That's right boys and girls, it's Godzilla!
Now, Godzilla and the monsters he fights are all owned by the Toho company in Japan so I'll start by giving you a run down of the beast and his opponents/allies...
First of (of course) is Godzilla, or Gojira in Japan. The first movie to include the monster was the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla. He has been in 28 films and numerous video games and comic books and has become a world wide pop culture icon. Godzilla began as a horrible destructive monster that was the outcome of huge amounts of radiation and began as a metaphor for nuclear weapons and radiation. However, later on he became a hero, fighting other radiated and space creatures. In the later incarnations he went back into being the destructive monster he began as. When he went to become a hero, his face structure changed away from the feral structure it began as. He also went from being the grey he began as to green, however, his most recent style made him grey again. He's a prehistoric creature that gained his size and powers due to atomic weapons. His primary power is atomic breath, which is a super powerful heat ray, he also is resistant to pain and has advanced healing along with super strength and the ability to use martial arts. He can also stay underwater for indefinite periods of time and can also fight underwater. There were three eras of the Godzilla films, the Showa, Heisei and Millennium eras, this photo shows all three...
In 1998, an American film version of the movie was made that followed nearly none of the trends of looks of the Japanese versions... the creature was taken and put into one of the Toho films, however, he was named simply Zilla and was a completely separate character. The American Zilla doesn't have atomic breath, but instead "power breath" which consists of strong bursts of wind when he roars. Zilla also isn't as strong as Godzilla but is much faster, he is also much more animal like and will not intentionally attack or damage anything unless provoked. It also can reproduce asexually.
Next up is King Kong, ironically. Now we know King Kong is an American movie monster but he DID go up against Godzilla in a few films. Unlike the American King Kong, kaiju King Kong was taller, incredibly strong and intelligent and grew stronger when injected with electricity, he could then release the electricity in a shock attack.
One of the two allies Godzilla needed in order to defeat the monstrous Ghidorah was Rodan. Rodan started out as Godzilla's enemy, however, is mostly one of his best allies, along with Anguirus. Rodan has chest spikes that he can use as weapons, he started as one of the fastest kaiju but is now one of the slowest, he can, however, emit sonic blasts from his body. Rodan can also put his life force into others by dying. Rodan's first appearance was in the 1956 film Rodan, however, he went onto appear in many other Godzilla films such as, Ghidorah, the Three-headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Terror of Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Godzilla Final Wars.
The next kaiju to be included in a Godzilla feature was Ebirah. Ebirah is a sea monster used by the terrorist group Red Bamboo to protect their island.
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Here is where I take a break and really examine how much of a nerd I am... I'm actually doing an entire post on Godzilla and will probably just go through and list all of the kaiju. I'm okay with this, one of the main reasons I wanted to do this is so I could get a good definitive list of the kaiju with decent photos. I hope you actually appreciate it and comment on the blog, I wanna hear some Godzilla fans. ANYWAY...
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Another kaiju introduced in Son of Godzilla was Kumonga. Kumonga is a giant spider who can shoot webbing from his mouth. The webbing can expand into a net also. He is very resilient, being able to withstand multiple atomic blasts from Godzilla. He is a wonderful jumper and has sharp, sword-like legs that can slash up enemies. He has appeared in every Godzilla film that Kamacuras has.
One of the monsters used in replacement of Baragon was Gorosaurus. He doesn't have any specially abilities or powers and is just a generic dinosaur. In one film he was given Baragon's burrowing ability, however he generally just kicks and bites. He appeared in King Kong Escapes, Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and Ike! Godman.
Next is Varan, he has skin flaps between his arms and legs that allow him to fly much like a flying squirrel, he doesn't really have any special abilities other than flying at Mach 1.5 and his protective spikes.
Gigan is another kaiju first appearing in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). Gigan is generally very violent, destructive and brutal. He has two hooks for arms and a buzz-saw in his abdomen. Gigan was sent to Earth many times by alien races, and generally abandons whatever ally he has. Gigan can grab and stab enemies with his hook arms and they can sometimes release an explosion on impact. Gigan has retractable wings that allow him to fly up to Mach 3, he can sometimes teleport, he can use his buzz-saw to attack and can shoot grappling hooks from under his arm hooks to pull enemies into his buzz-saw. He also has a scatter eye beam.
Jet Jaguar is a robot that appears in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and was created destroy, however, eventually gains sentience and helps Godzilla face both Gigan and Megalon.
Titanosaurus is an ally of Mechagodzilla, even though he doesn't have more than biting and punching, he can cause massive wind attacks and whirlpools with his powerful fan tail.
Next up is Biollante. Biollante is a mutated rose that was infused with Godzilla's DNA. She can grapple with vines and inject a corrosive acid in her enemies. She has thorn spears on the end of her vines and can spit massive amounts of acid from her mouth and can fly into space to regenerate. She appeared in Godzilla vs Biollante in 1989 and never again in the Godzilla franchise.
Battra is another kaiju that appeared in the 1992 film Godzilla vs Mothra. Battra is basically an evil Mothra, he has the ability to fly in his adult form and the ability to swim and burrow in his larval form. In larval form he could use his horn as a battering ram and shoot electricity from it. In adult form his horn morphs into three smaller horns and he gains optic beams.
SpaceGodzilla was a modified clone of Godzilla. He has only appeared in the film Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla from 1994. SpaceGodzilla has more or less every ability that Godzilla has but he can control gravity, he can use gravity beams and gets his power from cosmic energy. He can encase himself in crystals that give him flight, his tail is incredibly strong and he can track Godzilla.
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Another kaiju that is seen as one of Godzilla's most powerful opponents is Destoroyah. Destoroyah was able to withstand Godzilla's attacks and force the king of monsters to fight to his peak power, many times winning. Destoroyah is made up of many microscopic organisms and can adapt and regenerate. He can shoot a ray from his mouth that can vaporize anything in it's way, the horn on it's head can also shoot a beam blade that can cut through anything.
Well, there it is, there were some I forgot and feel free to call me out on them if you want to (I encourage you to), but I hope this post was fun and interesting (even if you don't like Godzilla). Sorry if I didn't get in depth enough, but like I said, I wanted to make a good list of the Godzilla kaiju and I feel like this one is fairly solid.
Anyway, be good, have fun and I'll see you on the next one...
Hasta la vista!
ok in the movie godzilla vs gigan, the only monsters in that movie are godzilla, anguirus,gigan and king ghidorah... you put alot of extra monsters in there .... and king ceasar isnt in terror of mecha godzilla.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yeah my bad, I dunno what I was doing, I put Godzilla bs Gigan on almost everyone oops
ReplyDelete