King Ghidorah (MonsterVerse)

"Ghidorah, the One who is Many."

- Ilene Chen (Godzilla: King of the Monsters)



The King Ghidorah キングギドラ (Kingu Gidora) of the MonsterVerse, also dubbed Monster Zero and Titanus Ghidorah, is a giant three-headed dragon  created by Legendary Pictures that appears in the Legendary's  2019 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as one of the two primary antagonists.

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
Like most of his past incarnations, Ghidorah is larger than Godzilla, and each of his neck has a 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 much 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 has 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 yellow whenever he charges up or fire his gravity beams.Ghidorah's tongues is forked tongues like snakes.

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 jarring roar a little similar to his GMK incarntation but much more intense and not have any trace of tinkling sounds .The unique point of this incarntation's roar is sometime Ghidorah's heads will roar one by one continuously 3 times.

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.

Each of Ghidorah’s head has a distinct personality. The middle head appears to be the leader, being the most intelligent, dominant one of the three, and seems to be the most genuinely malicious and malevolent among the heads. The right head is the middle one's loyal and obedient follower, and is also the most irritable and aggressive of them, as well as displaying a sense of combat pragmatism in battle. The left head seems to be the least intelligent of the heads, always easily distracted and doing its own thing, often to the frustration of the middle head who sometimes has to forcibly get its companion back on task.

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 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 The MonsterVerse version of King Ghidorah returns the character to its original roots as a villainous extraterrestrial life form. According to information recorded from ancient mythological texts by Ilene Chen, King Ghidorah arrived on Earth during the planet's primordial ages. An outlier amongst Earth's giant monsters, it quickly established itself as a rival alpha to Godzilla. Numerous mythological deities such as the Hydra from Greek mythology and the Rainbow Serpent of the Aboriginal Australian religion are credited as misremembered encounters with Ghidorah by ancient civilizations.

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
Ghidorah is first seen frozen in Antarctic ice at the beginning, with eco-terrorist organization leader Alan Jonah and rogue Monarch agent Dr. Emma Russell preparing to free him with explosives. Despite Monarch's protests, the charges are set off, awakening the dormant Titan. Upon awakening, Ghidorah wastes no time in brutally slaughtering the human forces on the ground, however his rampage is halted by the sudden arrival of Godzilla, who breaks out from beneath the ice and faces him. Ghidorah seethes in anger at the sight of his old rival. The two Titans roar out challenges to one another before engaging in battle, with Ghidorah gaining the upper hand. However, he quickly disappears into a storm cloud and is lost to radar tracking.

Ghidorah later reappears near Mexico, shortly after the Titan, Rodan, is freed from his volcanic nest. Monarch attempts to goad the two monsters into fighting each other, but Ghidorah easily defeats Rodan by knocking him into the ocean. He proceeds to attack the Monarch crew, but Godzilla once again arrives to fight him off. This time, Godzilla dominates the fight due to his aquatic nature, pulling Ghidorah down beneath the waves. Desperate and left with no options, the military is forced to detonate the Oxygen Destroyer, seemingly killing them both. However, it's revealed that Ghidorah, who had lost his left head in the fight, had actually survived, and manages to fly away. The wounded Ghidorah flies to Rodan's volcano, where he regenerates his missing head. He then calls out to the other Titans around the world, Rodan included, who all bow before him as their new alpha. The Monarch scientists conclude that Ghidorah is actually an extraterrestrial, who seeks to destroy all life on Earth and terraform the planet more to his liking. Realizing they need Godzilla more than ever, Dr. Serizawa sacrifices himself to detonate a bomb to bring Godzilla back to full strength.

Godzilla challenges Ghidorah once more in Boston, where he tag-teams with Mothra to take down the alien invader. However, Ghidorah calls upon Rodan to distract Mothra, while he takes on Godzilla himself. The battle is at first a stalemate, but Ghidorah manages to beat down Godzilla despite taking a massive pummeling himself. He carries Godzilla into the sky and drops him from thousands of feet, hoping to kill his old rival for good. After slamming into the ground, Godzilla lies defenseless. Mothra, who is greviously injured from her fight with Rodan, attempts to defend him, but is killed by Ghidorah's gravity beams. As she dies, however, she releases a cloud of energy, which Godzilla absorbs and begins to glow orange. Seemingly realizing the threat posed by this energy, Ghidorah grapples Godzilla and begins draining his power from him. However, a repentant Emma Russell uses the Orca to distract Ghidorah, who then chases her into the city and mortally injures her with his gravity beams. As she dies, she whispers, "Long live the king.". The few moments were enough for Godzilla to recover, who then enters the scene supercharged and glowing like fire. In his boosted state, Ghidorah is no match for him. He lets out two thermonuclear pulses, the first of which incinerates his wings, and the second which destroys his two side heads. The remaining center head struggles vainly, but Godzilla steps his foot onto the fallen Ghidorah's chest, and releases a final thermonuclear pulse that obliterates the rest of Ghidorah's body. After the chaos had died down, Godzilla rises from the rubble with Ghidorah's center head dangling from his mouth, still frantically struggling. Godzilla fires his atomic breath through Ghidorah's neck, incinerating it, effectively killing the evil Titan for good.

In a post credits scene, it's revealed that Ghidorah's severed head, lost in the battle in Mexico, has been recovered by fishermen from the ocean. Alan Jonah, seeing potential use for it, purchases it from a trader.

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 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, including the anti-Titan Oxygen Destroyer. 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. However, even Ghidorah could not withstand the thermonuclear pulses released by Godzilla in his burning form, which easily melted away his wings and heads within seconds.

Energy Drain
Ghidorah has shown the ability to bite down onto power-lines and add the power to himself, significantly boosting his strength. He is also able to siphon the life force of his opponents through his bite, attempting to do so to Godzilla during their fight in Boston before being drawn away by the ORCA.

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

Gravity Beams
Ghidorah can shoot gravity beams (concentrated beams of electricity) 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 aircraft, it can deals considerable damage to a when got hit directly .Mothra after taken a direct hit by gravity beams was died ,and was forced to reverse to her egg form for regenerate.

Hurricane Winds
Ghidorah has hyper-tensile muscle tendons in his wings that are 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 like the alpha or the elder one, while the left and right heads are more akin to its lackeys or little brothers.

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

Regeneration
Ghidorah is able to regenerate one of the three heads that was decapitated by Godzilla almost instantaneously.

Speed
Each of Ghidorah's heads are very nimble and quick, able to lash out and quickly strike a target such as Godzilla, similar to a snake lashing out. When flying, his top speed can reach up to.

Strength and Combat
Ghidorah is able to use his heads, talons, wings, and tail in battle. He is able to lift Godzilla high into the air before dropping him into the ground.

Ghidorah's fighting style is similar to a cobra's attacks, when Ghidorah fought against Godzilla in Boston, he attacked Godzilla  with three heads almost at the same time , the strike was so fast  that Godzilla did not have any chance to guard .The middle head gone for Godzilla's neck and the side heads locked Godzilla's arms.Ghidorah's necks is long and extremely strong, he can tied Godzzila up by using his necks and drain Godzilla atomic energy regarless Godzilla tried to resist.

Ghidorah's wing can be use like shields as well.He used his wing to block missiles and bullets in the fight at the Antarctica and he tried to block Godzilla's thermonuclear pulses in the final fight but the attack was too hot and strong, it burnt his wings.

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. Both incarnations of King Ghidorah have bird-like with three large claws and a smaller fourth digit, and wings with phalanges that can be folded at side. They also possesse electrical abilities in addition traditional Gravity Beams.
 * Ghidorah to battle Godzilla underwater, an idea was originally introduced to the series within Kaneko's GMK, also occurs within the plot of King of the Monsters. In both films, a father in a submarine interrupt the battle and the pilot accidentally attacked a wrong target with a special weapon.
 * Shusuke Kaneko pointed multiple similarities between his GMK and King of the Monsters including "King Ghidorah in ice" and "a father in a submarine".
 * 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."
 * Several features of this King Ghidorah could have been inspired by Smaug the Golden from the live-action film trilogy Hobbit series sespecially for fold-able wings that can be used as front limbs for walk, facial structures, menacing facial expressions, and glowth of throats when to use breath attacks. Additionally, both Smaug and this King Ghidorah were portrayed by motion captures.
 * Weta Digital Workshop participated in CGI effects for both film series. The studio is known for their innovational introducing of the motion capture into live-action films, and Andy Serkis, known for his play with motion capture of Gollum in the Lord of the Ring and the Hobbit trilogies, later played both King Kong in the 2005 film and Godzilla in 2014; this career is the second case after Haruo Nakajima as he played Godzilla in Showa period and King Kong in King Kong Escapes.
 * Dragons from the 2002 film Reign of Fire share similarities on facial structures with this King Ghidorah. The male dragon from the Reign of Fire and the middle head of this King Ghidorah have more curved horns,and both play the "alpha" role while female dragons from the Reign of Fire and the other heads of this King Ghidorah possess more linear horns and their heads are less built than their "alphas".
 * This is the fourth incarnation of King Ghidorah to be a space monster.

Films

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

Comics

 * Godzilla: Aftershock (monitor screen)