The Godzilla franchise has been ongoing since 1954’s eponymous movie, giving the popular kaiju dozens of awesome moments, and continues to this day with Legendary’s MonsterVerse. The Hollywood franchise has, to date, seen four movies released, and there’s another on the way in 2024 in the form of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, a direct Godzilla vs. Kong sequel. In addition to the new movie, the iconic kaiju will also be part of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Apple TV+’s Godzilla TV show set in the same MonsterVerse continuity.
With the franchise looking to keep its momentum over the next few years, and Godzilla set to remain at the heart of it, there are lots of scenes from the character’s past that should be depicted. Godzilla has appeared in movies, on television, in comic books, and more, so there’s a variety of media to pick from. Every entry in the MonsterVerse timeline has incorporated at least one classic element from Godzilla’s history, a trend that should continue in the next installments.
10 Godzilla Unlocks His Red Spiral Heat Ray
Godzilla’s usual method of projectile attack is the blue radioactive beam he projects from his mouth, which is pretty lethal. However, in 1993’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, he unlocked a new and more potent energy weapon against his robotic counterpart. During the movie’s final battle against Super-Mechagodzilla, Godzilla gets supercharged when the dying Rodan’s life force regenerates his second brain. The resulting red spiral heat ray overwhelms his powerful opponent, bursting it into flames and exploding it. Seeing this ability unlocked in the MonsterVerse, and Godzilla using it to obliterate a formidable enemy or two would be very cool.
9 Godzilla Teams Up With Rodan
The plot of 1965’s Invasion of Astro-Monster is fairly convoluted and involves aliens tricking Earth into giving them Godzilla and Rodan. They want the monster duo to protect them from King Ghidorah, in exchange for a cancer cure. However, they betray Earth and mind-control the monsters into attacking the planet. When Earth’s scientists disrupt the device controlling them, it results in an epic team-up between Godzilla and Rodan to defend humanity and defeat Ghidorah. The MonsterVerse has already seen Godzilla teaming up with Kong to defeat Mechagodzilla. Another team-up between two iconic kaiju would be more than welcome in the franchise.
8 The Dance Of Victory
Following the team-up with Rodan that results in King Ghidorah’s defeat in 1965’s aforementioned Invasion of Astro-Monster, one of the Godzilla franchise’s most surreal moments occurs. Godzilla jumps for joy repeatedly and gleefully roars, doing a hilarious victory dance to celebrate winning the fight. It’s beyond ridiculous, but it has become an iconic moment that would be a lot of fun to see in the darker, more gritty MonsterVerse. Of course, audiences might say the franchise had jumped the shark if it happened, but the sheer awesomeness of Godzilla so happy that he did a little jig would result in rapturous laughter and be well worth the inevitable criticism.
7 The Jet Jaguar Handshake
Another epic Godzilla team-up came in 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon, when humans invented a robot to help the friendly monster. Jet Jaguar can communicate with kaiju, fly, and alter his size at will, and he offered assistance to Godzilla in his fight against the mighty duo of Megalon and Gigan. While the team-up itself would be amazing to see in the MonsterVerse, the moment that needs to happen is in the aftermath. To seal their wonderful (and utterly bizarre) alliance, they execute a perfect celebratory handshake. A MonsterVerse scene depicting it would be as glorious as the victory that preceded it.
6 Godzilla Junior Dies
Wishing death on one of the Godzilla franchise’s heroic characters seems harsh, but it would mean some cool things had already happened in the MonsterVerse, should Godzilla Junior perish, and it would lead to an epic moment of revenge for Godzilla himself. Godzilla Junior, initially called Baby Godzilla, first appeared as an egg in 1993’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. He grows up a little in 1994’s Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, then comes into his own as a potent force in 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, even besting Destoroyah once. However, Destoroyah ultimately kills him. Godzilla’s attempts to revive him fail and a literal meltdown ensues that sees Godzilla critically wounding Destoroyah.
5 A Monstrous Battle Royale
With a title like Destroy All Monsters, it’s not too much to expect an epic scene involving many giant beasts – and that’s precisely what the 1968 movie delivers. In the film, humans have achieved world peace and successfully confined kaiju to a reserve they’ve called Monsterland. However, the meddling of a nefarious alien race results in monster-filled chaos ensuing. The final battle sees Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga, and Varan participating in an epic battle royale of sorts with Mount Fuji providing the awesome backdrop. A scene like this one in the MonsterVerse would be truly spectacular.
4 Stomping On A T-Rex
It might be a terrible film, but the 1998 American Godzilla movie does at least have one scene that would be awesome to recreate in the MonsterVerse. It comes when a bunch of school kids are being shown around a museum and their guide is talking about T-Rexes in front of a T-Rex skeleton. As the guide explains how T-Rex was one of the largest predators ever to walk the Earth, this movie’s version of Godzilla suddenly tramples its way past the museum, crushing the T-Rex skeleton with one foot. It perfectly emphasizes just how huge kaiju are, as they utterly dwarf the most fierce of carnivorous dinosaurs.
3 Godzilla Goes To Hell
There is a DW comic book from 2016 in which Godzilla ends up in hell after inadvertently destroying Earth with his atomic breath. The comic – aptly titled Godzilla in Hell – pits the iconic monster against demonic versions of his classic enemies, such as King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, and Space Godzilla, but he also finds himself up against unfamiliar and even more powerful foes. Godzilla fights – and defeats – God and Satan themselves. He kills the former with divine-infused atomic breath and the latter as a swarm of Hellbats. As absurd as it sounds, this could make for an instant classic live-action sequence.
2 Godzilla Destroys Zilla
One of the low points in the franchise’s history was the almost universally disliked 1998 American Godzilla movie. The version of the giant monster it depicted quickly became known as Zilla, to differentiate it from the true Godzilla. Fans of the franchise wanted to see the real Godzilla put Zilla in his place, and they got their wish six years later in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars.
As Earth comes under attack from a legion of monsters, Godzilla is revived to defend the planet. When Zilla attacks Sydney, Australia, the real Godzilla swiftly and easily destroys it with one violent swing of his powerful tail, sending Zilla crashing into the Sydney Opera House. Introducing the “Zilla” monster in live-action could work, even if it’s a bit too meta.
1 Godzilla’s Death
Godzilla has died several times in different media over the years, but the MonsterVerse needs to conclude with a most epic demise for the character. In the aforementioned Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, when Godzilla Junior is killed, Godzilla’s body starts to melt down before he gains revenge. The circumstances wouldn’t necessarily have to be the same, but when Godzilla perishes in the MonsterVerse, it should be in a similar blaze of glory, defeating a powerful foe as his body goes nuclear and with the King of Monsters fully aware he’s about to die. It would be a fitting and heroic death for the MonsterVerse version of the iconic kaiju.
