Godzilla Movies in Order: The Complete Chronological Kaijū Watching Order (2021)
Godzilla (ゴ ジ ラ) is the name of the Japanese media franchise created by the Toho film company, which also owns the franchise. The main character of the franchise is the kaijū of the same name, Godzilla, a gigantic lizard that lives in the ocean. Films in the franchise have been produced since 1954, with several pauses of varying lengths. Godzilla consists of a total of 36 films: 32 Japanese and four American, including one TriStar Pictures production and three Legendary Pictures productions that are part of the so-called MonsterVerse.
The first film was made by Ishirō Honda, and was released in 1954. It became a classic of the kaijū genre and influenced and inspired many later films. It features political and social themes typical of Japan at the time. It also used music by Akira Ifukube, which was later reused in many other films. The special effects were made by Eiji Tsuburaya, who used miniatures of houses and cars and costumes to convey the giant size of the monster and the scale of the destruction. A slightly reworked version of the film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, was been released in North America, removing some scenes but adding new ones and starring Raymond Burr as journalist Steve Martin.
The tone and themes of the films vary depending on the film. Some films were made in the spirit of horror, some have a political theme, while others are classical kaijū movies with the presence of other monsters or aliens, while others have simpler themes better suited for children. Godzilla’s role in the movies also varies, ranging from being a destructive power of nature to an ally of the people, a defender of Japan and a child hero.
The popularity of the films led to the franchise spreading to other media, such as television, literature, video games and even music. Godzilla has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Japanese pop culture in the world, and is one of the most popular characters in Japanese films. And this is exactly why we are writing this article. Namely, with the Godzilla vs. Kong movie coming out in March 2021, we at Fiction Horizon thought it would be good to give you a complete guide to watching all the Godzilla movies, from 1954 up to 2021. And that is what is article is going to be about. We are going to give you a general overview of the franchise and, ultimately, give you a list and – simultaneously – a watching order for all of the 36 movies. Enjoy!
How many Godzilla movies are there?
As we have already stated in our introduction, there are 36 Godzilla movies in total. Thirty-two of them have been produced in Japan and are divided into four larger groups, based on the so-called production eras. Movies produced between 1954 and 1975 belong to the Shōwa era; those produced between 1984 and 1995 belong to the Heisei era; the Millennium era encompassed movies produced from 1999 to 2004; the current, Reiwa era, includes movies produced from 2016 until today. The remaining four movies are American and are divided based on the production company.
The Japanese films are:
# | Movie Title | Year | Director(s) | Effects Director(s) | Monster Co-star(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Godzilla | 1954 | Ishirō Honda | Eiji Tsuburaya | None |
2 | Godzilla Raids Again | 1955 | Motoyoshi Oda | Eiji Tsuburaya | Anguirus |
3 | King Kong vs. Godzilla | 1962 | Ishirō Honda | Eiji Tsuburaya | King Kong, the Oodako |
4 | Mothra vs. Godzilla | 1964 | Ishirō Honda | Eiji Tsuburaya | Mothra |
5 | Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster | 1964 | Ishirō Honda | Eiji Tsuburaya | King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra |
6 | Invasion of Astro-Monster | 1965 | Ishirō Honda | Eiji Tsuburaya | King Ghidorah, Rodan |
7 | Ebirah, Horror of the Deep | 1966 | Jun Fukuda | Sadamasa Arikawa | Ebirah, Mothra, the Ookondoru |
8 | Son of Godzilla | 1967 | Jun Fukuda | Sadamasa Arikawa | Minilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras |
9 | Destroy All Monsters | 1968 | Ishirō Honda | Sadamasa Arikawa | King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, Minilla, Kumonga, Manda, Gorosaurus, Baragon, Varan |
10 | All Monsters Attack | 1969 | Ishirō Honda | Ishirō Honda | Gabara, Minilla |
11 | Godzilla vs. Hedorah | 1971 | Yoshimitsu Banno | Teruyoshi Nakano | Hedorah |
12 | Godzilla vs. Gigan | 1972 | Jun Fukuda | Teruyoshi Nakano | Gigan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus |
13 | Godzilla vs. Megalon | 1973 | Jun Fukuda | Teruyoshi Nakano | Megalon, Jet Jaguar, Gigan, Anguirus, Rodan |
14 | Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla | 1974 | Jun Fukuda | Teruyoshi Nakano | Mechagodzilla, King Caesar, Anguirus |
15 | Terror of Mechagodzilla | 1975 | Ishirō Honda | Teruyoshi Nakano | Mechagodzilla 2, Titanosaurus |
16 | The Return of Godzilla | 1984 | Koji Hashimoto | Teruyoshi Nakano | Shockirus (Giant Sea Lice) |
17 | Godzilla vs. Biollante | 1989 | Kazuki Ōmori | Koichi Kawakita | Biollante |
18 | Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah | 1991 | Kazuki Ōmori | Koichi Kawakita | King Ghidorah, Mecha-King Ghidorah, the Dorats, Godzillasaurus |
19 | Godzilla vs. Mothra | 1992 | Takao Okawara | Koichi Kawakita | Mothra, Battra |
20 | Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II | 1993 | Takao Okawara | Koichi Kawakita | Mechagodzilla, Super Mechagodzilla, Rodan, Fire Rodan, Baby Godzilla |
21 | Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla | 1994 | Kensho Yamashita | Koichi Kawakita | SpaceGodzilla, Moguera, Fairy Mothra, Little Godzilla |
22 | Godzilla vs. Destoroyah | 1995 | Takao Okawara | Koichi Kawakita | Destoroyah, Godzilla Junior |
23 | Godzilla 2000: Millennium | 1999 | Takao Okawara | Kenji Suzuki | Orga, the Millennian |
24 | Godzilla vs. Megaguirus | 2000 | Masaaki Tezuka | Kenji Suzuki | Megaguirus, the Meganulons, the Meganulas |
25 | Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack | 2001 | Shusuke Kaneko | Makoto Kamiya | King Ghidorah, Mothra, Baragon |
26 | Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla | 2002 | Masaaki Tezuka | Yûichi Kikuchi | Mechagodzilla |
27 | Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. | 2003 | Masaaki Tezuka | Eiichi Asada | Mechagodzilla, Mothra, Kamoebas |
28 | Godzilla: Final Wars | 2004 | Ryuhei Kitamura | Eiichi Asada | Monster X, Keizer Ghidorah, Zilla, Rodan, Mothra, Gigan, King Caesar, Anguirus, Minilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Manda, Hedorah, Ebirah |
29 | Shin Godzilla | 2016 | Hideaki Anno Shinji Higuchi | Shinji Higuchi | None |
30 | Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters | 2017 | Kōbun Shizuno Hiroyuki Seshita | N/A | Servum, Dogora, Dagahra, Orga, Kamacuras, Anguirus, Rodan, Mechagodzilla |
31 | Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle | 2018 | Kōbun Shizuno Hiroyuki Seshita | N/A | Mechagodzilla City, Servum, Vulture |
32 | Godzilla: The Planet Eater | 2018 | Kōbun Shizuno Hiroyuki Seshita | N/A | King Ghidorah, Mothra, Servum |
The American films are:
# | Movie Title | Year | Director | Effects Director | Monster Co-star(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Godzilla | 1998 | Roland Emmerich | Volker Engel | Baby Godzillas |
2 | Godzilla | 2014 | Gareth Edwards | Jim Rygiel | MUTO (male and female) |
3 | Godzilla: King of the Monsters | 2019 | Michael Dougherty | Guillaume Rocheron | King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, King Kong (archival footage), Queen MUTO, Behemoth, Methuselah, Scylla |
4 | Godzilla vs. Kong | 2021 | Adam Wingard | John “DJ” DesJardin | King Kong, Mechagodzilla, Skullcrawler, Warbat, Hell Hawk |
This is a full list of all the movies based on their release dates. Now, we are going to give you a detailed list of all the individual movies in the proper chronological order, i.e., in the order you should watch them if you want to follow the story’s internal chronology.
Godzilla – The Complete Chronological Order
Godzilla (1954)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Takeo Murata, Ishirō Honda
Release Date: October 27, 1954
Runtime: 96 minutes
Strange events take place off the coast of the island of Odo – a number of ships are shipwrecked and burned down. The few survivors are unable to provide any specific information. Only the inhabitants of the island of Odo think they know the reason for the incident: according to their story, the legendary monster Godzilla searches for food on land when he can no longer find any fish in the sea. Only human sacrifice could appease him. At night Godzilla rises from the sea and devastates the island.
Professor Yamane, whose daughter Emiko has a relationship with the naval officer Ogata, examines Godzilla’s huge, radioactive footprints and finds the explanation: This is how the monster spent millions of years underwater, as a correspondingly old trilobite proves, and came ashore after being subjected to the atomic bombing was startled. There is a first sighting of the Godzilla on the island, which then retreats into the sea. Immediately the navy begins to bomb the stretch of sea where Godzilla lives.
When the military asks Professor Yamane about ways to kill Godzilla, he pleads for studying the secrets of life on Godzilla, for example how he absorbed the radioactive radiation and survived. Emiko visits Dr. Serizawa, to whom she has been promised since childhood. He shows her his latest invention, the oxygen destroyer. The oxygen destroyer decomposes the oxygen in its immediate environment and can kill all life. With the invention of the oxygen destroyer, Serizawa wanted to go down in history as the most important scientist in the world. Since the oxygen destroyer could become a threatening weapon in the wrong hands and Serizawa wants to neutralize it before he makes it public, he promises Emiko not to tell anyone about his invention.
The Godzilla goes ashore again and cannot be stopped by military fire or high-voltage cables on its way to Tokyo. Panic breaks out, Godzilla devastates Tokyo, mainly by setting it on fire with his atomic heat ray. When Emiko sees the devastation and misery, she can’t help but tell Ogata about Serizawa’s invention. Both are now trying to convince Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer. At first, he is reluctant, but gives in when he sees TV pictures of the misery caused by Godzilla.
A ship with Emiko, Ogata, Serizawa Professor Yamane and press on board goes to Godzilla’s whereabouts. Ogata and Serizawa descend to activate the Oxygen Destroyer, which only bones remain after Godzilla’s deployment. While Ogata reappears, Serizawa stays downstairs, sends Ogata a radio message that he should be happy with Emiko, and cuts his oxygen cable. Professor Yamane muses that if humanity continues to misuse nuclear power, it faces even worse catastrophes than Godzilla.
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Director: Motoyoshi Oda
Screenplay: Takeo Murata, Shigeaki Hidaka
Release Date: April 24, 1955
Runtime: 81 minutes
The pilot Kobayashi has to make an emergency landing with his plane on the uninhabited island of Iwato Island. When his colleague Tsukioka finds him safe and sound, the two encounter two fighting monsters who immediately fall into the ocean. Tsukioka immediately identifies one of the monsters as Godzilla.
The authorities reported by the two pilots report that the other monster is Anguirus, which is the last living specimen of an ankylosaurus. Dr. Yamane shows the authorities a film of Godzilla’s act of destruction, which he himself had eyewitnessed a year earlier. According to him, this time it is a new Godzilla that cannot be destroyed by any known weapon; the oxygen destroyer that brought the rescue a year earlier no longer exists because its inventor, Dr. Serizawa burned the formula for the weapon and killed himself in destroying the Godzilla.
Dr. Yamane’s proposed measure to pilot the Godzilla away from the coast with flares makes the monster even wilder. Nevertheless, one day Godzilla appears unexpectedly in Osaka, but is lured back into the sea by the flares dropped by airplanes. Meanwhile, criminals break out on a prisoner transport and steal a gas tanker. When they rush into a building with this in Osaka and start a fire, Godzilla is attracted by it. Anguirus appears and attacks Godzilla. An intense battle breaks out between the two monsters until Godzilla brings Anguirus down with his fiery breath.
Meanwhile, the military is looking for Godzilla. Kobayashi and Tsukioka discover this off the coast of a small icy island. They try in vain to bomb Godzilla, who in turn crashes Kobayashi’s plane with his fiery breath. Tsukioka finally brings the military the saving idea of triggering an avalanche of snow and ice with the aircraft projectiles, which Godzilla buries under him.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: August 11, 1962
Runtime: 97 minutes
Dr. Muro Makiamato brings huge berries from the South Sea island of Faro, which have a numbing effect. When he tells that the inhabitants of this island worship a monster named King Kong, Mr. Tako, head of a pharmaceutical company, sends his employees Osamu Sakurai and Kinsaburo Furue to bring the monster to Japan as an advertising medium. At the same time, an increase in water temperature is reported from the Bering Sea, causing icebergs to melt.
A submarine that is supposed to research this phenomenon collides with an iceberg in which the primeval dinosaur Godzilla has been stuck since Godzilla returned and is now drifting towards Japan. On the coast, Godzilla is chased back into the sea by Japanese tanks. In the meantime, Sakurai and Furue arrive on the island of Faro and indeed find the giant monkey, King Kong, there. The two witness how King Kong fights a giant octopus.
When they are on their way to Japan by the sea with King Kong, they are stopped by a ship of the navy, which informs them that King Kong cannot be brought to Japan. However, King Kong breaks free and swims towards Japan. When Fumiko, Sakurai’s sister, is on the train because she falsely believes that her boyfriend Fujita is the victim of a plane crash, Godzilla, who has returned to the mainland, crosses her path.
She is saved by Fujita. Tako and his two assistants witness a first encounter between the two monsters, but it ends in a draw. The military’s plan to blow up Godzilla in a deep trench fails. However, Godzilla can be kept away from Tokyo by means of high-voltage pylons, which King Kong is not deterred by. While Tokyo is being evacuated, King Kong dismantles a train that Fumiko wants to take to escape.
King Kong kidnaps her and climbs with her on a building in the city center. At Sakurai’s suggestion, the military anesthetized King Kong with the juice of the Faro berries. Fumiko is rescued and King Kong is helicoptered to Fujiyama, where he meets Godzilla. There, both immediately attack each other and leave a trail of destruction. A sudden earthquake causes both monsters to fall into the sea. Godzilla no longer appears, King Kong swims back to his homeland.
Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: April 29, 1964
Runtime: 88 minutes
Ichiro Sakai, a news reporter, and Junko Nakanishi, a photographer, take photos for an article about recent typhoon damage. A giant egg is found in the sea near a Japanese town. The egg is rescued by the villagers, who later sell it to Kumayama, a Happy Enterprises entrepreneur. He wants to make it a tourist attraction instead of investigating it scientifically.
Kumayama meets with Jiro Torahata, the director of the company. When they are talking about the egg, there are little twins called Shobijin, similar to fairies. They try to capture them but without success. The Shobijin escape and find Sakai, Junko, and Professor Miura (who wanted to investigate the egg). The fairies explain that the egg belongs to Mothra and if they do not return it, the larva can harm the population. All three agree to help them and return the egg.
Sakai, Junko, and the professor try to convince Kumayama and Torahata to return the egg, to no avail. The Shobijin leave the town and return to Infant Island where they came from. Suddenly, on a beach, Godzilla appears creating a new threat to the town and the entire country. Godzilla starts attacking. Sakai, Junko, and Miura travel to Infante Island to ask for help. They managed to convince the island people to help them. They all go to meet Mothra and ask for her help.
Mothra agrees to help them, but everyone understands that Mothra is already very weak and will not be able to return from the mission. Meanwhile, Godzilla destroys a hotel (where Torahata and Kumayama are arguing over money) and heads towards the egg. Mothra arrives just in time to defend the egg from him. Mothra fights with all of her might, but she is ultimately seriously injured by Godzilla and cannot continue fighting.
She returns to the egg and dies covering it with her wing. The army continues to fight Godzilla. They try the tanks, the high voltage lines, but nothing is enough to stop Godzilla. The egg hatches and two larvae hatch from it. They follow Godzilla and attack him by throwing the silk at Godzilla and wrapping him to death. After the victory, the Shobijin and Mothra larvae return to Infant Island.
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: December 20, 1964
Runtime: 93 minutes
A police officer, Shindo, is appointed to be the bodyguard of Princess Salno of Selgina (a fictional country, created for the needs of the film) during her visit to Japan, because they suspect a possible attempt on her life. However, the plane with the princess on board never made it to Japan. It flashes in the air and its remains fall into the sea.
One day, a prophetess appears publicly, whose physique is the same as Princess Salno. She says that she is from another planet. The prophetess predicts catastrophes that ultimately come true, the first: the appearance of Rodan, then the destruction of a ship by Godzilla. Meanwhile, the princess’s uncle, who runs the entire plot, learns that she survived her attack.
He sends his best killer, Malmess, to Japan to kill Selina and steal her royal bracelet. Shindo contravenes the new attack, rescuing Salno, thereby saving her life once again. Also, from a meteor (which was really an egg) comes King Ghidorah creating a new threat to the country. The government begins to plan how to stop it. People still remember Mothra and the Shobijin (who are being invited to various television shows). They manage to convince the Shobijin fairies to ask Mothra for help.
Mothra consents to this, but under one condition: the two kaijū, Godzilla and Rodan, have to join Mothra in fighting King Ghidorah instead of fighting each other. Upon arriving in Japan, Mothra tries to convince them to help him, after several attempts, it succeeds. And so begins the battle between the kaijū.
The monsters overwhelm Ghidorah and force it to flee into outer space. Prior to departing for home, Princess Salno reveals to Shindo that she doesn’t recall her recent memories as the Prophetess but remembers the three events when Shindo saved her and thanks him and Naoko for their help. Godzilla and Rodan watch on as Mothra journeys back home with the Shobijin, who bid farewell to all.
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: December 19, 1965
Runtime: 94 minutes
The year is 196X. A spaceship manned by the Japanese Fuji and the American Glenn is on its way to Jupiter to investigate the newly discovered “Planet X”. This planet is located just behind Jupiter. Soon after landing, the astronauts encounter a humanoid race that inhabits the planet. These inhabitants, called Xilians, ask the astronauts for a favor. Their planet has been ravaged by Monster Zero (King Ghidorah) for a while.
They would like to borrow the two terrestrial monsters Zero-One (Godzilla) and Zero-Two (Rodan) to defeat Monster Zero. In return, the Xillians will give the Earthlings a cure for any disease. The astronauts agree and leave for Earth to grant the request. A group of scientists immediately track down Godzilla and Rodan. During the search, one of the Xillians unexpectedly arrives on Earth. Supposedly to help search.
Glenn doesn’t trust it, though. Eventually, the monsters are found and captured by a spaceship from Planet X. Glenn, Fuji, and Dr. Sakurai are invited to join Planet X to see for themselves how Monster Zero is defeated. On Planet X, a battle immediately erupts between the three monsters, and Ghidorah is soon defeated. On this, the astronauts of the Xillians are given a box that would contain information about the promised drug.
Back on Earth, the astronauts find a tape recorder in the box. However, it appears to contain not a formula, but a message from the Xilians. It turns out that the Xilians planned King Ghidorah to attack their planet in order to gain access to Godzilla and Rodan. All three monsters are now under the control of the Xilians by magnetic waves, and will soon be released to Earth if one does not surrender.
To reinforce their threat, they let the monsters destroy a few cities. Rescue comes unexpectedly when Tetsuo, the brother of Fuji’s girlfriend, discovers that the sound of the alarm system he designed can paralyze and disable the Xilians so easily. He has the sound broadcast worldwide on all radio and television stations. The Xilians surrender and let the three monsters go, after which Godzilla and Rodan drive King Ghidorah from Earth. Glenn and Fuji are chosen to return to Planet X to try and make peace with the Xilians.
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: December 17, 1966
Runtime: 87 minutes
The young Japanese Ryota learns that his missing brother Yata may not have died in a boat accident, but is actually still alive. That’s why he steals a yacht together with his friends Mita and Yata; together the men go in search of the missing person. They find Yashi on board, who is also unauthorized on the yacht. The next morning, the friends discover that Yashi has taken the yacht out to sea.
During the journey, the yacht is attacked by the giant crab Ebirah; the men can save themselves on the beach of an island. There they meet the young girl Daiyo. This tells of a man living on the island who could be the missing Yata. The girl is one of the inhabitants of this island. These were enslaved by the organization called “Red Bamboo”, which is experimenting with chemical weapons on the island.
This organization also pours a yellow substance into the water to keep Ebirah away from the island and complex. In a cave, the friends find Godzilla lying in deep sleep. An attempt to break into the terrorists’ factory and free the island’s enslaved natives fails. The friends lay a long cable to Godzilla; a little later, lightning strikes the cable and wakes Godzilla. Mita can encourage the slaves to revolt against the “Red Bamboo” and gives them the idea of exchanging the yellow substance for an ineffective substance in order to let Ebirah fight against the “Red Bamboo”.
In the meantime, Ryota finds his brother Yata again. Godzilla and Ebirah meet; Ebirah loses out in the fight between the two. A little later, Godzilla destroys the “Red Bamboo” factory. The members of the “Red Bamboo” activate a bomb to destroy the island, but are killed by Ebirah while trying to escape. The giant moth, Mothra, transports the friends off the island in a balloon. When the island is threatened with destruction after the factory has been destroyed, Godzilla jumps into the water for salvation.
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa, Kazue Shiba
Release Date: December 16, 1967
Runtime: 86 minutes
A team of scientists on an uninhabited island conducts tests and experiments to improve climate control. They are interrupted by the arrival of a journalist and the appearance of two-meter-long praying mantises. The first test of the climate control system goes wrong. The operation of the remote control of a radioactive balloon (which should change the weather conditions) is affected by a signal of unknown origin from the center of the island.
The balloon bursts ahead of schedule, causing a radioactive storm that is causing the praying mantises to grow to such large sizes. Investigating the Kamacuras (as these huge praying mantises are called) scientists discover a group of these insects excavating an egg from the ground. The hatching egg turns out to be a Godzilla egg. A baby Godzilla emerges from him and is instantly tortured by the giant mantises.
Scientists manage to understand the origin of the strange telepathic signal that interfered with the operation of the radioactive balloon remote control: the baby was trying to communicate with his parent. Shortly after, Godzilla answers the call of his son and arrives on the island. Going to help his baby destroys the scientific basis. After reaching the place where his baby is tortured by the Kamacuras, he kills two of them; one manages to flee to a safe place.
Minilla (the son of Godzilla) grows very fast, soon reaching half the size of the adult Godzilla. He learns various skills that will serve him well in adult life, such as the atomic breath. Minilla is not very successful at first, making a few circles of atomic smoke instead of a powerful breath like his parent. He manages to learn it when the adult Godzilla steps on his tail. Meanwhile in another place the Kamacuras attack an indigenous girl (who turned out to be the daughter of a Japanese scientist lost years ago in this archipelago and who has lived for a few days with the scientists in the cave that he taught them after destroying the scientific base by Godzilla ).
Minilla comes to help the girl, but suddenly another kaiju comes out: Kumonga, a giant spider. He attacks the cave, but Minilla intervenes. Kumonga catches the baby Godzilla and wraps his cobwebs around him in preparation for eating later. Fortunately for Minilla Godzilla arrives and manages to defeat the Kumonga using his atomic breath.
Scientists freeze the island in hopes of avoiding more monster attacks and flee with the journalist and their long-lost colleague’s daughter. Godzilla and Manilla go into hibernation.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
Director: Yoshimitsu Banno
Screenplay: Yoshimitsu Banno, Takeshi Kimura
Release Date: July 24, 1971
Runtime: 85 minutes
Hedorah is an alien that landed on Earth who begins to feed on pollution. Hedorah’s actions attract the attention of Godzilla, who attacks the pollution monster that is feeding on the smoke from a chimney. At the same time, Hedorah takes on his original form and is easily defeated by Godzilla. The two creatures have a series of battles over Japan, and Hedorah continues to grow larger and more powerful, managing to become a flying saucer-shaped being, allowing her to fly and spread a mist of sulfuric acid over Japan while destroying several factories.
Hedorah and Godzilla have a final confrontation near Mount Fuji, where Hedorah takes his final form, a pile of bipedal humanoid slime. Thanks to his acidic, poisonous body, and also his eye rays, Hedorah nearly killed Godzilla in the fight. Either way, the humans bring a gigantic pair of electrodes near the monstrous kaiju with the intention of creating a super-hot zone where they will dehydrate Hedorah.
During a period of the fight where Godzilla is knocked out, Hedorah is drawn between the electrodes. Unfortunately, a fuse blows, and the electrodes are rendered useless. Fortunately, Godzilla returns to the rescue, using his beam to re-energize the electrodes. Severely dehydrated by the electrodes, Hedorah tests his escape when in the film’s most famous moment, Godzilla uses his atomic breath like a jet to propel himself through the air after the slime monster and manages to bring Hedorah to the electrodes to complete the drying.
Feeling the drying of the wet sludge inside Hedorah’s shell, Godzilla proceeds to rip out Hedorah’s insides and use the electrodes to finally kill the remnants of Hedorah, the toxic bubble. Hedorah killed thousands of people, including the crew of an oil tanker, 40 people the first time it was on land, 1,600 people when it first spread the acid cloud into the air, and a large group of young people atop Mount Fuji.
Additionally, 3,000,000 people were injured or killed by Hedorah’s smog. Anyway, he seems capable of “spitting” the cat that he captured at the beginning of the movie and not destroying it and being able to control its toxicity or have any affinity for wildlife.
Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Screenplay: Takeshi Kimura, Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Release Date: March 12, 1972
Runtime: 89 minutes
Cockroach-like aliens from the M Space Hunter Nebula have escaped from their now overly polluted planet. Once in Japan they take on the appearance of previously dead people and open a funfair, called “Children’s World”, as a roof where the main attraction is a giant tower in the shape of Godzilla, which would actually be the center where they maneuver their two monsters: King Ghidorah and a new monster, Gigan. Their aim is to colonize the Earth with the help of the two giants.
Meanwhile, the comic artist Gengo Kodaka is looking for a job after having failed in all the companies in which he has worked and finds it right in the tower, being hired by the director. This is strange because he is short and fifteen years old. Gengo is contacted by a girl who believes her brother is a prisoner in that tower and she had stolen a tape containing a sound that Godzilla can only understand: a signal for help.
Gengo finds the girl’s brother imprisoned in a tower room and realizes that those people are actually aliens. Gengo and the girl call Godzilla with the tape to warn him of the danger and he immediately leaves for Japan. But Gengo lets himself be discovered and is taken prisoner in the tower together with the girl. The aliens take back the tape and together with another call Gigan and King Ghidorah who once arrived attack and destroy much of Tokyo.
Gengo, her girl and her brother, however, flee and call the army. Meanwhile, Godzilla, followed by Angilas, arrives in Tokyo and keeps the two space monsters busy, while Gengo and a small group of soldiers, with a trick, manages to deceive the aliens and blow up the tower that was weakening Godzilla with a very powerful laser beam.
Godzilla, however, is powerless due to the laser beam and Ghidorah takes the opportunity to attack him and knocks him out. But he makes a mistake. He throws Godzilla towards what remains of the tower and the blow brings back the senses of the nuclear monster who with Angilas organizes a plan to get rid of the two space monsters, who after a hard fight, escape back into space.
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Screenplay: Jun Fukuda
Release Date: March 17, 1973
Runtime: 81 minutes
When the inventor Goro Ibuki had a picnic by the lake with his son Rokuro and brother Hiroshi, the three were surprised by a seaquake. On the drive home, they are outraged by the atomic bomb tests that caused the quake. The underwater people Seatopia are startled by the atomic bomb tests.
To get people to stop the tests, they ask the monster Megalon for help. In addition, they steal Goro’s latest invention, the robot Jet Jaguar and reprogram it. While Megalon is on the way and destroys a dam on its way, Goro manages to reprogram Jet Jaguar via radio. He immediately goes to Godzilla so that he can come to the rescue. The Seatopians get reinforcements from the monster Gigan. Shortly before the now impending dispute, Jet Jaguar grows to the size of high-rise buildings.
Godzilla and Jet Jaguar emerge victorious from the fight that now follows, which takes place on a meadow. Godzilla returns to the monster island, Jet Jaguar shrinks back to its normal size and accompanies its inventor home with his family, the kingdom of Seatopia is destroyed.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Screenplay: Jun Fukuda, Hiroyasu Yamamura
Release Date: March 21, 1974
Runtime: 84 minutes
In Okinawa, an archaeologist discovers a statue of the ancient lion-like god King Cesar. The statue says that when a black cloud appears, a monster will appear and destroy everything, and two other monsters must confront him. When a black cloud appears, an earthquake begins, and Godzilla appears from the direction of Mount Fuji. People cannot believe that Godzilla is the same evil monster from the prophecy.
To the surprise of people, Godzilla seriously injures his ally Anguirus. Godzilla destroys an oil refinery and soon another Godzilla appears from the sea. It is revealed that the first evil Godzilla is actually Mechagodzilla – a giant cyborg disguised as Godzilla, which was built by a race of ape-like aliens. Mechagodzilla severely wounds Godzilla and he retreats.
Away from the battlefield, Godzilla is overtaken by a typhoon with a thunderstorm and lightning, which charges him with energy. At this time, archaeologists, having safely escaped the fate of being captured by aliens, return the statue to Okinawa to the temple, and King Sizar awakens in the coastal rock. Mechagodzilla arrives in Okinawa and the battle begins. Soon Godzilla appears, but even with King Cesar, he cannot defeat the cyborg for a long time.
When Mechagodzilla turns on the engines and takes off, Godzilla creates a magnetic field around himself, attracting Mechagodzilla. Godzilla folds the head of the cyborg and throws it into the sea. King Cesar returns to his cave, where he will stay until the world is threatened again, and Godzilla goes into the ocean.
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Yukiko Takayama
Release Date: March 15, 1975
Runtime: 83 minutes
The film begins when Godzilla defeats MechaGodzilla. After the battle, Godzilla goes into the ocean, and Interpol agents send a submarine to search for the remains of Mechagodzilla. Suddenly, a huge creature appears and crushes the submarine. The crew of the boat manages to send a message that they were attacked by a giant dinosaur. Scientist Akira Ichinose and Interpol agent Jiro Murakoshi became interested in the incident.
It turns out that several years ago, Dr. Shinzo Mafune reported that he was able to bring a dinosaur back to life, but no one believed him. Katsura, daughter of Shinzo Mafune, claims that he died five years ago and she knows nothing of his research. But then Katsura finds out that her father is alive and in league with the aliens.
The aliens are going to use the restored modified Mechagodzilla and the submarine Titanosaur dinosaur created by Dr. Mafune. Akira and Jiro try to break into Dr. Mafune’s house, but are attacked by aliens. Akira and Jiro manage to escape. When Akira meets Katsura again, he announces that, along with other Interpol agents, he is going to join the expedition on a submarine to capture the Titanosaur.
Katsura asks Akira not to do this, but he doesn’t listen to her. When Katsura returns to Shinzo’s house, the aliens tell her that five years ago, she and her father created a Titanosaur mind control machine, but an explosion occurred and Katsura was injured, after which the aliens rescued her and made a cyborg out of her, capable of controlling the Titanosaurus. For this, Dr. Mafune had to work for the aliens.
The aliens order Katsura to mentally attack the submarine Akira is on. The Titanosaur attacks the boat, but is stunned by the military’s supersonic cannon. Dr. Mafune and the aliens order Katsura to direct the Titanosaur to destroy the nearby city. Katsura goes there and breaks the supersonic cannon, capable of stunning the Titanosaurus. People remain powerless in front of the Titanosaur.
Aliens spot a large object heading towards the Titanosaurus. Titanosaurus falls under the onslaught of the emerging atomic beam. It turned out that the Titanosaurus was attacked by Godzilla who came out of the ocean. Interpol agents shoot at Katsura. The aliens bring her back to life, having previously sewn the Mechagodzilla control apparatus into her, and force Katsura to send the Titanosaur and Mechagodzilla to Tokyo.
Akira is captured by the aliens. Godzilla appears in Tokyo, where Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla are located. Mechagodzilla shoots rockets at Godzilla. Godzilla engages in battle with the Titanosaur, but he offers serious resistance and pushes Godzilla into a ravine. Akira breaks free from captivity. Together with Jiro and other Interpol agents, he kills the aliens and Katsura. Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus are out of control.
Godzilla rips off Mechagodzilla’s head and throws it into a ravine, and then cracks down on the Titanosaur. The dying Titanosaurus falls into the ocean. The escaped alien leader tries to fly away in a spaceship, but Godzilla destroys the ship.
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Kaoru Mabuchi, Ishirō Honda
Release Date: August 1, 1968
Runtime: 88 minutes
At the end of the 20th century, all the kaijū on Earth are locked in one of the Ogasawara islands, called the Island of Monsters; they are controlled by the Scientific Committee of the United Nations (CCNU). Beneath the surface of the island is a center for scientific research on monsters; the center also has the duty to control them so that they do not flee the island and to keep them safe and sound.
Suddenly the communication of the island with the outside is cut off. The monsters begin to attack and destroy the capitals of the world: Mothra in Beijing, Rodan in Moscow, Manda in London, Gorosaurus in Paris, and Godzilla in New York; they invade all the major capitals of the world except Tokyo. The Committee’s Doctor Yoshida orders a spaceship, Moonlight SY-3, to go and investigate what happened on Monster Island.
There they discover that the scientists working at the base of the island (with Doctor Otani as their leader) are under alien mind control. The race is presented as Kilaaks, they say they come from an island between Mars and Jupiter. The aliens demand the surrender of the humans. If they don’t they are willing to order the kaijū to destroy the entire Earth and kill all humans.
The fact that the monsters did not attack Tokyo is because the aliens did not want to attract attention in Japan, because they were establishing a secret base in the bowels of Mount Fuji. But after establishing it they decide to attack Tokyo too. During the attack it is discovered that the Kilaaks maintain a connection to somewhere on the Moon. The humans suspect that it may be a lunar base and decide to invade it as their last hope.
The earthlings successfully invade the lunar base, destroying it as well by freeing the earthly kaiju from alien control. The CCNU now has full control over the kaiju on Earth. But the Kilaakians decide to unleash their secret weapon, King Ghidorah. They order the space monster to defend their base and face earth monsters: Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, and Kumonga (Manda, Baragon and unnamed Varan are also present, but do not participate in the battle). Thanks to their united forces, the terrestrial monsters manage to defeat and kill the three-headed monster.
The Kilaaks don’t want to admit defeat. They send their last remaining weapon: the fire dragon. This begins to attack the cities of the Earth, burns them, also destroys the scientific center on the Island of Monsters. Captain Yamabe of the Moonlight SY-3 pursues the fire dragon, manages to destroy it, and discovers that it was not a monster but a flying saucer of the Kilaaks. Anyway, humans are safe again. The kaijū are again sent to Ogasawara to live there in peace and quiet.
All Monsters Attack (1969)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Screenplay: Shin’ichi Sekizawa, Ishirō Honda
Release Date: December 20, 1969
Runtime: 69 minutes
Seven-year-old Ichirō is often left to fend for himself, as his father works for the railroad and his mother works shifts. Since he is harassed in school by the stronger Gabara, he takes refuge in his imagination on Monster Island, the home island of the monster Godzilla.
In one of his daydreams, Ichirō actually lands on the island and gets to know Godzilla’s son Minilla, who is also annoyed by a stronger monster – also named Gabara. Back in reality, Ichirō hides from his archenemy in a factory hall and runs into two bank robbers who are on the run after a recent bank robbery. At the next meeting with Minilla, he gives Ichirō tips on how to face his enemies.
When Ichirō is kidnapped by the bank robbers in the factory hall, he witnesses in another daydream how Minilla successfully defends himself against his tormentor. Encouraged by this, Ichirō is able to overpower one of the bank robbers. His accomplice is arrested by the police while he is chasing Ichiko. Now Ichirō can successfully defend himself against his tormentor Gabara.
The Return of Godzilla (1984)
Director: Koji Hashimoto
Screenplay: Shuichi Nagahara
Release Date: December 15, 1984
Runtime: 103 minutes
On a stormy night, a fishing boat, the Yahata-Maru, approaches an island. The young biology student Hiroshi Okumura is on board. Not knowing that there is a volcano on the island, the fishermen are drifting closer and closer to the island. Suddenly the volcano erupts and a terrible scream is heard.
Goro Maki, a reporter from Tokyo Press, accidentally finds the missing ship floating in the sea. On board, he finds traces of a fight, and lots of dehydrated human bodies. Hiding in a locker, Maki discovers the student Okumura. As soon as he has found him, he is attacked by a huge parasite, but Okumura saves his life.
Arrived in Japan, Okumura is interviewed by Hayashida. Meanwhile, Maki tries to inform the public. But the government has ordered that the matter be kept secret. Maki meets Okumura’s sister Naoko and tells her that her brother is still alive. Meanwhile, Godzilla has attacked and destroyed a Russian nuclear submarine. Now finally the government decides to inform the public; panic breaks out. Now Godzilla appears at a nuclear power plant to absorb its radioactivity.
Hayashida and his team rushed there to research it, and they actually come up with an idea of how to drive Godzilla away: by migratory bird calls. Godzilla is attracted by the migratory bird calls. That is why they want to build a system on the Mihara volcano that imitates the ultrasonic waves of migratory birds and thus lures Godzilla into the volcanic crater. The Prime Minister gives his approval and work begins.
Still, Godzilla shows up in Tokyo, where nothing can stop him. The military is powerless until the “Super X” appears, a flying machine without wings that can withstand the heat rays of Godzilla thanks to titanium protection. With cadmium bombs, she can incapacitate Godzilla for a while. But when Godzilla rams a Russian freighter in Tokyo Bay, he automatically triggers a nuclear missile in the direction of Tokyo. The Americans shoot down an interceptor missile from Okinawa, which intercepts the Russian nuclear missile.
But the detonation is too close to Tokyo. The radioactivity that Godzilla absorbed in the explosion brings him back to life and turns Tokyo into a battlefield for good; the “Super X” is destroyed by it. Hayashida has now arrived at the Mihara volcano and begins to lure Godzilla with ultrasound waves. Godzilla leaves Tokyo and is on his way there. The army has attached detonators to the rim of the crater, causing Godzilla to fall into the magma.
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Director: Kazuki Ōmori
Screenplay: Kazuki Ōmori
Release Date: December 16, 1989
Runtime: 104 minutes
Following Godzilla`s attack on Tokyo, the monster’s cells are secretly delivered to the Saradia Institute of Technology and Science, where they are to be merged with genetically modified plants in hopes of transforming a desert in Saradia into fertile land and ending the country’s economic dependence on oil wells. Dr. Genshiro Shiragami and his daughter, Erika, are recruited to help with the project.
However, a terrorist bomb destroys their laboratory, destroys the cells and kills Erika. In 1990, Shiragami returned to Japan and merged some of Erika`s cells in an attempt to preserve her soul. Researcher Kazuhito Kirishima and Lieutenant Goro Gondo from Japan’s defense use the Godzilla cells to make “Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria” and hope this can be used as a weapon against Godzilla if the monster returns.
They try to recruit Shiragami to help them but are rejected. An explosion from Mount Mihara causes earthquakes throughout the area, including Shiragami’s home. Shiragami gains access to the Godzilla cells, which he secretly mixes with a rose. But at night, a rival company, Bio-Major, and agents from Saradia break into Shiragami’s laboratory. But they are attacked by a large plant-like creature that later escapes to a lake, and is called “Biollante” by Shiragami.
Agents from Bio-Major plant explosives around Mount Mihara, warning them to detonate them if their demands are not met. The explosives are detonated and Godzilla is released. Godzilla goes to the nearest power plant to replenish the supply of nuclear energy. Godzilla arrives at sea to engage Biollante in battle.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Director: Kazuki Ōmori
Screenplay: Kazuki Ōmori
Release Date: December 14, 1991
Runtime: 103 minutes
In 1992 an unidentified flying object suddenly appeared over Japan. The authorities quickly assume that it is a spaceship. But it is not a spaceship, but a time machine from the year 2204. The occupants of the aircraft, who call it “mother”, have one goal: to travel to 1944 and teleport a dinosaur on the island of Ragos to another place without nuclear radiation because the dinosaur becomes Godzilla through the later nuclear tests of the Americans.
The team consists of the author Kenichiro Terasawa, a paleontologist, the telepathic girl Miki Saegusa, the futurist Emi Kano, and the android M11. The Japanese troops stationed there have no chance against the Americans, who are quickly fighting their way into the interior of the island. But at the last second, a huge creature emerges from the forest to protect its island – a dinosaur.
The Americans who have come ashore have no chance against the animal, but as it approaches the beach, it is shot at with a huge cannonade from the American warships. Injured, it retreats into the forest. Assuming that the dinosaur is dead, the Japanese troops hold an appeal because they think the animal has protected them. The team then teleports the allegedly dead dinosaur into the Bering Sea.
But the problem arises that instead of Godzilla, King Ghidorah is now destroying the Japanese cities. Emi immediately realizes that this is a sinister plan by the other future travelers to rule Japan according to their wishes. But because nuclear energy can now be found almost everywhere in the world, Godzilla has come back to life after all. Immediately the future people send King Ghidorah to Godzilla to fight him, but Godzilla defeats King Ghidorah and with him the future people.
Now the Japanese have gotten rid of King Ghidorah, but it doesn’t take long before Godzilla has destroyed Sapporo. Emi has a plan: She travels into the future to use her technique to make King Ghidorah ready for battle again. Returning in the past, she now fights Godzilla with Mecha-King Ghidorah.
After a hard fight, Emi finally wins over Godzilla by flying him towards the sea with King Ghidorah and crashing him there with Ghidorah. And Emi can travel back to the future with peace of mind. At the end of the film, however, you can see that Godzilla survived the crash.
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenplay: Kazuki Ōmori
Release Date: December 12, 1992
Runtime: 102 minutes
The impact of a meteorite in the Pacific Ocean, in addition to causing various climate disasters, awakens Godzilla, who was asleep in the bottom of the Pacific as seen at the end of the previous film. A month later, we are introduced to the archaeologist Takuya Fujito, very similar to Indiana Jones, who is arrested by the Thai authorities for having plundered and destroyed a hidden temple in the jungle.
The man receives a visit from Dobashi, from the Security Agency, from Ando, vice president of Marutomo Enterprise, a company that is destructive to the environment, and from his ex-wife Masako. The man is released as long as he investigates an anomaly on Infant Island, an island owned by Marutomo. Takuya, Masako, and Ando go to the island and, after a series of adventures, discover that the intruder was nothing more than a monumental egg.
They then learn from two small fairies that it is the egg of Mothra, the deity of the ancient Cosmos civilization. Millennia earlier, the Cosmos had created a machine capable of changing the Earth’s climate: the Earth, faced with this danger, had freed Battra, Mothra’s evil brother. Mothra had managed to defeat him, at the cost of the life of all Cosmos except the two fairies, but due to the meteorite, the earth has again freed the monster Battra.
Ando proposes to take the egg to Japan to preserve it before Battra’s arrival, but in the meantime, she has already awakened and, in larval form, is devastating the Japanese coast. As the humans bring the egg to Japan along with the Cosmos, Godzilla appears, attacking the ship. The egg hatches, revealing the larval form of Mothra, which faces the king of monsters. During the fight, Battra appears, pissing off against Godzilla.
In underwater combat, however, Earth sucks the two monsters into its magma guts. Unexpectedly, Ando kidnaps the Cosmos with the intention of offering them to his boss as a testimonial for Marutomo. Masako and Takuya return to Tokyo to find the Cosmos, but the archaeologist, after having separated from Masako and his daughter Midori, finds the fairies and hides in a hotel.
With the help of the psychic Miki Saegusa, who manages to perceive the song with which the Cosmos invoke Mothra, Masako and Midori find Takuya, who is convinced to leave the fairies and to return to live with his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, however, Mothra, in search of the Cosmos, is devastating the city. Begged by Midori, the Cosmos interrupt the fury of the god, who is seriously wounded by the army.
Retreating to the Diet building, the larva turns into a large cocoon. Simultaneously an underwater volcano and Fuji erupt, releasing Battra in Imago and Godzilla versions. From the cocoon emerges Mothra in moth form, which fights in Yokohama with the two enemies. Mothra “reconciles” with her brother, and the two butterflies attack Godzilla and throw him overboard.
In the operation, however, Battra dies, hit by the atomic ray of Godzilla. Cosmos transform into spirits and enter Mothra, which rises into space to stop a large asteroid.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenplay: Wataru Mimura
Release Date: December 11, 1993
Runtime: 107 minutes
1992: A few months after the clash between Mothra, Godzilla and Battra, a large egg is found on Adona Island. Dr. Kazuma Aoki (inventor of an anti-Godzilla flying ship called Garuda) and Dr. Azusa Gojo analyze the egg but the giant pterosaur Rodan attacks the base camp to protect the egg, which he believes contains his brother. Shortly thereafter, Godzilla himself emerges from the water and apparently takes out Rodan.
The egg is brought to Japan and Miki Saegusa, the young medium who has appeared several times in Godzilla’s Heisei films, perceives mental activity inside the shell. The egg hatches, revealing a Godzillasaurus cub, who immediately becomes attached to Azusa by imprinting. Godzilla, however, is looking for the baby, and heads straight for the factory where the dinosaur is analyzed.
The UNGCC (United Nation Godzilla Countermeasures Center) then mobilized their latest creation: Mechagodzilla, a robot with the features of the king of monsters (his head descended from the robotic head of Mecha King Ghidorah from the film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, recovered from the sea). Meanwhile, Rodan awakens, and empowered by the monster king’s atomic beam gets a uranium heat beam. Rodan flies over the open sea focusing on one goal: to find his brother. The robot is badly damaged by Godzilla, but manages to remove him from the study center.
More in-depth analysis reveals that Godzillasaurs possess a second brain that presides over motor activities in the pelvis. Baby Godzilla is transferred by helicopter, but Rodan, now empowered by Godzilla’s atomic power and transformed into Fire Rodan, attacks the craft. At this point, Garuda appears, piloted by Aoki, who attacks Rodan without being able to take him down. Then comes Mecha-Godzilla, who manages to defeat the pterosaur.
Godzilla returns to the attack against his robotic counterpart, and Miki is forced to identify the part of the body where the sacral brain resides. Mechagodzilla and Garuda at one point merge, creating Super Mechagodzilla which, by means of an electric discharge, manages to destroy the sacral brain.
Godzilla is dead, but Rodan sacrifices himself by donating a large amount of energy to the King of the Monsters, who completely reinvigorated and furious at Rodan’s death destroys the opponent (while sparing Miki) with a spiral ray (a very powerful red ray born from the union of the ray of Fire Rodan and that of Godzilla) and goes off to sea with his adopted son.
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
Director: Kensho Yamashita
Screenplay: Hiroshi Kashiwabara
Release Date: December 10, 1994
Runtime: 107 minutes
The film begins on Godzilla’s island. Crystal-like meteorites strike the island, which causes Godzilla to awaken. Meanwhile, people from the G-Force, mainly Miki and Prof. Gondo, are trying to control Godzilla through the so-called Project T, which they hope will work out. The plan is to attach a telepathy amplifier to the back of Godzilla’s head and then control it with thought waves.
But there is also a second project, the M.O.G.E.R.A. (Mobile Operation Godzilla Expert Robot Aero-Type, a combat machine that can split into a drill tank and a combat aircraft). The goal of this project is to use M.O.G.E.R.A. to kill Godzilla. Miki has meanwhile traveled to Godzilla’s Island to prepare Project T with Prof. Gondo and Dr. Okubo. There they not only meet G-Force employees Koji, Sato, and Yuki, but also the bigger and older Godzilla junior.
The Japanese government has meanwhile decided that the mysterious space monster, which has destroyed a NASA spaceship, should be fought with M.O.G.E.R.A. Meanwhile, Godzilla emerges from the Pacific and wants to go to Godzilla junior. The research team succeeds in attaching the telepathy amplifier to Godzilla’s head. Yuki, however, wanted to kill Godzilla with a blood coagulant, because he had killed his best friend Goro in 1989 (Goro was the brother of Prof. Gondo).
Suddenly SpaceGodzilla appears from space, attacks Godzilla junior, and injures him. Godzilla tries to help him, but SpaceGodzilla manages to defeat him and heads for Japan. Godzilla, who wants revenge for his son, pursues SpaceGodzilla. The team withdraws, with the exception of Miki, Koji, and Sato. But one evening Miki is kidnapped.
It doesn’t take long to find out that Dr. Ukubo is with the Japanese Mafia and not only has Godzilla under their control but also keeps Miki prisoner. Yuki, Sato, and Koji set out to free them, which they succeed. It seems that Koji apparently has feelings for Miki.
In the meantime, an explanation has been found for the origin of SpaceGodzilla: it was created by Godzilla cells that entered space either through Biollante or Mothra. There they grew into SpaceGodzilla with the help of black holes and crystal explosions.
SpaceGodzilla landed in Fukuoka to recharge his energy with the help of the Fukuoka Tower. Yuki, Koji, and Sato were commissioned by General Aso to work with M.O.G.E.R.A. to fight against SpaceGodzilla. In Fukuoka, a mighty fight begins, in which SpaceGodzilla has the upper hand. But then Godzilla shows up and allies with M.O.G.E.R.A. In the end, he defeated SpaceGodzilla and M.O.G.E.R.A. After the fight, Miki and Koji walk hand in hand down the beach and watch Godzilla go back into the sea.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenplay: Kazuki Ōmori
Release Date: December 9, 1995
Runtime: 102 minutes
The film begins with a depiction of the aftermath of a mysterious catastrophe – Birth Island has disappeared. Godzilla attacks Hong Kong and it is evident that something is clearly wrong with him – his body is heated and in the chest area resembles a lava clot. Later, analyzing this, scientists come to the conclusion that the heart of the monster is a nuclear reactor, and it went out of order; somehow, the recent catastrophe affected this.
To prevent further overheating and, as a result, a nuclear explosion, the Japanese government sends a specially equipped Super X-3 aircraft with a freezer weapon to attack and cool the monster. It helps, but only for a while. Meanwhile, discoveries are being made in the scientific community one after another – in one of the laboratories in Tokyo, it was possible to create micro-oxygen (gas consists of reduced atoms); this is exactly the weapon with which the very first Godzilla was once defeated, but they plan to use it for exclusively peaceful purposes.
In parallel with this, a species of living creatures was discovered that lived on Earth 2.5 billion years ago; these are microscopic creatures comparable to bacteria, but improper handling of micro-oxygen leads to the degeneration of microorganisms into many monsters the size of large animals. The Japanese armed forces fight with them with varying success and, as a result, the creatures are united into a single giant monster Destoroyah, which also absorbed micro-oxygen weapons.
Seeing the powerlessness of the army, the command decides to play off the two monsters, they arrange a meeting, using Godzilla’s son as bait. The Kid defeats the young form of the Destoroyah, manages to meet Godzilla, but then dies dramatically in an unequal battle with the final form of the Destoroyah. The older Godzilla, overcoming the pain of loss and overheating of his huge body, destroys the Destoroyah several times in a row, but he miraculously resurrects the same number of times.
When Godzilla defeats the Destoroyah, his temperature reaches 1192 degrees and Godzilla ultimately melts at 1200 degrees. Super X-3 controls decay, minimizing damage to the city. After the melting of Godzilla, a lot of radiation should have been released (which the heroes repeatedly mention during the film), and immediately after the death of Godzilla the father, one of the heroines is surprised to note that all the radiation has been absorbed.
A silhouette of the Little Godzilla appears in the fog, which, apparently, is reborn thanks to the energy directed into his body by his father. Now he has become an adult, and is ready to take on the title of “King of the Monsters”.
Godzilla (1998)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Screenplay: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Release Date: May 20, 1998
Runtime: 139 minutes
French nuclear tests caused iguana eggs to mutate on islands in the Pacific Ocean. A Japanese fishing vessel is later attacked and sunk in the area. The only surviving crew member is interrogated by the French secret service, but the traumatized sailor utters only one word: Godzilla.
Dr. Nick Tatopoulos, who examines earthworms mutated by radioactivity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, is brought to Panama by the US military, where huge footprints have been found. Shortly afterward, two fishing trawlers are sunk off the east coast of the USA. A little later, the monster appears on the New York fish market. After some destruction, it disappears and New York is evacuated.
The military is now on the scene, but can initially only determine that Godzilla is now hiding underground. Inspired by some of the earlier attacks, Tatopoulos recommends luring the monster with a fishing lure to kill him. But the first attempt fails. Since the military underestimates Godzilla’s size and strength, the monster escapes, causing high losses among the soldiers. Tatopoulos found out from a blood sample that the lizard was pregnant and warns the military.
But because his former girlfriend Audrey, whom he meets again after a long time in New York, steals a video cassette that shows secret military recordings about Godzilla and his tracks and thus goes to the press, Nick is released from the project. On the way to the airport, he is kidnapped by Philippe Roche, who works for the French secret service and pretends to be a taxi driver. He asks Nick Tatopoulos to help find the nest.
While the American military is only on the hunt for Godzilla and can finally apparently kill him, the French and Tatopoulos, secretly pursued by Audrey and a cameraman, search for the nest. They follow Godzilla’s destruction in the city and eventually find the eggs in Madison Square Garden. However, the explosives brought along are not enough to blow up all the eggs and the young begin to hatch. The chance to blow up is not used and you try to lock the building and leave.
With the help of the transmission system in the stadium, the military is informed via television. At the last second, the protagonists can leave the building and all the young animals are killed by the explosion of the rockets. Godzilla survived the military attack and finds his dead boys. It blames humans for the tragedy.
The lizard pursues them across Manhattan and is lured onto the Brooklyn Bridge. There he gets caught in the wire ropes and is killed by fighter jets. Tatopoulus and Audrey finally get together and since Tatopoulus promises her the story exclusive, her dream of journalism will finally come true. Meanwhile, Roche disappears unseen. In the end, it turns out that at least one of the young survived.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Screenplay: Keiichi Hasegawa, Masahiro Yokotani, Shusuke Kaneko
Release Date: December 15, 2001
Runtime: 105 minutes
The movie ignores all previous movies except the original one, but is usually considered to be in-continuity with the 1998 American movie due to a reference.
Godzilla has been etched in everyone’s memory since his attack on Tokyo in 1954. And although it was eventually destroyed, the danger has not passed. In the years since, several other monsters have been spotted around the world. For example, in 1998 New York was attacked by a huge reptilian monster (a reference to the American Godzilla movie).
In 2004, exactly 50 years after Godzilla’s first attack, a US nuclear submarine disappeared just off the coast of Guam. An anti-nuclear submarine is sent to investigate. The submarine finds traces of a colossal beast at the site of the disappearance. Meanwhile, in Japan, Yuri Tachibana, the daughter of Admiral Taizo Tachibana (head of the Japanese Security Service), is investigating Mt. Myoko. She becomes involved in a series of mysterious phenomena, in which some people believe they have seen Godzilla.
She investigates the mystery and discovers an ancient legend about three Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. Yuri travels to Motosu Police Station to talk to Isayama, a local prophet. He tells her that Godzilla’s return is inevitable. He tells her the truth about Godzilla and his powers: he is really an amalgamation of the souls of all the people killed by the Japanese during World War II. That is the reason he attacked Japan.
He orders her to find and awaken the Guardian Monsters. Then what Isayama predicted happens: Godzilla returns. He comes ashore and begins a devastating journey to Tokyo. At the same time, the first of three Guardian monsters emerges in Motosu: Baragon. Baragon fights Godzilla, but loses quickly.
Yuri follows Godzilla as he approaches Tokyo. The army launches an attack on him in the Japanese countryside, but cannot help the monster. At this point, the other two Guardian Monsters begin to awaken: Mothra pupates into its adult form, and Ghidorah emerges from his crystal tomb near Mount Fuji. Mothra arrives first and attacks Godzilla. Ghidorah arrives not much later, and the two monsters conspire against Godzilla. Mothra eventually sacrifices herself to save Ghidorah from Godzilla’s atomic ray.
Ghidorah continues to fight, but is knocked down by Godzilla. Just before she dies, Mothra gives her last energy to Ghidorah so that it can reach its strongest form. He fights Godzilla, and even manages to severely injure Godzilla. Admiral Taizo orders his army to shoot the D-03, a powerful drill/missile, into the open wound. While preparing the weapon, Godzilla destroys King Ghidorah.
Then the ghosts of all three Guardian Monsters emerge, holding Godzilla. This gives the military a chance to shoot the D-03 into Godzilla’s open wound. The weapon explodes inside Godzilla, who falls backward into the bay from the impact. He swims away and soon disappears from the radar. As everyone celebrates victory over Godzilla, the viewer is shown that Godzilla is still alive at the bottom of the bay.
Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenplay: Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura
Release Date: December 11, 1999
Runtime: 107 minutes
Godzilla is a literal force of nature for Japan (after the incident in 1954). The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) works independently to study the mutant dinosaur and predict its appearances. Meanwhile, Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) scientists find a 60-million-year-old UFO deep in the Japan Trench. As CCI tries to magnify the UFO for study, it takes off into the sky on its own.
Godzilla arrives and battles the Japan Self Defense Forces, now equipped with powerful Full Metal missiles, but the UFO appears, searching for genetic information that only Godzilla possesses. The battle comes to a standstill, driving the monster underwater, and then to land to replenish solar energy from him. Yuji Shinoda, the founder of the GPN, discovers the secret of Godzilla’s regenerative properties, but so has the UFO. He breaks free from the JSDF’s attempts to contain him, and heads to Shinjuku.
After landing on Tower City, he begins to drain all the files about Godzilla from the Tokyo hosts. CCI tries to destroy the UFO with explosive charges, but Shinoda, trying to find out more about the aliens, is almost caught in the explosion. He survives, and joins the rest of the cast on a rooftop, staring at the UFO. Almost in response, the UFO broadcasts his message of the invasion and a new empire on earth, and Shinoda reveals that the aliens are after Godzilla’s DNA so they can re-form the bodies of him.
Godzilla comes over and battles the UFO once more. However, he is assaulted by the UFO, and it absorbs part of his G1 organizer, turning into a squid-like creature, called the Millennian. However, the Millennian is unable to control Godzilla’s DNA and transforms further into a hideous monster named Orga. Godzilla recovers and fights Orga, but it eventually wins the game, and drains more of Godzilla’s DNA, trying to become a Godzilla clone.
Finally, Orga opens his mouth, intending to swallow Godzilla to extract more DNA and transform into a Godzilla clone, but Godzilla, being cunning, deliberately sticks his head in Orga’s throat. Ogra begins to transform and gets Godzilla skin and his spikes begin to grow, but Godzilla unleashes his nuclear pulse, beheads Orga and blows him to pieces. Godzilla then kills Mitsuo Katagiri, head of the CCI, before starting a rampage through Tokyo.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Screenplay: Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura
Release Date: November 3, 2000
Runtime: 105 minutes
The film ignores the events of all previous films except the original. In the film’s continuity, Godzilla was never destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer. Instead, he withdrew after his initial attack, then reappeared in 1966 and 1996.
In the year 2001, a new machine for generating miniature black holes will be tested. The machine makes a wormhole along which a huge prehistoric dragonfly is brought to the present. The dragonfly lays an egg and disappears through the wormhole. The egg, which actually consists of thousands of small eggs, ends up in the sewer.
There they hatch and hundreds of larvae called Meganulons leave the sewer to feed. The larvae quickly grow to adult size. This swarm of dragonflies is attacking Godzilla. Most are killed by Godzilla, but some of the dragonflies manage to drink some of his blood. They take the blood back to the sewer and inject it into the last larva before dying. This last larva is transformed by the blood into Megaguirus.
After devastating much of the city with its shockwaves, Megaguirus heads out to sea to fight Godzilla (whom she sees as an invader of her territory). She uses her speed to evade Godzilla’s attacks. However, Godzilla uses this speed against Megaguirus by sending her flying at full speed against the pointed scales on his back. Megaguirus loses an arm here.
Megaguirus then reveals that through Godzilla’s blood she can now also fire an atomic beam. With a huge ball of radioactive energy, she weakens Godzilla, then tries to sting him with her sting. Godzilla catches the stinger in its mouth and bites it off. After this, he manages to hit Megaguirus with his atomic beam, bringing the beast to her end.
At the end of the movie, a group of scientists uses the same machine to unleash a black hole on Godzilla. This appears to be successful, but in an additional scene after the credits, Tokyo is hit by an “earthquake” with Godzilla’s roar.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Screenplay: Wataru Mimura
Release Date: December 14, 2002
Runtime: 88 minutes
The film is once again a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the events of all the films in between.
After the original Godzilla was defeated in 1954, a second Godzilla suddenly appeared in 1999 and 2003. To arm itself against this new Godzilla, the Japanese government is having the bones of the original Godzilla emerge from Tokyo Bay and turn it into a mechanical Godzilla. This Godzilla called Mechagodzilla will be used as a weapon against Godzilla.
However, the plan is going differently than expected. During the first battle, the spirit of the original Godzilla awakens, still deep within Mechagodzilla. As a result, the robot begins to lead a life of its own and destroy everything around it. Only when its fuel is used up does the robot come to rest. Mechagodzilla is quickly repaired.
A safety system is also being introduced to prevent Mechagodzilla from running wild again. For extra safety, the robot can now be controlled remotely. Godzilla attacks again, and Mechagodzilla is deployed again. This time, the plan seems to be successful, and Mechagodzilla gains the upper hand.
Everything still threatens to go wrong if the remote control is damaged. One of the pilots enters the cabin in Mechagodzilla to manually control the robot. She continues the fight. The battle eventually ends in a tie, and Godzilla retreats to the sea. But it is certain that he will return.
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Screenplay: Masaaki Tezuka, Masahiro Yokotani
Release Date: December 13, 2003
Runtime: 91 minutes
After Godzilla’s apparent defeat, the Japanese government wants to use some of Godzilla’s bones to rebuild the Mecha-Godzilla robot (as in the previous film they had to damage it to stop its ancient wrath), in order to use it as a defense weapon for the Japan. Mothra, however, is immediately opposed to the experiment and threatens to attack humanity if that happens.
Although the agreement between the Japanese and Mothra was clear, the government heads to the place where Godzilla crashed to take his bones. Much to everyone’s surprise, the mutant dinosaur is still alive and immediately destroys the labs on its way to Tokyo with only one goal: total destruction.
Mothra confronts him but Godzilla defeats her with his powerful radioactive beam. The Japanese then hurriedly rebuild Mecha-Godzilla and hurl it alongside the giant butterfly at Godzilla. But the King of the Monsters is too powerful and can beat both of them. Meanwhile, two Mothra eggs hatch and head to Tokyo to help her mother in the fight, while scientists try to repair Mecha-Godzilla.
Godzilla takes out Mothra, who sacrifices himself to protect his larvae, but soon after is shot dead by a new, upgraded Mecha-Godzilla who stabs him in the chest with a drill on his arm and bombs him with his cannons. laser. The Mothra larvae then lock the dying Godzilla into a cocoon with threads.
But the spirit of the 1954 Godzilla awakens again in Mecha-Godzilla who, instead of finishing off the opponent, grabs him and falls into the sea with him because, as Mothra said, building him was a violation of the rules of nature. However, in the Japanese secret laboratories, a sample of D.N.A. of Godzilla, who suggests that the threat can rise again.
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Screenplay: Isao Kiriyama, Wataru Mimura
Release Date: November 29, 2004
Runtime: 125 minutes
In Antarctica, a few years before the events of the film, Godzilla is dropped into an ice pit by a drill-nosed flying submarine, the Gotengo (previously seen in Atragon, a 1963 Ishirō Honda film). Due to this, Godzilla ends up in hibernation. In 2004, humanity lived a peaceful period: thanks to the activity of the EDF (Earth Defense Force), equipped with super-technological weapons like an entire fleet of Gotengo and soldiers with superpowers, the monsters that attacked the world for some time have stopped being a problem.
The last to be destroyed by the Gotengo is the sea serpent Manda (also seen in Atragon), annihilated with the Zero Absolute cannon. Suddenly, on the surface, there is a simultaneous attack by all known monsters alive (except Godzilla): Rodan is in New York, Zilla (the American Godzilla) in Sydney, Angilas in Shanghai, King Sisar in Okinawa, Kamacuras in Paris, Kumonga in Arizona and Ebirah in Tokai.
It will be discovered that the cause of everything is the alien race of the Xiliens (seen in Invasion of Astro-Monster, 1965) that has set all the kaijū against humans with a radio control device, thus managing to exterminate the EDF. A group of survivors, formed by the same team that hibernated Godzilla, decide to free the latter to use him against the other monsters. Gigan, an archenemy of Godzilla, is sent to the South Pole to stop the Gotengo, which still manages to awaken Godzilla.
Gigan attacks him but ends up beheaded by the radioactive monster, which turns his attention to Gotengo. The crew takes the opportunity to be followed by Godzilla in the various parts of the world where the monsters have appeared. Godzilla successively defeats Zilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Rodan, Angilas, King Sisar, Hydrax, and Ebirah. In addition, a child, together with his grandfather, meets a lost Minilla and helps him to follow his father during his fights.
Meanwhile, the surviving group of the EDF attacks the spaceship of the aliens and after a hard space battle (which is very reminiscent of the battles of Star Wars) manages to defeat the Xilians and destroy the spaceship. Meanwhile, on the ruins of Tokyo, Godzilla collides with the Monster X, while Mothra appears and confronts Gigan who has returned whole and strengthened. Mothra finds herself in trouble and sacrifices herself to eliminate Gigan who is beheaded and this time destroyed forever.
Godzilla and Monster X turn out to be on par until the alien monster transforms into the terrifying Keizer Ghidorah, similar to the long-time enemy King Ghidorah, who puts Godzilla in trouble. But the Gotengo intervenes to save the defender of the Earth by transmitting an enormous amount of energy to him. Godzilla as expected launches Keizer Ghidorah into space above the stratosphere and with a Final Ray kills the antagonist, then attacks the Gotengo too. But just then Minilla arrives, standing between her father and the humans convincing him to leave peacefully. Godzilla goes off to sea with his found son.
Shin Godzilla (2016)
Director: Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi
Screenplay: Hideaki Anno
Release Date: July 25, 2016
Runtime: 120 minutes
The Japanese coast guard is investigating an abandoned yacht in Tokyo Bay when something attacks the ship. Later, the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line mysteriously collapses. After the viralization of a video that shows a strange aquatic creature near the Aqua-Line, the deputy director of the Japanese cabinet, Randō Yaguchi, considers that the incident was caused by a living being; this theory is initially rejected, but when a huge tail leaves the ocean its theory is accepted.
Later the huge creature, revealed to be Godzilla, emerges from the ocean, hovering on its two hind legs and, while trying to evacuate the city, Godzilla destroys everything in its path. Yaguchi is put in charge of a commission in charge of investigating the kaijū. From the high radioactive readings, it is theorized that Godzilla woke up from a nuclear fission.
The United States sends one of its agents, Kayoko Anne Patterson, who reveals that the zoologist Gōrō Maki had been investigating the mutations caused by radioactive contamination and the theory of a huge sea creature, but the United States covered it up. The abandoned yacht in Tokyo Bay belonged to Maki and before she committed suicide she had turned his research over to Patterson for concealment.
Godzilla reappears twice his size near the city of Kamakura, heading for Tokyo. Japan’s self-defense forces attack Godzilla without succeeding in injuring him, suffering heavy casualties. The US offers to help in exchange for direct access to study Godzilla and the Japanese government must reluctantly agree. Using bombers with the bunker busters, they attack Godzilla, who responds with his atomic breath and bolts coming from his dorsal plates.
The battle destroys much of Tokyo, along with two of the bombers and helicopters. After depleting his energy, Godzilla sleeps. Yaguchi’s team discovers, after analyzing a blood sample from the monster, that the use of a clotting agent could “freeze” Godzilla, who reproduces asexually, and that as long as he finds air or water available he can survive. Despite Yaguchi’s discovery, the U.N. decides to use thermonuclear weapons to kill Godzilla.
Not wanting to see nuclear bombs in Japan again, Patterson uses her contacts to gather everything he needs to follow Yaguchi’s plan. After weakening Godzilla and making him fall, Yaguchi’s team manages to insert the coagulant into Godzilla through the mouth; it freezes successfully.
The fall of the nuclear bombs is suspended but not canceled, in case Godzilla resurfaces again. The end of the film shows us a close-up of Godzilla’s tail, from which strange humanoid beings had begun to emerge.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)
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In the last summer of the 20th century, giant monsters began to plague the Earth and humanity was almost endangered by a monster that wiped out the others: Godzilla. It was at this time that two ulterior motive extraterrestrial races, the religious Exif and the technologically advanced Bilusaludo, arrived on Earth to offer their aid against Godzilla. But after the Bilusaludo’s Mechagodzilla-based tactic failed before it was activated, both the aliens and humanity were forced to leave Earth and migrate to Tau-e via the Aratrum.
Among the humans is Haruo Sakaki, who had a hatred for Godzilla when his parents were killed during the exodus. Twenty years later, 11.9 light-years from Earth, Haruo believes that Tau-e is uninhabitable and locks himself in a shuttle that threatens to detonate unless the ship’s committee presents the order for his grandfather and the elders to explore the planet. But Haruo fails and is arrested, thrown into a cell where he witnesses the explosion of the emigration shuttle entering the planet’s atmosphere.
By providing classified data from the Exif priest named Metphies, Haruo publishes – anonymously – an essay detailing Godzilla’s weak points to convince the central committee to return to Earth once they conclude the improbability of finding another habitable world. Upon returning to Earth, the time after millennia due to relativistic effects, the Aratrum sends recon drones to explore Earth that reveal that Godzilla is still alive.
Metphies manages Haruo’s bail so that the human can explain to the committee that he can kill Godzilla, revealing an electromagnetic pulse-producing organ in Godzilla’s body that generates a permeable asymmetric shield that makes the monster impervious to all damage. except for a small window when the organ recycles; Haruo proposes to use that window to break the shield organ and quickly shove on the EMP probe before it regenerates to implode Godzilla from the resulting energy buildup.
But Haruo emphasizes that close-range combat would be needed to make precisely coordinated strikes in order to find the organ, with the committee forced to deploy 600 people for Haruo’s plan. When Haruo and the two battalions arrive on Earth, they learn that 20 millennia had passed on the planet with Godzilla’s presence radically altering Earth’s biosphere as they suffered loss and damage to their landing craft by similar flying creatures. Godzilla called Servums.
The company commander, Leland, orders a retreat, but Metphies emphasizes that they will need to meet with companies D and E via a pass within an area that Godzilla frequents. The group mobilizes and soon meets Godzilla. Haruo proceeds with the original plan on his behalf and attacks Godzilla before Leland steps in and taunts Godzilla, and his death allows the others to learn that Godzilla’s weak point is his dorsal fins.
The command rests with Metphies, who promotes Haruo as a commander while the human convinces the remaining survivors to continue the plan and defeat Godzilla. The group attacks Godzilla and manages to trap him inside a collapsed mountain pass where he manages to kill the monster with EMP probes pierced into its dorsal fins. Commenting after the apparent victory, environmental biologist Martin Lazzari theorizes that this Godzilla may be different from the one that scared off humanity, believing it to be an offspring.
Subsequently, the original Godzilla, which has grown exponentially to 300m in height, emerges from under a nearby mountain and destroys most of the remaining crew. Trapped under the rubble, Haruo watches Godzilla leave as he vows to kill him. In a post-credit scene, Haruo wakes up in a secluded area to find an indigenous girl next to him.
Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
Director: Kōbun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita
Screenplay: Sadayuki Murai, Tetsuya Yamada, Gen Urobuchi
Release Date: May 18, 2018
Runtime: 108 minutes
Following the events in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, the Aratrum is unable to contact Haruo and the rest of the crew after their encounter with the original Godzilla. The Captain orders that if the drones find no survivors within 48 hours, the Aratrum will be removed from Earth. Haruo Sakaki is rescued by a native girl named Miana and her wounds are treated with a strange powder. She belongs to an indigenous tribe called “Houtua”, surviving descendants of humans. The Houtua retrieve the surviving team from Haruo and hold them for questioning.
Miana and her twin sister Maina use telepathy to communicate with their guests to understand her reasons for burning their lands. After the Houtua realized that the group was after Godzilla, the twins informed Haruo that Godzilla had destroyed his god and left an egg. With the understanding that Haruo is waging a war against Godzilla and not against the Houtua, they are released, but the twins accompany them as protective guides and observers.
The group is attacked by a swarm of worm-like creatures, but they are able to fight them off with the help of the twins. During the fight, Galu-Gu realizes that the twins’ arrowheads are laced with “nanometal”, a remnant of Mechagodzilla. They are then attacked by a group of Servums, but Metphies arrives with some other survivors and drives them out. Galu-Gu explains that the nanotechnology that Mechagodzilla built somehow survived and in the last 20,000 years, it has constantly self-replicated and expanded.
With this fact, the Bilusaludo tell Haruo and the rest that they can win against Godzilla with the nanometal, prompting Haruo and the rest of the crew to stay on Earth and continue the original plan to defeat Godzilla. They manage to contact the Aratrum, which takes away the few crew members who wanted to leave and agrees to remain in orbit. Tracing the source of an energy signature they detected, they discovered that nanomaterials have rebuilt the old facility Mechagodzilla had, which Galu-Gu calls “Mechagodzilla City.”
The twins separate, but they warn Haruo that the nanometal is toxic; Bilusaludo assure the group that the technology is harmless to them. The team soon discovers that even though Mechagodzilla was destroyed, half of its head survived and it has rebuilt and expanded the original facility it was in. Galu-Gu manages to access Mechagodzilla’s surviving brain and has him build all the necessary materials for them to use in order to trap Godzilla within the city, then cover it with nanometal, before finishing it with EMP harpoons.
While she supervises the construction, Yuko confesses her feelings for Haruo and kisses him. Godzilla awakens and rushes through the city, forcing Galu-Gu to sacrifice the city’s defenses to deflect power and finish building the harpoon. Haruo, Yuko, and Belu-be battle Godzilla in vulture wingsuits to slow him down. The trio managed to keep Godzilla long enough for the city to complete its construction and proceed to lure Godzilla into the trap.
Godzilla survives the attack and overheats the facility. Galu-Gu refuses to lose and decides to merge with the nanometal. While the remaining Bilusaludo embrace fusion, the humans are horrified and escape the city. The three vultures begin to merge with their pilots, against Yuko’s will. To Galu-Gu’s bewilderment, the nanometal seems to have no effect on Haruo and he is unable to assimilate it. Metphies warns Haruo that if he doesn’t stop, the city of Mechagodzilla will consume the entire planet. Galu-Gu argues that in order to defeat Godzilla, they must become greater than humanity.
Haruo is conflicted, but ultimately chooses to win the battle with his humanity intact. He destroys the command center, along with Galu-Gu, who deactivates the nanometal but frees Godzilla, who proceeds to destroy the city. Haruo tends to Yuko, who is unable to wake up from her coma, while the surviving humans hide in a cave with Metphies as everything burns around her. In a post-credit scene dating back to an earlier scene, Metphies explains to Haruo that a monster, more powerful than Godzilla, destroyed his planet and reveals that the monster’s name is “Ghidorah”.
Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)
Director: Kōbun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita
Screenplay: Gen Urobuchi
Release Date: November 3, 2018
Runtime: 90 minutes
After the destruction of Mechagodzilla, Metphies expresses admiration for humanity, and the remaining Bilusaludo want Haruo to be brought to justice. On Earth, there has been growing religious fervor under Metphies, who says that a “miracle” saved them from nanometal. Martin informs Haruo that Yuko suffered brain death, although his heart continues to beat because of the nanometal. They are also afraid to reveal that the Houtua dust was what saved them from the nanometal, because of Metphies.
Metphies thinks that Haruo feared that nanometal would consume the planet after defeating Godzilla. Haruo confronts Metphies, who reveals that he wants to bring the god of the Exif. Haruo is taken to a remote area by the twins, eventually sleeping with one of them. The other discovers that Metphies has been communicating telepathically with the Exif leader, and then a mental image of “Ghidorah” is shown.
Metphies organizes another meeting, during which he calls Ghidorah, who manifests himself as a shadow and kills his followers. The heads of Ghidorah emerge from three voids and one of them destroys Aratrum. Godzilla awakens from his sleep and confronts Ghidorah, only to discover that Ghidorah is intangible and impervious to his atomic breathing. Scientists theorize that the true form of Ghidorah exists in another universe, and therefore, only its energy has materialized. Haruo then finds Metphies, who replaced one of his eyes with Ghidorah’s amulet, allowing them to communicate.
He launches a telepathic attack on Haruo and reveals that Ghidorah is the god of the Exif, an inescapable being from Chaos, to whom they offer planets to consume. He wants Haruo to accept him too, which Haruo rejects. However, Mothra (at the time still an egg) interrupts his attack and allows him to discover that Metphies was the one who destroyed his grandfather’s ship in the first film.
Haruo then breaks free and breaks the amulet in Metphies’ eye, causing Ghidorah to be trapped on the Earth plane, allowing Godzilla to destroy Ghidorah’s heads and shoot his atomic breath into the voids, causing them to explode. Afterward, Hauro meets Metphies, who declares that Ghidorah will always be watching him until he dies. Time passes and the survivors began to live alongside the natives, and one of the twins is pregnant with Haruo’s son.
Haruo learns that scientists have figured out how to use Mechagodzilla’s nanometal in Yuko’s body as a tool to rebuild civilization, and realizes that Ghidorah will return to destroy it in the future. Taking Yuko with him, he flies the newly rebuilt ship towards Godzilla, who vaporizes him. In a post-credit scene, at some point in the future, children of natives and survivors perform a ritual at a shrine in honor of Haruo.
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The modern American continuity is completely different from the Japanese one and there was no way for us to connect it, which is why we are giving it a separate section. The earliest movie in this narrative’s chronology is Kong: Skull Island (2017), which is set several decades before the 2014 Godzilla movie. But, since Skull Island is not a Godzilla movie, we are not going to analyze it here. What follows is the chronological order of the MonsterVerse movies featuring Godzilla.
Godzilla (2014)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Screenplay: Max Borenstein
Release Date: May 8, 2014
Runtime: 123 minutes
In 1999, the scientists Dr. Ishiro Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham of the secret organization Monarch went to the Philippines to investigate a gigantic, hollow skeleton that was discovered during mining operations. A prehistoric giant monster hatched from it, which shortly afterward destroyed a nuclear power plant in Japan.
Sandra Brody, the wife of engineer Joe Brody, both of who work in the power plant, dies. Her son Ford Brody has to watch the collapse of the power station from a distance. The disaster is covered up as an earthquake accident and the power plant and the adjacent city are declared a restricted area. Fifteen years later, the now grown-up Ford Brody is serving as a soldier in the US Army and has started a family in San Francisco. He is called to Japan after his father illegally entered the restricted area.
Joe Brody, who never believed the official accident and wants to find out the truth, persuades his son to re-enter the restricted area with him. But they are caught and taken to the former power plant, which is now a large research complex. In the ruins of the nuclear power plant, a monster pupated and fed on the radioactivity, but is now ready to hatch. It breaks out of the exclusion zone and flies away to the east. Joe is seriously injured and later dies.
Dr. Serizawa asks Ford Brody for his help. His father recorded a kind of “calling” from the monster, which from now on is called “Muto” (“Massive unknown terrestrial organism”); a mating call, it turns out. The female hatches from a second pupa that was stored in a nuclear waste dump in Nevada and was believed to be dead. Dr. Serizawa informs Ford about the organization Monarch, which serves to research the giant monsters, and he learns of the existence of an even more powerful monster who is also the natural enemy of the Mutos: Godzilla.
Soon Godzilla emerges from the sea. In Honolulu there is the first fight between Godzilla and the male Muto; then Godzilla pursues his opponent. The monsters cannot be killed with conventional weapons; the US military is planning – contrary to Dr. Serizawa’s protest – the use of atomic bombs. Since the Mutos can release electromagnetic pulses, the bombs are equipped with mechanical time detonators, but a now ticking bomb is caught by the Muto male. Both monsters meet and mate in San Francisco. The female builds a nest in which to lay her eggs.
The bomb serves as food for the young and now threatens the whole city with its explosion. It can only be defused on site. Ford is called in to help with the issue. Ford is dropped off with a small troop of soldiers by parachute jump over San Francisco. A bitter battle has been raging between Godzilla and the Mutos for many hours. The defuse team reaches the nest, but the bomb cannot be defused.
The warhead is therefore carried to a boat in the harbor and is to be brought out to sea from there. Ford also succeeds in opening a wrecked tanker truck, setting the nest on fire, and killing the Muto offspring. He can start the boat and steer it away from the city, but then collapses injured and exhausted. He is rescued at the last second by a military helicopter before the atomic bomb detonates in the open sea, far from the city.
Godzilla defeats both Mutos in the end, but collapses after his fight. The next day, Ford reunites with his wife Elle and son Sam. Godzilla awakens and is seen by the people as the “savior of the city”. He disappears again in the depths of the ocean.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Director: Michael Dougherty
Screenplay: Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
Release Date: May 13, 2019
Runtime: 131 minutes
Five years after the existence of the “titans” was revealed to the world, Dr. Emma Russell, a paleobiologist who works for the study organization Monarch of the Titans, and her daughter Madison witness the birth of a larva named Mothra. Emma calms Mothra down with “Orca,” a device that can send out frequencies to attract or modify Titan’s behavior.
A group of eco-terrorists led by former British Army Colonel Alan Jonah attacks the base and kidnaps Emma and Madison while Mothra runs away and forms a doll under a nearby waterfall. The monarch’s scientists, Dr. Ishirō Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham, contact former employee Dr. Mark Russell, Emma’s ex-husband and Madison’s father, to help them find it.
Mark initially hesitates because of his hatred of Godzilla, who he blames for his son’s death during the events in San Francisco, but ultimately accepts him. The monarch team follows Godzilla to Antarctica, where Jonah tries to free a three-headed titan named “Monster Zero”. Emma lets go of Monster Zero and wakes it up, and it then fights Godzilla, devours Graham and escapes. The team later discovers that Emma is working with the terrorists.
From a Monarch bunker in Boston, Emma contacts Monarch, arguing that the Titans must be awakened in order to heal the earth from human harm. Emma wakes Rodan in Mexico and the Monarch team pulls him to Monster Zero. After Rodan is defeated, Godzilla ambushes Monster Zero and cuts off his left head. During the fight, the US Navy launches a prototype weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer, which apparently kills Godzilla.
Untouched, Monster Zero pushes back his lost head and wakes all the other sleeping titans around the world, with Rodan submitting to his rule. As a result, Madison denies Emma. Through mythological texts, Dr. Ilene Chen that Monster Zero is King Ghidorah, a prehistoric alien trying to terraform the earth.
Mothra emerges from her cocoon and flies to Monarch’s base in Bermuda to communicate with Godzilla, who is recovering in an ancient underwater city. The team uses a submarine to locate Godzilla’s hiding place, which is highly radioactive. They conclude that Godzilla will take too long to heal on its own and decide to detonate a nuclear warhead to speed up the process.
Serizawa sacrifices himself by manually detonating the warhead, reviving Godzilla and increasing his power. Emma realizes that the destruction Ghidorah and the other titans will bring to the world is far worse than anything humans could inflict, but Jonah ignores her calls to stop. Madison hears this and steals the orca. When Madison arrives at Fenway Park, she broadcasts a frequency that calms the titans but inadvertently attracts them all.
Ghidorah lands in Boston to destroy the orca. Godzilla arrives with the help of Monarch’s staff to engage him in the battle. Mark leads a team to save Madison and escape the city after learning that Godzilla’s radiation levels will increase and result in a thermonuclear explosion. Mothra comes to help Godzilla, but is intercepted by Rodan. She hits him, but is injured in the process.
Ghidorah dominates Godzilla and prepares to kill him, but Mothra sacrifices himself and transfers his energy to Godzilla. Mark, Emma and Madison reunite and reactivate the orca to lure Ghidorah away from Godzilla. Emma sacrifices herself to keep Ghidorah away and gives Mark, Madison, and Team Monarch time to escape. Godzilla enters a newly empowered state and defeats Ghidorah. Rodan and the other titans meet Godzilla and bow to him.
During the credits, newspaper clippings and Monarch files reveal that the Titans are helping to heal the planet, a second suspected Mothra egg has been discovered, and some of the Titans converge on Skull Island. Ancient cave paintings of Godzilla and Kong in battle are shown. In a post-credits scene, Jonah and his forces purchase Ghidorah’s severed left head in Mexico.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenplay: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein
Release Date: March 24, 2021
Runtime: 113 minutes
“Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.“
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