Godzilla recap: the story so far

No. 01 · 1954 · Film

Godzilla recap

Ships vanish in flashes of light off Odo Island, and the islanders blame Godzilla, a creature from their legends. A storm night brings something huge ashore, and an expedition led by the palaeontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane finds giant radioactive footprints and a trilobite, then sees Godzilla rise over a hill. Yamane concludes it is a prehistoric animal disturbed and irradiated by hydrogen bomb tests. Godzilla wades into Tokyo Bay, and later returns at night, breathing atomic fire and levelling the city while the army's electric fences fail. Yamane's daughter Emiko is engaged by arrangement to the reclusive scientist Daisuke Serizawa but loves the salvage officer Hideto Ogata. Serizawa shows her a weapon he has invented, the Oxygen Destroyer, which dissolves living things in water, and swears her to secrecy. After seeing the injured and dying in the city, Emiko tells Ogata, and they beg Serizawa to use it.

How Godzilla ends

Serizawa agrees after watching a broadcast of schoolgirls singing a prayer for peace, then burns his notes so the weapon can never be rebuilt. He and Ogata dive into Tokyo Bay, and Serizawa sets off the device beside Godzilla, then cuts his own air line so his knowledge dies with him. Godzilla dissolves to a skeleton. Yamane warns that if nuclear testing continues, another Godzilla may appear, and the next film proves him right.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 02 · 1955 · Film

Godzilla Raids Again recap

In 1955 two fishing-company pilots, Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi, see a second Godzilla fighting another giant, the spiked quadruped Anguirus, on Iwato Island before both monsters fall into the sea. In Osaka, Dr. Yamane tells the authorities there is no Oxygen Destroyer this time, since Serizawa died with the secret, and suggests a blackout and flares to lure Godzilla away, since it is drawn to light. The plan works until escaped convicts crash a truck into an oil refinery, and the fire pulls Godzilla back. Anguirus follows, and the two monsters wreck Osaka, including the cannery owned by the father of Tsukioka's girlfriend Hidemi. Godzilla kills Anguirus by biting its neck and burns the body. The company moves north to Hokkaido, but Godzilla sinks one of its ships, and Tsukioka helps the air force track it to the snowy Kamiko Island.

How Godzilla Raids Again ends

Godzilla is buried alive under ice on Kamiko Island. Kobayashi dies when Godzilla's breath hits his plane and he crashes into a mountain, and the small avalanche he triggers shows the way: jets fire missiles into the peaks while a wall of fire blocks Godzilla's escape, and Tsukioka fires the last shots that bury it. He tells his dead friend that they have finally beaten Godzilla. It stays frozen until King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 03 · 1962 · Film

King Kong vs. Godzilla recap

Mr. Tako, head of a drug company unhappy with the ratings of the TV show it sponsors, sends Osamu Sakurai and Kinsaburo Furue to Faro Island to capture a giant monster for publicity. There King Kong defeats a giant octopus, drinks a narcotic berry juice and falls asleep, and they float him toward Japan on a raft. Meanwhile a submarine strikes an iceberg and frees Godzilla, frozen since 1955, and it heads for Japan. Kong wakes, breaks loose and meets Godzilla, but retreats when Godzilla burns him. The army's pit trap and million-volt power lines stop Godzilla, but Kong tears through the lines, gets stronger from the electricity, and carries Osamu's sister Fumiko up the National Diet Building in Tokyo. Gas from the berry juice puts Kong to sleep, and the government decides to set the two monsters against each other.

How King Kong vs. Godzilla ends

Kong and Godzilla fight to a standstill, and only Kong comes back up. Balloons carry the sleeping Kong to Mount Fuji, where Godzilla has the upper hand until lightning recharges Kong. They tumble down the mountain, smash Atami Castle and fall off a cliff into the sea. Kong surfaces and swims home toward his island; Godzilla does not appear, though the soldiers say it may still be alive.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 04 · 1964 · Film

Mothra vs. Godzilla recap

After a typhoon, a giant egg washes ashore near Shizunoura, and the businessman Kumayama, backed by the financier Torahata, buys it from the villagers to build an amusement park around it. The reporter Ichiro Sakai, the photographer Junko Nakanishi and Professor Miura meet the Shobijin, two tiny fairies from Infant Island, who say the egg belongs to Mothra and ask for it back. Kumayama and Torahata refuse, even trying to buy the fairies. Godzilla then emerges from the mud on the coast, stirred by the storm, and tramples Nagoya. Sakai, Junko and Miura sail to Infant Island, scarred by nuclear tests, to ask the islanders for Mothra's help. The islanders refuse at first, but Junko's plea persuades them, though the fairies warn that the adult Mothra is near death. Back in Nagoya, Torahata shoots Kumayama over the money and is crushed when Godzilla smashes his hotel.

How Mothra vs. Godzilla ends

Twin Mothra larvae hatch and defeat Godzilla by wrapping it in silk until it falls into the sea. First the dying adult Mothra fights Godzilla to defend her egg and dies beside it. The larvae chase Godzilla to Iwa Island, where the heroes rescue a stranded teacher and his students, and the larvae spin their silk. The larvae and fairies return to Infant Island, and Sakai hopes people can build a world worth Mothra's help.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 05 · 1964 · Film

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster recap

A meteor lands on Mount Kurodake, and Princess Salno of Selgina, flying to Japan with assassins after her, leaps from her plane moments before it explodes. She reappears in Tokyo as a prophetess claiming to come from Venus, warning of disasters. Detective Shindo, assigned to guard the princess, and his reporter sister Naoko take her in, while the assassin Malmess hunts her. Her warnings come true: Rodan rises from Mount Aso, Godzilla comes ashore, and the meteor cracks open to release King Ghidorah, the three-headed space dragon that she says destroyed life on Venus thousands of years ago. Godzilla and Rodan fight each other across Japan while Ghidorah burns cities. The Shobijin summon Mothra, still a larva, who tries to persuade Godzilla and Rodan to help; they refuse, saying humans have never helped them.

How Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster ends

Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra drive King Ghidorah back into space. Mothra goes to fight Ghidorah alone, which shames Godzilla and Rodan into joining her, and Mothra's silk and the other two's attacks send the dragon fleeing. Malmess falls to his death, and Salno recovers her memory, forgetting her time as the prophetess. Godzilla begins its turn from villain to defender, and Ghidorah returns in Invasion of Astro-Monster.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 06 · 1965 · Film

Invasion of Astro-Monster recap

Astronauts Fuji and Glenn discover Planet X behind Jupiter and meet the Xiliens, who live underground because King Ghidorah, which they call Monster Zero, ravages their surface. The Xiliens ask Earth to lend them Godzilla and Rodan to drive it away, offering a cure for every disease in return. Earth agrees, the Xiliens carry the two sleeping monsters into space, and Godzilla and Rodan defeat Ghidorah. Back on Earth, Fuji's sister Haruno is dating Tetsuo, an inventor whose personal alarm makes a piercing noise, and Glenn is dating Miss Namikawa, who turns out to be a Xilien agent. The promised tape is played, and it is an ultimatum: the Xiliens now control Godzilla, Rodan and Ghidorah and will destroy Earth unless it surrenders.

How Invasion of Astro-Monster ends

Earth breaks the Xiliens' mind control with the sound of Tetsuo's alarm, and the invaders destroy themselves. Namikawa, who has fallen for Glenn, is executed but slips him a note about the sound, and Glenn and Tetsuo escape to help broadcast it. Freed, Godzilla and Rodan fight Ghidorah and all three fall off a cliff into the sea; Ghidorah flies off, and Godzilla and Rodan are believed to have survived.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 07 · 1966 · Film

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep recap

Ryota searches for his brother Yata, a fisherman lost at sea, and steals a yacht with two friends and a bank robber, Yoshimura, who was hiding aboard. A storm and a giant lobster, Ebirah, wreck them on Letchi Island, base of the Red Bamboo, a terrorist group making heavy water for nuclear weapons. Red Bamboo uses slaves taken from Infant Island to brew a yellow liquid that keeps Ebirah away from its ships. Daiyo, an escaped islander, joins the group, and they find Godzilla asleep in a cliffside cave. They wake it with a lightning rod. Godzilla fights Ebirah, which slips away, then kills a giant condor and destroys Red Bamboo's jets. The heroes find Yata alive and free the enslaved islanders, who wait for Mothra to rescue them.

How Ebirah, Horror of the Deep ends

Godzilla tears off Ebirah's claws and drives it away, and escapes just before the island blows up. Godzilla wrecks Red Bamboo's base, setting off its nuclear self-destruct. Mothra arrives and carries the islanders and heroes away in a net, briefly fighting off Godzilla. Godzilla dives into the sea moments before the blast destroys Letchi Island. Ryota's group gets home with Yata, and Red Bamboo's operation is gone.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 08 · 1967 · Film

Son of Godzilla recap

Scientists on Solgell Island test a weather-control system, joined by Goro Maki, a pushy reporter. A strange signal jams their first test, which creates a radioactive storm and turns the island's praying mantises into giant Kamacuras. The mantises dig up a giant egg, which hatches into a baby Godzilla, Minilla, whose cries were the signal. Godzilla arrives, kills two Kamacuras and adopts Minilla. Saeko, the daughter of a dead archaeologist who has been living alone on the island, befriends the baby. Godzilla teaches Minilla to roar and fight; at first he only blows smoke rings, but he learns to fire a real beam when pushed. Minilla accidentally wakes Kumonga, a giant spider, which traps him and the last Kamacuras in its web.

How Son of Godzilla ends

Godzilla and Minilla kill Kumonga together, then hibernate as the island freezes over. The scientists finish their weather test and bury the island in snow so they can escape, and a submarine picks them up. Godzilla and Minilla hold each other as the snow falls and settle into hibernation until the island warms again. Minilla returns in Destroy All Monsters.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 09 · 1968 · Film

Destroy All Monsters recap

By the end of the 20th century, the United Nations keeps every giant monster on Monsterland, an island where they live under control. Suddenly contact is lost, and the monsters attack cities around the world: Godzilla in New York, Rodan in Moscow, Mothra in Beijing, Manda in London, Gorosaurus in Paris. The spaceship Moonlight SY-3 under Captain Katsuo Yamabe finds that the scientists have been taken over by the Kilaaks, female aliens who control the monsters through devices and demand Earth's surrender. The attacks turn out to be a distraction while the Kilaaks build a base near Mount Fuji. Yamabe's crew traces the control signals to a Kilaak base on the Moon and destroys it, giving the monsters back to the humans, who send them all to Mount Fuji.

How Destroy All Monsters ends

Godzilla and the Earth monsters kill King Ghidorah, Godzilla destroys the Kilaak base, and the monsters go home to Monsterland to live in peace. The Kilaaks bring in Ghidorah to defend their base, and ten monsters together beat it to death. Their last weapon, the burning Fire Dragon, is shot down by the SY-3 and revealed as a Kilaak ship. This is where the Showa story effectively ends.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 10 · 1969 · Film · optional

All Monsters Attack recap

Ichiro Miki is a lonely boy in industrial, smog-choked Kawasaki.His mother works late, he comes home every day to an empty apartment, and a gang led by a boy named Sanko picks on him after school. His friends are Sachiko, a girl from his building, and Shinpei, a kindly toymaker who lives nearby. In his daydreams he visits Monster Island, where Godzilla's son Minilla can talk and shrink to his size. Minilla is bullied too, by Gabara, a warty monster that gives him electric shocks, and Godzilla tries to toughen his son up. Ichiro watches Godzilla fight Ebirah, Kumonga and other monsters, scenes largely reused from earlier films. In an abandoned factory, Ichiro finds a wallet belonging to two bank robbers hiding there, and they kidnap him. Waiting in captivity, he dreams again, and helps Minilla fight back against Gabara.

How All Monsters Attack ends

Minilla beats Gabara, and Ichiro, inspired, outwits the bank robbers until Shinpei brings the police. Minilla flings Gabara with a seesaw log and Godzilla chases it off. Back in Kawasaki, Ichiro stands up to Sanko's gang the next day and wins, then plays a prank on a billboard painter that earns the gang's respect and friendship. Godzilla and Minilla exist only in his dreams in this film.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 11 · 1971 · Film

Godzilla vs. Hedorah recap

A tiny alien life form arrives on a comet and feeds on the pollution of Japan's seas, growing into Hedorah, a sludge monster that sinks tankers and leaves its victims as skeletons. Dr. Toru Yano is scarred studying it, and his young son Ken believes Godzilla will come to fight pollution. Hedorah moves onto land, sucks up factory smoke, and changes into a flying form that sprays acid mist, killing thousands. Godzilla fights it but is badly hurt: it loses an eye and its hand is burned by Hedorah's acid. Yano realises Hedorah is made of mineral sludge and can be killed by drying it out, and the army builds two giant electrodes on the slopes of Mount Fuji, where Ken's friends hold a last protest party against pollution.

How Godzilla vs. Hedorah ends

Godzilla dries Hedorah to dust between the electrodes and walks back into the sea. When the electrodes fail, Godzilla charges them with its own breath, then flies after the fleeing Hedorah by firing its breath downward, drags it back and dries it until the remains crumble. Godzilla pauses to look at the surviving humans before leaving, and a final card asks whether another Hedorah will come.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 12 · 1972 · Film

Godzilla vs. Gigan recap

The manga artist Gengo Odaka gets a job designing monsters for World Children's Land, a theme park whose centrepiece is a Godzilla Tower. He soon suspects the company running it, and he and his friends steal a strange tape from its offices. The company's staff are space cockroaches from a dying planet, the Nebulans, wearing human bodies, and the tape controls King Ghidorah and the space cyborg Gigan, which they summon to destroy Tokyo. On Monster Island, Godzilla and Anguirus hear the tape's signal and come to fight. The army drives Anguirus back at first, so he returns to Monster Island to report, and the two monsters head for Tokyo together. At the park, Gigan and Ghidorah overpower them, Gigan slashing with its bladed arms and buzzsaw belly, and the Godzilla Tower fires a laser that wounds Godzilla badly.

How Godzilla vs. Gigan ends

Gengo's group blows up the Godzilla Tower with explosives from the army, killing the Nebulans, and Godzilla and Anguirus drive Gigan and Ghidorah away. With their controllers gone, the two space monsters falter, and the Earth monsters turn the fight around and send them fleeing into space. Godzilla and Anguirus swim home to Monster Island while the humans who helped them cheer from the shore.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 13 · 1973 · Film

Godzilla vs. Megalon recap

An underground nuclear test shakes Monster Island and damages Seatopia, an undersea civilisation ruled by Emperor Antonio, which has suffered from surface weapons tests for years. Seatopia retaliates by sending its giant beetle god Megalon to destroy the surface world. The inventor Goro Ibuki, his young brother Rokuro and his friend Hiroshi are picnicking by a lake when Seatopia drains it to use as a base. Seatopian agents then seize Goro's lab to steal Jet Jaguar, the humanoid robot he has built, leave Goro and Rokuro for dead, take Hiroshi hostage, and use Jet Jaguar to guide Megalon toward Tokyo, where the army cannot stop it. Goro escapes, regains control of the robot through a backup system and sends it to Monster Island to fetch Godzilla. Seatopia calls in its allies, the Nebulans, who send the cyborg Gigan. Jet Jaguar then begins acting by itself, grows to giant size and fights Megalon alone until Godzilla arrives.

How Godzilla vs. Megalon ends

Godzilla and Jet Jaguar beat Megalon and Gigan, who flee, and the two heroes shake hands before going home. Gigan and Megalon double-team Jet Jaguar until Godzilla evens the odds, and after a long, brutal fight the two invaders retreat. Jet Jaguar says goodbye, Godzilla returns to Monster Island, and the robot shrinks back to human size and goes home with Goro and Rokuro.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 14 · 1974 · Film

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla recap

On Okinawa, a priestess of the Azumi royal family has a vision of a monster destroying a city, and an excavation uncovers a prophecy and a statue of King Caesar, the island's guardian monster. Masahiko Shimizu finds a strange metal in a cave and gives it to Professor Miyajima, who says it is space titanium. A Godzilla appears from Mount Fuji and attacks Anguirus, then meets the real Godzilla, and the fake is revealed as Mechagodzilla, a robot built by the Simeons, ape-like aliens from the Third Planet of the Black Hole, who plan to conquer Earth. The Simeons kidnap Miyajima to repair Mechagodzilla, while Interpol agent Nanbara tracks them. A red moon tells the heroes it is time to wake King Caesar.

How Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ends

Godzilla and King Caesar destroy Mechagodzilla; Godzilla pulls the robot back with its magnetic power and tears off its head. Inside the Simeon base, Nanbara and the prisoners overpower their guards, sabotage the controls and escape as it explodes. King Caesar returns to its rest, Godzilla walks into the sea, and the Simeons return with a rebuilt Mechagodzilla in Terror of Mechagodzilla.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 15 · 1975 · Film

Terror of Mechagodzilla recap

Interpol searches the sea for Mechagodzilla's wreckage, but its submarine is destroyed by Titanosaurus, a giant aquatic dinosaur. The marine biologist Akira Ichinose links it to Dr. Shinzo Mafune, a disgraced scientist who swore revenge on humanity and found a way to control the monster. Mafune's daughter Katsura was secretly rebuilt as a cyborg after an accident in one of his experiments, and the Simeon leader Mugal has teamed up with Mafune. The Simeons rebuild Mechagodzilla and place its controls inside Katsura. Ichinose falls in love with her, and she steals Interpol's notes on the supersonic weakness of Titanosaurus. Mafune sends Titanosaurus into Yokosuka without waiting for the Simeons, and Godzilla drives it off. The Simeons then capture Ichinose, and Mechagodzilla 2 and Titanosaurus attack Tokyo together, with Godzilla arriving to fight both.

How Terror of Mechagodzilla ends

Godzilla destroys Mechagodzilla 2 and Titanosaurus, and Katsura dies by her own hand to break her link to the robot. Interpol raids the base, kills Mafune and the Simeons, and repairs its supersonic weapon to weaken Titanosaurus. Katsura dies in Ichinose's arms, and Godzilla returns to the sea. This was the last Showa film, and Godzilla stayed off screen for nine years.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 16 · 1984 · Film

The Return of Godzilla recap

Thirty years after the 1954 attack, a volcanic eruption on Daikoku Island wakes a new Godzilla, which destroys a fishing boat. The reporter Goro Maki finds the boat and one survivor, Hiroshi Okumura, but the government hides the news to avoid panic. Professor Hayashida, whose parents died in the 1954 attack, studies the creature. When a Soviet submarine is sunk, the superpowers almost go to war until Japan reveals Godzilla was to blame. Both the Soviet Union and the United States want to use nuclear weapons on Japan, and the prime minister refuses. Godzilla feeds on a nuclear plant until a flock of birds draws it away, which gives Hayashida an idea. Godzilla lands in Tokyo, where the Super X flying fortress knocks it out with cadmium shells, but an exploding Soviet missile restarts it.

How The Return of Godzilla ends

Hayashida lures Godzilla to the volcano on Oshima Island with a bird-call signal, and a planned eruption swallows it. The Super X is crushed under a falling skyscraper, but Hayashida's signal draws Godzilla away from Tokyo, across the bay to Mount Mihara. Okumura sets off explosives at the crater, and Godzilla falls into the lava as the eruption begins. It stays trapped until Godzilla vs. Biollante.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 17 · 1989 · Film

Godzilla vs. Biollante recap

Cells taken from Godzilla after its Tokyo attack are stolen, and a bombing in the Middle Eastern nation of Saradia kills the daughter of Dr. Genshiro Shiragami, a scientist working with them. Years later, back in Japan, Shiragami secretly merges Godzilla cells with a rose that carries his daughter Erika's cells, hoping to preserve her. The result grows into Biollante, a huge plant monster that settles in Lake Ashi. The scientist Kazuhito Kirishima and Lieutenant Goro Gondo develop an anti-nuclear bacteria weapon, while American agents from Bio-Major blow open Mount Mihara to free Godzilla and force Japan to hand over the cells. Godzilla emerges, defeats Biollante, and is steered to Osaka by the young psychic Miki Saegusa, where Gondo hits it with the bacteria and is killed.

How Godzilla vs. Biollante ends

Godzilla survives: it fatally wounds Biollante, collapses from the bacteria, then wakes and swims back out to sea. The army heats Godzilla with artificial lightning so the bacteria can take hold, and Biollante returns in a larger form. After their fight, Biollante breaks into glowing spores that form Erika's face as they rise into space. A Saradian agent shoots Shiragami. The Godzilla cells carried into space later breed SpaceGodzilla.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 18 · 1991 · Film

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah recap

A UFO lands near Mount Fuji, carrying people who say they come from 2204, when Godzilla has destroyed Japan. With the writer Kenichiro Terasawa, they travel back to 1944, where a dinosaur on Lagos Island saved Japanese soldiers from American troops; that dinosaur later became Godzilla through nuclear testing. They move it to the Bering Sea to stop Godzilla from ever existing. But they leave three small creatures, the Dorats, on the island, and the bomb tests fuse them into King Ghidorah, which they use to devastate Japan. Their member Emmy Kano reveals the real motive: in the future, Japan rules the world, and they want to cripple it now. Meanwhile, Godzilla still exists, because a sunken nuclear submarine in the Bering Sea irradiated the dinosaur, now bigger than before.

How Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah ends

Godzilla destroys King Ghidorah and the time travellers, then is carried out to sea by a cyborg Mecha-King Ghidorah. Godzilla blasts off one of Ghidorah's heads and drowns it, then crushes Tokyo and kills Shindo, the soldier it once saved. Emmy returns from 2204 with Mecha-King Ghidorah, which drags Godzilla into the sea. Emmy reveals to Terasawa that she is his descendant, and Godzilla wakes on the seabed.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 19 · 1992 · Film

Godzilla vs. Mothra recap

A meteorite strike wakes Godzilla and uncovers a giant egg on Infant Island. The adventurer Takuya Fujito, freed from a Thai prison on the condition that he investigates, goes with his ex-wife Masako and Kenji Ando of the Marutomo company. On the island they meet the Cosmos, two tiny priestesses, who explain that 12,000 years ago the Earth sent Battra, a dark moth, to destroy a civilisation that tried to control the climate, and Mothra defeated him. Marutomo ships the egg to Japan for publicity, and Godzilla attacks it at sea. Mothra's larva hatches, Battra arrives and fights Godzilla, and both sink into the sea floor. Marutomo kidnaps the Cosmos, and Mothra crawls to Tokyo to free them, makes her cocoon on the National Diet Building, and emerges as an adult.

How Godzilla vs. Mothra ends

Mothra and Battra join forces to carry Godzilla out to sea, Godzilla kills Battra, and Mothra drops Godzilla and Battra into the ocean. The Cosmos explain that Battra was meant to stop a giant meteor due in 1999, and Mothra, having lost him, flies into space to take on that job. Before leaving Earth with the Cosmos, she seals Battra's resting place under the sea with a glyph made from her scales.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 20 · 1993 · Film

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II recap

After the Mecha-King Ghidorah battle, the United Nations creates G-Force, which builds Mechagodzilla from the cyborg's technology. A Japanese and Russian team finds a giant egg on Adonoa Island beside the nest of Rodan, a giant pteranodon. Godzilla arrives and fights Rodan, and the scientists take the egg to Kyoto, where it hatches into a baby Godzilla that bonds with the scientist Azusa Gojo. Godzilla comes to claim the baby, and Mechagodzilla stops it, then is beaten. G-Force learns that Godzilla has a second brain in its hips and fits Mechagodzilla with a weapon to hit it, using the baby as bait. Kazuma Aoki, a pilot fond of pteranodons, pilots the Garuda aircraft. Rodan, now Fire Rodan, intercepts the baby's transport and is wounded.

How Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II ends

Rodan gives his life force to Godzilla, who destroys Mechagodzilla and leaves with the baby. Mechagodzilla joins with the Garuda and destroys Godzilla's second brain, but the dying Rodan revives Godzilla, which then melts the machine. The baby is frightened at first, but Miki Saegusa telepathically persuades it to go with its father, and the two swim away together. The baby grows into Little Godzilla in the next film.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 21 · 1994 · Film

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla recap

Godzilla cells carried into space by Biollante and Mothra pass through a black hole and produce SpaceGodzilla, a crystal-covered monster heading for Earth. G-Force tries to control Godzilla, now living on Birth Island with its son Little Godzilla, by planting a telepathic device on it. Koji Shinjo and Kiyoshi Sato of G-Force join Akira Yuki, a soldier obsessed with killing Godzilla since his friend Goro Gondo died. Mothra's Cosmos warn Miki Saegusa of the threat. G-Force's new robot, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., fails to stop SpaceGodzilla, which reaches Birth Island, traps Little Godzilla in crystals and beats Godzilla. SpaceGodzilla builds a crystal fortress in Fukuoka, drawing power through the Fukuoka Tower. A crime syndicate kidnaps Miki to use her powers, and the soldiers rescue her. Godzilla follows SpaceGodzilla to Japan and is beaten again in Kagoshima Bay.

How Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla ends

Godzilla destroys SpaceGodzilla with help from M.O.G.U.E.R.A., and Little Godzilla is freed. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. splits into a flying ship and a drill tank to attack the crystal fortress, and Godzilla topples the tower to cut SpaceGodzilla's power. A final, supercharged blast of Godzilla's breath burns it up. The soldiers warn that another may come if space keeps being polluted. Miki removes the control device from Godzilla's neck, and it goes home to Birth Island.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 22 · 1995 · Film

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah recap

Birth Island is destroyed, and Godzilla appears in Hong Kong glowing red: its heart, a nuclear reactor, is overheating after the island's uranium deposits exploded. The student Kenkichi Yamane, grandson of Dr. Yamane, predicts that when it reaches 1,200 degrees Godzilla will melt down in a blast that could burn the atmosphere. Meanwhile, digging in Tokyo Bay wakes Precambrian creatures mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer used on the first Godzilla in 1954, and they grow into Destoroyah, a monster that can destroy anything. Emiko Yamane, from the first film, warns against using the weapon again. The army plans to let Destoroyah fight Godzilla. Godzilla Junior, now nearly grown, comes to Tokyo, and Destoroyah kills him in front of his father.

How Godzilla vs. Destoroyah ends

Godzilla melts down and dies after Destoroyah falls, and the radiation brings Junior back as the new Godzilla. Grief drives Godzilla into a final fight, and the army freezes Destoroyah's wings until it falls and is destroyed. The army's freezing weapons stop the meltdown from destroying the world, but Godzilla still dissolves, leaving Tokyo contaminated. As the haze clears, the radiation drops and a full-grown Godzilla stands in it: Junior, revived and transformed. This ends the Heisei era.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 23 · 1998 · Film · optional

Godzilla recap

French nuclear tests in French Polynesia mutate an iguana, and a creature sinks a Japanese ship and leaves giant footprints across Panama. The US government recruits Nick Tatopoulos, a scientist studying the effects of radiation on worms, who works out that the animal is heading for New York. Godzilla lands in Manhattan and the military tries to bring it down with bombs and missiles, mostly hitting the city. Nick discovers Godzilla is pregnant, reproducing asexually, and has laid a nest of eggs. His ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds, a would-be reporter, steals his secret tape and broadcasts it, and he is fired. Philippe Roache, an agent of the French secret service covering for his country's tests, recruits Nick to find the nest. They track it to Madison Square Garden, where more than 200 eggs hatch.

How Godzilla ends

The air force bombs Madison Square Garden to kill the babies, and Godzilla, tangled in the Brooklyn Bridge cables, dies after a barrage of missiles. Nick, Audrey, Roache and the camera operator Animal escape the arena before the strike. In the final shot, one egg left in the ruins hatches. That surviving creature later returns as Zilla in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 24 · 1999 · Film

Godzilla 2000: Millennium recap

In this version, Godzilla has been a recurring disaster in Japan for years. Yuji Shinoda runs the Godzilla Prediction Network with his daughter Io and the photographer Yuki Ichinose, tracking Godzilla. Meanwhile the government agency CCI, led by Mitsuo Katagiri, raises a meteor-like rock from the sea floor that turns out to be a UFO, 60 million years old. It wakes, flies to Tokyo and battles Godzilla, and lands on Tokyo Opera City Tower to hack Japan's computers for data on Godzilla. Shinoda learns that Godzilla heals with a substance he calls Regenerator G1, which the aliens want for themselves so they can rebuild bodies on Earth. The UFO drains Tokyo's data and broadcasts its plan for a thousand-year kingdom, and CCI's attempt to blow it up nearly kills Shinoda.

How Godzilla 2000: Millennium ends

Godzilla kills Orga, the monster the aliens become, and destroys Tokyo. The alien absorbs Godzilla's DNA and turns into Orga, which tries to swallow Godzilla whole, but Godzilla blows it apart from inside. Katagiri refuses to flee and is killed when Godzilla crushes the building. Shinoda wonders aloud whether there is a Godzilla inside each of them as Godzilla burns the city.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 25 · 2000 · Film

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus recap

In a different history, Godzilla returned after 1954 and attacked Japan's nuclear and later plasma power plants, so Japan has banned both. Major Kiriko Tsujimori, who lost her commander to Godzilla, leads the G-Graspers, an anti-Godzilla unit. The young scientist Hajime Kudo helps build Dimension Tide, a satellite that fires small black holes. A test opens a portal through which a giant prehistoric dragonfly comes through and lays an egg. A boy, Jun, takes the egg to Tokyo and drops it in a sewer, where it hatches into a swarm of Meganulon, flooding parts of the city. The insects, now flying Meganulas, attack Godzilla to steal its energy, then fly to flooded Shibuya and feed it to their queen, which molts into the giant Megaguirus. The G-Graspers lure Godzilla to an island for a satellite shot, but it misses.

How Godzilla vs. Megaguirus ends

Godzilla kills Megaguirus, and the team learns that a secret plasma project, run in breach of the ban, is what keeps drawing Godzilla back. Tsujimori flies her plane right over Godzilla so the falling satellite can lock on, ejecting just in time, and Godzilla vanishes in a black hole. Tsujimori suspects it lived.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, Jun hears Godzilla's roar as an earthquake hits Tokyo, so Godzilla is still alive.

No. 26 · 2001 · Film

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack recap

An American submarine is destroyed near Guam, and footage shows Godzilla's fins, not seen since 1954. Yuri Tachibana, a reporter for a cheap TV show, follows strange events across Japan and meets Hirotoshi Isayama, an old man who tells her about three guardian monsters of ancient Japan: Baragon, Mothra and King Ghidorah. He says Godzilla is driven by the vengeful souls of everyone who died in the Pacific War, angry that Japan has forgotten them. Godzilla lands and kills Baragon, its eyes now white. Yuri's father, Admiral Taizo Tachibana, leads the defence. Mothra and King Ghidorah, smaller than in older films, come to fight for Japan in Yokohama, while Yuri, injured, keeps chasing the story on her own and Tachibana's jets fail to slow Godzilla.

How Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack ends

Godzilla is destroyed from the inside when Admiral Tachibana fires a drill missile into the wound left by the guardians, and its heart sinks to the sea floor. Mothra dies first, passing her spirit to Ghidorah, and all three guardians' spirits join the fight. Godzilla's breath escapes through the wound and blows it apart. Tachibana survives and salutes the guardians, and Yuri learns Isayama died in 1954.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, Godzilla's heart is shown still beating at the bottom of the sea.

No. 27 · 2002 · Film

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla recap

In 1999, a second Godzilla attacks Tateyama, and Lieutenant Akane Yashiro panics during the fight, causing the death of soldiers including the brother of Lieutenant Hayama. Japan builds a cyborg from the bones of the first Godzilla killed in 1954: Kiryu, a mechanical Godzilla. Akane becomes its pilot, working with the scientist Tokumitsu Yuhara, a single father, and his daughter Sara. Kiryu's first battle goes wrong when Godzilla's roar wakes the old Godzilla's memories in the bones, and the machine runs wild through the city until its power runs out. After repairs, Kiryu fights Godzilla again in Shinagawa, but its main weapon, the Absolute Zero cannon, misses when Godzilla knocks it aside and its remote control fails. Akane bonds with Sara along the way, while Hayama resents her.

How Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla ends

Akane pilots Kiryu by hand, carries Godzilla out over the sea and fires the cannon point-blank, and Godzilla retreats wounded. To get there, Hayama lands his command plane so she can reach Kiryu's backup cockpit, and he wishes her luck, forgiving her. Kiryu is badly damaged but has driven Godzilla off and is taken back for repairs. The story continues directly in Tokyo S.O.S.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, Akane accepts a dinner invitation from Yuhara and Sara, then salutes Kiryu in its hangar.

No. 28 · 2003 · Film

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. recap

A year later, the Shobijin, Mothra's fairies, visit Shinichi Chujo, who met Mothra in 1961, and his grandson Shun and nephew Yoshito, a Kiryu mechanic. They warn that Kiryu, built from Godzilla's bones, disturbs the dead and draws Godzilla back; Japan must return the bones to the sea, and Mothra will protect Japan instead. The government refuses. Godzilla returns to Tokyo, and Mothra comes to fight it, followed by Kiryu, piloted this time by Kyosuke Akiba while Akane is abroad. Mothra is killed, and twin larvae hatch on Himago Island and swim to help. The prime minister promises to end the project if Kiryu kills Godzilla. In the battle, Mothra shields others from Godzilla's breath and dies. Kiryu breaks down, and Yoshito climbs inside to repair it and is trapped when the hatch jams.

How Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. ends

Kiryu, acting on its own, carries the cocooned Godzilla out to sea and sinks with it into a deep trench. The larvae bind Godzilla in silk, and Akiba is ordered to kill it, but Kiryu refuses. The pilot Azusa blasts open the hatch, Kiryu rolls over so Yoshito can escape, and then it flies off with Godzilla and plunges into the ocean. Japan celebrates, Yoshito salutes Kiryu, and the larvae and Shobijin head back to Infant Island.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, a secret lab is shown storing the DNA of many monsters, hinting at a new experiment.

No. 29 · 2004 · Film

Godzilla: Final Wars recap

After decades of monster attacks, the Earth Defense Force uses mutants, humans with special powers, to fight them, and Godzilla has been frozen in Antarctica by Captain Douglas Gordon's warship Gotengo. Monsters including Rodan, Zilla, Anguirus and Kamacuras suddenly attack cities worldwide, then vanish, taken by the Xiliens, aliens who arrive in a huge mothership and claim to come in peace. The mutant Shinichi Ozaki and the biologist Miyuki Otonashi expose them: they plan to farm humans and control the monsters and the mutants, who share Xilien DNA. Their leader, the Controller, releases Gigan and the monsters again. Gordon's crew escapes in the Gotengo, frees Godzilla from the ice, since it has no Xilien DNA and cannot be controlled, and leads it on a path through the monsters to Tokyo.

How Godzilla: Final Wars ends

Godzilla kills the Xiliens' monster, Keizer Ghidorah, and leaves the humans in peace after Minilla talks it down. Godzilla beats Zilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Rodan, Anguirus and King Caesar on the way, then destroys a falling meteor. Ozaki defeats the Controller and passes his energy to Godzilla to finish Ghidorah. Godzilla turns on the humans until Minilla begs it to stop, and they swim away together. Godzilla then rested for 12 years.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 30 · 2016 · Film

Shin Godzilla recap

A steam explosion in Tokyo Bay floods a tunnel, and while officials argue about procedure, a giant creature crawls up a river into the city, changes into a standing form, and goes back to sea. Rando Yaguchi, deputy chief cabinet secretary, assembles a task force of outcasts and experts. They learn the creature runs on nuclear fission and evolves rapidly, and that a vanished professor, Goro Maki, predicted it and left coded notes. His research names it Godzilla. Kayoco Anne Patterson, an American envoy, works with Yaguchi. Godzilla returns larger and the army cannot hurt it. American bombers wound it, and it answers with beams from its mouth and back that destroy central Tokyo and kill the prime minister and most of the cabinet. Godzilla goes dormant, and the United Nations plans a nuclear strike.

How Shin Godzilla ends

Yaguchi's team freezes Godzilla in place by pumping a blood coagulant into its mouth, and it stands frozen in Tokyo. They distract it with drones, bring it down with trains packed with explosives and pump the coagulant in. The nuclear strike is called off, but only while Godzilla stays frozen. The final shot shows its tail, with humanoid shapes emerging from it, frozen in place.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 31 · 2017 · Film

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters recap

In the late 20th century, giant monsters appear, and Godzilla destroys them all and drives humanity off Earth. Joined by two alien races, the religious Exif and the technological Bilusaludo, survivors flee on the ship Aratrum. After twenty years in space, failing to find a home, young Captain Haruo Sakaki, whose parents died fleeing Godzilla, pushes to return and kill it. Back at Earth, time dilation means 20,000 years have passed, but Godzilla is still alive. Haruo has a plan to break its electromagnetic shield. The landing party is attacked by winged creatures, and Haruo's friend Eliott Leland dies proving Godzilla's weakness. The Exif priest Metphies backs Haruo and puts him in command. Using a trap in a mountain pass and electromagnetic pulses, the team kills the Godzilla.

How Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters ends

The Godzilla they kill turns out to be an offspring, and the original, now 300 metres tall, rises from a mountain and wipes out most of the team. Its blasts destroy the landing party's ships and weapons in moments. Haruo is left buried in rubble, watching it walk away and swearing to kill it before he passes out. The story continues in City on the Edge of Battle.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, Haruo wakes in a hidden place to find a native girl standing over him.

No. 32 · 2018 · Film

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle recap

Haruo is rescued by Miana and her twin sister Maina of the Houtua, descendants of humans who stayed on Earth and worship the egg of Mothra. Haruo's surviving team finds that the Houtua's arrowheads are made of nanometal from Mechagodzilla, the Bilusaludo weapon that failed against Godzilla thousands of years earlier. They find it has grown into a fortress, Mechagodzilla City. The Bilusaludo leader Galu-Gu plans to trap Godzilla in the city and destroy it, and the nanometal begins absorbing those who use it, including Haruo's friend Yuko Tani. The Exif priest Metphies hints at a greater threat, Ghidorah, that destroyed his own world. Godzilla wakes and marches on the city, and Haruo, Yuko and Belu-Be fly Vulture mech suits to slow it while Galu-Gu springs the trap.

How Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle ends

Haruo destroys the city's command centre to save Yuko and his humanity, and Godzilla breaks free and burns Mechagodzilla City. Galu-Gu insists that fusing with the nanometal is the only way to win, but Haruo refuses, and the nanometal goes dead. Yuko is left in a coma. The survivors shelter with Metphies as everything burns, setting up The Planet Eater.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. After the credits, a teaser announces the trilogy's last film, The Planet Eater.

No. 33 · 2018 · Film

Godzilla: The Planet Eater recap

After Mechagodzilla City falls, the Bilusaludo aboard the Aratrum turn on Haruo, and Yuko is declared brain dead. The Exif priest Metphies uses the chaos to win followers to his faith. He reveals his true aim: to summon Ghidorah, a god from another dimension that devours planets, which the Exif have fed whole worlds to. Metphies holds a ritual on the Aratrum, which Ghidorah destroys, and then descends to Earth and drains Godzilla, untouchable because it exists outside normal physics. Metphies wants Haruo, full of hatred for Godzilla, as the witness through which Ghidorah can act on Earth. Haruo is drawn into visions as Metphies works on him. Maina and Dr. Martin reach Haruo through the Houtua's sacred egg, and he learns that Metphies caused the deaths of an earlier scouting party, which helps him see through the priest.

How Godzilla: The Planet Eater ends

Haruo breaks Metphies' hold, Godzilla destroys Ghidorah, and Haruo then sacrifices himself to Godzilla to end the nanometal threat for good. He cracks Metphies' amulet, which pulls Ghidorah into normal reality, and Godzilla finishes it. The humans join the Houtua, and Maina is pregnant with Haruo's child. Haruo flies the last mech, carrying Yuko, at Godzilla, and both die. Years later, the Houtua remember him in a ritual.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no sequel setup after the credits; the anime trilogy ends here.

No. 34 · 2021 · Series

Godzilla Singular Point recap

In 2030, in the city of Nigashio, the engineer Yun Arikawa of a small robotics firm and the graduate student Mei Kamino, who studies imaginary creatures, separately trace a strange song coming from an old building. Giant monsters begin to appear around the world: swarms of Rodan, sea serpents called Manda, and Anguirus, which can see moments into the future. The monsters are linked to red dust and to the "archetype", a substance that seems to break the laws of physics. Yun's firm, led by Goro Otaki, builds the robot Jet Jaguar, which fights Anguirus. Mei, travelling the world with the scientist Li, uncovers the work of the vanished Professor Ashihara, who foresaw a catastrophe in 2030 linked to the red dust and a time-bending computer. Godzilla appears as a sea creature and evolves rapidly into a giant that spreads red dust over Tokyo. Mei and Yun, communicating at a distance through the AI Pelops II, race to work out how to stop the catastrophe. In the later episodes, Godzilla stands at Tokyo Station while the dust threatens to rewrite reality.

How Godzilla Singular Point ends

Godzilla is stopped and the catastrophe averted when Jet Jaguar, guided by an AI sent back from the future, sets off a device that turns the red dust into harmless crystals. Godzilla destroys Jet Jaguar with its breath, which sets off the device; the crystals freeze the monster Salunga, and Godzilla vanishes. A closing scene hints that a giant skeleton is being turned into a Mechagodzilla, and an aged Ashihara appears, though no second season has been made.

No. 35 · 2023 · Film

Godzilla Minus One recap

In 1945, the kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima lands on Odo Island claiming his plane needs repairs, to avoid his suicide mission. That night Godzilla, a dinosaur-like creature, kills the island's mechanics; Shikishima freezes and does not fire, and only he and the mechanic Sosaku Tachibana survive. Back in ruined Tokyo, his parents are dead. He takes in Noriko Oishi, a young woman caring for an orphaned baby, Akiko, and they form a family, though he will not marry her. He takes dangerous work clearing mines, alongside the scientist Kenji Noda and the captain Akitsu. Bikini nuclear tests mutate Godzilla, which destroys an American ship, then Ginza. Noriko is caught in a blast and is presumed dead. With no help from the government, veterans plan Operation Wadatsumi to sink Godzilla in deep water.

How Godzilla Minus One ends

Godzilla is defeated when Shikishima flies a bomb-laden plane into its mouth, and he survives by ejecting; Noriko turns out to be alive. Navy ships drag Godzilla down to crush it with pressure, then pull it up too fast. Shikishima, who asked Tachibana to fit an ejection seat, flies the Shinden fighter into its mouth and parachutes out, and Godzilla is blown apart. He finds Noriko in hospital with a dark mark spreading on her neck. On the sea floor, a piece of Godzilla begins to regenerate. Godzilla Minus Zero continues the story in November 2026.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.