Heisei Series

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In this continuity, Godzilla is the second of his kind, succeeding the original killed by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954. Both were theropod dinosaurs called Godzillasaurus that survived the K-T Extinction in the Marshall Islands. While one became the 1954 attacker via the Castle Bravo test, the other lived on Lagos Island during World War II. After driving American forces away from Japanese soldiers in 1944, it was injured by naval gunfire. Futurians teleported this survivor to the Bering Sea to erase him from history, but a Soviet submarine crash in the 1970s mutated him anyway. He roused in 1984 via volcanic eruption on Daikoku Island. Over the series, he battled Biollante, King Ghidorah, Mothra, Battra, and Rodan. His final form, Burning Godzilla (sometimes called Red Godzilla), resulted from absorbing massive radiation, causing his body to melt down as he died.

In Their Own Story

Godzilla first appeared in The Return of Godzilla (1984) after a volcanic eruption drew him near Daikoku Island. He ignored the Yahata Maru fishing vessel but sea lice mutated by his blood slaughtered the crew. After attacking a Soviet submarine and causing an international crisis, he fed on a power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture before rampaging through Tokyo. The JSDF's Super X nearly killed him with cadmium armaments until a radioactive lightning storm revitalized him. Lured to Mount Mihara by a homing signal, he was buried alive by a controlled eruption. In 1989, terrorists from BioMajor released him from Mt. Mihara. He defeated Biollante in her rose form but was weakened by Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANEB) and heat from a second battle with regenerated Biollante at Wakasa Bay, retreating to the ocean. By 1992, the ANEB left him semi-comatose until he fed on a Teiyo Group nuclear submarine, purging the bacteria and growing larger. He defeated King Ghidorah in Hokkaido but was carried out to sea by Mecha-King Ghidorah.

Reader's Guide

Following his 1984 return, Godzilla battled Biollante in 1989 after being released from Mt. Mihara. In 1992, he fought Mothra and Battra; while Mothra escaped, Battra pulled him into an underwater brawl that cracked the Philippine Sea Plate. Both emerged through Earth's mantle, with Godzilla decimating a JSDF force near Mount Fuji before confronting the moths in Yokohama Cosmo World. He overpowered them, forcing an alliance. After killing Battra mid-flight, Mothra dropped both into the ocean. In 1994, he intercepted a bio-acoustic signal from Adonoa Island, finding a living Godzillasaurus egg smuggled by UNGCC scientists. After incapacitating Rodan (irradiated on the island), he pursued the egg to Kyoto but left when it hatched into Baby Godzilla. G-Force later used Baby as bait against Mechagodzilla II in Makuhari. The saga ended in 1995 when he absorbed uranium from Baas Island, becoming Burning Godzilla and melting down over days until succeeded by Godzilla Junior.

Did You Know?

• The Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island inadvertently saved Japanese soldiers by driving American forces away during a naval exchange in 1944.
• Futurians from the year 23rd century teleported Godzilla to the Bering Sea, mistakenly believing this would prevent his mutation by the Castle Bravo test.
• Godzilla's final form is known as Burning Godzilla, though some concept art refers to it as Red Godzilla (Akaki Gojira).
• The species name 'Godzillasaurus' combines 'Godzilla' with the Greek suffix '-saurus', meaning 'lizard'.
• In 1984, sea lice mutated and enlarged by feeding on Godzilla's irradiated blood slaughtered the crew of the Yahata Maru.