King Ghidorah (GtTHM)

King Ghidorah (キングギドラ, 'Kingu Gidora') is a three headed dragon featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films. King Ghidorah is the most powerful monster in the Godzilla franchise. He is often considered Godzilla's archenemy. Usually, King Ghidorah is so destructive and powerful, that Godzilla is often required to team-up with another monster, even several monsters, before engaging the three-headed dragon of terror and destruction in battle. One exception to this theme occurred in the 1991 film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, which included an extra powerful Godzilla defeating King Ghidorah, as well as severing King Ghidorah's middle head. Despite this setback, however, King Ghidorah is one of the few monsters who is more than a match for Godzilla under most circumstances, though there have been other monsters such as Hedorah, Destoroyah, SpaceGodzilla, and MechaGodzilla 2 who have been equally formidable opponents for Godzilla. King Ghidorah is also one of the monsters that are most often mind controlled; it acts completely autonomously in three movies, in other appearances being controlled for most of its screen time by aliens.

History
Created as an opponent for Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra in 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, King Ghidorah is a golden dragon-like space monster with two legs, three heads on long necks, bat-like wings, and two tails. It was said to be 100 meters tall with a 150-meter wingspan weighs 30,000 metric tons in the Showa era. King Ghidorah was brought to life on the movie screen by a stunt actor inside an elaborate three-piece costume, with a team of puppeteers to control the beast's many appendages. Its alarming shrieks — a different ringing pitch for each of its heads — are among the genre's most recognizable sound effects. Its design is due to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya based on a minimal description in the script: "It has three heads, two tails, and a voice like a bell."

In recent films, King Ghidorah has undergone several revisions to its origin and appearance — for instance, a 150-meter tall irradiated triplet of genetically-engineered pets with a Rodan-like cackle, called Dorats in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and a 49-meter-tall guardian monster in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack — and has been realized via CGI as well as suitmation.

Showa
King Ghidorah was created by the Garogans and was given to the Xiliens, who sent King Ghidorah to Earth to weaken it's forces and take it over without any trouble. But the Xiliens did not know of Earth's Monsters. King Ghidorah was destined to be given to different alien races, losing his history on the way.

Initially, King Ghidorah was said to have come from outer space, an ancient evil responsible for destroying civilizations on many planets, including Venus (Mars in the English dub), as well as the planets themselves. Arriving on Earth in a magnetic meteorite, King Ghidorah devastated much of the Japanese countryside before being repelled by the monstrous trio, Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra. In the follow-up movie, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, it was revealed to be a mind-controlled pawn of beings from Planet X, a newly discovered planet in Jupiter's umbra, who called it "Monster Zero". These "Xilians" coveted Earth's water resources and took control of Godzilla and Rodan in an attempt to conquer Earth. However, the human characters intervened by freeing the monsters, and after a fight with Godzilla and Rodan, King Ghidorah flew back into space. While generally accepted as a victory for Godzilla and Rodan, some have argued that King Ghidorah actually won the encounter and left of his own accord, maybe because he was too injured to continue attacking Earth. Some have looked to the fact that in the next film Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Godzilla is found on an island supposedly dead but other fans say that Godzilla is recovering or sleeping.

He made two more appearances in the Shōwa Series, both times as an agent of alien invaders. In Destroy All Monsters, controlled by the Kilaaks, he fought and was seemingly killed by the combined might of ten of Earth's monsters, however, he reappears in Godzilla vs. Gigan, as one of the monsters controlled by the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, and an ally of Gigan in a battle against Godzilla and Anguirus. It should be noted, though, that Destroy All Monsters was set in the year 1999, while Godzilla vs. Gigan is to all appearances set in the early 1970s.

King Ghidorah also appeared in two episodes of the tokusatsu superhero TV series, Zone Fighter. He appeared in two back-to-back episodes, and was one of the few monsters to survive his encounter with Zone Fighter.

Heisei
The monster was revamped for 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. This time beefed up to 140 meters height (492.125984 feet). Time-travelers from the 23rd century called "Futurians" released three genetically-engineered Dorats onto Lagos Island, the location at which a Godzillasaurus was believed to be exposed to radiation from hydrogen bomb testing and become Godzilla. Instead, the irradiated Dorats fused into King Ghidorah, which the Futurians then used to devastate present-day (1992) Japan. The marauder was defeated by a strengthened Godzilla; this newer Godzilla was larger and more powerful than ever before owing to an encounter with a modern nuclear submarine. Even so, King Ghidorah appeared to be winning the battle until its controlling computer was sabotaged. Godzilla recovered and blasted off the monster's middle head. King Ghidorah fell into the ocean, where he remained comatose for hundreds of years.

Mecha-King Ghidorah

 * Main article: Mecha-King Ghidorah

The Futurian Emi Kano recovered the beast in 2204 and, from its body and futuristic technology, created the cyborg Mecha-King Ghidorah (メカキングギドラ, Meka Kingu Gidora), equipped with solar-paneled wings, an entirely mechanical middle head, and several devices specifically designed for combat with Godzilla. This incarnation managed to stun Godzilla with its Capture Cables, grasp it with the giant Machine Hand, and carry it out to sea. Godzilla finally blasted the monster at point-blank range, crippling it, and both plummeted into the water. Godzilla would return the following year (Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth), but King Ghidorah would not appear again in the Heisei series. The cybernetic remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah, however, would later be studied by the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (U.N.G.C.C.) and the technology used to design and construct MechaGodzilla 2 (Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2) and later Moguera (Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla).

Godzilla Island
In Episode 6-15, the Xilien Zaguresu controls the monsters into fighting against each other and sends King Ghidorah to. The humans break the mind-control, but most are too injured to continue fighting. Godzilla and Rodan battle King Ghidorah and all three monsters are knocked off the cliff. King Ghidorah lay at the bottom of the ocean, but Zaguresu zapped him with her beam and revived him. He battled furiously against Godzilla, who's atomic ray did nothing. Godzilla finally went down, but Torema unleashed a pyshic wave that knocked King Ghidorah back. Godzilla fired his ray again, and this time King Ghidorah could feel it. She eventually weakens from an attack from Zaguresu earlier and King Ghidorah continues his fight with Godzilla. Godzilla eventually gains the upper hand, biting one of King Ghidorah's necks. King Ghidorah tries to fly away but Godzilla bites on King Ghidorah's leg. King Ghidorah uses all of his strength to free himself, even lifting Godzilla into the air, and eventually breaks free and flies away.

Millennium
King Ghidorah appeared as a protector of japan in the third film of the Millennium Series, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. King Ghidorah adopted yet another origin for this film, as one of three legendary guardians of the Japanese isles, similar to the eight-headed dragon Yamata no Orochi of Japanese mythology. In fact, King Ghidorah is said to be underdeveloped, awakened from hibernation before it could grow all eight of its heads. Godzilla again attacks Japan and is repelled by the combined might of the guardian monsters, Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, and the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Despite killing all three guardian monsters and decimating the JSDF, the spirits of the three Guardians entered Godzilla's body, stunning him long enough to allow General Tachibana to burrow his way out of Godzilla after internally firing a D-03 missile, an explosive drill. This eventually destroyed him when he tried to use his atomic beam again after it burst out the inflicted hole in his shoulder and finally caused Godzilla to vaporize himself from within. This film was the first time that King Ghidorah was depicted as a hero, instead than a villain. It was also the first time that King Ghidorah was physically portrayed as being smaller than Godzilla.

Video Game Appearances
King Ghidorah (often also as Mecha-King Ghidorah) has appeared in several Godzilla video games:
 * Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
 * Super Godzilla (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla: Battle Legends (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla Giant Monster March (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla: Domination (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla: Save the Earth (also "Mecha")
 * Godzilla: Unleashed (also "Mecha")

Godzilla Unleashed Bio
Height:120 meters Weight:80,000 tons

"If Gigan is the hammer of the Vortaak invasion forces, then King Ghidorah is the anvil. King Ghidorah is the most physically powerful monster in the universe, and blends immense size, incredible strength, and near invulnerability into a unified engine of monstrous destruction. The Vortaak often hesitate to deploy King Ghidorah at all, lest he demolish their enemies and leave nothing to subjugate. King Ghidorah is at home in the vacuum of space, and travels between planets under his own power. King Ghidorah's wings allow him to fly in Earth's atmosphere, though his great mass hinders his aerial mobility. He naturally generates intense electrical energy that he unleashes as a powerful Triple Gravity Beam from his three heads. Despite all this, King Ghidorah's greatest ability is his asset to withstand damage-all known forms of attack splinter against his thick golden scales."

Godzilla Unleashed stats 
 * Attack : 88 %
 * Defense : 88 %
 * Speed : 38 %
 * Weapon : 75 %

Abilities
King Ghidorah has had a number of changes made to himself over the years, but most of his traditional battle characteristics have remained the same. His different forms in the different movies have their own abilities.
 * King Ghidorah flies at the speed of Mach 3.
 * King Ghidorah is able to fire Lightning Beams, which are called Gravity beams, from his mouths.
 * King Ghidorah is able to create hurricane winds from his wings.
 * King Ghidorah uses his necks to constrict an opponent.

Other assorted abilities
King Ghidorah, in the Showa series, had the ability to generate what appeared to be magnetic fields, but what were stated to not be, and instead be a "mysterious pulling power". While it was never stated directly what purpose they served, it was stated that they were somehow connected to its powers. It seems possible that it used them as a form of levitation. In the Game Boy Advance video game Godzilla: Domination, the space monster King Ghidorah has two new, never-before-seen fighting abilities: first, the ability to emit devastating magnetic beams from his mouth, and second, the ability to produce a powerful magnetic pull around him which will draw nearby monsters closer and injure them. King Ghidorah is able to maintain the presence of his magnetic pull for roughly ten seconds before halting the attack and needing to recharge in order to reuse the attack.

Cultural References

 * King Ghidorah appears four times in Courage the Cowardly Dog, notably two episodes when LeQuack turns on a TV with King Ghidorah on it, and shoots fire from the TV. Another time is when Courage opens a door and King Ghidorah is behind it giving a loud roar. Both clips were from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.
 * In Independence Day, a young boy is seen playing with a King Ghidorah toy.
 * In Growing Up Creepie, King Ghidorah was seen in a drive through movie screen, the clip was also from Invasion Of Astro Monster.
 * In Tuff Puppy, Dudley puppy turned into a giant, grew 3 heads, and was able to breath fire. This shows a cultural reference from Nickelodeon, although the roar was not the same.
 * In the Cartoon Network television show M.A.D. there's a skit involving the Jonas brothers where a fan sends them a letter asking how they stay so close they reply by saying they are a giant three headed monster and go on attacking a city.
 * In the anime series Shinzo, a similar monster named Grandorah was the antagonist in a few episodes.
 * King Ghidorah appeared briefly in a Crest commercial.
 * King Ghidorah was offered to Tristar to oppose Godzilla in the 1998 American Film, but the price they offered was too high, so it was declined by Tristar.

Trivia

 * King Ghidorah can be considered the primary antagonist of the Godzilla franchise due both to his popularity and his film count of 7.
 * King Ghidorah consistently ranks as viewers' favorite monster in the Godzilla films, 2nd to Godzilla. This fame, coupled with the unimpressive box office run of Godzilla vs. Biollante, inspired Kazuki Omori to revive King Ghidorah for the 1991 film.
 * King Ghidorah in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is the tallest monster in the Heisei Godzilla Series compared to Biollante, MechaGodzilla 2, SpaceGodzilla and Destroyah, who are all 120 meters.
 * King Ghidorah's middle head is shorter than the other two.
 * King Ghidorah is one of few monsters to appear in all 3 series, the others being Mothra, Rodan, MechaGodzilla, Godzilla's son & of course, Godzilla.
 * King Ghidorah is considered to be the strongest out of all of Godzilla's enemies and might possibly be just as strong or even stronger than Godzilla due to the fact that Godzilla always has help from other monsters or humans interfering with control over King Ghidorah.
 * There's a Pokemon named Hydreigon that resembles King Ghidorah.
 * For unknown reasons, King Ghidorah was referred to as either "Ghidrah" or "Ghidorah" in the American versions of his first three movies, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster and Destroy All Monsters, where as their original Japanese versions referred to him as "King Ghidorah". He wasn't referred to as "King Ghidorah" in an American version of one of his movies until Godzilla vs. Gigan and once the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy came out, the word "Ghidorah" has changed its meaning, it is no longer an alias for King Ghidorah, it now means a species of space monsters, as there have been other Ghidorahs appearing in some of Toho's movies ever since the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, Desghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra, Grand Ghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra III and Keizer Ghidorah from Godzilla: Final Wars.