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-related misconceptions and stereotypes.

What color is Godzilla?
Godzilla is charcoal black. Godzilla being green is a stereotype that started as early as the American poster for the 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. Godzilla was never green in Japan 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. This has also been traited in the ShodaiGoji design long before and even exists in a few figure merchandise.

Is Godzilla a lizard?
In the original 1954 film and the rest of the Showa series, Godzilla is said to be a type of giant semi-aquatic dinosaur that was awakened and enhanced by nuclear tests. In the Heisei series, Godzilla is a mutated Godzillasaurus created from atomic radiation. In ' Godzilla, Godzilla is stated to be a member of a species of massive, prehistoric amphibious reptile that feeds off of radiation.

Calling Godzilla a lizard is only correct when referring to the monster from the 1998 American GODZILLA film directed by Roland Emmerich, which is in fact a mutated lizard, specifically, a marine iguana.

Does Godzilla breathe fire?
Anyone who is not familiar with Godzilla would immediately believe that Godzilla has a generic fire breath that may sometimes be blue. However, in the movies, Godzilla's "fire breath" is a much more powerful Atomic Breath which he gained because of the atomic bomb that mutated him (or that he had naturally in Godzilla 2014). Godzilla's atomic breath, sometimes called a heat ray or heat beam, is much more powerful than fire and is typically blue, and is usually regarded as stronger when red or orange. His Atomic Breath is also shown rarely in white.

Some versions of Godzilla such as the Marvel Godzilla and the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla however, do have a normal fire breath. This may also be an influence from the 1954 Japanese and 1955 American posters for the first Godzilla movie. The 1998 Godzilla does not have a fire breath at all, but instead a flammable Power Breath which can cause a fiery explosion.

Is Godzilla intelligent?
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.

Is Godzilla indestructible?


Godzilla has weaknesses and is not indestructible—he is only immune to conventional human weaponry. The two most obvious examples of Godzilla being able to die are the Oxygen Destroyer and Meltdown. The Oxygen Destroyer reduced Godzilla to nothing (or to bones in Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla), and Meltdown completely killed Godzilla and could have been catastrophic to the whole planet had it not been for the J.S.D.F. freezing the melting Godzilla. 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.
 * In Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2, Godzilla could be completely paralyzed from the waist down by having his second brain destroyed, which Super MechaGodzilla managed to do.
 * 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.

What is the origin of Godzilla's name?
It is confirmed that Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira, is derived from the Japanese words for gorilla, gorira (ゴリラ) and whale, kujira (クジラ). There is no evidence for the existence of a person who worked for Toho Company Ltd., or that Godzilla was named after him.

Is Godzilla 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." A common source of this confusion is the 1998 American GODZILLA film, where the titular monster laid eggs asexually. However, it too is officially classified as male despite this ability.

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, Godzilland, the story for the unmade film A Space Godzilla, and other media, female members of Godzilla's species have been present, examples being Bijira and Gojirin.

Is Godzilla evil?
Though Godzilla has been the main antagonist / anti-hero 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.

Is the 1962 Godzilla the same Godzilla from 1955?
The Godzilla from Godzilla Raids Again and from King Kong vs. Godzilla are the same creature.

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.

Does Godzilla die 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.

Godzilla 1998/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 in all media related to and featuring it before 2004. However, the 1998 creature's specific design and characteristics are also likely contained under the Zilla copyright due to the similarities between the two creatures, evidenced by the fact that the image on the copyright icon is an official image of the 1998 Godzilla, and that in the comic series Godzilla: Rulers of Earth Zilla possesses the explicit design and abilities of the 1998 creature. The Godzilla trademark that TriStar had registered has been defunct since about 2001, after the end of the animated series and the subsequent re-absorption of the trademark by Toho. The reason the two creatures are named differently is merely a case of Toho being unable to rebrand a product they do not legally own full rights to; as they would require permission from TriStar to alter the titles and licensing of the 1998 film and the animated series, and most likely would have no interest in doing so. The 1998 design is now under the Zilla trademark (as the two bear too much resemblance to require two separate trademarks), however all media relating specifically to the 1998 creature can/will still call it Godzilla.

In short, both "Godzilla 1998" and "Zilla" can be used to describe the same character in different pieces of fiction, but in legal terms the current term for the character is Zilla (due to the Godzilla trademarks associated with the 1998 creature having long since expired, and Zilla having been its seeming replacement since 2004). This is supported by the fact that Toho's original agreement with Sony in 1992 to produce an American Godzilla film allowed Toho to use the American version of Godzilla in their own films and licensed media after Sony's rights to the character expired.

Does Godzilla 1998/Zilla have atomic breath/fire breath?
There is a scene in the 1998 American GODZILLA film that shows the titular monster blowing at a few cars and creating an explosion of fire. Many people have misinterpreted this as the monster breathing fire or even an atomic heat ray. This is actually just the creature blowing his power breath, a flammable breath that ignites flammable objects such as gasoline when enough force is exerted. Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin revealed that they never intended for their Godzilla 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. What exactly this means is unknown, however director Ryuhei Kitamura stated in an interview that Zilla possesses an "acidic flame breath," which although never seen in use may be an instance of the power breath or a similar ability.


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

Was Zilla meant to be 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.

Did buy the rights to Zilla from ?
This is a relatively minor misconception relating to Zilla's appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars. Many people believe that purchased the rights to 's American version of Godzilla in order to include it in Godzilla: Final Wars as Zilla. In actuality, Toho did not pay for the rights to TriStar's Godzilla, they were merely exercising an option in their original contract with Sony signed back in 1992, which allowed them to use the American version of Godzilla in their own films and licensed media after Sony's rights to the character had expired. When Ryuhei Kitamura and Shogo Tomiyama discovered that they would be able to use TriStar's Godzilla in Godzilla: Final Wars, they decided to trademark it as "Zilla" and feature it in the film.

Was Zilla Junior officially dubbed "Godzilla Junior" by Toho?
There's a popular rumor saying that Toho honored the monster from Godzilla: The Series by calling calling him "Godzilla Junior," seeing that it was worthy of the Godzilla name. However, it turned out that this rumor was just a misconception created by fans of Godzilla: The Series, and Toho added no comment to the matter.

Is Zilla Junior the same creature as the Zilla from Godzilla: Final Wars?
This is a minor misconception that the last surviving egg from the end of the 1998 film that became the monster in Godzilla: The Series later appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars as Zilla. This is however not true, as Godzilla: The Series and Godzilla: Final Wars each occupy different continuities and are not connected. Both the titular monster from the animated series and Zilla from Final Wars are separate incarnations of the Godzilla 1998/Zilla character and are not the same creature.

Are King Ghidorah and Keizer Ghidorah 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 copyright icons and trademarks each. One other support is that all species laying under King Ghidorah are defaultly gold in color (with the exception of Cretaceous King Ghidorah), usually are bipedal and have a more dragon-like design within the heads while Keizer Ghidorah is a form of different colors, lacks defined scales and like Desghidorah has four legs.

Are Grand King Ghidorah and King Ghidorah different characters?
Some people believe that the villain monster from Rebirth of Mothra III is a separate character from King Ghidorah, known as "Grand King Ghidorah." However, the monster from the film is actually just an incarnation of King Ghidorah, as evidenced by the film's Japanese title, Mothra 3: King Ghidorah Attacks!, and the use of King Ghidorah's copyright icon in DVD releases of the film. It is unknown exactly where the name "Grand King Ghidorah" originated, however it is not an official name, and is never used to refer to the monster in the film.

However, this does not mean that the King Ghidorah from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is the same individual creature as the 1998 King Ghidorah, as the Heisei Godzilla series and the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy do not exist in the same timeline.

Is Godzilla Junior the same creature as 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 shown that Godzilla Junior is alive and becomes an adult Godzilla after absorbing his father's radiation after he melts down. 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.

Is Godzilla Junior the same creature as 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.

Is Godzilla Junior 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.

Does SpaceGodzilla have two origin stories?
This misconception comes from a scene in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, where scientists and members of the U.N.G.C.C. debate over SpaceGodzilla's origin. Scientists propose that the Godzilla cells that created SpaceGodzilla either were brought into space by Biollante or Mothra. Whilst two theories are put forward, neither are confirmed, meaning that technically, no definitive origin story is given to SpaceGodzilla in the film. However, there is some evidence in the film suggesting that Biollante is more likely the monster responsible for SpaceGodzilla's creation, as both monsters share many similarities. Both have screeching roars, tusks on the sides of their mouths, and both break apart into energy spores and retreat to space when defeated.

Is SpaceGodzilla Godzilla's brother?
This is a somewhat common belief, mostly due to the sheer animosity and archrivalry shared by the two, as well as their physical similarity. However, while it may make sense to refer to SpaceGodzilla in this way, it is more correct to call him a 'clone' of Godzilla, as much of SpaceGodzilla's DNA belongs to Godzilla due to it being derived from his cells, similar to how Biollante derives a portion of her genome from Godzilla.

Did Destoroyah kill Godzilla?
This is a minor misconception that is commonplace in many circles outside of the Godzilla fanbase. Many people are aware that Godzilla dies in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and that his opponent in the film is Destoroyah, so they often conclude that Destoroyah is responsible for Godzilla's death. This is not true, as Godzilla's death in the film is due to a nuclear meltdown occurring in his heart, which is unrelated to Destoroyah. Destoroyah does battle with the dying Godzilla, but is ultimately destroyed by the combined efforts of Godzilla and G-Force, with Godzilla finally dying from his meltdown shortly afterward.

However, in the manga adaptation of the film, Destoroyah does manage to kill Godzilla, but at the cost of his own life as well.

Is King Kong 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.

Was the Unnamed Multi-Legged Monster 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.

Was Godzilla vs. The Devil ever considered?
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 The Return of Godzilla. Bagan was originally meant to be in the film, and the codename for the script was 'Godzilla vs the Devil'

Does Godzilla beat King Kong in the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla?
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.

Did the Godzilla from Godzilla 2000: Millennium reappear 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.. All other films disregard every other film in the series, save for the 1954 original, which is used as the starting point.

Does the German dub of Godzilla vs. Megalon say 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.

Was Bagan 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 Star Fleet Sazer-X, a Tokusatsu series produced by Toho.

Do all of the Godzilla films share the same continuity?
It is commonly believed among some fans that all of the Godzilla films take place in the same continuity. This is not the case, as there are several distinct continuities that encompass the various films in the series, including some non-Godzilla films.

Many fans also believe that the Heisei series and some of the Millennium series films are part of the same continuity, but this is also a misconception. Each of the Millennium films (except for the two Kiryu Saga films) is set in its own continuity with no connection to the Heisei series or any other previous film, except in some cases the original 1954 film. ===Were the events of Godzilla, The Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Biollante erased from the Heisei timeline in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah?=== This common misconception comes from the film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, in which time travelers from the future travel back to 1944 and remove a Godzillasaurus from Lagos Island and place it in the Bering Sea, believing it will prevent Godzilla's creation by the H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll and remove him from history. Because the script is somewhat vague about what really happened, many fans believe that the Futurians' actions erased the events of Godzilla (1954), The Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Biollante from the timeline, and a new Godzilla was created instead and appeared in the remaining films in the Heisei series.

This is however, not the case, as this film and the ones after it point out. The Futurians' actions did not affect the creation of the first Godzilla that attacked Tokyo in 1954, because this Godzilla was a separate individual from the Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island, and was still killed by the Oxygen Destroyer. The Godzillasaurus in the Bering Sea was exposed to radiation from a nuclear submarine crash and transformed into a new Godzilla, which attacked Japan in 1984, meaning the events of The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante still happened normally, and the Futurians' actions actually created the Heisei Godzilla in the first place, therefore incurring a predestination paradox  and ensuring that the timeline did not actually change in any large way. This is demonstrated by the fact that the human characters still remember the events of the previous films, and the events of said films are referenced in later entries, which also explicitly point out that the 1954 and Heisei Godzillas were separate individuals. Logically, this explanation also makes sense when applied to current knowledge of temporal events - Had the events of 1984 and 1989 been made non-existent, any human beings who were directly involved in those events would have ceased to exist.

Are the Kaiju suits made out of rubber?
Many people around the world may think the Godzilla suits are made out of rubber, but this is not the case; they are made from a method called "foam fabrication". They start as patterns and plans of the creature based on the suit actor and the design. Then, the patterns are converted into sheets of upholstery foam that were are cut, glued and sculpted into the creature's shape. Then, after the foam structure is done, the outside is covered with contact adhesive (a flexible glue used in the industry and used to glue the foam) and then the skin texture in pushed-in with wooden tools. Finally, the suit is sealed with a few coats of liquid latex (a natural rubber originated from trees) and a good coat of paint. In the Showa era, the heads were made from baking clay.