Bagan is an ancient super kaiju created by Toho that made his official debut in the 1993 Godzilla game, Super Godzilla.
While Bagan has never made an onscreen appearance, he is particularly well-known for his numerous planned but ultimately scrapped film roles. The first proposed appearance of Bagan was Resurrection of Godzilla, a film proposed by Tomoyuki Tanaka in 1980 as a revival of the Godzilla franchise, which was replaced with The Return of Godzilla. This version of Bagan was an ancient shapeshifting god monster that took three different forms: the dragon-like Sacred Dragon Beast, the ape-like Sacred Monkey Beast, and the fish-like Sacred Water Beast. In the later 1983 revision of this proposal, Bagan eventually transformed into a huge totem-like amalgamation of all three forms, only to be defeated by Godzilla.
Another version of Bagan was proposed for the film Mothra vs. Bagan, a film starring Mothra that would have been set in the same universe as the Heisei Godzilla films. This Bagan was an ancient demonic beast that was sealed away in the Himalayas in ancient times, only to be reawakened in the modern day by global warming. Bagan would have fought Mothra in a final confrontation in Bangkok, being defeated by the combined efforts of Mothra and her larva. In the first version of the film, similarly to Resurrection of Godzilla, Bagan would have had three forms: the Spirit God Beast, Dragon God Beast, and Demon God Beast forms. Later it was decided for Bagan to only have a single form, however. This same version of Bagan was planned to go on to face Godzilla in the third entry of the Heisei series, Godzilla 3. When Mothra vs. Bagan was scrapped, this project was reworked into Godzilla vs. Bagan, which was itself eventually replaced with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Bagan was potentially considered for another film, also titled Godzilla vs. Bagan, which according to Takao Okawara was an early version of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and finally he was considered for Yamato Takeru II, an unmade sequel to Toho's 1994 fantasy film Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon. Though all of Bagan's film appearances were scrapped, he was featured as the final boss in the 1993 Super Nintendo game Super Godzilla, and also made an appearance in Godzilla Movie Studio Tour.
Bagan is set to finally make his on-screen debut in a direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray Godziban short in which he will battle Mothra.
Bagan is often referred to as being a mythical ancient monster, often said to be based on Chinese legends. His 1980 and 1983 incarnations are said simply to be legendary, magical Chinese beasts.
In Mothra vs. Bagan, he was an ancient creature that destroyed the world's forests. He was sealed away in the Himalayas long ago by a clan of Mothras, but was unleashed in modern times due to global warming. Godzilla 3 revealed that Bagan may have been created by aliens responsible for the ruins of the Nazca civilization in Peru. The Godzilla vs. Bagan (1991) and Godzilla vs. Bagan (1995) incarnations did not retain the extraterrestrial roots proposed in Godzilla 3, simply keeping Bagan an ancient creature.
The Super Godzilla Bagan was born in "super-ancient China" and brought through time from the past to the present day of 199X by unnamed aliens in an attempt to use him to conquer Earth. Finally, they enhanced Bagan's already huge power by splicing both Godzilla and King Ghidorah's cells into him, through a process influenced by the research of Anti-Monster Defense Forces member and G-cells expert Professor Ogata.
The first version of Bagan was a shapeshifter. He started out as an ape-like creature but became a dragon-like creature after being wounded. He later dove into the water and became a sea monster-like creature with a dragon-like creature attached to the top of his body. After Godzilla was awakened by nuclear dumping in the Pacific and drawn to Japan in search of more nuclear fuel, he fought and defeated Bagan.
The 1983 Bagan is nearly identical to the original, though with some major differences. Each time he changed form, he healed himself. Also, when he ran into Godzilla, finding that he could not defeat him in any single form, he transformed into a towering combination of his three forms. Bagan managed to temporarily defeat Godzilla in this stage, though he soon found out that he could no longer change shape, meaning he could no longer heal himself. This allowed a Godzilla revitalized by nuclear energy to rise back up and defeat the exhausted Bagan, who would die out at sea.
Bagan is covered in webbing by Mothra's larva in a storyboard for the second version of Mothra vs. Bagan
Set free from the frozen tomb in the Himalayas he was sealed away in long ago by a clan of Mothras, due to global warming, Bagan began his savage attack against humanity. The legendary beast destroyed remote villages and the city of Calcutta, but was eventually confronted by Mothra. As the fight between the two monsters brought them to Bangkok, Mothra's egg hatched, the larva arrived to help its parent, and with their combined powers they were able to end Bagan's reign of terror. A mortally wounded Mothra then carried Bagan's unconscious body out to sea and sealed him away again before perishing herself.
The same 1990 Bagan was planned to go on to face Godzilla in the third entry of the Heisei series, Godzilla 3. It would reveal that Bagan was allegedly created by aliens who were also responsible for the ruins of the Nazca civilization in Peru.
Kazuki Omori briefly considered adding Bagan to this film, though the movie never made it too far into production.
The scrapped Bagan was to face Godzilla in one of Omori's earliest scripts for a Godzilla vs. Biollante sequel. However, with King Ghidorah turning out to be one of the most popular monsters in polls among Japanese audiences and Toho's 60th anniversary rapidly approaching, the idea was dropped.
According to Takao Okawara, Bagan may have been planned for another film titled Godzilla vs. Bagan in 1995. Okawara stated that while Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was being planned, he had heard about a film titled Godzilla vs. Bagan, but did not know any details about the plot. Rumors at the time suggested the story would be very much like Godzilla vs. Giant Monster Varan—in which Varan is described as being a "harbinger for the end of the world," awakening in 1999 and dead set on ending all life, but ends up being defeated by Godzilla and Little Godzilla - though not set in the future. Bagan took the place of Varan, with Mothra and the Gotengo from Atragon set to appear as well.
According to the book Heisei Godzilla Perfection, Bagan was to play a role in the unmade sequel to the 1994 fantasy film Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon, alongside Yamata no Orochi. He was also considered by Koichi Kawakita to make an appearance in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy.
In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,
And he is voiced by Clancy Brown in the English dub and will be voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese dub.