Godzilla

Godzilla is a daikaiju who first appeared in the 1954 Toho film, Godzilla.

The primary focus of his franchise, Godzilla is typically depicted as a giant prehistoric creature awakened or mutated by the advent of the nuclear age. For the early part of the Showa series of films, he was depicted as a villainous and destructive force of nature, punishing humankind for its use of nuclear weapons, which disturbed and burned him. Over the remainder of the series, Godzilla gradually developed into a heroic character, defending Japan by fending off other more malevolent creatures such as King Ghidorah, many of them either extraterrestrial or controlled by extraterrestrials. When Toho rebooted the franchise in 1984 with The Return of Godzilla, ignoring every film in the series except the original, Godzilla became a menace to Japan and the world once more. The Heisei series saw Godzilla battle some of his foes from the Showa era, such as Mothra and Mechagodzilla, as well as new monsters like Biollante and Destoroyah. Despite his destructive tendencies, this Godzilla incidentally saved humanity from greater evils on occasion. The Heisei series was followed by the Millennium series, an anthology in which nearly every film took place in its own continuity, often connected in some way to the original 1954 film. Godzilla was often the villain in these films, though in some he was instead an anti-hero similar to the Heisei series. Twelve years after the end of the Millennium series, Toho rebooted the franchise again with Shin Godzilla, a completely standalone film in which Godzilla appeared for the first time in modern-day Japan. This Godzilla was a bizarre new species spawned by the dumping of nuclear waste in Tokyo Bay in the 1950s, with the capacity to adapt to any situation by spontaneously mutating his own DNA. Toho introduced a new continuity the following year with the GODZILLA anime trilogy, in which Godzilla successfully drove humanity from the Earth in 2048 and reshaped the planet in his own image over the next 20,000 years. When refugees from the Aratrum returned to reclaim the planet, they were faced with a Godzilla that had continuously grown and evolved to reach a height of over 300 meters. Most recently, Godzilla appeared in the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One, yet another reboot.

Outside of the 33 films produced by Toho, Godzilla has starred in five Hollywood adaptations. The first, GODZILLA, was produced by TriStar Pictures in 1998and became controversial for its radical reinterpretation of the character, which was now an iguana mutated by nuclear testing rather than a prehistoric reptile. The TriStar Godzilla also lacked some of the character's signature traits, such as his atomic breath and invulnerability to military weapons, and gained the ability to asexually reproduce. The second Hollywood adaptation of the franchise, Godzilla, was produced in 2014 by Legendary Pictures, and featured a more traditional interpretation of the titular monster. This film marked the beginning of the Monsterverse, a shared universe of giant monster films produced by Legendary and distributed by Warner Bros., focusing on Godzilla and King Kong. He has since starred in three more Monsterverse films, Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, Godzilla vs. Kong in 2021, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in 2024, and appeared in the 2023 Monsterverse television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

In the original 1954 Godzilla, it is proposed that Godzilla was a type of prehistoric intermediary reptile related to both land and sea reptiles that slept deep underwater for millions of years feeding on deep-sea organisms before being disturbed and enhanced by an American hydrogen bomb test. Dr. Yamane proposes that the original Godzilla might have been living among others of his kind prior to the detonation, but the H-bomb completely destroyed his home and drew him out. This idea is supported by official artwork of the 1954 Godzilla living with other Godzillas underwater before a huge explosion destroys his habitat, killing his companions and burning and enraging Godzilla, and drawing him to the surface. After the original Godzilla is killed, Yamane proposes that other Godzillas may have survived to the present day and could be awakened by future nuclear tests. This explains how in the various continuities that encompass the series, multiple individual Godzillas have appeared. In the continuity of the Showa era, a second Godzilla appeared only a year later alongside Anguirus, and proceeded to be featured in the remaining films until Terror of Mechagodzilla.

In the Heisei era, it is theorized that Godzilla was a type of dinosaur called a Godzillasaurus that had survived the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period living on Lagos Island that was mutated by nuclear tests performed on a nearby island called Rongerik in the 1950s. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the Futurians took the Godzillasaurus away from Lagos Island and placed him frozen in the Bering Sea, hoping to prevent his creation, only for him to actually become Godzilla anyway by being mutated by a nuclear sub crash. Godzilla was then awakened by a volcanic eruption in 1985 and turned his sights on Japan. It is later clarified that the first Godzilla which attacked Tokyo in 1954 was a separate individual from this Godzilla, and still was awakened by the H-bomb test in 1954 and attacked Tokyo before being killed by the Oxygen Destroyer.

In Godzilla: Awakening, the prequel to Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla was explained to be an ancient life form from the Permian period, having survived various extinction events by consuming geothermal radiation in a hibernation-like state at the bottom of the sea. Godzilla was theorized by Ishiro Serizawa to have been the alpha predator of his ecosystem and prevented the other species from overpopulating and overrunning the world, acting as a force of nature that maintained balance. Godzilla's mysterious past is further explored in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Painted murals found by Monarch, including several on the walls of the sunken ruins of an entire city, depict Godzilla being worshipped by ancient civilizations as a god-like figure along with the other Titans. At one point, he possessed a symbiotic relationship with the benevolent lepidopteran Titan Mothra, and together, surrounded by human warriors, clashed with the malevolent King Ghidorah when he invaded Earth. Taking their battle to Antarctica, Godzilla eventually defeated Ghidorah and sealed him beneath the ice.

Godzilla's origin is greatly altered for the film Shin Godzilla. In this film, it is proposed that Godzilla is some kind of prehistoric sea creature that found itself surrounded by nuclear waste on the seafloor in the 1950s and rapidly adapted to withstand it. As the creature evolved and began feeding on radioactive material, it gradually grew over a period of 60 years before taking on a form able to come onto land. After coming ashore, the creature continued evolving and growing until it sprouted arms and began standing upright.

In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla is said to be the "end result of natural selection on Earth" and evolved from plant-based life to become the largest and most powerful creature on the planet.

The Godzilla series began with the Showa series, which ran from 1954 to 1975. Aside from the first 15 Godzilla films, the continuity of the Showa series includes various other kaiju films produced by Toho, including Rodan and Mothra. The Showa series is characterized by a loose sense of continuity, with most films only referring to the events of the film directly before them, as well as a lighter tone, save for the original Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again. It introduced some of Godzilla's most famous monster co-stars, including Anguirus, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla and his co-stars King Ghidorah and Gigan also made appearances in the television series Zone Fighter in 1973. This show is considered to be canonical with the Showa Godzilla films, set between the events of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Irradiated and driven from his underwater sanctuary by an American hydrogen bomb test, Godzilla began sinking ships in the waters off of Japan. He next came ashore on Odo Island during a typhoon, causing great destruction to the island's village. A fact-finding party led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane went to the island to investigate the damage, but came face-to-face with the monster when he revealed himself over a hill. The JSDF attacked the monster with depth charges, but they had little effect and Godzilla subsequently appeared in Tokyo Bay before coming ashore and destroying a section of Tokyo in a brief raid. The JSDF next erected a barricade of high-tension wires carrying 50,000 volts of electricity around the city to try and prevent Godzilla from entering, but the monster melted the pylons with a blast of superheated radioactive vapor from his mouth. With the JSDF's artillery useless against him, Godzilla rampaged through the heart of Tokyo, transforming the Japanese capital into a sea of fire. Godzilla returned to Tokyo Bay as fighter jets futilely launched missiles at him. Dr. Yamane's daughter Emiko and her fiancé Hideto Ogata attempted to convince her childhood friend, brilliant chemist Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, to use his experimental chemical weapon known as the Oxygen Destroyer to stop Godzilla. Despite his misgivings about revealing such a dangerous weapon to the world, Serizawa eventually agreed after witnessing the devastation in Tokyo. Serizawa and Ogata donned diving suits and located Godzilla resting at the bottom of Tokyo Bay, after which Ogata was lifted back to a boat and Serizawa activated the device. Seeing it working, Serizawa wished Emiko and Ogata happiness and severed his line to ensure the secret of his weapon died with Godzilla. Godzilla surfaced and roared defiantly at onlookers gathered on the boat before sinking beneath the bay to his death. Despite Godzilla's demise, Dr. Yamane warned that Godzilla was likely not the last of his kind, and that so long as nuclear testing continued, another Godzilla could appear

Dr. Yamane's warning came true less than a year after the first Godzilla's demise, as two fishery scout pilots sighted a second one locked in battle with the monster Anguirus on the remote Iwato Island. Yamane believed that both monsters had also been awakened by repeated hydrogen bomb testing, and that with Dr. Serizawa's death and the loss of the Oxygen Destroyer, there was no conceivable way to destroy them. At Yamane's suggestion, the city of Osaka enforced a blackout while flares were dropped in the waters outside of the city in order to exploit Godzilla's fury at sources of light and keep him from coming ashore. Unfortunately, an accident at a refinery triggered a chain reaction explosion that produced a huge fire and led both Godzilla and Anguirus into Osaka. The monsters resumed their duel, which devastated the city and reached Osaka Castle before Godzilla finally killed Anguirus. His enemy defeated, Godzilla calmed down and left Osaka, leaving it in a similar state to how his predecessor had left Tokyo a year before. However, he later began sinking fishing trawlers in the waters off of Hokkaido, prompting a search for him. When one of the scout pilots, Shoichi Tsukioka, spotted Godzilla coming ashore on the icy Kamiko Island, he alerted the JASDF, who bombarded the slopes of the island until Godzilla was buried in ice and trapped.

The Japanese government knew that Godzilla would not stay frozen forever, and approximately seven years later the chunk of ice he was trapped in broke off from Kamiko Island and drifted into warmer waters to the south, causing it to begin thawing. When the United Nations research submarine Seahawk crashed into the iceberg, Godzilla awakened and broke free, immediately attacking a Soviet military base before landing in Japan once again. Godzilla eventually encountered the giant ape monster King Kong, himself brought to Japan through a botched publicity stunt by the Pacific Pharmaceutical Company. Godzilla forced Kong to retreat with his atomic breath, then began making his way to Tokyo, escaping a pit trap set by the JSDF. Next, they placed a line of high-tension wires carrying 1 million volts of electricity around Tokyo as a last resort to stop him from reaching the city. This operation worked, convincing Godzilla to trek to Mount Fuji instead. After the JSDF subdued Kong in Tokyo, they opted to transport him to Fuji and force him and Godzilla to fight, hopefully to the death. Helicopters airlifted Kong to Mt. Fuji and dropped him onto Godzilla, causing the two to resume their battle. While Godzilla held the upper hand, lightning from a passing thunderstorm revitalized Kong and he turned the tide. After destroying Atami Castle, the monsters fell into Sagami Bay, with only Kong surfacing afterwards.

After a fierce typhoon caused severe flooding, washed Godzilla ashore in Japan, and buried him under the floodplain, he eventually surfaced and attacked the nearby city of Nagoya. As Godzilla began to approach the giant incubator Happy Enterprises had constructed around Mothra's egg, which the typhoon also brought to Japan, a group of Japanese citizens convinced Mothra to fly to Japan and fight Godzilla. Using the last of her strength, Mothra protected both her offspring and the country. Repeated blasts from Godzilla's atomic breath were too much for the aging Mothra, and she collapsed onto her egg and died. Godzilla continued on his way, eventually swimming to Iwa Island, where a teacher and her students were trapped. Mothra's twin larvae hatched from their egg and followed him to the island, working together to encase Godzilla in a silken cocoon. Blinded and barely able to move, he fell off of the island and into the sea below. Not long after, Godzilla resurfaced in Tokyo Bay and destroyed a cruise ship with his atomic breath before coming ashore in Yokohama. After seeing Rodan flying overhead, he followed the winged kaiju to Mount Fuji, where they engaged in a protracted battle. With the evil three-headed space monster King Ghidorah laying waste to Tokyo, the surviving Mothra larva attempted to convince Godzilla and Rodan to end their fight and help her drive off Ghidorah. Both monsters initially refused, but after seeing Mothra bravely take on Ghidorah by herself they decided to help her. Together, the three Earth monsters were able to defeat King Ghidorah and force him to retreat back to outer space.

When astronauts Kazuo Fuji and Glenn visited the newly-discovered Planet X, the native Xiliens informed them that they were constantly under attack by King Ghidorah, or "Monster Zero" as they called him, and requested permission to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan from humanity in the hope that they could once again defeat him. World leaders ultimately agreed, and Xilien UFOs abducted Godzilla from his sleep under Lake Myojin and brought him to Planet X along with Rodan. The two were immediately attacked by King Ghidorah, but worked together to force him to retreat. However, the Xiliens had double-crossed mankind; King Ghidorah was under their control the whole time. Now, they had control over Godzilla and Rodan too and unleashed all three monsters in a bid to conquer Earth. Fortunately, the JSDF used their newly-developed A-Cycle Light Ray Guns to sever the Xiliens' mind control over the monsters, with Tetsuo Torii's Lady Guard alarm being used to weaken the Xiliens so they could be defeated. Once Godzilla regained consciousness, he woke up Rodan and the two attacked King Ghidorah once again. After a short fight, Rodan carried Godzilla through the air and into Ghidorah, causing all three monsters to plummet into the ocean. King Ghidorah flew out of the water and back to outer space moments later, while Godzilla and Rodan were nowhere to be seen.

A group of castaways hiding in a cave on Letchi Island from members of the Red Bamboo, a terrorist organization, discovered Godzilla sleeping in a sea cave. With no other conceivable way to fight the terrorists, they made a makeshift lightning rod to awaken Godzilla. When a thunderstorm reached the island, lightning struck the rod and caused Godzilla to awaken and burst from the cave. As he approached the shoreline, he was challenged by Ebirah, the giant crustacean guarding the island's waters. The two initially threw boulders back and forth at each other before Godzilla finally charged into the water to fight his foe up close. While Ebirah held a decided advantage over Godzilla in the water, Godzilla was able to force him to retreat by superheating the water with his atomic breath, practically boiling Ebirah alive. Godzilla returned to Letchi Island and began resting on a hill, only to be attacked by the Giant Condor. Godzilla was able to quickly dispatch the creature with his atomic breath, but was next attacked by a fleet of Red Bamboo fighter jets. Godzilla destroyed them and retaliated by assaulting the Red Bamboo's base of operations, unknowingly arming the nuclear self-destruct countdown for the entire island. Godzilla approached the shore and was confronted by Ebirah once again. While Ebirah managed to drag Godzilla underwater, Godzilla was able to overpower him and bring them both above the surface, after which he tore off both of Ebirah's claws and forced him to flee. Godzilla witnessed Mothra fly overhead and followed her back onto the island, goading her into a fight. As Mothra was only there to rescue the castaways and the Infant Islanders the Red Bamboo had enslaved, she used her wing to knock Godzilla down before escaping with a net holding the captives. Godzilla then escaped the island just before it exploded and began swimming away.

A distress signal coming from an egg left by a member of his species drew Godzilla to Sollgel Island. He arrived just as three Kamacuras cornered the hatchling, Minilla. Godzilla quickly dispatched two of them, causing the third to flee. As Minilla grew, Godzilla decided to take him under his wing and train him to take up his mantle. Minilla accidentally awakened the island's native apex predator, the giant spider Kumonga, during a fight with the last Kamacuras, and Kumonga captured both creatures. Godzilla arrived to rescue his newly-adopted son just before Kumonga could kill him, and the father-son duo worked together to kill the giant spider. As the island began to freeze over as a result of weather controlling experiments carried out by a team of UN scientists, Godzilla attempted to leave the island, only to turn back to comfort Minilla after he had fallen over in the snow. The two monsters then went into hibernation together.

Godzilla, now living with Minilla and other kaiju on Monster Island, appeared in the dreams of young Ichiro Miki, who imagined traveling to the island and befriending Minilla. Ichiro and Minilla witnessed Godzilla fight and defeat Kamacuras, Ebirah, Kumonga, and the Giant Eagle. Godzilla called Minilla over to teach him how to fire his atomic breath. When Ichiro and Minilla devised a way to beat Minilla's bully Gabara, Godzilla arrived to congratulate his son. However, Gabara bit Godzilla on the leg out of spite, enraging him and prompting him to savagely beat Gabara into submission and force him to flee.

When the alien creature Hedorah arrived on Earth and began growing in size and power by feeding on manmade pollution, Godzilla confronted its Landing Stage at a port while it was feeding on a smokestack. The monsters fought, destroying the area in the process, before Hedorah fled back into the sea with Godzilla giving chase. Later, Godzilla headed to Fuji City to intercept Hedorah as it spread toxic sulfuric mist through the city in its Flying Stage. Hedorah suffocated Godzilla with a blast of this mist, leaving him gasping for air as the factories around him exploded as a result of chemical reactions caused by the mist. Godzilla followed Hedorah to Mt. Fuji, where it took on its final Perfect Stage, which dwarfed Godzilla himself. In this stage, Hedorah proved too much for Godzilla, horrifically wounding him and leaving him to die. The JSDF tried to dry Hedorah with a Giant Electrode, but the power failed. Fortunately, the wounded Godzilla powered it with his atomic breath. Hedorah's Flying Stage burst from its dried husk and tried to flee, but Godzilla used his atomic breath to take flight and chase it down. Godzilla overpowered Hedorah and dragged it back into range of the Electrode, drying it out once more and tearing it apart to ensure no moisture remained in its body. With Hedorah destroyed, Godzilla weakly returned to the ocean to recover.

After overhearing the playing of the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens' "action tapes" from his home on Monster Island and becoming aware of their nefarious plan, Godzilla instructed Anguirus to head to Japan to investigate. When the JSDF, unaware of his intentions, prevented Anguirus from landing, he returned to the island to ask Godzilla for assistance. Both monsters then headed to Tokyo together, where they were confronted by the Nebulans' pawns: Gigan and King Ghidorah. The duo were outmatched once Godzilla came within range of the lasers of the Nebulans' Godzilla Tower, but a group of humans sabotaged the aliens' base in the tower and caused it to explode. As Gigan and Ghidorah awaited orders from their defeated masters, Godzilla used this reprieve to regain his strength. Godzilla and Anguirus used their superior teamwork to overcome both Gigan and King Ghidorah and send them retreating back to space. Godzilla and his friend then returned to Monster Island together.

An underground nuclear test conducted at Asuka Island in the Aleutians triggered seismic aftershocks which reached Monster Island, tearing it apart. Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus were all caught in the seismic destruction of Monster Island, with Anguirus falling into a fissure. In retaliation for the damage caused by the nuclear test, the underground kingdom of Seatopia sent their guardian monster Megalon to destroy the surface world. The heroic robot Jet Jaguar flew to the ruined Monster Island to ask for Godzilla's help in stopping Megalon, and the King of Monsters obliged and began swimming to Japan. Learning of this, the Seatopians contacted the Nebulans to ask for Gigan's help against him. Jet Jaguar grew to giant size to stall Megalon and Gigan until Godzilla arrived. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar worked together to combat both villainous monsters until Gigan eventually retreated once the odds were no longer in his favor. Godzilla and his ally proceeded to beat up Megalon until the Seatopians recalled him and ended their invasion. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar shook hands, after which Godzilla returned to the sea and departed.

Godzilla befriended the Sakimori family, who were actually refugees from Planet Peaceland which was destroyed by the evil Garoga aliens. The Sakimoris fought to prevent the Garogas from visiting the same fate upon Earth, with Hikaru Sakimori having the ability to transform into the giant hero Zone Fighter to combat their legion of Terror-Beasts. Godzilla often came to Zone Fighter's aid, earning a reputation as the "Monster of Justice."

When a Fake Godzilla emerged from Mt. Fuji and began terrorizing the Japanese countryside, Anguirus surfaced from underground to call for the real Godzilla and alert him to the threat. The impostor savagely beat Anguirus and broke his jaw before the monster finally fled, then attacked Tokyo. Godzilla finally arrived to confront Fake Godzilla, revealing it as the robotic Mechagodzilla. The two monsters fought, with an explosion resulting from their beam attacks clashing in midair blasting Godzilla into Tokyo Bay and damaging Mechagodzilla's head controls. The Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens recalled Mechagodzilla to their base in Okinawa for repairs, while Godzilla came ashore on an island and allowed himself to be struck repeatedly by lightning in order to harness magnetic energy and turn it against his metallic foe. Godzilla later arrived in Okinawa for a rematch with Mechagodzilla, who was locked in battle with the guardian monster King Caesar. While the machine was more than a match for both monsters combined, Godzilla called upon his new magnetic powers to pull it out of the sky and grab it. He and King Caesar then pummeled the helpless machine before Godzilla tore off its head and disabled it. A chain reaction explosion started in the aliens' base caused Mechagodzilla to self-destruct, blasting Godzilla into the sea. However, he triumphantly resurfaced shortly thereafter before swimming away.

When the dinosaur monster Titanosaurus attacked Tokyo under the command of the deranged Dr. Shinzo Mafune, Godzilla arrived to confront him. Both monsters exchanged blows until Mafune, reacting to a soldier shooting his daughter Katsura, turned off his control device. The normally meek Titanosaurus withdrew, much to Godzilla's confusion. Titanosaurus later returned to destroy Tokyo, accompanied by the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens' rebuilt Mechagodzilla 2. Godzilla took on both monsters, but was outmatched and swiftly beaten unconscious and buried alive in a ravine. Fortunately, INTERPOL used a sonic wave oscillator to incapacitate Titanosaurus, with Godzilla emerging from his grave to deal with Mechagodzilla. Godzilla once again beheaded his mechanical duplicate, but this time Mechagodzilla had a laser-firing apparatus installed under its head which it used to blast Godzilla repeatedly. Katsura, now housing Mechagodzilla's controller inside her cybernetic body, sacrificed her life to shut it down, allowing Godzilla to destroy it once and for all. He then destroyed the aliens' fleeing UFOs and dispatched the helpless Titanosaurus before triumphantly returning to the sea.

By the end of the 20th century, humanity had contained Godzilla and the other monsters of Earth on Monsterland in the Ogasawara Islands. After the Kilaak aliens gassed the island and took control of its inhabitants, they sent Godzilla to attack New York City. He later appeared alongside Manda, Rodan, and Mothra to assault Tokyo. Next, they recalled him to the Mt. Fuji area to guard their base from a military assault with Rodan and Anguirus. The crew of the Moonlight SY-3 assaulted the Kilaaks' Moon base and destroyed their mind-control device, allowing humanity to give orders to the monsters from the Monsterland base instead. Godzilla led his fellow monsters in an assault on the Kilaaks' Mt. Fuji base, but they were confronted by the aliens' trump card: King Ghidorah. Working together primarily with Minilla, Anguirus, and Gorosaurus, Godzilla finally killed his arch-nemesis once and for all, with Mothra and Kumonga encasing his carcass in silk and webbing. The Kilaaks unleashed a burning UFO to destroy the humans' control device on Monsterland, but even without humanity's direction, Godzilla still recognized his enemy and destroyed the Kilaaks' base. He and his cohorts then returned to Monsterland to continue living in peace.

With the Godzilla series' on hiatus following the disappointing box office returns of 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, Hanna-Barbera, Toho, and Benedict Pictures collaborated to bring Godzilla to television screens in animated form for the first time. The animated series, simply titled Godzilla, began airing in the United States on NBC in 1978. Due to television's Standards and Practices policies at the time, the show was forced to abstain from showing Godzilla causing destruction, instead portraying him as a friendly and heroic monster akin to his depiction in the most recent films at the time. Godzilla was slightly redesigned, bearing the stereotypical green color he was often associated with outside of Japan, despite never being green in any of his film appearances up to that point. His blue atomic breath was also replaced with an orange fire breath, and he could also now fire red laser beams from his eyes. His trademark roar was absent as well, with actor Ted Cassidy providing the monster's vocalizations instead.

After the crew of the research boat Calico discovered Godzilla's young cousin Godzooky trapped in a coral reef and rescued him, they earned the friendship of Godzilla himself. As the Calicocrew traveled the world to investigate attacks by giant monsters, they gained the ability to call Godzilla to their aid whenever they were in danger.

The Heisei series marked Godzilla's return to the big screen after almost an entire decade's absence, as well as a transition between the reign of the Showa Emperor Hirohito to that of his son Akihito, now dubbed the Heisei Emperor. After several failed attempts to revive the Godzilla series, Toho finally produced the sixteenth entry in the franchise, The Return of Godzilla, in 1984. It was a reboot to the series, ignoring all previous films except for the original 1954 film. Despite being released during the Showa era (as the Heisei era did not begin until 1989), The Return of Godzilla is considered the first entry of the Heisei series, due to sharing continuity with all of the films in the Heisei series which succeeded it and the nine-year gap between it and the last Showa film, Terror of Mechagodzilla. The Heisei series lasted for seven films and ended with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995.

In 1984, 30 years after the appearance and subsequent destruction of the original Godzilla, a volcanic eruption at Daikoku Island awakened a second, larger, Godzilla. Not long after the eruption, this Godzilla attacked the fishing boat Yahata-Maru V. Any crew members not killed in Godzilla's initial attack were subsequently hunted down and killed by Shockirus, a mutated parasitic sea louse that had been feeding on him, save for the sole survivor, Hiroshi Okumura. Newspaper reporter Goro Maki found the derelict ship adrift at sea and rescued Okumura, who reported his story to the authorities. The Japanese government forcibly suppressed Okumura's story to avoid a panic. However, Godzilla attacked a Soviet nuclear submarine in order to feed on its atomic power, prompting the USSR to accuse the Americans of being behind the attack. With nuclear war on the horizon, the Japanese government revealed Godzilla's involvement in the attack to the world. Both the U.S. and USSR intended to test their nuclear arsenals against the King of the Monsters, but the Prime Minister convinced them to stand down. After attacking the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in order to feed on its reactor, Godzilla appeared in Tokyo Bay, annihilating the JSDF fleet assembled along the shore. He damaged the Soviet freighter Balashevo, covertly holding the control device for a nuclear attack satellite, as he swam through the bay, causing the satellite to arm automatically and launch a nuclear missile at Tokyo. Godzilla wandered through the city before being confronted by several N1-00 laser cannons and the advanced hovering warship Super X. The Super X managed to stall Godzilla's heart by firing several cadmium shells down his throat, knocking him unconscious. The American military launched a nuclear missile to intercept the misfired Soviet warhead, detonating it in the atmosphere above Tokyo. However, the radiation from the explosion rained down onto Godzilla, revitalizing him. Enraged, Godzilla destroyed the Super X, but Dr. Makoto Hayashida activated a magnetic transmitter to exploit Godzilla's homing instinct and lure him to Izu Oshima. Once Godzilla was lured to the rim of Mount Mihara's crater, explosive charges inside the volcano detonated, triggering a controlled eruption that caused him to plummet into the molten magma below, sealing him within the crater.

Five years later, increased seismic activity at Mt. Mihara prompted the JSDF to implement new measures to combat Godzilla should he escape. This included the engineering of Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB), a biological weapon designed to consume the nuclear energy that sustained Godzilla's metabolism and kill him. The rogue American genetic engineering corporation Bio-Major planted bombs at Mt. Mihara and threatened to detonate them unless the ANEB was handed over to them. However, the ransoming was botched by the interference of the Saradian agent known only as SSS9, who stole the ANEB for his government. With no one to defuse them, Bio-Major's bombs detonated on schedule, freeing Godzilla from Mt. Mihara. The JSDF deployed warships and the improved Super X2 to intercept Godzilla, but he defeated the resistance and made his way to Lake Ashi in response to the call of Biollante, a hybrid monster unintentionally created through Dr. Genichiro Shiragami's tampering with his cells. Biollante attacked Godzilla, who retaliated by burning her alive with his atomic breath. Biollante broke apart into spores of energy and escaped, while Godzilla returned to the sea. Anticipating Godzilla's next landing at Ise Bay, the JSDF deployed forces to meet him there, only for him to unexpectedly surface at Osaka Bay instead. The JSDF managed to recover the ANEB and mobilized to infect Godzilla with it as he moved through Osaka. The Super X2 bought the JSDF enough time to fire ANEB-loaded rockets at Godzilla, but the ANEB did not seem to affect him. The JSDF attempted to raise his temperature using MBT-MB92 Maser Cannons and the experimental M6000 T.C. System at Wakasa Bay in order to make the ANEB take effect, but Biollante arrived in an evolved form to take revenge on Godzilla, destroying the JSDFs' units in the process. Biollante's onslaught raised Godzilla's temperature until the ANEB caused him to collapse headfirst into the bay. The water lowered his temperature to the point he regained consciousness and returned to the sea, while Biollante broke apart once again and escaped to outer space.

While Godzilla had remained dormant in the Sea of Japan for three years due to his ANEB infection, time travelers from the year 2204 arrived in 1992 Japan and warned that he would soon return and completely destroy the country. To prevent this, they organized a mission to Lagos Island in 1944, where a Japanese army garrison had witnessed the dinosaur that would be exposed to the Castle Bravo H-bomb test 10 years later and become Godzilla. The Futurians teleported the Godzillasaurus to the bottom of the Bering Sea, but in his place secretly left behind three genetically-engineered creatures called Dorats which would be exposed to the H-bomb in his place, fusing them together into the monster King Ghidorah. The Futurians had lied about Godzilla's return, instead using the opportunity to create their own monster to destroy Japan in the past before it could become a corrupt world superpower by 2204. The Japanese government sent a nuclear submarine to the Bering Sea in a desperate attempt to transform the dinosaur into Godzilla so he could fight King Ghidorah, but were unaware that an earlier Soviet nuclear submarine crash in the Bering Sea had already mutated him in this altered timeline. Godzilla destroyed and fed on the submarine sent by Japan, making him bigger and stronger than ever before. The Futurians sent King Ghidorah to Hokkaido to intercept and kill Godzilla, while Futurian defector Emmy Kano and android M11 helped writer Kenichiro Terasawa assault her comrades' ship MOTHER and sever their control over King Ghidorah. Godzilla managed to turn the tide and blast off Ghidorah's middle head. Emmy and M11 then teleported MOTHER in front of Godzilla, who destroyed it along with the Futurians. Ghidorah tried to flee, but Godzilla blasted out his wings and sent him plummeting into the Sea of Okhotsk. With the powered-up Godzilla now free to destroy Japan unopposed, Emmy and M11 returned to 2204 to salvage the comatose body of King Ghidorah, modifying him into the cybernetic Mecha-King Ghidorah and traveling with him back to 1992 to stop Godzilla from destroying Tokyo. Mecha-King Ghidorah subdued Godzilla and carried him to the ocean, but Godzilla used his atomic breath to disable the cyborg and cause them both to fall into the sea. Godzilla later regained consciousness on the ocean floor and escaped from the lifeless Mecha-King Ghidorah's grasp.

In 1993, a meteor that crashed in the Pacific Ocean awakened both Godzilla and the ancient monster Battra. Godzilla appeared off the coast of the Philippines and attacked a transport carrying Mothra's egg from Infant Island to Japan, forcing the larval Mothra to hatch and fend for herself. The larval Battra arrived as well and attacked Godzilla, with both monsters subsequently disappearing into a volcanic fault on the ocean floor. While both Godzilla and Battra were presumed dead, they simply swam through the molten magma until they reached an emergence point. Godzilla escaped from the erupting crater of Mount Fuji and began approaching Yokohama, where the imago Mothra and Battra had converged to finish their ancient war. Mothra and Battra were forced to put aside their differences and work together to subdue Godzilla. As both monsters carried Godzilla over the sea, Godzilla bit into Battra's throat and fired atomic breath into the wound, killing him. Mothra then dropped both Godzilla and the carcass of Battra into the ocean below.

Godzilla appeared on Adonoa Island in 1994 in an attempt to recover a Godzillasaurus egg on the island currently being watched over by the giant irradiated Pteranodon Rodan. Godzilla seemingly killed Rodan, but a team of scientists extracted the egg in the confusion. The egg later hatched into an infant Godzillasaurus named BabyGodzilla at an institute in Kyoto, with Godzilla heading there to try and recover him. G-Force's anti-Godzilla superweapon Mechagodzilla intercepted and nearly defeated him, but Godzilla was able to reverse the electrical discharge from Mechagodzilla's shock anchors and short-circuit the machine. The scientists hid Baby in the basement of the institute, rendering Godzilla unable to locate him and causing him to finally give up and return to the sea. G-Force began repairing Mechagodzilla, with studies of BabyGodzilla's anatomy revealing a surprising weakness: Godzillasaurus possessed a secondary brain in its hip region which controlled motor function in its lower body. Since Godzilla and Baby were of the same species, it stood to reason that Godzilla possessed the same weakness. A plan, codenamed "G-Crusher," was set into motion. Baby would be airlifted to the Ogasawara Islands, luring Godzilla there to be killed once Mechagodzilla destroyed his secondary brain, rendering him helpless and unable to move. However, Rodan revived as Fire Rodan and intercepted the transport carrying Baby, forcing Mechagodzilla and the aircraft Garuda into action to stop him. Mechagodzilla mortally wounded Rodan in the Makuhari Bay area, but Godzilla arrived shortly afterward. Mechagodzilla combined with Garuda to form Super Mechagodzilla, which destroyed Godzilla's secondary brain and crippled him. Before Mechagodzilla could finish Godzilla, Baby called to his surrogate brother Rodan to save him. Rodan landed on top of Godzilla and transferred his life force into him, healing his secondary brain and imbuing him with a huge increase in energy. Using his newly acquired red spiral-wrapped heat ray, Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla. United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center psychic Miki Saegusa used her abilities to tell Baby and Godzilla that Godzilla must take Baby away from civilization. The two monsters understood and departed together.

A year later, Godzilla and his newly-adopted son, now grown into the larger LittleGodzilla through exposure to his father's radiation, had taken up residence on Baas Island. The UNGCC was attempting to carry out Project T, a plan to install a psychic transmitter on Godzilla allowing Miki Saegusa to telepathically control him. Meanwhile, G-Force Major Akira Yuki was stationed on the island planning to kill Godzilla with a bullet he developed full of blood coagulant. SpaceGodzilla, a malevolent extraterrestrial clone of Godzilla born from his cells being carried into space by either Biollante or Mothra, arrived on the island and threatened LittleGodzilla in a bid to draw out Godzilla. Godzilla came to his son's defense, but was no match for his clone, who knocked him down before trapping Little in a crystal prison. Godzilla pursued SpaceGodzilla to Fukuoka, where he collaborated with G-Force's latest mech, MOGUERA, to defeat him. Godzilla absorbed SpaceGodzilla's runaway cosmic energy and once again called upon his red spiral heat ray to destroy SpaceGodzilla, the resulting explosion consuming MOGUERA and most of Fukuoka. With his son freed, Godzilla returned to Baas Island.

In 1996, uranium deposits under Baas Island ignited, triggering a nuclear explosion that wiped the island off the map and transformed Godzilla into the more powerful Burning Godzilla. Godzilla attacked Hong Kong in a blind rage, after which G-Force determined that the radiation he absorbed from the Baas Island explosion was too much for his internal nuclear reactor in his heart to withstand. According to Kenkichi Yamane, grandson of Dr. Kyohei Yamane, Godzilla would continue to increase in power before ultimately exploding. This explosion would release so much energy that it would cause the Earth's atmosphere to ignite and wipe out all life. Kenkichi argued that the only way to prevent this disaster was to kill Godzilla before he could explode, and that their only hope was to kill him the same way the original Godzilla was killed: with the Oxygen Destroyer. However, Precambrian microbes who had survived in the strata under Tokyo Bay had been mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer's detonation in 1954. The construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line awakened them and drew them to the surface, where they merged into a gigantic monster called Destoroyah. G-Force and the JSDF used the Super X3 's cryogenic and cadmium-based weaponry to freeze Godzilla when he appeared in the Bungo Channel to feed on the reactor of the nearby Ikata Nuclear Power Plant. While this brought the fission in Godzilla's heart under control, his heart began breaking down. Kenkichi determined that this would lead Godzilla to undergo a nuclear meltdown, which would also destroy the planet. The only option seemed to be to pit Godzilla against Destoroyah, the living Oxygen Destroyer, in the hope that the new monster would kill him before he could melt down. Miki Saegusa and fellow psychic Meru Ozawa used their powers to draw Godzilla's son, now grown into the sub-adult Godzilla Junior after the Baas Island explosion, to Destoroyah's location in Tokyo so that Godzilla would follow. He arrived after Junior had seemingly managed to beat Destoroyah, necessitating a new plan to freeze Godzilla as he melted down in order to minimize the damage. However, Destoroyah returned in his colossal Perfect Form and killed Junior in front of his father. Enraged, Godzilla battled Destoroyah, with both monsters brutally injuring each other. As Godzilla neared meltdown, he grew in power to the point that Destoroyah could no longer stand against him and attempted to retreat. The JSDF fired its freezer weapons at Destoroyah's wings, causing him to strike the superheated ground and explode. Godzilla began to melt down, but the combination of cryolasers and cadmium shells prevented him from melting into the planet's core. As Godzilla died, he released lethal amounts of radiation into the air that threatened to render Tokyo uninhabitable. However, Junior's lifeless body absorbed the radiation, reviving and transforming him into an adult Godzilla, ready to take up his father's mantle.

In 1992, Toho produced a trivia show titled Adventure! Godzillandto promote the upcoming film Godzilla vs. Mothra. The show featured miniature game shows centered around the Godzillafranchise as well as appearances by actors from Godzilla vs. Mothra and even Godzilla himself. The following year, Toho aired a second season of the show titled Adventure! Godzilland 2, which was produced to promote Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. This season was similar to the first, but was notable for including animated segments featuring super-deformed variants of Godzilla and the other kaiju. These animated segments went on to inspire Gakken's Get Going! Godzilland OVAs.

In 1994 and 1996, Gakken produced four educational OVAs entitled Get Going! Godzilland, which revolved around a young Godzilla and his friends living together on Monster Island. There, they learn about the hiragana alphabet, counting, addition, and subtraction. In these OVAs, Godzilla has a love interest named Gojirin, a pink female Godzilla with heart-shaped dorsal plates.

Although Toho intended their Godzilla series to go on hiatus for 10 years following Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla returned in a low-budget television series titled Godzilla Island in 1997, which utilized Bandai action figures and stock footage from previous films to portray the monsters. Godzilla Island returned Godzilla to his heroic role from 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster to 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla; however, unlike in the Showa era, Godzilla was already a hero from the first episode.

In 2097, Godzilla and nine of Earth's monsters found themselves confined to an island in the Pacific Ocean dubbed Godzilla Island. When the Xiliens came to conquer Earth with their horde of evil monsters, Godzilla resisted them with the help of the other monsters and G-Guard's array of mechas.

In 1992, Toho sold the rights to produce an American Godzilla film to Sony Pictures Entertainment, who designated the project to their subsidiary TriStar Pictures. Toho intended for their series to end with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995, and go on hiatus while TriStar released a trilogy of American Godzilla films. After difficulties getting the project off the ground in 1994 due to budget conflicts, TriStar brought in the Indepedence Day team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who completely reimagined Godzilla as an agile and elusive creature similar in appearance to a theropod dinosaur. When Toho ultimately approved TriStar's changes to the character, the studio's film GODZILLA was released theatrically in 1998. Heavily advertised as the must-see film of the year, it was met with considerable backlash, especially among Godzilla fans, who felt the titular creature departed too much from Godzilla's established character. The negative reception led TriStar to scrap the proposed sequel, though an animated series spinoff still aired from 1998 to 2000. Toho saw an opportunity to bring their series out of retirement early with Godzilla 2000: Millennium in 1999, which kickstarted the Millennium series of Godzilla films. When TriStar and Sony allowed their rights to revert back to Toho in 2003, Toho registered TriStar's version of Godzilla as a new character called Zilla, as Shogo Tomiyama claimed it "took the 'God' out of 'Godzilla.'"Zilla debuted in the film Godzilla Final Wars in 2004, and Toho has subsequently declared that any future depictions of TriStar's Godzilla will be under the name Zilla.

A French nuclear test conducted in French Polynesia in 1968 irradiated an iguana egg, which hatched into a mutated creature who grew to gigantic size over the course of 30 years. In 1998, the creature attacked the Japanese fishing boat Kobayashi-Maruin order to feed on its haul, then dragged it ashore in Jamaica. Hoping to clean up its own mess, the French government sent Secret Service agent Philippe Roaché to investigate the monster's activity. The sole survivor of the Kobayashi-Maru identified the culprit of the attack as "Gojira," a mythological sea creature. The monster eventually swam to New York City, using the city's subway system to move underground and avoid detection by the military. The military used large amounts of fish to lure the creature above ground, where scientist Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos managed to observe it up close. However, the military's attempt to exterminate the monster failed as it evaded their attacks and escaped. Nick studied a tissue sample left behind by the monster and learned that the creature was capable of asexual reproduction, worrying that it had already nested and reproduced somewhere in the city. Nick's ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds stole Nick's research on the monster and leaked it to the media, who dubbed the beast "Godzilla" after mispronouncing "Gojira." The military engaged Godzilla once again, and seemingly killed him with torpedoes in the East River. The military threw Nick off their task force, but Philippe and the French Secret Service recruited him to help locate and destroy Godzilla's nest. After the team found the nest inside Madison Square Garden, the eggs hatched into hundreds of Baby Godzillas. The humans were able to contact Colonel Anthony Hicks, who called in several fighter jets to destroy the Garden just after they escaped. The adult Godzilla, having actually survived, burrowed up from the street and found the charred carcasses of his young, associating the nearby humans as being responsible. He gave chase after them, but they managed to lure him onto the Brooklyn Bridge, where he became entangled in the suspension cables. Three fighter jets bombarded the trapped Godzilla with missiles until he finally collapsed and died. However, one single egg had survived deep within the ruins of Madison Square Garden, and hatched.

Following Godzilla's destruction, Nick received permission from Major Hicks to search the ruins of Madison Square Garden to ensure none of the monster's young had survived. Nick came upon the last surviving egg, which hatched into a Baby Godzilla who imprinted on him. Nick scared the hatchling off rather than let the military find and kill him, and he later returned to Nick's dockside lab as a sub-adult. Nick studied the new Godzilla and determined that he was more intelligent than his father and friendlier to humans, and was also sterile and incapable of reproducing. Another French agent, Monique Dupre, learned of the new Godzilla's presence and informed Hicks about it, resulting in the military confronting and seemingly killing him. However, Godzilla survived and matured into an adult, then appeared in Jamaica to save Nick and his colleagues from Mutant Giant Squids and Crustaceous Rex. Seeing Godzilla's heroics, Hicks decided to spare his life so long as Nick kept him on a leash, so to speak. Godzilla went on to accompany Nick and his humanitarian research outfit H.E.A.T. across the globe to defend innocent people from other, more malevolent, mutations.

In the meantime, the American military brought the original Godzilla's carcass to Sandy Point Military Base for study. The base was eventually infiltrated by the Leviathan Aliens, who revived Godzilla as Cyber Godzilla. Cyber Godzilla used his parental influence to make his son submit to him, allowing the aliens to take control of his mind. The aliens then unleashed both Godzillas along with most of Earth's other mutated monsters on cities around the globe in an attempt to conquer humanity. H.E.A.T. destroyed the aliens' control device at Site Omega, freeing all of the monsters from their control, save for Cyber Godzilla. Godzilla chose the father who raised him over his biological father and attacked Cyber Godzilla, finally destroying him by tearing out his internal mechanisms.

While Toho had intended to place their series on a hiatus following the release of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, which would continue as TriStar Pictures released a planned trilogy of Hollywood Godzillafilms, the negative fan response to TriStar's GODZILLA in 1998 prompted them to bring Godzilla out of retirement early. Toho produced the film Godzilla 2000: Millennium in 1999 to take advantage of the new demand to return the Japanese Godzilla to the big screen. This film began the third series of Godzilla films, known as the Millennium series, which ran for six films and ended with Godzilla Final Wars in 2004. The Millennium series is unique in that, unlike previous series, its films do not all share a single continuity, and are usually completely stand-alone, using the original film as a backdrop. Only Godzilla Against Mechagodzillaand Godzilla: Tokyo SOS share continuity. In the leadup to the final entry in the Millennium series, Godzilla Final Wars, which also served as Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, Toho announced that the series would be placed on a 10-year hiatus in order to renew interest.

With Godzilla being a literal force of nature to Japan, the government's Crisis Control Intelligence Agency was tasked with finding ways to combat him, while scientist Yuji Shinoda founded the independent Godzilla Prediction Network to study him and predict his movements. While CCI head Mitsuo Katagiri was fixated on destroying Godzilla, Shinoda believed Godzilla should be kept alive and studied, albeit contained. On a night where the GPN tracked Godzilla as he came ashore and rampaged through Nemuro, CCI discovered an ancient rock on the ocean floor and raised it to the surface. Godzilla later landed at Tokai to feed on the nuclear power plant there, with the JSDF engaging him. The JSDF mobilized its new Full Metal Missile Launchers, designed specifically to penetrate Godzilla's armored hide, which managed to injure him. As Godzilla prepared to retaliate with his atomic breath, the giant rock took flight and flew to Tokai, where it blasted him into the sea with a plasma cannon fired from a hole on its side. CCI determined that the rock was actually an advanced alien spaceship which they had unwittingly reactivated. The craft's occupants, having converted their bodies into antimatter, were searching for data in order to determine the ideal vessel whose DNA would allow them to take physical form and adapt to Earth's atmosphere. The UFO flew to Tokyo and landed on the City Tower, hacking into all of the city's computers to access data. The aliens broadcasted their intention to establish a thousand-year empire on Earth, but Godzilla landed in Tokyo to seek revenge on the UFO. After a fierce battle, the UFO trapped Godzilla underneath a building then began to absorb the regenerative Organizer G1 substance from his cells. The aliens incorporated the Organizer G1 into their biomass and exited the UFO in a combined form, but had failed to fully parse the Organizer G1 from Godzilla's DNA, causing the collective form to mutate rapidly into a deformed, imperfect clone of Godzilla called Orga. Godzilla freed himself and blasted the unmanned UFO, but was confronted by Orga. The two monsters fought, with Orga possessing an even faster healing factor than Godzilla himself that allowed him to quickly regenerate any damage inflicted on him. Godzilla realized that Orga was attempting to absorb more of his DNA in an attempt to stabilize his form, so Godzilla allowed Orga to begin swallowing him whole. As Orga continued to mutate into a more accurate clone, Godzilla charged and unleashed a devastating nuclear pulse that blew off all of Orga's upper body, after which he collapsed to the ground and disintegrated. Victorious, Godzilla approached a group of onlooking humans on a nearby balcony, all of whom fled except for Katagiri. Katagiri screamed Godzilla's name before the monster killed him by destroying the balcony. Godzilla then began rampaging through the city unopposed.

In 1954, Godzilla was roused by nuclear testing and vented his rage on Tokyo, destroying the city in a single night before slipping back into Tokyo Bay. He returned 12 years later in 1966, feeding on the reactor of the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant. The Japanese government outlawed nuclear energy to prevent Godzilla from returning, ultimately developing clean plasma energy as an alternative. However, Godzilla was drawn to a plasma reactor in the new Japanese capital of Osaka in 1996, and slaughtered a group of soldiers who attempted to stop him. By 2001, an elite anti-Godzilla unit of the JSDF called the G-Graspers was researching a sure way to stop Godzilla once and for all. Led by Major Kiriko Tsujimori, a survivor of his 1996 attack bent on revenge, they completed a weapon called the Dimension Tide, which could fire a miniaturized black hole capable of sealing anything caught within it in another dimension for all eternity. The weapon was test-fired in the outskirts of Tokyo, and unbeknownst to the G-Graspers opened a wormhole which allowed a prehistoric Meganula to deposit its egg in the modern day. When Godzilla was sighted at sea, the G-Graspers lured Godzilla onto the island of Kiganjima with the GX-813 Griffon so he could be targeted by the Dimension Tide, which was now mounted on a satellite. However, a swarm of Meganula born from the egg flew to Kiganjima and attacked Godzilla, draining his energy through their stingers. Godzilla killed several of the giant insects and was targeted by the Dimension Tide, which only managed to bury him underground. Godzilla then returned to the sea. The surviving Meganula flew beneath the flooded streets of Shibuya, where they transferred Godzilla's stolen energy into their gigantic queen, who molted into the monstrous Megaguirus. Godzilla was drawn to Tokyo by a plasma reactor that was illegally being concealed in the city, prompting the G-Graspers to confront him in the Griffon. However, Megaguirus appeared to challenge Godzilla and steal the rest of his energy. The two monsters began their deathmatch, with Megaguirus' speed giving her a decided advantage. However, Godzilla managed to anticipate her attack patterns and turn the tide, finally destroying her with a blast of atomic breath. The Dimension Tide, rendered inoperable by interference generated by Megaguirus, began falling out of orbit. Tsujimori flew the Griffonover Godzilla and allowed the Dimension Tide to lock onto it before ejecting to safety. Godzilla blasted the Dimension Tide as it fired and crashed into him, the resulting explosion seemingly wiping him from existence. However, the weapon had once again only succeeded in burying Godzilla underground, and he escaped not long after.

In 1954, Japan suffered an attack by Godzilla. A scientist invented a chemical weapon that he used to destroy Godzilla, but he died in the process as well and left no way to recreate the weapon. The JSDF claimed credit for the monster's defeat, with the truth being suppressed and only known to a select few. While Japan enjoyed a long period of peace following the attack, a giant monster similar to Godzilla attacked New York City near the end of the 20th century, after which monster sightings skyrocketed around the world. A second Godzilla soon appeared to attack Japan in 2002. According to the prophet Hirotoshi Isayama, Godzilla contained the restless souls of all the lives lost in the Pacific War, and sought vengeance against Japan for its readiness to forget its role in the horrific battles of the war. He claimed that the only way to stop the monster was to awaken the three Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah. Baragon appeared first and challenged Godzilla, but was overpowered and swiftly destroyed by his atomic breath. Godzilla made his way to Tokyo, eventually arriving in Yokohama where the JSDF had set up a final defense line. Mothra and Ghidorah arrived to battle Godzilla in the city, but even their combined efforts could not overcome him. After seemingly dispatching both Guardians, Godzilla prepared to annihilate the JSDF's fleet with his atomic breath, only for Mothra to intercept the blast and be incinerated. Mothra's energy flowed into the unconscious Ghidorah, reviving him as the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon, King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah took flight and blasted Godzilla into Tokyo Bay. After fighting underwater, King Ghidorah flew to the surface and bombarded Godzilla with his gravity beams. However, Godzilla absorbed the beams and combined them with his atomic breath, which destroyed Ghidorah. Ghidorah had succeeded in opening a wound on Godzilla's shoulder which was exploited when Admiral Taizo Tachibana allowed Godzilla to swallow the submersible Satsuma so he could fire a D-03 Missile at the wound from inside his body. The missile opened the wound, causing Godzilla's atomic breath to fire out of the wound whenever he tried to fire it. The Satsuma escaped Godzilla's body just before the pressure from Godzilla's atomic breath built to critical levels and caused him to explode. While Japan celebrated Godzilla's defeat, the monster's disembodied heart began beating continuously at the bottom of the bay.

In 1954, Godzilla appeared and laid waste to Tokyo before being killed by Dr. Daisuke Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer. In the decades since, giant monsters frequently menaced Japan. The Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) was founded to combat these creatures, making use of advanced weapons such as the space-age Maser Cannons. In 1999, a second Godzilla appeared in Tateyama, with the AMF deploying its new Type 90 Maser Cannons to combat him. However, the weapons had little to no effect on the creature, who easily destroyed them, killing several soldiers in the process. To deal with this latest threat, the Japanese government dredged up the intact skeleton of the original Godzilla from the sea, recruiting a team of brilliant scientists to use it as the basis of a new anti-Godzilla weapon: the cybernetic Kiryu. Kiryu was completed in 2003, and was immediately sent into action against Godzilla. However, Godzilla's roar awakened the spirit of the original Godzilla which was still attached to Kiryu, causing the mecha to go berserk and rampage until his power supply ran out. Repairs were conducted on Kiryu to prevent this from happening again, but Godzilla returned and landed at Shinagawa. The government was forced to deploy Kiryu once again, and he engaged in a fierce battle with Godzilla. Kiryu eventually grabbed Godzilla and flew him into Tokyo Bay before firing his Absolute Zero Cannon. Godzilla surfaced, alive but with a gaping wound in his chest, while Kiryu remained intact but inoperable. While Kiryu failed to kill Godzilla, he managed to drive him away, meaning humanity finally had a weapon able to stand against him.

Only a year later, Mothra's Shobijin appeared to Shinichi Chujo and warned him that the use of the first Godzilla's bones to create Kiryu violated the natural order, meaning they had to be returned to the sea or else Mothra would be forced to declare war on mankind. Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi informed Chujo that he could not afford to scrap the project so long as Godzilla still posed a threat. Godzilla soon landed in Tokyo once again, with Mothra facing him herself. The AMF deployed Kiryu to assist her, with Mothra's newborn twin larvae arriving to support them both. Godzilla knocked Kiryu out of commission and killed the adult Mothra, but the larvae distracted Godzilla long enough for Chujo's grandson Yoshito to repair Kiryu. The mech exploited the unhealed wound on Godzilla's chest in order to defeat him, with the Mothra larvae trapping him in a silken cocoon. The AMF ordered Kiryu to finish the helpless Godzilla, but the original Godzilla's spirit took control of the machine once again and decided to spare Godzilla, carrying him to the Japan Trench and submerging himself along with him.

In 1954, Godzilla first emerged to menace humanity as retaliation for its reckless testing of nuclear weapons which disturbed his ancient slumber. The international community put aside its differences following decades of warfare and joined together to form the Earth Defense Force in order to battle Godzilla and the other kaiju who appeared in his wake. While the EDF found success against the other kaiju, it could never defeat Godzilla until a fateful confrontation in Antarctica. Godzilla destroyed the EDF's battalion of tanks and Type 90 Maser Cannons, but the flying warship Gotengo managed to open a fault in the ice which Godzilla fell into, after which he was buried by an avalanche created by the ship's missiles. The EDF constructed a facility known as Area G around Godzilla's icy prison, and humanity enjoyed a 20-year period of relative peace after this battle. However in 20XX, an alien race known as the Xiliens took control of the planet's kaiju and unleashed them in major cities across the globe in a bid to conquer the Earth and enslave humanity. With their forces depleted and hopelessly outmatched, surviving remnants of the EDF took command of the upgraded New Gotengo and freed Godzilla from Area G. Godzilla was immediately met by the Xiliens' own cybernetic monster Gigan, but he beheaded the creature with a blast of his atomic breath. The Gotengo led Godzilla around the world, as he defeated the mind-controlled Zilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Anguirus, Rodan, King Caesar, Hedorah, and Ebirah in succession. When Godzilla reached Tokyo, the Xiliens unleashed their trump card: Monster X. Godzilla and Monster X were evenly matched until the Xiliens sent the repaired Modified Gigan to turn the odds in their favor. Fortunately, Mothra arrived to even the odds and took Gigan out of the fight in a suicide attack. The crew of the Gotengo boarded the Xilien Mothership and defeated the Xiliens, after which the ship self-destructed. Monster X then transformed into the even more powerful Keizer Ghidorah, who quickly overpowered Godzilla. As Keizer Ghidorah began draining Godzilla's energy, the mutant Shinichi Ozaki used the Gotengo 's Maser Cannon to imbue Godzilla with a surge of his own Keizer energy, which allowed him to triumph and destroy Keizer Ghidorah. However, Godzilla immediately shot down the Gotengo with his atomic breath and prepared to finish its crew. Just in time, his son Minilla arrived and convinced him to stand down and end his war with mankind. Godzilla and Minilla then departed to the sea together.

Godzilla made a cameo appearance in the 2007 Toho film Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 as a character in one of Ryunosuke Chagawa's stories. In this story, Chagawa imagined Godzilla attacking Tokyo, even blasting Tokyo Tower in two with his atomic breath, and wiping out Norifumi Suzuki's car dealership, much to Suzuki's anger. Suzuki challenged Godzilla for destroying his business, and Godzilla roared back. Back in reality, a young boy named Junnosuke interrupted Chagawa, telling him that Godzilla was already a real character and couldn't be used in the story, so the author decided to start anew.

Godzilla's decade-long hiatus finally ended in 2014 with the release of Hollywood studio Legendary Pictures' Godzilla. The film was successful enough to inspire the greenlighting of two sequels, with Legendary then expanding the concept into an entire cinematic universe dubbed the MonsterVerse which would bring together Godzilla and King Kong for the first time since 1962. The MonsterVerse continued with Kong: Skull Island in 2017, which introduced a new incarnation of Kong. Godzilla: King of the Monsters, featuring Godzilla's classic co-stars Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, followed in 2019. In 2021, Godzilla clashed with Kong once again along with classic foe Mechagodzilla in the crossover film Godzilla vs. Kong. A fifth entry in the MonsterVerse, currently known only by the working title Origins, is in development, though it is still unknown whether Godzilla will have any role in it. Godzilla is confirmed to be appearing in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Monarch, an interquel set between the events of Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while Kong is set to star in an animated series called Skull Island. In addition, Godzilla stars in three graphic novels set within the continuity of the MonsterVerse: Godzilla: Awakening, Godzilla: Aftershock, and Godzilla Dominion.

During the Permian Period, Godzilla was an apex predator who maintained balance over the primordial ecosystem, deriving sustenance from the plentiful atmospheric radiation bombarding the Earth's surface. His natural enemies included the parasitic Shinomura and the MUTOs. When a meteor struck the planet during a battle between Godzilla and Shinomura, it triggered a mass extinction that forced Godzilla and other Titans like him to retreat deep underground in order to absorb geothermal energy from the planet's core in the absence of the once-plentiful radiation on the surface. While all other known members of his species eventually perished, Godzilla himself persisted for eons, forming a symbiotic relationship with the ancient human civilization that once inhabited the Hollow Earth, who saw him as a god. Godzilla defended these humans from threats, and in exchange they provided him with a sanctuary within one of their cities where he could rest and continuously feed on the radiation present there. When the evil extraterrestrial three-headed dragon King Ghidorah invaded the Earth, Godzilla joined forces with Mothra, an immortal and benevolent insect Titan who shared a symbiotic bond with him, in order to stop the wicked creature. Godzilla eventually clashed with Ghidorah in Antarctica, triumphing and sealing his nemesis beneath the ice. Godzilla also waged war with a species of huge ape Titans in the Hollow Earth, eventually triumphing and driving them to Skull Island. While the Hollow Earth civilization eventually vanished, Godzilla continued to inhabit the home they built for him, surfacing only occasionally and being witnessed by select groups of humans, inspiring numerous myths.

In 1945, both Godzilla and Shinomura were drawn to the surface by the huge amount of radiation released by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Godzilla spent the next decade hunting his ancient foe, which threatened to disrupt the natural order as it grew in size and power. The United States and Japanese governments formed a task force called Monarch to study and search for Godzilla and Shinomura and keep their existences a secret from the world at large. In 1954, Monarch, in collaboration with the American military, lured Godzilla and Shinomura ashore at Bikini Atoll, where they detonated a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb, presented to the world as a "test" dubbed Castle Bravo. While Shinomura was vaporized by the blast, Godzilla survived and returned to his ancient rest now that the threat was eliminated. Monarch continued its mission after this event, but struggled to maintain relevance and secure funding until a fateful mission to Skull Island in 1973. After this, it resumed searching for and studying Titans, including Godzilla.

In 1999, miners in the Philippines unwittingly unearthed the tomb of the ancient Titan once known as Dagon, releasing the parasitic larval male MUTO which had been gestating in his carcass. The MUTO burrowed his way to the nuclear power plant in Janjira, Japan, attaching himself to its reactor and forming a chrysalis around it. Monarch evacuated and quarantined the city, claiming that it contained lethal levels of radiation, in order to contain and study the MUTO. In 2014, the MUTO finished feeding on the reactor and escaped, making his way to Honolulu. Godzilla emerged and confronted him at the Honolulu International Airport, proving to the world at large that monsters existed. The MUTO escaped, but Godzilla continued to pursue him toward the American mainland, where the MUTO's female counterpart had escaped from her dormant spore being stored in the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. Godzilla battled both MUTOs in San Francisco in an attempt to stop them from reproducing, and eventually triumphed after a grueling battle. However, their death awakened their parent, MUTO Prime, who sought out Godzilla so that it could infect him with more of its parasitic young as it had done to Dagon long ago. Godzilla was badly injured over the course of several encounters and nearly killed in his final battle with the creature in Nevada, but Monarch's interference stalled MUTO Prime long enough for Godzilla to seize the opportunity and kill it.

While Godzilla was not seen publicly for five years, Monarch kept tabs on him during this time, establishing an underwater outpost in his territory in the Bermuda Triangle to study him. Godzilla approached the outpost unexpectedly and flashed an intimidation display before abruptly swimming toward Antarctica, where eco-terrorist Alan Jonah and Monarch defector Dr. Emma Russell were working to awaken all of the dormant Titans, starting with King Ghidorah. Godzilla was too late to prevent his ancient nemesis' awakening, and was forced to do battle with him in Antarctica. However, Ghidorah flew away and disappeared within a tropical storm. Godzilla followed Ghidorah to the waters around Isla de Mara, Mexico, where Ghidorah fought and defeated the recently-awakened Rodan. Godzilla dragged Ghidorah underwater and tore off his left head, but was prevented from finishing him by the military's ill-advised use of the Oxygen Destroyer in an attempt to kill them both. Godzilla was severely weakened by the weapon and retreated to his lair to recover, while Ghidorah was unaffected and quickly regenerated his missing head before awakening all of the still-dormant Titans and bending them to his will. Mothra led Monarch to Godzilla's lair, where Dr. Ishiro Serizawa sacrificed his life to detonate a nuclear warhead that revitalized Godzilla. Godzilla and Mothra confronted Ghidorah and Rodan, who was now serving him after his defeat, in Boston. While Mothra incapacitated Rodan, Ghidorah nearly killed Godzilla before Mothra was forced to sacrifice her life to protect him. Godzilla absorbed Mothra's energy, and used the reprieve Emma Russel sacrificed her life to give him to transform into the empowered Burning Godzilla. Burning Godzilla swiftly vaporized Ghidorah, and after he returned to his normal state he found himself surrounded by Ghidorah's former Titan pawns. However, each Titan submitted to Godzilla, accepting him as the new alpha Titan.

In the time after Ghidorah's defeat, Godzilla worked to maintain order among the newly-awakened Titans as he searched for a new home. Godzilla stopped a confrontation between Scylla and the U.S. Coast Guard, drove the invading Amhuluk from Behemoth's territory, and rescued Na Kika from pirates. Godzilla eventually found an old lair in the Hollow Earth he had previously been driven from by an ancient rival, but was confronted by its new occupant: Tiamat. Godzilla defeated Tiamat and forced her to withdraw, claiming the lair as his new home. Before he could rest, he set out to return each Titan to their ancient rest.

In 2024, Godzilla sensed the construction of a robotic Titan meant to replace him by Apex Cybernetics. In response, he attacked Apex's facility in Pensacola, Florida, prompting humanity to believe he had turned against them. Apex organized a mission with Monarch to travel into the Hollow Earth and recover an energy source capable of powering Apex's weapon. As Kong was being transported by a naval fleet so that he could lead the expedition through the Hollow Earth, Godzilla attacked him in the Tasman Sea. Godzilla nearly drowned Kong before the fleet used depth charges to disorient him. Godzilla eventually left once he deemed Kong no longer a threat, and was later drawn to Hong Kong after sensing the activation of Apex's artificial Titan: Mechagodzilla. Godzilla reached the heart of the city and burrowed into an ancient temple in the Hollow Earth, where Kong and the expedition had located the energy source. Kong climbed to Hong Kong and engaged in a rematch with Godzilla, which Godzilla ultimately won. When Apex activated Mechagodzilla with the new energy, it unexpectedly went berserk due to its use of Ghidorah's surviving skull as a neural processor. Mechagodzilla freed itself and entered Hong Kong, fighting and nearly killing Godzilla. However, Kong was revived by a group of humans and entered the fight on Godzilla's side. Together, both Titans destroyed Mechagodzilla and peacefully went their separate ways.

Following the success of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Toho announced a new Japanese reboot to the series titled Shin Godzilla that would be released in 2016, in between Legendary's 2014 film and its 2019 sequel. The film, co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, was released in Japanese theaters on July 29, 2016. It is not connected to the MonsterVerse, marking the first time two individual Godzilla film series have been in progress at the same time. The film is notable for being the first Toho Godzilla film to portray Godzilla entirely through CGI. It also launched the Shin series, a series of reboots of famed Japanese science fiction series, all produced with Anno as the director and/or screenwriter. After the film's release, Toho collaborated with animation studio Polygon Pictures to produce a trilogy of animated Godzilla films in 2017 and 2018, which were accompanied by two prequel novels written by Renji Oki. While counted along with Shin Godzilla as part of the Reiwa series, the GODZILLA anime trilogy does not share continuity with the film. The web series Godziban and I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla were both released during the Reiwa era, as was the Netflix Original anime series Godzilla Singular Point.

In the 1950s, a prehistoric marine animal which had managed to survive into the modern day began feeding on barrels of nuclear waste which were illegally dumped into Tokyo Bay by the United States. Eventually, Japanese biology professor Goro Maki discovered the creature, which had adapted and mutated to withstand the radiation. Recognizing the incredible potential power of the creature, Maki gave it the name "Godzilla," which meant "incarnation of god" in the local dialect of his home on Odo Island. After decades of rapid self-mutation, Godzilla damaged the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line and swam up the Tama River before coming ashore in an amphibious second form in the neighborhood of Kamata. Godzilla made his way through Kamata and into Shinagawa, crushing cars and toppling over buildings as he moved. The JSDF scrambled attack choppers to deal with the monster, who evolved again into an upright third form. However, the presence of civilians in the area forced the choppers to stand down, allowing the overheating Godzilla to flee back into the bay to cool himself. Godzilla later came ashore in Kamakura, grown into a towering fourth form. As he made his way to Tokyo once more, a defense line was erected to stop him. However, their weapons had no effect, and the monster marched to the heart of the city. The U.S. military deployed B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to attack Godzilla with bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, but they only served to enrage the monster, who retaliated by expelling his internal atomic energy in the form of an atomic ray from his mouth and several beams shooting into the sky from his back. After destroying the bombers and much of Tokyo, Godzilla entered a state of suspended animation in order to replenish his nuclear power. Analysis of Godzilla's tissue which had been severed in the attack revealed that the monster possessed an incredible capacity for regeneration, so strong in fact that his severed tissue could potentially reanimate and grow into functioning creatures, overrunning the world with a progeny of Godzillas. Furthermore, Godzilla's capacity for self-mutation meant he could take on even more dangerous forms, potentially sprouting wings capable of intercontinental flight and allowing him to spread around the world. The United Nations Security Council opted to call for a nuclear strike on the still-dormant Godzilla in the heart of Tokyo, but a ragtag team of bureaucrats and scientists developed an alternate plan to force Godzilla to ingest a blood coagulant which would shut down his internal cooling system and force him to perform a reactor scram to stay alive. The plan, codenamed Operation Yashiori, was approved and put into motion just before the countdown was about to expire on the nuclear strike. Unmanned train bombs rammed into Godzilla to awaken him, while drones lent by the U.S. military fired at him and forced him to expel his atomic energy. Surrounding skyscrapers were destroyed with bombs, pinning Godzilla to the ground where trucks pumped the blood coagulant into his mouth. Godzilla rose back to his feet, but was floored again by more train bombs, allowing trucks to force the rest of the coagulant down his throat. Godzilla got back to his feet, roared, and promptly froze solid. While Operation Yashiori was a success, the UN warned that the countdown to the nuclear strike would resume as soon as Godzilla thawed and resumed movement. As Godzilla stood frozen in the ruins of Tokyo, multiple humanoid fifth forms were seen frozen in the midst of fissioning from the tip of his tail.

In 2030, over three decades after kaiju first began appearing around the world and terrorizing mankind, Godzilla landed on the west coast of the United States, quickly establishing himself as the most powerful and dangerous kaiju to date. Godzilla not only fought and killed many other kaiju, but devastated human civilization as he proved completely immune to even the most advanced weaponry. The United Earth, even supported by the superior weaponry of the Exif and Bilusaludo aliens, could not find a way to harm the creature. The United Earth began constructing its ultimate weapon: a huge robot in Godzilla's image dubbed Mechagodzilla. The United Earth used the monster Gigan to lure Godzilla deeper inland to buy time for Mechagodzilla's completion, until he was eventually trapped in an artificial fault in China. Godzilla escaped from his premature earthen tomb and escaped to the sea before resurfacing in Japan in 2046. Godzilla made his way to Mechagodzilla's development facility at the foot of Mount Fuji and engaged in a decisive final confrontation with the United Earth. Mechagodzilla failed to activate during the battle, and was lost when Godzilla destroyed the facility with his atomic breath. In the wake of this crushing defeat, the United Earth turned to its plan of last resort, evacuating 15,000 selected refugees aboard the interstellar emigration ships Oratio and Aratrum in 2048, which would search for new homes on the planets Kepler-452b and Tau Ceti e. Before the Aratrum could take off from its landing pad in Rio de Janeiro, Godzilla appeared and shot down a Landing Ship, but a nuclear strike bought the Aratrum enough time to take off with its 5,000 passengers.

After 20 years of space travel, contact was lost with the Oratiowhile the Aratrum 's new destination of Tau-e was found to be uninhabitable. With no way to sustain the remaining passengers long-term, the Aratrum 's Central Committee voted to use the ship's experimental warp drives to return to Earth. The vengeful young Captain Haruo Sakaki, who blamed Godzilla for the deaths of his parents when he was a child, proposed a plan to destroy Godzilla and allow humanity to retake the Earth. The operation was put into action, but when the landing troops arrived on the surface they found that approximately 20,000 years had passed in their absence and that the planet's flora and fauna had mutated to serve Godzilla. Despite some difficulties caused by the winged Servum which inhabited the new environment, the United Earth forces executed Haruo's plan and destroyed a smaller subspecies of Godzilla called Godzilla Filius, which they mistook for the actual Godzilla. After Filius' destruction, the now 300-meter-tall Godzilla Earth erupted from underground and effortlessly wiped out the United Earth's forces. The few soldiers who did survive were taken in by the indigenous Houtua tribe, the descendants of the humans left on Earth who were protected from extinction by Mothra. The Bilusaludo soldiers Mulu-elu Galu-gu and Rilu-elu Belu-be learned that the Houtua crafted their weapons from Nanometal, the autonomous metal substance used to create Mechagodzilla. They traveled to the metal's source at the former site of Mechagodzilla's development plant, only to find that Mechagodzilla's carcass had recreated the entire facility from its own Nanometal. Haruo and Galu-gu prepared Mechagodzilla City to carry out his anti-Godzilla operation on a large enough scale to destroy the larger Godzilla Earth. Using upgraded Powered Suits called Vultures, Haruo, Yuko Tani, and Belu-be lured Godzilla toward the city where he was trapped in a pool of liquid Nanometal. Rather than explode like Filius did after being overloaded by electromagnetic energy from Mechagodzilla City's EMP Harpoons, Godzilla converted the excess energy into heat. Haruo realized that if they were to kill Godzilla, Mechagodzilla City's Nanometal would spread unchecked across the globe, assimilating all life. When Galu-gu refused to stop the Nanometal's encroachment, Haruo regretfully destroyed him along with the City's control center, allowing Godzilla to immolate it with his atomic breath.

The Exif archbishop Metphies presented Haruo as a messianic figure to the surviving members of the United Earth for his resistance to the Nanometal, in reality a bid to amass support in order to summon the Exif God: Ghidorah. The plan succeeded, and the extradimensional monster emerged from a singularity in the atmosphere and promptly destroyed the Aratrum, killing all aboard. Ghidorah next turned his attention to Godzilla, who found that he could not fight back due to his enemy's intangibility. Haruo learned that once Ghidorah eliminated Godzilla, he would consume the entire planet. Metphies used his telepathy to try and force Haruo to give into Ghidorah, but Martin and the Houtua priestess Maina called upon Mothra to intervene and help Haruo resist. Haruo managed to shatter the Garbetrium bead in Metphies' eye that he was using to guide Ghidorah, after which the creature became subject to this dimension's physics. Godzilla promptly banished Ghidorah back to the void from whence he came. Months later, Haruo came to the conclusion that so long as his thirst for vengeance and humanity's desire to resist Godzilla remained, the cycle of violence that nearly resulted in its extinction would continue. Haruo flew the Vulture containing the last traces of Nanometal at Godzilla, who used his atomic breath to destroy it. The surviving humans then integrated with the Houtua, and were able to coexist with Godzilla.

A family of monsters called the Godzilla Clan lived on Godzi Godzi Island alongside the rest of Earth's monsters. Godzilla-kun, the island's protector and the eldest of the Three Godzilla Brothers, was left in charge of his younger brothers Minilla and Little after his father and mother, Taigo and Mirei, departed on a quest to save the Earth and never returned. In the time since, Godzilla-kun focused his time on teaching his brothers all the important monster skills they would need to become great Godzillas like their parents. Also living on the island were the elderly mage and family patriarch Grandpa Zilla, the brothers' gigantic Uncle Zilla and his son Kamachi, and Godzilla-kun's friendly childhood rival Kingoji-kun, who left the island for a time on a training quest.

Young Chibi Godzilla, not yet grown into the King of the Monsters he would become, lived as the roommate of a woman named Satomi. As Satomi struggled to make ends meet at her job, she would frequently be encouraged and cheered up by Chibi Godzilla and his friends Chibi Rodan, Chibi Mothra, and Chibi Ghidorah.

An apocalyptic beast from another dimension prophesized to bring about the world once the seas turn red in an event called the Catastrophe, Godzilla attacked a fishing village in Misakioku during World War II before being killed through unknown means, with most records of the attack later being lost. Scientist Michiyuki Ashihara discovered Godzilla's skeleton and hid it in a basement, where he and members of the mysterious SHIVA. onsortium studied it and the signal it emitted in the form of the Indian folk song "ALAPU UPALA." Ashihara later disappeared, but SHIVA continued its investigation into Godzilla's skeleton and the Catastrophe. In 2030, other monsters from the same dimension as Godzilla began emerging through a singularity and entering this reality. While the relatively small Rodan and Anguirus were eventually killed, a second Godzilla destroyed a nuclear submarine in his aquatic form called Godzilla Aquatilis before following schools of Manda to Tokyo Bay. Godzilla metamorphosed into Godzilla Amphibia and came ashore in Tokyo, with the JSDF attacking him. He formed an armored cocoon and emerged from it as Godzilla Terrestris and began terrorizing the city, killing a huge Rodan in the process. Eventually, he attained his massive final form, Godzilla Ultima, obliterating the JSDF's units and incinerating the heart of the city with his atomic breath. In the process, Godzilla emitted the extradimensional energy known as Archetype, terraforming the city around him and bending space and time. Brilliant college student Mei Kamino traveled to SHIVA headquarters in India with her A.I. companion Pelops II, and working with Bearach "BB" Byrne and his daughter Lina, deciphered the clues left behind by Ashihara and the code needed to activate a weapon called the Orthagonal Diagonalizer. Members of the Otaki Factory brought their robot Jet Jaguar into the besieged Tokyo and recovered the OD in order to use it against Godzilla. Engineer Yun Arikawa and Jet Jaguar reached Godzilla, after which Jet Jaguar attained gigantic size to fight the monster. Wielding the OD, Jet Jaguar activated it as Godzilla destroyed him, transforming all of Godzilla's Archetype into blue crystals and causing him to disappear.

In the aftermath of Godzilla's defeat, the SHIVA.consortium were in the process of transforming the first Godzilla's skeleton into a cyborg called Robogodzilla.

When Hedorah attacked a refinery in the Keihin Industrial Zone to feed on the pollution, Godzilla arrived on the scene to battle the Smog Monster. Though Hedorah burned one of his eyes with sulfuric acid mist, Godzilla kicked Hedorah back into a group of high-tension wires, shocking the sludge creature and leaving him vulnerable to a fatal blast of atomic breath. Godzilla roared in victory and departed the area.

Next, Godzilla strode into Tokyo only to be confronted by Gigan, who appeared in a blue flash in the skies above. The monsters exchanged rays before Godzilla broke Gigan's forehead aperture. The cyborg retaliated with his buzzsaw, cutting a deep wound into Godzilla's chest. Gigan prepared to finish him off, but Godzilla caught his Hammer Hands mid-swing and rose to his feet. Godzilla breathed atomic fire into Gigan's face; the cyborg fell backward and exploded. Godzilla let loose a long victory roar.

Godzilla, left with no other kaiju to battle, began attacking all over Japan. Jet Jaguar was deployed and engaged the attacking monster in defense of a city. Godzilla eventually gained the upper hand and cornered the robot, preparing to deliver a final blow. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity struck Godzilla in the face, knocking him to the ground. King Ghidorah appeared in a massive fireball, cackling as he landed in the city and spewing gravity beams. Jet Jaguar grabbed Godzilla's hand and lifted him to his feet, and robot and monster resolved to work together to stop the golden invader.

King Ghidorah proved to be a particularly formidable opponent and quickly overwhelmed the duo. The tide of battle briefly turned once Jet Jaguar equipped the G-Claws. Godzilla appeared to defeat the space dragon, only for his foe to revive moments later and lift Godzilla into the air with its beams. Jet Jaguar freed Godzilla and sliced off King Ghidorah's middle head with Godzilla's help before deciding to sacrifice itself to stop the alien invader. As the robot held King Ghidorah down, Godzilla fired his atomic ray, destroying King Ghidorah and critically damaging Jet Jaguar. Godzilla solemnly acknowledged his fallen ally as Jet Jaguar permanently shut down, at which point Godzilla withdrew back to the sea in peace.

Godzilla confronted a group of Gigan Miles as they attacked a city, quickly dismantling them. Suddenly, Gigan Rex smashed down into the ground behind Godzilla. The two battled inconclusively until Gigan Rex called in nine more Gigan Miles, who interrupted Godzilla's assault with their lasers. The cyborgs overwhelmed Godzilla, with three converging on them with their buzzsaws, but he repelled them with a powerful nuclear pulse, then vaporized another with a blast of white-hot atomic breath. Gigan Rex telekinetically ripped the cores from the remaining Gigan Miles and fired a powerful crimson chest laser. Godzilla countered with white atomic breath and won the ensuing Beam-Fight. His foe dead, Godzilla let out several roars in victory.

Sometime after the Gigan invasion, Godzilla reappeared in Japan, rumored to be searching for remaining Gigan Miles corpses. The JSDF was powerless to stop him, although a soldier noted that Godzilla was suffering from exhaustion and only had 30% of the radioactive energy that he possessed following his battle with Gigan Rex. The monster Megalon, awakened by a Seatopian to destroy the surface world, soon challenged him. After initially struggling against Megalon's mobility and weaponry, Godzilla gained the upper hand in melee combat, destroying the insect monster's horn. The Seatopian revitalized Megalon, and he attacked Godzilla by interlocking his drills into a single combined weapon. The King of the Monsters retaliated with his white atomic breath, blasting through a large swath of the city and cleaving Megalon in half. He roared in victory before collapsing to the ground. Later, his eyes opened and he awoke.

One of numerous young kaiju living on Monster Island, Chibi Godzilla discovered Chibi Mechagodzilla washed up on the beach one day. He helped show the newcomer around the island and introduced him to his friends Chibi King Ghidorah, Chibi Mothra, Chibi Anguirus, and Chibi Rodan, with Chibi Mechagodzilla frequently infuriated by their bizarre behavior, especially that of Chibi Godzilla himself. They also encountered restaurant owner Chibi Biollante, curmudgeonly Chibi Hedorah, incompetent service worker Chibi Gabara, gruff but positive Chibi Titano, and confused invader Chibi Gigan.

The son of Godzilla, Chibi Godzilla often tries to get his father's attention with limited success. He has a more sensible younger sister, Chibi Minilla.

During the final days of World War II in 1945, the dinosaur-like monster Godzilla attacked the Japanese mechanics stationed on Odo Island, first demolishing a guard tower after its searchlight illuminated him. The pilot Koichi Shikishima, who had landed on the island feigning engine troubles instead of carrying out a kamikaze attack, prepared to use his plane's gun against Godzilla, but froze up once Godzilla stood in front of him. The repairmen opened fire on Godzilla in a panic, and his vicious counterattack killed all but Shikishima and mechanic Sosaku Tachibana.

In July 1946, an American nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, part of Operation Crossroads, mutated Godzilla into a towering creature. He destroyed multiple ships, including several American military vessels, while swimming towards Japan.

In May 1947, the minesweeping ships Shinseimaru and Kaishinmaru were dispatched to stall Godzilla while the heavy cruiser Takao returned from Singapora, searching near the Ogasawara Islands. Shikishima served about the Shinseimaru as its gunner. They came upon a massive American ship Godzilla had ravaged, and after larger deep sea fish surfaced all around them, Godzilla suddenly surged out of the water, destroying the Kaishinmaru. Godzilla chased after the Shinseimaru, unfazed by the human's weapons until Shikishima detonated a mine which had become lodged in his jaw, the blast destroying Godzilla's left eye and a large part of his cheek. The sailors questioned if they had killed him, only for his wounds to quickly regenerate. He rose out of the water and roared, but was cut off by the guns of the Takao. Godzilla turned his rage to the cruiser and began to tear it apart. The ship's guns unload on Godzilla again at point-blank range, causing him to fall backward into the sea, but Godzilla swam underneath the Takao and obliterated it with an explosive heat ray.

Godzilla surfaced wounded but triumphant, and continued to swim towards Tokyo, passing through a mine blockade, entering Tokyo Bay, and making landfall in Ginza. During his rampage, Godzilla threw a train car into the path of a train containing Shikishima's girlfriend, Noriko Oishi, then advanced towards her train and bit down on it, though she escaped by falling into the water below. Godzilla then destroyed the Nippon Theater and killed several reporters broadcasting from a rooftop. As Shikishima came to rescue Noriko, Godzilla withstood fire from an array of tanks before firing a blast of atomic breath that leveled the center of Ginza, roaring triumphantly at the destruction he caused. Oishi, pushing Shikishima to safety, was seemingly killed.

Godzilla returned to the sea, with the area of his rampage cordoned off due to the high radiation levels. One of Shikishima's crewmates, former naval engineer Kenji Noda, devised a plan to lure Godzilla above the deepest part of Sagami Bay and tie canisters of Freon gas to him, which when ruptured would lower the water's buoyancy and forcibly sink Godzilla to a depth of 1,500 meters, crushing him with the sudden pressure change. Although the U.S. would not come to Japan's aid for fear of antagonizing the Soviet Union with a large troop buildup, they returned to Japan four destroyers stripped of their weapons: Yukikaze, Hibiki, Keyaki, and Yūkaze. Shikishima was among those who signed onto the plan, and sought out Tachibana to repair one of the few fighter planes available in Japan to help bring Godzilla to the trap point: a Shinden. Dubious of the plan's potential, he secretly intended to attempt killing Godzilla by flying the plane inside his mouth and detonating the bombs within.

Pursuing ships playing recordings of his roar underwater, Godzilla came ashore faster than anticipated, throwing one of the ships onto land to announce his presence. Shikishima found him terrorizing the countryside and drew him to Sagami Bay with the Shinden, deftly evading his strikes while peppering him with machine gun fire. Godzilla fired his atomic breath at the Keyaki and Yūkaze, unaware that both were unmanned, leaving him unable to use his atomic breath again while he regenerated from his self-inflicted wounds. While Shikishima continued distracting him, Yukikaze and Hibikiencircled Godzilla and tied a cable around him. Godzilla prepared to fire his atomic breath again when he was forcibly pulled underwater by the rupturing of the canisters. Balloons attached to the cylinders then inflated, bringing him back to the surface, but he tore through them, and the cranes attached to the destroyers began to fail when they attempted to haul him up the rest of the way. Another of Shikishima's crewmates, Shiro Mizushima led a fleet of tugboats to help complete the job. Upon surfacing, Godzilla appeared heavily mutilated, suffering from decompression, but was still alive. He charged his atomic breath again, but just before he could fire, Shikishima interceded, flying the Shinden into his mouth and ejecting just before it detonated. The blast destroyed the top of Godzilla's head, after which the accumulated atomic energy overloaded, causing the rest of his body to crumble.

Following the battle, Shikishima reunited with Oishi in a hospital; embracing her, he failed to notice a dark pattern on her neck caused by Godzilla's cells. In the depths of Sagami Bay, a surviving fragment of Godzilla's flesh began to regenerate

In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,