King Ghidorah (MonsterVerse)

"From the Hydra to the Rainbow Serpent, myth was the compass that led us to the resting place of the three-headed Titan. A name, unspoken through millennia of whispered nightmares. A living extinction event, named “the one who is many”. We call it Monster Zero."

- Monarch Sciences description

The King Ghidorah キングギドラ (Kingu Gidora) of the MonsterVerse, also dubbed Monster Zero, is a giant three-headed dragon  created by Legendary Pictures that will appear in Legendary's upcoming 2019 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Name
Ghidorah's name is likely based on Zmey Gorynych from the 1956 Soviet film Ilya Muromets, the inspiration source of the monster and was called King Dragon in Japan.

"Ghidorah" is likely based on a direct translation of the pronunciation of Hydra in Russian language.

Appearance
According to a cave painting, Ghidorah, much like his previous incarnations in Toho's pre-MonsterVerse films, is shown to be much larger than Godzilla. Also like his previous incarnations, each neck has row of spines going down but the middle neck has two rows of spines while the left and right necks have one. The middle head's horns are notably straighter and longer than those of its peripheral heads. Ghidorah's wings are also larger and more bat-like in appearance than most incarnations, and they can also act as forelimbs to support his massive body. Each of his heads have a crown of horns similar to the Heisei incarnation, but each horn is longer and more curved. The horns also tend to flare depending on Ghidorah's current mood. Ghidorah still has his traditional twin tails with spiked bludgeons at their tips that can rattle as an intimidation display. His legs are digitigrade with avian-like feet, similar to the 2001 incarnation. Ghidorah's eyes are fiery red which seem to glow whenever he charges up his gravity beams.

Portrayal
Ghidorah will be portrayed through a mix of motion capture and CGI. It was confirmed that Jason Liles, who starred in Rampage, will mo-cap Ghidorah's middle head, with Alan Maxson and Richard Dorton portraying the other two, while unnamed colleagues play the monster's body.

Roar
Ghidorah has a cackling roar similar to his Showa and GMK incarnations. He also lets out a piercing shriek when he fires his gravity beams.

Personality
Ghidorah is malevolent in nature, which is supported by the skulls depicted surrounding him in the cave painting and a footnote in Vivienne Graham's notes that refers to him as "the devil". His sadistic and ruthless nature is elaborated when he willingly obliterates soldiers with his gravity beams instead of ignoring them. His middle head also appears to have a fairly large degree of intelligence and sentience while his other two heads act more akin to trained attack dogs.

Ghidorah is depicted fighting with Godzilla in a cave painting, suggesting that the two have a history (he is even referred to as "a rival alpha to Godzilla").

Origins
"From the Hydra to the Rainbow Serpent, myth was the compass that led us to the resting place of the three-headed Titan. A name, unspoken through millennia of whispered nightmares. A living extinction event, named "the one who is many". We call it Monster Zero. At a Monarch containment facility deep in the frozen tundra of Antarctica, a three-headed winged serpent of ancient yet unknown origin lies frozen within a glacial tomb of ice. This is without question the largest superspecies ever discovered, easily dwarfing Godzilla at a height of over five-hundred feet tall. Cranial scans reveal a divergent frontal lobe density in the brains of the three heads, denoting each head has a disparate levels of cognitive functions, and possibly even independent thought. Monster Zero's dermal layer is gilded with trace amounts of aurum (See Ark record # 73.126). Metallurgical studies theorize the scales act as a conductor capable of carrying bioelectrical currents through the creature's body. Injuries have been discovered on several locations on the beast's body, reminiscent of claw and scorch marks. Exo-Forensics are currently investigating. Muscle tendons on the wings are so hyper-tensile that their massive aerodynamics could generate hurricane-force winds when in flight. Coupled with its body's electro-receptor molecular biology capable of conducting electrical currents, water vapor in the air would be heated at extreme levels creating its own localized storm system as it travels. Simply put, if Monster Zero were to fly again, the stratosphere would be torn open by an otherworldly tempest of thunder and lightning our sky has never seen. Cryptolinguistics has analyzed translations of every worldwide case study of Monster Zero in the Monarch database across tens of thousands of years. The ancients called it Ghidorah."

- Cryptid Profile

Kong: Skull Island
In 1971, Houston Brooks and San Lin would brief James Conrad and Mason Weaver on multiple other monsters who ruled the world alongside Kong. This included Ghidorah, along with Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan, who were shown to the two via classified Monarch cave paintings.

2016
In 2016, Vivienne Graham led an effort to build a containment and research facility around an extraordinary, but dormant creature in the Antarctic. Her classified field notes contained the mysterious footnote, "The devil has three heads."

Godzilla: King of the Monsters
It has been confirmed that Ghidorah will appear in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, along with Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan, on May 31, 2019.

Bio-electrical nature
Ghidorah's dermal layer is covered with traces of gold which act as a conductor that carries bioelectrical currents throughout his body. He has an electro-receptor molecular biology and can conduct electrical currents, make water vapor heat up to extreme levels, and create localized storm systems, otherworldly tempests of thunder and lightning. He can also fire bolts of lightning from the tips of his wings.

Durability
Ghidorah's golden scales make him highly impervious to any form of weaponry. He is also able to withstand a full-force charge from both Rodan and Godzilla, as well as the sheer power of Godzilla's atomic breath.

Flight
Ghidorah's massive and powerful wings enable him to fly with great speed over long distances.

Gravity beams
Ghidorah can shoot gravity beams from his mouths. Much like how Godzilla's dorsal plates glow whenever he's about to release his atomic breath, Ghidorah's throats glow before he fires his gravity beams. The beams are golden in color, and they are more than powerful enough to obliterate humans, buildings, and aircrafts.

Hurricane winds
Ghidorah has hyper-tensile muscle tendons in his wings capable of generating hurricane-force winds while in flight.

Intelligence
Cranial scans indicate each of Ghidorah's heads possess different levels of cognitive function and possible independent thought. The middle head is the most intelligent, acting as the alpha, while the left and right heads are more akin to its lackeys.

Rattling
The spikes on Ghidorah's tails can be used to create a rattling sound as a form of intimidation, similar to a rattlesnake's tail.

Trivia

 * In the official Monarch timeline posted on the Facebook page for Kong: Skull Island, the label given to Ghidorah is "Monster Zero", which was the name given to him by the Xiliens in Invasion of Astro-Monster.
 * According to Monarch Sciences, Ghidorah (like his arch-rival Godzilla) has been alive for centuries and influenced the depiction of numerous mythological creatures (such as the Rainbow Serpent and the Hydra) which were in fact sightings of him.
 * This trait where monsters had inspired humanity to create mystical creatures from the real world is very similar to the cases seen in Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera Trilogy and his Godzilla. There are more claims of similarities between his works and monsters in the previous film.
 * An idea for Ghidorah to battle Godzilla underwater, as seen in the concept arts released at Tokyo Comic-Con, was also originally introduced to the series within Kaneko's work.
 * This is the largest live-action incarnation of Ghidorah as well as the second largest next to the anime incarnation.
 * Monarch Outpost 32, where Ghidorah is contained, functions as a reference to Outpost 31 of the 1982 film The Thing. This is backed up by its location that is set in a tundra environment.
 * Additionally, it is a more subtle homage to 1964, the year Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was released (as 32 is half of 64).
 * This is the second incarnation of Ghidorah that is able to fire lightning from his wings, with the first being his Rebirth of Mothra III incarnation.
 * Mike Dougherty has stated that, although King of the Monsters is not a comedy, he likened Ghidorah to Rip Van Winkle, having a sense of curiosity and cruelty. Additionally, producer Alex Garcia described Ghidorah as "not part of the natural order".
 * In one interview, Mike Dougherty likened Ghidorah's three heads to conjoined siblings. Additionally, when designing Ghidorah, he wanted to create a "unique" design that still resembled Ghidorah and worked closely with Toho to make sure the new design respected past incarnations; he also studied various animals, specifically king cobras, in order to add a sense of realism to the design. He also told the design team to maintain an Eastern Dragon influence, and to avoid any Western Dragon influences, stating "They're not traditional western dragons. So those were marching orders from the beginning... We don't want it to look like Game of Thrones' dragons."

List of appearances

 * Kong: Skull Island
 * Godzilla: King of the Monsters