Godzilla might be set to fight King Kong in the upcoming Legendary Pictures sequel to Godzilla Vs. Kong, but Japan is aiming to release the first movie featuring the lizard king since 2016’s Shin Godzilla to beat North America to the punch. Following the 2016 more realistic take on the king of the monsters, the Shin Universe has been expanding under director Hideaki Anno with Shin Ultraman having hit theaters and Shin Kamen Rider landing this year. Few details have emerged regarding the upcoming Godzilla movie set for Japan, but the film might hit new heights if it features a “Shin crossover”.
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The creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hideaki Anno is responsible for this new Shin universe that is filled with “Godzilla monsters” of all kinds, which doesn’t appear to have an iteration of Kong or a battle that reintroduces the brawl that is “Kong Vs Godzilla” for that matter. Despite the lack of the ruler of Skull Island, the first three films of this universe have been dubbed the “Shin Japan Heroes Universe” whose banner has helped in pushing countless pieces of merchandise for not just Godzilla, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman, but the Eva units of NERV as well. The crossover doesn’t just unite these beings of Japan’s pop culture sphere, but also united companies Toho, Color, Tsuburaya Productions, and Toei under one banner, with this crossover being listed as a “dream project” on more than one occasion.
Godzilla Vs Everyone Crossover
The next Godzilla movie is set to arrive in Japan this November, but outside of confirmation that the most popular kaiju in the world will be hitting the silver screen and revealing the logo for the movie, there have been few details when it comes to the project. While a Shin crossover movie would be quite the feat, the upcoming ‘Zilla movie has already confirmed that director Takahashi Yamazaki will be helming the film. Since Hideaki Anno seemingly isn’t involved, this is a knock against the idea that this might be a crossover to end all crossovers.
The “Shin Japan Heroes Universe” is a fascinating idea, bringing together Japanese properties that are all neck deep in the realm of kaiju. Certainly, the Shin universe itself would be able to house all these combatants as well, though we have yet to ever see a live-action take on Neon Genesis Evangelion unless, of course, the wishful project were to be an anime. On top of the sheer chaos that would emerge from a battle such as this, crossovers are a major event in the cineplex these days, if the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taught us nothing less.
We have seen a crossover before with two of these properties so there definitely is precedent as well, as Godzilla fought against Shinji Ikari and his fellow Eva pilots at Universal Studios Japan, and that worked quite well. Adding Ultraman and Kamen Rider into the mix and putting it on a big screen might be the biggest kaiju event of all time and well worth seeing.
Do you think we’ll see the Shin Universe crossover we’ve been waiting for? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Godzilla.