King Ghidorah's reputation

King Ghidorah does not need to be in any godzilla movie for a while. If you count Keizer Ghidorah as the same(which i do) then Ghidorah has been in 7 Godzilla movies out of 28(29 if you count the American 1). That's a ridiculous number of movies for a monster to appear in besides the main character monster Godzilla. Right now if you had a pile of random Godzilla movies and you blindly picked 4 chances are 1 of the movies would have Ghidorah.

 He's been portrayed every way possible, alien, future monster, mecha, good guy, bad guy, a monster that needed a lot of monsters to take down, a monster that 1v1ed godzilla, and monster that needed help taking down Godzilla, was it basically a tag match. So he's been given every since way to look. He doesnt need to be portrayed in a different way because he's been portrayed in basically every way possible. He is almost always controlled, but his intelligence isn't really stupid, he's extremly tough throughout the showa, and even heisei series, and he destroys everything. He's as good as he's gonna get, and he doesnt need another chance to try to make him better

i never said king ghidorah was stupid, i simply said i wished he had high intelligence like spacegodzilla did (as many fans say). and i recognise that he has been in the most movies in the franchise beside (godzilla and mothra) compared to other monsters. my point was that in all his movies he isn't given the potential, for example in the heisei movies, he was tough against the atomic breath but got defeated because of his mindcontrol got broke and godzilla got the advantage, heisie ghidorah did probably destroy the most cities but, mg2 almost killed godzilla, spacegodzilla is said to be highly intelligent and very evil, destoryah was ruthless, evil and tough.

I don't really see any problem with him getting defeated after the controls for him got destroyed. Space Godzilla got beaten after his tower got knocked down, mechaG destroyed when his plating got melted off. The point is before those things happened Ghidorah mechaG, and Spacegodzilla were all winning by a lot, then something happened that turned the tide in Godzilla's favor. Godzilla was getting wrecked by Ghidorah for most of that fight and the thing Ghidorah got that neither of the other monsters did was a round 2 were he came back and basically tied if not beat Godzillla as Mecha King Ghidorah. Overall I don't see any problem with his power in this movie. He was beating Godzilla in not just 1 fight but 2. 

I don't agree with this "potential" word you keep using as I said throughout most of the showa Godzilla needed help to beat him. Gigan is somwhat of an exception but at the end of that movie after Gigan ran away both Godzilla and Anguirus fought Ghirorah. In the heisei he was winning then something happened that turned the tides, but came back later on and beat him. GMK was never supposed to have Ghidorah but they subbed him into the script over Varan to make more money so that's the real reason he did so poorly in that 1. Then there's Final wars where he was once again winning until something turned the tide in Godzilla's favor.

The only really 1 sided fight throughout the whole series is Destroy All Monsters and, but every other time Ghidorah holds his own. There is no other monster besides maybe MechaG that always wrecks Godzilla to that extent when he's in a movie.

So should they make Ghidorah better? God no I know a lot of people will argue with me if I said Destroyah was Godzilla's most powerful oponent and the main other contender would be Ghidorah. To give him more would just put him leagues above every other monster and Godzilla for that matter. 

fair point, i just wanted to make a point im my opinion because of the ghidorah was made weak (from what i heard) a weak earth defender in G:KoM comics. i would count kiezer ghidorah in but his apperence and name make him a vairant to 'king' ghidorah, not the 'king' ghidorah. i understand that there are a lot more monsters that need a revamp,(ghidorah is not my #1) biollante i think 'needs' a comeback, then rodan and titanosaurus.

Durp - I hear you when you say Ghidorah has been done to death. You are absolutely right. But I damn sure would squeal like a little school girl if he showed up in the world that Edwards is creating....like if he was teased at the end of the film-like how the joker was teased at the end of batman begins.

There are some things that just make a godzilla film feel like a godzilla film to me-the design of g himself, the scale (massive destruction-not like 98), the music,...and some goddamn king ghidorah would make me feel right at home :) 

Durp has a point that King Ghidorah has been done in a lot of different ways, but I can't agree that he's reached the apex of his character and shouldn't be used anymore. We could make the same argument for Godzilla.

In the Batman comics many of his rogues gallary are used over and over and over to the point of redundancy, but they keep coming back.

I think giving King Ghidorah a fresh lease in a film would be an excellent idea. Toho seems to look at King Ghidorah as the Joker to Godzilla's Batman-- complete foils of one another no matter what side they stand on. I think one interesting place to focus on would be their rivalry in from a civilian point of view. It would interesting to look at the ramifications of the monsters intentionally trying to hunt one another down.

that's a good point also gman

I don't think it's fair comparing a movie franchise with 1 of a comic book due to the sheer number of issues a comic book comes out with a year. In about 3 years a comic book series can come out with as many issues as Godzilla has movies in 60 years. That being said of course characters will return and have a chance to be done in different ways, as the amount of issues released allow almost every villain to be completely explored rather than the Godzilla franchise where only Ghidorah and possibly MechaGodzilla getting different directions of character scope.

As I said he's been done every way, but you can't add to him too much without just making him an unstoppable machine that he basically is already. True you could explore the character from the human perspective, but Ghidorah himself would stay the say as a past incarnation. You could literally put almost any monster in that scenario and just give them the rivaly in that particular movie.  True Ghidorah would have a past, but it doesn't seem he directly hates Godzilla with such a passion he would track him down since everytime they've met he's either been under some type of control, or like in Ghidorah the Three-headed monster, or GMK that the other was just threatening one's territory. The characters are considered rivals because TOHO's forced it down our throat so much that Ghidorah has to come back every few movies to fight Godzilla because of character popularity, which once again is largely due to TOHO forcing Ghidorah on us. Any monster could be given a rivalry with Godzilla and shown through a human perspective, and unlike Ghidorah you could actually add to a different monster where Ghidorah would stay relatively the same.

Indeed comic books span beyond 28 interations, but the fact that Batman's rogues gallary keeps returning and writers continue to find new ways to use them actually supports the fact that they can still continue to do more with King Ghidorah. Damning an idea to having nowhere to go after impressive longevity is admiting that solid writing can't save it. I don't think that's true at all.

As for King Ghidorah's rivalry with Godzilla I think it was established very well in the 1960s. He was so popular that he returned immediately after his debut movie and was toted as the big baddie during the climax of Destroy All Monsters-- which, at the time, was suppose to be the final Godzilla movie.

Saying "Toho is responsible" for making them arch nemesis is true, but kind of a no brainer. DC has made the Joker Batman's arch nemesis. Paramount has made Khan Kirk's arch nemesis. Daiei has made Gyaos Gamera's arch nemesis. It's out of a combination of popularity and usage of these characters, no different from any other.

Ghidorah is a monster though, and the rogues are all people, thus it's easier to develop them. A monster can only go so far as it's thought process it much lower, so you can't really adapt, or show it growing as you could a person. You could make Ghidorah into more, hell you could do what I just said and actually give them general animosity towards eachother and a bloodlust rather than controllers want Godzilla out of the way, or "hey you're going to destroy the earth or Japan and I live there; can't let that happen."  but there's really no reason to since the same could be done for any monster. The original post wanted an Ghidorah with Destroyah's toughness and humanlike thoughts, and that's just stupid. As I said originally Ghidorah is 1 of, if not the strongest monster in the series, and to take him to new levels above that is unneeded.  

Sure you could develop him more, but why stress the writing team trying to come out with a new way to do Ghidorah that 's different from the 4 other ways(5 if you count his appearance in the mothra series) than go for a monster that could be redone and retooled so much easier?

Because it's a challenge and King Ghidorah is a popular character. Godzilla's been stretched and pull in different ways over the last 60 years I don't see why the same can't be done for the original juggernaut that took three monsters to defeat.

Like Godzilla there's a uniqueness to every monster that can be stretched and pulled to do different things, but the fact King Ghidorah's popularity has been like has since the 1960s says something for his appeal. Fans are drawn to him. Writers are drawn to him. Even the IDW comic writers seem to be doing a fine job with allowing him to reoccur over and over.

But saying King Ghidorah has "nowhere else to go" is an asinine comment, not just for him, but any monster. Like many half-decade old, beloved characters and villians writers have probably done a great deal of stretching with King Ghidorah, but perhaps that's not simply the point. Maybe it's also how differently these concepts can be done.

One example is that many screenwriters will say there's on six or seven different stories in every film you see. But it's not about coming up with something different, but rather the way you tell those six or seven different stories. I think when it comes down to it the same can be said for iconic characters-- King Ghidorah included.

It's not impossible just unnecessary. This goes back to my argument of, "he's popular because you can't not like him." He's been done so many different ways that if you hate 1 version wait 3 movies and you'll get a different 1. Oh not a fan of him being an alien monster that wanders around space destroying planets? Well how about a controlled monster. Not a fan of that either, well no problem how about futuristic genetically engineered pets that are taken back in time and to absorb the radiation Godzilla was exposed to. If that's not to your liking then he'll be an ancient Alien sealed away in the mothra series and a guardian of Japan in the next few years. Then finally be a new monster who has a great design(in my opinion of course) just to change into possibly the worst looking version of Ghidorah yet(once again my opinion) just to bring the character back for "the last installment".

It's not Ghidorah can't go any further as much as he's at a good point give some1 else a chance. The godzilla series is well known for having an extremely diverse and interesting stock of monsters, but throwing and odd 20 monsters out to bring back Ghidorah for the 8th time in a recycled, or unneedingly new way is foolish. Once again most iconic characters have at least sentient intelligence and a personality so retelling the story is fine as you can maybe concentrate more on specific aspects of each character when retelling, but that isn't as possibly with monsters who are animalistic in almost every depliction of them.

Honestly Destoroyah IS Godzilla's toughest enemy. The fact that he took over half a dozen direct blasts of Godzilla's Red-Spiral Ray in close proximity and took minor damage whereas ever other enemy was destroyed outright in 3-4 blasts, speaks volumes for how powerful Destoroyah is. Physically speaking, he's not the biggest, but he is the most powerful.

Now, about King Ghidorah.

Honestly, I think he's overrated.

He's got a cool and unique design. He's got an interesting attack. He's got the longevity and popularity to have been reused multiple times throughout the franchise. However, those do not grant him the excuse to be "the best Godzilla enemy" of all time in my opinion as so many others seem to label him.

Is he badass? Yes.

Is he worth the investment? Yes.

Is he worth focusing on to this extent (as in this forum thread)? No.

Many of Godzilla's other foes/allies deserve attention on the same scale that Ghidorah does. Discounting the others just because of a personal love or attachment for Ghidorah is actually quite disrespectful to the rest of the Toho Kaiju cast.

For instance, let's count how many foes (as foes and not allies) only made it into one movie as primary antagonists (King Kong ((being an American monster)) and reused creatures in Final Wars excluded).

Ebirah

Hedorah

SpaceGodzilla

Destoroyah

Biollante

Megalon

Kamakuras

Kumonga

Gabara

Even though some of these monsters are not as popular or as beloved as others, many of them I believe hold more intrigue and potential than Ghidorah does. Ghidorah has been used multiple times, and not just in Godzilla movies. He was the main antagonist in the final Rebirth of Mothra movie as well, and was the pure evil creature that you wished him to be. He even had a couple of new abilities to boot.

Again, King Ghidorah is awesome. I'm not bashing him or saying that he isn't badss in any way. But I am saying that he is highly overrated and overappreciated. His use as a three headed Dragon from space are about all he has going for him, as he couldn't exist any other way. The Futurian excuse in the 1991 movie was forced and contrived, and I didn't like that origin story so I don't count it as a true possibility for his birth or conception in any way. Many of Godzilla's foes which only saw one main antagonistic appearance deserve more I think, with one or two exceptions.

To say that Ghidorah deserves all of this over the top attention, in my opinion, is a folly.

@Durp004

I can understand your personal preference to not see King Ghidorah anymore, but that still doesn't mean he can't (or won't) be taken in new directions again. The problem is, it's not simply Toho that continues to bring him back, but the audience. It's less about Toho doing different things with the character and more about box office reciepts.

Why do you think King Ghidorah was the first monster to be revamped in the Heisei series? vs. Biollante didn't perform at the box office like Toho had hoped. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, on the other hand, knocked it out of the park. King Ghidorah was in the first movie of the Millennium series that revamped monsters as well. Why? Because Godzilla x Megaguirus was the least attended Godzilla movie since Godzilla vs. Megalon. GMK, on the other hand, was the highest grossing movie of the Millennium series. So saying Toho is being foolish to use him instead of other monsters is completely false. In fact, you could argue his popularity saved the series on a couple of occasions.

Toho has seen that King Ghidorah sells more tickets and draws a larger crowd. You have the fanbase to blame just as much as Toho at this point-- And honestly, I'm fine with it. As a huge King Ghidorah fan I welcome more iterations as most monsters don't interest me nearly as much.

I maintain that more can be done with him, like any monster granted. But out of a great number of other monsters he's one of the few that sparks true excitment. He was the classic foil to Godzilla. The first monster Godzilla needed help to defeat and his legacy has only grown since then-- no more unnaturally than Godzilla's, really. The reason we have so many movies with King Ghidorah is the same reason we have so many Godzilla movies.

@Kyero

I typically agree with you, but here I think your missing the better part of his legacy.

Fantastic powers and abilities don't necessarily add to the "best" of Godzilla's foes. Sure we could argue Destroyah was Godzilla's most powerful foe, but does that make him his greatest? Not in the least.

In fact I've found Destroyah overrated by a fanbase that cites universe established hijinks to argue his dominance. But the fact is the fight between Godzilla and Destroyah was never that riveting. We can say he's the most powerful because, "Godzilla was in his most powerful state," but it still played out like any other Heisei fight. Lots of beams, little movement, not much struggle. Same ole'. Same ole'. Not to mention Destroyah was overdesigned just enough for the suit actor to barely move...

But all of that is a moot point. Godzilla vs. Destroyah did nothing to establish an iconic character-monster. It was just another heavy Heisei era beast. When King Ghidorah was introduced in 1964 it gave audiences something very different. Honda pitted him against Toho's three mightest beasts and he was able to stand his ground. The destructive capabilities of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra had already been introduced in their own movies. Godzilla himself had only fought monsters one-on-one at this point. (Barring the Mothra larva team-up.) So the fact that all three of these monster stars were needed to even out the playing field spoke worlds to the audience back then.

You also have to consider the debut movie as well. On top of King Ghidorah being a fantasical, violent monster, unlike any other seen at the time, the movie itself is often considered one of the series' best. It was critically well recieved and good word of mouth didn't hurt Ghidorah's introduction either.

This isn't an argument against other monsters, mind you. In a way I agree that other monsters should be equally appreciated. But some just haven't made the same impression. Or they've simply debuted in the wrong decade of the series.

i agree with you gman,he's cool but i ever saw destroyah as the most powerful monster, he only withstood godzilla's beam at the height of his power, but he didn't even get close to killing him or overpowering him, godzilla kicked destroyah's ass more than destroyah did to godzilla. and nothing is wrong with re using ghidorah even with mechagodzilla, in godzilla vs king ghidorah, ghidorah was winning untill his control was severed and it stuned him, but destoryah had a weakness. ghidorah also works as godzilla greatest foe in that he has no weakness, is powerful and has high durability.

I dont get it when people say "done to death". He has been in alot of movies, or "done to death" as some say because he is a popular foe of Godzilla. And lets be honest, there is a reason.

Its like Batman and The Joker. The Joker is probably also the Batman villain thats been done mostly, but that doesnt mean we wouldnt want too see him in a new medium. 

This isnt another TOHO movie/Batman comic, where Ghidorah/The Joker could be featured, its an american remake/film adaption (think Burton here people).

And if he wasnt featured at some point, it would be a shame. It doesnt have to be in the first, second or third movie. He might not another movie, but he deserves it. And i would happily accept him.

GMAN2887 if we truly are just going off box office and ticket sales for why Ghidorah is brought back over other monsters then Destroyah who's movie outdid Ghidorah's movie by quite a substantial amount when it came out should get a reboot as despite being a known character Ghidorah couldn't outclass Destroyah's movie in terms of ticket sales. Granted there's the fact it was known that was godzilla's supposed last movie so maybe that's not a fair comparison, but SpaceGodzilla, another new monster who still currently only has 1 movie under his belt also outdid Ghidorah in ticket sales. 

Point being other monsters have done just as well if not better and have still not seen a return to their characters, so while it's true he does well, it is evident other monsters also hold that potential, toho just doesn't give them their chance. 

As a side note i completely disagree with Destroyah not being an iconic character. Being created by the only true thing to kill Godzilla makes him much more suited for the role of "ulitmate rival" in my opinion than a dragon from space.

just remember ghidorah was the first true enemy (and still is) in the godzilla series, his appearence changed godzilla's agenda to anti hero and eventually the hero

Ghidorah was the 4th monster to fight Godzilla. Definitely not the first true enemy unless you don't view enemies until Godzilla became a Good guy which I don't agree with. His first movie was extremely popular, HOWEVER it did have an incredible monster roster at the time of 3 bigtime already established monsters to bring in a crowd. To credit the success strictly to Ghidorah is completely wrong. Afterwards he's immediately brought back then returned again in Destroy all Monsters as the main antagonist, however at the time Ghidorah was the only space monster in the series and they weren't coming out with a new monster for what was supposed to be the final enstallment thus Ghidorah was the only monster that could fit the role of villain in that particular setting.

why do i call ghidorah godzilla's FIRST true enemy, because he only fought angirus and king kong once(angirus soon being classed as his true ally) mothra is a mix between his ally and enemy and he fought rodan and became allies with him in ghidorah's debut movie and ghidorah has always been godzilla's enemy since his debut, even becoming mothra's enemy in the rebirth of mothra 1(des ghidorah) and 3