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Monday, July 23, 2012

Godzilla's Ultimate Enemy



Who is Godzilla's greatest enemy? The usual response would be King Ghidorah. That was the first answer I got on Twitter when I asked the question. Ghidorah is definitely Godzilla's most popular adversary, and part of the 'big four' which includes Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan. He's appeared in six films, seven if you want to count Keizer Ghidorah. A number of people would also claim that Mechagodzilla is his greatest enemy. No, not the government MG II or the anime-like Kiryu, I'm talking about oldschool Mechagodzilla from the 70's. This guy in his first appearance had everything. A (so awesome) 'Fake Godzilla' disguise, beating up on G's sidekick, and nearly killing the big guy himself. Those two are the usual contenders thanks to their immense popularity.

But really, Godzilla's ultimate enemy is neither. It's Destoroyah.



Now this is just my opinion of course, but I really do think this demonic monster deserves the title. Even his origin helps the matter. Destoroyah was created from the Oxygen Destroyer, the same weapon that destroyed the original Godzilla. Unlike Ghidorah, Destoroyah shows personal malice. I have never seen a creature in Godzilla world so intent on killing a human. King Ghidorah was always a mentally insane monster that loved destroying worlds. But in the Heisei era, Godzilla and him were evenly matched. Until he forced Ghidorah to retreat. Godzilla did seem to to have more of an upper hand in the battle. Ghidorah would appear in GMK as a scrawny weakling, then in Final Wars as Keizer Ghidorah. (Whom I count as a different character.) But Destoroyah is the one opponent that Godzilla couldn't beat even though the latter was souped up. He tried and tried, but Destoroyah was dragging him around like a rag doll. Not only that, but he killed Godzilla Junior. The latter was pretty much begging for mercy as Destoroyah was flying while holding him by the neck. Once he had emerged, he just slapped aside Burning Godzilla like he was nothing. After Junior was killed, Godzilla had something personal against Destoroyah, something he never had with any of his foes in the past. It was a personal battle. But the demonic monster had the upper hand the whole time. Godzilla could barely even get close to him without being struck down by his oxygen ray. And when they did go head-to-head, it was Godzilla who was was trying to knock down his opponent desperately. SpaceGodzilla might consider Godzilla to be his greatest enemy, but Godzilla didn't see him other than a very strong opponent to take down. With Destoroyah, it was personal and a battle to win because he was weaker and dying. Destoroyah literally picked him by the tail and threw him like was absolutely nothing! And he mocks Godzilla the whole time. Godzilla must have known he was dying, and he was going to take Destoroyah with him. But ironically it wasn't Godzilla that destroyed him, it was the JSDF that finished him off. Godzilla's most powerful opponent and he wasn't even the one that finished him off. Fun fact that a lot of fans don't know about is that in a deleted scene, Destoroyah rose up and Godzilla battled him until the latter died. Would have been a better ending I think.



Destoroyah is Godzilla's greatest enemy. Even in Godzilla's raged up Burning form, he proved to be even stronger. (Imagine if he battled G in normal form.) Once Destoroyah disposed of Junior, that's when things got personal. Destoroyah may not have considered Godzilla to be anything other than a major nuisance, but the latter considered this guy to be his ultimate opponent. No matter what he did, he just couldn't beat him. Destoroyah was like a malicious killer, he will slowly give it to the opponent while mocking them. These are things Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla never had, and that is why Destoroyah is Godzilla's ultimate enemy.

5 comments:

  1. Greatest Villain is tricky. I'm leaning towards Mecha Godzilla personally

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  2. I'm afraid that you've made Destroyer seem greater than he actually showed. Yes, he was physically stronger than Godzilla, but after he dragged Godzilla across town by his tail, after that, Godzilla stomped the bejezzus out of him. He made Destroyer spew up green stuff and blasted him to pieces, and even when he came back for a third round, Godzilla didn't bother with hand to hand crap. He just kept frying him, and Destroyer was running away at the end. Godzilla takes a prolonged battle to do any kind of real damage to Ghidorah, MechaGodzilla or SpaceGodzilla, but he was ripping chunks from Destroyer's hide within minutes. Large and strong, yes. One of the most powerful, yes. Owes its existence to the device that DEFEATED him before (there was no "first Godzilla", it's the same one, having regenerated and come back decades later, people, get it right!), yes. But Ultimate? Sorry, close but not quite.

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    1. @ Teen Tyrant thank you, I agree with every word. That being said, I would like to see the real King Ghidorah fight Destroyah. I think Ghidorah would win since Oxygen destroying power would be useless against a space monster. You're right about him being the original Godzilla, however in some conituties there is more than one.

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  3. I agree with you that Destoroyah is Godzilla's #1 ultimate arch-enemy considering that he was created by the oxygen destroyer which was used to kill the first Godzilla back in 1954. Add to the fact that Destoroyah also killed Junior in cold blood before confronting Godzilla makes him even more iconic and memorable for a Godzilla monster who only appeared in one movie.

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