King Ghidorah (Showa)

*This is the **Showa** version. If you are looking for the article of other media, you should go to King Ghidorah.*

## King Ghidorah (Showa)

### Name

King Ghidorah, Ghidrah, Ghidorah, Monster Zero, Kinggidrah, King-Gidora, Venus Hellfire, Demon of the Galaxy, Supreme Ruler of the Cosmos

### Aliases

Space Super Monster, Terrifying Space Super Monster, Demon King of the Universe, Demon of Planet X, Space Monster, Evil Companion, Emperor of the Cosmos, Space Super Terror-Beast, Monster 0

## Summary

**King Ghidorah** (**キングギドラ *Kingu Gidora***) is a three-headed dragon kaiju that first appeared in the 1964 Godzilla film, *Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster*.

Having been featured in four films and a television series, the Showa King Ghidorah is the incarnation of the character with the most onscreen appearances to date. An evil extraterrestrial three-headed dragon, King Ghidorah attacked Venus over 5,000 years ago, effortlessly eradicating the planet's advanced civilization. In the 20th century, King Ghidorah arrived on Earth inside of a meteor and prepared to do the same to it. However, Mothra was able to convince Godzilla and Rodan to join forces with her to fight King Ghidorah off and send him back into outer space. In the year 196X, King Ghidorah was now terrorizing Planet X, and was known by the native Xiliens as "Monster Zero." The Xiliens convinced humanity to allow them to bring Godzilla and Rodan to Planet X, where they fought and defeated King Ghidorah once again. However, the Xiiens had double-crossed mankind, and unleashed King Ghidorah, Godzilla, and Rodan on the Earth under their mind control, demanding the planet's surrender. A group of scientists and astronauts were able to sever the Xiliens' mind control and defeat the invaders, while the now free Godzilla and Rodan fought King Ghidorah off once again. Sometime later, King Ghidorah was now under the control of the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, and was sent to Earth alongside their cyborg monster Gigan to assist in their invasion. Godzilla and his ally Anguirus both escaped from Monster Island and battled Gigan and King Ghidorah in Tokyo, with the battle eventually moving to the Nebulans' base of operations at World Children's Land. With the assistance of a group of humans, Godzilla and Anguirus were able to send King Ghidorah and Gigan retreating into space. King Ghidorah next returned to Earth as a pawn of the Garogas, and was fought and defeated by the hero Zone Fighter. At the end of the 20th century, the Kilaaks deployed King Ghidorah to battle the legion of Earth's monsters at Aokigahara after their mind control over them was severed. This time, King Ghidorah would not escape with his life, and the space demon was brutally and decisively killed by Godzilla and his allies.

## Mentality

**Personality**: King Ghidorah is an evil destructive space monster, and is said to destroy entire planets simply for his own amusement. According to the book *Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction*, King Ghidorah only thinks about how to destroy all other creatures. King Ghidorah destroyed Venus' entire civilization thousands of years ago, and attempted to do the same to Earth, only to be thwarted by the planet's monsters. In subsequent films, King Ghidorah was the pawn of various invading alien races who used him as a living weapon of mass destruction to attempt to conquer the Earth. Whenever his alien masters' mind control is severed or interrupted, King Ghidorah tends to become confused and easily overwhelmed by his enemies, forcing him to retreat. King Ghidorah does collaborate with Gigan briefly in *Godzilla vs. Gigan* without being under mind control, and the two kaiju seem to argue and strike each other in annoyance as they try to kill Godzilla and Anguirus. The 1992 book *Special Graphix Godzilla vs. Mothra* describes King Ghidorah as a "dignified villain," in contrast to Mechagodzilla being a "nihilistic killer" who is a "consistently coldhearted and composed professional" and Gigan being a "bloodthirsty, ferocious cutthroat."

**Intelligence**: **Unknown**

## Power and Stats

**Powers and Abilities**: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Flight, Energy Manipulation (Projection and Absorption, through his skin), Large Size (Type 1), Natural Weaponry (Teeth), Breath Attack, Gravity Manipulation, Air Manipulation, Self-Sustenance (Types 1 and 2), Transformation (Meteor form), Extrasensory Perception, Poison Manipulation, Madness Manipulation, Radiation Manipulation, Magnetism Manipulation (All explained here and here), Resistance to Cold and Cosmic Radiations

**Dimensionality**: **3-D**

**Existential Status**: **Concrete**

**Attack Potency**: **Planet level** (Fought against Zone Fighter and comparable to Gigan. He was taking away the Sun's shine with a prism. It's mission was to destroy the Earth) | At least **Planet level** (King Ghidorah is identified as a planet destroyer. Turned Venus in a dead planet. Stated to be capable of destroying Earth multiple times. Threatens the future of Earth. Made the planet Venus perish, and said that Earth needs to be saved from his wrath. Implied to have destroyed entire Venus, rather than merely lifewiped the planet. Said to be responsible for a planet's destruction. Fought with Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan and Gorosaurus simultaneously, and only got defeated by the combined forces of the Earth's kaijus)

**Durability**: **Planet level** (Took beatings from Zone Fighter, Godzilla and Anguirus) | At least **Planet level** (shrugged off point-blank blasts from Godzilla's atomic breath. He took a beating from Godzilla and Rodan. I survived a long beating from multiple Kaiju on several occasions.)

**Speed**: **Subsonic** Movement Speed (Outpaced Anguirus and Godzilla), **Massively FTL** Attack, Reactions and Combat Speed (Reacted to Zone Fighter and attack him in the middle of his flight), **Massively FTL+** Flight Speed in Diamond Form (Traveled from the Space Hunter M Nebula to Earth)

**Lifting Strength**: **Class M** | At least **Class M** (Superior to Godzilla, who lifted and threw kaiju his own weight, threw Anguirus who weighs as much as himself)

**Stamina**: **Extremely High**

**Range**: Tens of meters by sheer size; Hundreds of metres with energy attacks.

**Weaknesses**: Rather slow in the Earth's atmosphere.

**Key**: **Second Generation** | **First Generation**

## Arsenal

**Notable Attacks/Techniques:**

* **Gravity Beams**: King Ghidorah's arguably most famous ability is the golden, lightning bolt-like **Gravity Beams** (**引力光線 *Inryoku Kōsen***) he spits from his three mouths, also variably referred to as **Lightning Beams** (**電撃光線 *Dengeki Kōsen***) or **Zero Gravity Beams** (**無重力光線 *Mujūryoku Kōsen***). These beams are roughly equal in power to Godzilla's atomic breath, and are capable of causing large-scale explosions when fired at buildings. King Ghidorah uses these beams to cover a large radius or strike multiple targets by firing them from each of his mouths. King Ghidorah can also fire these beams one at a time, demonstrated in *Godzilla vs. Gigan* when he turns one of his heads to blast Anguirus, who is attempting to sneak up behind him.

* **Hurricane Winds**: King Ghidorah can produce hurricane-force winds by flapping his wings, which are capable of blowing away buildings and knocking other kaiju off their feet.

* **Magnetic Powers**: In *Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster*, while encased in the meteorite, King Ghidorah had the ability to generate what appeared to be magnetic fields that varied in strength from time to time. While it was never stated directly what purpose they served, it was stated that they were somehow connected to his powers. In *Zone Fighter*, King Ghidorah seems to retain his control over gravity/magnetism, managing to suspend several cars midair above a research institute, though how he achieves such a feat goes unexplained.