Godzilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju, originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film Godzilla and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produced by Toho, four Hollywood films and numerous video games, novels, comic books and television shows. Godzilla has been dubbed the "King of the Monsters", a phrase first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the Americanized version of the original film. Godzilla is an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a giant beast woken from its slumber which then takes terrible vengeance on Japan.
| First appearance | Godzilla (1954) |
| Created by | Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishirō Honda, Eiji Tsubaraya |
| Portrayed by | Shōwa era, Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka, Hiroshi Sekida, Seiji Onaka, Shinji Takagi, Isao Zushi, Toru Kawai, Hanna-Barbera, Ted Cassidy (vocal effects), Heisei era, Kenpachiro Satsuma, Millennium era, Tsutomu Kitagawa, Mizuho Yoshida, Reiwa era, Mansai Nomura, TriStar Pictures, Kurt Carley, Frank Welker (vocal effects), Legendary Pictures, T.J. Storm |
| Designed by | Akira Watanabe, Teizô Toshimitsu |
| Aliases | King of the Monsters, Gigantis, Monster Zero-One, The God of Destruction, Dagon, Titanus Gojira, Primeval Champion, Doom Inevitable |
| Species | Prehistoric monster |
| Family | Minilla and Godzilla Junior (adopted sons) |
About Godzilla
An unsanctioned nuclear test in the South Pacific Ocean turned a little lizard into a giant monster that destroys the entire New York City metropolitan area. With the help of a low-profile scientist named Dr. Niko Tatopoulos and an unlikely television crew, they are given the responsibility of saving as many lives as they can from this massive radioactive beast.
Achievement of Godzilla
Along with working together in this film, actors Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Nancy Cartwright also worked as voice actors on the show The Simpsons. The lead role of this film was written for Matthew Broderick prior to him even finishing the screenplay. The movie grossed over $379,014,294 in box office sales.
Top Facts You Did Not Know About Godzilla
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