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Who is godzilla's best villian


Reality
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Which monster is most effective as godzilla's nemesis?  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Which works best as a godzilla villian?

    • King Ghidorah
      6
    • MechaGodzilla
      1
    • Destroyah
      0
    • Ogra
      0
    • The Future People
      1
    • Xiliens
      0
    • King Kong
      0
    • Other
      0


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So I used to be really into Godzilla. Of the people I've met (and apparently certain creative teams) there has been a lot of disagreement about what monster is truly the arch nemesis of godzilla.

Personally I lean toward the classic villain- The ultimate monster King Ghidorah- King Ghidorah was a master work of technical puppeteering, had a distinctive roar and sound effects rather than the stock ones used for less impressive monsters, and in most of it's appearances- is so powerful that godzilla requires assistance to defeat it. 

Mechagodzilla is another classic choice- However, personally I think he is limited by his status as a "dark reflection" A mechagodzilla story can work well with mechagodziall maiming or even killing godzilla in their first encounter-, but fundamentally, aside from the defeat of the aliens controlling/powering up Mechagodzilla, the fact that Godzilla will usually overcome Mechagodzilla on his own without support and that Mechagodziila does not usually represent destruction to cities/armies outside of fighting Godzilla himself makes him take a secondary role to his masters to a greater extent than other monsters. . 

Destroyah is the weakest option - Conceptually, he is a callback to godzilla's 1954 weakness- that is oxygen deprivation. However, visually, he is also obviously a more heavyweight, taller, spikier, monster. This has always made me feel that his inclusion always leans toward "godzilla as underdog" stories, which, while fine for Rocky, or the more kid-friendly version of godzilla, lean toward Godzilla himself losing too much of his menace- I think that even when godzilla is operating as a hero, he should still be a menace, even if it is the "lesser of two" and that the human characters watching him descend in the ocean/etc after the end of the battle, should feel some level of problematic anticipation of his return rather than the "he will always be there to protect us" sentimentality.. Destroyah, by its very design, lends itself to using a more friendly godzilla. Additionally, I have always found him to be contradictory- his powers are more interesting than his design- I imagine the "oxygen deprivation monster" properly as working like the DC villians Nukeface or to a lesser extent Doomday- The very encounter with him should represent the death of Godzilla- The need for him to also be a heavyweight should be an afterthought.

Ogra-  Ogra is a very powerful monster, but for me it is actually too powerful to work as an archrival - Ogra must limit his appearances to maintain his mystique and his effectiveness as a threat. Personally I see Ogra as the most "lovecraftian" of Godzilla monsters. Generally, Godzilla defeats Ogra while being absorbed by it (eg a sacrifical atomic blast). 

Future People- The Future People were used as recurring villians throughout the entire Heisei period. Because they were the descendents of people on earth, they helped connect Godzilla to a critique of industrialization and pollution. They mind controlled or built various monsters for Godzilla to fight, and often required the intervention of the human  charathers to be defeated in tandem to their monster being punched out by Godzilla. 

Xilliens - The Xilliens were one of the interchangable "alien race of the week" from the original Showa period films. However, unlike most of these aliens, these would be the ones to be resurrected in their villianous roles in later series. Thematically.... I would have preferred the cockroach aliens to have won out from the aliens of this period. However, what the Xillens lack in real-world ethical concerns, they make up for in raw menace- they would control/build/bioengineer the most deadly monsters and would have "destruction" on their agenda more often than simple colonization, etc. 

A few people like to bring up "battle of the century" monsters such as King Kong or SpaceGodzilla, but I find these to be completely ridiculous in a long term context- King kong especially is only entertaining because of the meta-context of King Kong as a rival monster series for Godzilla's critical acclaim, due to how overmatched the thing would be otherwise.

Obviously not all interpretations use godzilla as a hero- in which case it is arguable that either mankind or pollution (especially in mothra oriented stories) is the true bane of godzilla. While these can be quite good. I feel that at this point, these almost qualify as an alternate take on the character. 

I'm interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on these enemies or other suitable candidates. Will King Kong vs Godzilla 2019 be a disaster? 

Edited by Reality
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King Ghidorah.

I've never been a fan of Mechagodzilla, purely because of how derivative/reliant it is on Godzilla. It's always just been kind of lame, to me.

Destroyah's lame for the opposite reasons. It just looks like a giant demon, and they went overboard making him so damn powerful that it never felt like Godzilla should have never actually beat him.

Ogra I don't really know of. I don't think I've ever repeat watched any of the Godzilla movies that came out after the 90s.

Things like the Xilliens always felt like an excuse to just explain certain kaiju and have them fight.

The future people might be a neat concept in anything else, and I know that Godzilla originally started out as social commentary on nuclear weapons, but the series changed into a giant monster vs. monster franchise. Their attempts to bring it back to meta-commentary never gelled with me.

King Ghidorah, meanwhile, has fun movies, is a fun villain, isn't so ridiculously strong that you question how Godzilla could beat him, and has a unique design that isn't derivative or too try-hard. Ghidorah is also a consistent threat, something I think truly integral to a proper arch-nemesis. He shows up often enough, and is rarely treated like a joke. Mechagodzilla, for example, became something of a Worf in the franchise.

Edited by Slumber
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King Ghidorah is the classic! I like Destroyah because of his silly name, though.

Imo Godzilla is the best villain of his series, though, just because of the sheer terror his presence instilled in his first movie.

Of the monsters that he's fought, though Ghidorah/Ghidrah is the most interesting design and power-level wise. Ogra is a little much, I agree.

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Obviously King Ghidorah. He is certainly the archnemesis of Godzilla. The others dont even come close although I have a soft spot for Destoroyah because you know...he...destoroy...and he is damn cool and brutal. Although if you ask me the second best villain in the franchise then I probably chose Megalon.

Edited by Magical CC
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  • 4 weeks later...

I can still post in this topic, right

Because if so, yeah it's King Ghidorah hands down. Probably Godzilla's most memorable enemy, and looks cool to boot. He's very menacing in all his incarnations, and is in the best Showa film in my opinion (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, go figure)

I like Mechagodzilla too (all incarnations) but he isn't a 3-headed dragon  so he loses by default.

Destoroyah sucks. I don't even like the movie he's in

King Kong is a meme.

Orga's pretty boring he gets bodied by Godzilla at the very end and is overall uninteresting. He's on the screen for like 2 minutes and the fight is laaaamme

Everyone else is either underwhelming (aliens) or not Ghidorah (Gigan, Megalon, fucking BARAGON LMAO, etc.)

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/2/2017 at 3:32 PM, Slumber said:

King Ghidorah.

I've never been a fan of Mechagodzilla, purely because of how derivative/reliant it is on Godzilla. It's always just been kind of lame, to me.

Destroyah's lame for the opposite reasons. It just looks like a giant demon, and they went overboard making him so damn powerful that it never felt like Godzilla should have never actually beat him.

Ogra I don't really know of. I don't think I've ever repeat watched any of the Godzilla movies that came out after the 90s.

Things like the Xilliens always felt like an excuse to just explain certain kaiju and have them fight.

The future people might be a neat concept in anything else, and I know that Godzilla originally started out as social commentary on nuclear weapons, but the series changed into a giant monster vs. monster franchise. Their attempts to bring it back to meta-commentary never gelled with me.

King Ghidorah, meanwhile, has fun movies, is a fun villain, isn't so ridiculously strong that you question how Godzilla could beat him, and has a unique design that isn't derivative or too try-hard. Ghidorah is also a consistent threat, something I think truly integral to a proper arch-nemesis. He shows up often enough, and is rarely treated like a joke. Mechagodzilla, for example, became something of a Worf in the franchise.

3

king ghidorah is the only villain godzilla has had multiple movies with but has never defeated alone. king ghidorah is probably a lot stronger than godzilla.

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