Over the years, Godzilla has faced off against a number of super weird monsters. From Mothra to King Ghidorah, and even the more out-there monsters like MechaGodzilla and SpaceGodzilla, there’s no end to the strange creatures ready for a fight within the Godzilla mythos. Starting off with the incredibly popular King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962, there’s been a slew of Godzilla vs. movies since then, pitting Godzilla against the baddest monsters Toho could throw at him.
However, you may not know that Godzilla might have fought even crazier antagonists, some of whom seem so far out of left field that it doesn’t even make much sense. With Godzilla vs. Kong releasing on November 20, it only makes sense to look back on all those super weird Godzilla vs. movies that almost got made.
Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla
As far as Godzilla movies go, Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla isn’t the weirdest movie that almost got made by any means, but it’s still odd even by Godzilla standards. In production in 1995, Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla was supposed to be the final movie in the Heisei era, which started in 1989. Initially, the idea was to poetically bookend the series by having a callback to the original 1954 Godzilla. So Toho came up with the idea that the current Godzilla would have an epic bout with the reincarnated spirit of the original Godzilla, a.k.a. Ghost Godzilla. Sounds good to me.
Ratcheting things up a notch, Ghost Godzilla was also going to possess Little Godzilla. This possession would cause the reptilian specter to grow substantially, tearing its skin in the process. However, Ghost Godzilla’s end wouldn’t come from Godzilla, but director Takao Okawara, who felt the antagonist too closely resembled MechaGodzilla and SpaceGodzilla as clones of Godzilla. Eventually, Toho went with the new kaiju Destoroyah as the antagonist for the final movie in the Heisei era, and called it Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong
Since the 1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla was one of the most successful Godzilla movies in Japan, Toho wanted to recreate that magic in any possible way. So, in 1991, it came up with the idea of reintroducing Mechani-Kong. Because, I mean, why not? Mechani-Kong first appeared in the 1966 animated series The King Kong Show, as well as in the 1967 movie King Kong Escapes. He is a robot replica of King Kong, created by Dr. Who (no, not that Doctor Who) to dig for “Element X.” As anyone could guess, both Mechani-Kong and the real King Kong fight each other, naturally.
The weirdest part about Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong is the plot idea. In the story, the Japan Self Defense Forces built Mechani-Kong to help defend Japan from Godzilla. That seems perfectly reasonable, but the JSDF takes it a step further by having Mechani-Kong inject a team of humans inside of Godzilla to fight the giant reptile on two fronts--Mechani-Kong on the outside and the humans on the inside. According to Koichi Kawaita, the special effects director on movies like Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla vs. Mothra, the story element of having humans enter into Godzilla was inspired by the movie Fantastic Voyage. Godzilla’s insides were supposed to contain strange worlds the humans would visit.
Sadly, the dream of Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong was dismantled due to copyright infringement. Though Toho technically created Mechani-Kong, the giant robot gorilla still resembled King Kong too much. So, they scrapped the idea and it never saw the light of day.
Godzilla vs. The Wolfman
Now we’re slipping into the truly bizarre stuff. First, a few things need to be mentioned here. Technically Godzilla vs. The Wolfman is a fan-made film by Shizuo Nakajima, a former Toho production assistant, and some other former Toho filmmakers. So it’s kind of like a rogue Godzilla film, which in my mind makes it that much cooler. Also, Shizuo Nakajima took this project well past the pre-production phase and even finished filming in 1983. It has since been in development hell and has never been officially released to the public, because Toho is protective of its IP and has no patience for that kind of nonsense.
The plot is fairly straightforward. A wolf becomes loose in Japan and comes in contact with radiation, which in the Godzilla world means it’s about to become a giant irradiated monster bent on total destruction—and that’s exactly what happened. Godzilla gets word of this and they have an epic fight only a giant wolf and a giant lizard can have. In the past, rumors spread that Godzilla vs. The Wolfman would finally get released on DVD or some other platform, but it hasn’t happened yet. To date, if you want to get a glimpse of this super weird Godzilla project, you can find pictures and video clips online. Maybe after Ryan Gosling plays his version of Wolfman, he can up the ante, get irradiated and fight Godzilla? I’d pay to see that.
Frankenstein vs. Godzilla
It only makes sense that if Godzilla is king of the monsters, he should fight a giant version of Frankenstein’s monster, right? At least, that’s what Toho thought after the rousing success of King Kong vs. Godzilla. Before that film, Toho was presented with a script called King Kong vs. Frankenstein (some versions are also called King Kong vs. Prometheus). So the company took inspiration from that script to potentially create Frankenstein vs. Godzilla.
The story is about a scientist who discovers a young wild boy wandering the streets of Hiroshima and studies him. The scientist discovers that the boy is Frankenstein’s monster reborn from a dissected heart that mutated from radiation. Naturally, the boy grows in size and starts feeding on livestock before deciding human beings would be an even better snack. The JSDF finds Godzilla trapped in the Bering Sea, frees him and lures him to Japan to fight Frankenstein’s monster.
Toho planned to release Frankenstein vs. Godzilla in 1964, but it dropped the idea because it didn’t believe the JSDF would free Godzilla to fight Frankenstein. Instead, Toho had Godzilla fight Mothra in the movie Mothra vs. Godzilla. Toho also used many of these story concepts in the 1965 movie, Frankenstein vs. Baragon. It’s too bad the Dark Universe never happened. Can you imagine a MonsterVerse and Dark Universe cross over? The possibilities would be endless.
Godzilla vs. Batman
Holy radiated lizard scales, is Godzilla vs. Batman really a thing? Yes, I’m afraid it is, and Toho isn’t the only one that came up with the idea. American studio Greenway Productions, led by producer William Dozier, who produced Adam West’s Batman: The Movie, had a script drafted called Batman Meets Godzilla. Toho, for its part, had screenwriter Shinzi Sekizawa, who wrote Mothra vs. Godzilla, write its own version, but little is known about that one. The draw to have Godzilla fight Batman in both Japan and the United States seemed purely logical at the time. Batman’s comic books were flying off the shelves in Japan, and Godzilla movies were relatively popular in America too. So for both production companies, it seemed like a no-brainer to have a man dressed up like a bat fight a giant radiated lizard.
In William Dozier’s script, Batman, Robin and Batgirl first fight the villainous mad scientist Klaus Finster, who eventually awakens Godzilla. Batman and his sidekicks use every Bat-tool in their Bat-belts to stop the destructive Godzilla, but eventually settle on a plan to lure Godzilla with a mating call and then knock him out with explosives. After a thrilling battle between Godzilla and the Bat-crew, Batman finds a way to attach an explosive to Godzilla’s neck with Bat-rope and detonates it. While Godzilla is unconscious, the humans build a rocket around him and send him into the far reaches of outer space.
Sadly, this whimsical and silly adventure would never come to pass, likely because it’s insane, but also because the seas of change were roaring. The Adam West Batman TV show only lasted three seasons and a much darker interpretation of Batman was brewing in the comic books. Eventually, both Batman and Godzilla would see a radical transformation, but they would never meet on the big screen.
Though these are just a handful of weird Godzilla movies that weren’t made, there’s been a fair share of ridiculous Godzilla movies that were made. Godzilla movies, by their very nature, are pretty outlandish, which, other than the awesome fight scenes and destruction, is probably why Godzilla fans love them so much. But which of these do you think is the weirdest and which would you want to see made? Let us know in the comments!
