Rodan

**Rodan** (ラドン *Radon*?) of the **MonsterVerse**, also dubbed **Titanus Rodan**, is a giant flying pterosaur daikaiju created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2019 film, *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, serving as a major antagonist.

# Name

Rodan's original name, 'Radon', is based on the name *Pteranodon*, the extinct flying reptile that Rodan is primarily based on. The spelling of Radon in Japanese also corresponds to the name of Ladon, a dragon-like monster represented in Greek Mythology.

# Design

This incarnation of Rodan has a larger wingspan compared to any of his previous incarnations. His physique overall bears a strong resemblance to a bird of prey. His head possesses a large, heavy beak lined with tooth-like spikes and a pair of horn-like spurs curl down from the back of his skull. He has a pair of ridge-like brows and beady, yellow eyes with circular pupils. He possesses large, digitigrade avian legs, with sickle-shaped hooked claws on each foot's three large toes, and a smaller near-vestigial toe at the back similar to tyrannosaurids. The shapes of Rodan's wings (which join his wing hinge directly to his tailbone in a bat-like manner, though his legs aren't attached to the wing membrane) along with his head give him a resemblance to traditional depictions of pterosaurs, while his tail is spade-shaped (similar to his 1956, Showa, and 2004 incarnations). He has a hand on each arm that is partly detached from the wing (similar to bats' thumbs), with two long fingers and a thumb which are each equipped with long claws.

Rodan's skin is burgundy-colored and possesses a texture similar to molten rock with bumps and ridges along his chest and back. The lower-edges of his wing membrane appear to be lined with heated, red-glowing cracks, making it appear as if Rodan's wings are smoldering or are oozing lava when he's in flight. His injury from Mothra's stinger indicates Rodan does not bleed and revealed his body has a bright-yellow internalized light underneath the opaque skin. Using his wings to balance himself, Rodan can both walk and stand upright when he's not in flight.

# Personality

Unlike Godzilla and Mothra; Rodan appears to be an overall neutral Titan, whose allegiance after Ghidorah's (separate) victories against him and Godzilla is to whichever Titan currently occupies the alpha position, regardless of said alpha's actions. Based on his presence at Washington DC pursuing the military, Rodan appeared to be particularly faithful to Ghidorah when the latter was alpha, and/or eager to slaughter the hostile humans. But in the aftermath of Ghidorah's death, Rodan was the first Titan out of Ghidorah's former-pack to bow to Godzilla after receiving a domineering snort from the latter.

Rodan is an intelligent and ferocious fighter in combat, shown by his use of aerial maneuvers when slaughtering the Raptor squadron near Isla de Mara and by him snapping his jaws in an attempt to crush Mothra's head in Boston. However, Rodan also appears to be overly aggressive to a point which overrides pragmatism; shown by how he opted to clash with Ghidorah upon flying into the latter's storm near the former's territory despite his opponent's superior size, ferocity and abilities, and by leaving his shoulder open to attack by Mothra's stinger in Boston.

Despite his aforementioned aggression in Washington DC; Rodan only attacked following his awakening as a direct result of a Raptor squadron firing at him when he was atop his home. Beforehand, upon noticing the large human settlement that had developed nearby during his dormancy, he was content to curiously observe without becoming hostile. Rodan's decimation of the nearby town with a sonic boom when he took flight indicates he is either indifferent towards humans at large, or that he'd deemed all humans his enemy in response to the Raptors' attack on him.

# Origins

*Within a Monarch containment facility atop the active Isla de Mara volcano, a mysterious Titan lies in pyrostasis within the restless magma. The legends speak of it as the "Fire Demon" or "The One Born of Fire", but a simpler name echoes through the ancient temples of volcanically active regions: "Rodan".*

*A volcanic internal combustion system of magma flows throughout a body covered in rock-like scales that act as geothermal armor. While much larger in size, Rodan has a skeletal structure similar to that of a Pteranodon - one of the earliest vertebrates known to have developed the power of flight. Just as Kong is the king of the primates, Rodan may have once been the king of the skies.*

*Because of the extreme temperatures within this particular containment facility, current lab equipment can't function properly. As a result, thermal heat signatures on the creature are impossible to collect, and Monarch detection crews conducted cardiograms via aerial satellite for life sign detection and verification. Much like the volcano that incubates it, Rodan is alive but dormant.*

*Rodan's wings are wrapped around its body in stasis, but our cryptos estimate a wingspan big enough to create a sonic thunderclap capable of leveling entire cities as it flies overhead. RF-Capture scans reveal that Rodan's skin is not made of rock, but does have an outer dermis of sharp volcanic sediment collected from centuries of dormancy. Sci-ops theorizes the vulcanized appearance of its skin may be an evolutionary trait developed as a form of camouflage against mountains or large rock formations. Truly, a Titan forged in fire.*