Top 5 Godzilla Monsters

Luke Owen looks at the best of Godzilla’s friends and foes…Godzilla. 60 years of utter destruction. Whether he’s fighting in Japan, Osaka, Hong Kong, Australia or even Planet X, there is little doubt that something – or someone – will be destroyed.To celebrate the home entertainment release of Gareth Edward’s 2014 reboot of Godzilla (read our review here), we take a look back at some of Godzilla’s greatest friends and foes. The ones who sought to destroy him, and those who had his back in times of need.Agree, disagree? Let us know in the comments section. Let’s get this kick off the countdown by looking at number 5…5. BiollanteThe original Godzilla series came to a close with 1975’s Terror of Mechagodzilla and was put on hiatus until he was rejuvenated ten years later. Working as a semi-reboot/quasi-sequel, Godzilla (or Return of Godzilla or Godzilla 1985) saw the King of the Monsters return to wreak havoc on Tokyo. And while the movie was good fun, Godzilla was on his own. So, a few years later, Toho decided to make another Godzilla movie, only this time pit him against a new enemy. But how would they come up with a new kaiju? By holding a competition for fans to submit story ideas.And what a story they came up with.A scientist by the name of Dr. Genshiro Shiragami mixes Godzilla cells with cells of a rose that he had also injected with cells of his dead daughter in the hope of keeping her spirit alive. They form like Voltron to create the killer plant monster, Biollante. Told you it was weird.Starting off in a rose-like form, Biollante soon becomes a jaw-snapping behemoth and battles with Godzilla in a dramatic fashion. With whipping tenticles, Biollante is great for long range attacks, but his giant jaw can also be effective up close.Sadly, Biollante is a forgotten and under-appreciated Godzilla foe. 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante was not the box office success Toho were hoping for and the character never surfaced in a movie again – not even in Godzilla: Final Wars which was supposed to feature every monster from the cannon. It did however appear in Godzilla fighting game Godzilla: Kaijuu Daikessen, which was released on the SNES in Japan only as well as PS2, Xbox and Wii melee fighters Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed.4. GiganThe 1970s were a tough time for Toho. A string of bad Godzilla movies made for kids and a lack of money meant that the quality of kaiju output was minimal at best. A classic example of this is 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah (or Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster), a anti-pollution movie that saw director Yoshimitsu Banno use Godzilla as a conduit for his political statement in a baffling and perplexing movie. Upon a special screening of the movie, Godzilla producer Tomoyuki Tanaka barred Banno from ever working on a Godzilla movie again. A ban that would last until the 2014 movie…The movie was so bad in Tanaka’s eyes that he made one request – make Godzilla a bad ass again with a more adult/teenager-themed movie. The result was Godzilla vs. Gigan, a super low budget 2-on-2 film that brought back some classic characters, a great alien plot line and the creation of a new kaiju – Gigan.A cybernetic alien creature from Nebula M, Gigan is a formidable foe for Godzilla with hook hands and a spinning buzzsaw on his chest. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Gigan would be re-designed to shoot lazers from his eye and his hook hands were replaced with chainsaws. That’s pretty bad ass.3. MothraHailing from Infant Island, Mothra is a protector of Earth and a messenger for its woes. Having first appeared in her own movie in 1961, Mothra rose to popularity in the Godzilla franchise after starring alongside the King of the Monsters in 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla (or Godzilla vs. The Thing). She would then go on to feature in a number of movies in the Showa, Heisei and Millennium eras, cementing herself as one of the most popular characters in the franchise.So popular was Mothra that she was the only character to get their own spin-off series following the end of the Heisei era in 1995. Plans for a Mothra solo movie were in place in 1990, but following the box office failings of Godzilla vs. Biollante, they were scrapped in favour of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. But after Godzilla vs. Destroyah, Mothra would star in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy which ran until 1998.You may think she’s just a giant moth, but her strong wing span can keep an opponent grounded and her deadly pollen can be fatal when it needs to be. Mothra is so tough that, even in Larval form, it can go toe to toe with The Big G.2. MechagodzillaHow do you take down The King of the Monsters? By making a robot version of him, that’s how.At least that was the idea of the Simians, who built the first Mechagodzilla in 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (or Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster). At first they disguised the robot being up as Godzilla to confuse the people of Earth, but Godzilla saw to it that his name was not dragged through the mud. In the 90s, the character was reborn as a good guy, a weapon built by the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Centre from the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah that lay at the bottom of the ocean.In the Millennium series, Mechagodzilla was renamed Kiryu and was actually built around the skeleton of the original Godzilla that attacked Tokyo in 1954. A fact that proves deadly when the bones start to remember their roots and it runs amok against their commands. Sadly, Mechagodzilla was missing from the action spectacle Godzilla: Final Wars as he had just featured in the previous two movies, Godzilla X Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S and the producers didn’t want to overdo the character.With an impressive arsenal of weapons including finger missiles and eye cannons, Mechagodzilla is a worthy foe for Godzilla, and one not the be messed with.1. King GhidorahThe three-headed dragon from outer space, King Ghidorah is a kaiju you do not want to mess with.Originally hailing from the far reaches out of outer space, Ghidorah would go on to feature in four more movies in the Showa era including being the main villain in melee movie Destroy All Monsters. As the series moved into the 90s, Ghidorah (renamed to King Ghidorah) would be the device of a plan set by aliens from the future who place three creatures named Dorats in the past so they would be affected by the nuclear blast that created Godzilla. The three creatures formed to make King Ghidorah, who destroys Tokyo at their will. When Godzilla kills him and runs his own destruction, the good guys travel to the future to rebuild King Ghidorah to be Mecha-King Ghidorah to fight in the present against Godzilla.In the Millennium series, King Ghidorah would take on the role of a good guy in the epic Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack before being the main villain in Godzilla: Final Wars, albeit disguised as Monster X for the most part. He would also feature in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy and a handful of Zone Fighter episodes.There’s a reason why King Ghidorah was the focus of Godzilla: Final Wars – he’s awesome. His can shoot lightening from each of his heads and can even destroy buildings simply by flying over them!—Agree, disagree? Let us know what you think in the comments below.Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.

Top 5 Godzilla Monsters

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