And for our last feature for the build up to Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we introduce the arch-nemesis of Big G: King Ghidorah.
Despite the many different origin stories that this golden three-headed dragon had, King Ghidorah has consistently been portrayed as the main antagonist throughout the Godzilla franchise. The only exception in which King Ghidorah was not a villian was in the movie Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters all out Attack.
Among the many back stories of King Ghidorah’s origins, one that was repeatedly used was that the three-headed dragon was a creation of a race of aliens called the Xiliens (X Seijin). This backstory was used first in the 1965 film Invasion of the Astro-Monster.
The Xiliens appeared again in Godzilla: Final Wars.
In King Ghidorah’s debut film, it was the monster that destroyed the Venus civilization. While the aliens in the Godzilla anime films are known as the Exif, it is theorized by some that the Exif are actually the anime version of the Xiliens. The theory may be further supported that in the anime trilogy, King Ghidorah was a creation of the Exif aliens.
King Ghidorah was the first alien monster to appear in the Godzilla franchise and has so far appeared in seven Godzilla films.
In every other movie that King Ghidorah had appeared in, it has always been to attack Earth and destroy the human civilization. And when it failed to defeat Godzilla (and got one head bitten off), it got modified and upgraded into Mecha-King Ghidorah.
In Godzilla: Final Wars, which was King Ghidorah’s last appearance, he took on the form of Kaiser Ghidorah, which has four legs instead of the usual two.
Apart from being the arch-nemesis of Godzilla, King Ghidorah was also the main antagonist in Mothra’s own Rebirth of Mothra trilogy.
With Godzilla and King Ghidorah having faced off last November in the anime film Godzilla: Eater of Stars, the two monsters would have battled a total of nine times (Final Wars included) by the end of May 2019.
Despite King Ghidorah being such an iconic monster, it has never appeared on the big screens outside of Japan before. This makes the upcoming film the first time that King Ghidorah will officially be introduced to the international audience.
King Ghidorah’s designs for the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters have so far been well concealed, with the producers providing pictures that gave very little away. But with the 2014 Godzilla film being a success story and the producers themselves being huge fans of the franchise, audiences can be rest assured that the first time King Ghidorah appear on the big screen worldwide will not be a disappointment.
References:
https://wikizilla.org/wiki/King_Ghidorah#Name