Kumonga

**Kumonga** (クモンガ *Kumonga*) is a giant spider kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1967 *Godzilla* film, *Son of Godzilla*.

## Name

Kumonga's name comes from *kumo* (クモ), which is the Japaneseword for "spider."

Kumonga's name in the international English dub and American television dubs of *Son of Godzilla* is "Spiga" or "Spiega," which comes from "spider."

## Appearance

Kumonga's designs are very consistent throughout its appearances. Its body is black with yellow stripes. It has cold-color eyes, an arachnid mouth, and eight legs.

## Roar

In both of its appearances, Kumonga makes a variety of chirping noises. However, in *Godzilla: Final Wars*, it also make a series of bird-like calls.

## Personality

In *Son of Godzilla*, Kumonga is a vicious predator that attacks anything it sees. Kumonga is not averse to attacking humans, as it spends a good deal of time trying to capture Saeko and Goro and later attacking them and the team of scientists in a cave. By *Destroy All Monsters*, Kumonga is shown to live peacefully with the other monsters on Monsterland, and assists them in the final battle against King Ghidorah.

In the main *Godzilla* comics published by IDW Publishing, Kumonga appears to simply be a rampaging monster at first, but by the final arc of *Godzilla: Ongoing* becomes a loyal ally to the other Earth monsters and Kiryu against the invading space monsters. Kumonga even hitches a ride on Kiryu's back from Monster Island to New York to help Mothra battle Monster X. In *Godzilla: Rulers of Earth*, Kumonga takes part in the final battle in Los Angeles against the Trilopods alongside the other Earth monsters.

## Origins

According to the research of Dr. Matsumiya, Kumonga is a gigantic spider native to Solgell Island, which while not active and hunting hibernates for years at a time under a valley. It is unknown if Kumonga was affected at all by the radiation storms on the island that mutated the native giant praying mantises into Kamacuras, or if it was simply always 45 meters tall.

## History

### Showa Series

#### *Son of Godzilla*

While protecting Saeko Matsumiya from a Kamacuras, Minilla accidentally knocked a boulder into Kumonga's valley, awakening the giant spider from its sleep. Kumonga attacked Saeko and Goro Maki when they tried to escape to Saeko's cave, but they escaped. Kumonga followed them to the cave and tried to break in, trapping them and the scientists there.

Eventually Kumonga left and trapped the Kamacuras and Minilla in its web. Kumonga killed the Kamacuras with its poison, but Godzilla arrived before it could do the same to Minilla. Kumonga and Godzilla battled, with Kumonga damaging Godzilla's eye and trapping him in webbing. Minilla came to his father's aid, and eventually Godzilla and his son were able to defeat Kumonga by blasting it at the same time with their atomic breath, setting the giant spider ablaze.

#### *Destroy All Monsters*

In 1999, Kumonga was living on Monsterland alongside the other monsters of Earth. One day, the Kilaaks attacked the island and took control of the monsters, sending them to attack various cities across the world.

After the humans severed the Kilaaks' control over the monsters, Kumonga and the other monsters prepared to assault the aliens' base under Mount Fuji. The Kilaaks responded by sending King Ghidorah to attack the Earth monsters. Kumonga and Mothra assisted in the battle by encasing King Ghidorah in webbing.

### Millennium Series

#### *Godzilla: Final Wars*

Kumonga appeared in Arizona and destroyed a trailer park before being suddenly teleported away along with all of the other monsters rampaging across Earth by the Xiliens, who claimed to want to save Earth. However, the Xiliens' true motives were revealed, and their leader X unleashed all of the monsters to resume their destruction of the planet's major cities.

In response, the Earth Defense Force freed Godzilla from Area G and had him defeat the Xiliens' monsters. X unleashed Kumonga in New Guinea to battle Godzilla. Kumonga was able to use its jumping ability to avoid Godzilla's attacks while trapping him in webbing, but Godzilla grabbed one of Kumonga's web strands and swung it through the air before letting go, sending Kumonga sailing over the horizon.

## Abilities

### Durability

The Showa version was able to survive multiple hits from Godzilla's atomic ray.

### Legs

It also has long legs ending in sharp points which can be used to skewer opponents or crush through materials like in a scene in the movie *Godzilla: Final Wars*. It also appears to have jumping abilities.

### Pedipalps

Kumonga has prehensile pedipalps that can be used to grab small prey.

### Regenerative ability

In *Godzilla: Rulers of Earth*, Kumonga appeared to regenerate a severed leg it had suffered in a battle with Gigan.

### Stinger

The Showa version also had a venomous stinger that instantly killed Kamacuras.

### Webbing

Kumonga can shoot a thick webbing and a stinger from his mandibles. The Millennium Kumonga's web was able to expand on contact with air from a single thread into a net for incapacitating foes.

## In other languages

* German: Spiega
* Russian: Кумонга
* Chinese: 库蒙加 (Kù méng jiā)

## Trivia

* According to the German release of *Son of Godzilla*, Kumonga was possibly created by Dr. Frankenstein.
* Unlike many spiders, Kumonga can fire its webbing from its mandibles similar to the Spitting spider.
* Of all the monsters who appeared in *Godzilla: Final Wars*, Kumonga does the least amount of damage, and also destroys the least amount of objects in the film, when excluding Hedorah's cut scene.

## List of appearances

### Films

* *Son of Godzilla* (First appearance)
* *Destroy All Monsters*
* *All Monsters Attack* (Stock Footage)
* *Godzilla vs. Gigan* (Stock Footage)
* *Godzilla: Final Wars*

### Video games

* *Godzilla vs. 3 Giant Monsters*
* *Gojira-kun*
* *Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!*
* *Godzilla Movie Studio Tour*
* *Godzilla: Trading Battle*
* *Godzilla Generations*
* *Godzilla*(2014 video game) (Kaiju Guide)
* *Godzilla: Kaiju Collection*

### Comics

* *Godzilla: Legends*
* *Godzilla: Ongoing*
* *Godzilla: The Half-Century War*
* *Godzilla: Rulers of Earth*