History Franchise / Godzilla

* Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Wonderland Records) (1977)

[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty8T0MH8bsw SKREEEEEEEEEEEOOOOONK!!!!]]]]

[[TheDreaded The legendary king of the monsters]]. [[NuclearMutant The atomic dinosaur]]. [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Death, the destroyer of worlds.]] [[GaiasVengeance The invincible force of nature, and the key to all coexistence]]. [[WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour Up from the depths, 30 stories high, breathing fire, his head in the sky,]] '''''[[{{Kaiju}} GODZILLA!!!]]'''''

* ''Chibi Godzilla'' series (2018-present)

how nature points out the folly of man\\

* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2000}}'' (1999)

* [[/index]]Creator/DCComics (2023-present)[[note]]collaboration with [[Creator/LegendaryPictures Legendary Comics]][[/note]][[/index]]

* ''Anime/ChibiGodzillaRaidsAgain'' (2023)

** ''[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T7HJbgmXLvA Godzilla vs. the Alien Invasion]]''

** One of the wounds Godzilla recieves from Hedorah: His eye is burnt out. But Godzilla fully retaliates later.

Creator/{{Toho}}'s Godzilla films are traditionally categorized into eras, according to when they were made: '''Showa''' (1954-1975), '''Heisei''' (1984-1995), '''Millennium''' (1999-2004) and '''Reiwa''' (2016-)[[note]]the actual Heisei era of Japan began after the death of Emperor Hirohito on January 7, 1989, but ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'' (1984) is considered the first Heisei film due to ''Film/GodzillaVsBiollante'' (1989) being a direct sequel to it[[/note]]. Each era has its own look-and-feel, particularly in its special effects but also in its plotlines, with the Showa series going from grim and serious to balls-off-the-walls goofy, the Heisei series having a more serious tone and an episodic continuity, and the Millennium series being an {{Anthology}} series of self-contained films (excepting the Mechagodzilla ones) that wavered between serious and campy. ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', released in 2016, was retroactively declared the first film of the Reiwa era, the latest era in the franchise, which technically began with the ascension of Naruhito to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Toho announced they are looking forward to releasing new Godzilla movies every 1 or 2 years starting in 2021 with their "World of Godzilla" universe.

** ''Godzilla in - War of the Monsters'' [[note]]1977 UK theatrical title[[/note]]

** ''King Kong - Demons from Space'' [[note]]In Germany, Jet Jaguar was renamed King Kong in this film[[/note]]

* ''Manga/Godzilla2AnguirusStrikesBack'' (1958) [[note]]Sequel to Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain[[/note]]

* BreathWeapon: Godzilla is famous for this, though he doesn't breathe "fire" as commonly thought, but rather an atomic heat beam - it varies between a kind of super-heated gas in the earlier films to a concentrated beam with explosive qualities in the later films. Many other monsters have a breath weapon of some form over the series, including Rodan (1956 and 1993), King Ghidorah, Baragon (1965), Mechagodzilla (in all versions), Biollante, Spacegodzilla, Destoroyah, Keizer Ghidorah, [[WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries Zilla Junior]], Godzilla Junior, Anguirus (in the games), Titanosaurus (also in the games), Varan ([[RuleOfThree in the games, too]]), etc.

** Some of the {{Promoted Fanboy}}s who did the commentaries for the Classic Media [=DVD=]s tend to be 150% deadpan. ("This is a young Katsura, with her pig-tails, bright shirt and short skirt... raaaaarrr." - ''Terror of Mechagodzilla''.)

** ''Godzilla vs. Destoroyah''. Full stop.

* EnergyWeapon:
** Mechagodzilla in two incarnations, MOGERA, Mothra (starting with 1992's ''Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth'').
** As well as Orga, Gigan, Hedorah, Garuda, Mothra Leo, Dagarha, Destoroyah (in a deleted scene), Mecha-King Ghidorah...
* EnsembleDarkHorse: Bagan. Was considered (and passed on) for multiple films until finally appearing in the Platform/{{SNES}} game ''Super Godzilla''. He has yet to make another appearance in any media, though he was considered for ''Unleashed''.

* EyeBeams:
** Hedorah, Mechagodzilla (except for Kiryu), King Caesar, Battra (both forms), M.O.G.U.E.R.A, ''Final Wars''/''Godzilla Ongoing'' Gigan and Monster X.
** And the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla.
* EyeLightsOut

* FlyingFirepower:

** Kiryu and The Gotengo's [[AwesomeButImpractical Absolute Zero Cannons]].

* FromASingleCell: Organizer/Regenerator G-1

* GaiasVengeance: Battra.

** Also, Ganime from ''Space Amoeba''.
** The Lord Howe Monster, in the Creator/DarkHorseComics.

** Kumonga.

* GoneHorriblyRight
* TheGoodCaptain: Captain Gordon.

* HelicopterFlyswatter

* InterspeciesRomance: Astronaut Glenn and Miss Namikawa in ''Invasion of Astro-Monster''.
* IslandOfMystery: Monster Island.

** Do NOT try to harm Mothra's children. You will regret it.

* MetamorphosisMonster: Hedorah in his debut film.

* NuclearMutant: One of THE TropeMakers.

** And of course, the actual Orochi, in ''Yamato Takeru''.

* PeopleInRubberSuits: Duh. Granted the American films (Film/Godzilla1998 and Film/Godzilla2014) are full [=CGI=] and Shin Godzilla is a mix of rubber suit and [=CGI=].

** Miki Saegusa in the entire Heisei series, save for ''The Return of Godzilla''. She is the only human to drive back Godzilla with only the power of her mind. In Godzilla vs. Biollante she drives back the Big G using her psionic powers, though she does collapse afterwards.

* RoboticReveal: Oh, noes! It's Mechagodzilla!

* ScienceFantasy

* SeaMonster: Godzilla, Manda, Ebirah, Titanosaurus, Maguma from ''Gorath'', the ''Yog'' trio (Gezora, Ganime and Kamoeba) and Dagahra from ''Rebirth of Mothra II''.
* SerkisFolk: The 2014 remake will have certain scenes where Godzilla's motion capture is overseen by the [[Creator/AndySerkis Trope Namer]] himself.
* ShockAndAwe: King Kong, Gabara, Megalon, Heisei Mechagodzilla's Shock Anchors. Kiryu also electrocutes Godzilla with a wrist blade at one point.

* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon

* SnicketWarningLabel

* TheSoulless: In one of the films Godzilla comes back as an undead white eyed monster possessed by evil spirits of dead [=WW2=] soldiers. Kananko explicitly said in interviews that the pure white eyes means either Godzilla had his soul exorcized by the evil spirits or he never had one to begin with.

* TheSpeechless: Well, unless you watch the English dub of [[Film/GodzillaVSGigan Godzilla VS. Gigan]], that is...
* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** In Japan, the big guy's name is "Gojira" (or using the Kunrei system, actually "Go-dzi-la"). That's the simplest of the problems... Throughout the ''Heisei'' era, one of the dub actors (the legendary Rik Thomas) repeatedly pronounces it "Godziller." This was also a common problem in some of the Showa dubs.
** Deathghidorah being misspelled/mispronounced as "Desghidorah" (understandable due to Japanese pronunciation vagaries); the various different renderings of Destoroyah/Destroyer/Destroyah/Desutoroyah...
** Ghidorah underwent some of this as well; was called "Ghidrah" in his debut movie (the title of which in the US is actually ''[[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster]]''), and pronounced as "Ghi-der-ah" in ''[[Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster Monster Zero]]''. The 1998 Tri-Star video release of ''[[Film/GodzillaVSKingGhidorah Godzilla VS King Ghidorah]]'' also referred to him as "King Ghidora".

* TimeTravel: The 1990s version of ''Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah''.

* TransformationTrauma: In several of the "mutant" films.

** Baragon, Megalon, and Battra as a larva.
** Gorosaurus and Anguirus both have one scene where they burrow, but in both instances the monsters were replacing Baragon (whose suit was too damaged to use), and do not display this ability elsewhere.

** Zilla, too, fits this trope.

* VillainOverride

* WeatherControlMachine: In ''Son of Godzilla''.

* WheresTheFunInThat:

* Creator/DarkHorseComics Godzilla (1987-1998)

* Creator/IDWPublishing [[ComicBook/GodzillaIDWPublishing Godzilla]] (2010-present)

* ''Creator/LegendaryPictures' Franchise/MonsterVerse'' (2014-present)

* Creator/DCComics (2023-present)[[note]]collaboration with [[Creator/LegendaryPictures Legendary Comics]][[/note]]

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: In issue #2 of the IDW comic, three children are seen in a town called El Paso, who very much resemble the main trio of Comicbook/BlueBeetle.

*** ''VideoGame/GodzillaMonsterOfMonsters'' (UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES)
*** ''Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters'' (UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES)
*** ''VideoGame/SuperGodzilla'' (UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}).
*** ''VideoGame/GodzillaDestroyAllMonstersMelee'' (UsefulNotes/GameCube, UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}), ''Godzilla: Save the Earth'' (UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} and Playstation 2) and ''Godzilla: Unleashed'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and Playstation 2).

** Godzilla and Mechagodzilla showed up in ''VideoGame/AceCombatInfinity'' as a cross promotion for the UsefulNotes/PS3 game.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Bagan. Was considered (and passed on) for multiple films until finally appearing in the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} game ''Super Godzilla''. He has yet to make another appearance in any media, though he was considered for ''Unleashed''.

[[TheDreaded The legendary king of the monsters]]. [[NuclearMutant The atomic dinosaur]]. [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Death, the destroyer of worlds.]] [[GaiasVengeance The invincible force of nature, and the key to all coexistence]]. [[WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour Up from the depths, 30 stories high, breathing fire, his head in the sky,]] '''''GODZILLA!!!'''''

'''''[[TropeCodifier THE]]''''' {{kaiju}}.

Along with the American-made Franchise/KingKong, Godzilla is ''the'' classic giant monster of modern fiction. As a ''{{Kaiju}}'', time after time the mutated prehistoric reptile has risen from the deep, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor sometimes to destroy Tokyo, sometimes to save it.]]

Yamane was correct. The film launched a successful franchise, with several [[AlternateContinuity alternate continuities]], in which Godzilla has veered from villain to hero to AntiHero. The King of the Monsters starred in two WesternAnimation series - ''WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour'' and ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries''. Godzilla, along with King Ghidorah and Gigan were even [[SpecialGuest Special Guests]] in the TV show ''Series/ZoneFighter''. He also starred in a show called ''Series/GodzillaIsland''.

Creator/{{Toho}}'s Godzilla films are traditionally categorized into eras, according to when they were made: '''Showa''' (1954-1975), '''Heisei''' (1984-1995), '''Millennium''' (1999-2004) and '''Reiwa''' (2016-)[[note]]the actual Heisei era of Japan began after the death of Emperor Hirohito on January 7, 1989, but ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'' (1984) is considered the first Heisei film due to ''Film/GodzillaVsBiollante'' (1989) being a direct sequel to it[[/note]]. Each era has its own look-and-feel, particularly in its special effects but also in its plotlines, with the Showa series going from grim and serious to balls-off-the-walls goofy, the Heisei series having a more serious tone and an episodic continuity, and the Millennium series being an {{Anthology}} series of self-contained films (excepting the Mechagodzilla ones) that wavered between serious and campy. ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', released in 2016, was retroactively declared the first film of the Reiwa era, the latest era in the franchise, which technically began with the ascension of Naruhito to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Toho announced they are looking forward to releasing new Godzilla movies every 1 or 2 years starting in 2021 with their "World of Godzilla" universe.

* TheWorfEffect: With one exception, maser cannons have never harmed Godzilla or any other kaiju in the franchise, ever. A maser in this universe is supposed to be an intimidating, gigantic RayGun, but its repeated ineffectiveness makes you wonder why the Defense Force ever bothers with them. That one exception was ''The War of the Gargantuas''. There, masers actually ''hurt'' Gaira, driving him back; but in ''Godzilla vs. Gigan'' they still only serve annoy King Ghidorah.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godzilla_new_2_6722.jpg]]

The first film, released in 1954, begins with a series of mysterious shipwrecks. A reporter named Hagiwara is sent to investigate a remote island, whose natives blame the wrecks on a monster from their myths. He goes back a second time with some scientists, and the paleontologist Dr. Yamane finds gigantic radioactive footprints.

He pulls the spitting high-tension wires down.\\

Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them.\\

As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town.\\
Ooh no, they say he's got to go.\\
Go go, Godzilla!\\
Ooh no, there goes Tokyo.\\
Go go, Godzilla!''