Godzilla (Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre)
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- Jules Verne: “Surely it must be dead.”
- Time Machinist: “You don't know Godzilla as I do. The best you can do is give it a brief moment of annoyance.”
- ― Jules Verne and the Time Machinist discuss Godzilla after the Nautilus bombards him with torpedoes (Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #2)
Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira) is a kaiju that appears in IDW Publishing's 2024 comic book miniseries Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre. A colossal sea monster who suddenly appeared in Long Island and subsequently ravaged New York City, Godzilla went on a rampage across Europe, the Mediterranean and Northern Africa while also contending with the private army formed by Jay Gatsby. This culminated in an all-out battle between Godzilla, Count Dracula and his minions, and G-Force, with Godzilla ultimately surviving and continuing east unhindered.
Name
- Main article: Godzilla#Name.
Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira (ゴジラ), comes from a combination of the Japanese approximation of "gorilla" (ゴリラ gorira), and kujira (クジラ), the Japanese word for "whale".
Godzilla is first referred to by name in issue #2 by the Time Machinist, having only been referred to as a "Giant Prehistoric Fire-Breathing Lizard" and a "Heavily Armored Giant Sea Creature" among other more generic terms in issue #1. Godzilla's name in-universe comes from Jules Verne attempting a scientific designation of the monster in his journal.
Design
This Godzilla bears a physique reminiscent of that of Marvel's first Godzilla. His hide is a dark hue of green and has a fish scale-like texture in close-ups, though it otherwise mirrors that of the Showa-film series Godzilla. His dorsal fins are very thin and simplistic in design and go from the top of his head like those of the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla before continuing on in one to two rows that go along most of his tail. Nonetheless, they still possess the traditional maple-leaf shape and are light gray. Godzilla's claws and teeth are elongated and his ears are pointed. His arms are inconsistently depicted as stubby in some instances and elongated in others. Most prominently, Godzilla's face is inconsistent in shape and is peculiarly deformed in adherence to the series' art style.
Personality
Godzilla is highly aggressive, suddenly attacking both the Buchanan and Gatsby mansions unprovoked and subsequently rampaging through New York City before travelling across the Atlantic Ocean to attack Europe and the Mediterranean, first targeting the United Kingdom. Godzilla will retaliate when attacked, crushing a G-Force tank under his foot during the battle in New York. He also seemed to have a habit of grabbing individual vehicles just to throw them and otherwise destroy them.
He also showed some intelligence on a few occasions: the first instance being when he tried to locate the Nautilus and looked through entrances in the undersea caverns to spot the submarine, and the second being when he briefly cooperated with the giant Jay Gatsby against the giant Count Dracula and his minions.
Origins
Godzilla's origins are mysterious and are never discussed outside of the following conversation in which Jay Gatsby tells Tom Buchanan about a rumor involving West Egg and East Egg:
- Tom Buchanan: “Where did that confounded creature come from, anyway?”
- Jay Gatsby: “Who can say? There are the legends about the origins of East Egg and West Egg. Rumors that there were giant eggs discovered by the ancient peoples of New York.”
- ― Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby discuss Godzilla (Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #3)
History
- Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #1-3 (2024-2025)
Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre
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Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #1
Godzilla suddenly appeared in West Egg, Long Island and attacked both the Gatsby and Buchanan mansions with his atomic breath before returning to the sea, briefly chasing Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway in a motorboat as they drove towards the Buchanan mansion. As they tried to return with Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, Godzilla reappeared and overturned the motorboat with his tail before disappearing again. While Gatsby and Carraway talked with Thomas Edison about weapons to stun or kill Godzilla and have a confrontation with Tom following Daisy's disappearance in Godzilla's attack, Godzilla destroyed the Queensboro Bridge and made landfall in New York City, crushing a train in his jaws and wreaking havoc. As Godzilla continued his rampage in the city, Gatsby confronted him with a private army of tanks dubbed G-Force. After crushing one of their tanks, Godzilla departed the city and returned to the ocean while ignoring subsequent shelling.
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and sinking an ocean liner, Godzilla arrived in England as Sherlock Holmes later inspected one of his footprints in Ipswich. A short time later, Godzilla appeared in London and attacked the city as he destroyed both Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament before engaging a squadron of biplanes led by Victor Yeates. Easily defeating the squadron, Godzilla disappeared from sight once again as he left the city in ruins. As Gatsby and Holmes both discussed what to do next, the Time Machinist suddenly appeared before them and tried to warn Gatsby of the possible consequences of his mission of revenge.
Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #2
After recruiting both the Time Machinist and Jules Verne into G-Force and loading a M.A.S.E.R. onto the Nautilus, the organisation departed as Tom and Daisy also joined them. As the Nautilus moved through the waters and the team tried to predict where Godzilla would next strike thanks to the Time Machinist's future knowledge and Holmes' skills of deduction, Godzilla ambushed the craft itself and attempted to grab it in his claw but missed. Gatsby led the offensive against the monster as the Time Machinist referred to him by name for the first time and the submarine launched a pair of torpedoes at Godzilla. As both these torpedoes and subsequent ones were ineffective, the Nautilus retreated to a system with underwater caverns where Godzilla could not reach them and continued until it became trapped in undersea vines. As Gatsby, Daisy and Holmes hacked through the vines to free the Nautilus, Godzilla spotted them through a cave entrance and smashed his way through the caves to reach the Nautilus. As Godzilla held the submarine in his claws with the three of them still on the outside, Verne gave the order to fire the M.A.S.E.R. which successfully stunned him and left him buried in rubble on the seafloor while the Nautilus docked in Dunkirk where G-Force could recover.
G-Force discussed Godzilla and fortified Paris in preparation to Godzilla's next appearance as they correctly predicted the beast would attack the city next. Godzilla appeared in the city and was met with massive guns and flamethrowers which only briefly slowed him down. He next put his foot into the Arc de Triomphe but was left dizzy after the monument was spun around following G-Force's fortifications, wandering into the Seine which was set ablaze after having been filled with jellied gasoline. Godzilla was then electrocuted when he grabbed the Eiffel Tower, also cutting off all of Paris' power. Despite all this, Godzilla survived with presumably few ill effects. As Gatsby and the Time Machinist reflected on the battle and Verne passing away during the battle, the Time Machinist suggested the unthinkable: the assistance of Count Dracula, as that was the one thing they didn't try in the future he came from.
They discussed Godzilla with Dracula and he opined that Godzilla was misunderstood, with the Time Machinist disappearing due to the work of a saboteur. G-Force continued to track Godzilla's rampages through various locations such as Gibraltar, Egypt and Greece, destroying the likes of the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Parthenon but always remained one step behind. Dracula then turned hostile following Holmes revealing his true history, killing the detective and kidnapping Daisy, teleporting to his castle in Transylvania with her where he watched Godzilla emerge from the Black Sea with his supernatural vision.
Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre #3
As archaeologists explored the ruins of the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, they were startled when a mummy emerged from the ruins. One of the archaeologists identified him as the Pharaoh Utma Utep and the curse which says that those who disturb his tomb will be pursued to "death and beyond", with them realizing that Utma Utep was after Godzilla when Utma walked past them. Godzilla, meanwhile, was rampaging through Transylvania as he smashed through cities much to the annoyance of a disgruntled bartender and came across a pack of werewolves.
G-Force later made their way to Castle Dracula in pursuit of both Godzilla and Dracula, having to deal with both an undead Sherlock Holmes and a pack of werewolves on the way as well as meeting with Baron von Frankenstein who joined them along with Monstrum Üpsilon, his great-grandfather's creation. They rode to the castle on motorbikes parallel with Godzilla, who fired atomic breath at them but missed.
After G-Force raided the castle and prepared to fight an army of undead servants of Dracula after rescuing Daisy and meeting up again with the Time Machinist, Godzilla arrived on the premises and stared down Dracula in a flying machine, resisting his mind-control and smacking him out of the sky. Lamenting this failure, Dracula proceeded to enslave both Monstrum Üpsilon and the Time Machinist into his army, obtaining a square-cube ring off the latter. He first pointed it at Utma Utep upon his arrival, causing the mummy to grow to a size comparable to Godzilla's and wrestle with him, with Godzilla having the advantage. Dracula then repeated the same process on a nearby werewolf which joined the battle and attacked Godzilla with Utma Utep though Godzilla was still stronger than either of them. Godzilla smacked Monstrum Üpsilon with his tail, who promptly joined forces with Utma Utep and the werewolf upon being enlarged by Dracula. Dracula then forced Daisy to use the ring on him as he was unable to use it on himself, growing to giant size and joining his servants in battle against Godzilla. Despite their teamwork, Godzilla continued to prove himself superior to them and Dracula demanded Daisy enlarge him further but Gatsby got in the way and also grew to giant size, punching Dracula towards Godzilla as Godzilla grabbed him by the cape and threw him into outer space where the sun's rays disintegrated him.
The other three monsters watched as Godzilla and Gatsby proceeded to fight one-on-one and wrestled throughout the castle grounds as the rest of G-Force watched. Godzilla then charged up a blast of atomic breath and fired it at Gatsby as he attempted to speak to Daisy, with the giant blocking it and walking towards Godzilla, shutting his mouth while he continued to fire his death ray. The resulting explosion destroyed what remained of the castle and returned Gatsby to regular size, with Godzilla being unaffected and continuing east as rampaged through Odessa and shrugged off fire from the Russian battleship Potemkin before disappearing into the sea once again.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Godzilla used his tail, teeth, claws and sheer size when sinking boats, attacking cities, demolishing bridges, picking up vehicles such as a train, crushing G-Force tanks, fighting biplanes and chasing the Nautilus. Godzilla also proved a competent fighter when battling other giant monsters, overpowering the enlarged Utma Utep, werewolf, Monstrum Üpsilon and Dracula despite their teamwork, also wrestling with each of them individually. He managed to kill the enlarged Dracula by swinging him by the cape and throwing him into space, where the Sun destroyed him. Finally, Godzilla also proved himself similar in strength to the enlarged Jay Gatsby when the two wrestled.
Atomic breath
Godzilla's atomic breath was powerful enough to destroy buildings and cleave Big Ben in two, being highly effective in laying waste to both New York City and London. He also used it when battling biplanes, easily destroying at least three of the planes. Despite its apparent effectiveness, Godzilla only used the attack twice following his rampage in London: first when he attempted to kill G-Force's members as they rode towards Count Dracula's castle on motorcycles, and later against the giant Jay Gatsby who resisted the attack.
While his atomic breath is depicted as red at one point and white on another panel, this appears to be a result of the art style used rather than any in-universe reason as a difference in color is not indicated in either occasion and it is actually referred to as "blue hellfire" on the former occasion.
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Red atomic breath -
White atomic breath
Intelligence
Godzilla is capable of taking on multiple monsters all at once, and he is also capable of taking advantage of different situations. An example would be when the giant Jay Gatsby punches the giant Dracula into Godzilla's direction, allowing Godzilla to throw the vampire all the way into the sun.
Amphibiousness
Though primarily an aquatic creature, Godzilla is also capable of traversing large distances of dry land and defeating opponents both in the water and on land.
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Godzilla swimming
Durability
Godzilla was unfazed by conventional weaponry such as tanks, guns, biplanes, battleships and torpedoes from the Nautilus, appearing merely irritated by these attacks. Godzilla also recovered quickly from each of the defenses in Paris used against him, with explosives from cannons, dizziness, fire and electricity ultimately having little effect on him. Godzilla was also unharmed by the explosion created when the giant Jay Gatsby forcefully shut his mouth while he was firing atomic breath, merely wandering east some time later.
Mind control resistance
Out of all the monsters and characters subjected to Count Dracula's mind control, Godzilla was the only one to resist and not bend to the vampire's will.
Weaknesses
Only one manmade weapon was seen to harm Godzilla: the M.A.S.E.R. built into the Nautilus which stunned him and allowed the Nautilus to escape as Godzilla collapsed to the sea floor. Godzilla's size also proved to be a hindrance when he searched for the Nautilus, with the submarine managing to evade him for a time using undersea caverns.
Gallery
- Main article: Godzilla/Gallery#Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre.
Roar
The only onomatopoeia used for Godzilla's roar in Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre is a simple "ROAR!" in issue #1. However, the description for issue #2 references the "SKREONK" onomatopoeia often used in IDW Publishing Godzilla comics among other media.[1]
Trivia
- This is the first version of Godzilla to attack cities in the 1920s.
- However, the standalone comic Godzilla vs. Cthulhu: A Death May Die Story takes place sometime in the period between World War I and World War II (1918-1939), though the exact year is not specified.
- This is the first Godzilla incarnation originating from an IDW comic miniseries to never encounter another Toho monster.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla (Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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