Godzilla is known for his team-ups with other monsters nearly as famous as he is, but several exciting kaiju teams in his movies never got to pan out. Though he started out as the solo subject of 1954’s Godzilla, the King of the Monsters developed a whole ecosystem of new monsters as his movies progressed, with many monsters forming teams in battle of some form or another. Whether Godzilla’s villains formed alliances against him or radioactive reptile himself got a teammate, Godzilla’s movies are full of monster alliances.

Throughout Godzilla’s many canceled films, some potent opportunities for monster team ups were sadly abandoned. Some would’ve given the regular cast of Godzilla’s recurring monsters brand-new team compositions in all-out kaiju war, whereas others would’ve introduced brand-new foes to face down Godzilla on his own. In any case, it’s a shame that some of the monster teams with the most potential in Godzilla’s history were never able to manifest beyond the planning stage.

8

Baragon, Anguirus, And Varan

Would’ve formed a team of lesser-known monsters

It’s a sad reality of the Godzilla movies that popularity plays a massive factor as to whether or not certain monsters can expect to see additional appearances. Interestingly, one canceled project would’ve pitted three of the Earth’s lesser-known kaiju against a villainous Godzilla, presenting a rare story in which the monsters teaming up to face down Godzilla were actually the good guys. This team would have consisted of Baragon, the four-legged tunneler first introduced in Frankenstien vs Baragon, Anguirus, Godzilla’s spiky-shelled sidekick, and Varan, an obscure lizard-like monster with the gliding membrane of a flying squirrel.

The scrapped project was burdened with the mouthful of a title, Godzilla X Varan, Baragon and Anguirus: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The script was later re-configured into 2001’s Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Mothra and King Ghidorah were determined by the studio to be more popular picks that could draw more attention to the film, meaning that Anguirus, Varan, and Baragon’s Godzilla strike team would sadly never come to fruition.

7

Mothra Teams Up WIth Her Evil Twin Brother, Gigamoth

Evidently, Mothra puts family first

These days, the benevolent insectoid kaiju Mothra is usually thought of as Godzilla’s ally, frequently appearing to bolster his forces against some other monster or sacrifice herself in order to lend her life force to Godzilla’s aid. It’s easy to forget that Mothra’s first appearance alongside Godzilla had her going wing-to-toe with the King of the Monsters on her own, in the aptly-titled Mothra vs. Godzilla. Initially, Toho had plans to give Mothra a re-match alongside some familial backup.

The canceled 1992 film Godzilla vs. Gigamoth would’ve introduced Gigamoth as essentially Mothra’s evil twin brother. A member of the same species heavily mutated from, what else, nuclear radiation, Gigamoth would’ve presented a far more dangerous foe for Godzilla, being immune to the creature’s atomic breath by way of radioactive energy absorption. Eventually, Mothra and Gigamoth were to join forces against Godzilla, combining their bodies into one to form a sort of super-Mothra that would then entomb Godzilla in a powerful cocoon.

6

Godzilla’s Destroy All Monsters Team & King Kong

King Kong nearly shared the screen with more than just Godzilla

Despite the success of the first 1962 film to pit King Kong against Godzilla, the two wouldn’t be back for a re-match until 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. However, King Kong nearly appeared among the stacked cast of 1968’s Destroy All Monsters, one of the most ambitious Godzilla projects ever planned at the time. Starring King Ghidorah, Mothra, Anguirus, Rodan, and more, Destroy All Monsters was a crossover event of epic proportions, though Kong ultimately missed out on the action.

King Kong was almost among the massive lineup of monsters that teamed up to take on the villainous King Ghidorah, which means it would’ve been the first time Godzilla and Kong joined forces against a common enemy decades before Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong had them team up against Mechagodzilla. Even more insulting, a minor King Kong villain from King Kong Escapes, Gorosaurus, made the final cut of the film without his more famous simian opponent. This was due to Toho losing licensing rights to Kong shortly after the film’s release, not wanting to promise audiences more than they could deliver.

5

Godzilla Nearly Attacked Humanity Alongside Gods From Space

God’s Godzilla would’ve given real-life religion a kaiju makeover

A controversial film that never got off the ground for good reason, God’s Godzilla would’ve featured one of the most unbelievable Godzilla team-ups ever conceived. In the pitch for the unmade film, kaiju versions of all the Earth’s major religious deities would have descended from space, revealing themselves as aliens. The most baffling inclusion was the concept of a kaiju-sized Jesus, descending to wreak havoc on humanity alongside Godzilla himself.

God’s Godzilla had an incredibly bleak pitch, describing the downfall of humanity’s dominion over the Earth as Jesus and Godzilla assaulted the planet with psychic attacks, massive tidal waves, and good old-fashioned giant monster destruction. The film was to end with Jesus ascending into heaven over the Egyptian pyramids as Godzilla formed into a sort of giant sphinx, revealing the future of humanity as horribly mutated creatures. It’s clear why the ideas for God’s Godzilla were discarded, as it’s hard to believe the narrative was seriously pitched as a Godzilla film in the first place.

4

Godzilla, Anguirus, A Dinosaur, And A Giant Chameleon

Would’ve wreaked havoc in one of the strangest Godzilla movies yet

One of the most bizarre Godzilla movies that never made it to production was 1956’s proposed film, Bride of Godzilla. Introducing an early version of the Monsterverse’s Hollow Earth years before Legendary would play with the same concept, the story centered around a mad scientist named Dr. Shida, who builds a robot version of his late wife. When Godzilla rises from the center of the Earth alongside a trio of other monsters, the doctor proceeds to build a giant cybernetic version of his daughter, which Godzilla ends up falling in love with.

The film would have seen Godzilla reunited with frequent teammate Anguirus, alongside a giant chameleon and a massive Archaeopteryx, a flying feathered dinosaur. Once again pitting Godzilla and company against the human race as villains, the film would’ve ended with Godzilla perplexingly becoming smitten with the giant robot daughter, falling for her wiles only for her to detonate herself with a massive explosion, seemingly taking Godzilla out. While the strange honeypot story surely wouldn’t have worked, seeing Godzilla and Anguirus join forces with some hollow Earth dinosaurs is a promising idea.

3

The Gargantuas Could’ve Teamed Up Against Godzilla

Possibly marking Godzilla’s second giant monster crossover

While Kong vs. Godzilla presented the world with the first major crossover film between a Western monster and a Japanese Kaiju, a planned 1978 project almost did the same, albeit with a far more obscure property. The American and Japanese joint-effort production, tentatively titled U.S.-Japan Collaboration: Godzilla, would have brought back Sandra and Gaira, giant creatures known as Gargantuas which first appeared battling each other in 1966’s The War of the Gargantuas. This time around, Sandra and Gaira would’ve joined forces against Godzilla himself.

Details around the film’s plot are scarce, leaving a lot up in the air as to how Godzilla could have inspired a common enemy worthy of making the two Gargantua rivals put their differences aside. While the film never ended up manifesting, a 2014 comic, Godzilla: Rules of the Earth did feature a battle between Godzilla, Sandra and Gaira. It’s a shame that a collaboration between U.S. and Japanese producers was never able to materialize long enough for a film that could strike while the iron was hot in terms of the Gargantua’s relevance in pop culture.

2

Godzilla Almost Fought An Original Monster Couple

Redmoon and Erabus nearly debuted in a team-up battle

2014’s Godzilla was remarkable for being the first time Godzilla threw down against a pair of mated monsters, going up against the MUTOs, a monster species characterized by their sexual dimorphism. Between the bulky female and the smaller, but flight-capable male, Godzilla had a hard time against the MUTOs, but he nearly fought another monstrous mated pair with a similar dynamic years earlier. In 1972, Godzilla was planned to go up against two new original monsters named Redmoon and Erabus in the scrapped film, Godzilla vs. Redmoon.

The story was to clarify that Redmoon descended to the Earth’s surface from the moon, whereas Erabus rose from the depths of a sea. Upon luring them toward one another in hopes of getting them to fight and take each other out, the humans are horrified to learn that both creatures are actually a male and female of the same species, and go on to reproduce. The two were to go on a rampage after their newborn child is killed, leaving it up to Godzilla to take both kaiju on at once.

1

Godzilla, Anguirus And Mothra Fighting Together

Could have established the Big 3 of Toho’s benevolent monsters

Despite both being two of Godzilla’s closest allies, Anguirus and an adult Mothra form never truly get the chance to fight side by side. Granted, in Destroy All Monsters, Anguirus and a larval Mothra both participate in the assault against King Ghidorah, but a definitive trio featuring two of Godzilla’s most frequent collaborators is sadly never featured in a classic Godzilla movie. One planned film, with the lengthy title Giant Monsters Converge on Okinawa! Showdown in Zanpamisaki, would have been the first to do so.

Like many Godzilla movies, Giant Monsters Converge on Okinawa! Showdown in Zanpamisaki centered around an alien race that assaults the Earth, attacking the planet with a massive robot named Garugan. Godzilla recruits both Mothra and Anguirus to help him fight this new foe, which would’ve been the first time the two truly battled side-by-side against a superior opponent. Eventually, the ideas of the film morphed into Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, replacing Mothra with King Caesar as Godzilla‘s ally.