Image via Complex Original
With the release of Godzilla this weekend, Hollywood revisits one of the most popular film genres: the giant-monster-run-for-your-lives movie. Godzilla is the most famous of the kaiju, enormous beasts who've populated Japanese drive-in cinema since the 1950s, but he's not the only one by any means. No, there's a whole universe of kaiju who've fought many a clunky battle against each other over the decades. There are massive dinosaurs, mutated insects, oversized robots called mechas, and crazy things from outer space that just want to destroy everything in their path. These 15 giants are the most badass kaiju from Japanese movies—will Godzilla's 2014 foe, the mysterious M.U.T.O., measure up?
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15. Rodan
First appearance: Rodan (1956)
Rodan is based on a pteranodon, and is one of a few trusty allies of Godzilla—or would be, if he wasn't constantly being used by aliens with the power of mind control. Alien mind control is big in kaiju movies, resulting in allied monsters fighting each other almost as much as they fight their enemies. Rodan can, of course, fly and wreak all sorts of windy havoc by flapping his wings. Godzilla often needs an assist to take down the bad guys, and Rodan is his best wingman. In three films, the pair team up to defeat King Ghidorah.
14. Kumonga
First appearance: Son of Godzilla (1967)
A real-life black widow spider is scary. A tarantula is scarier. The huge spiders in The Hobbit are really, really scary. The huger spiders in Eight-Legged Freaks are terrifying. Kumonga is a spider who stands about 150 feet tall. He might wrap you in a web and kill you at his leisure, or if he's in a rush, he'll just stab you with the razor-sharp points at the end of each leg.
This is an important lesson in the difference between Japanese and American schlock. In America, a spider exposed to radiation bites Peter Parker and turns him into the crime-fighter Spider-Man. In Japan, a spider exposed to radiation grows to roughly the size of the Houston Astrodome and sets about destroying things.
13. M.O.G.U.E.R.A.
First appearance: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
Like many kaiju created in more recent times, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., a mecha, or giant robot, has way more weapons, powers and defenses than necessary. Everything on this big bot is a frickin' weapon. Eyes? Plasma laser cannons. Nose? Massive drill bit. Hands? Blue auto-lasers and grenade missiles. Chest? Plasma maser cannon.
M.O.G.U.E.R.A. (named after the very first mecha, the mole-like robot Moguera) was created from the wreckage of MechaGodzilla, and is actually composed of two things, just to add a Transformers/Voltron element to its already overcrowded identity. When necessary, M.O.G.U.E.R.A. splits into the land-based vehicle Land Moguera and the flying craft StarFalcon. It's a monster, it's a robot, it's two robots, it's a transformer, it slices, it dices, it juliennes. It's M.O.G.U.E.R.A.! Makes a great gift.
12. King Kong
First appearance: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Yes, King Kong. Although most kaiju are freaky monsters or robots with a Japanese origin, a few of the behemoths in kaiju movies came from western stories. King Kong was just 18 feet high in the original 1933 film, which would hardly have worked in Godzilla movies, so he was pumped up to a solid 145 feet, and given powers to absorb and release electricity just to make things interesting.
King Kong was the first monster to survive a fight with Godzilla, and the first to defeat him. Climbing the Empire State Building? Meh. Beating up a giant dinosaur-monster who shoots fire (actually "atomic breath") from his pie-hole? Now that's something to be proud of.
11. SpaceGodzilla
First appearance: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
SpaceGodzilla is a monster who forms from Godzilla DNA that wound up way out in space thanks to a black hole. It sounds pretty unlikely even in Godzilla world, but try to suspend your disbelief. SpaceGodzilla, who looks like Godzilla with some cool crystal growths on his shoulders, comes to Earth intent on killing Godzilla, and nearly does.
SpaceGodzilla controls energy, auras, beams, and electricity in a dozen different ways, and has telepathy and levitation as well, which basically means he can do anything. On paper, SpaceGodzilla is probably the most powerful thing Godzilla has ever faced, but this raises the Superman conundrum: a being who is all-powerful becomes not-so-interesting.
10. Manda
First appearance: Altragon (1963)
Manda is a sea dragon who guarded the underwater kingdom of Mu. Out of water, he's fairly useless, going nowhere fast on his four tiny legs. But when he fights in the drink, he's quick and deadly, able to wrap himself around a foe and crush it like a boa constrictor. Manda is an ally of Godzilla and (unlike most of his allies) never takes on the big fella, but he never gets the co-starring role he deserves either. Manda was last seen in several pieces somewhere off the Normandy coast.
9. King Caesar
First appearance: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974)
Even if he had no abilities and was not scary in any way, King Caesar would make this list as a badass kaiju because he sounds like a blaxploitation tough guy or professional wrestler. He's not at all related to blaxploitation, the WWE, nor the Roman Empire. The name "Caesar" is actually a totally misleading spelling of Shisa, a character from Okinawan mythology that looks like a lion crossed with a dog. This would explain why King Caesar has a lion's face, big silly dog-like ears, and doesn't appear to be on his way to a toga party.
King Caesar is a skilled martial artist, but doesn't have a lot of superpowers and gets his ass kicked in a couple movies. But he's the only kaiju with a theme song. As the ancient guardian of Okinawa, King Caesar sleeps in a mountain until called to life by the song, which goes "Shisa! Shisa! Shisa! Kill the dragon, Shisa!" Just imagine what would have happened if Isaac Hayes had gotten his silky chocolate pipes on those lyrics.
8. Hedorah
First appearance: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
Kaiju get all environmental with Hedorah, an alien slime thing that feeds on Earth's pollution. This was 1971, when only hippies cared about the well-being of the planet, decades before humans began to recycle their aluminum cans and develop Prius technology to fight this monstrosity. You can't shoot Hedorah—bullets just go through him—and punching is not a good idea either, as he is made of acid and will melt all your soft tissues. Some attacks, like Godzilla's mighty atomic breath, just fail. It's hard to poison a giant blob of poison.
7. Mothra
First appearance: Mothra (1961)
Mothra isn't known for her fighting. She (yes, it's a girl kaiju) has got some strong abilities but doesn't use them as often as her pugnacious male colleagues. But she has a mystique that nobody can touch. Mothra is worshiped as a goddess by natives of Infant Island, and has two cute, tiny priestesses (called Shobijin) who speak for her. Mothra lays an egg that is always winding up in the wrong hands, and when she bites the dust, the egg hatches in a Phoenix-like cycle. You might kill Mothra, but she never really dies.
6. MechaGodzilla
First appearance: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974)
MechaGodzilla first shows up as "Fake Godzilla," a robot wearing a Godzilla costume. But the real Godzilla ain't got time for that, and swiftly exposes the shiny machine beneath. The multi-colored ray MechaGodzilla shoots out of his eyes is as strong as Godzilla's atomic breath. Sometimes he shoots missiles from his fingers, knees, mouth, and toes.
MechaGodzilla is succeeded by MechaGodzilla 2, who shoots missiles out of more unusual places (tranquilizers from his hips, paralysis missiles from his shoulders) and can F you up with the Mega-Buster Ray, Plasma Grenade, and G-Crusher. When MechaGodzilla 2 needs just a little more firepower (which ought to be never) he straps a warship called Garuda on his back like a knapsack and becomes Super MechaGodzilla.
5. Megalon
First appearance: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Megalon's list of abilities is certainly among the most impressive. This massive bug-like villain shoots lightning bolts from his horn and napalm balls from his mouth. Anyone with napalm balls is not to be trifled with, you would think. He can burrow underground at Mach 2 and swim at Mach 4, and can jump 10 kilometers at a time. Too bad he's kinda dumb. He likes to put his head down and charge, which fails when his targets simply step aside. He is also easily distracted. But still, you have to love the smell of his napalm balls in the morning. Wait, that doesn't sound right.
4. King Ghidorah
First appearance: Ghidora, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
King Ghidorah isn't actually the most gifted of Godzilla foes, but the three-headed dragon is iconic. He simply looks cooler than some of the more powerful bugs, crabs ,and robots. Badass: he has three heads, he flies at mach 3, he can unleash tornadoes with a wag of his two tails, and he shoots gravity beams from his mouth. Not-so badass: He's almost always under mind control, he may just be an under-developed Orochi (the mythical Japanese eight-headed hydra), and worst of all, he has no arms.
3. Destoroyah
First appearance: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Destoroyah, a mutated prehistoric crustacean, has beaten Godzilla several times, and also killed Godzilla Jr., which made Godzilla sad. It may be the only time Godzilla displayed an emotion other than rage. When Godzilla turns on the red spiral atomic ray, it's lights out for most kaiju enemies, but Destoroyah shrugs it off. Destoroyah comes at you with an oxygen-destroyer ray that vaporizes living things and can cut through metal; the horn on his head projects a blade that can slice Godzilla's nearly impenetrable hide. And you can never be sure you've actually killed Destoroyah, as he's actually composed of trillions of microorganisms and will simply regenerate when you're not looking.
2. Gigan
First appearance: Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Alien cyborg Gigan is a walking death machine. Instead of hands and feet, he's got giant steel scythes, and a deadly buzzsaw runs from his chest to his alien-cyborg private area. In other words: do not hug. Gigan can zip around at Mach 3 on Earth, but in space he really hits the gas, travelling at Mach 400 encased in a diamond shell. (That's 400 times the speed of sound, which sounds like a lot, but the speed of light is nearly Mach 900,000.) Gigan holds the distinction of being the first enemy to make Godzilla bleed.
1. Godzilla
First appearance: Gojira (1954)
This is not the most creative pick for most badass kaiju, but it's inevitable. Godzilla is King of the Monsters and is the Lebron James/Michael Jordan of kaiju movies, which are informally known as Godzilla movies. He's been in at least 32 films (more if you count alternate, re-edited versions), taking on a nasty beast or dozen each time, and always comes out on top.
With so many movies, each one attempting to bring the audience something new, Godzilla's powers have come to include a vast range of attacks and abilities. Add them all up and the question is really what can't Godzilla do. Aside from his basic appearance—giant T-rex-ish creature with Stegasaurus-style plates down his spine and a crazed, up-for-whatever snarl—Godzilla is known for a his "atomic breath," which becomes a "spiral ray" after he defeats Rodan and inherits the winged kaiju's mojo. In some films, Godzilla is able to generate powerful magnetic fields or an electromagnetic pulse. Godzilla can breathe (and atomic-breathe) underwater, where he strolls along the sea floor like it's no big thing or swims by flapping his tail like a gator.
Godzilla uses a pool of magma like a jacuzzi, doesn't usually feel puny weapons like guns and missiles, and once survived a direct hit from an asteroid. His skin is rarely pierced, and even when it is, he regenerates rapidly. Godzilla can lift buildings and monsters that are much larger than him, and throw them great distances. Chuck Norris is afraid of Godzilla.