Godzilla (Showa)

Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira) is an irradiated prehistoric amphibious reptile kaiju who first appeared in the 1955 film, Godzilla Raids Again. He was originally the main antagonist of the Showa series until his change in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster where he eventually became the main protagonist for the remainder of the series.

Origin
In the Showa series, Godzilla is another individual of the same species as the original Godzilla that attacked Tokyo in 1954.

Godzilla Raids Again
Less than a year after the first Godzilla's demise, a second one was spotted by two pilots on the remote Iwato Island battling Anguirus before both monsters tumbled into the ocean and vanished.

Godzilla later reappeared in Osaka Bay where the JSDF used flares in an attempt to lure Godzilla back out to sea, this failed however when a car, stolen by a group of convicts escaped from a prison transport in the city, struck a refinery, resulting in an explosion that produced a raging fire which lured both Godzilla and Anguirus into the city. After a long fight that reduced the city of Osaka to rubble, Godzilla bit down on Anguirus' neck before throwing him into the moat below and setting him ablaze with his atomic breath. With his opponent defeated, Godzilla retreated back out to sea.

Godzilla was later seen on an icy island where he finally gets buried and frozen by the JSDF.

King Kong vs. Godzilla
After spending years encased in ice, Godzilla eventually broke free, and swam to a nearby military base, annihilating the JSDF's forces with his atomic breath.

Godzilla later appeared in Hokkaido, attacking a train in the countryside. He eventually meets up with King Kong who throws boulders at Godzilla, and Godzilla responded by blasting Kong with his atomic breath, setting the surrounding forests ablaze. Unable to fight back, Kong walked away in defeat.

Godzilla eventually fell into a huge pit in the ground filled it with explosives and then covered it with a net covered in dirt and foliage, all set up by The JSDF hoping that trapped Godzilla when he reached it. When the plan failed, a barrier of high-tension wires were set around Tokyo in an attempt to keep Godzilla from entering Tokyo, this worked as Godzilla turned around and walked away after getting electrocuted.

Godzilla was later seen Mount Fuji. Kong, who was carried off by helicopters, was let go to do battle with Godzilla. Their battle was in Godzilla's favor until Kong got struck by lightning, making him strong enough to fight back against Godzilla. Eventually, after both monsters tackled each other off a cliff into the ocean below, Kong emerged from the ocean, and then proceeded to swim back to his home on Farou Island, while the humans who had witnessed the battle were left unsure if Godzilla had survived, but speculated it was possible.

Mothra vs. Godzilla
Godzilla was washed ashore and buried underground by a vicious typhoon that struck the coast of Japan. Godzilla eventually emerged and began attacking the nearby city of Nagoya.

The JSDF made several attempts to stop Godzilla, but nothing worked.

When Godzilla approached the incubator in Japan where Mothra's egg was being held by a corporation, Mothra appeared and the two monsters begin to do battle, resulting in Godzilla's victory when a frail Mothra flew to her egg, collapsed onto it and died. The egg eventually hatched into two larvae Mothra, who later confronted Godzilla on Iwa Island. Ultimately, Godzilla was defeated at the hands of the two larvae when they trap him in silk, causing him to fall over a cliff into the water below.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
After destroying a cruise ship with his atomic breath, Godzilla came ashore in a city, where he spotted Rodan, who had escaped from the crater of Mount Aso. Godzilla and Rodan then battled with each other on Mount Fuji. Their fight was eventually interrupted by Mothra, who tried to persuade the monsters into working together against King Ghidorah, who is attacking Earth. Refusing to help, Mothra tried to stop King Ghidorah on her own, but was brutally outmatched. Inspired by the larva's courage, Godzilla and Rodan entered the battle against King Ghidorah. Together, the three monsters were able to force King Ghidorah to retreat back to space.

Destroy All Monsters
By the end of the 20th century, Godzilla and all of Earth's other monsters were living together on the human-monitored Monsterland, located in the Ogasawara Islands. The monsters were eventually taken control by the Kilaaks, and then removed from the island where they begin to go on a rampage around the world.

Once the monsters were eventually broken free of their control, they later appeared on Mt. Fuji to attack their base, with Godzilla leading them. The Kilaaks send King Ghidorah to battle against the monsters of Earth, but was eventually killed and Godzilla proceeds to destroy their base while the Moonlight SY-3 takes out the Fire Dragon, the Kilaaks' last secret weapon.

Personality
Godzilla started off as destructive monster whom indiscriminately attacked and even killed other monsters, like Angurius, and caused destruction as well. He has hated mankind, and remained a villain until Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where Godzilla begins his role as a heroic monster as he joins forces with Mothra and Rodan to fight off the evil space monster King Ghidorah. In subsequent films in the 1960's, Godzilla is often depicted as the lesser of two evils, doing battle with much more malicious and dangerous creatures such as King Ghidorah, Ebirah and Kumonga. In the film Son of Godzilla, Godzilla discovers an infant member of his species named Minilla, which he decides to raise as a son and train to take up his mantle. Godzilla's loyalty and love for Minilla eventually leads to him becoming a primarily heroic, charming, and sympathetic character.

According to Mothra's Shobijin's translation of Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla's conversation in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla only "hates humans because they hate him", suggesting that this Godzilla never had any true malicious intent but was only reacting to constantly being attacked by humans that explained odds between him and mankind. Rodan later agrees with Godzilla's statement.

Powers and Abilities

 * Godzilla's dorsal plates glow ominously, and then he fires his Atomic Breath, a concentrated blast of radiation, from his mouth. In Godzilla vs. Hedorah, his Atomic Breath can also be used for flight by aiming it at the ground and lifting off like a rocket.
 * In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla generates powerful magnetic fields from his body after being struck several times by lightning, which is strong enough to pull enemies made of metal towards him.
 * Godzilla is completely immune to conventional human weaponry, and is also capable of withstanding attacks from most other kaiju that he battles. The only monsters who were able to damage Godzilla's skin and seriously injure him are Hedorah, Gigan and Mechagodzilla.