Hey there kaiju fans, this is The Boy Who Cried Godzilla,
and today we're talking about Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah!
First appearing in 2004's "Godzilla: Final Wars," Monster X was the most powerful of
the Xiliens' legion of monsters.
Godzilla's final opponent in the Millennium series, he was also his last onscreen foe
for a period of 10 years and the final brand new Toho kaiju until the Servum, in 2017.
Unlike most of the Xiliens' other mind-controlled monsters,
Monster X displays true malice in his battle with Godzilla,
fighting viciously and relentlessly even after the Xiliens' ship is destroyed and
any potential mind control over him is severed.
After transmogrifying into Keizer Ghidorah, he blasts and beats Godzilla mercilessly across Tokyo.
According to the "Godzilla: Final Wars" theater program,
Keizer Ghidorah is canonically the strongest member of the Ghidorah group,
and is often referred to as being one of the strongest monsters in the Godzilla franchise.
Monster X's name, though generic and used for other monsters previously [i.e. Guilala and Jiger],
is possibly a reference to "Monster Zero" (an alias for King Ghidorah),
with the "X" in his name derived from the Xiliens' Japanese name, the "X Aliens."
Meanwhile Keizer Ghidorah's name comes from the German word "kaiser," meaning emperor,
and "Ghidorah."
This name was chosen to position Keizer Ghidorah above King Ghidorah: Emperor above King.
Both Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah were designed by illustrator Katsuya Terada,
who did character designs for projects such as "The Legend of Zelda."
Monster X is a bipedal creature with a bone-like black and white exoskeleton;
an intentional design choice meant to give the impression of Keizer Ghidorah's bones.
Monster X has red eyes, a skeletal face, and long spikes on the top of his head.
He possesses two small half-skulls on his shoulders and a long black forked tail.
Like Desghidorah, Keizer Ghidorah is quadrupedal, and like King Ghidorah,
he has glossy gold and teal skin which appears black and gold as a result of lighting.
Keizer Ghidorah has much smaller wings than the other Ghidorahs, and lacks defined scales
on his skin,
instead having streaks and spikes erupting from multiple spots on his body.
Unlike King Ghidorah, Keizer Ghidorah's middle head is placed in front of its two side heads.
It is much longer than the other two necks, and each has a different arrangement of horns & spikes.
Keizer Ghidorah also possesses two long, whip-like tails.
Aside from being summoned from the Gorath asteroid by the Xilien race as their final
weapon against Godzilla,
Monster X’s origins are never revealed.
Monster X was summoned by the Controller of Planet X through the Gorath asteroid.
As it rapidly approached in the skies above Tokyo, Godzilla destroyed it with
his Hyper Spiral Heat Ray.
Monster X then floated down, and the two began fighting.
Eventually, the modified Gigan arrived to assist Monster X.
When Mothra arrived and knocked the alien monsters down, Mothra and Gigan proceeded
to fight and destroy each other.
The monsters resumed their battle, with Godzilla gaining the upper hand and pinning his opponent
to the ground.
He then tried to blast Monster X in the face with his atomic breath,
but the Space Monster pushed Godzilla's head away, causing the beam to strike the Xilien
Mothership instead.
After the Mothership exploded and the Xiliens were destroyed, both monsters engaged in a beam-lock,
causing them to be blown back.
Weakened, Monster X proceeded to transmogrify into Keizer Ghidorah.
The Demon Beast repeatedly attacked the outmatched Godzilla with his antigravity beams, tossing
him across the ruins of Tokyo like a ragdoll, eventually approaching the fallen Monster King
and lifting him into the air to drain his energy.
The crew of the Gotengo watched Godzilla being drained of life, and Shinichi Ozaki used the
ship's Maser Cannon to transfer some of his Keizer energy into the dying kaiju.
Godzilla was re-energized and released a shockwave, breaking free.
Keizer Ghidorah tried to retaliate, but Godzilla blasted off his middle head with an atomic
blast and tricked him into severing another head.
Finally, Godzilla threw Keizer Ghidorah into the air and blasted him with his
Burning G Spark Heat Ray, killing the space monster.
Strength and Durability: Monster X is a physical match for Godzilla with his rapid melee attacks
and impressive agility,
and is the only monster Godzilla fought in "Final Wars" that survived getting
blasted by Godzilla's atomic breath at point-blank in the face, actually appearing to shrug the
attack off, as well as being the only one able to bring Godzilla to his knees and make him
roar out in pain.
Keizer Ghidorah trades Monster X's agility and exoskeleton for an exorbitant amount of power,
being the strongest member of the Ghidorah group.
He is able to send Godzilla flying with a mere kick, clobber Godzilla with super-weight
body presses, and easily lift him with his neck strength.
Exceeding Godzilla's power in all aspects except for durability, which while it is said
to be weaker than Monster X's, he is still unfazed by any of Godzilla's attacks until
the King of the Monsters is revitalized by Ozaki's energy.
Destroyed Thunder: Monster X can fire yellow gravitational beams in rapid bursts from his eyes.
The Destroyed Thunder gravitational beams appear to be roughly equal in strength to
Godzilla's atomic breath, and are able to visibly injure Godzilla.
Destroyed Keizer: Keizer Ghidorah possesses a more powerful antigravity variant of Monster X's
Destroyed Thunder, spit in continuous streams from all three of his mouths.
The Destroyed Keizer antigravity beams are seemingly stronger than Godzilla's atomic breath
and can be sustained for long periods of time.
Keizer Ghidorah can also guide their paths and pick up and throw objects with them in
a telekinetic fashion, being able to lift the 55,000 metric ton Godzilla with ease.
Energy Absorption: Keizer Ghidorah demonstrates the ability to directly siphon energy from
Godzilla by biting down on him.
His necks glow as the energy passes through them; in the case of Godzilla, the energy is a cyan color.
However, Godzilla was able to break free after using the Keizer energy from Ozaki to overload
Keizer Ghidorah's absorption.
Flight: Monster X is capable of levitating for a short period of time, while Keizer Ghidorah
is capable of full-on flight, although this is never shown in the film and is only demonstrated
in the IDW Publishing "Godzilla" comic.
Weaknesses: Keizer Ghidorah becomes disoriented after losing his middle head, and is easily
defeated by Godzilla after this point.
He is vulnerable to his own Destroyed Keizer antigravity beams,
and is tricked by Godzilla into severing its right head using these beams,
while in "Godzilla: Ongoing" it bites off its left head.
Keizer Ghidorah is also severely outmatched after Godzilla is empowered with Ozaki's Keizer energy.
Toho intended to keep Monster X's transformation into Keizer Ghidorah a secret
prior to the release of "Godzilla: Final Wars," copyrighting the latter as "Monster X II."
However, the fansite Henshin!Online leaked Keizer Ghidorah's role on July 6, 2004.
Keizer Ghidorah drew inspiration from several other kaiju.
Most overtly, his design and his antigravity beams are based on King Ghidorah, though their
telekinetic properties are reminiscent of SpaceG's Gravity Tornado.* (see pinned comment)
Also, the Demon Beast's energy siphoning ability is directly inspired by Iris from "Gamera 3."
Finally, Keizer Ghidorah was portrayed by both Monster X actor Motokuni Nakagawa and
Toshihiro Ogura, through what is referred to as the "Dodongo system," named after the
quadruped Ultra kaiju, with one actor for each pair of legs.
Monster X appears in the 2011-2013 IDW comic "Godzilla" alongside SpaceGodzilla, Gigan and Hedorah.
He first appears in issue 8 where he attacks New York before fighting Mothra.
After his fight, he manages to dispatch her before Boxer, Harrison and Asuka Hikari arrive
in Kiryu along with Kumonga.
After dispatching Kumonga, Monster X engages in a brief fight with Kiryu before SpaceGodzilla
and Godzilla show up.
In the battle that follows, Monster X transmogrifies into Keizer Ghidorah and gains the upper hand
over the King of the Monsters.
However, Rodan soon arrives to assist Godzilla, managing to decapitate one of Keizer Ghidorah's heads.
Eventually with Rodan's help, Godzilla is able to overcome and kill Keizer Ghidorah.
That is all there is to know about Monster X.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!