Godzilla (franchise) (1954 – present)

Godzilla  is a monster originating from a series of tokusatsu films of the same name from Japan. The character first appeared in Ishirō Honda‘s 1954 film Godzilla and become a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in media including 29 films produced by Toho, three Hollywood films, and numerous video games, novels, comic books, television shows. It is often dubbed the “King of the Monsters”, a phrase first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the Americanized version of the original film.

Godzilla is depicted as an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones, portraying Godzilla as an antihero, or a lesser threat who defends humanity. With the end of the Cold War, several post-1984 Godzilla films shifted the character’s portrayal to themes including Japan’s forgetfulness over its imperial past, natural disasters, and the human condition.

Godzilla has been featured alongside many supporting characters. It has faced human opponents such as the JSDF, or other monsters, including King Ghidorah, Gigan and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla sometimes has allies, such as Mothra, Rodan and Anguirus, and offspring, such as Minilla and Godzilla Junior. Godzilla has also fought characters from other franchises in crossover media, such as RKO Pictures/Universal Studios movie monster King Kong and American comic books publisher Marvel Comics‘ characters S.H.I.E.L.D., the Fantastic Four and the Avengers.

Films

• 1954 –  Godzilla
• 1955 –  Godzilla Raids Again
• 1956 –  Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
• 1956 –  Rodan 
• 1961 –  Mothra
• 1962 –  King Kong vs. Godzilla
• 1964 –  Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
• 1964 –  Mothra vs. Godzilla
• 1964 –  The Creeping Terror
• 1965 –  Invasion of Astro-Monster
• 1965 – Frankenstein Conquers the World
• 1966 –  Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
• 1967 –  Son of Godzilla
• 1968 –  Destroy All Monsters
• 1969 – All Monsters Attack
• 1971 – Godzilla vs. Hedorah AKA The Smog Monster
• 1972 – Godzilla vs. Gigan
• 1973 – Godzilla vs. Megalon
• 1974 – Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
• 1975 – Terror of Mechagodzilla
• 1984 – The Return of Godzilla
• 1989 – Godzilla vs. Biollante
• 1991 – Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
• 1992 – Godzilla vs. Mothra
• 1993 – Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
• 1994 – Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla 
• 1995 – Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
• 1998 – Godzilla (1998)
• 1999 – Godzilla 2000
• 2000 – Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
• 2001 – Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
• 2002 – Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
• 2003 – Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
• 2004 – Godzilla: Final Wars
• 2014 – Godzilla (2014)
• 2016 – Shin Godzilla
• 2017 – Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
• 2018 – Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle
• 2018 – Godzilla: The Planet Eater
• 2019 – Godzilla: King of the Monsters

 Kaiju

• Godzilla
• Anguirus
• Baragon
• Biollante
• Jet Jaguar
• King Kong
• Dogora
• King Ghidorah
• Maguma
• Manda 
• Mechagodzilla
• Minilla
• Moguera
• Mothra
• MUTO
• Rodan
• SpaceGodzilla
• Varan
• Frankenstein
• Ebirah
• Mechani Kong
• Megalon
• Gorosaurus
• Kamacuras
• Kumonga
• Hedorah
• Gigan
• Megalon
• King Caesar
• Titanosaurus
• Godzilla Junior
• Destoroyah
• Megaguirus
• Zilla
• Monster X

References

1.  Brothers 2009.
2.  Barr 2016, p. 83.
3.  Robbie Collin (May 13, 2014). “Gareth Edwards interview: ‘I wanted Godzilla to reflect the questions raised by Fukushima'”. The Telegraph. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
4.  Godzilla #1 (vol. 1) (Marvel Comics, 1977)
5.  Godzilla #20 (vol. 1) (Marvel Comics, 1979)
6.  Godzilla #23 (vol. 1) (Marvel Comics, 1979)

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