GODZILLA
Real Name: Godzilla, or possibly Gojira (see
comments)
Identity/Class: Terrestrial dinosaur mutate (could
also be a Deviant mutate)
Occupation: Rampager
Group membership: None
Affiliations: Betan,
Devil Dinosaur of Dinosaur World, Godzilla
Squad ("Dum Dum" Dugan, Tamara
Hashioka, Dr.
Gladstone Hawkins, Hugh
Howards, Gabe Jones, Robert
and Dr.
Yuriko Takiguchi, Jimmy Woo), Hag
of the Pits of Dinosaur World, Mole Man (Harvey Elder), Moon Boy of Dinosaur World, Red
Ronin (operated by Rob Takiguchi)
Enemies: Avengers (Ares, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Captain
America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Sentry/Robert Reynolds, Thor/Odinson, Vision,
Wasp/Janet Van Dyne, Wonder Man/Simon Williams, Yellowjacket/Hank Pym), Behemoth
IV (S.H.I.E.L.D. anti-Godzilla Helicarrier), Beta
Beast, Champions
of LA (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Hercules, Iceman/Robert Drake), Doctor
Demonicus (Douglas Birely) and his Demon-Troops and mutates (Batragon,
Centipoor,
Ghilaron, Lepirax),
Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm),
Bill Ford, Lizard Warriors of Dinosaur World, Mega-Monsters
(Krollar, Rhiahn,
Triax),
S.H.I.E.L.D., "Lefty" Walsh, West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Iron Man/Tony Stark,
Mockingbird/Bobbi Barton, Tigra/Greer Nelson), Yetrigar,
a legion of licensed Japanese monsters
Known Relatives: None known
Aliases: Gojira (See Comments), King of the
Monsters
Base of Operations: Monster Island, Pacific Ocean;
formerly Tokyo, Japan;
USA;
Atlantic Ocean;
unnamed Pacific Island
First Appearance: (motion picture) Godzilla,
King Of The Monsters, 1954); (Marvel) Godzilla#1 (August, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: Godzilla was over 100 feet
tall and immensely strong (Class 100, enabling Godzilla to lift/press
100 tons) as well as extremely durable. He had a semi-prehensile
tail, and had human-level dexterity in his hands and use of his
arms. He was amphibious and could expel radioactive flame from
his mouth at will (or possibly something in his breath would ignite
with oxygen to create a similar effect). He demonstrated a near
human-level of intelligence and understanding.
He was later mutated into a more amphibious
form, and it is not certain how this affected his abilities. He
has not been seen to use his radioactive flame in this form.
History: Godzilla is believed to be
a dinosaur who somehow survived in an inert form below the surface of
the ocean until the modern era. He is believed to have been
mutated by nuclear weapons testing. It is also possible that
Godzilla is actually a mutate created by the Deviants of Lemuria, as
many of the other giant monsters from his era have been found to be
active over several of the last decades (For instance, the Deviants
created a race of dinosaurs that dwell in Wakanda).
(Godzilla#1-2 (fb) - BTS) - Whatever his origins,
Godzilla was first seen when he surfaced off the coast of Japan in
1956, during nuclear testing. Dr. Yuriko Takaguchi was present
during this test as a passive resistant and witnessed Godzilla's
arrival. Godzilla rampaged through the city of Tokyo on more
than one occasion. Other monsters, similarly revived by the
nuclear testing, also surfaced and attacked Tokyo, and Godzilla fought
several of these creatures.
(Godzilla#1-5) - In the modern era,
Godzilla surfaced off the coast of Alaska and began his trek across
the USA. At first, Godzilla was somewhat disoriented; he
rampaged across Alaska, ripping apart the Alaskan Pipeline. Soon
after this, he settled down and would only rampage when provoked (kind
of like a really, really big Hulk). He made his way through
Seattle but was lured back out to sea by S.H.I.E.L.D.. He resurfaced
off the California coastline and entered San Francisco, where both
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Champions of Los Angeles tried to stop him, but both
groups simply ended up getting in each others way, as Godzilla
destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge and one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mini-Helicarriers
(See Comments). Godzilla encountered the monster Batragon
and followed him back to the Aleutian Islands, where he slew the
monsters of Dr. Demonicus and helped S.H.I.E.L.D. foil his plot.
(Godzilla#6-8) - S.H.I.E.L.D., under the guidance
of Tamara Hashioka and Dr. Takiguchi, created the Behemoth Helicarrier,
which succeeded in capturing Godzilla via a gas attack. To their
dismay, S.H.I.E.L.D. proved unable to hold Godzilla, who escaped soon after
reviving; Tamara Hashioka and Dr. Takiguchi directed the construction of the
immense robot Red Ronin to subdue him. Takiguchi's grandson,
Rob, felt an empathy for Godzilla and sought to prevent Godzilla from
being injured. Rob caused the robot's controls to become linked
to his brain patterns so that only he could operate it. Rob,
within Red Ronin, got in the middle of a few battles between Godzilla
and the Behemoth. Rob did succeed in driving Godzilla away from
a San Diego missile base, where it was feared his nuclear breath might
activate the warheads.
(Godzilla#9-11) - After destroying the
Hoover Dam, Godzilla was swept into Las Vegas. After that, he
made his way into the Grand Canyon, where he was attacked by Yetrigar,
a giant pre-human anthropoid of apparently similar origins.
Rob/Red Ronin got in the middle of that battle as well, actually
helping to defeat Yetrigar by causing an avalanche to bury him.
(Godzilla#12-13) - Godzilla was then beamed
to the moon by an alien race, the Betans, who were seeking allies to
help them against the Warlords of Mega, another alien race and the
Betans' long-time enemies. Godzilla, by slaying the monstrous
Beta Beast, passed the Betans' test. In turn, Godzilla was sent
back to Earth, where he and Red Ronin were attacked by the three
Mega-Monsters. Red Ronin was decapitated by Krollar, but
Godzilla managed to slay the Mega-Monsters on his own, possibly
bringing an end to the long war between the Megans and Betans.
(Godzilla#14-16) - Godzilla next wandered
into cattle country, where he was blamed for the disappearance of the
cattle of John Hawks' ranch. However, Godzilla sniffed out the
missing cattle and led the ranchers who were attempting to subdue him
to where the cattle had been hidden by Lefty Walsh and Bill Ford, the
true culprits.
(Godzilla#17-20) - The "Godzilla Squad"
acquired a sample of the size-altering Pym Particles from their
discoverer Hank Pym, then shrunk Godzilla down to one foot in height,
and captured him. However, Rob sabotaged their efforts once
again, and Godzilla broke out of his cage, escaping into the New York
Harbor. Godzilla made his way through New York, getting bigger
in the process. When Godzilla reached 20 feet in stature, the
Godzilla Squad got the idea to send him back in time to when dinosaurs
roamed the Earth via a time machine.
(Godzilla#21-22) - Godzilla's radiation
affected the time machine so that he was transported to the alternate
dimension of Dinosaur World (Earth-78411) instead of the prehistoric
past. While there, he became allied with Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy
in defeating the Lizard Warriors, who sought to capture them.
Godzilla's radiation caused a "slingshot effect" that returned him to
Manhattan, just as he regained his full height.
(Godzilla#23-24) - The heroes of New York
gathered in an effort to drive off Godzilla but were unable to
succeed. Finally, Rob Takiguchi, standing on top of the Behemoth
Helicarrier, appealed to Godzilla to return to the ocean and leave
America before someone was hurt or killed. Godzilla then
wandered off into the ocean.
(Iron
Man I#193-194) - Later, Godzilla's old enemy, Dr. Demonicus, succeeded
in getting the better of him. Demonicus mutated him into a more
amphibious form and placed him under his mental control.
Demonicus had made a new base on a Pacific island, and Godzilla
smashed an Avengers Quinjet piloted by Tigra when it passed
nearby--this drew the other West Coast Avengers to her aid.
Although they were unable to injure Godzilla, Iron Man (Tony Stark in
a version of armor similar to his Mark One armor) lifted Godzilla
aloft and carried him away from the island until his jets gave out,
dumping both Godzilla and the armor into the ocean.
(Iron Man I#196) - Godzilla returned to
Demonicus' lair, carrying with him the abandoned Mark One-type Iron
Man armor.
(Thing I#31) - During the production of
"Devil Dinosaur: The Movie" on an unspecified Pacific Island, Godzilla
showed up and wrecked the set. When he appeared again during a
camera shoot, Trimble, the special effects man, used a robot version
of Devil Dinosaur to try to stop him. While Godzilla easily
overpowered the robot, it did give everyone time to clear the
set. After having destroyed the robot, Godzilla backed up and
headed back out to sea.
The Thing was on-set to visit his then romantic interest, Sharon
Ventura, who was playing one of Moon Boy's "Small Folk." However, he
had gotten in trouble for interfering with the film before, so he
stayed in his hut and read the paper when Godzilla attacked.
(Mighty Avengers#1 (fb)-BTS) - At some point, Godzilla
came to live on Monster Island and reverted back to an appearance more
closely resembling his original, but retained the smaller size of his
Demonicus-mutated form.
(Mighty Avengers#1) - Godzilla was among
the Mole Man's monsters sent to attack Manhattan in retaliation
for the partial destruction of his home (in actuality, a side effect
of a plot by Ultron).
Comments: Godzilla created by
Tomoyuki Tanaka (producer), Ishiro Honda (director), and
Eiji Tsuburaya (Special Effects Director) for Toho
Productions. Godzilla was temporarily licensed by Marvel and the
Marvel version was adapted/fleshed out by Doug Moench and Herb
Trimpe. Now they can't even mention him by name, kind of like Fu
Manchu. Denny O'Neil and Luke McDonnell did the revamped
version.
Check out the Map of Godzilla's path, by Lee Seitz:
godzillamap.shtml
Godzilla's Japanese name was Gojira, hence the
word's inclusion under aliases.
Caesar Godzillatron ,
however, is not sure if that name applies to the comics version of
Godzilla: did they ever confirm that in the series?
I know that in Japan in the real world, Godzilla is called Gojira, a
combination of the Japanese words for gorilla and whale. When the
first movie was released in Japan, they changed it to Godzilla.
Ironically, the monster is known as Godzilla everywhere EXCEPT Japan.
Interesting note: according to legend, they got the name Gojira from a
huge man who worked in Toho's advertising department--Gojira was his nickname.
Matt Comic207: I remember an
article in which the original name of Gojira was actually
*misspelled* as "Godzilla" when it arrived in America. Some producer
must've had a bad copy of the translated script for some of Raymond
Burr's scenes.
Humorously enough, I learned this when Newsweek (?)
interviewed Godzilla directly for "Godzilla 1985" (after being
advised not to ask him about Jet Jaguar...very touchy subject). When
the interviewer greeted, "So, Godzilla...", the big guy replied,
"Call me God."
If you watch the much-panned Roland Emmerich version of
Godzilla, you can see that a Japanese man describes the monster as
"gojira." However, Harry Shearer's character mispronounces the name
as "Godzilla," in homage to the original mistake.
Regarding whether or not Reality-616's Godzilla is also known as "Gojira," in Uncanny X-Men I#181 (1984), Page 2, Panel 3, in the "monsters book" (which is apparently intended to be a "real-life" guide for Japanese monsters who can be found in Reality-616) belonging to the Japanese schoolchildren (Jiro, Akiro, Teruki, Eiko, "and one other"), a silhouette of Godzilla is identified as "Gojira." So there's that, anyway.
--Ronald Byrd
Carycomix comments:
Caesar Godzillatron is right. [Also, n]ot one of the Japanese
characters from Marvel's "Godzilla" comic ever appeared in the original
Toho movies. But... the cockroach people DID appear--if only in backlit
silhouette--in [the movie] Godzilla on Monster Island
(1972). Could they have been an offshoot of the Leviotes?
(Cockroach
Conspiracy, anybody?--Kyle)
Kyle comments:
As explained in the letter column of Godzilla#12, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier
that appeared in issues#1-3 and was destroyed by Godzilla in the latter
of those issues was one of two mini-carriers, similar in appearance to
the original Helicarrier
but smaller in size. The other mini-carrier had been destroyed,
also, in Captain America I#141.
Snood comments:
I wouldn't mind seeing an adventure with Godzilla meeting the Monster
Hunters (Bloodstone,
Dr.
Druid, Hurricane, Namora,
Zawadi)
of the 1950s. I also wouldn't mind seeing him periodically
encountered in the modern era. They just can't call him by name
anymore.
The Godzilla series was kind of goofy, but
it was a fun read. Give it a read if you can find it.
Thanks to
Prime Eternal
for pointing out the Thing issue, which I had missed.
and to Kyle Smith, for Iron Man I#196...for
shame...for shame...
per Caesar Godzillatron :
Toho Co. Ltd in Japan created him and still owns him, and are
continuing his film series (as of February 2002, 25 have been produced
[26 if you count that weak iguana in 1998] and have announced a 26th).
Caesar also supplied the dates of creation and the creators.
In "Marvel Monsters: From The Files Of Ulysses
Bloodstone" within the Red Ronin entry, Elsa
Bloodstone made a small comment that they need a file on
Godzilla.
--Snood/Dragynwulf
At about the same time the original Godzilla film was
made, the Human Torch (Jim Hammond) and Toro also battled a similar
giant atomic bomb-mutated dinosaur: "Pre-History".
--Ron Fredricks
Improved main image by Ron Fredricks.
Godzilla profile edited/updated by
Kyle Sims
images: (without ads)
Godzilla#1, Cover (main)
Iron Man I#193, p18, pan1 (mutated by Doctor Demonicus)
Thing I#31, p20, pan2 (head shot, mutated)
Mighty Avengers#1, p2, pan1 (vs. Avengers)
Uncanny X-Men I#181, p2, pan3 (comments, Gojira)
Appearances:
Godzilla#1 (August, 1977) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils),
Jim Mooney (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#2 (September, 1977) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Frank Giacoia & George Tuska (inks), Archie Goodwin
(editor)
Godzilla#3 (October, 1977) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#4 (November, 1977) - Doug Moench (writer), Tom
Sutton (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks),
Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#5 (December, 1977) - Doug Moench (writer), Tom
Sutton (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks),
Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#6 (January, 1978) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (artist),
Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#7-11 (February-June, 1978) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Godzilla#12-13 (July-August, 1978) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Godzilla#14 (September, 1978) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Godzilla#15-18 (October, 1978 - January, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer),
Herb Trimpe (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Bob Hall (editor)
Godzilla#19 (February, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Mary Jo Duffy (editor)
Godzilla#20-21 (March-April, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Godzilla#22 (May, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils),
Jack Abel (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Godzilla#23-24 (June, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe
(pencils), Dan Green (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Iron Man I#193-194 (April-May, 1985) - Dennis O'Neil (writer), Luke
McDonnell (pencils), Ian Akin & Brian Garvey (inks), Mark Gruenwald
(editor)
Iron Man I#196 (July, 1985) - Dennis O'Neil (writer), Rich Buckler
(pencils), Ian Akin & Brian Garvey (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Thing I#31 (January, 1986) - Mike Carlin (writer), Ron Wilson (pencils),
Kim DeMulder (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Mighty Avengers#1 (May, 2007) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Frank Cho
(artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 02/07/2002
Last updated: 06/16/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like
this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
In this case, Godzilla was licensed by Marvel, and is owned by Toho
Co. Ltd. This entry refers solely to the character as it was
used by Marvel.
Special Thanks to http://www.g-mart.com/
for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
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