Characters / Godzilla Kaiju Showa Debuts Fifties And Sixties

A character list for Toho's kaiju of the 1950s and 1960s.

To return to the main character index, go here.

Japanese Kaiju

Showa Era debuts — The Fifties and Sixties

In 1954, Toho Studios produced Godzilla, easily one of the most iconic giant monster films of all time, followed by a direct sequel. Toho subsequently established its Special Effects Techniques Department, which flourished under the watchful eye of Eiji Tsuburaya, one of the four "Godzilla fathers". It would be shuttered not long after Tsuburaya's death in January 1970, to be replaced with Toho Eizo (or Toho Vision) Inc., while their art department (itself a replacement for the Production Department's art division) became Toho Bijutsu Co., Ltd.

During the lifetime of Eiji Tsuburaya and the Special Effects Techniques Department, Toho introduced the world to a number of giant monsters, who are featured on this page.

Anguirus

Anguirus

First appearance: Godzilla Raids Again, 1955

Film Appearances: Godzilla Raids Again | Destroy All Monsters | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage | Godzilla vs. Gigan | Godzilla vs. Megalon | Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla | Godzilla: Final Wars | Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters^note skeletal remains | Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)^note skeletal remains

Played By: Katsumi Tezuka (Godzilla Raids Again), Hiroshi Tekita () , Yukietsu Omiya (Godzilla vs. Gigan-Godzilla vs. Megalon), Kin-ichi Kusumi (Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), Toshihiro Ogura (Godzilla: Final Wars)

AKA: Angilas, Angurus, Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living

The second kaiju to appear in the franchise and Godzilla's first opponent. Anguirus is a giant, aggressive, carnivorous, multi-brained "ankylosaur" with a spiked shell and long spike-lined tail. He's one of the "mundane" monsters, possessing only his teeth, claws, spikes and attitude to battle his foes. Anguirus makes up for his lack of flair with immense stamina and determination, and can take an incredible beating before going down while delivering as much as he gets. Anguirus has been one of his closest allies.

The Showa Era's Anguirus first appeared in a ferocious battle with Godzilla; ultimately being defeated. However, another Anguirus would later become Godzilla's closest ally and aided him in fending off the space terror duo of King Ghidorah and Gigan. Later on, he would attempt to fight Mechagodzilla on his own, and inform Godzilla of the mechanical impostor's presence. In 1999, Anguirus would be relocated and moved to Monsterland, alongside many other Earth monsters. After the final death of King Ghidorah, Anguirus would live peacefully on Monsterland for the rest of his days.

The Millennium Era's Anguirus was first seen trampling Shanghai under the orders of the Xiliens alien race. Anguirus aided Rodan and King Ceasar in battling Godzilla at Mount Fuji, but the monster trio were defeated when Godzilla flung the ankylosaur into his two partners, leaving them knocked out in a dazed heap. This incarnation of Anguirus frequently curled into a ball as a form of attack.

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• Artistic License – Paleontology: He is described as being a descendent of Ankylosauridae. There are a number of issues with that classification. For one, the Ankylosauridae were herbivorous, lacked sharp teeth, walked with erect postures instead of Anguirus' sprawling gait, and absolutely did not have flappy porcupine shells and canid-like snouts. Later incarnations work to rectify this classification, with Anguirus commonly being described as a completely unique form of reptile with similar evolutionary roots to the ankylosaurs.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In the comic Godzilla Legends he manages to defeat Destoroyah and send him packing, albeit with aid from the humans.
  • In Godzilla: The Half-Century War, he puts up one helluva fight against Godzilla.
  • In the Marc Cerasini novels, he fights Gigan one-on-one and kills him.
  • In the Atari fighting games, he displays much more of his physical combat abilities as he's fully capable of standing on his hind legs (indefinitely) by fighting directly in hand-to-hand combat against other monsters, making him far more formidable than he was in the films. He's also great at executing highly agile attacks, he's rather fast on his feet along with having his RollingAttack, and exhibits the best defense out of ANY monster thanks to his spiky armored shell.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether the Anguirus from later Showa films is the same one who fought Godzilla in Raids Again, having somehow survived getting his throat torn out and then lit on fire, or a 2nd Anguirus who appeared sometime later.
• An Ice Person: Strangely in the original draft of Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!, where his Adaptational Superpower Change was going to involve him having his body partially composed out of ice as well as having his spiked carapace and tail possessing icicle-like appendages that would grow back if one of them were detached.
• Animal Jingoism: The second movie explicitly sets him up as an enemy of Godzilla due to his defensive nature and hatred of "warlike creatures", although later films generally have them as allies. And of course, Anguirus and Godzilla are primarily based on Ankylosaurus and Tyrannosaurus respectively, animals which would've been enemies in life.
• Badass Normal: Anguirus is one of the few monsters that doesn't have a breath weapon and he certainly cannot fly. All he's got going for him are his horns, teeth, claws, and the ability to roll into a spiky ball. And yet he's still considered to be Godzilla's greatest ally.
  • In Destroy All Monsters, Anguirus is the first Kaiju to deal a strong enough attack to King Ghidorah to draw blood, something Godzilla himself wouldn't manage until the Heisei era.
• Bash Brothers: With Godzilla in the later films, teaming up with him to take on enemy monsters in both Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla Vs. Gigan.
• Be the Ball: During the initial 3-against-1 match up against Godzilla in Godzilla: Final Wars, he essentially becomes the "living projectile" of the group by being in his balled up form as King Caesar takes a major advantage of by sending Anguirus flying with a powerful kick where he's rapidly hurtling towards the Big G as an attempt to stop him... instead, he gets slammed into a rocky hill after Godzilla avoided him.
• Blood from the Mouth: As a gruesome result from having his jaw forcefully broken by Fake Godzilla AKA Mechagodzilla, trickles of blood starts gushing from his mouth. To make it even more brutal than it already is, his face gets slammed face-first into a small puddle of his own regurgitated blood.
• The Bus Came Back: Anguirus's last appearance in the Showa era was in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. He sat out the entire Heisei Era (efforts were made to include him in a few movies, but they didn't pan out), save for appearing in two Marc Cerasini novels. He finally returned to the big screen in Final Wars, a full thirty years after Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • In the Showa series, he was burnt to a crisp by Godzilla, took a buzzsaw to the face from Gigan, and got his jaw ripped open by Mechagodzilla.
  • In the IDW comics, he's rather infamous for losing almost every kaiju fight he's been in.
• Close-Range Combatant: He notably lacks projectiles or any long range attacks, relying purely on his natural weapons. The games typically remedy this by giving him a Sonic Scream attack.
• Crown of Horns: Always possesses an arranged set of horns on his cranium in most of his appearances.
• Defeat Means Friendship: It was never made clear whether Anguirus was revived from Godzilla Raids Again or if it's a second member of the species, but after being defeated in that movie Showa Godzilla and Anguirus became allies.
  • It is explained in the Japanese version that Anguirus only had a problem with Godzilla because Godzilla was a violence-prone monster, which Anguirus hated. Since Godzilla would soon reform, Anguirus would then have no problem with him.
• Determinator: Again, mostly a melee fighter, yet his heart won't stop him from fighting. Even taking a buzz-saw in the face from Gigan won't stop him! Or being dropped from a flying Ghidorah and stomped upon repeatedly, at that. Getting his jaw broken, though...
• Dumb Dinos: Averted. Like Godzilla, he displays intelligence.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Plenty in his first appearance in Godzilla Raids Again:
  • In a few early video games, he had a sonic roar that causes Osaka Castle to crumble, but in all his later appearances he has no breath attack.
  • He is as equally radioactive as Godzilla, having also awoken from an H-Bomb testing. His radioactivity is never brought up after his debut movie.
• Epic Flail: Gets used as one by Godzilla against several Mechagodzillas in the Rulers of Earth comic. Anguirus takes it in stride.
• A Friend in Need: Godzilla and Anguirus have quite a few moments of these in Godzilla vs. Gigan.
  • When Gigan starts kicking Anguirus in the head, how does Godzilla respond? By chucking a boulder at Gigan's head.
  • Anguirus sees Godzilla being attacked by high powered weaponry from the Godzilla Tower at the center of the amusement park where the battle is taking place, while Gigan and Ghidorah look on. Headless of the danger to himself, he charges to the rescue, willing to go headlong into Gigan's buzz saw to try to save his friend. It shows just how far these two have come from their first encounter.
  • Godzilla returns the favor when he sees Anguirus being attacked by King Ghidorah.
• Hero Antagonist: In a way. The reason he attacked Godzilla was because he was a dangerous Blood Knight, which is why he was even attacking him.
• Honor Before Reason: Took Gigan's buzzsaw in the face just to try to help an ailing Godzilla.
• Horn Attack: After being kept at bay by Gigan who's preventing him from rescuing Godzilla, he attempted to ram into him with his horn... it sort of worked by nudging Gigan slightly, only to get his face butchered by his buzzsaw.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Lacking any kind of ranged or energy attack, Anguirus uses himself as a weapon, slamming his spike-covered shell into opponents with backwards leaps and rolling over/into them with his Rolling Attack. In Rulers of Earth Godzilla uses him as a weapon by swinging him by the tail.
• In Name Only: The movies say he's an ankylosaur, but he far more resembles a spike-covered mahjangasuchid than anything else.
  • Technically, Anguirus is identified as an "Angilasaurus" in the Japanese version of "Godzilla Raids Again."
• Inconsistent Spelling: He was "Angilas" officially in English starting with Godzilla Raids Again (identified on Toho's English export poster and sales brochure). For unknown reasons, he became "Anguirus" starting in 1974. Toho jumped back and forth from then until 1998 when they decided to run with "Anguirus". His name is ultimately derived from Ankylosaurus.
• The Lancer: At least when paired with the lighter and softer Showa Godzilla, he's grouchier and relies on fangs and guts.
• Lightning Bruiser: Anguirus is not only durable and powerful, but surprisingly quick, especially compared to other kaiju.
• Made of Iron: While most kaiju can take an absurd amount of damage anyway, Anguirus stands out since he often fights monsters much stronger and larger than he is.
• Meaningful Name: A modification of Ankylosaurus.
• Mutual Kill: In the novel Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters, some Russians are convinced that Anguirus and Gigan had performed one during their battle several years ago. They're quickly proven wrong.
• Nuclear Mutant: In Godzilla Raids Again, he is also awoken by a nuclear texting in the Pacific Ocean, which is why he No Sells Godzilla's atomic breath. Later materials would drop this angle between him and nuclear weapons.
• Rolling Attack:
  • The first time he ever used this ability was in the game Godzilla Kaiju Daikessen where it's is his finishing move. The fighting games make this move more spectacular.
  • Godzilla: Final Wars was the first film to have him utilize it as it makes him difficult to intercept and even struck down a Gotengo ship in one blow.
  • In the IDW comics, he defeats Destoroyah with it.
• Sidekick: Best known as Godzilla's closest ally.
• Signature Move: He's able to fling himself backwards with his spiky carapace in Godzilla vs. Gigan. Godzilla "instructs" him to use this move while Gigan and King Ghidorah were bickering as Anguirus plows right into the latter, toppling both of the alien kaiju to the ground. He does this attack once again on King Ghidorah, 3 times in a row repeatedly while Godzilla kept him fully restrained.
  • He also has this attack in the Pipeworks trilogy, but only if his back is against an opponent.
• Spike Shooter: How his Rage attack is seen in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. He jumps, curls himself into ball, continuously spins in mid-air, and spreads glowing orange spiky projectiles from his shell.
• The Spiny: His back is covered in spikes and he often attacks by hurling himself backwards at an opponent.
• Spring Jump: Gained this ability in Mechagodzilla due to subbing for Baragon.
• Starter Villain Stays: He was the very first monster Godzilla fought and returned to the series a bit later, but as an ally.
• Suddenly Voiced: In the English dub of Godzilla vs. Gigan, he and Godzilla briefly speak English to one another.
• Super-Scream: His "sonic roar" noted above became his ranged attack in the Atari Pipeworks fighting game trilogy. It's the only ranged beam/energy/sonic weapon that can't engage in a Beam-O-War and it has the shortest length, but it pierces buildings/rocks, has a wide range, and can daze opponents for a couple of seconds.
• Tough Armored Dinosaur: He's a kaiju based on an ankylosaur.
• Tunnel King: He's shown burrowing through the earth before confronting a disguised Mechagodzilla.
• Unexplained Recovery: It is unknown how he had his jaw fixed after Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla when we see him in Destroy All Monsters (chronologically, Destroy All Monsters is considered the last film of the timeline, not of the series it was made in).
  • Then again, we're talking about a creature who possibly survived having his throat ripped out and being burned to a crisp by Godzilla (and shows no visible scars from any of that to boot), so the broken-jaw becomes rather moot.
• The Worf Effect: In his first appearance, Anguirus was vicious enough to hold his own against Godzilla with only tooth and claw. Subsequent films decided to use him to establish how dangerous the new monster was.

Baragon

Baragon

First appearance: Frankenstein vs Baragon, 1965

Film Appearances: Frankenstein Conquers the World | Destroy All Monsters | Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack! | Godzilla: Final Wars^note stock footage

Portrayed by: Haruo Nakajima (1965-1968), Rie Ōta (2001)

AKA: Subterranean Monster, God of Earth

A reptilian monster that survived the dinosaur extinction by going underground. Baragon has large floppy ears and a horn on his nose that glows to illuminate subterranean passages. He can also emit a beam of fire from his mouth to aid in digging and as a weapon.

In his first appearance, Baragon was an antagonistic monster who fed on humans and cattle, which led to battle with Frankenstein and ultimately mutual defeat as the two were swallowed by the earth in a cave-in. From then on, Baragon's history was rocky, as his intended appearances in later films were removed or reduced to cameos as the Baragon suit was heavily modified to play Ultraman monsters and was too badly damaged, so the costume had to be rebuilt, but it was not finished in time.

Baragon finally returned to the screen in Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as a Yamato Monster, protecting Japan from the wrath of Ghost Godzilla. In contrast to Anguirus, Baragon has a so-so American fanbase but is very popular in Japan.

Not to be confused for the kaiju Barugon that fought Gamera.

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• Achilles' Heel: In Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters, Baragon is weak to electricity, even avoiding regular power lines. Downplayed in that due to being mutated by uranium, he's able to withstand normal lightning; it takes millions of volts from Mechagodzilla to force the monster into a retreat.
• Artistic License – Paleontology: Characters call him a dinosaur in Frankenstein vs. Baragon, but no real dinosaur ever looked remotely similar to him. In fact, with his external ear flaps and teeth dentition, he looks more like a synapsid than a reptile.
• Adaptational Heroism: He's a straight villain in Frankenstein vs. Baragon, but by his role in Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack he's one of the three guardian monsters defending humanity from Godzilla. Similarly, he’s often on the side of good in the video games.
• Acrofatic: For his stocky build, he's surprisingly agile. Especially so in the video games, where he fights by breakdancing.
• Big Bad: He's only the villain in Frankenstein vs. Baragon. He's a straight hero in GMK.
• Big Eater: Has a thing for eating cattle and people.
• Bioluminescence Is Cool: His nasal horn glows, helping him see underground.
• Berserk Button: Harm Earth and he'll defeat you.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In GMK; he's the first one to fight Godzilla when he surfaces.
• Breakout Character: Downplayed. He had a major role as the villain in a minor Toho film and then a very small cameo in Destroy All Monsters, but he had a devoted fanbase in Japan, so he shared top billing in GMK with undisputed A-lister kaiju Mothra and King Ghidorah.
• Breath Weapon: He can breathe fire in Frankenstein Conquers the World and various games (the second Baragon from Destroy All Monsters, the one in the novel Godzilla Vs. The Robot Monsters and the GMK version all lack the ability). Supposedly, it helps him burrow quicker.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In Godzilla: Monster of Monsters for the NES, Baragon would occasionally face the screen to mock the player.
• Deadline News: People in a news chopper are killed when Godzilla throws Baragon at them in GMK.
• The Cameo: In Destroy All Monsters he shows up in two quick scenes. He's also had appearances in other shows such as Dragon Ball Z.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His Millennium incarnation is on the receiving end of one from Godzilla.
• Determinator:
  • The original Baragon was pretty damned determined to kill Frankenstein's Monster and eat the cast.
  • In spite of being heavily outmatched, the GMK Baragon was determined to hold back Godzilla.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: An ancient Mesozoic reptile monster which can breathe fire and is even named "rose dragon".
• Dishing Out Dirt: Baragon can dig quickly and efficiently, and has used his ability to good effect (digging a trap for Godzilla, burrowing around to surprise Frankenstein). In Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed, he can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions by digging.
• Evil Is Bigger: Has been on both ends. When he was the antagonist in Frankenstein vs. Baragon, he was much bulkier than Frankenstein, but in GMK, where he's one of the hero monsters, he's much smaller than the evil Godzilla.
• Fat Bastard: More rotund than most monsters and the antagonistic versions love to eat.
• The Heart: Fits this to a tee in GMK who died trying to help buy time for people to escape from Godzilla.
• Honor Before Reason: Baragon knew he couldn't defeat GMK Godzilla but faced him anyway, bad ass.
• Meaningful Name: Portmanteau of bara (Japanese for "rose") and "dragon". The ridges on his back look like rose petals.
• Neck Snap: How he is killed in Frankenstein Conquers the World.
• Playing with Fire: He possesses a fiery beam weapon (either from his mouth or his horn depending on the media).
• Prehistoric Monster: In Frankenstein Conquers the World, Baragon is a dinosaur whose species has somehow survived into modern times, much like Godzilla and other kaiju. This origin gets reused in the novel Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters.
• Spring Jump: A good leaper in all versions.
• Stock Sound Effects: Showa Baragon shares the same roar as Varan and Gorosaurus. For his 2001 version, his vocal library mostly consists of generic tiger and leopard snarls mixed with elephant rumbles and one bellow taken from the Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus rex.
• To Serve Man: Baragon eats people in both his original film appearance and in the novel Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters.
• Tunnel King: The most powerful digger in Toho's kaiju roster.
• Whateversaurus: Even more so than other prehistoric kaiju, since he's apparently some sort of burrowing dino-thing with big, dog-like ears.
• Vocal Evolution: The Millennium version no longer reuses Varan's roar and instead utters a high-pitched wail along with multiple growling, moaning sounds, likely as an attempt to convey the character's more sympathetic nature this time.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Attempts this with Godzilla in GMK; while he's quickly taken down, he's able to buy valuable time for people to escape.

Dogora

Dogora

First appearance: Dogora, 1964

Film Appearances: Dogora | Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

AKA: Dagora

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

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• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Giant Jellyfish which eats diamonds and coal! Dogora is actually one of the largest kaiju to appear in the entire franchise, with tentacles easily spanning the 367 metre long Wakato Bridge.
• The Bus Came Back: Gets a brief cameo attacking London in the prologue of Planet of the Monsters, his first film appearance in more than fifty years.
• Combat Tentacles: Uses them to lift vehicles and vessels and smash them open to get at the minerals within.
• Flying Seafood Special: A jellyfish-like creature that floats in the atmosphere.
• From a Single Cell: Literally a mutant cell, so when it gets destroyed, lots of Dogoras can form.
• Healing Factor: So much that simply blowing Dogora up would make more of them!
• Kryptonite Factor: Bee or wasp venom is the only known substance that can truly destroy Dogora since it can tank most artillery and blowing it up simply creates more Dogoras. Contact with the venom causes its flesh to turn into inert crystal chunks.
• Metamorphosis Monster: First appears as an amoeba-like organism before turning into a jellyfish-like monster, and then being blown up and becoming a swarm of flickering ctenophore-like forms.
• Mind over Matter: Maybe. It's able to cause people and cars to levitate, can itself float in the atmosphere, and can suck up mounds of diamonds and coal through some unknown mechanism.
• Non-Malicious Monster: It's a very non-violent monster that is questionably sentient at best and doesn't intentionally cause much destruction until it's shot at by the military, at which point it starts fighting back. Mostly it just seems to be single-mindedly trying to find more sources of carbon to feed on.
• One-Shot Character: Dogora was only featured in his one film. He is never mentioned or seen in any other films, not even Final Wars.
  • Dogora does get a brief scene in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters during the montage of giant monsters attacking the world.
• Poisonous Person: Dogora's body has an acidic corrosion effect on anything that touches it.
• Recycled In Space: Was an ordinary single celled organism until a collision with a rogue satellite mutated it.
• Starfish Alien: It is arguably the most truly alien-looking of the kaiju in Toho's film lineup.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Bee venom can kill it.

Ebirah

Ebirah

First appearance: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, 1966

Film Appearances: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage | Godzilla: Final Wars

Played By: Hiroshi Sekida (Ebirah, Horror of the Deep), All Monsters Attack (stock footage only), Toshihiro Ogura (Godzilla: Final Wars)

An enormous shrimp mutated by the nuclear waste of the terrorist organization Red Bamboo, Ebirah guarded their island base and destroyed any ship that attempted to arrive or leave. The terrorists used the juice of a special plant on the island to drive away the monster so their ship could come and go. During a stormy night, Ebirah attempted to attack two men trying to get to the island to save the enslaved natives of Infant Island, only to engage in battle with an awakened Godzilla. Driven away, Ebirah returned the next day and destroyed Red Bamboo's escaping ship before battling Godzilla again, which ended when Godzilla ripped off Ebirah's claws and forced him to retreat.

In the Millennium series, Ebirah returned in Final Wars as one of the monsters controlled by the Xilliens. He attacked an industrial site and fought against the JDF's mutant human soldiers, then was later killed by Godzilla along with Hedorah.

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• Angry Guard Dog: Somewhat averted, the evil organization has to spray a chemical to keep Ebirah at bay but he doubles as a good guard dog for keeping prisoners ON the island.
• An Arm and a Leg: Godzilla rips off Ebirah's claws during their second battle.
• The Bus Came Back: First seen in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, returned in Final Wars, thirty-eight years later (disregarding Stock Footage used in All Monsters Attack).
• Comic Book Movies Dont Use Code Names: Neither the Red Bamboo or Ebirah are referred to by name in the Titan dub.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Poor Ebirah was way out of his league. The movie was originally going to have King Kong instead of Godzilla, but when the studio couldn't use Kong they substituted Godzilla... without beefing up Ebirah in any way. His Final Wars incarnation doesn't fare any better against Godzilla, even fighting alongside Hedorah.
• Dire Beast: He's basically just a giant red shrimp and has no special powers.
• The Dragon: To the Red Bamboo.
• Eye Scream: Accidentally gives one to Hedorah in Final Wars.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Well, shrimp...
• I'm a Humanitarian: After Ebirah smashes the canoe two natives were using to try to flee the island, he skewers the two men on the end of his narrower pincer and enjoyed a snack.
• The Lancer: To Hedorah.
• Meaningful Name: Ebi means "shrimp" in Japanese.
• Red Live Lobster: A crustacean kaiju coloured bright red. Depending on the source, he's either an actual lobster or a giant mutant shrimp.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: As seen in Final Wars, although it could have also been Hedorah.
• Stock Footage: Kinda appeared in All Monsters Attack, but not really; due to the film's copious stock footage he gets zero new scenes.
• Tennis Boss: Godzilla and Ebirah volley a boulder back and forth at each other in their first encounter.
• Villain Decay: In Final Wars he gets taken down by (mutant) humans, but is teleported away before they can actually kill him.

Frankenstein's Monster

Frankenstein's Monster

First appearance: Frankenstein vs Baragon, 1965

Film Appearances: Frankenstein Conquers the World

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

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• Adaptational Badass: This Frankenstein's Monster lacks the traditional character's pyrophobia, he even uses a pair of torches against Baragon at one point.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Frankenstein's Monster, grown to Kaiju-size!
• Berserk Button: Eating humans, as Baragon soon found out...
• Clear My Name: Before Baragon's existence is revealed, Frankenstein is accused of the disappearance of people and destruction of towns.
• Gentle Giant: Is willing to eat cattle, but won't even think of touching a human.
• Healing Factor: One of his hands was left behind after escaping some shackles. It regrows.
• Immortality: It's stated that his heart will never stop beating. Even after he's sealed underground, his legacy lives on.
• It Can Think: Smart enough to use fire, set pit traps, and make emotional connections with people, despite being unable to speak.
• Tainted Veins: visible around the neck and upper chest.
• Wild Child: Was discovered as a normal-sized feral boy in the ruins of Hiroshima. He was well taken care of and began to grow. And grow. And grow...
• Wolverine Publicity: Rather infamously, he's often mentioned in German renames of Showa Godzilla movies despite the fact they've never actually appeared together. Examples include Ebirah, Horror of the Deep becoming Frankenstein and the Monsters from the Ocean, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster becoming Frankenstein's Monsters in Battle against Ghidorah, and Godzilla vs. Gigan becoming Frankenstein's Hell Brood.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Intervenes just in time to stop Baragon from finishing off the scientists that raised him, plus the subsequent towns and villages.

Gabara

Gabara

First appearance: All Monsters Attack, 1969

Film Appearances: All Monsters Attack

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

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• Adaptation Species Change: In the Go! Godman! continuity, he's canonically a mutant bullfrog rather than a dream-born creature.
• The Bully: Minya outright states he's this, fighting and picking on monsters too small to fight back.
• Bullying a Dragon: Attacks Godzilla seemingly out of anger and spite for Minya beating him. He learns the hard way that Godzilla only let him go as long as he did because he wanted Minya to be the one to teach him a lesson.
• Butt-Monkey: Out of universe, there have been ZERO talks about bringing this guy back. It also took until March of 2013 for him to even get an entry; for context, this page was created on August of 2010.
  • He does get a brief appearance in the novel Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse...as a ten-meter tall ogre who causes no destruction and doesn't even get killed by another kaiju or even humans, but animal wildlife.
  • He also reappears, of all places, in IDW's second Monsters and Protectors mini series.
  • He appears in an episode of Godziban, once again bullying Minilla until he's frightened away by the arrival of Uncle Zilla and Kamachi.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: While Godzilla hands him his warty ass overall, Gabara does manage to put him in a bind for a moment with his Shock and Awe powers on full blast, requiring Minya to come in with the save.
• Dirty Coward: Prefers to pick on Minya since he can't fight back.
• Dual Boss: In the manga adaptation the real Gabara enters Ichiro's dream and teams up with Gabara against Ichiro and Minilla.
• Informed Species: Sometimes referred to as a mutant toad, but aside from his warty skin, he doesn't bear any resemblance to an amphibian.
• Jerkass: He loves beating up Minya.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: Face of a cat, green warty skin, reptilian belly.
• Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe example. Gabara is literally a nightmare in the movie.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Downplayed. He's clearly no match for Godzilla in a straight-up brawl, but for someone talked up as just The Bully he does get a few good licks in, especially since he just lost the fight to Minya.
• One-Shot Character: He's only appeared in one movie. However, he occasionally appears in other media.
• Oni: It's not clear. According to some sources, he's one, but others claim he's a mutant toad.
• Shock and Awe: The horn on his head generates electricity but only when he touches his target, which seems to function as a combination of The Paralyzer and Agony Beam given how Minya and Godzilla react to it.
• Undignified Death: According to Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse, he was injured in a thermite explosion and proceeded to be eaten alive by crocodiles and piranhas in a river: the same creatures that he spent his time killing. Bonus points for being the only monster who doesn't die at the hands of the other kaiju or humans.
• Would Hurt a Child: Gabara's main victim on Monster Island is Godzilla's son.

Gaira

Gaira (Green Gargantua)

First appearance: War of the Gargantuas, 1966

Film Appearances: War of the Gargantuas | Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla^note stock footage | Godzilla: Final Wars^note stock footage | Go! Godman^note short film

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

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• Adaptational Heroism: He's much less antagonistic towards Sanda and humans in general in Rulers of Earth, even taking part in the final battle at the end of the series with the rest of the heroic kaiju.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Saves Sanda from a blast of Godzilla's atomic breath in Rulers of Earth and later saves him again from a Trilopod, showing that despite their constant fighting and disagreements, he really does care about his brother.
• Big Eater: Of humans!
• Evil Twin: If only because he eats people, but that's enough for his brother Sanda to turn against him.
• Fangs Are Evil: He has large canines that jut out from his lower jaw and he eats people.
• Fish People: Downplayed. He comes out the ocean and has scaly skin on parts of his body, as well as green, seaweed-like hair (even his name comes from the Japanese word "kai" (海), meaning 'sea'). Earlier concept art even had him with spiny fins along his back.
• Healing Factor: Shares it with his brother and their "father", Frankenstein's Monster from Frankenstein Conquers The World.
• I'm a Humanitarian: He loves to munch on humans.
• Our Ogres Are Hungrier: His face is significantly more ogre-like than his brother.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Becomes a Godzilla enemy in Rulers of Earth.

Gorosaurus

Gorosaurus

First appearance: King Kong Escapes, 1967

Film Appearances: King Kong Escapes | Destroy All Monsters | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage | Godzilla vs. Gigan^note stock footage

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

An alternate version of Gorosaurus appeared in Go Godman.

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• Artistic License – Paleontology: Surprisingly averted for once! He is described as being a distant descendent of the Allosauridae, a family of theropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. And unlike the other prehistoric monsters in Toho's kaiju lineup, Gorosaurus actually looks like an accurate representation of the creature he's said to be based on.
• Ascended Extra: Because Baragon's suit was so damaged and he had to be reduced to brief appearances in Destroy All Monsters!, Gorosaurus got to fill in for him for the attack on France and the battle at the end. He even got to show just how awesome he was by being the monster that turned the tide against King Ghidorah.
• Badass Normal: He has no special powers and is basically just a generic carnivorous theropod, but he has faced off against the likes of King Kong and King Ghidorah.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: He has a pointed barb at the end of his tail, but it can be hard to notice and he's never shown to actually use it in combat.
• Combat Pragmatist: During the final battle in Destroy All Monsters, he was going to initiate his attack and confront King Ghidorah head-on as Anguirus tried to attempted but it proved to be difficult to approach him since his Gravity Beams are dangerous. Eventually, Godzilla keeps the alien hydra grounded with a blast of his Atomic Breath as he tangles with the left head while Anguirus was biting his right head. Gorosaurus sees the opportunity to run past and get behind King Ghidorah to unleash his Kangaroo Kick to have him fully dominated and mutilated by their combined might so that he'll never have the chance to get up again. It worked quite well for them.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He may not have defeated King Ghidorah alone but he did manage to briefly pin him to the ground with his jaws, only to get thwarted away by his Gravity Beams. He floors the dragon to the ground a second time with his powerful Kangaroo King on his back where he's left open to Godzilla bringing his foot on one of his heads while Anguirus bites the other one to death.
• Dumb Dinos: In King Kong Escapes, he's shown to be a simple Prehistoric Monster. This later gets averted in Destroy All Monsters! where he displays cunning in the battle against King Ghidorah. Namely while Godzilla and Anguirus attack Ghidorah in front, Gorosaurus sneaks around behind him and then kangaroo-kicks him down allowing the other kaiju to finish him off.
• Expy: He was created just to act as a substitute for the Meat-Eater dinosaur that fought King Kong in the original 1933 film.
• Jawbreaker: Courtesy of King Kong.
• Monumental Damage: In Destroy All Monsters, he burrows out from under the Arc de Triomphe and causes it to collapse.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Infamously and inexplicably shown tunneling under the Arc de Triomphe in Destroy All Monsters. This is because it was originally going to be Maguma, then Baragon, before finally settling on Gorosaurus after the producers had trouble with Baragon's ears in the scene.
• One-Steve Limit: He was accidentally misnamed Baragon when he attacked Paris in Destroy All Monsters even though they look nothing alike. Justified for a reason, as the Baragon suit was going through modifications, was used for many monsters in Ultraman, and was still being repaired in the middle of filming.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He first appeared as an enemy for King Kong in King Kong Escapes, but later appeared in Destroy All Monsters as one of the front-line fighters in the battle against King Ghidorah. His contribution to that fight is so well-remembered by fans, that he has become much more associated with Godzilla than Kong.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale:
  • Supposedly (according to Word of God), he's only 30 metres tall in Destroy All Monsters...even though he's taller than the 40 metre tall Anguirus, and is as tall as the 50-metre tall Godzilla. Either you follow Word of God and he's 30 metres (which would make Godzilla 30 metres, Anguirus 10 metres and King Ghidorah 40 metres) or you follow the movie's scale and he's 50 metres (which keeps everything at the same scale, even if it goes against Word of God).
  • He's often stated in official sources to be 35 metres tall in King Kong Escapes, but he's shown to be about the same height as Kong, who's said to be 20 metres tall. For Gorosaurus to be 35 metres tall, Kong would need to be chest-height to him. A few sources do more correctly state him as 20 metres, putting him more in line with his height compared to Kong.
• Stock Sound Effect: His roar is sampled from a modified variation of Baragon's roar that originally belonged to Varan. Some of Ebirah's roar can be heard at the start of his screech.
• T. Rexpy: Created as an obvious homage to the tyrannosaur King Kong originally fought in King Kong (1933), similarly being a large theropod without any special abilities (with the exception of a fancy kick) who gets its jaw broken at the end. As stated above, he's said to be descended from Allosaurus however.

Kamacuras

Kamacuras

First appearance: Son of Godzilla, 1967

Film Appearances: Son of Godzilla | All Monsters Attack | Godzilla vs. Gigan^note stock footage | Godzilla: Final Wars | Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

AKA: Gimantis

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

In Final Wars, they returned, gaining a camouflage ability and the skill to destroy a Gotengo-level craft. He fell easily to Godzilla.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: And you think he'd be more of a threat since he's a praying mantis... And it's also interesting that they were already human-sized before they were mutated.
• Chameleon Camouflage: In Final Wars, he's given this ability, not that it's any use against Godzilla.
• Giant Flyer: While mostly ground-bound, some incarnations also develop wings and fly, making them even bigger threats than before.
• Giant Mook:
  • Godzilla wipes the floor with them! No seriously he does!
  • In the novel Godzilla 2000, they're easily destroyed by conventional bombs and missiles, not requiring special technology or other monsters to eliminate.
• Kick the Dog: Forcing Minilla to hatch so they can try to feast on him before Godzilla destroys two of them.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This is how he is killed in Godzilla: Final Wars.
• Meaningful Name: Based on kamakiri, Japanese for "mantis".
• Red Shirt: Just Watch Son of Godzilla. Godzilla kills two of them. And the last one is eaten by Kumonga.
• Slaying Mantis: A giant mantis kaiju, although downplayed because it's introduced as fodder for stronger monsters like Godzilla and Kumonga.
• The Swarm: A giant monster variant in the novel Godzilla 2000, where a massive swarm of Kamacuras develop in Kansas and devour everything — and everyone — in a particular county.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Final Wars version put up a fight against one of the EDF crafts and eventually destroyed it! Also gained active camouflage powers!

Kumonga

Kumonga

First appearance: Son of Godzilla, 1967

Film Appearances: Son of Godzilla | Destroy All Monsters | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage | Godzilla vs. Gigan^note stock footage | Godzilla: Final Wars

AKA: Spiega

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

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kumonga was used as a another kaiju pawn by the Xilliens and was easily defeated by Godzilla in New Guinea.

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• Ambiguous Situation: We never learn if Kumonga's huge size was a result of the weather experiments, or if it was always the size of a kaiju. Notes from Saeko's father, who studied Kumonga, seem to imply it was always that size.
• An Arm and a Leg: A semi-regular occurrence. Unsurprising given that its legs are most of its body.
• Beam-O-War: Impressively managed to stalemate Godzilla's Atomic Breath in a beam clash with its webs. It also earns the distinct milestone of being the first monster to beam duel with Godzilla.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: A giant freakish spider.
• The Bus Came Back: Disregarding Stock Footage, there was a gap of more than thirty-six years between Kumonga's appearance in Destroy All Monsters and its next appearance in Final Wars.
• Dub Name Change: The English dubs of Son of Godzilla and Destroy All Monsters! change its name to "Spiega". The Italian dub of Son of Godzilla changes its name to Smegor.
• Giant Spider: The largest example of all.
• Heel–Face Turn: Fought Godzilla and Minilla in its premiere appearance, then fought alongside Earth's monsters against King Ghidorah in Destroy All Monsters!, before once again aligning against humanity in "Final Wars".
• Meaningful Name: Based on kumo, Japanese for "spider".
• Super Spit: Spits highly restrictive webbing from its mouth, similar to Mothra's silk.
• You Have to Burn the Web: Kumonga's webs are vulnerable to heat, as discovered by Saeko and Maki when they first encounter the creature. Godzilla, naturally, is able to exploit this with his atomic breath.

Maguma

Maguma

First appearance: Gorath, 1962

Film Appearances: Gorath

A giant walrus living in the frozen reaches of Antarctica. When scientists and technicians arrived to built the giant rockets meant to push Earth out of the path of the oncoming rogue planet Gorath, Maguma was awakened by the noise and activity and attacked in a grumpy rage. He inflicted some damage on the operations before he was killed by a powerful defense laser.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the novel Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse, Maguma is the kaiju which completely destroyed North Korea and required a nuclear strike to finally bring down. Compare this to his appearance in Gorath, where he only managed to damage a single building before being killed.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The American dub of Gorath removes Maguma completely, thus eliminating his Big-Toothed Walrus Moment.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: Just suddenly appears when humanity is setting up the rockets in Antarctica and dies soon afterwards. Apparently the reason for inclusion was Executive Meddling demanded a giant monster for the movie.
• Informed Species: Despite his walrus-like appearance and polar habitat, he's stated to be a reptile (possibly because he was initially meant to be a dinosaur).
• Misplaced Wildlife: A walrus in Antarctica?
• Non-Indicative Name: His name comes from the word "magma", but he has no lava-based abilities or relation to lava at all.
• One-Shot Character: Has never appeared outside of his short-lived introduction in Gorath (which he was even removed from in the American re-edit). He was initially planned to appear in Destroy All Monsters but scrapped for unknown reasons. However, Maguma has made minor appearances in a few video games and was mentioned in the novel Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: A giant walrus awakened when rockets were attached to the South Pole to steer the earth away from an oncoming rogue star. It Makes Sense in Context.
• Wily Walrus: A gigantic walrus-like monster who immediately goes on a rampage when he's awakened. That said, he's more of a nuisance than an actual threat and very weak for a kaiju.

Manda

Manda

First appearance: Atragon, 1963

Film Appearances: Atragon | Destroy All Monsters | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage | Terror of Mechagodzilla^note stock footage | Godzilla: Final Wars

The guardian of the lost kingdom of Mu. Enraged by the intrusion of the battleship Gotengo, he tries to destroy it by constricting it in his long body, but is deterred by electrical shocks and frozen by the Gotengos Absolute Zero Cannon. Manda was then taken to Monsterland with many other monsters, but an attack by the Kilaak caused him, along with the others, to be mind-controlled by the aliens and sent to attack cities across the world. Manda participates in an attack on Tokyo alongside Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, and when the mind control is broken he arrives at Mount Fuji to battle the Kilaak, though he doesn't aid in the fight against King Ghidorah.

In Godzilla: Final Wars Manda battles his nemesis, the Gotengo, once again, and inflicts heavy damage on the battleship before he is frozen and destroyed by the Gotengos drill.

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• Anti-Villain: Manda is the guardian of the lost city of Mu, and generally one of the more peaceful kaiju, unless he's angered.
• Ascended Extra: Appears in Rulers of Earth as one of the Devonian slave monsters, alongside Gezora and Titanosaurus.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Manda is taken out by a human vessel. Granted, it was a Cool Ship and all...
• The Dragon: Figuratively and literally. It's the god of the Mu civilization, and serves as their ultimate defense against the Gotengo.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: In Godzilla: Final Wars, after getting frozen by the Gotengo, he gets drilled into ice cubes.
• Human Popsicle: In both Atragon and Godzilla: Final Wars he gets frozen by the Gotengo. Final Wars has him drilled into ice cubes.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: His main attack is to use his long body to constrict his opponent.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Manda is basically a gigantic oriental-style dragon.
• Sea Serpents: A sea dragon (whose name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for "mammoth serpent") that protects the sunken kingdom of Mu. That said, he's not portrayed with any sort of dragon-like powers, because he was originally meant to be a giant sea snake.
• She's a Man in Japan: Manda is set to become a female character in Rulers of Earth.
• You Don't Look Like You: Manda's Destroy All Monsters incarnation lacks the horns, spikes, and hair of the other incarnations, looking less like a dragon and more like a snake with legs (which was actually the original idea before he became a dragon).
  • Godzilla: Singular Point drops the dragon motifs entirely and instead has the face of a Threatening Shark with catfish barbels and crustacean-like claws.

Mechani-Kong

Mechani-Kong

First appearance: King Kong Escapes, 1967

Film Appearances: King Kong Escapes

A giant robot facsimile of the real Kong, built by the evil Dr. Who to mine the radioactive Element X. The radiation proved too damaging for Mechani-Kong's circuitry, however, so a hypnotizing strobe was mounted atop its head in order to subdue and control King Kong. When Kong eventually broke free of the hypnosis, Mechani-Kong pursued him to Tokyo and engaged him in a fierce battle that carried them up Tokyo Tower. An attack on Dr. Who's ship crippled Mechani-Kong's controls, and he plummeted off of the tower and smashed to pieces on the streets below.

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• Contrived Coincidence: Unlike Mechagodzilla, no reason is given why he's made to look like a robot King Kong and it's mostly by chance he ends up fighting the real Kong.
• Disney Villain Death: After a pitched battle with the real Kong, he falls off Tokyo Tower to his demise.
• Evil Knockoff: One of the earliest examples of the "Mecha-insert name here" monsters, beating out Mechagodzilla by seven years.
• Humongous Mecha meets Killer Gorilla: Simple as that.
• Improvised Weapon: He is one, as he was originally designed for mining in the Arctic. Even the bombs around his waist are meant for blowing apart the ice.
• In Name Only: Based on a character from The King Kong Show, but his physical appearance, abilities, plot relevance, origin story, circumstances where he fights Kong, and location are completely different.
• Small Role, Big Impact: A meta example. Few people are aware that Mechani-Kong exists, but are more familiar with Mechagodzilla, whose original concept Mechani-Kong inspired.
• Mind-Control Device: Via a strobe on top of his head.
• Strong Flesh, Weak Steel: Mechani-Kong is unable to withstand the radiation emitted by Element X in order to mine it, but his biological basis, King Kong, has no such issue (the electronic mechanism keeping Kong under control is another matter...).
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Mechani-Kong's ranged offense is a series of grenades on his waist, which he can pluck off and throw at targets.

Moguera

Moguera

First appearance: The Mysterians, 1957

Film Appearances: The Mysterians | Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla

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

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

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• Adaptational Badass: The Heisei version is much more powerful than the Showa one, having way more weapons and also taking a ton more to actually destroy. Also, the Manga version of the Heisei incarnation is shown to be powerful enough to easily curbstomp a rebuilt Mechagodzilla II.
• Adaptational Heroism: As much as a robot vehicle has any sort of morality. The Showa version was a war machine created by extraterrestrials as part of an Alien Invasion. The Heisei version is created by the United Nations to defend the human race and ends up fighting an extraterrestrial.
• Beam Spam: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. fires all its weapons simultaneously in its Final Battle against SpaceGodzilla before being critically damaged.
• Butt-Monkey: In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, getting continually knocked out of the fight before being obliterated by friendly fire.
• Call-Back: Not seen in a film since The Mysterians until getting revamped for SpaceGodzilla. Oddly enough, Moguera appeared in the Nintendo game Monster of Monsters.
• Chest Blaster: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. had a large Maser cannon built into its stomach.
• Combining Mecha: Inverted. Can break off into top and bottom halves, forming a burrowing Drill Tank (top) and a flying machine (bottom).
• Drill Mole: The Humongous Mecha version, as it's based off a mole and sports a drill on its nose that lets it burrow through the ground.
• Drill Tank: Land Moguera, which forms the top of the main M.O.G.U.E.R.A., with a drill emerging from the chest.
• Eye Beams: Shared by both versions.
• Fragile Speedster: In the fighting games it's one of the fastest monsters in speed, but pays for it with low defense.
• Fun with Acronyms: The Heisei version, in both Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla and the novel Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters, its name is an acronym for Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type.
• Giant Medical Syringe: In Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters, M.O.G.U.E.R.A.'s cone arms incorporate giant syringes designed to inject targets with a variety of chemicals, intended to incapacitate monsters. The first time it's seen in use for a test, it injects a giant balloon with water; it later has to inject Anguirus, in two separate battles, with a powerful tranquilizer. During the climactic battle, it turns on Godzilla and injects him with what's intended to be a lethal toxin, made from the monster's own flesh and blood, but the plans for further sequels indicate that he survived.
• Glass Cannon: Not surprising, since M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was built to be a mobile artillery platform. Its weapon systems are comparable to those of Super-Mechagodzilla, but it threatened to go offline every other time SpaceGodzilla landed a hit. Its final fate rubs salt in the wound, as the robot's entire body shatters into pieces after Godzilla's red spiral beam strikes the ground next to it.
• Glorious Mother Russia: In the Marc Cerasini Godzilla books, it was Russia that created M.O.G.U.E.R.A., as a counter against Anguirus (whom they'd discovered living in the Caspian Sea) and any other monsters that came to their country.
• Guest Fighter: Moguera, along with Mothra and a statue of Godzilla, appears in the 48th episode of Sonic X (in his The Mysterians look, with some alterations). He chases the characters around and then fights Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge for a few minutes until he's destroyed by Sonic throwing a bomb inside his body.
• Hand Blast: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. can fire "Auto-lasers" from its two cone arms.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In The Mysterians. During the JSDF's attack on the Mysterian's dome, a short-lived second Moguera burrows beneath a Markalite Cannon toppling it over, only to be crushed by the massive piece of military equipment itself.
• Humongous Mecha: The Heisei-era M.O.G.U.E.R.A. is a traditional piloted mecha.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Used to be called Mogera. Toho later added the U.
• Long-Range Fighter: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was constructed to bombard monsters with its arsenal of laser weapons, its only close range weapon being its drill nose. This is even reflected with its design, having no functional hands for grasping and its feet having tank treads to skate around on the ground and keep distance.
• Meaningful Name: "Mogura" means mole in Japanese.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Despite being much less popular than other mecha in the franchise, the second M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was able to hold its own in a three way battle between it, Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla; even managing to severely wound the latter.
• Pokémon Speak: In the fighting games, all in a glorious robot monotone!
• Robeast: One of the earliest in film for this trope, he debuted in 1957 (six years before the Tetsujin-28/Gigantor anime, and 15 before Mazinger Z).
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: It was initially an obscure mecha that was created by aliens to conquer mankind and had no connection to Godzilla whatsoever. Then, forty-something years later, it was brought back as a human-engineered superweapon specifically designed to kill Godzilla.
• Tank Goodness: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. doesn't use its legs to move most of the time, but instead has giant tank treads on its feet. Its massive use of ranged weapons and Land Moguera's appearance ring true.
• This Is a Drill: Both incarnations have a drill on their nose and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. has a giant one that pops out of its chest when in Land Moguera form. The nose drill is actually powerful enough to drill through SpaceGodzilla's hide and draw blood.
• Tunnel King: Thanks to the drill nose, it can easily burrow through the ground.
• Walking Armory: M.O.G.U.E.R.A. is armed to bear with a large variety of weapons: plasma laser cannons in its eyes; auto-lasers fired from the ends of its cone-arms; spiral grenade missiles fired from inside its arms; a powerful plasma maser cannon in its stomach; in the games it can emit a sphere of electromagnetic energy that persists for several seconds and hits multiple times, and its Rage Attack is a photonic storm that emits rings of powerful energy from its body. In the film Moguera's only melee weapon is its drill nose, while in the games it also uses its arms and legs in combat (but they are inferior to its ranged weaponry).

Oodako

Oodako

First appearance: King Kong vs. Godzilla, 1962

Film Appearances: King Kong vs. Godzilla | Frankenstein Conquers the World | War of the Gargantuas

An enormous octopus. It's unknown if he is a mutant or simply a massive member of his kind, but he's certainly not much of a monster, possessing only his eight arms and size. While he's never been actually killed, he's been defeated quickly in all of his appearances save the optional ending to Frankenstein vs Baragon.

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• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Is this for each of his three appearances. He just shows up out of nowhere each time, with no explanation being given for his appearance or why he's so big! And he's never brought up again after those appearances.
• Combat Tentacles: As a giant octopus, duh.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: His completely nonsensical, sudden appearance in the rather anti-climactic alternate ending of Frankenstein vs. Baragon.
• Dire Beast: There isn't anything particularly special about him, he's just a really big octopus.
• Giant Squid: Oodako is simply a gigantic red octopus.
• One-Shot Character: Sort of. His debut appearance was in King King vs Godzilla, where he fought the giant ape and fled. He then appeared in War of the Gargantuas for a brief moment, threatening a ship before being chased off by Gaira. In an alternate ending for Frankenstein Conquers The World made for America but not used, Oodako suddenly arrived after Frankenstein's monster defeated Baragon and wrestled him into a lake, pulling him under to his death.
• Meaningful Name: Quite literally just "giant octopus".
• Sea Monster: He's a giant octopus that crawled out of the ocean onto land in his first appearance (and in the alternate ending of Frankenstein Conquers The World), and simply surfaces to attack a ship in War of the Gargantuas.
• Slurpasaur: He was played by several live octopi placed on miniature sets in King Kong vs. Godzilla for a few scenes, with stop-motion and puppets were used in scenes where he was interacting with people and fighting Kong. To get the octopus to move over the sets, warm air was blown on it to encourage it to begin clambering around, but when this didn't work as well, a studio light with a pin filter was instead used to direct it, as the staff found that the octopus would move as long as the light was shining on it. The effect makes this one of the better examples of this trope in action.
• Tentacled Terror: A giant Kaiju octopus, which attacks humans in its two film appearances.

Ookondoru

Ookondoru

First appearance: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, 1966

Film Appearances Ebirah, Horror of the Deep | All Monsters Attack^note stock footage

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

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• Butt-Monkey: He gets downed very easily by Godzilla. And for a long while, he didn't even have a profile.
• Dire Beast: A condor that has been mutated by toxic waste so that it is big enough to (briefly) tussle with Godzilla.
• Expy: As its debut movie was originally intended to be a King Kong film, the Condor was likely intended to be one of the pteranodon from the original 1933 film.
• Feathered Fiend: The only one in the Godzilla films. Ever.
• Fragile Speedster: Although very swift, it dies in a single shot from the atomic breath.
• Meaningful Name: "Giant condor".
• One-Shot Character: Never appears again (except for Stock Footage in All Monsters Attack).
• Palette Swap: Its prop was made by adding feathers to the flying Rodan model from Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (which was already modified and used in Ultra Q to portray Litra).
• Stock Footage: Its only reappearance, in All Monsters Attack, is reused from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.

Rodan

Rodan

First appearance: Rodan, 1956

Film Appearances: Rodan | Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster | Invasion of Astro-Monster | Destroy All Monsters | Godzilla vs. Gigan^note stock footage | Godzilla vs. Megalon^note stock footage | Terror of Mechagodzilla^note stock footage | Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II | Godzilla: Final Wars | Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters^note skeletal remains | Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) | Godzilla vs. Kong^note stock footage

Played By: Haruo Nakajima (1956), Masaki Shinohara (1964-1965), Teruoshi Nigaki (1968), Naoko Kamio (2004)

AKA: Radon (Japanese name — used in some foreign dubs)

A giant pterosaur (with some bird-like traits) who is first shown as Godzilla's enemy before becoming one of his allies.

The Showa Rodan's story begins on Kyushu island when a pair of Rodan are spotted amidst some mysterious deaths, including those of village miners and an airbase pilot. The Rodan couple share a nest in the island's Mount Aso volcano. A snapped photograph of the male Rodan's wing is used to identify him as a Pteranodon (or Rodan, for short). The military theorize that the Rodans were hatched due to nuclear radiation. After terrorizing Kyushu island, the two Rodans return to their volcanic nest, where a military trap causes the volcano to erupt, sending the female Rodan into the lava. The male Rodan drops into the lava shortly after as a result of the scalding heat.

Sometime afterwards, the male Rodan emerges from the volcano, then tracks down and engages in a ferocious battle with Godzilla. The heroic Mothra tries to convince the two beasts to help her defeat the space terror King Ghidorah (thereby saving humanity), but the two beasts feel that humanity hurt them too much to deserve saving. Rodan and Godzilla continued their duel as Mothra defeatedly crawled off to try and face Ghidorah alone. Rodan and Godzilla stop fighting upon witnessing Mothra's courage and selflessness. Together, the three monsters fight King Ghidorah and drive him back into space.

Rodan would later (along with Godzilla) be kidnapped by the Xiliens in a failed bid to use him, Godzilla, and Ghidorah to conquer Earth. In 1999, Rodan is controlled by the Killaks and sent to destroy Moscow. After being freed, the pterosaur joins other Earth monsters in killing King Ghidorah once and for all. Rodan peacefully lives out the rest of his years with his fellow monsters on Monsterland.

The Heisei Rodan is mutated by nuclear waste, and drawn to the egg of Baby Godzilla. Godzilla battles Rodan over the egg and soundly defeats him. Rodan is later revitalized by further radiation (gaining a beam weapon in the process) and intercepts a carrier before being severely injured by Mechagodzilla and Garuda. The pterosaur attempts to intervene while Godzilla and his robotic opponent are in battle; however, Super Mechagodzilla fires upon Rodan, fatally wounding the giant pterosaur. Landing on Godzilla's fallen body, Rodan's energy dissipates as his body disappeared, his life energy and radiation gifting Godzilla with the Spiral Ray, enabling the King of the Monsters to destroy his mechanical nemesis.

The Millennium Rodan is controlled by the Xiliens, and is first seen in an assault on New York, his supersonic flight devastating the windows and raining glass upon the streets of the Big Apple. Under the Xiliens' orders, Rodan teams up with King Ceasar and Anguirus to fight Godzilla at Mount Fuji. Despite their best efforts, Rodan and his two companions are knocked unconscious by Godzilla in a dazed heap, one laying on top of the other.

For the Legendary Rodan from the MonsterVerse, go here.

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• Adaptational Badass: In Godzilla Ongoing when he slams into Gigan. The Monsterverse version of him is also a lot more deadly and destructive than previous Rodans, to the point he's all too willing to confront King Ghidorah himself all by his own.
• Adaptational Wimp: Showa Rodan was a very unrelenting force of nature with devastating powers. He was also utterly immune to Godzilla's atomic breath and was even capable of of lifting up Kaiju far larger and heavier than he is, such as Godzilla and Mothra in its larvae stage. Starting with the Heisei series, however, the poor guy got smaller in size and became something of a punching bag for other kaiju. And while he does put up a relatively decent fight with the Big G, he nonetheless ends up beaten by the atomic dinosaur in a few minutes and is left lying unconscious on his home island. While Godzilla's radiation ultimately powered him up as "Fire Rodan", he's mortally wounded and killed by Super Mechagodzilla in a few seconds, but, on the other hand, Fire Rodan's demise allows him to power up Godzilla with the Spiral Ray which allows the Big G to finish his mechanical double with no effort. The Millennium Rodan seems to possess no powers beyond his supersonic flight and brute strength, and Godzilla dispatches him in a matter of seconds like many other kaiju in Final Wars. His Monsterverse version goes back to being a frightful and capable opponent.
• All Flyers Are Birds: He's officially identified as a Pteranodon but makes bird-like roars and has a face similar to the head of a bird of prey. Heisei Rodan's nurturing behavior towards Baby Godzilla's egg also feels bird-like, as actual pterosaurs would likely abandon eggs like lizards do.
• Alien Blood: In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II the color of his blood was more a dark olive-green.
• Art Evolution: In his debut film, he had a small head, pitch black eyes, enormous wings and a broader beak with more teeth. Subsequent Showa designs were mostly the same, but had notable alterations such as large, expressive eyes, with the 1968 suit in particular having a longer, droopy beak. In the Heisei series, he had a longer beak, a more ferocious look on his eyes and wings that were more bat-like , not to mention him now was portrayed entirely by puppets rather than by suitmation. In the Millennium series, he went back to looking more like his Showa design being portrayed by a suit, but had noticeable fingers, a longer neck as well as longer arms and legs, giving him distinctly more human-like proportions. His Monsterverse design takes heavy cues from his debut appearance, and also has rough skin reminiscent of dried lava.
• Artistic License – Paleontology: Like most reptilian monsters in Toho's kaiju lineup, Rodan looks very little like the prehistoric creature he's derived from. No pterosaur stood, walked, or were as large as he is, and his head is more like that of a bird than any known pterosaur. Pterosaurs also did not use their feet to catch prey, and hunted solely with their beaks.
• Big Brother Instinct: The Heisei Rodan accepted Baby Godzilla as his foster brother and became extremely protective of him.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Godzilla "explains" his reason to Mothra why he won't take action to save humanity: it's because of how he's so hated and disrespected by mankind. Rodan actually agrees with his rival's logic and pretty much had the same thought, being reluctant to help them out as well. Mothra argues that not all humans are bad, and that King Ghidorah is left unopposed, he won't stop until everyone on Earth (kaiju included) are dead. Rodan and Godzilla eventually decide to put their differences aside when Mothra is attacked by Ghidorah.
• Blood from the Mouth: Goes through his painful experience twice in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. The first time it happen is when Godzilla aggressively grasps his windpipe so hard, blood started to drip on his chest. The second time, which is arguably even more gruesome is when Mechagodzilla finishes him with a point-blank blast of his Plasma Grenade. The poor pteranodon is seen with a partially ripped open chest that has blood oozing out of it, as he's brutally gargling to near-death on his own blood with a nasty plethora of bloody foam bubbling out of his beak.
• Blow You Away: His trademark power is causing hurricane winds and sonic booms.
• Breath Weapon: In his original film, Rodan emits a strange black smoky substance from his beak, which resembles the early animations of Godzilla's energy ray. Whether or not it was an energy ray or some form of "hurricane breath" is debatable, but he does get his own radioactive breath weapon in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II during the Heisei era. After being exposed to Godzilla's own breath weapon, and with some help from psychic children singing no less!
• Butt-Monkey: As the movies went by Rodan started to become this as explained above in Adaptational Wimp, suffering defeat after defeat without receiving as many moments of glory as he did before. Even in the Showa series his last appearance involved him being a victim of an earthquake, with a rock whacking him on the face and sending him into a hole.
• The Cameo: His skeletal remains can be seen in the prologue of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters. The novelization reveals he and Anguirus attacked Beijing in tandem before being killed by the Chinese bioweapon Hedorah.
• Crisis Crossover: He made his way to the main franchise in Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, linking not just the Mothra and Godzilla mythos but the Rodan one as well, all to defeat the first version of King Ghidorah.
• Comfort the Dying: For the gruesome and tragic ending of Rodan, One of the 2 Rodans is seen getting scorched alive by the magma in Mt. Aso from the eruption. Rather than continuing to survive, the second one lowers down to the first one by choosing to die along with its burning mate into the volcano without hesitation, just so the other Rodan wouldn't have to die alone as the flying kaiju sadly perish Together in Death.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Mechagodzilla surely had him on a silver platter with its superior onslaught of weapons so powerful that Rodan could hardly even withstand against. Although before going down for the count, he used a strong Beak Attack to peck and damage one of its eyes, which made the machine lose the power to fire its Eye Beams...though once Mechagodzilla combined itself with Garuda...
• Died Happily Ever After: The first two Rodans, who perished together... at least until the male Rodan was revealed to have survived in Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster.
• Face–Heel Turn: In Godzilla: Final Wars, though he was under mind control.
• Feel No Pain: The Showa Rodan took several of Godzilla's atomic heat rays and Ghidorah's gravity beams without so much as a scratch. In fact, his response to Godzilla's breath was to shake his head and look annoyed.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • In Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, he's hostile toward Godzilla at first and indifferent toward the Mothra larva, but upon seeing how much of a bastard Ghidorah is, he ultimately decides to put his hatred behind and join forces with the other two Earthly monsters. In Mechagodzilla II, he finally decides Godzilla is better fit to be a parent for Baby Godzilla than him and when Super Mechagodzilla fatally blasts him, he makes the dying effort to lay atop Godzilla so he may absorb his energy, revive and obtain the Spiral Ray, enabling Godzilla to destroy Super Mechagodzilla.
  • It actually tends to happen a lot. Rodan is tied with Anguirus for being Godzilla's most consistent ally. He's also arguably Godzilla's strongest ally as well, considering how well the pair work together. However, unlike Anguirus, who is a genuine friend toward the Big G, Rodan seems to be more of a lone wolf and his friendship with Goji usually comes out of convenience.
• Flying Brick: A massive mutated pteranodon with supersonic flight speed of Mach 1.5 and has also tangled against the likes of Godzilla and King Ghidorah as a sheer testament of his strength, most notably with the former when he possessed the sheer physical power to lift him off the ground entirely without even displaying any signs of strain.
• Flying Firepower: What he amounts to when he becomes Fire Rodan in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. He's granted a long-ranged Breath Weapon in addition to his flight. Although, if Mechagodzilla wasn't veneered with a synthetic diamond that can absorb and store energy from mouth rays, his Uranium Heat Beam would've been effective against it.
• Genius Bruiser: He's no slouch as a combatant as he's greatly shown to take on the likes of Godzilla himself and seemed to be evenly matched with him in power in Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, and he's surprisingly strategic in battle. One example is when he lured King Ghidorah away from Godzilla and flies away from a vast distance enough for him to rapidly turn a 180 and forcefully rammed into him which made both of them plummet to the ground. Another instance is when he "told" Mothra to crawl onto his back and steadily flied in a stationary position where it's far easier for her to spray her silk on King Ghidorah while Godzilla grabs ahold of his tails from behind. This is how King Ghidorah loses the fight as the three kaiju basically used all of their combined additional strengths to overpower the hydra and retreats back into space.
• Giant Flyer: He certainly is, due to being a giant mutant pterosaur. He can attain supersonic speeds and create devastating winds by flapping his wings. Due to his predatory nature, one scene in Destroy All Monsters has him swooping down on the sea to catch a dolphin for food.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, he goes from antagonizing mankind to working with the Big G to take Ghidorah down.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, he ultimately realizes Godzilla would be a better parent to Baby Godzilla than him and sacrifices his energy (and life) to the Big G, enabling him to obtain his Spiral Ray and save the day.
• Informed Species: He looks less like a Pteranodon and more like a featherless bird of prey with membranous wings and scaly skin. Granted, his Heisei version is more pterosaur-like, but he still has a toothy beak and, more jarringly, obvious bat-based wings.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Mothra attempts to interrupt the fight between him and Godzilla, but both are too busy on seeing who beats who so she sprays Godzilla with silk. Rodan takes the opportunity to laugh at his humiliation. While in the middle of giggling, he too gets sprayed and ends up being the victim of getting laughed at by Godzilla.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's fast enough to cause sonic booms as an offensive weapon, but also strong enough to carry Godzilla.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": A giant Pteranodon named Radon (in Japan) before being respelled into Rodan in other languages.
• Meaningful Name: His original Japanese name (Radon) is taken from Pterandon.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, he mutates into Fire Rodan after his battle with Godzilla, gaining his own uranium heat ray and more strength and toughness.
• No Body Left Behind: This happens to him while surging the last of his life energy into Godzilla's paralyzed body after taking one mere blast from Super Mechagodzilla's Mega Buster that fatally injured him. After he finishes his Bequeathed Power, his entire body fades away and vaporizes into nothing.
• No-Sell: In Godzilla: Unleashed, Fire Rodan is completely immune to heat- and fire-based attacks and hazards, taking no damage from the lava in Seattle and the breath weapons of Obsidius, Megalon and Godzilla 2000 (the fireballs specifically for the latter two).
  • Showa Rodan was unharmed by Godzilla's atomic breath and Ghidorah's gravity beams. He even perceives both as mere annoyances.
• Power-Up Letdown: When he gains his uranium heat ray, it comes at perhaps the worst possible time, against a mech that can absorb and fire rays back at their user.
• Power Trio: With Godzilla and Mothra in the Showa Era.
• Purple Is Powerful: As apart of his newfound Fire Rodan form, he gains a long-ranged Breath Weapon, which is referred as his Uranium Heat Beam as it's colored a bright and dazzling fuchsia and is roughly equal to that of Godzilla's Atomic Breath. Sadly, this didn't turn out in his favor against Mechagodzilla's NT-1 diamond coated Energy Absorption alloy.
• Signature Roar: A ululating cackle which would be reused countless times for other kaiju, most notably being heavily edited for use as the Heisei era King Ghidorah's roar and being given a deeper pitch for Battra's roar.
• Spared by the Adaptation: He, along with Anguirus and King Caesar, are spared after their battle with Godzilla in Final Wars, as a nod towards them being former allies of his.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Inverted — After beginning with a starring role, he was forever after reduced to playing second banana to Godzilla.
• Super-Strength: One scene in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster displays Rodan by uplifts Godzilla's mass and carries him into the sky while airborne, although holding him in mid-air did seem to slightly hinder his flight maneuverability. While the 2 kaiju were both 50 meters in terms of height, the King of the Monsters still outweighs him by being 5,000 tons heavier than the pteranodon. Right after he distracts King Ghidorah in a brief chase segment, he was able to knock the hydra completely out of the sky by indirectly ramming into him at full-speed. Earlier before that, he managed to actually make King Ghidorah flinch after he's struck him with his talons. He's also capable of carrying large and heavy objects such as boulders in Invasion of Astro-Monster and during the final battle, he carries Godzilla (again) as both of them use their combined weight to slam and tackle King Ghidorah off of a steep cliff, plummeting right into the ocean depths.
• Terror-dactyl: Rodan is one of the more hostile kaiju in the franchise, and appearance-wise, he's basically a textbook example on how pterosaurs were portrayed throughout the 20th century, resembling more a plucked chicken with bat wings. For comparison, this is an accurate Pteranodon reconstruction◊. Granted, the Showa and Millennium versions of him have more membrane-like wings, whereas his Heisei incarnation has more blatant bat-like wings. His Heisei version also has a longer beak more similar to those of real Pteranodon. He still has teeth, however. In the case of the Monsterverse Rodan, all this inaccuracies can be justified by the fact he no longer is a pterosaur, but rather an ancient lifeform that happens to look like a pterosaur. His appearance in Singular Point is much closer to the real deal, though, even walking quadrupedally and bearing some small hair, but his toothiness still remains.
• Together in Death: Both the male and female Rodans go through a horrific simultaneous demise after the JSDF launched missiles into their nest in Mt. Aso to intentionally trigger a volcanic eruption to kill them. The second Rodan loyally dies with her mate, as the 2 kaiju are getting burned alive and screeching in trauma from the flowing magma. The mere sight of the 2 Rodans dying together alone caused some of the characters to arouse severe remorse and heartbroken guilt for having to kill what were basically no different than any other living creature on Earth.
• Token Evil Teammate: Expanded universe material in which the kaiju are heroic beings portrays him as far less concerned with human life and being more of a loose cannon. The Monsterverse version of him focuses on this trait, as he's a rogue destroyer who causes mayhem as he pleases and will only align himself with the strongest kaiju there is, even if that happens to be King Ghidorah himself.
• Took a Level in Badass: It's a really weird case. Rodan was already a rather impressive-looking monster but his various other appearances up the ante some. However, a lot of the time he tends to just be easily-disposed cannon fodder, whether to Godzilla or other monsters, while in the Showa era not only is he a decent match against Godzilla, he actually hands King Ghidorah his ass a few times when he and Godzilla team up.
• Toothy Bird: He always has a beakful of teeth, despite being billed as a Pteranodon (whose name actually means "Wing Without Teeth"). Averted in Godzilland, where he's toothless like a real Pteranodon.
• Unexplained Recovery: In Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, it's revealed that the male Rodan somehow survived his supposed immolation at the end of Rodan when he bursts out of Mt. Aso.

Sanda

Sanda (Brown Gargantua)

First appearance: War of the Gargantuas, 1966

Film Appearances: War of the Gargantuas

A Gargantua created from Frankenstein's genetic samples, Sanda was raised by human scientists, particularly the motherly Akemi Togawa, giving him a positive perception of humans and making him grow into a compassionate being. When he sees his "brother" Gaira getting heavily injured by the Japanese military, he promptly rescues him, peacefully drives the army away and takes Gaira to a place where he can recover. The moment he sees Gaira eating humans however, Sanda flies into a rage and attacks his brother. When Gaira makes his way to Tokyo in order to feast on yet more people, Sanda has no choice but to confront his brother and put an end to his threat.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In Go Godman and Go Greenman, he's now an antagonistic force that must be stopped by the heroes.
• Adaptation Species Change: In Go! Greenman, he's a mutated Minion of Maoh.
• Ascended Extra: Originally featured in a single movie, he was reused as a villain in the Go! Godman and Go! Greenman series (which are separate continuities from the main Showa films), and later featured in IDW's comics.
• Berserk Button: Harming humans is a big one for him as Gaira learned the hard way.
• Cain and Abel: He's the Abel to Gaira's Cain.
• Canon Immigrant: He gets to encounter the Big G in Rulers of Earth alongside Gaira.
• Gentle Giant: Found by the military and raised among humans for a few years. Ultimately got bored and returned to living in the wild, but he kept his love of people.
• Genius Bruiser: While both Gargantuas are implied to be near or at human intelligence, Sanda more often shows this than Gaira. During their battle with Godzilla in Rulers of Earth, Gaira attacks through biting and scratching, while Sanda fights through punching and grappling, and eventually drives the Big G away by smelling a gas truck, realizing what's inside and slamming the vehicle in Godzilla's face.
• Healing Factor: Inherited from his "father".
• Nice Guy: Due to being raised by humans, Sanda is kind to all forms of life, even his brother. He only fights Gaira at the end once it becomes clear that the green Gargantua is completely unreasonable.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Becomes a Godzilla foe in Rulers of Earth.

Varan

Varan

First appearance: Varan, the Unbelievable, 1958

Film Appearances: Varan, the Unbelievable | Destroy All Monsters | Godzilla: Final Wars^note stock footage

A rare species of butterfly native to Sibera is found in Japan, and a pair of entomologists are sent to investigate. Two scientists lead the expedition, but are mysteriously crushed by an unknown entity. The natives of the area worship the creature named Varan, their mountain god. After a while, a young boy named Ken runs from the village after his dog, and when they find him again, the mountain god the villagers described, Varan, emerges. The villagers flee and Varan chases them, killing a priest and tearing the huts apart. Content, the beast returns to the lake.

Reports of Varan's existence are sent to Japan, and they prepare for Varan's arrival. Varan does emerge, and is eventually distracted by light bombs. The creature then reveals large flaps of skin between its limbs, and leaps off the mountain and glides away. He returns, however, and the SDF's weaponry prove useless against Varan's armored hide. The beast goes unchallenged until Special Gunpowder-filled light bombs are set, and Varan devours two of them. The first one detonates, causing Varan to retreat into the ocean. Unfortunately for the creature, the second light bomb detonates and the creature is defeated.

Varan (or a second of his kind) would later be rounded up to Monsterland in 1999, where he would live in peace until the Kilaaks take over Earth's monsters and unleash them upon humanity; though Varan, Baragon and Anguirus are unmentioned in the assault on mankind. Eventually, the humans break Varan and the other Earth kaiju free of the alien control and Varan observes the demise of King Ghidorah, then returning to Monsterland to live in peace.

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• Adaptational Badass: In Godzilla: Unleashed. Varan is the second-fastest Earth Defender, can chain his attacks together into devastating combos, and has great versatility with his gliding (he can even attack during it, and doing his uppercut punch allows him to glide indefinitely). His bite heavy attack also hits deceptively hard and can knock an opponent on its back.
• Adaptational Wimp: In Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, he can't fly or swim, due largely to the fact that the monster fights take place in a featureless void.
• Ascended Extra: After several years of brief cameos in Godzilla films, he becomes a major threat in the novel Godzilla 2000, and is later featured in IDW's Rulers of Earth.
• The Cameo:
  • He was originally going to have a larger part in Destroy All Monsters!, where he would have attacked San Francisco, but Toho had already blown half the budget on the new Godzilla and Anguirus costumes, giving no time to build a new Varan costume. So we got two quick shots of a Varan prop.
  • He also shows up in Godzilla Monster of Monsters for the NES/Famicom.
• Demoted to Extra: After starring in his own film, he had a few, extremely brief, appearances in Destroy All Monsters equalling about ten seconds total, and has not appeared in a movie since.^note He was proposed for multiple films such as a draft of what ultimately became Godzilla Vs. Gigan and later a film that would serve as the finale of the Heisei series; he was also originally intended to star in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. In the latter case, he was replaced by Ghidorah due to Executive Meddling (because Toho wanted to play it safer with a more popular kaiju).
• Feed It a Bomb: How he was defeated in his debut film.
• Fragile Speedster: In Godzilla: Unleashed. He's fast and agile, but his defenses are only mediocre. He must rely on his combo capability and speed to win.
• Giant Flyer: Actually a giant glider due to the design of its wings being similar to flying squirrels and lizards (which glide despite the name).
• Land, Sea, Sky: Varan is described as a "triphibian", capable of flying (or more specifically, gliding), walking, and swimming.
• Super-Scream: In Godzilla: Unleashed Varan is given the ability to project a tightly-focused beam of sound and a ball of sonic energy from his mouth. In his character description it's explained as a specialization of his ability to communicate vast distances using hypersonic sound waves.
• Yōkai: Leaning on Varan's mountain god status and "Obake" description in the English dub, Godziban depicts Varan as a shapeshifter that can take on the disguise of a mammalian flying squirrel.
• You Don't Look Like You: In Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, he's bright purple.

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