087: That Time Godzilla Was a Marvel Character

Everyone knows I love Godzilla. I’ve written about Godzilla a couple of times before, here and here. (My second post ever was about the franchise and my feelings for it!) I’m also currently working on a huge Godzilla-related project— arguably the most ambitious one I’ve set out to do since founding the SoraRabbit Hole. (I say arguably because I’m also watching six decades of Doctor Who and going into ridiculous detail about the canon and continuity.)

So, with my love for Godzilla in mind, it stands to reason that I’d explore the various iterations of one of my favorite cultural icons, sampling them all, good or bad. So it was only a matter of time before I came across the period of time when Godzilla lived in the Marvel 616 universe among superheroes, tearing down cities and wreaking havoc on the comic page.

Dude ‘bout to get smushed. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

That’s right, Godzilla was an actual Marvel character. It’s firmly a part of canon, although not referenced these days. Usually in licensed tie-in comics, they either don’t mention the standard Marvel universe, or they establish early on that this is non-canon, existing in its own section of the multiverse. (Good examples were G.I. Joe and Transformers.) Not so with Godzilla… he lived and rampaged among actual Marvel characters and superheroes for a time in the rocking 70s. And I’m here today to look at this odd editorial decision.

Cover. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was published by Marvel Comics and ran for 24 issues from 1977 to 1979. It was written by Doug Moench and primarily drawn by Herb Trimpe, aside from a couple of issues.

This series came about due to Stan Lee— Marvel’s head honcho and publisher— being a big fan of Japanese Kaiju movies. He arranged a license for Godzilla— the character only— to appear in Marvel comics. The deal did not extend to King Ghidora, Anguirus, or any other Kaiju featured in the Toho movies. This necessitated the creation of several Marvel-exclusive monsters. Toho distanced itself from the comic, allowing Marvel the freedom to do what they wanted with the series, but after it had run for two years they decided to raise the licensing fees. This wouldn’t have been worth it to Marvel to continue, so rather than lose money by extending the series after Issue 24, they chose to end it.

Drama. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

What is a Godzilla story without human characters? This series had a small cast of familiar Marvel characters with some original creations thrown in. We’ll start with the originals. Doctor Yuriko Takiguchi is a scientist who was reluctantly involved in Godzilla’s creation. (He was the only opposing voice to the nuclear tests and the only survivor.) Robert Takiguchi is the Doctor’s grandson, a twelve year-old boy with strong opinions about the fight against Godzilla. He also becomes bonded to the giant robot Red Ronin. Rounding out the cast is Tamara Hashioka, the Doctor’s long-time assistant. As the series goes on, SHIELD gains a pilot named Howards and another scientist, Dr. Gladstone Hawkins appears at the tail end of the series.

Hercules, Black Widow, and two former X-Men face Godzilla. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Of course the best part of Godzilla being in the Marvel Universe is that he is able to interact with classic characters. The core group of the anti-Godzilla forces is a SHIELD team headed by Dum Dum Dugan, one of Nick Fury’s old war buddies. Gabe Jones— another member of the Howling Commandos— assists Dugan. Jimmy Woo, an agent of SHIELD, is the liaison with the previously mentioned original characters, and he has an ongoing romantic subplot with Tamara.

Aside from the recurring characters there are guest appearances by Nick Fury, the Champions, Tony Stark, the Pyms, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Devil Dinosaur, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. Even Spider-Man shows up for a couple of panels.

GODZILLA SMASH. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla’s story in the Marvel universe started when some unseasonable warmth thawed an iceberg in Alaska, setting Godzilla free. Soon we learn this version of Godzilla has the same origin as his movie counterpart, as a prehistoric monster irradiated and grown to incredible size by dangerous nuclear testing. How he ended up frozen in Alaska is never revealed.

He just playin’. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla starts wreaking havoc in Alaska, and the defensive organization SHIELD rushes to stop him. Colonel Nick Fury puts Commander Dum Dum Dugan in charge of the team tasked with taking Godzilla down. To this end, they’ve called in an expert from Japan who knows more about Godzilla than anyone, having survived his first rampage.

Looks like he’s having fun. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Their first attempts to stop Godzilla consist of fighter jets and a laser cannon. Neither, obviously, works.

This can’t be good. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Instead of radioactive mouth beams, this Godzilla has fire breath like a dragon. Weird choice, but it’s fine.

Everyone panics. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

From Alaska, Godzilla moves to Seattle and we learn the plan our new characters have presented to SHIELD are blueprints for a massive robot, funded by Tony Stark. They split into two teams, with the Japanese visitors being guarded by Jimmy Woo and setting about building their robot. While they’re busy with that, Dugan and Gabe Jones work to get Godzilla out of Seattle. In doing this, they purposely blow up the city’s main power plant, making you wonder how responsible this highly-armed semi-secret agency really is.

I’m kind of impressed by Hercules now. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

They drive Godzilla into the sea and he next surfaces in San Francisco. In the first proper crossover of the series, he battles the Champions, a C-List superhero team made up of former X-Men Angel and Iceman, along with Hercules and Black Widow. (There are a couple of other members, but they’re casually written out of this issue, I guess because having too many characters would be annoying to draw.)

That’s a horrible name for a ship. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Although Godzilla shrugs off Iceman’s Mutant ice powers, Hercules summons all his strength and manages to throw the beastie off balance. Dugan is there too, bickering with the team since he’s annoyed by all superheroes.

Oops. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

While SHIELD and the Champions fight Godzilla (and each other), Woo’s team is hard at work building their robot. Tony Stark— Iron Man himself— makes a brief appearance out of his armor. There’s a romantic subplot going on with Woo and Tamara which the Doctor does not approve of, and Robert is just concerned with sabotaging the project in order to save Godzilla. The boy is convinced Godzilla is not evil and doesn’t deserve to die. This is a sentiment that Gabe agrees with, causing him and Dugan to butt heads over the course of several issues. It’s one of the core plot elements for most of the run— Dugan wants to destroy Godzilla, unwilling to see him as anything more than a mindless monster. Gabe feels that Godzilla is intelligent and is reacting to the attacks, not out of any inherent savagery.

Dum Dum and the Champions (which would be a great name for a band) argue and get in each other’s way, resulting in the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge, a SHIELD helicarrier crash, and Godzilla’s escape. (And you wonder why you’ve never heard of the Champions?)

A new challenger appears! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

As mentioned before, Toho’s deal with Marvel didn’t extend to other Kaiju, so in Issue 4 we get our first Marvel-created monster, Batragon. The new monster attacks an oil tanker while men in skeleton costumes steal the oil for some mysterious figure named Dr. Demonicus.

The dreaded Demonicus. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

I genuinely think Dr. Demonicus has a cool design. He’s created three other Kaiju and has a high-tech volcano lair like any self-respecting 70s or 80s supervillain. He has control of a strange radioactive meteorite called a “Lifestone” upon which the Kaiju are dependent to survive. They basically have to recharge with it every few hours to live. He’s enslaved natives and force them to hunt in order to feed his Kaiju. They’re also building a ship out of the meteorite so the whole monster thing can go on the road. He, as you would expect, does not treat the native workers well.

The end of Batragon. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

Godzilla, having chased Batragon to the lair, sees Demonicus fatally quell a native uprising. He stops attaching Batragon to seemingly avenge the fallen man, showing that not only is Godzilla intelligent, he seems to be compassionate to those who aren’t actively trying to kill him. Healed by the Lifestone, Batragon attacks Godzilla again, but is quickly killed.

It’s a Kaiju party! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

Godzilla goes after the other Kaiju— Ghilaron, Leprirax, and Centipor, while Dum Dum attacks in a helicopter. While Godzilla battles and SHIELD helps to liberate the natives, Gabe sneaks into the lair and is taken prisoner by Demonicus.

This isn’t cliché at all. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

Gabe learns the epic origin of Demonicus. A geneticist studying mutations, he was trapped in a radioactive blast that broke his brain and drove him crazy. Then he found a meteorite, created an awesome costume, and made an army. Seriously, that’s the whole story. Yeesh.

Dugan is saved. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

Demonicus, despite being evil, racist, and totally bonkers, shows actual concern for his dying creations and resolves to fight Godzilla himself. Before he can, Gabe tackles him and gets free. SHIELD destroys the portable Lifestone craft, and Godzilla, showing concern for Dugan, defeats the Kaiju that was about to kill him. Once he knows everything is okay, Godzilla leaves everyone alone, wandering off. This does more to convince Gabe that he’s not all bad, but Dugan still stubbornly insists he’s a monster.

Sigh. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Tom Sutton)

One little side note… I’m not sure if it was a poor writing choice or a statement on Dr. Demonicus’s inherent racism, but he insisted on calling Gabe Jones “black man”. It made me wince every time and it happened repeatedly. He had no interest in learning the man’s name, didn’t refer to him as “troublesome interloper” or “blasted SHIELD agent” or anything a normal villain would cry out. No, it was always “Do you think I’m afraid of you, black man?“ and “I suppose I could tell you my plans, black man.“ It was horrible. And here I thought things had started to get better in comics by the 70s. Again, it could just be a character choice for Demonicus himself, because no one else does that in this series.

I do like their design for Godzilla. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

After his adventures on the island of Dr. Demonicus, Godzilla took up residence in a huge cave. Dum Dum gets his replacement helicarrier— the Behemoth— and Godzilla is finally captured. He’s gassed and loaded aboard the Behemoth.

Godzilla is about to start some shit. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

As the robot is finished, Rob sneaks aboard and hijacks it. Meanwhile, Godzilla gets out of his cage and very nearly starts World War III by blundering towards unsecured nuclear silos filled with missiles that are pointed at other countries. How awesome is that sentence?

Meet Red Ronin. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Rob’s tampering with the robot means that he’s now the only one who can control it. He steals it, names it Red Ronin, flies it through a mountain, and faces down Godzilla, intending to scare the Kaiju off before the panicking army throws nukes at him.

I question why the giant robot had to be samurai-themed, but it’s a solid design and they accurately defined the term “ronin”, so I give it a pass. Red Ronin has jet boots, grapple cables, an energy sword, a magnetic shield, and a laser cannon.

This would be funny to see in live action. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Rob manages to lure Godzilla away from the silos, but nearly gets himself killed in the process. He also has to fight off SHIELD, but finally convinces Godzilla to go inland.

Godzilla continues to wreck America. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla immediately proceeds to destroy the Boulder dam and attacks Las Vegas. He destroys a few casinos and there’s an odd subplot about a guy gambling away all of his money while suffering from a break from reality.

Water slide! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

From there Godzilla heads East (mostly dragged by the current of the flooding he caused) where he fights an enormous Kaiju-sized Bigfoot named Yetrigar.

A new challenger appears! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

The two battle it out at the Grand Canyon. Red Ronin rushes to help, although Rob doesn’t want to hurt Yetrigar. He senses the new monster is not bad, just enraged by whatever made him grow so big. (Which was radiation, of course.) To save Godzilla, Rob and Red Ronin have to bury the Bigfoot under rocks, seemingly killing him. Godzilla acknowledges this save with a nod before wandering off again.

Godzilla’s philosophy. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Next is a three-part story arc where Godzilla is transported to the moon to fight a Kaiju for an alien race. After he wins, they send him back to Earth to prevent three more Kaiju (Triax, Rhiahn and Krollar, sent by another alien race) from destroying all life on Earth so they can steal the planet’s resources to feed their war machine. That’s right, this time Godzilla has to save the world!

Metal. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Again with Red Ronin’s help, Godzilla saves both Earth and the good aliens, putting an end to a long interstellar war. During this trilogy, Red Ronin is "killed”, his head ripped off by one of the Mega Monsters. Sorry— Super Mega Monsters. (They were powered up by some sort of space beam.)

Without the robot’s help, Godzilla was outnumbered by three super-charged space Kaiju. Dugan actually decides to help, distracting the other two so that Godzilla was able to pick them off one at a time. In a really cool move, Godzilla decapitates one of them with its own buzz-saw tail. He has to save Dugan again, and the surly loudmouth has to admit twice is no coincidence. The alien threat over, Dugan let Godzilla walk away in peace.

Little Godzilla is adorable! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

While the human characters rest up from this epic story arc and repair Red Ronin, Godzilla traipses through Utah. Here he’s targeted by ranchers who think he’s been eating their cattle. He turns out to not be the culprit and accidentally uncovers a cattle-rustling operation.

After his little side quest on the ranch, Godzilla heads East. Now that he’s been saved twice by the Kaiju, Dugan is onboard with Godzilla being misunderstood. He still acknowledges he’s a threat, but maybe there are better ways to deal with him than getting into fights with him that cause avoidable collateral damage. This shows some real growth in Dugan’s character. Now that he doesn’t want to kill Godzilla, Dugan has started to think of peaceful ways to contain his threat. His newest plan involves sending Gabe to talk with Hank Pym.

Yes, we get two more guest stars, Hank Pym and his wife (at the time) Janet Van Dyne. (The original Ant-Man and Wasp, respectively. Although at this time Hank was Yellowjacket. It’s hard to keep track. He changes identities quite often.) Pym gives them some gas to shrink Godzilla to a more manageable size.

While Rob speaks soothingly to Godzilla, they dose him with the gas. After a struggle (in which Gabe is bit) they manage to catch him in a net. Doctor Hawkins, an associate of Takiguchi’s, has come to observe and nerd out over Godzilla. (And honestly, I’m right there with him. I would be doing everything I could to get on the Godzilla Squad!)

The fight you’ve been waiting to see. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Rob feels guilty for betraying Godzilla’s trust like he did and there’s a weird reference to him “blanking out” and possibly unlocking his cage. This part confused me. Were they implying Godzilla has psychic powers? Was Rob so overcome by guilt over murdering Yetrigar that he’s having mental issues? Maybe just a clumsy lie by a desperate pre-teen boy? They never get back to this, so I have no idea what they were intending this to be.

Regardless, once they reach New York, the unsecured cage falls and tiny Godzilla escapes. He travels through a sewer and battles a New York rat to the death.

Rob, once again sneaking away from the others, tracks down Godzilla, just as the gas is starting to wear off. He’s grown to four feet tall, and rather than being upset with Rob, he remembers him and follows him around. Rob disguises him in a trench coat… where he found it I have no idea, but the image of a little Godzilla in a trench coat is one that will stay with me. Rob and lil’ Godzilla make their way through New York City back to the helicarrier, scaring drunks, evading the cops, and nearly incinerating a couple of muggers.

Right hook! Judo chop! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

When they get there, Godzilla grows to seven feet tall, gets spooked, and scuffles with Gabe and Dugan. Dugan actually gets into a fist fight with him, which is equal parts awesome and ridiculous. Winning the fight, Godzilla stalks back into the city, still growing.

This panel made me laugh. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Next he faces the Fantastic Four, the highest-profile guest stars so far. Godzilla has grown to 20 feet tall and they lure him into Gladstone’s museum. The Fantastic Four catch wind of this and show up to assist.

ACTION! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

After a scuffle in which Thing has to punch out a few sharks, they strap an unconscious Godzilla to the Fantasticar and take him back to the Baxter Building. Why were there live sharks in the museum? Don’t think about it too hard.

Time travel is weird. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Reed’s plan is to use Doom’s Time Platform to send Godzilla back to prehistoric times. Once there, he meets his next guest stars— Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur.

Devil Dinosaur. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla is happy in this new yet familiar area, but quickly comes into conflict with an invading army of cave-men and their trained dinos. Thinking he’s with the bad guys, Devil Dinosaur battles him. Moon-Boy figures out that Godzilla is not the enemy and asks for his help. Feeling the furry guy is a lot like Rob, Godzilla agrees, and they all fight off the army together, luring them into pits that apparently teleport them all to some unknown place.

Godzilla’s back! (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

While the new allies battle the horde, everyone back in present time is sad and misses Godzilla, even Dugan. (Although I think he just misses having a challenge.) Reed realizes that the Time Platform has become irradiated and is about to slingshot Godzilla back to them. He gets it into Time Square just in time. At the moment this happens, the gas has fully worn off and Godzilla is back to full size.

There’s no ignoring or covering him up now, as the gigantic beast towers over the panicked citizens of New York. The time travel has also disoriented him, sending him into a blind rage. The Avengers assemble and Godzilla starts chasing the helicarrier.

This guy is unshakable. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

On his way, he gets yelled at by J. Jonah Jameson, who calls him a giant menace and an overgrown lizard. He demands that his co-editor Robbie Robertson go find Peter Parker so he can take pictures of this new disaster. Rather than destroy the Daily Bugle and Jameson, Godzilla just wrecks his office by snorting hot air at him. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t find some way to blame Spider-Man for Godzilla’s rampage.

Godzilla kills the Avengers and the FF. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Captain America and the Scarlet Witch stay behind, leaving the rest of the Avengers— Thor, Vision, Iron Man, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp— to face down Godzilla. The Fantastic Four return to assist. Godzilla does an impressive job dispatching most of the two team’s members.

It’s Thanos’s butt all over again. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Then Wasp comes up with the idea that works. Her and Yellowjacket shrink down enough to fit in his ear, knocking him off balance and into the river.

This is my favorite cover. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

This only works for a moment, though. Godzilla rises up, angrier than ever. Although Rob warns everyone to stop fighting because it’s just making him more angry, no one listens to him.

So much awesome in one two-page spread. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

When Godzilla starts shoving the Empire State building, almost toppling it, all three teams attack him at once. (SHIELD included.) Rob rushes out onto the deck of the helicarrier and cries out to Godzilla to stop. He apologizes for tricking him into the gas and promises that if he leaves New York he’ll be left in peace.

Several of the films ended like this. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

Godzilla picks Rob up and treks across the city to the water. He sets Rob back down on the helicarrier before leaving. Spider-Man shows up late to the fight but gets some photos. Godzilla sinks into the water and out of his adventures in Marvel Comics.

Poor guy. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

And that was Marvel’s take on Godzilla! It may seem strange at first to think of the character living in the Marvel universe among superheroes and superspies. They did it anyway! But how did they do at executing this concept?

Aww, he looks so playful here. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

I think it turned out great. I found the series way more fun than I expected to. I have read a lot of Godzilla comics— mostly those by IDW— and they can be hit or miss. This took the colorful, light approach of 70s Marvel Comics and slammed Godzilla down in their world. He seems out of place and yet completely a part of it. I appreciated that it was serialized, with each issue leading in to the next, charting Godzilla’s travels across America. (And sometimes beyond.) While there were real stakes in the story, they kept it light-hearted and character-focused, having fun with the concept but not sinking into the campiness of it all. It may seem a bit silly, but I’m pretty sure in all the destruction, not a single person died. Except maybe that guy in the first issue. They never showed him escaping his cabin. And it seems unlikely that none of the gamblers in the casinos were buried by rubble or drowned.

I love the creative team’s take on Godzilla, showing that he’s intelligent and compassionate, but also displaying his animal side so that the reader can interpret his behavior. They did a good job balancing that, showing that although he’s not vicious and destructive by nature, his mere existence causes death and destruction in human society. He really isn’t trying to destroy anything, he just wants somewhere he can live in peace. The closest he came was that cave before SHIELD gassed and captured him. (He was all curled up in there sleeping like a kitten.) Having Gabe and Rob act as the voices of reason helped balance out Dugan’s bullheaded insistence that Godzilla was a threat that needed to be exterminated. Dugan’s gradual softening towards his quarry made him a better character.

Not all the characters were super fleshed-out though. I found Tamara and Woo to be one-dimensional. Tamara only cared about Rob and Woo just wanted to get into her pants. Dr. Takiguchi wasn’t given enough to do after the first couple of issues, so that felt like a waste. They didn’t even follow up on why he seemed so annoyed to see Tamara and Woo flirting. Was he in love with her? Was he concerned because Woo is Chinese-American? Upset because they weren’t focusing on building Red Ronin? We’ll never know. Most of the focus was on the dynamic between Dugan and Gabe, and the brittle trust between Rob and Godzilla.

Godzilla faces down Red Ronin. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

So yes, there is more than could have been done with the characters, but what they did do was fine. The real star of the comic was Godzilla, after all. His characterization was great, with the narration providing insight into his thoughts and feelings. It was easy to root for him, seeing how misunderstood and bullied he was. All for being a little different from everyone else.

I feel more could have been done with Red Ronin. They spent the first half of the series building up to his completion and showing Rob using him to defend Godzilla. But then once he was beheaded, he was barely mentioned again. I kept expecting them to rebuild him and bring him back.

The other failure is in the abrupt and open ending. Godzilla never did find peace, just a cease-fire. He wanders off, presumably to find more adventures or Kaiju to fight.

One last cameo. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

The use of guest stars was sparing, but well done. They made the decision to have him an actual part of canon, so they couldn’t just ignore the existence of the other heroes in the world. Yet, as mentioned before, having Godzilla or the superheroes constantly losing fights could damage their characters and the premise of the comic. Bringing in all of Marvel’s heavy hitters at once— or even the Hulk a single time— could have ended the problem right there and then. So there was a bit of plot gymnastics that had to be done to allow the comic to exist and remain somewhat plausible. Namely the fact that SHIELD tried its best to cover up the Godzilla problem and the general public think it’s a hoax or exaggeration. Otherwise the Avengers or X-Men would have noticed the giant radioactive lizard lumbering around and forced a premature final issue. (Add the X-Men to the big battle at the end and it would have ended differently, I’m sure.)

So guest stars had to be carefully selected to not make the premise fall apart. Interestingly enough, some of the earlier guest stars— Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Janet Van Dyne— appeared in their civilian identities rather than in their superhuman personas. I appreciated that. It was a little nod to the continuity while not hitting you over the head with the fact that these people are actually superheroes. Since the other characters in the comic didn’t know, it wasn’t brought up. The appearance of the Champions was clearly one of those crossovers designed to bolster both titles. It’s a practice in comics to do these sorts of crossovers when one title is new and another title may be dipping in sales. The later appearances of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were not gratuitous either, serving to show the growing stakes. The brief cameo by Spider-Man at the end was amusing. It was like he was an afterthought. My favorite guest star, though, was Devil Dinosaur. This was a good choice, considering they’re both giant monsters with personality. I wonder if Moon Girl knows her best buddy once met Godzilla?

HRAHH. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

And that brings me to a big question this series left me with. What happened to Godzilla? Is he still around somewhere, wandering around the Marvel Universe? It’s kind of sad to think that he’s relegated to the same fate as Conan the Barbarian… when the license expires, they’re not allowed to reference these parts of their canon. (And yes, Conan is also canon to the 616 universe. He was even a member of the Avengers for a bit there. Savage Avengers was a pretty cool read.) Sure, Marvel has recently negotiated a new license for Godzilla to appear in some limited series, and those have been super entertaining. They’re all in different parts of the multiverse, though, and not continuations of this story.

Interestingly enough, Dr Demonicus outlived the Godzilla series. He returned in some other comics and also became a minor villain against two different Avengers teams. A rebuilt and modified Red Ronin also reappeared several times. Yetrigar, having survived his apparent death in this series reappeared in West Coast Avengers. (I can only assume Rob still lives with his guilt of thinking he murdered the beast.) In one of Demonicus’s appearances, he has a monster similar to Godzilla, hinting that perhaps after the events of this series, he was able to conquer and mutate Godzilla. This has never been made clear, however, so I choose to disregard it. It seems more likely to me that Demonicus would go back to creating his own Kaiju and would base one on the monster that served him his most humiliating defeat.

Godzilla upset. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

What would have happened, had the series continued? Would they have found a way to tame Godzilla or learned to coexist with him? Would Red Ronin have been rebuilt? Would Dr. Demonicus have returned and would he have learned Gabe’s name? Would Jimmy Woo have ever gotten Tamara into bed? These are questions we will never have the answers for, sadly.

And speaking of unanswerable questions, here’s one that pestered me throughout my reading of the series: why the hell didn’t they just gas Godzilla again and haul him off to the Savage Land? If you’re familiar with Marvel Comics, you may have already wondered this. If not, the quick explanation is that the Savage Land is a secluded area in Antarctica that houses a wide variety of prehistoric creatures, tribesmen, and the perfect environment for Godzilla to live peacefully. He could easily take over one small area of the Savage Land and protect it from the other dinosaurs. Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil would probably even befriend him. I’m not sure if Moench didn’t think of this solution, or if he was possibly saving it for if the series had continued into a third year. I figure it’s another of those plot gymnastics things I mentioned before. If they’d taken Godzilla to the Savage Land it would have ended the story. Still, it would have been nice to pull that off in the final issue. They always know 2-3 issues in advance when they’re being cancelled so they easily could have pulled that out of nowhere. Ah well, that’s not how the story ended.

Still, I got attached to this version of Godzilla and refuse to believe he ended up as a mindless minion to that crack-pot racist Dr. Demonicus. I prefer to think this lovable Marvel Godzilla is out there somewhere, still wandering around, still being covered up. Just like Bigfoot, Nessie, and Conan the Barbarian. Just blundering into new mad scientist’s schemes or outlandish charges of cattle rustling.

I love this panel. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)

And so we come to the end of Godzilla’s first adventures in the Marvel Universe. I had a lot of fun finally reading through this series and sharing it with you. I hope you enjoyed seeing SHIELD chase Godzilla around while familiar faces dipped in and out of the narrative. Thank you all for reading. I appreciate you all. And I’ll be back soon with more fun stuff!

SPAM. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Writer: Doug Moench, Art: Herb Trimpe)