A twist in Godzilla: King of the Monsters revealed that King Ghidorah is actually an alien, but this isn’t a surprising revelation for Godzilla fans, considering that Ghidorah was also an alien in the classic Toho films. The MonsterVerse made certain adjustments to King Ghidorah for King of the Monsters, but his origin story wasn’t one of them.

Godzilla’s biggest enemies in the original Toho movies are King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and Gigan, but only King Ghidorah has earned the right to be called Godzilla’s archrival. Godzilla and Ghidorah have now fought seven times, which is more times than Godzilla has battled any other monster. The two first crossed paths when Mothra orchestrated a team-up between Godzilla and Rodan to save the world from Ghidorah and alien invaders in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, released in 1964. This was the first of many clashes between the two. Other showdowns between Godzilla and Ghidorah have played out in Godzilla vs. Gigan, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and more.

After King Ghidorah’s second fight with Godzilla, he flies away and lands on Rodan’s volcano, where he lets out a call that wakes up all the other Titans. This is when the main characters come to an important discovery. King Ghidorah isn’t from this planet. Ghidorah not being part of the natural order is why he survived the Oxygen Destroyer. As Dr. Chen (Zhang Ziyi) explained in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Ghidorah’s plan was to terraform the planet in his own image. This origin is right in line with what Toho has done with the classic kaiju in the past. Ghidorah was established as an alien as far back as his first film appearance in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Unlike most of Godzilla’s enemies, King Ghidorah isn’t from Earth. The Toho version of Ghidorah is thousands of years old. He spends most of his time traveling from planet to planet, wiping out civilizations wherever he goes. Apparently, Ghidorah is the reason why the planet Venus is uninhabited. Long ago, it was the home of a thriving civilization, but all of that changed after Ghidorah’s arrival.

Ghidorah hasn’t always been clearly depicted as an alien, but in most examples, his alien origin is tied to the plot, as is the case with Invasion of Astro-Monster, a film which saw Godzilla and Rodan travel to a distant planet for a rematch with King Ghidorah, who had moved on to another world. Given the significance of his background in the original Toho movies, it seems fitting that it was just as important in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which succeeded in staying true to the spirit of King Ghidorah.

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