So far, the MonsterVerse has been quite the mixed bag. Legendary Pictures’ cinematic universe reached big, dumb, fun highs with Godzilla vs. Kong and Kong: Skull Island, then found its low in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Godzilla (2014), which failed to advance the overarching story in meaningful ways and, at least in the latter’s case, skimped on the beasties we’re paying to see. It’s not all bad, though. While the MonsterVerse and its many plot holes don’t hold a candle to Toho’s output, especially more recent entries such as Godzilla Minus One or Shin Godzilla, it does have an enviable shot at bringing new iterations of classic monsters to the big screen.
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Some of these monsters are essential to Godzilla’s evolution as a character, so not bringing them back simply won’t work. The following list is by no means comprehensive, but it should give you a solid idea of which Titans need to come back in some form.
5) King Ghidorah
We last saw the Monsterverse’s King Ghidorah in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which ended with him being blasted to bits by Godzilla after a lengthy and costly battle. However, post-credit scenes revealed that one of Ghidorah’s heads survived. Ghidorah is so much more than a one-off villain, and I hope Legendary brings him back in some form. Like Godzilla, he regenerates, making him tough to put and keep down. The door is wide open for his return. Make it so, Legendary.
Ghidorah first terrorized Godzilla in the 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-headed Monster, quickly establishing himself as one of the atomic Titan’s most powerful foes and kickstarting a timeless rivalry. He’s appeared in eight Godzilla films thus far, acting either on his own or under the control of other aliens. Regardless of where his power or his orders come from, Ghidorah is usually too much for Godzilla to handle alone. In fact, to beat Ghidorah, he often needs help from a certain dinosaur-like Titan whose name rhymes with “Shmodan.”
4) Rodan
Rodan is an especially imposing Titan. For starters, he’s an enormous irradiated Pteranodon. He also prefers submerging himself in hot magma to engaging with the world around him, giving him immunity to extreme heat and making him impervious to most weapons. He briefly teamed up with Ghidorah in King of the Monsters before submitting to Godzilla.
In addition to his volcanic resilience and generally horrifying appearance, this radioactive dinosaur flies so fast that he often creates sonic booms capable of wiping out entire cities. The threat he poses is no joke, and so far the Monsterverse has only begun to show us what he can do. Rodan first squares off against Godzilla in the 1956 film Rodan before appearing in seven subsequent features. While he often functions as Godzilla’s ally, Monsterverse Rodan spent most of King of the Monsters on Ghidorah’s team. Rodan survives the events of King of the Monsters, so it’s high time for Legendary to put him back into play.
3) Mechagodzilla
While not technically a Titan the way the others on this list are, Mechagodzilla nonetheless functions as one. It’s a shame the Monsterverse hasn’t featured him more, because this guy packs one heck of a wallop. He’s a relatively late addition to Godzilla’s rogues gallery, but his impact on the franchise was so great that he quickly became known as one of the atomic Titan’s greatest archenemies (the other being King Ghidorah, naturally).
Mechagodzilla has so much more potential than the Monsterverse would have us believe. He was the “secret” big bad of Godzilla vs. Kong, but he didn’t end up doing much. Mechagodzilla’s most terrifying asset is his adaptability. He learns as he fights, making him too powerful for any one Titan to fight him and win. It’s only after Godzilla and Kong work together that Mechagodzilla goes down, and even then, victory is narrow.
2) Behemoth
Behemoth distinguishes himself from his fellow Titans in two key ways. The first is his mammalian design, which blends the physical attributes of a wooly mammoth and an ancient sloth and then balloons them to hundreds of times either animal’s size. The second thing separating this monster is his radiation, which is beautiful and restorative rather than ghastly and destructive.
Created specifically for the Monsterverse, Behemoth doesn’t have the decades of history the other Titans on this list have. As such, Legendary can take him in any direction they please. He has mostly been a background Titan so far, but his design and power set are so unique that they all but demand more prominence. We haven’t seen him since his brief appearance in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, so a return is overdue. Plus, Mothra would probably appreciate his assistance in cleaning up after Godzilla’s destruction.
1) Mothra
Perhaps even more iconic than Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla is Mothra, the gigantic — you guessed it — moth alien who typically plays the role of protector rather than aggressor. Her wings create devastating gusts, and she even sports a stinger that can hurt armored Titans such as Rodan. Dubbed “Queen of the Monsters,” she is gentle where Godzilla, Ghidorah, and Rodan are not, joining their brawls only out of necessity. She pops up in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, both of which depicted her as a healer and a symbol of rebirth. She’s appeared in a whopping 12 Godzilla features, usually as ‘Zilla’s ally, and that’s not counting her various solo films.
Monsterverse Mothra gets much more to do than every other Titan on this list, but it still just isn’t enough. Hopefully, the powers that be continue to honor her significance by making her presence felt in subsequent entries.
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