The Big Picture
- Destoroyah emerges as the greatest antagonist ever faced by Godzilla, with multiple evolutionary forms, a high intellect, and a taste for maliciousness.
- Destoroyah's origins lie in the past battles with Godzilla, specifically the use of the Oxygen Destroyer, resulting in mutated crustaceans.
- Destoroyah pushes Godzilla to his limits with its murderous intent, relishing in causing pain and suffering and displaying contempt for organic life.
There are many iconic creatures in Hollywood history, but none of them come nearly as close as Godzilla. Movies and TV shows starring the famous radioactive reptile have been entertaining us for decades, with another Hollywood icon Kurt Russell set to appear in Apple TV+'s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which tackles Godzilla's epic universe of creatures in a brand-new series. Godzilla's decades-long mythos has resulted in plenty of foes that can claim to take the top spot of the creature's arch-nemesis. King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and SpaceGodzilla all have their place in the pantheon, and some may even make the case for King Kong on occasion, but these kaiju pale in comparison to one particular monster seen squaring off with Godzilla in 1995.
It may not have the highest number of appearances in Toho's film franchise, but Destoroyah's debut in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah cemented it as the greatest antagonist ever faced by our atomic breath-brandishing hero. With multiple evolutionary forms, a high intellect, and a taste for maliciousness, Destoroyah is an echo of humanity's past attempts to defeat Godzilla, emerging as a result of the original 1954 film decades later to enact wanton destruction and bring the fate of humanity to the brink of extinction.
Destoroyah Is More Connected to Godzilla Than You Think
There's no doubt that the 1954 film Godzilla has an unforgettable impact, both today and in the post-World War II era of its theatrical release. The dangers of atomic/nuclear energy were put on full display in the film barely a decade removed from the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and this manifested in the danger that Godzilla himself presented to Japan. Try as they might, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces had no answers to defeat the King of the Monsters after an American hydrogen bomb test awakened the slumbering creature. In a last-ditch effort to save Japan (and humankind for that matter), Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) developed a weapon known as the Oxygen Destroyer that would dissolve organic matter using a corrosive chemical known as Micro-Oxygen.
During the device's deployment, Serizawa sacrificed himself to ensure that the original Godzilla would perish from the weapon's activation, but not before scrubbing any and all research pertaining to the device to ensure that it would never be used by humanity as an instrument of war. Godzilla was essentially disintegrated and floated to the bottom of Tokyo Bay, but the Oxygen Destroyer's legacy would loom large over the decades as Godzilla returned and attracted the ire of other kaiju as well as extraterrestrial species like the Xileans, Kilaaks, and Simians. However, the ghost of humankind's first battle with Godzilla would resurface at the end of the Heisei Era. Before Godzilla vs. Destoroyah's production, Toho had considered taking a much more literal approach to Godzilla's final enemy in the Heisei series being a ghost from the past. The original antagonist was intended to be the spirit of the first Godzilla that died in 1954, but the idea was ultimately panned due to Toho recently releasing films surrounding antagonists like Mechagodzilla and SpaceGodzilla.
To hear Takao Okawara tell it, Toho simply wasn't interested in creating another doppelganger of Godzilla to serve as the final film in the Heisei series. After toying around with concepts of an evolving creature that would emerge as a result of the Oxygen Destroyer, Minoru Yoshida and Hideo Okamoto made a breakthrough and created Destoroyah as it's known today. After the Oxygen Destroyer was detonated, a collective of prehistoric crustaceans was severely mutated as a result, combining and rapidly evolving until it emerged from Tokyo Bay in 1996, a living incarnation of the lengths that the JSDF was willing to go to defeat Godzilla.
Destoroyah Loves To Cause Godzilla Pain
Many of the most powerful kaiju that Godzilla has faced in his history weren't inherently destructive by nature. Many were in fact either controlled by outside forces or were created directly to stand in opposition to Japan's iconic atomic monster. As Destoroyah evolved, it grew in intelligence and became very aware of the devastation it enacted, and it loved every second of it. Where many enemy kaiju committed acts of destruction under the influence of others, Destoroyah relishes in causing pain and suffering. As Godzilla reached a state approaching a nuclear meltdown inside his body, Japan's G-Force determined that the only way to prevent Godzilla from inadvertently causing humanity's extinction would be to send him to battle Destoroyah. Godzilla's son, Godzilla Jr., was also summoned to Tokyo using telepathy, and Destoroyah wasted no time enacting psychological warfare on its opponent.
Destoroyah pinned Godzilla Jr. to the ground and injected him with Micro-Oxygen, siphoning Jr.'s DNA for its own use in the process. Jr. managed to temporarily recover from his initial suffocation and seemingly defeat Destoroyah by flinging it into a nearby refinery and causing a large explosion. However, Destoroyah continued to rapidly mutate thanks to Jr.'s DNA and cackled in joy as it re-emerged, grabbed Jr., and dropped him from hundreds of feet in the air, finishing him off with a Micro-Oxygen ray. Try as he might, Godzilla was unsuccessful at reviving his fallen son and had to contend with multiple Destoroyah aggregates as well as the primary version of Destoroyah, which had evolved into its demon-esque Perfect Form.
During the battle with Godzilla and Jr., Destoroyah showed contempt for organic life that no other kaiju could truly match. It relishes killing and inflicting damage, and this is seen on full display as the creature audibly laughs at the death of Jr. as well as when it caused pain to Godzilla physically. Where many kaiju battled Godzilla out of compulsion or a sense of self-preservation, Destoroyah fought purely for the pleasure of the extermination of life forms it considered inferior. Even when it was seemingly destroyed, the nature of its body being an accumulation of mutated crustaceans meant it could not only return with a vengeance but could also be reinforced by other non-perfect iterations of itself. In many ways, Destoroyah is the perfect combination of vile intent and single-minded tenacity. Fortunately for the defenders of Earth, Godzilla's explosive and white-hot nuclear body during his meltdown supercharged his destructive potential and served as the perfect combination with the JSDF's cryolasers, ultimately resulting in Destoroyah's defeat once and for all.
Godzilla Barely Won in 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah'
Though Godzilla and the JSDF did achieve victory in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, it was pyrrhic at best. The nuclear pulses emanating from Godzilla's body ravaged much of Tokyo with radioactive fire, and Destoroyah's Micro-Oxygen-based assault added insult to injury. Godzilla himself succumbed to the nuclear devastation wrought on his body, threatening to turn Tokyo into the next Chernobyl, even as the JSDF attempted against hope to freeze Godzilla's body before the radiation could spread. Fortunately, the nuclear power pulsing into Tokyo was absorbed by the body of Godzilla Jr., reviving the adolescent kaiju to become a reborn Godzilla for the next age. A catastrophe for humanity was avoided, but just barely, speaking to just how close the battle between Godzilla and Destoroyah came to total oblivion.
It may have only appeared in one theatrical debut so far, but Destoroyah still remains arguably the deadliest and most hateful foe that Godzilla ever faced. Its rare combination of calculated and targeted hatred and the ruinous potential it unleashed is all the more painful because Destoroyah is the direct result of humanity's hubris toward its desire to harness the power of the atom. This kaiju serves not only as the best villain Godzilla has faced so far, but also as a reminder that the specter of using atomic and nuclear power never truly fades away. The long-tailing consequences of mankind's actions continue to reverberate decades after Godzilla became the embodiment of the anxieties of a generation, and Destoroyah is the most emblematic example.