Saturday, October 31, 2020

Favorites - 12 Favorite Opponents from the Godzilla Franchise


I couldn’t just stop at one post about Godzilla, couldn’t I? I also realized that while I like the big monster, I’ve barely talked about him here, so here we go for a bit of a stint. I could say that it’s RANDOM THOUGHTS’ HALLOWEEN GODZILLATHON or something. There is one story I definitely want to cover here (Godzilla: Half-Century War), but I gotta find the dang book. So, here’s something else for y’all.

Godzilla is one monster that sits in an interesting position. He’s been a villain, a hero, and even something in between. The monster’s still gone up against a variety of adversaries. He’s gone up against other giant monsters, aliens, the environment, and humanity itself. So, who are my favorite Godzilla opponents? I have to go with this wording because the G-Man hasn’t always been the hero of the movie. It’s not in particularly any order, but the best ones will be up at top.

1. Humanity – Yeah, mankind goes on the list! Heck, some of the best Godzilla movies involve the citizens of Japan trying to open cans of Whoop-A$$ on the giant monster. That’s just one reason humanity gets the top spot. Godzilla tends to bring out the best and worst in humanity.  We see humanity rise to the top as heroes in some movies. We also see humanity doing something stupid that causes Godzilla to show up. Since Godzilla’s inception involved nuclear testing, Toho needed to throw that out there. Whatever the cause may be, it’s always cool to see Godzilla stomp on humanity a bit. We kinda deserve it at times, ya know?

2. King Ghidorah – Next up is Godzilla’s best opponent: King Ghidorah. This monster’s been revamped as much as Godzilla has. It’s been an alien threat, a product of future genetic engineering, an interdimensional god, and even a heroic, magical guardian. No matter what Ghidorah’s origin is, it’s always fighting Godzilla. Ghidorah’s look is striking with the three heads, gold body, and electricity glowing off it. Even though he gets his butt kicked by Godzilla and other monsters, his fights are always gold.

3. Mechagodzilla – Next up is another big hitter with multiple origins: Mechagodzilla or Kyriu in the Millenium Era. Whether Mecha-G has been a creation of aliens, a mixture of future and present day tech, or a tech suit that has the bones of the original Godzilla in it (seriously, WTH), it has been a big thorn in Godzilla’s side. The robot houses a huge arsenal of weapons and can even take on multiple monsters at once. It’s also one of the few killers that can pierce Godzilla’s skin. I remember when I first saw the thing spill Godzilla’s blood in the first Mecha-G movie. One does wonder how a fight between it and the Dragonzord will go…

4. Destroyah – Next up is the monster that has probably done more damage to Godzilla than most on this list. Destroyah was formed when microbes from Dr. Siweraza’s Oxygen Destroyer machine mutated. Throughout the movie, the monster evolves until they end up towering Godzilla himself. Not only does Destroyah look like it came from the 4th level of Hell, it also took down Godzilla and killed Godzilla Jr. in that movie. Strangely enough, the military finishes this monster off, so Godzilla doesn’t even get to take down the main monster in his own movie. To be fair, dude was dying.

5. Mothra – Next up is the monster that has always been the heroic kaiju in the franchise: Mothra. She’s also one of the few monsters from the franchise that got their own movies. Mothra started out being worshipped on a island of little people. When the two fairies that sing to her got kidnapped, it went on a bit of a rampage in Japan. Mind you, they took her babies, man! Anyway, she then made her way to the Godzilla movies and has basically been a mainstay since then usually fighting or teaming up with Godzilla. While she can be a little lame in her caterpillar form, her butterfly form is pretty cool.

6. King Kong – And now, we have the original King of the Monsters. King Kong is considered to be one of the first big monsters. RKO licensed the character to Toho for a couple of movies, and the first movie Kong appears in is King Kong vs. Godzilla. While that movie may not be the best of the bunch (some of the costumes look bad), it was still a major crossover that we hadn’t seen before. Take that, MCU! Kong here was also much bigger and stronger here since he was going up against the new King of the Monsters. He even had some cool moves like that tree thing. While the costume was… eh, Kong was cool. I can only hope the new Godzilla vs. Kong movie will be as good or better.

7. The Planet X aliens – Earth’s gone up against a variety of aliens during the franchise. Whether they may be ape men, cockroaches, whatever that race from Destroy All Monsters was, or DIVO rejects, they always want world conquest. These were the first aliens to do so, and they were probably the best ones to do it well. The Xiliens (?) lure astronauts to their planet, Planet X, in the guise of keeping their planet safe from King Ghidorah. We end up getting one of the only Godzilla fights off-planet. Of course, this was a ruse because the aliens then use their technology to control Godzilla and Rodan. Thanks to some human ingenuity, the control is broken, and we get another fight with Godzilla and Rodan fighting Ghidorah.

8. Spacegodzilla – Next up is another doppleganger of Godzilla’s. Spacegodzilla came from the Heisei era and was an mixture of Godzilla’s DNA with a black hole or something. Even the movie has no idea on its origins because they end up giving another one later. Even though this wasn’t the best of this bunch of movies, Spacegodzilla looked cool. While he had all those cool powers and those crystals protruding from his body, you could tell he was a clone. Even Godzilla Jr. thought it was his dad for a minute. This was also one that couldn’t be beat by just Godzilla as well since Japan had their own weapon too. You know it’s bad when Godzilla can’t take them down on his own.

9. Gigan – Next is Gigan, another alien kaiju. This was the alien the cockroach aliens had control over. Gigan’s look was pretty  unique. The monster was bladed to  the teeth! Heck, I think his teeth even had blades! He was another monster that could cause a lot of damage with its own arsenal. Of course, he wasn’t that cool because he needed help from Ghidorah and Megalon to take down his opponents.

10. Rodan – Rodan is another kaiju that had its own movie before it crossed over with Godzilla. He’s basically a spiced up pterodactyl mixed with a bird. He can move at fast speeds and bring the fight to Godzilla and other monsters. I was excited when Rodan showed up in the recent King of the Monsters movie, and he didn’t disappoint. Other than that, that’s all he has.

11. Angurius – Now, we have the first monster that Godzilla went up against: Angurius. This monster was kinda unique with his roar and horned hide. Other than that, Angurius was pretty weak. Dude was usually the first to go down, but he didn’t go down without a fight! He even picked himself up when he got his jaw broke by Mechagodzilla. He also got cut up by Gigan and kept on coming. Yeah, he may have not been the best, but he needed a place on the list.

12. Megalon – While Godzilla vs. Megalon is considered to be one of the bad G-movies, the kaiju from it weren’t that bad. We got a giant robot in the form of Jet Jaguar, the return of Gigan, and a new monster called Megalon. It’s like a giant-sized beetle. This monster was under the sway of the Seatopians and housed some interesting powers. Those drills on the hands looked like they could hurt, and it shot out bombs. Of course, it couldn’t handle the tag-team of Godzilla and Jet Jaguar. He even got taken down with one of the best moves Godzilla’s done.

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Well, that’s all I got for now. I don’t know if we’ll get any more cool opponents for Godzilla to face, but you never know. If I can find that trade of Godzilla: The Half-Century War, I’ll touch upon it later. For now, Peace, God Bless, have a safe Halloween, and watch out for any Kaiju. With how 2020 is, we don’t know what it’ll bring.

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