8 Kaiju That We Want to See Join the MonsterVerse

Currently, our cinematic landscape is turning into a kind of multiverse. You’ve got the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Universe, the Dark Universe and finally, the MonsterVerse. Of the four of them, the MonsterVerse arguably makes the most sense, in that it’s just an American reimagining of a franchise which had already been established by Toho in Japan. In fact, Japan were doing the whole ‘shared cinematic universe’ thing before almost anybody else, and they’ve built up plenty of material to draw from.

Currently, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is shooting in Atlanta. It stars Vera Faminga, Charles Dance, Bradley Whitford, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins, but those aren’t the casting headlines which really matter. The real stars are Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah, three of which have never been immortalised in Western cinema ever before.

This is the first real stab Legendary have taken at a true Kaiju throw-down. Sure, the 2014 film included the MUTO creatures and Kong had plenty of sparring partners in Skull Island, but this far more in line with the original Japanese franchise, and it sets the stage for more Kaiju to enter the fray in subsequent films. I have no doubt that more new ones will be invented, but Toho have developed such a rich and ridiculous monster roster over the years that it would be a shame not to draw from it. Here are eight of the monsters I think deserve it the most.

 

8 – Anguirus

Anguirus is one of the real OGs of the Toho pantheon. In fact, he was the first monster that Godzilla ever fought, having appeared in the franchise’s second ever film – Godzilla Raids Again (1955). He’s a strange cross-pollination of a tortoise, porcupine and ankylosaurus and his allegiance has waggled back and forth from good to bad, appearing as both an ally and an adversary to Godzilla.

There’s something very endearing about Anguirus, he often ends up on the losing end of the fight but carries on anyway, despite his slow top speed and low ground clearance. I would imagine that in the MonsterVerse he would be more sinister, and it would be refreshing after all the flying, jumping bests we’ve had to see a bulky, armoured quadruped lumbering around causing trouble.

 

7 – Manda

Manda is one of those fascinating Kaiju that never really got a fair chance. It stars in the standalone film Atragon, in which it serves as the guardian of the underwater kingdom of Mu. It resembles a traditional Chinese dragon, and usually attacks by constricting whatever’s threatening it. After Atragon, Manda appeared briefly in Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla: Final Wars but had little to do in either one.

Getting Manda involved in the MonsterVerse would be a neat callback to some of the mythology which helped spawn the idea of Kaiju in the first place, and having a largely aquatic monster on the list could set the stage for a different kind of film, perhaps out in the open ocean. In any case, it would be nice to see Manda get some more much deserved screen time.

 

6 – Megalon

Some of the worst Godzilla films spawned some of the best monsters, and Megalon is no exception. The head and body of a beetle, two arms with drills on the ends, able to fly, fire death beams from his horn and spit explosive projectiles. It’s almost as if they just picked monster attributes out of a hat. Despite this, Megalon remains one of the coolest looking monsters ever to appear in the series.

The film he starred in, however, is abominable, falling well into the ‘so bad it’s good’ spectrum thanks to the madcap action, bizarre dialogue and Jet Jaguar. Megalon himself would probably have to be redesigned a fair amount to make any kind of biological sense, but a reimagining of this peculiar creature which retains his basic aesthetic could be a good way to introduce a more insect-like monster into the mix.

 

5 – Biollante

One of the strangest stories surrounding the Godzilla franchise is the conception of Godzilla vs. Biollante. Rather than hiring out a screenwriter as standard, Toho ran a contest for members of the public to submit their own scripts. The eventual winner was Shinichiro Kobayashi, a dentist. Despite the weirdness, it’s one of the best films to come out of the Heisei era, and a lot of that is down to Godzilla’s adversary.

Biollante is a mutant, made up of Godzilla’s own DNA and plant biology, so essentially the bastard offspring of Godzilla and Audrey II. It’s just as unsettling as it sounds, and while the narrative idea of having the soul of a scientist’s dead daughter might need revising, the idea of a plant monster certainly has a great deal of potential. Exploring ideas around biotechnology could also be an interesting direction for things to move in.

 

4 – Baragon

Baragon first appeared in War of the Gargantuas, a strange film which acted almost as a bridge between the world of Godzilla and Frankenstein’s Monster (in Germany all the old Godzilla films were re-dubbed and retitled to be about Dr. Frankenstein). After that he made a brief appearance in Destroy All Monsters and then turned up in the 2003 film, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack! No, really, that’s the title. It’s actually pretty good.

His inclusion on this list comes largely from the way he looks, like an almost perfect balance of reptilian and mammalian features. In terms of powers, he sometimes fires heat beams from his mouth in similar fashion to Godzilla, but in either case he would make an interesting addition to the MonsterVerse.

 

3 – Gigan

Another creature who was unfairly left to appear in a sub-par late entry Showa film, Gigan is meant to be an alien cyborg and resembles a kind of hook-handed death chicken. He sports a metal beak, long hooked claws and a kind of spiny buzzsaw going down his stomach. Because of all these sharp implements (he was even given chainsaws in a later entry), he’s featured in some of the most brutal moments in the entire franchise. His unique appearance also appears to have loosely inspired the look of the MUTO creatures.

Gigan would serve as a good excuse to take the MonsterVerse into outer space. King Ghidorah is usually characterised as a space monster, but a recent teaser revealed that he was discovered under the ice in Antarctica. If it turns out that Ghidorah is an earthling this time around, a subsequent film featuring an invading Gigan could provide an ideal set-up to some otherworldly action.

 

2 – MechaGodzilla

If you’re going to put money down on any of the Kaiju listed here appearing in future films, this guy is a safe bet. Mechagodzilla featured into two back-to-back films at the end of the Showa era, intended as a kind of anti-Godzilla super-weapon. Over the years he’s appeared again and again with various different backstories and is probably the most consistent seal of quality in the whole franchise.

There’s a thousand different ways that a robotic Godzilla lookalike could be slotted into the MonsterVerse. He could be a military project or the work of malevolent forces; he could be a true robot or a cyborg built from the body of a dead Kaiju. The possibilities are vast, and it would be a good direction to move in, perhaps even directly following Godzilla vs Kong.

 

1 – Destroyah

If you ask me, bringing Godzilla’s greatest adversary, Ghidorah, into the game this early might not have been wise when US cinematic lore usually demands for the villain to end up dead. They might keep him alive but if he gets defeated, there aren’t many more Kaiju out there who pose as great a threat. Destroyah, however, may just be the one to do the job.

Destroyah has a strange, but appropriate origin story, as Godzilla’s final foe from the Heisei era. He was mutated when the Oxygen Destroyer (the thing that killed Godzilla in the 1954 original) detonated. He’s bigger than Godzilla, more powerful and hell-bent on destroying not only him, but humanity. If it ever reaches the stage when Godzilla, Kong, Mothra and whoever else is left standing have to work together against insurmountable odds, this terrifying mothefucker might be the golden ticket.