America has turned Godzilla into a superhero. He’s still a monster in Japan.

The licensing deal that gave both Toho and Legendary Entertainment the rights to make Godzilla movies – as long as they did so are not in the cinema at the same time – has produced vastly different approaches to the world’s most famous kaiju. America and Japan in particular seem to have radically different ideas about who Godzilla is and what he symbolizes, at least in modern times.

Godzilla has evolved significantly from his 1954 Japanese debut to the latest franchise installment, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. And in its most recent incarnations, clear national lines have been drawn between Toho’s version and Legendary’s. America’s modern Godzilla franchise, the MonsterVerse, follows the lore and spectacle-heavy template of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to make Godzilla a heroic protector of humanity. Japan, meanwhile, has returned to the character’s roots to tell deeply introspective and political stories about the country’s role in the world. Both approaches have led to hits and misses. But is either the “correct” version of Godzilla?

Godzilla smash

In the 1960s, Japanese Godzilla films often portrayed Godzilla (and associated kaiju, such as Mothra) as protectors of humanity, while the villains were anyone who would exploit them. The MonsterVerse revisits those early themes, but reframes them through the lens of the modern superhero blockbuster. The Hulk hasn’t had a standalone film since 2008, but Hollywood’s latest version of Godzilla operates under many of the same rules as Hulk stories. Godzilla is also a big, green, nigh-unstoppable, nuclear-powered monster-slash-misunderstood hero, and the real villains in his films are people who get in his way or try to use his powers for their own gain.

Without Bruce Banner to ground these stories in a human voice, the MonsterVerse movies and the live-action Apple TV show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters spend more time with Monarch, the series’ answer to Marvel’s SHIELD. Both Monarch And Godzilla: King of the Monsters replicate the Hulk’s regular conflicts with the US military, as the scientifically minded members of Monarch search for ways to aid Godzilla and push back against the inevitably counterproductive attempts to kill him.

The most consistent human hero in the films so far is leading Monarch scientist Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), who founded the series. ‘Let them fight’ ethos. Ultimately, he sacrifices himself to save Godzilla from the US Army’s Oxygen Destroyer, in a perverse inversion of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) who gives his life to stop Godzilla with that same weapon in the original 1954 film.

The MonsterVerse also has strong parallels to the DC Extended Universe films, which are enhanced by embracing the relative strengths of the kaiju genre. From Zack Snyder Man of Steel was criticized for the arrogant way in which Superman battles General Zod caused extensive damage to Metropolisbut it is expected that Godzilla will leave immense destruction behind him and still walk into the ocean as a savior.

The titular battle is fought in the same way Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is stupid and pointless for heroes who could have saved a lot of time by just sitting down and talking about their families. It’s much more reasonable for two giant monsters, obsessed with establishing their dominance over other giant monsters, to go head-to-head. Godzilla vs. Kong before coming to an agreement and putting aside their differences to work together for the foreseeable future Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Godzilla is on Team America

Image: HBO Max/Everett Collection

Godzilla was first imagined as an avatar of American power. In 1954 Godzilla, he is a symbol: a horrific monster awakened by Japan’s military ambition during World War II. He unleashes a devastation that humanity has never seen before and never wants to see again.

The American films see him differently. While the American military is regularly portrayed in a negative light in the MonsterVerse films, Godzilla himself continues to fit the mold of an American action movie hero. poetically explained in the climactic monologue from 2004 Team America: World Police: “We’re dicks! We are reckless, arrogant, stupid pricks! (…) Pussies don’t like cocks because pussies get fucked by cocks. But dicks also fuck assholes. Assholes who just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way, but the only thing that can fuck a motherfucker is a cock, with some balls.

Godzilla is a giant dick who destroys cities even as he heroically defends them from more destructive forces. But King Ghidora and many of the other Titans of the MonsterVerse are bastards who can’t be defeated any other way. Just as there is no heroic way to seek power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the MonsterVerse believes in Godzilla’s inherent right to his power, and his films condemn anyone who challenges this, including Apex Cybernetics, which hubristically creates Mechagodzilla to try to replace him. and the eco-terrorists who try to manipulate the Titans for their own purposes.

The people who understand this truth in the MonsterVerse are most likely Japanese, like Serizawa and Monarch co-founder Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), who conspired to keep the Titans a secret in hopes of preventing the US military from destroying them. The conceit that Japanese scientists will always be the wisest curators of Godzilla and his ilk seems to be Hollywood’s way of acknowledging the country’s debt to the kaiju creators. But the respect these characters show for the Godzilla is in direct conflict with the Godzilla stories Japan has been bringing to theaters since the MonsterVerse launched.

Rewriting Godzilla’s origins

Image: Toho Company/Everett Collection

2016 Shin Godzilla and 2023 Godzilla Minus one have much less in common with the playful era of Godzilla films that Hollywood is replicating. These films are more like the dark origins of the monster. Inspired by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Shin Godzilla follows the beats of a disaster movie and brutally criticizes the ineffectiveness of Japan’s government bureaucracy. Godzilla operates largely in the background for much of the film, a menace that starts off slowly and uncomfortably. When it first comes ashore, it looks like a lungfish crossed with a turkey. But he is still causing enormous damage, because Japan is paralyzed by endless meetings and overly cautious scientists and politicians.

Godzilla continues to evolve throughout the film Shin Godzilla makes it clear that Japan must evolve with him. The trigger-happy US military wants to bomb Tokyo to stop Godzilla, and the country’s Prime Minister is so intimidated that he agrees to let them do so. The film is deeply nationalistic and explicitly argues that it is time for an end to the post-World War II era in which Japan became a military puppet state of the United States.

As Americans celebrate their victory in World War II with Captain America, Godzilla is a symbol of the shame and horror of Japan’s defeat. Characters inside Shin Godzilla are desperate to prevent another Japanese city from being destroyed in a mushroom cloud, or from any more lives being lost to nuclear fallout. Their victory comes not from making a deal with Godzilla or America, but from their own hard work and scientific ingenuity, combined with a willingness to expand their presence on the world stage through an alliance with France.

The nationalistic themes are even more present Godzilla Minus one, which effectively rewrites the original film and its commitment to pacifism and sacrifice to make an argument for redemption and responsible remilitarization. As in Shin Godzillathe monster represents an existential threat that tests Japan. But instead of being defeated by ambitious young people willing to pull an all-nighter, this version is stopped by a former kamikaze pilot and other World War II veterans, while America is completely paralyzed by unrelated geopolitical conflicts.

That framework makes sense, given that America has become increasingly isolationist, as has China is increasing its aggression in the region. Japan has agreed to this double defense spending by 2028 to reduce its dependence on America, and both Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One give an idea of ​​how that should be done. Shin Godzilla states that nuclear weapons should remain a deterrent of last resort Godzilla Minus one states that the army should be volunteers, who are never asked to waste their lives senselessly.

In both films, the armed forces exist to protect ordinary people so they don’t have to experience the traumatic horrors of war. One of the highest callings, these films suggest, is to rebuild Japan and protect the progress the country has made in the intervening decades. That message works just as well in the current context of Shin Godzilla and the immediate post-war setting of Godzilla Minus one.

Let them fight

Image: Everett Collection

The MonsterVerse and the recent Toho Godzilla films have done just that had firm good luck in their home country, so both series will likely go ahead. As Marvel and DC have faced the fatigue of bad superhero movies, shrinking their audiences, Hollywood has turned to a rich new trove of colorful characters to duke it out as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The American Godzilla films often end in a solemn triumph, with Godzilla having overcome the final challenge and the promise that he will be there in the future to tackle the next one. Shin Godzilla And Godzilla Minus one The ending will end on a more ambiguous note, with the promise of future threats and a commitment to Japan to remain vigilant and united against these threats. Like Godzilla himself, both franchises have mutated and evolved into forms appropriate to the time and place they occupy. It’s fascinating to sit back and watch them fight, with the films expressing the hopes and concerns of two different nations in an increasingly chaotic world.