ties to any existing alien or terrestrial powers, Krystalak seeks power at any cost. Like Obsidius, Krystalak is an original creation by Atari but is also considered part of the kaiju family by Toho.

  • Action Bomb: Can overload his heart to create a powerful shockwave that damages everything around him. The manual says he sacrifices his structural integrity, but in the game itself it only consumes all of the energy bars.
    • It's a safe assumption this is another aspect that was glitched/botched in the final release of the game.
      • Doubtful, since several other monsters have special abilities that also require all four energy bars to use.
  • A God Am I: Krystalak seeks to bring all of the crystal energies together to make himself into the ultimate monster.
  • Breath Weapon: A beam of crystal energy.
  • Immune to Bullets: Krystalak is very resistant to ranged attacks, forcing foes to fight him in melee.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Fast and pretty strong, but his ranged attacks are rather weak.
  • One-Shot Character: Like Obsidius, Krystalak was created for Godzila: Unleashed and hasn't appeared in anything else so far.
  • Power Crystal: Born of the crystals that impacted Earth at the beginning of the game. In fact, his body is practically a living crystal.
  • Spikes of Villainy: His back is completely covered by crystal spines. His tail ends in a ball of crystal spikes. He even has a line of crystals as a beard!

Kumonga

"I'll squash your shoe under me!"

First appearance: Son of Godzilla, 1967

A giant spider native to Sollgel Island. It is implied the creature was this large even before the weather experiment. Awakened by a falling rock carelessly cast into its pit during a skirmish between Minilla and the last Kamacuras, Kumonga crawled out in pursuit of both the scientists and Godzilla's son, additionally killing the Kamacuras. Before the spider could poison his son, Godzilla arrived and a long battle ensued, with Minilla joining the fray after freeing himself. With their combined efforts, the two monsters set Kumonga aflame, presumably killing it. This was not the case, as Kumonga was present during the battle against King Ghidorah decades later. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kumonga was used as a another kaiju pawn by the Xilliens and was easily defeated by Godzilla in New Guinea.


Kaiju M-Z

Maguma

Giant walrus from hell

First appearance: Gorath, 1962

  • Executive Meddling: The Monster Boom caused executives to insert giant menaces in any movie possible - like Gorath.
    • ...And then he was edited right the hell back out by American execs for the US release.
  • Our Monsters Are Weird: A giant walrus awakened when rockets were attached to the South Pole to steer the earth away from an oncoming rogue star. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • What Could Have Been: Was originally going to be in Destroy All Monsters.

Manda

"Have you seen Atreyu?"

First appearance: Atragon, 1963


Mechagodzilla

Once, twice, three times a robot

First appearance: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, 1974

Mechagodzilla is actually three separate robots. The first Mechagodzilla (Showa) was created by the Simians in their bid to conquer the Earth. It was initially disguised as Godzilla to discredit the monster, but it was exposed by Anguirus, who saw through the disguise. It badly damaged Anguirus before confronting the real thing. It was eventually taken down by the combined efforts of Godzilla and King Ceasar. The Simians rebuilt Mechagodzilla and tried again, this time also enlisting the help of Titanosaurus.

The Heisei Mechagodzilla, by comparison, was built by Humans as a defense against Godzilla and other Kaiju, via reverse engineering the tech that created Mecha-Ghidorah. It was given an artificial diamond coating that allowed it to absorb the energy of Godzilla's atomic breath and store it to its main weapon: the Plasma Grenade. Mechagodzilla II battled Godzilla in Kyoto when he came to rescue Godzilla Jr. and ended up fighting Rodan as well. Was destroyed when Rodan died and gave Godzilla his red spiral breath.

The Millennium Mechagodzilla, also known as Kiryu, was also constructed by Man, this time using the bones of the first Godzilla that attacked Tokyo in 1954 as a base. It was armed with an Absoulte Zero cannon, which could freeze targets solid. Unfortunately, it's OS was also tied to Godzilla's DNA, and it tended to suffer from the Call of the Wild a little too often...

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Kiryu, who went berserk on occasion.
  • Alien Invasion: Showa Mechagodzilla, who serves as The Dragon to the Simians in the films. The Heisei Mechagodzilla is this to the Vortakk in Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee.
  • An Ice Person: Kiryu's Absolute Zero Cannon
  • Arch Enemy: Has faced Godzilla in every continuity and is second only to King Ghidorah in number of appearances.
  • Armour Is Useless: Averted so hard. Mechagodzilla's armour is one of the few things that consistently stands up to blows from Godzilla's radioactive breath, not to mention kaiju size fists, claws, teeth, and tails.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The Absolute Zero Cannon. It freezes and crushes whatever it hits, but it requires Kiryu to stand still and charge it for several seconds, meaning Godzilla can either dodge or counter before it fires. In fact, the only time Kiryu successfully fires it AND hits Godzilla is at the very end of the movie. Kiryu charged it while carrying Godzilla out to sea.
  • Badass: Especially the Showa version, who despite being a clutzy looking, old fashioned Tin Can Robot took on Godzilla and King Ceasar and damn near did them both in.
  • Chest Blaster: Heisei's Plasma Grenade and Kiryu's Absolute Zero Cannon/Triple Maser.
  • Combining Mecha: Heisei Mechagodzilla can connect with the fightercraft Garuda to gain a pair of Shoulder Cannons.
  • Continuity Nod: The first Millennium Mechagodzilla had a blue weapon-backpack (later silver) that looks awful similar to the Mechagodzilla-Garuda combo.
    • Also Showa's rainbow eyes were reincarnated as Heisei's mouth-beam attack.
  • Cyborg: Kiryu was made using the original Godzilla's skeleton and DNA. In the dub of the 1974 film, the first Mechagodzilla is referred to as a Cyborg, but no reason for it is given.
  • Darker and Edgier: Terror of Mechagodzilla is a darker and more serious film that dealt with questions of the humanity of a cyborg, love, and suicide, compared to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Mechagodzilla seems to lampshade this with his dark gray paint-job and spikier fingers.
  • Deflector Shields: The original Mechagodzilla could deploy a force field by rotating its head rapidly. This made hurting him very, very difficult.
  • Eagle Land: In the Mark Cersani books, Heisei Mechagodzilla was built by America and Japan, but more or less owned by the US. This is justified in the Cerasini books because not only have Godzilla and his fellow Kaiju become worldwide threats, a great chunk of the Kaiju are currently in or near the United States and there is a great deal of paranoia that Godzilla might decide to come back to the US and they barely survived their first go-round with him.
  • Energy Absorption: Heisei Mechagodzilla.
  • Evil Knockoff: Especially the first one, who was controlled by planet conquering aliens and had no qualms about killing pretty much anything that got in its way.
  • Eye Beam: Showa and Heisei only.
  • Final Boss: Heisei Mechagodzilla is the final boss of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee no matter who you play as (unless you use Mechagodzilla; then Mecha-Ghidorah takes over that role). Mechagodzilla 2 is the final boss of Godzilla: Monster War.
  • Freeze Ray: Kiryu's Absolute Zero Gun.
  • Haunted Technology: Kiryu is possessed by the ghost of the original Godzilla.
  • Hero Antagonist: The Heisei and Millenium Mechagodzillas, both of which are owned and operated by the Japanese Self-Defence Force.
  • Hero-Killer: Mechagodzilla always comes very close to killing Godzilla. The Showa era version plays this the straightest, as Godzilla was at his most heroic when the two of them clashed, and the big lizard had to ally with King Ceasar to have even a hope of defeating him.
  • Humongous Mecha
    • Killer Robot: The original Mechagodzilla was designed to murder anything it came across. Later versions were piloted by humans, although Kiryu still went berserk once.
    • Mechanical Monster: The original Mechagodzilla may look like a clunky seventies robot, but is incredibly powerful nonetheless, and every bit as vicious/dangerous as this trope requires.
    • Robeast: All of them, but particularly the original Mechagodzilla.
  • It Only Works Once: In "G.vs.MG" Mecha is beaten by getting his head torn off. In "Terror" Godzilla tries this again, only the aliens were ready for it. They made Mecha's head easier to snap off, freeing him, and gave him a secondary, smaller head in the neck.
  • Kick the Dog: The original Mechagodzilla's beatdown of Anguirus was the tip-off that we shouldn't be cheering for this guy.
  • Macross Missile Massacre
  • Made of Titanium: All the Mechagodzillas are ridiculously hard to damage, standing up to repeated blows from Godzilla's radioactive breath (and in Showa Mechagodzilla's case, flat out No Selling it). This is in addition to whatever Deflector Shields and other forms of armour they might be equipped with.
  • Meaningful Name: The Name "Kiryū" can be translated as "Mechanical Dragon".
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: The Heisei Mecha was defeated in its first fight with Godzilla. By combining with Garuda it formed Super Mechagodzilla who put up a bigger fight.
    • Kiryu subverts this in its second movie. The freeze gun is too damaged, and is replaced with a tri-maser gun instead, a great deal weaker weapon.
  • More Dakka: Every Mechagodzilla unloads every single weapon at Godzilla at least once in every movie. Showa Mechagodzilla is especially notable for this.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Showa Mechagodzilla does this to Anguirus. It's not pretty or pleasant to watch, and mechanical or not, the bastard seems to enjoy doing it.
  • Off with His Head: Showa Mechagodzilla was decapitated twice by Godzilla; only the first one stuck.
  • Psycho Electro: The original could deploy a powerful electric current.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Kiryu
  • Robotic Psychopath: The original Mechagodzilla is doing exactly what it was built to do.
  • Robotic Reveal
  • So Last Season: The second Showa Mecha could lose his head and keep fighting. Much to Godzilla's chagrin.
  • This Is a Drill: Kiryu's drill hand.
  • Tin Can Robot: The original, proving that even the clunkiest, most barrel-bodied oldschool robots can still be bloody horrifying.
  • Villain Team-Up: Showa Mechagodzilla allied with a mind-controlled Titanosaurus during its second appearance.
  • Walking Armoury: All of them. The original (a Tin Can Robot if ever there was one) packed Eye Beams, a forcefield, a powerful electric current, a Wave Motion Gun, and enough missiles to equip the Red Army.


Mechani-Kong

KAIJU NOT MUNKY

First appearance: King Kong Escapes, 1967

  • Evil Knockoff: One of the earliest examples of the "Mecha-insert name here" monsters, beating out Mechagodzilla by seven years.
  • Humongous Mecha
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Well, a strobe on top of his head.
  • What Could Have Been: Toho had planned to bring him back in the 90s to fight Godzilla after they were unable get the rights to use King Kong (See above). Unfortunately, RKO Studios pointed out that Mechaki-Kong looked TOO much like King Kong and forced Toho to scrap the idea...despite the fact that Mechani-Kong is a TOHO owned character.


Megaguirus

God save us from the Queen

First appearance: Godzilla vs Megaguirus, 2000

  • Big Creepy-Crawlies
  • Call Back: The Meganulon appeared in Rodan as bullet-proof village terrors, only to become lunch for a newly born Rodan. Not seen until Godzilla X Megaguirus, where they are shown to be juvenile Meganula who serve a queen, Megaguirus.
  • Flash Step
  • Fragile Speedster: In contrast to Godzilla's Mighty Glacier. She's one of the fastest monsters in the series, and she can still take a physical beating like a champ. Fire, however, will bring her down easily, as demonstrated when she weathered all of Godzilla's attacks just fine, but went down immediately the second he got a direct hit in from his atomic breath.
  • Hive Queen
  • Made of Explodium: Blows up toku-style when she dies.
  • Oh Crap: Once when Godzilla pretends not to know she's behind him, grabs her stinger with his tail. The second when Godzilla pulls a monster of a jump attack. Another time when she seemingly pierces his head, only to find out he caught the tip of her stinger with his mouth.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: All she did was lose a pincer, but the effect was the same.
  • Slasher Smile: The Queen was rather expressive and got a few wicked grins before pulling a misdeed.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Went from Rodan-food to being a threat to Godzilla.

Megalon

"Is this the Big Bad Beetleborgs audition?"

First appearance: Godzilla vs Megalon, 1973

A dimwitted subterranean kaiju vaguely resembling a giant beetle with drills for hands, Megalon was worshipped as a god by the underworld civilisation, Seatopia, which tried to deploy him to conquer the surface.


Moguera

Mecha-Gonzo

First appearance: The Mysterians, 1957

The original Mogueras were used by the Mysterians as a shock trooper in their invasion of Earth. It rampaged across Japan, taking out a power plant and ravaging a town before it was destroyed while crossing a bridge. The Mysterians deployed a second Moguera to defend themselves against the JSDF, but it suffered a mishap with it's angle of attack...

The second M.O.G.U.E.R.A., like Mechagodzilla II, was built as an anti-kaiju weapon. Consisting of two massive vehicles, the Land Moguera and Star Falcon. Unfortunately, it's mission against Godzilla was interrupted by the appearance of a second Godzilla from the depths of space. The M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and its crew found themselves in a three-way battle when the new Godzilla proved to be no friend of the original.

  • Butt Monkey
  • Call Back: Not seen since The Mysterians until getting revamped for SpaceGodzilla. Oddly enough, Moguera appeared in the Nintendo game.
  • Chest Blaster: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. had a large Maser cannon built into it's stomach.
  • Combining Mecha: Can break off into top and bottom halves, forming a burrowing Drill Tank (top) and a flying machine (bottom).
  • Executive Meddling: Like Maguma mentioned above, there was not originally going to be a monster in The Mysterians, but Tomoyuki Tanaka isnisted that there be a monster of some kind in the movie. In fact, Moguera was actually goign to be a flesh-and-blood monster before it was decided that he would be a robot.
  • Eye Beams: shared by both versions.
  • Drill Mole
  • Drill Tank: Land Moguera
  • Fragile Speedster / Glass Cannon: Not surprising, since MOGUERA was built to be a mobile artillery platform. In the fighting games he's one of the fastest monsters in speed and has the highest weapon stat, but pays for it with low defense and mediocre melee power. In The Mysterians, Moguera is destroyed when it falls into a revine.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type
  • Glorious Mother Russia: In the Mark Cerasi's Godzilla books, it was Russia that created Moguera.
  • Guest Fighter: Moguera, along with Mothra and a statue of Godzilla, appears in the 48th episode of Sonic X (in his The Mysterians look, with some alterations). He chases the characters around and then fights Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge for a few minutes until he's destroyed by Sonic throwing a bomb inside his body.
  • Humongous Mecha: One of the earliest in film, he debuted in 1957 (six years before the Tetsujin-28/Gigantor anime).
    • Moguera was more of a Robeast, while M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was a traditional mecha.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard / Karmic Death: In The Mysterians. During the JSDF's attack on the Mysterian's dome, A short lived second Moguera burrows beneath a Markalite Cannon toppling it over, only to be crushed by the massive piece of military equipment itself.
  • Meaningful Name: "Mogura" means mole in Japanese.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Despite being much weaker than most of the non-robotic monsters, the second Moguera was able to both hold its own in a three way battle between it, Godzilla and Space Godzilla; [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?

even managing to severely wound the latter]]. It didn't last long when drawing the full attention of one monster though.

Monster X / Keizer Ghidorah

Double the monsters, double the fun

First appearance: Godzilla: Final Wars, 2004

The last and most powerful monster Godzilla fought in Final Wars, or to put it more bluntly, the only monster in the film that could actually prove a match for him. Sent down in a meteor that destroyed Tokyo, he Godzilla fight, Monster X initially holding the upper-hand. The Xilians then send an upgraded Gigan to make sure Godzilla dies, but Gigan is killed in the battle by Heroic Sacrifice by Mothera. After a Beam-O-War between Godzilla's atomic breath Monster X's eye beams, which ends in a draw, Monster X transforms into the quadrupedal dragon Keizer Ghidorah and nearly kills Godzilla. Godzilla is saved however, by being sent power from the mutant soldiers, which allows him to easily overwhelm and kill Keizer Ghidorah.

  • All There in the Manual: Neither Monster X or Keizer Ghidorah ever have their names spoken in the movie. And Toho's official documents refer to Ghidorah as "Monster X-II". Likely to avoid spoilers with their trademark logos.
  • Badass
  • The Dragon: To the Xillians
    • Dragon Ascendant: Keeps fighting long after they're defeated (in fact he doesn't turn into Kaiser Ghidorah until they have been).
  • Dynamic Entry: Keizer Ghidorah's entrance is pretty epic. He even gets lightning!
    • Ditto for Monster X, with him slowly floating down behind Godzilla like something out of Dragonball Z.
  • Evil Laugh: Gives a pretty creepy one when he begins transforming.
  • Expy: Of King Ghidorah, to the point where a lot of people thought he was King Ghidorah. But hey--you gotta end the series with a grudge match.
  • Final Boss: Of Final Wars, and consequently of the series as a whole for now.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Godzilla destroys the holographic rogue planet Gorath with his breath. When the smoke clears, down floats Monster X. He was inside Gorath, but until then there was no hint of him at any point.
  • Gravity Master: Keizer Ghidorah's gravity beams finally act like such. He lifts Godzilla and throws him around using his beams, and drags him across the ground through buildings and debris.
  • Large and In Charge: Monster X is of a size with Godzilla; Kaiser Ghidorah is even larger.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Monster X is extremely fast and can fight Godzilla hand to hand.
  • Off with His Head: Loses two of them towards the end of the battle.
  • One-Winged Angel: From humanoid Monster X to quadruped three-headed Keizer Ghidorah.
  • This Ghidorah Is Different: Like Desighidorah, Keizer Ghidorah is a quadruped, but has King Ghidorah's heads, wings and golden color.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: During the climax of the film he bites Godzilla's arms, and neck, and proceeds to try to drain the life-force from him.
  • Psycho Electro
  • Psycho for Hire: If his behaviour in the battle is anything to go by.
  • Shock and Awe: Monster X fires electrical beams from his eyes and the "eyes" on his "shoulder pads".
  • Shout-Out: To both Bagan and DesGhidorah.
    • Likewise, his entrance of arriving from inside a meteor is similar to how the original King Ghidorah first appeared way back in 1964.
  • What Could Have Been: Was considered for Godzilla Unleashed, but dropped.

Mothra

I'm your little butterfly

First appearance: Mothra, 1961

  • Action Girl: Since 1961. Sometimes subverted in that at least one Mothra has been male, specifically the one seen in Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, though to be fair, that Mothra has a female twin, as both made their first appearance in Godzilla vs. Mothra the year previous. Where the twin vanished off to, nobody knows, but since we see Mothra in adult form in 1966, at least one of them showed up in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, and the implication is that the one in 1966 is the female twin. As for the male twin? Who knows at this point?
  • Badass - And how! Mothra is one of the few who has gone up Against Godzilla and come away with more victories than losses, something few other Kaiju can say. Her son is no slouch either in Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. While the female twin appears to be MIA, the male twin, still a larva, breaks up a battle between Godzilla and Rodan to try to convince them to help him save the Earth and mankind. When they basically tell him to fuck off, HE DECIDES TO TAKE ON GHIDORAH ALONE. And remember, this is a BABY. Barely six months to a year old. It's never stated how long Mothra normally takes between larva and moth form, but this one is at least half a year to a year old, is considerably weaker than Godzilla or Rodan, and decides that since the other two are being dicks, he's going to take on a monster he knows he can't beat alone, just to get it through the skulls of the other two that Ghidorah is a major threat. It works.
  • Berserk Button: She's pretty peaceful for a giant monster. Just don't touch her egg or the Shobijin.
  • Characterization Marches On
  • The Chick: Is also The Smart Guy, especially in the case of one of the few male Mothras. In Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster he breaks up the fight between Godzilla and Rodan and gets them to help fight the title monster. How? By going off to fight Ghidorah ON HIS OWN to get it through their heads that Ghidorah is a threat to everyone. It works.
  • Crisis Crossover: Possibly the first to start linking all the Kaiju movies together.
  • Deflector Shields: One of her powers in the Godzilla X Mechagodzilla film.
    • In Battle For Earth her scales reflected Godzilla's ray back at him.
      • Also seems to be his/her power in Godzilla: Save the Earth, as it cannot enter Rage Mode.
  • Determinator: Despite being fragile she has a lot of guts. As a larva she braved the ocean, trekked across a city, and withstood masers[1] in order to rescue the Shobijin. As an adult, she grabbed Godzilla's tail and dragged him away from her egg for several hundred meters. And let's not forget the male larva in Ghidorah who gives up on getting Godzilla and Rodan's help and crawls off to brave the fury of King Ghidorah all alone. And just will not stay down no matter how many times Ghidorah shoots him with his gravity beams. He actually impresses Godzilla and Rodan so much with this stunt that they join forces with him to drive Ghidorah off the planet!
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The only kaiju who can boast of defeating Godzilla in nearly all of her appearances with him.
  • Enemy Mine: With both Battra and Godzilla on occasion.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Godzilla and Rodan in the case of the male Mothra in Ghidorah during the Showa Era, and this friendship seems to have somewhat translated to the sister in subsequent films, whom has a somewhat belligerent but not entirely antagonistic relationship with Godzilla after this film. Also appears to be the case of the third generation of Mothra larvae in Destroy All Monsters, as it seems to be allied with every monster on Earth during the film and the entire gaggle seem to be more or less friends by the end of the flick.
  • Fragile Speedster: She can fly but she is quite easy to damage.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: The Mothra of the Heisei films could fire them from her antennas.
  • Gentle Giant
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Ready to give her life to stop Godzilla, worked a little better against Gigan. Her son was ready to do the same against King Ghidorah to bring Godzilla and Rodan to the aid of humanity. Luckily for him, the other two Kaiju come to his aid and they form a Power Trio to defeat the space dragon.
  • I'm Not Dead Yet!/Toho Death/Disney Death In Godzilla Final Wars, Gigan fires two buzz saw/ninja star/boomerang type weapons from concealed launchers in his chest. Mothra avoids these, and disperses some of her scales (a golden dust of sorts) into the air. Gigan then fires his laser at her. The scales ignite, causing a massive asplosion that seems to kill Mothra and causes Gigan to evidently forget the saw blades he fired earlier and turn his back on the blaze. Well, they circle back around (made clear by a brief pass through the asplosion that briefly causes a disturbance in the flames) and decapitate Gigan, causing the remaining body parts to become disoriented and confused. And then SURPRISE! Mothra wasn't quite dead, comes out of the fire and flies kamikaze-style into the headless Gigan, making an even bigger asplosion that kills both monsters.
  • Image Song: The one that the Shobijin sing to her.
  • Lady of War: Oddly, yeah. She's the only monster we know for sure is female in most incarnations, is always played as quiet and understanding, is willing to sacrifice herself for others at a moment's notice, is very feminine in appearance (seriously, she's a freaking butterfly) and kicks more ass than anyone save perhaps the titular character.
  • The Lancer: To GMK's Ghidorah, also doubled as The Smart Guy.
  • Legacy Character: How many Mothras have we gone through? Like ten?
    • the original Mothra; her and her babies in Godzilla vs Mothra; at least one baby out of the pair in Ghidorah whom in both sub and dub versions is claimed to be male, meaning that the other twin is probably still around since later versions are claimed to be female, and the female twin apparently pops up in Sea Monster; that one's baby shows up in Destroy All Monsters!; another appears in a scene on Monster Island in Godzilla vs. Gigan. In the heisei era there's a new Mothra in Godzilla and Mothra: Battle For Earth; And then there's the original back again and producing two offspring in Tokyo SOS; yet another version altogether in Final Wars; and finally still another Mothra and her son Leo Mothra in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. Yeah, that's a lot of Mothras.
    • Her mythology is at least somewhat based on the phoenix, so it could be argued that she is sort of reincarnating through her offspring. How this works when she had two babies is beyond me.
  • Mama Bug
  • Monster Is a Mommy: Often leaves an heir behind before fighting.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: The freakin' Rebirth of Mothra version!
  • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted, somewhere Mothra will ALWAYS have an egg somewhere to carry on the legacy.
    • Except in Final Wars.
      • That we know of.
  • Physical God: Is worshipped by the natives of Birth Island.
  • Power Trio: With Godzilla and Rodan in the Showa era. With Baragon and KING GHIDORAH (!!) in the Millennium era!
  • Take Up My Sword: Mothra tends to leave heirs, most prominent in the 1st Rebirth film.
  • Taking You with Me: Mothra knows she will die even if she were to kill Godzilla in "Mothra vs. Godzilla." Also how she defeats Gigan in Final Wars.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Often the case with Mothra allying with Godzilla, her relationship with Godzilla isn't as smooth as Angurius and Rodan's. Averted in GMK where the guardian monsters become True Companions. Her teamups with Battra tend to go like this as well.
  • The Smart Guy: Alternating with Rodan she has to be more careful due to being rather weak but her wits make up for it. Also the larvae use strategy to stop Godzilla in Mothra vs. Godzilla.
  • Superpower Lottery: Really REALLY varies from film to film. Originally she could fly, then she could spread poison powder. Then the Heisei version could shoot lasers and make barriers. Then the GMK version gave her needles, then the Godzilla X Mechagodzilla gave her a barrier to reflect Godzilla's blast.

Mothra Leo

Mister Seahorse required to continue the lineage

First appearance: Rebirth of Mothra, 1996

The star of the Rebirth of Mothra series of kaiju films, this Mothra is actually a male, a son of the previous Mothra to guard the world.

  • Badass: Follows in Mommy's wingbeats and cranks it Up to Eleven.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Whenever he gets an upgrade.
  • Flying Brick: His final form Armored Mothra.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Twice. Willing to be trapped in the past to defeat Prehistoric Ghidorah. A second time when he carried young Ghidorah into a volcano, flies out, and seemingly dies.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: He could be the poster boy for this trope. In the first movie he has several beam weapons and a wing dust shield; in the second film he gains the Aqua Mothra form with more new powers; in the third film he gets Lightspeed Mothra to travel back in time, is cocooned by Mothra larvae of the past to become Armor Mothra, and then sheds the armor to reveal Eternal Mothra (and as the name suggests, he's immortal).
  • So Last Season: By the next film his upgrades are obsolete. Except for Rainbow Mothra in the third film where he actually wins a battle before the upgrade.
  • Superpower Lottery: Of the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy so much!
  • Swiss Army Hero
  • Took a Level in Badass: When it gets its upgrade in the third film, unlike the other two, it's very awesome.

Obsidius

He likes to rock out to hot tunes

First appearance: Godzilla: Unleashed, 2008

An original monster created by Atari for Godzilla: Unleashed and the winner of a fan poll involving four monster ideas (the other three being Lightning Bug, Fire Lion, and The Visitor). Although most of the crystals deposited on Earth by the meteor showers (sent by Space Godzilla in order to escape from his prison in Godzilla: Save the Earth) embedded themselves in the surface, some of them managed to punch through the earth's crust and enter the lithosphere. There, brought together by the magma flows from within the earth, a sentient creature was brought to life by the accumulated power of the crystals and the raw, ferrous materials of the earth. Obsidius emerged from a volcano onto the surface world only recently in conjunction with fellow mutant Krystalak, and thus far has resisted all attempts at communication. His virtually impenetrable mineral exterior shields him against both physical and energy assaults. He advances single-mindedly toward the most unstable crystal formations on the surface, and as such should be considered extremely dangerous.

  • Breath Weapon: A spray of lava.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: His body is composed mainly of solid rock and cooled magma.
  • Mighty Glacier: He's one of the slower monsters, but he packs a wallop and has great defense.
  • One-Shot Character: Like Krystalak, was created for Godzilla: Unleashed and so far hasn't been in anything else.
  • Playing with Fire: Due to being formed from the crust and magma of the Earth, he can spew molten lava and is immune to fire-based damage.
  • Power Crystal: Obsidius was brought to life by the crystals that impacted Earth at the beginning of the game. Some punched through into the interior of the planet, fusing with magma and rock and creating Obsidius.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: Justified. As he emerges from an erupting volcano that formed in the middle of Seattle during sunset.
  • Stock Sound Effects: Obsidius' entire vocal vocabulary consists of classic Hollywood monster and creature vocalizations.

Oodako

"The Hogwart's Squid is hot"

First appearance: King Kong vs Godzilla, 1962

  • Combat Tentacles
  • Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: His completely nonsensical, sudden appearance in the rather anti-climactic alternate ending of Frankenstein vs. Baragon.
  • One-Shot Character: Sort of. His debut appearance was in King King vs Godzilla, where he fought the giant ape and fled. He then appeared in War of the Gargantuas for a brief moment, threatening a ship before being chased off by Gaira. In an alternate ending for Frankenstein Conquers The World made for America but not used, Oodako suddenly arrived after Frankenstein's monster defeated Baragon and wrestled him into a lake, pulling him under to his death.
  • Sea Monster


Ookondoru

Give me more screentime!

First appearance: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, 1966

An giant condor mutated by the nuclear waste of the terrorist organization Red Bamboo, Ookondoru guarded the island base in the air. It's unknown if Oookondoru is controlled in any manner. At any rate, while searching for prey, he came across Godzilla. The fight between them was short, but fierce. With one hit from Godzilla's atomic heat ray, Ookondoru fell into the ocean, never to be seen again except as Stock Footage in All Monsters Attack.

Orga

Give him a big hand, everyone!

The villain of Godzilla: 2000, Orga is the freak result of the Millenarian trying and failing to properly absorb Godzilla's DNA. The resulting mutant spent the remainder of the film trying to devour and consume Godzilla's genetic code, though whether this was instinctive, or out of a desire to save itself is unknown.

First appearance: Godzilla 2000: Millennium, 1999

  • Alien Invasion
  • Big Eater: He tried to eat Godzilla! Doesn't get much bigger then that.
  • Cool Ship: Initially appears as a silvery UFO.
    • Living Ship: The ship is controlled by the collective conciousness of the alien Millenians, and transforms into Orga after copying Godzilla's DNA.
    • Sapient Ship: See above.
  • Final Boss: Of Godzilla: Unleashed's Easy and Medium modes.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: The Millennians spent the entire movie trying to get Godzilla's DNA to gain his regenerative abilities and restore their bodies. Instead of doing that, it mutated them into Orga.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: He absorbed Godzilla's healing powers. He was able to heal his whole shoulder being blown off in a matter of seconds.
  • Hive Mind: In the manga adaptation of Godzilla 2000, the Millenian were a group of alien entites who accidentally fused together into a single conciousness.
  • Lego Genetics: After adsorbing Godzilla's DNA, he immediately morphed into a pseudo-Godzilla like beast.
  • Mighty Glacier: In the games (and the film) Orga is big and slow, with no distance weapons, moderate attack, and very high defence, requiring him to close with targets in order to beat them down.
  • Oh Crap: Eyes widen just before Godzilla, who is halfway down his sotmach, unleashes his Inner Radiation and blasts him to pieces, giving the impression Orga just realized that was a bad idea.
  • Secret Character: In Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee and Godzilla: Save The Earth.
  • Too Dumb to Live: You've just spent the last twenty minutes slugging it out with Godzilla, who has been blowing pieces off of you with his Atomic Beam. Best course of action? Let's try swallowing him head first!
  • Villain of the Week: Only appeared in one movie, although he's certainly popular in the games.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: While he does quite a few grapples in the the movie, the games it's taken up a notch...

Rodan

The King of the Monsters' Left hand Mon

First appearance: Rodan, 1956

  • Badass: Did really well against Godzilla when they fought in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. He arguably held the advantage for most of their fight, even though he had no way to do serious damage to Godzilla.
  • Blow You Away: His trademark is causing hurricane winds and sonic booms.
  • Breath Weapon: In his original film, Rodan emits a strange black smoky substance from his beak, which resembles the early animations of Godzilla's energy ray. Whether or not it was an energy ray or some form of "hurricane breath" is debatable But he does get his own radioactive breath weapon in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II during the Heisei era. After being exposed to Godzilla's breath weapon, no less!
  • Butt Monkey
  • Crisis Crossover: Linked not just the Mothra and Godzilla mythos but the Rodan one as well, all to defeat Ghidorah!
  • Died Happily Ever After
  • Feel No Pain: Showa Rodan took several of Godzilla's uranium heat rays and Ghidorah's gravity beams without so much as a scratch. In fact, his response to Godzilla's breath was to shake his head and look annoyed.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Occurs in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, maybe again in Mechagodzilla II.
    • Actually tends to happen a lot--Rodan is tied with Anguirus for being Godzilla's most consistent ally. Arguably Godzilla's strongest ally as well, considering how well the pair work together.
  • Giant Flyer
  • Heel Face Turn: In Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II
  • Lightning Bruiser: So fast he can use sonic booms as an offensive weapon, yet strong enough to carry Godzilla.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: In Gvs MGII, Rodan mutates into Fire Rodan after his battle with Godzilla, gaining his own uranium heat ray and more strength and toughness.
  • Papa Wolf: Actually, he's a half-brother to Baby Godzilla, but extremely protective of him.
  • Pet the Dog: Allowed to live in Final Wars due to being an old ally of Godzilla's.
  • Power-Up Letdown: When he gains his uranium heat ray, it comes at perhaps the worst possible time, against a mech that can absorb and fire rays back at their user.
  • Power Trio: With Godzilla and Mothra in the Showa Era.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Rodan was already quite cool but the versions in Mechagodzilla II and Final Wars are even cooler.
  • Unexplained Recovery

Sanda (Brown Gargantua)

His brother's keeper

First appearance: War of the Gargantuas, 1966

  • Cloning Blues: Inverted, he's a lot like his "dad", friendly to humans and bringer of pain to those who would harm them
  • Gentle Giant: Found by the military and raised among humans for a few years. Ultimately got bored and returned to living in the wild, but he kept his like of people.
  • Good Twin
  • Healing Factor: Inherited from his "father".
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When he discovers his brother Gaira enjoys eating people, Sanda chases him from the mountains to Tokyo and out to sea, attacking him every chance he gets.


SpaceGodzilla

Godzilla Skin + Mothra + space = SpaceGodzilla or Biollante + Space = SpaceGodzilla?

A mutated clone of Godzilla who came to earth to fight the original, SpaceGodzilla is a vicious minded entity whose control over crystalline energies makes him a threat to everyone around him.

First appearance: Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla, 1994

  • Alien Invasion: A one monster variant.
  • And I Must Scream: Before getting killed by Godzilla.
  • Badass: It's a clone of GODZILLA. You were expecting a pushover?
  • Big Bad: Of his own film, and of the mutant faction in Godzilla: Unleashed.
  • Biological Mashup: Part Godzilla, part rose, part human, part crystalline space entity. Maybe. Two potential origins exist for this guy in the movies and a third was introduced by the Trendmasters Godzilla Wars toyline, and was considered definitive within the line. Both with at least one factor in common. One theory's starting point sees a few stray Godzilla cells parting ways from Biollante at the end of Godzilla vs. Biollante, and the other sees Mothra accidentally taking some of Godzilla's DNA into space with her at the end of Battle for Earth. In either case, the theories then state that somehow these cells were exposed to the energy of a black hole and emerged from a white hole, emerging as a twisted and evil clone of Godzilla. The origin presented by Trendmasters take partly from the theory of Mothra being the one responsible for Godzilla cells ending up in space. However the twist is that these cells encountered a crystalline life form, one that may or may not have been malevolent from the outset. Whatever the case, the resultant creature, Space Godzilla, headed straight for Earth in both the films and the toyline with a singular thought: defeat Godzilla.
  • Call Back/Shout-Out: Space Godzilla's physical design was heavily based off of the Super Godzilla design from the videogame of the same name for the SNES. In fact, aside from turning the spines along his back and tail and the massive growths on his shoulders into crystal, he's almost an Expy for Super Godzilla. Right down to the crest on his head, which was edited out of the American version of the game. Space Godzilla's mouth also shows some similarities to Biollante's mouth, and the way his body breaks down after death is similar to Biollante as well.
  • Cloning Blues
  • Cosmic Horror: In much the same way as King Ghidorah.
  • Crystal Spires: This is the theme of this behemoth.
  • Evil Twin: A twisted clone of Godzilla, created when his cells fused together with an alien entity and some sort of crystalline lifeform within a black hole.
  • Final Boss: Of Godzilla: Unleasheds Hard Mode and Godzilla: Save The Earths Adventure Mode.
  • For the Evulz: Seems to be his motivation.
  • Genius Bruiser: Clearly possesses at least some degree of human intelligence, and is self-motivated, making it one of the smartest Kaiju in the franchise.
  • Karmic Death
  • Lightning Bruiser: Big, fast, hard to injure, and strong on offense.
  • Power Crystal: The large crystals on his shoulders generate much of his power, and by seeding an area with crystal spires he can increase his own power greatly.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Giant crystals on his shoulders, crystal spines along his back, a tail ending in a spiked club, and his flying form is a huge ball of crystal spikes.
  • Villain of the Week: Only appeared in a single film, although his popularity has ensured a number of video game appearances.

Titanosaurus

No, I didn't hit an iceberg

First appearance: Terror of Mechagodzilla, 1975

Similar to Godzilla in that he is believed to be a dinosaur that returned to the sea and survived there through the great extinction, Titanosaurus was a peaceful creature until the Simians returned to earth and used their technology to enslave the aquatic giant, wielding him as a weapon agains the human race. When his controller was destroyed, Titanosaurus attempted to flee back into the ocean, but Godzilla pressed his attack and killed him.

  • Anti-Villain: A character notes that Titanosaurus was actually quite gentle. And what does he do when the mind-control is temporarily broken? Breaks off his fight with Godzilla and quickly escapes into the sea. All the bad stuff he did was under mind control.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
  • Gentle Giant: When free of mind control, he quickly drops whatever destruction he was in the middle of and flees.
  • George Lucas Throwback: After making odd sci-fi monsters like Gigan and Megalon it was a step back to the old-days with Titano, a giant dinosaur with natural powers.
  • Kick the Dog: Titanosaurus is actually a gentle giant. But Mifune turned him into his pawn, where he gets forced to fight, blasted with a sonic gun, torturing him to near death, then finished off by Godzilla who had no clue about the mind control.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: In Godzilla: Unleashed, his ranged weapon is a sonic beam. Explained by him using echolocation to navigate the dark depths, but ironic because his weakness in the movie was sonics.
  • Shoot the Dog
  • Villain Team-Up: With Showa Mechagodzilla
  • What Could Have Been: Originally going to be TWO smaller Titanosaurus' that united into the big one. Fortunately this was dropped.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway??: Subverted, sure Titanosaurus just has that fin at the end of his tail. It kinda looks stupid, doesn't it, so it must be crap right? Wrong! The hurricanes it can create crumbles buildings and totally threw Godzilla off his game! Plus, uppercuts!
  • What the Hell, Hero??: As noted above, his defeat/possible death is really unnecessarily cruel, especially, since he's a peaceful creature being controlled against his will.
    • What makes it even more tragic is that Godzilla had no clue about the mind control. Don't forget this is still the Showa era and Godzilla is still in his 'heroic' phase. He thought Titanosaurus was acting on his own will in siding with Mechagodzilla. So he reacted accordingly. This is really a case where Godzilla's good intentions went wrong, even though his heart was in the right place. Given that the monsters seem to have a language, as established in Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, and seen again in a few other films, it may be an issue that Titanosaurus just didn't have time to get his head together and explain the situation to Godzilla, who attacked out of the belief that Titanosaurus was like so many other recent battles (Gigan and Megalon being the two most recent films before the first Mechagodzilla' film.) where he'd fought multiple enemies.

Varan

Blink and you'll miss me!

First appearance: Varan the Unbelievable, 1958

  • The Cameo: He was originally going to have a larger part in Destroy All Monsters!, but Toho already blew half the budget on the new Godzilla and Anguirus costumes. So we got two quick shots of a Varan prop.
  • Feed It a Bomb: How he was defeated in his debut film.
  • Fragile Speedster
  • Giant Flyer
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: In Godzilla: Unleashed Varan is given the ability to project a tightly-focused beam of sound and a ball of sonic energy from his mouth. In his character description it's explained as a specialization of his ability to communicate vast distances using hypersonic sound waves.
  • What Could Have Been: Was originally intended to be in GMK along with Anguirus, but they were replaced by Mothra and King Ghidorah due to not being popular enough.


Zilla

Pretender to the throne

First appearance: GODZILLA, 1998

The mutant monster that was the star of the much-panned by Godzilla fans "American Godzilla" movie (which they called just "Godzilla") released by Tristar Films. A marine iguana heavily mutated by fallout from early atomic bomb tests, Zilla grew into a gargantuan, vaguely theropodian reptile that sunk a number of fishing ships in pursuit of the fish upon which it fed before somehow finding its way to New York, where it began terrorizing the city in its efforts to build a nest -- the climax of its mutations was asexuality, enabling it to lay dozens of eggs that would hatch into a veritable army of the giant lizard. Unlike conventional kaiju, though, its sheer size, cunning, agility and ability to use the terrain to its advantage were the only protection it had, and it was brought down by conventional missiles once it was lured from hiding and entangled so that it couldn't flee. Appeared as a mutant monster of the alien invaders in Final Wars, where he was effortlessly killed by Godzilla.

Zilla Jr.

He's awesome again

First appearance: Godzilla: The Animated Series, 1998

Star of the animated series derived from Tristar's Godzilla, Zilla Jr. hatched from the sole surviving egg laid by the first Zilla -- because of the mutant's unstable genetic code, the hatchling possessed the sheer resilience, healing factor and energy breath weapon associated with Godzilla as well as the speed, intelligence and agility of Zilla, while also being sterile.

  • All Your Powers Combined: He's got the best abilities of both Zilla and the Japanese Godzilla.
  • Berserk Button: If you value your life, do NOT mess with his "father", Nick Tatopulous.
  • Breath Weapon: A green napalm-like blast of fire. His spines and eyes flash just before he uses it.
  • Fan Nickname: Toonzilla.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Is as fast and agile as Zilla but has the strength, durability, and atomic breath of the Japanese Godzilla.
  • Love Hurts: In one episode he fell in love with a mutant Komodo dragon, Komodithrax, and became her mate and surrogate father of her egg (she could reproduce asexually). When she and the egg were lost at the end of the episode, Zilla Jr. roared his grief and despair to the world.
  • Tail Slap: His tail may not have a needle on the end, but it's definitely a good whip.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In addition to having what good qualities Zilla possessed, he has the original Godzilla's tough hide, healing, strength, determination, and of course, his power breath. Plus he's pretty smart.

Zone Fighter

"Hi, I'm Jet Jaguar and Ultraman's brother, Steve"
  • Alien Invasion: Subverted by Zone and his family who protect the Earth from kaiju called "Terror Beasts" but played straight by the vile Garoga who destroyed Planet Peaceland, Zone's homeworld.
  • Attack Reflector: Zone can make a force filed shaped like a shield called the Hyper-Barrier which sent King Ghidorah's Gravity Beams right back at him.
  • Awesome but Impractical: Zone Fighter can grow to a 62 meter tall, 55,000 tons giant sentai more powerful then Godzilla, but only for a few minutes.
  • Badass: Zone Fighter is not only strong enough to beat Godzilla in a friendly match but has battled King Ghidorah twice and killed Gigan.
  • Dueling Movies: In this case shows because Zone Fighter was "inspired" by Ultraman.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Godzilla will show up on the show once in a while to help Zone Fighter fight other monsters, the King of The Monsters even got a second title, The Monster of Justice.
  • Eye Scream: In one episode he karata chops a monster so hard his eyes pop out and then Zone Fighter rips them out!
  • Follow the Leader: Zone Fighter is "inspired" by Ultraman after all.


Notable Humans

Doctor Daisuke Serizawa

Doctor Kyohei Yamane

  • Did Not Do the Research: Yamane mistakenly says the Jurassic era occurred 2 Million years ago. Only 63 Million years off!
  • Happily Adopted: It is implied that Yamane adopted Shinkichi after the death of his family.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Takashi Shimura originally appeared in many Akira Kurosawa films, most notably The Seven Samurai and Ikiru, as he would later go on to be in other Kaiju films.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo
  • Save the Villain: Yamane does not want Godzilla to be killed because he survived the H-Bomb testing in the Pacific. Mention above, Yamane wants to study Godzilla because he's a paleontologist. However, he ends up having to agree to kill Godzilla after what he did to Tokyo.

Steve Martin

Mothra's Twin Guardians: The Shobijin/Cosmos/Elias

  • Idol Singer: Tend to be played by them.
  • Psychic Powers: originally, they were telepaths, having a stable connection to Mothra and able to sense other psychics and understand the "Language" of monsters. In later incarnations, they were given full blown magic powers.
  • Single-Minded Twins: They speak in union and generally act as a being with two bodies. The exceptions are Moll and Lora of the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, who have distinct personalities, don't look alike, and have an evil (At least for a while) sister known as Belvera. They could be fraternal Triplets though.

Captain Douglas Gordon

Shinichi Ozaki

Colonel Gondo

  • Badass: Cracks a one-liner after noticing Godzilla is heading right for him and knows he's about to bite it.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Admits that he hopes Godzilla will appear since a lot of money was spent in preparing for his return. Averted in that he doesn't mind the personal risk and seemingly dies with a smile.
  • The Big Guy: Paired up with main human character, he was noticeable bigger than him, and that guy was a scientist, Gondo was in the military.
  • Bond One-Liner: * After shooting Godzilla right in the mouth with the Anti-Nuclear-Energy-Bacteria* "All this intravenous stuff is no good for you...stick to smoking." Never mind he was facing a VERY pissed off Godzilla. Bad ass!
  • Go Out with a Smile: Kinda, more like he doesn't seem to be worried about Godzilla being only twenty feet from him.
  • The Lancer: To the main human character of the film, whatever that guy's name was, whatever.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Not really plucky, quite bad ass actually, but he does inject the film with some humor.

Miki Saegusa

A psychic who has ties with Godzilla. With the exception of Godzilla 1985, she has been in every Heisei film and thus the longest-running human character in the franchise.

Emi Kano

One of the Futurians, Emi switches sides, eventually piloting Mecha-Ghidorah against Godzilla.

Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos

Out to study the rapid growth of worms thanks to radiation. He gets pulled into the helping with the "Godzilla" situation, first by the U.S. Military. Then by the French Military.

Admiral Taizo Tachibana

Kiriko Tsujimori

The main character of Megaguirus, Kiriko is the Captain of a G-Graspers unit that fights Godzilla. She holds a grudge against the King of the Monsters for killing her Major.

  • Action Girl
  • Badass: Becomes the first human to climb onto Godzilla, Technically, that honor belongs to members of the Dark Horse comics version of G-Force, which was a scientific group dedicated to the study of Godzilla, rather than his destruction. Nevertheless, Kiriko is the only human in the films thus far to have the ovaries to risk her life getting anywhere near the Monster King intentionally.
  • Kuudere
  • Prim and Proper Bun
  • Ship Tease: With Hajime Kudo.

Akane Yashiro

The pilot of the Millenium Era Mechagodzilla, Akane is one of the main protagonists of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.

  • Ace Pilot
  • Action Girl
  • The Atoner: Believes she has to make up for her failure to defeat Godzilla on her first outing against him.
  • Badass: One of the most badass humans in the series.
  • Expy: Of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus's Kiriko Tsujimori, whose actress makes a cameo as a nurse rescued by Akane.
  • The Scapegoat: After her initial attempt at defeating Godzilla fails, she is blamed for all of the military's losses and transferred to a desk job.
  • Ship Tease: With project scientist and Mechagodzilla technician, Tokumitsu Yuhara.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Seems to take one everytime Mechagodzilla III does.
  • Worthy Opponent: She and Kiryu seem to view Godzilla as one. He may just reciprocate.

Belvera

Commander Tagaki

The man in charge in Godzilla Unleashed. Commander Tagaki witnessed firsthand how the Kaiju seemed to join forces against the aliens to save the world. The experience changed his views on Earth's monsters being a threat to humanity.

  • No Name Given: His name isn't mentioned in the actual game.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He wants to try and work together with the Kaiju to save the earth from the aliens.

Aliens

Space Hunter Nebula M Aliens

RAAAAAAIIIID??!!

Aliens that resemble giant, sentient cockroaches, survivors of a world that was much like earth and which evolved sentience after its equivalent of humanity killed itself off through rampant pollution. They came to earth with plans to wipe out the human race and settle there themselves because, while they could survive in the pollution of their homeworld, the planet was so badly damaged it was dying and would soon no longer be able to support even their existence.
Kaiju minions: King Ghidorah, Gigan.


Kilaaks

This chick is seriously hot.

Aliens from the asteroid belt which appear before humans in the guise of women wearing shiny silvery bodysuits, save for their preference for insanely high temperatures. When it grows cooler, they revert to their true forms, which resemble the Cyber-mats from Doctor Who.
Kaiju minion: King Ghidorah


Millennians\\

Kaiju minion: Orga.


The Mysterians

Go Go Power Rangers!


Kaiju minion: Moguera.


Simians / Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens

At last the Time has come for our Conquest of the Planet Beneath! None can Escape our Rise!


Kaiju minions: Mechagodzilla, Titanosaurus.


Vortaak

The Vortaak are a warlike alien species that appear in the Atari games. In Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee, Godzilla: Save The Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed, the Vortaak seem to be one of the galaxy's dominant species. They conquer planets to expand their civilization. But instead of useing their own advanced weapons, they attack Earth by controlling the Kaiju. Godzilla breaks free from the alien mind control and defeats the others. They are led by their Queen, Vortica. Interestingly, the Vortakk, in their first appearance they are controlled by a male character who dresses exactly like the people from Planet X in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero/Invasion of Astro Monster.


Xiliens / Xians / Ekkusu-Seijin

Available in Sixties and Turn of the Millennium varieties


Kaiju minions: (Showa era)King Ghidorah, (Millenium era)Gigan, Monster X.


Yog

Suddenly, I have a refreshing wintergreen flavor!

The titular "Space Amoeba", a parasitic life-form that crashlanded on an island on Earth, Sensitive to ultrasonic soundwaves, Yog attempted to kill the humans already on the island by merging with, in turn, a cuttlefish, a turtle and two rock crabs, mutating each into a giant monster.
Kaiju minions: Kamoebas, Ganimes, Gezora.


Vehicles

Gotengo / Atragon / Gouten

It's a real gas-guzzler
  • Ascended Extra: In the video games Atragon started as an enemy vehicle, then became a playable character in the second Japan-only Godzilla fighting game. It went back to being an enemy in Unleashed.
  • Cool Starship: Believe it or not, she can go into space.
  • Freeze Ray: Has the Absolute Zero Cannon. Used to good effect on Manda.
  • Face Heel Turn: In the first NES Godzilla game and Godzilla: Unleased, the Gotengo is on the evil side. In Godzilla: Monster of Monsters the aliens have an entire fleet of Gotengos, and the Subspace stages can have one as a mid-boss for you to fight for experience. In Unleashed, Atragon is under the command of General Gyozen, who succumbs to the power of the crystals and his hatred of monsters (because of a Noodle Incident involving Godzilla). When you play as an Earth Defender, Mutant or Alien, you must face Atragon several times throughout the story mode, culminating in a boss battle with the battleship in Osaka.
  • More Dakka: Final Wars gives Gotengo eight missile launchers and several laser cannons.
  • This Is a Drill: The bow of the ship is a huge drill, allowing Gotengo to move through the ground.


Super-X / Super-X II / Super-X III

So a tadpole, a shoebox and a Stealth bomber walk into a bar...
  • Attack Reflector: Super-X II has the Fire Mirror, a diamond sphere that reflects Godzilla's heat ray right back at him.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Super-X and Super-X III. The latter has freezing lasers.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: Super-X and Super-X II.
  • More Dakka: Super-X and Super-X III. Super-X II mainly used the Fire Mirror, only using missiles in the second confrontation.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: The first Super-X was able to defeat Godzilla by firing cadmium missiles into his mouth, neutralizing his atomic cells. But when Godzilla was revived by a nuclear storm, the Super-X couldn't use that trick again, and both combatants simply unloaded at each other until Godzilla finally brought down the Super-X. The Super-X II did amazingly until the Fire Mirror was overloaded by Godzilla's ray, then it faired poorly in the second fight until Godzilla destroyed with a final blast. Subverted by the Super-X III, which not only temporarily defeated Godzilla by freezing him but also landed the killing blows on Destoroyah.


Maser Cannon

Satellite television wherever you go!
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In Godzilla vs Gigan, the Maser cannons bring Gigan to his knees, and he tries to hide behind a line of trees while the Masers keep pounding him. When one shoots King Ghidorah, though, he flinches and blasts them to wreckage. In all the other movies they've appeared in (except Godzilla vs Destoroyah, where the freeze-ray Masers do a good number on the small aggregate Destoroyahs (And finish off the big one), and War of the Gargantuas where they bloodied up Gaira pretty badly) they just annoy the monsters.
  • Freeze Ray: Modified for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: The signature ability of the Masers.
  • Shock and Awe: The original effect for the Maser beam was a lightning-like bolt.
  • Stock Footage: Only one new scene was filmed for them in Godzilla vs. Gigan, with an immobile stiff model. Other then that, all shameless footage lifted from The War of the Gargantuas.
  • The Worf Effect: As stated in the Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? entry above, in every movie other than War of the Gargantus, Godzilla vs Gigan, and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Masers only annoy the kaiju they're used against. These are supposed to be intimidatingly powerful ray guns, but since their main purpose is to show how tough the monsters are by not hurting them, we never get to see them be the Badass beams they're alleged to be.
  • Unbuilt Trope: Masers are first mentioned by that name in War of the Gargantuas, but very similar predecessors are depicted in The Mysterians (where they are referred to as Markelites), and Mothra (Atomic Heat Rays). In Mysterians, the Markelites thoroughly avert the above mentioned Worf Effect, being the primary weapon used to defeat the invaders.
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  1. ↑ To be fair, though, has ANY kaiju ever gotten hurt by a maser?
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