User blog comment:PerhapsTheOtherOne/A New Theory on the Legendary King Ghidorah/@comment-25285745-20141130222052

Concerns that King Ghidorah having an extraterrestrial origin would undermine the realism and grounded tone of the movie are legitimate, however the logic of many arguments against it is flawed. Several people seem to be predisposed to the idea that "extraterrestrial = unrealistic and bad" and will not actually listen to the logic of arguments for the idea.

For the origins of Godzilla and M.U.T.O., Gareth already defied established science and history by introducing the idea that not only did 300+ foot tall animals live in prehistoric times and feed on radiation, but they survived underwater somehow for millions of years and woke up in the present day. This is an example of science fiction, plain and simple. What Gareth Edwards and Legendary did though was introduce aspects that made them seem more grounded and suspend disbelief. They justified their existence by making them live during a time when there were sufficient radiation levels on the surface to sustain them, and explained how they fed on radiation deep underground from the Earth's core after the Permian extinction. They established that M.U.T.O.s were parasites to Godzilla's kind and therefore their spores remained dormant inside the skeleton of a Godzilla. They gave reasoning for why Godzilla's presence was not yet fully known, as he was awakened only by the dawn of the nuclear age and his existence was specifically kept secret by the military.

Gareth Edwards' objective was not "How do I make Godzilla and kaiju more realistic?" This approach could lead to a 1998-esque mockery of the character. His objective was "What if this stuff really happened?" The realism lies not within how believable and down-to-earth the monsters are, it's how they are received within the context of the story and how they are incorporated into reality.

My point is, King Ghidorah is something that is even less plausible of a creature than Godzilla or M.U.T.O. It's hard to sell the idea that something like that evolved on Earth. There's always the idea of making him the result of fusion or mutation, but even that devolves into over-explanation and sciencey mumbo-jumbo. Legendary has shown that they want to stay away from the mutation angle with their monsters' origins, so the same should go with King Ghidorah. Gareth Edwards made use of the concept of the mystery of Earth's own oceans. We have yet to fully see the depths of our oceans or what lies beneath them, as well as what lies buried deep under the Earth. As the movie would have it, Godzilla and the M.U.T.O.s are what lay beneath the surface. As deep as Earth's oceans are, outer space is virtually limitless and beyond human comprehension. We know that at least microscopic life exists on other planets, and we know that other planets seemingly capable of supporting life exist in the universe. Who's to say that somehow, somewhere, a three-headed reptile with wings couldn't evolve and through some cosmic phenomenon end up on Earth? Such a scenario is highly unlikely in reality, but after the events that happened in Godzilla, humanity should see that there is more to reality than they know. King Ghidorah evolving in some far reach of the galaxy in non-Earth conditions and arriving on Earth through some means is no less realistic than it somehow evolving on Earth and remaining unknown for ages, let alone three creatures somehow fusing together into King Ghidorah.

Is making King Ghidorah an alien the best approach? Maybe not. Is it unrealistic? Yes, just as the very existence of Godzilla and the M.U.T.O.s is. Can it be handled in a way that fits with this new universe and is grounded and serious? I believe so. I could be dead wrong, but at least I gave reasoning and justification for my view on the matter.