King Ghidorah

Development

The initial idea for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster came from Tomoyuki Tanaka, who also created Godzilla. Tanaka's inspiration came from an illustration of the Lernaean Hydra in a book about Greek Mythology, and Orochi of Japanese folklore. Tanaka was enamored with the idea of Godzilla fighting a multi-headed serpent, but considered 7-8 heads to be excessive, and thus the number of heads was reduced to three. The final version was an armless, three-headed dragon with large wings, two tails and of extraterrestrial origin. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa insisted that the Ghidorah suit be fabricated using light-weight silicon-based materials in order to grant the wearer greater mobility. The final Ghidorah design was constructed by special effects artist Teizo Toshimitsu, who had initially painted it green in order to further differentiate it from Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, but changed it to gold on the insistence of Eiji Tsuburaya, after his assistant noted that being a creature from Venus, the "gold planet", Ghidorah should be that color. The monster costume itself was built by Akira Watanabe, and worn by Shoichi Hirose, who also played King Kong in Toho's King Kong vs. Godzilla. Hirose walked hunched over inside the Ghidorah costume, holding a metal bar for balance, while puppeteers would control its heads, tails and wings off-camera like a marionette. The monster's heads were each fitted with remotely controlled motors, which were connected to operators via a wire extending from the suit's backside. Performing as Ghidorah proved challenging to Hirose, as he had to time his movements in a way that would not conflict with the separately operated heads and wings, as doing so would have resulted in the overhead wires tangling. Because of the suit's weight, it frequently snapped the overhead wires supporting it. Special effects were added as the creature is capable emitting destructive, lightning-like "gravity beams" from its mouths and generating hurricane-force winds from its wings. Despite King Ghidorah's central role in the film's plot, the character was given little screen time, as Hirose had fallen out with special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, who never forgave Hirose for accepting a Hollywood deal, and subsequently hired Susumu Utsumi to play King Ghidorah after Invasion of Astro-Monster.

In Invasion of Astro-Monster, King Ghidorah was given a darker shade of gold, and its movements both on land and in the air were more fluid than during Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, as the special effects crew had at that point learned from the shortcomings of the previous film's depiction of the creature.

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the character's ruffs of hairs surrounding its heads were replaced with horns, as it proved difficult for the special effects team to superimpose the individual strands of hair onto footage of people escaping the monster. Special effects director Koichi Kawakita had originally planned on having each of Ghidorah's heads fire differently colored beams, but this was ultimately scrapped in favor of the classic yellow color.

For Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, director Shūsuke Kaneko had originally planned on using Varan as Godzilla's principal antagonist, but was pressured by Toho chairman Isao Matsuoka to use the more recognizable and profitable King Ghidorah, as the previous film in the franchise, Godzilla x Megaguirus, which featured an original and unfamiliar antagonist, was a box office and critical failure. In order to emphasize Ghidorah's heroic role in the movie, his size was greatly reduced. He was portrayed by Akira Ohashi, who moved the creature's heads as hand puppets.

Shōwa era (1964-1973)

In his debut film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Ghidorah is portrayed as an ancient extraterrestrial entity responsible for the destruction of the Venusian civilization, five thousand years before the film's events. His attempt to destroy Earth is thwarted by the combined efforts of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra. Subsequent Shōwa era films would portray Ghidorah as the pawn of various alien races seeking to subjugate Earth.

King Ghidorah also appears in the fifth and sixth episodes of the television series Zone Fighter, where it is revealed that he is a creation of the Garoga aliens. Sent out by the Garogas to kill Zone Fighter, King Ghidorah put up a vicious fight against Zone, but was eventually defeated. Before Zone could kill Ghidorah, the space dragon fled. As Zone Fighter shares continuity with the Showa era of Godzilla movies, after escaping from Zone Fighter, Ghidorah would next appear chronologically in Destroy All Monsters, set in 1999.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

In Kazuki Ōmori's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the character's backstory is completely re-envisioned: he originates as a trio of diminutive genetically engineered creatures called "Dorats" owned by members of the 23rd century Equal Environment Earth Union, a group dedicated to equalizing the power of Earth's nations. Seeking to stop Japan's global economic dominance in their timeline by transforming the Dorats into King Ghidorah through nuclear exposure, the Earth Unionists hope to plant the Dorats on Lagos Island during the 1954 H-bomb tests there. Prior to doing so, they remove the dinosaur that would ultimately become Godzilla from the island, so that the resulting King Ghidorah would be able to attack Japan without opposition. In 1992, the Earth Unionists unleash Ghidorah onto Japan, but he is defeated by a recreated Godzilla. The wounded King Ghidorah lies dormant under the sea for two centuries before being outfitted with robotic parts by a disillusioned Earth Unionist and sent back to 1992 in order to stop Godzilla's rampage. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, "Mecha-King Ghidorah's" remains are salvaged by the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) and reverse engineered to create Mechagodzilla.

Rebirth of Mothra III (1998)

Okihiro Yoneda's 1998 film Rebirth of Mothra III portrays King Ghidorah as an extraterrestrial that landed on earth during the Cretaceous and wiped out the dinosaurs by draining them of their life-force. Ghidorah left earth, only to return in modern times to feed on humans. Mothra fails to defeat the monster, so it travels back to the Cretaceous in order to kill Ghidorah retroactively. Mothra defeats the younger Ghidorah, but the monster's severed tail allows it to regenerate back into its adult form in modern times. Mothra finally kills the monster by transforming into "Armor Mothra".

Millenium period (2001)

In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Ghidorah is portrayed as having been one of the three guardians of Yamato, originating 1,000 years before the events of the film. Initially an antagonist, Ghidorah was imprisoned in Mount Fuji, only to be reawakened in 2001 to halt Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. He is defeated, but then revived and empowered by his ally Mothra.

MonsterVerse

In 2014 Legendary Pictures announced that they have acquired the rights to King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan from Toho to use in their MonsterVerse.

Powers

Throughout its appearances, King Ghidorah's only consistent abilities are flight and the capacity to fire "gravity beams" from its mouths. Its first incarnation is shown travelling through space within a meteor capable of generating magnetic fields. Ghidorah's mechanized form in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is equipped with Capture Cables and a large Machine Hand restraint that can discharge electricity, and is strong enough to lift Godzilla. In Rebirth of Mothra III, King Ghidorah gains energy from eating victims, and can construct a dome to house its victims for future consumption. It is also portrayed as capable of firing lightning bolts from its wings and regenerating its entire body from severed body parts. Ghidorah's incarnation in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack can electrocute enemies through its teeth, and can gain power by absorbing the spirits of dead monsters, allowing it to form an energy shield capable of deflecting Godzilla's atomic ray.

Appearances

Spin-off characters related to and based on Ghidorah (although quadruped in appearance) were featured in other Toho films: "Desghidorah" (or Death Ghidorah) in Rebirth of Mothra and "Keizer Ghidorah" in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Films

Television

Video games

Literature

Music

Reception

The character has been well-received and is considered to be the most famous enemy of Godzilla. WatchMojo.com listed King Ghidorah as #1 on their "Top 10 Godzilla Villains" list, and #6 on their "Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters" list, while IGN listed the creature as #2 on their "Top 10 Japanese Movie Monsters" list. Complex listed the character as #4 on its "The 15 Most Badass Kaiju Monsters of All Time" list, calling him "iconic" and "he simply looks cooler than some of the more powerful bugs, crabs, and robots." In his review of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Ethan Reed of Toho Kingdom praised King Ghidorah, calling him "a fantastic addition to the franchise" and "no less than pure evil, a relentless force of destruction that wipes out the life of entire planets just for the sake of it" and concluded that "King Ghidorah is not only one the best characters in the series, but one [of] the best movie villains as well." Similar views were expressed in Paste, which listed Ghidorah as #5 on its "10 Best Movie Dragons", describing it as "probably the deadliest beast in all of Godzilla lore".

Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle however criticized Ghidorah's design in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, citing its stiff movements and recycled Rodan screech, as well as noting that it didn't deviate enough from Eiji Tsuburaya's original design.