King ghidorah

## ghidorah

king ghidorah stomps straight into battle with 3 cudly heads and 2 tails.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 seven or eight heads to be too excessive, and thus the number of heads was reduced to three.[24] The final version was an armless three-headed dragon with large wings, two tails and of extraterrestrial origin.[25]

Toho also drew inspiration from the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych or King Dragon キング・ドラゴン (Kingu Doragon)[26] in Japanese version from the 1956 Soviet film Ilya Muromets, which had been distributed theatrically in Japan by Shintoho in March 1959.[27][28] King Ghidorah's name is composed of "King" (キング, Kingu) and "Ghidorah." The "Ghidorah" part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the pronunciation of the word "hydra" (Гидра, ˈɡʲidrə) in Russian, written as ヒドラ (Hidora) in Japanese.

Other sources of inspiration included mythological creatures such as the hydra, unicorn, pegasus, and qilin.[29]

## Shōwa era (1964–1973) Edit

Shōwa King Ghidorah
In its 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. Its attempt to destroy Earth is thwarted by the combined efforts of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra.[30]

Subsequent Shōwa era films would portray Ghidorah as the pawn of various alien races seeking to subjugate Earth.[31][32][33] King Ghidorah also appears in the fifth and sixth episodes of the television series Zone Fighter, where it is revealed that it is a creation of the Garoga aliens.[34][35]

Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa insisted that the Ghidorah suit be fabricated using light-weight silicone-based materials in order to grant the wearer greater mobility.[36][37] The final Ghidorah design was constructed by special effects artist Teizo Toshimitsu,[38] 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.[24]

The monster suit itself was built by Akira Watanabe, and worn by Shoichi Hirose.[2] 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.[25] 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.[38]

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.[36][37] Because of the suit's weight, it frequently snapped the overhead wires supporting it.[38] 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.[39]

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 he hired Susumu Utsumi to play King Ghidorah after Invasion of Astro-Monster.[36][37] In that film, 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.[40]

## Heisei era (1991–1998) Edit

Heisei King Ghidorah
In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), the creature is re-envisioned as a trio of diminutive genetically engineered creatures called "Dorats" owned by a group of humans from the 23rd century known as the 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 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 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 defected Earth Unionist and sent back to 1992 as Mecha-King Ghidorah in order to stop Godzilla's rampage.[41]

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.[42][unreliable source] 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.[43][unreliable source] This version of King Ghidorah was portrayed by Hurricane Ryu.[5]

In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), Mecha-King Ghidorah's robotic middle head is salvaged by the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) and reverse engineered to create Mechagodzilla.[44]

In Rebirth of Mothra III (1998), King Ghidorah is depicted as an extraterrestrial that landed on earth during the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era and wiped out the dinosaurs by draining them of their life energies. Ghidorah left Earth and returns in modern times to feed on human children. Mothra Leo fails to defeat the monster and travels back to the Cretaceous in order to kill Ghidorah retroactively. Leo defeats the younger Ghidorah, but the monster's severed tail allows it to regenerate back into its adult form in modern times. Leo finally kills the monster by transforming into a new form: "Armor Mothra".[45] This version of King Ghidorah was portrayed by Tsutomu Kitagawa.[6]

## Millennium era (2001) Edit

Millennium King Ghidorah
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. Ghidorah is defeated, but then revived and empowered by ally Mothra.[46]

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,[47] as the previous film in the franchise, Godzilla vs. 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, the creature's size was greatly reduced, and was portrayed by Akira Ohashi, who moved the creature's heads as hand puppets.[48][49]

Anime trilogy (2018) Edit
Ghidorah is referenced by Metphies in a post-credits scene for Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle[50] and is featured in Godzilla: The Planet Eater.[51] The anime incarnation of Ghidorah is markedly different from his original portrayal, having evolved to the point of discarding his physical body in favor of a form of pure astral energy with two tails, two wings, and three necks that reach at least 20 kilometers in length, stretching out of three black hole-like portals to devour planets sacrificed to him by the Exif cult with his gravitational powers while his torso remaining within an alternate dimension.[citation needed]

In the anime, Ghidorah is the deity worshipped by the Exif under the titles of "Wings of Death", "Golden Demise", and "God of Destruction". He is summoned to Earth by Metphies and his cult in order to destroy Godzilla and devour Earth just as how they fed him other planets they visited and converted to the Exif faith. Virtually invincible due to his defiance of physics, it is only when his link to this universe (in this case, Metphies) is broken that he can be affected by conventional physical laws, allowing Godzilla to disperse, defeat, and effectively banish him back to his realm of reality for the time being.[citation needed]

## MonsterVerse (2019) Edit

MonsterVerse King Ghidorah
In 2014, Legendary Pictures announced their acquisition of the licenses to Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah from Toho to use in their MonsterVerse franchise.[52] The trio were introduced in Kong: Skull Island in a post-credits scene depicting cave paintings of all three monsters, including Godzilla.[53]

In June 2017, a press release confirmed Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah would all be featured in the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters.[54] In April 2018, Jason Liles, Alan Maxson, and Richard Dorton were cast to provide the motion capture performances of the heads of King Ghidorah, with Liles performing the middle head, Maxson performing the right head, and Dorton performing the left head. Other actors would perform the rest of King Ghidorah's body.[8][9] This version of Ghidorah stands 521 ft (158.8 m) tall, weighing 141,056 tons with an unknown wingspan that can allow it to fly at a speed of 550 knots. It is referred to as "Monster Zero" (a reference to Invasion of Astro-Monster) by the organization Monarch. According to Monarch's database, ancient civilizations called the monster "Ghidorah".[55] This incarnation is also notable as the first to portray Ghidorah's heads as having distinct personalities, with the middle head being the cruel and intelligent leader, the right head being the aggressive and obedient one, and the left head, despite appearing to be curious and easily distracted, actually serves as an observant lookout, surveying and paying attention to the environment and enemy movements more so than the other two.

In the film, King Ghidorah is portrayed as a rival apex predator to Godzilla that had originated from another world (how exactly it traveled through space to Earth is unclear) and threatens Earth's natural order. Referenced in various myths, King Ghidorah is shown through ancient cave paintings to have fought with Godzilla or its species in the past before. King Ghidorah ended up being frozen in Antarctica, discovered sometime after 1973 by Monarch who proceeded to study the monster until it was freed by eco-terrorists led by Alan Jonah. Godzilla is attracted to Ghidorah's activity and they engage in a short battle, but the humans lure Ghidorah into retreat with their Orca device, proceeding to Mexico, where Rodan is awoken from its hibernation inside a volcano.

Ghidorah forces Rodan into submission, but is then attacked by Godzilla again, who manages to gain the upper hand by dragging the flying monster into the ocean. Godzilla is nearly victorious after he completely bites off Ghidorah's left head, but in desperation the human military attempts to kill them both by detonating a new weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer. This nearly kills Godzilla, but has no effect on Ghidorah, who flies back to land and within minutes, fully regenerates his severed head, eventually leading to the discovery that he is in fact an alien. With Godzilla seemingly defeated, Ghidorah becomes the new "alpha" or "king of the monsters", and puts out a worldwide call that awakens all of the Earth's Titans to destroy human civilization, with Rodan as his right hand. Ghidorah even starts causing massive electrical storms in the eastern United States, radically altering climate conditions.

When Ghidorah comes to Boston to destroy the Orca device that is negating its hold over the Titans, it battles a revived Godzilla while Mothra fights Rodan. With the extra time to recover thanks to distractions from Mothra (who is killed by Ghidorah in an act of self-sacrifice) and the humans, Godzilla unleashes a series of thermonuclear pulses that obliterate Ghidorah completely. In a post-credits scene, Jonah and his men are shown a previously-decapitated head of Ghidorah from a fisherman in Mexico. He quotes to the fisherman, "We'll take it."

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 seven or eight heads to be too excessive, and thus the number of heads was reduced to three.[24] The final version was an armless three-headed dragon with large wings, two tails and of extraterrestrial origin.[25]

Toho also drew inspiration from the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych or King Dragon キング・ドラゴン (Kingu Doragon)[26] in Japanese version from the 1956 Soviet film Ilya Muromets, which had been distributed theatrically in Japan by Shintoho in March 1959.[27][28] King Ghidorah's name is composed of "King" (キング, Kingu) and "Ghidorah." The "Ghidorah" part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the pronunciation of the word "hydra" (Гидра, ˈɡʲidrə) in Russian, written as ヒドラ (Hidora) in Japanese.

Other sources of inspiration included mythological creatures such as the hydra, unicorn, pegasus, and qilin.[29]