Spoilers follow for Godzilla Minus Zero.
Godzilla Minus Zero is upon us, and going by the reviews, it looks like the venerable kaiju franchise has another winner on its hands. More than 70 years after his debut, Godzilla continues to be one of the most iconic characters in cinema history. But even though Minus Zero is another strong entry for the King of the Monsters, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that the movie continues a frustrating trend that’s plagued the last couple decades of Godzilla movies by only featuring a handful of his monster co-stars.
Specifically, King Ghidorah is the antagonist of Minus Zero, once again assuming his role as the Big G’s archenemy. Now, I love King Ghidorah, but the alien dragon takes up a lot of oxygen in Toho’s filmography, and there is a deep bench of Godzilla friends and foes who haven’t shown up in years. Let’s look into how the Godzilla franchise isn’t using its roster of monsters to their full potential.
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The Usual Suspects
Although most Western audiences probably haven’t seen many of them, Toho has produced more than 30 Godzilla films since the big guy’s debut back in 1954. Godzilla may have been the sole kaiju in his first film, but starting with the sequel, Godzilla Raids Again, the first of many monster co-stars was introduced. That would be Anguirus, an ankylosaur-like kaiju who was Godzilla’s earliest adversary. Luckily, the pair made up and Anguirus became Godzilla’s most steadfast ally across the Shōwa era, consisting of the first 15 films. Many kaiju have shared the screen with Godzilla over the years, but you wouldn’t know it if you’ve only been checking out new Godzilla movies released theatrically outside Japan.
Since Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004, the only Toho kaiju to have appeared in live-action are Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Kong doesn’t count in this context because he was created in America by Merian C. Cooper. Now those four may be among the most popular of Godzilla’s co-stars anyway, but there are many more that new films could revisit. However, since the MonsterVerse franchise apparently has to license each Toho monster individually, they often make up their own kaiju instead, like the MUTOs in the 2014 film or Skar King in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Yet none of the new MonsterVerse kaiju have quite hit the same as the ones from the classic Toho films.
Many kaiju have shared the screen with Godzilla over the years, but you wouldn’t know it if you’ve only been checking out new Godzilla movies released theatrically outside Japan.
King Ghidorah’s overexposure is particularly frustrating because most uses of him are good, even if he keeps hogging the spotlight. He makes a great antithesis to the big guy in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and his Minus Zero incarnation is terrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measure. In the new film, he’s an alien who’s crash-landed in postwar Japan and started claiming the land for his own purposes — an apt metaphor for the occupying American military that hovers over the story. So we wouldn’t want director Takashi Yamazaki to have foregone Ghidorah when his appearance in Minus Zero makes sense. King Ghidorah is basically the Joker to Godzilla’s Batman: It’s awesome when they square up, but sometimes you wish they’d go with a different bad guy. It’s not like there aren’t plenty to choose from.
Destroy All Monsters
Over the course of Toho’s 31 live-action Godzilla films, the big guy has encountered more than two dozen other kaiju. From fellow dinosaurs to alien invaders to mechanical guardians to mutated monstrosities, Toho’s monster roster is eclectic and extensive. The Shōwa, Heisei, and Millennium eras have all added new members to the group, but the latest batch of films in the Reiwa era have left many of them on the shelf. That’s not to say the Reiwa era films are bad, mind you — Shin Godzilla and the Minus films stand up with the best of the Big G’s filmography (we’ll politely refrain from talking about the animated Netflix trilogy). Yet there’s no denying that Toho’s Reiwa films and the concurrent MonsterVerse franchise aren’t taking full advantage of the cast of characters at their disposal.
Where is Gigan, the alien cyborg with scythe hands and a buzzsaw in his belly? Or Megalon, the bipedal rhinoceros beetle with drill hands who protects Seatopia, the Godzilla universe’s version of Atlantis? Or Biollante, the gargantuan plant queen that results from splicing Godzilla cells with a rose? They and many others have been eagerly awaiting a rematch with the King of the Monsters. Several other Heisei and Millennium era foes, such as Destoroyah, Orga, and Megaguirus have only made one film appearance each despite being well-liked by fans. In fact, the only live action Toho kaiju introduced after the Shōwa era to appear in more than one movie is Kiryu, a new version of Mechagodzilla constructed by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces using the bones of the 1954 Godzilla as a skeletal framework.
At least one Heisei monster seems to finally be escaping purgatory: SpaceGodzilla, who according to a Writer’s Guild of America registration, is set to appear in the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. All well and good, but I hope the rest of Godzilla’s rogues’ gallery is being considered for more appearances in the future, especially given how anxious fans are to see more of their favorite monsters, and the success the Godzilla franchise has enjoyed on multiple fronts over the past several years. Now is the perfect time to reintroduce the rest of Toho’s monsters to international audiences.
Unleash the Beasts
Some fans have argued that Toho exclusively focusing on their most popular monsters like Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah is a sound business move because they’re the most recognizable Godzilla co-stars to audiences outside Japan. That may be true, but it doesn’t account for how Godzilla’s wider cast has been kept alive in the cultural imagination by expanded universe media. Comics, animated shows, and a legion of video games have often utilized monsters that the films have neglected, with the Pipeworks trilogy of fighting games — starting with Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee — introducing an entire generation of younger gamers to the Big G’s friends and foes. The enduring popularity of those games as a nostalgic touchstone resulted in DAMM recently being reborn with its Remastered edition.
The hunger from fans for other kaiju co-stars has even expressed itself in humorous ways. When the first teaser for Godzilla Minus Zero dropped in April, many fans joked that the blue gravity beams used by Ghidorah were actually going to belong to “Gravity Anguirus,” a hypothetical version of the character with new gravity manipulation powers. Gravity Anguirus may be a meme, but the way the joke spread across Godzilla fandom speaks to how much the people yearn to see Godzilla’s best friend back on the big screen. The poor guy must be feeling left out watching Godzilla and Kong go on adventures together. And as a personal note, what do I have to do to get my incompetent son Ebirah the giant lobster back in circulation?
At the end of the day, the Godzilla franchise is in a great spot. He’s got two successful movie series running simultaneously, Legacy of Monsters appears to be a hit on AppleTV+, and Destroy All Monsters Remastered has reignited Godzilla’s relevance in the gaming space. Toho’s stewardship of the series in the modern day is to be commended… but if there’s one place with room for improvement, it’s opening the door so the rest of their characters can share the spotlight. Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah are all fantastic monsters; I’d just like to see the rest of their friends join them on the playground.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
