Before we begin, you may have already seen this video pop up on your subscription feed.
I got a few facts and dates wrong and if anything, I like to be accurate.
So I re-recorded the entire audio, fixed up the errors, and hopefully you enjoy this video.
Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic.
With the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters film, you’re likely interested in the various
kaiju (or monsters) that might appear, so we’re going to recap Godzilla’s most notable
enemies (and some friends).
We’re not going to cover monsters that don’t have distinct names, so things like Giant
Octopus aren’t going to make the cut.
I’m also focusing solely on the Godzilla films, and only from the original slate, the
Showa era, which ran from 1954’s original Godzilla film to the 1975 film Terror of Mechagodzilla.
If this video gets a positive reception, we’ll totally venture into more modern eras as well.
I also might include footage of creatures from later movies but won’t be focusing
on characters introduced in those movies.
Sometimes those videos are just higher quality.
Let’s begin with the star of many of these films, Godzilla, an ancient reptile-like creature
that lived underwater and it’s believed that its habit was destroyed by a hydrogen
bomb going off and forced it from its home, where it went on a revenge spree.
While originally a villain, Godzilla often became a character that would be recruited
to fight off much more violent and dangerous threats.
I might even say a hero.
Godzilla doesn’t have many friends, but he does have Anguirus.
One of the first monsters to face Godzilla, they were Initially enemies, but since then
they’ve become friends and worked together.
Anguirus is a dinosaur relative, who laid dormant underwater and irradiated by nuclear bomb tests.
While he appeared in 1950s films, he also appeared in later films as well, with an updated suit.
Another popular monster franchise was dominant
at the time, that of King Kong.
Kong and Godzilla crossed paths in the film King Kong vs Godzilla.
While the film ended with Godzilla defeated and Kong barely surviving, we know that Godzilla
went on to make many more movies as well.
It was through the most recent Kong: Skull Island and its after-credits scene that we
actually learned about the upcoming King of the Monsters, and there’s a Kong vs Godzilla
film set for 2020 to follow King of the Monsters.
Up next we have the star of the self-titled 1961 film, Mothra, who went on to fight Godzilla
in the 1964 mashup film.
We usually see Mothra recreate the life cycle of a real life moth, including eggs, caterpillar,
cocoon, then the adult moth.
While Mothra might cause havoc, it’s usually because someone has messed with her egg or
caused damage to the people that worship her.
She’s usually called a protector and is a divine being, constantly reborn on the small
island that she watches over.
Throughtout these films, there are also multiple Mothras, as some die and are replaced by her offspring.
Like I said, in earlier films, Godzilla was a villain but he started turn heroic, often awakened to
fight enemies, such as when he was awoken to fight Ebirah, a giant lobster created from
nuclear testing.
He has a unique dislike, to the spice Saffron, which sailors and locals used to prevent him
from attacking.
There’s a few villains that are pretty closely tied to Godzilla, one of them being Rodan,
a large pteradon-like creature, walking upright.
There are actually multiple Rodans, usually a male and female pairing.
We also get upgraded versions of Rodan later, including a Fire Rodan that has fire abilities.
He teams up with Godzilla often, usually out of necessity.
Let’s get into one of Godzilla’s most famous villains, King Ghidorah, a three-headed
alien that arrives at Earth with the intent to destroy it.
At first, only the benevolent Mothra fights it, until eventually Godzilla and Rodan join
the fight and defeat him.
He shows up in later movies, often being mind-controlled or being manipulated by others hoping to cause damage.
We have another alien by the name of Gigan,
created with the sole purpose of violence.
He was even sent to Earth alongside the mind-controlled Ghidorah to battle Godzilla.
Gigan has a buzzsaw built into his body and large hooks for hands, able to cause a lot
of damage.
He’s often shown as a coward however, retreating back into space at the climax of most of his
earlier battles.
He has a later remodeled version that is much sleeker and more cybernetic in appearance.
Another alien crashed to Earth, called Hedorah.
This alien resembles a ball of slime and throws acid mud at its opponents.
It doesn’t seem to always be malicious but its mud hurts and destroys naturally, so it
often is perceived as villainous.
It is incredibly dangerous, one of the only kaiju to ever burn through Godzilla’s armor.
There is a land called Seatopia that exists underground who worship this the beetle-like
creature called Megalon.
They were pretty upset that the world above was wreaking havoc, they sent their god up
to the surface to destroy them.
It’s a fairly instinctual monster, never really utilizing much strategy to fight its opponents.
He’s defeated not only by Godzilla, but by a robotic creature called Jet Jaguar.
He’s the result of a fan contest, created to resemble heroes like Ultraman.
He is the most humanoid of our kaiju, even carrying people around and offering handshakes.
Let’s discuss Minilla, also known as the son of Godzilla.
We have no idea where this egg came from or how long it’s been there, but eventually
some monsters force him to hatch prematurely.
He’s a friendly little guy, even able to shapeshift down to the size of people, so
we see him interacting with humans in a way that we’d never see Godzilla do.
Now, what monster could defeat Godzilla better than a copy of Godzilla himself?
Here’s how we get MechaGodzilla, a dangerous robot with the ability to shoot missiles and cannons.
There’s been many iterations, either made by different people or with different attack strategies.
It was prophesied that a monster called King Caesar would defeat the Mechagodzilla but
ultimately he failed, turning out that Godzilla was indeed meant to be the victor.
A villain called Titanosaurus was sent alongside Mechagodzilla, though it was mind-controlled
to be violent.
There’s a lot of mind control going on.
We have a few movies that include a lot of monsters all at once, including creatures
like Manda, the gigantic underwater dragon.
We have the gliding Varan, a lizard that seems to have a flying squirrel’s membrane to glide.
They’re joined by Baragon, the four-legged reptile monster.
Baragon didn’t initially begin in Godzilla films but rather originated in Frankenstein
vs Baragon, actually battling the man brought back to life.
Somehow Frankenstein’s monster won that fight.
Lastly, we have Gorosaurus, a direct dinosaur relative that fought King Kong early on.
Now, this video covers the early days of these movies, but there are several other phases
of films, with updated costumes and new monsters.
I’d like to cover these someday, if this video sees mild success.
In the meantime, hopefully this helped prepare you for the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Thanks for watching.