Godzilla misconceptions

Due to Godzilla being one of the biggest franchises and pop-culture icons in Japan and the world, it is not uncommon for people to believe in and/or create and perpetrate misconceptions and stereotypes about Godzilla. Here is a list of Godzilla misconceptions and stereotypes.

Godzilla is green
Godzilla being green is a stereotype that started as early as the American poster for the 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. Godzilla has never been and was never green in Japan whatsoever until the MireGoji and GiraGoji designs on 1999's Godzilla 2000: Millennium and 2000's Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. Godzilla was green in The Godzilla Power Hour, Marvel's Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Dark Horse's Godzilla, King of the Monsters comics. However, all of these were American media.

Still, Godzilla has been represented green in media in Japan and even made by Toho, mostly in video games and promotional stills. Some examples include Gojira-Kun, Godzilla vs. 3 Major Monsters, and Godzilland.

Godzilla Junior, the juvenile Godzillasaurus featured in the films Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is depicted as green in the final two films of the trilogy. However, in Godzilla Island, Godzilla Junior is shown to be soil-brown-colored.

Godzilla is a lizard
This misconception is very heavily believed in, not just in the real world but also in the Godzilla universe. Godzilla quite simply is a mutated Godzillasaurus created from atomic bombs, and his design is based on a tyrannosaurus rex crossed with a stegosaurus. Calling Godzilla a dinosaur or an aquatic dinosaur is not particularly wrong.

Calling Godzilla a lizard could mean that the person who calls him that may be confusing Godzilla for Zilla, the titular monster from the 1998 American GODZILLA film directed by Roland Emmerich, who in fact is a lizard. Specifically, a marine iguana.

In ' Godzilla, Godzilla is stated to be a species of massive, prehistoric amphibious reptile that feeds off of radiation.

Godzilla breathes fire
Anyone who is not familiar with Godzilla would immediately believe that Godzilla has a generic fire breath that may sometimes be blue. However, Godzilla's "fire breath" is a much more powerful Atomic Breath which he gained because of the atomic bomb that mutated him. Godzilla's atomic breath, sometimes called a heat ray, is much more powerful than fire and is typically blue, and is usually regarded as stronger when red or orange. Again, some versions such as the Marvel Godzilla and the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla have a normal fire breath, but these are not part of the main canon of the franchise. This may also be an influence from the 1954 poster of the first Godzilla movie.

Godzilla is a dumb brute
Godzilla has been shown to have either semi-sapience or even human-like sapience in a majority of the films. In the Showa era specifically, Godzilla is completely sapient and can think, perform human-like activities, give directions, and even talk in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, albeit needing Mothra's Shobijin to translate, and Godzilla vs. Gigan. In the Heisei era, Godzilla is able to detect threats and find his son, Godzilla Junior. Godzilla also seems to talk to Junior, warning him and telling him to follow, and uses Telepathy to communicate and understand commands and speech by both his son and Miki Saegusa. Godzilla also expresses feelings when Junior was killed by Destoroyah in the climax of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. In the Millennium era, Godzilla's sapience level changes between films. In Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla is a force of nature that protects his home, the Earth, from threats. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla is able to outsmart, evade and overpower all of the guardian monsters, meaning he was semi-sapient at least. In Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., Godzilla seemed to lose much of his sapience and became just a force of nature, but still showed expressions of anger, surprise and shock when engaging in battle. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla is again at least semi-sapient, as he can understand Minilla standing in front of the humans as meaning that they are not threats, and Godzilla also could quickly discover weaknesses or flaws against his opponents that he could use to his advantage. In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla seems to be able to slowly figure out and defeat the M.U.T.O s after several encounters, figuring out the best method to fight them. Additionally, the film depicts him as not actively trying to harm humans or damage buildings, and even ignoring them. In the end, Godzilla is usually semi-sapient in the films.

Godzilla is indestructible


Godzilla has weaknesses. The two obvious ones are the Oxygen Destroyer and Meltdown. The Oxygen Destroyer reduced Godzilla to nothing (or to bones in Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla). Meltdown completely killed Godzilla and could have been catastrophic to the whole planet. However, there have been more weaknesses Godzilla has had. The Absolute Zero Cannon used by Kiryu in Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla managed to leave a cavity in Godzilla's chest and force him to retreat. Dr. Shiragami's Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria managed to lower the radioactivity within Godzilla's body to the point of causing him to hibernate in the sea for three years. In King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla was weak to strong voltages of electricity, but this weakness eventually faded away. Curiously, although much of the destruction caused by Godzilla becomes surrounded by fire, in Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla seems to have a very slight aversion to fire, as seen when he cowers behind Jet Jaguar and waits for him to lift him away from the flames. In Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla seems to be susceptible particularly to being attacking near his gills.

Godzilla's Japanese name was adapted from a guy that worked for Toho
There is no evidence for the existence of a person who worked for Toho Company Ltd. and that Gojira was named after him. Rather, concept art from a number of different films confirm that Gojira is derived from the Japanese words for Gorilla, Gorira (ゴリラ) and Whale, Kujira (クジラ).

Godzilla is female
This is derived from the fact that Godzilla has sons, and only female reptiles can produce eggs. This is disproven by the fact that Godzilla adopted Minilla and Godzilla Junior. Godzilla has always been referred to as male in the movies and Toho has confirmed that he is male. Godzilla's male gender is further supported by the fact that Godzilla's title is "King of the Monsters." People that believe Godzilla is female may also be confusing him with Zilla, who reproduced asexually. However, the presence of eggs of Godzilla's species suggests that female individuals of his kind existed at some point and may well still exist, but have not been mentioned in any of the films. However, in various non-film media, such as the Godzilla Gameboy game, the story for the unmade film A Space Godzilla, and other media, female members of Godzilla's species have been present.

Godzilla is evil
Though Godzilla has been the main antagonist in several films, the only time Godzilla has been truly evil is in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Other times, Godzilla is either a destructive force of nature with no true malicious intent, or a heroic monster that saves the planet from greater threats.

The 1962 incarnation of Godzilla is not the same Godzilla from 1955
This is a minor misconception which stems from Universal's American dub of King Kong vs. Godzilla, which states that Godzilla appeared from the iceberg, having slept in it since the Jurassic Period. In reality, this Godzilla is the same Godzilla which fought Anguirus in 1955, and this misconception is based on the fact that the American dub completely retcons the events of the previous two films out of the Showa continuity.

Godzilla dies in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2
Godzilla does not get killed by Super MechaGodzilla in either the Japanese or English dubs of Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2. Instead, Super MechaGodzilla merely destroys Godzilla's second brain, paralyzing Godzilla. Fire Rodan then arrives at the call of Baby Godzilla to 'revive' Godzilla's second brain using his energy. After, Godzilla stands up and defeats Super MechaGodzilla.

Zilla name controversy
The monster from the 1998 film GODZILLA was originally the same character as Godzilla. Due to fan outrage, Toho trademarked the design of the 1998 creature as "Zilla," claiming it "took the 'God' out of 'Godzilla.'" Because of this legal action, all future incarnations of the 1998 monster will be known as Zilla, but the 1998 version still retains the name and copyright of Godzilla. Zilla's copyright does not apply to the 1998 version of the character because Toho cannot undo TriStar's previous licensing.

Zilla has atomic breath/fire breath
There is a scene in the 1998 American GODZILLA film that shows Zilla blowing at a few cars and creating an explosion of fire. Many people have misinterpreted this as Zilla breathing fire or even an atomic heat ray. This is actually just Zilla blowing his power breath, a flammable breath that ignites flammable objects such as gasoline when enough force is exerted. The 1998 Zilla was never intended to have any type of atomic breath, but the power breath was put in the film to please the fans that wanted an atomic heat ray. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Zilla is shown appearing after two similar explosions dissipate.


 * However, Zilla's son, Zilla Junior, from Godzilla: The Series, does have a green atomic breath. The original Zilla from 1998 also appeared in the animated series as Cyber-Zilla, and had a blue atomic heat ray, obviously an homage to Godzilla. Originally, though, Zilla's son was not going to possess an atomic heat ray in the 1998 film's sequel, GODZILLA 2.

Zilla was never planned to appear in Godzilla: Unleashed
According to an interview with Simon Strange conducted by Chris Mirjahangir from Toho Kingdom, Zilla was in fact considered for the game, but due to lack of popularity from fans who said that "his inclusion would ruin the game," Zilla was scrapped.

Zilla Junior was dubbed "Godzilla Junior" by Toho
There's a popular rumor saying that Toho honored the animated Zilla by calling calling him "Godzilla Junior" seeing that it was worthy of the Godzilla name. This rumor has yet to be confirmed, however, as there has been no official statement from Toho. It turned out that this rumor was just a misconception created by fans of the animated series, and Toho added no comment to the matter.

King Ghidorah and Keizer Ghidorah are the same character
Some people, such as James Rolfe from Cinemassacre.com, believe that the monster King Ghidorah appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars, as a form which Monster X transformed into. However, this is not an incarnation of King Ghidorah, and is instead another monster in the Ghidorah species. This is supported by King Ghidorah and Keizer Ghidorah having two different, still-active copyright icons and trademarks each.

Grand King Ghidorah and King Ghidorah are different characters
This misconception was created by the American Dub of Rebirth of Mothra III, which referred to King Ghidorah as "Grand King Ghidorah" - This is only present in the international dub, and in the original Japanese version of the film, he is simply called King Ghidorah.

Godzilla Junior is Godzilla 1999
Some fans think that Godzilla Junior is the Godzilla in the movie Godzilla 2000: Millennium, due to the ending of the film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah where it is found out that Godzilla Junior is alive and becomes an adult Godzillasaurus. But, there is no confirmation about Godzilla Junior actually being the Godzilla in Godzilla 2000: Millennium, especially due to the fact that when Junior grows to adulthood, he is shown to look identical to his father.

Godzilla Junior is Godzilla 2004
This theory stems from stock footage of Godzilla Junior's rebirth being shown on top of Godzilla 2004 frozen in ice. However, just like Godzilla Junior being Godzilla 1999, there is no confirmation on this and thus, the two films share no continuity.

Godzilla Junior is Godzilla's Biological Son
This misconception comes from the observation that Godzilla Junior looks considerably more like his father than Minilla, and from the simple fact that his name is Godzilla Junior, implying that he is Godzilla's biological son. However this is not the case, as it is established in the film Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2 that Godzilla Junior is just another Godzillasaurus who is not immediately related to Godzilla and, like Minilla, was simply adopted as a son by Godzilla. Junior's large size and physical resemblance to Godzilla are just byproducts of prolonged exposure to Godzilla's radiation.

King Kong is as big as Godzilla
While the King Kong vs. Godzilla version of King Kong is 45 meters tall—a bit under the Showa Godzilla's height—every single other incarnation of Kong has him at 20 meters at most. Godzilla's maximum size in film is 108 meters, and his minimum is 50 meters.

The Unnamed Multi-Legged Monster was going to appear in Godzilla (2014)
This theory stems from the presence of this monster's corpse being seen in the 2012 SDCC Teaser. Although this monster was clearly designed and fully made, it doesn't appear in any of the film's unreleased scripts. Rather, it is likely that this creature was a very early design for the M.U.T.O.s.

Godzilla vs. The Devil
Godzilla vs. The Devil, also known as Godzilla vs. Satan, was supposedly an unmade Godzilla film proposed by Tomoyuki Tanaka in 1978 as an attempt to revive him after the poor box office performance of 1975's Terror of MechaGodzilla that never got past the planning stages. It supposedly was known that Godzilla would have been pitted against several demon monsters and finally would have squared off against Satan himself in a climactic final battle.

"Godzilla vs. The Devil" was a misconception which got well-known due to Toho Kingdom hosting it for several years. Anthony Romero of Toho Kingdom apologized for hosting this content in the "Toho Busters" article, saying "Toho Kingdom itself is guilty of this as well, as the concept was listed on the site for years. Regardless, the project was not something that Toho had officially considered."

The whole idea came from a misreading of an early script for a Godzilla film in the 80s before Godzilla Returns. Bagan was originally meant to be in the film, and the codename for the script was 'Godzilla vs the Devil'

King Kong vs. Godzilla alternate ending
This is a widely published misconception that plagued American fans of Godzilla who did not have access to the Japanese versions of Godzilla films before the internet was around to disprove this. According to this misconception, there were two endings for the 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla, one that played in the United States where King Kong surfaces from the water at the end of the film and another that played in Japan where Godzilla is the one who surfaces. This is not the case; King Kong is the monster that triumphs at the end of both versions. Even so, this rumor is still heavily believed in by fans and the general public alike and remains one of the most prominent Godzilla misconceptions.

The Godzilla from Godzilla 2000: Millennium reappeared in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
This is a very popular misconception that comes simply from the fact that the MireGoji suit was used both in Godzilla 2000: Millennium and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. A look at Godzilla vs. Megaguirus disproves this rather quickly. There is no continuity between the two films, and the only directly connected films of the Millennium Series are Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S..

The German dub of Godzilla vs. Megalon says Jet Jaguar is King Kong in a robot suit
The German release of the film only marketed Jet Jaguar under the name "King Kong" for marquee value and never mentioned that Jet Jaguar was King Kong in a robot suit.

Bagan was going to be in Godzilla: Final Wars
This misconception originates from a video uploaded to YouTube on June 19th, 2012, which supposedly consists of cut footage of Bagan from Godzilla: Final Wars. The footage is a hoax, showing off the monster called Reizaus from the television show Super Fleet Sazer-X, a Tokusatsu series produced by Toho.

Godzilla: Final Wars shares the same timeline with the Showa Series.
a commonly believed misconception is that the 2004 Godzilla films exists in the Showa universe, as many monsters and elements appears in the two medias. however, Toho confirmed the two are unrelated, except Godzilla (1954 film). Final Wars does incorporate a sort of loose broad strokes acknowledgement of the Showa series, but it is not considered canon with it.