In 1954, Ishiro Honda’s «Godzilla», about an ancient sea kaiju awakened by the atomic bombings of World War II, changed the history of cinema forever. In the original plan, Godzilla was only supposed to destroy the nearest city of annoying people. But later, the filmmakers were so impressed by the giant lizard’s impressive strength that they made him fight a number of monsters and declared him the king of monsters.
When it comes to a fair fight, it’s almost impossible to defeat a 177-meter titan (News Empire version) that can manipulate radiation, instantly heal, and attack opponents with devastating energy beams. This state of affairs makes science fiction fans wonder if there have ever been amazing creatures in the history of cinema that, despite Godzilla’s amazing size and strength, still have a chance of defeating him.
Starro Conqueror
Movies: «Suicide Squad» (2021), «Justice League: New Frontier» (2008), «Batman v Superman: Clash of the Super Sons» (2022)
The supervillain from DC Comics belongs to an intelligent alien life form, whose representatives look like huge starfish and have the ability to survive in outer space. In James Gunn’s film Suicide Squad «one of these «stars» had the misfortune to collide with an American shuttle and spent 30 years in secret US government laboratories where she was subjected to cruel experiments.
Starro can reach the size of a ten-story building, easily destroys buildings in its path, and is not afraid of gunfire and machine guns. However, the alien has a vulnerable spot — the pupil of his big eye, where his defense is the weakest. Of course, Godzilla could easily defeat Starro by shooting him in the eye. But the DC monster has a secret weapon in store — spores.
Starro’s spores are not like the safe pollen that mosses and ferns use to reproduce. They are his little star copies that can fly freely and, like the facialists from «Alien», suck on their victims to seize control of the nervous system and subjugate their bodies. If at least one of the thousands of Starro spores managed to attach itself to Godzilla, the king of monsters would likely have little chance of winning.
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
Movies: «Ghostbusters» (1984), «The Real Ghostbusters» (1986-1991), «Ghostbusters» (2016)
At first glance, the giant marshmallow man may seem quite cute. But don’t let his smile and chubby sweet cheeks fool you! In fact, Stay Puft — is the embodiment of the sinister deity Gozer, known to the ancient Sumerians as «the Destroyer». He also holds the distinction of being the strongest monster ever faced by the Ghostbusters from the Columbia Pictures franchise of the same name.
Gozer has given «Marshmallow Man» his paranormal powers, which include interdimensional travel, the ability to throw lightning, change his shape, and control the weather. Judging by the events in «Ghostbusters» 1984, the smart sugar pile seems to be practically invulnerable. The only way to defeat it is to destroy the portal through which Gozer enters the Earth’s dimension. But Godzilla’s lack of proton packets and intelligence will prevent him from doing so.
Gorgon Medusa
Movie: «Clash of the Titans» (1981), «Clash of the Titans» (2010)
The epic fantasy action movie «Clash of the Titans» features many monsters from ancient Greek mythology. But none of them can match the deadliness of Medusa, the daughter of the sea god. She was a beautiful woman until the revenge of the goddess Athena turned her into a terrible monster with burning eyes, sharp claws, and snakes instead of hair.
The main antagonist of Stephen King’s novel of the same name and a number of its film adaptations looks like a disfigured clown who stalks teenagers in the small American town of Derry. But that’s just the outer shell. In fact, Pennywise is an ancient monster that emerged from interdimensional space millions of years ago and feeds on children’s worst fears.
«It» has a number of unique skills: from the ability to change its appearance at will to the ability to manipulate people’s minds and cause them to have eerie visions. But there is much worse news for Godzilla: Pennywise is simply impossible to kill.
So the outcome of their epic battle will depend on whether the radioactive lizard can feel fear. Although he looks quite brave, he probably won’t be able to understand the true nature of the Dancing Clown to offset his paranormal abilities
The Thing
Movie: «Something» (1982)
In John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror «Something», a group of researchers from an American base in Antarctica encounter an alien nightmare. A mysterious «Something» from a spaceship found in the ice infects humans and animals, and then slowly begins to replace host cells with its own.
Up to a certain point, the victims remain unchanged in appearance, but eventually turn into bizarre and bulletproof monsters that try to devour all life. According to the base’s biologist, if the parasites get to the continent, it will take only a year to take over all life on Earth.
Will «Something» be able to absorb Godzilla? Probably yes, if he has enough time. The advantage of the monster king is that the alien creature is afraid of fire. And his temperature attack, which melts the surrounding buildings, will be very effective. On the other hand, the alien’s ability to mimic will allow it to approach the lizard unnoticed. The lizard will not be able to constantly set fire to everything around it.
Balrog
Movies: «The Lord of the Rings» (1978), «The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring» (2001), «The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power» (2022 – …)
In the works of John Tolkien, the huge fire demons of the Balrogs, created before the beginning of the world, are the embodiment of darkness and horror. One of these huge creatures, as we know from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy «The Lord of the Rings», was awakened by greedy dwarves in the mines of Moria, after which it fought with Gandalf. The wizard was able to defeat the demon only at the cost of his own life.
Like the rebellious angels, the Balrogs in Tolkien’s universe fell into shadow and flame from heaven. Therefore, they are not only older than dragons, but also possess magical powers beyond their control that can change reality itselfEven Godzilla is unable to defeat this ancient creature, whose true power has never been shown on screen, but forced the best wizard in Middle Earth to use all his strength to save the Brotherhood’s quest
Shai-Hulud
Movies: «Dune» (1984), «Dune» (2000), «Dune» (2021), «Dune: Part Two» (2024)
The most amazing inhabitant of the «Dune» Frank Herbert universe is the giant sand worm Shai Hulud. It is an organosilicon creature that consists of hundreds of individual segments in a thick leather shell. Each of the segments is essentially a separate creature with its own nervous system. Therefore, it is almost impossible to kill the worm: even if one segment is destroyed, its functions will be taken over by others.
An adult is 450 meters long and 40 meters in diameter. And the worm’s 80-meter-long mouth opens like a flower, filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. In addition, individual specimens, like the one Paul Atreed tested on, can be even larger — up to one and a half kilometers long.
In theory, this allows the large sandworm to swallow Godzilla. In turn, Shai-Hulud can only be killed by water that is deadly to him, a stronger relative, or some powerful cataclysm such as a nuclear explosion. It is noteworthy that both monsters have very sensitive hearing, so they will most likely hear each other at the same time.
Next, Godzilla will have the advantage, as he can hit enemies with his energy jet from a great distance. The atomic breath of the reptile can destroy several segments of the sand giant while it is rushing towards you. And then everything will be decided by its speed and speed «shots» Godzilla.
However, it is not very clear under what circumstances such a fight could take place. After all, sandworms live exclusively in the deserts of the planet Arrakis. Godzilla, on the other hand, prefers the water depths that are poisonous to them. However, if «King of the Monsters» and «Lord of Eternity» do meet one day, it will undoubtedly become the most epic movie event of all time.
Predator
Movies: «Predator» (1987), «Predator 2» (1990), «Alien vs: Requiem» (2007), «Predator» (2018), «Prey» (2022)
The fact that the powerful alien hunter from the sci-fi action movie «Predator» got on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nerves doesn’t make him an automatic candidate for victory over Godzilla. But the warlike alien has a lot of advantages that are worth evaluating.
Yes, in a chance encounter, the energy beam of a sea monster could instantly turn «Predator» into a cloud of molecules. But the latter is armed with a whole set of futuristic technologies: an interstellar spaceship, high-tech traps and scanners, laser guns, invisibility, and super-powerful bombs.
The Race «Predators» has been hunting all sorts of monsters across the cosmos for thousands of years. And if a few of these aliens prepare in advance for a meeting with Godzilla, I bet that a bus-sized skull will take its place in their collection of the best hunting trophies.
P.S. The main thing is that «Predators» do not decide to hit Godzilla with nuclear bombs. First, it has repeatedly withstood thermonuclear explosions of up to 15 megatons. Second, the radiation from the explosion heals it almost instantly. Thirdly, at the epicenter of the explosion, Godzilla enters the «thermonuclear mode», in which its size and all characteristics increase significantly.
Calvin
Movie: «Life» (2017)
In the 2017 science fiction film «Life», an automated vehicle delivers soil samples from Mars to the ISS. While studying them, the crew finds the first evidence of Martian life — a microscopic organism called Calvin.
Under favorable conditions, Calvin demonstrates an unprecedented appetite. But despite the scientists’ joyful enthusiasm, he quickly demonstrates his predatory nature. The more he eats, the bigger and more dangerous he becomes. And the station crew is simply unable to stop this process, even at the cost of their own lives.
If the Martian creature gets big enough, nothing will stop it from eating Godzilla. The lizard, in turn, will not be able to harm Calvin: he is adapted to high temperatures and radiation from atomic breath, and powerful tail strikes simply do not make any sense against a shapeless pile of slime.
King Kong
Movies: «King Kong» (1933), «King Kong vs. Godzilla» (1962), «King Kong» (2005), «Kong: Skull Island» (2017), «Godzilla vs. Kong» (2021), «Godzilla and Kong: New Empire» (2024)
King Kong has a chance to defeat Godzilla. After all, the giant ape, who loves blondes and climbing skyscrapers, has fought the sea monster many times before and has come out on top. It’s not easy to defeat the radioactive lizard, but Kong can win thanks to his agility, intelligence, and energy weapons, which he uses in the Legenary’s Monsterverse films.
Interestingly, the question of who would actually win in a fight between King Kong and Godzilla is not only of interest to fans of comics and science fiction. The answer to this question is also a concern for some scientists. For example, zoologist Dr. Darren Nash in his articles for BBC Science conducted a thought experiment to determine the real balance of power in this pair using science.
He believes that both monsters have their own strengths that can provide a decisive advantage in battle. Kong is fast and capable of delivering powerful blows with his 70-meter-long arms. He can also use the intelligence of the great ape to lure his opponent into a trap and predict his next move.
But, according to Nash, the advantage still remains on the side of the armored reptile with sharp back plates that can cut metal and a serrated tail over 100 meters long. The researcher believes that the tail strikes will not give Kong a chance to come within close combat range. And at long range, Godzilla will dominate thanks to its signature energy attacks.