TheGodzillaseries is the longest-running movie franchise of all time, and has gone through so many revitalizations that it provides plenty of entry points for moviegoers who might be new to the franchise. Beginning withGodzillain 1954, Toho has produced 34 different Godzilla movies, and had a hand in the distribution of five American-made movies as well. Godzilla began his movie career as a villain, acting as a violent metaphor for the horrors of nuclear destruction, and over time he has oscillated between being a destroyer and a protector of humanity.
With so many different iterations of the radioactive lizard on the table, there are plenty of different introductions to not only Godzilla himself, but the other monsters he has fought and teamed up with throughout his career as well. For newcomers to the franchise, there are a few movies that truly encapsulate Godzilla’s personality and role in the larger world at the different stages of his career. They range from outright campy to dark and terrifying, but they all show different sides of one of the most versatile characters in film history.
10Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
The debut of Godzilla’s doppelgänger
As important and famous as Godzilla has become over the decades, some of the monsters that he has battled against have become almost as iconic in their own right. One of the most significant opponents that Godzilla has ever blasted with his atomic breath isMechagodzilla, the heavily-armed robotic reflection of Godzilla himself. Mechagodzilla (who has been redesigned and reintroduced multiple times himself) has proven to be one of the most dangerous enemies for Godzilla, and has caused some of the worst damage that Big G has ever suffered.
Mechagodzilla debuted in 1974’sGodzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, appearing to be a flesh-and-blood twin of Godzilla before revealing his true metallic form. The movie features cameos from fan-favorite monsters Anguirus and King Caesar, and also includes the one-time use of one ofGodzilla’s strangest attacks, during which he turns himself into a magnet to draw Mechagodzilla in.Mechagodzilla’s reveal is an iconic moment in the franchise, making this one of the best movies for Godzilla beginners to check out.
9Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
One of the scariest villainous versions of Godzilla
The 26th film in theGodzillafranchise ignores everything that came before it with the exception of 1954’sGodzilla. In the movie referred to by Godzilla scholars as “GMK” in lieu of its incredibly long title,Godzilla is at his most evil and dangerous. While he was a walking warning against nuclear destruction in the original movie, inGMKhe is the embodiment of all the souls lost during the Pacific War, unleashed to seek vengeance upon Japan and the world at large.
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The movie is heavy with lore, but it isn’t complex or inaccessible in any capacity. It’s unique in the franchise for inverting the roles of Godzilla and King Ghidorah; inGMK,King Ghidorah is a guardian dragon of the Earth as opposed to an evil extraterrestrial monster, while Godzilla is the destructive enemy of humanity. Ghidorah teams up with Mothra and the minor (but beloved) monster Baragon to end Godzilla’s reign of terror before it can start, andit’s a fun, well-executed twist on the more common Godzilla-as-a-guardian formula.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Cast
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack brings back iconic kaiju in a modern setting where they clash with each other in epic battles. Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the film focuses on Godzilla’s renewed rampage, prompting the spirits of ancient monsters Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon to rise and restore balance. The fate of Japan hangs in the balance as these legendary creatures collide in a fight of mythic proportions.
8Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
The perfect encapsulation of the campy final stages of the Showa Era
After being a villain for his first four movies,Godzilla fully transitioned into a guardian of the world by 1964. For the next 11 years Godzilla movies were more family-friendly, with Godzilla becoming more anthropomorphic and “cuter” over time. The peak of that family-friendly end to Godzilla’s Showa Era was 1973’sGodzilla vs. Megalon, in which Godzilla and his robotic ally Jet Jaguar team up to fight the subterranean beetle god Megalon and the alien Gigan.
The monster action is downright campy throughout the movie, with a number of silly moments highlighted by one ofGodzilla’s coolest moves: a gravity-defying running dropkick. The entire movie is perfect for Godzilla newcomers who are looking to understand the different iterations of Big G over the years.A big part of his popularity and nostalgia can be traced back to the Showa Era, andGodzilla vs. Megalonis the best example of Godzilla’s softest side.
7Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964)
The first appearance of Godzilla’s arch-nemesis, and his first team-up
Godzilla’s first turn as a hero came in 1964’sGhidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, a transition forced by the appearance of his archnemesis, the alien dragon King Ghidorah. In the movie, Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra are forced to team up to save humanity from the destruction of the gravity-beam-spitting three-headed dragon. While they are reluctant allies (and in Godzilla and Rodan’s case, enemies) at first,the three monsters eventually work together to defeat King Ghidorahand banish him back to outer space.
1954-1975
15
1984-1995
7
1999-2004
6
2017-present
5
2014-present
There are, of course, convoluted human plots involving aliens, meteors, prophets, and fairies, but the movie is largely cited as one of the better movies of the Showa Era. It’s an ideal movie for a newcomer to the Godzilla franchise forits depiction of the personalities of the four monsters at its heart. Mothra is shown as a peacekeeper among the monsters and ally to humans, while Godzilla and Rodan are both reluctant defenders of humanity; however, all are willing to put aside their differences to get rid of the ultimate evil, King Ghidorah.
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is a 1964 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film features Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra teaming up against the titular three-headed space dragon, King Ghidorah. Belonging to the Godzilla franchise, this movie marks Ghidorah’s first appearance. The storyline intertwines extraterrestrial threats with political intrigue, as Japan faces cataclysmic danger from the monstrous battle.
6The Return of Godzilla (1985)
Godzilla’s dark return after a long hiatus
The Return of Godzillaisn’t particularly high on any “best of” Godzilla lists, butit’s important given its place in the overall franchise. Following 1975’sTerror of Mechagodzilla, Toho gave Big G a rest. No Godzilla movies were produced anywhere in the world for nine full years, which to this day is still the longest hiatus Godzilla has ever taken from the big screen.
At one point, the American release ofThe Return of Godzillawas reportedly going to be a comedy starring Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun) in which the dialogue was all dubbed over to make the entire plot a tongue-in-cheek affair.
He re-emerged in 1984 with a brand-new, sharper design and a bad attitude.The Return of Godzillawas intended to represent a reversal of the campy, family-friendly Godzilla that had dominated the lates 1960s and 1970s, and it once again made him a walking metaphor for nuclear destruction. The movie flopped in Japan, and yielded another five-year hiatus for Godzilla, but it still stands up asa valid entry for anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with Godzillaas he was originally intended.
5Godzilla (2014)
The adventure that kicked off Legendary’s Monsterverse
After the disastrous American debut of Godzilla in 1998’sGODZILLA, Toho took back the atomic lizard for what would come to be known as the Millennium Era, and produced six Godzilla films in short succession. Godzilla resurfaced in America in 2014 with Gareth Edwards’Godzilla, which featured a new, massive form for the monsterthat took notes from the Millennium and Heisei Eras. The movie was well-received by both critics and the box office in the United States, and it spawned the ongoing cinematic universe known as Legendary’s Monsterverse.
While the more recent Monsterverse movies featuring Kong have received criticism for becoming almost like superhero films in tone and style, the 2014Godzillais a stripped-down introduction to the eponymous monster.Edwards truly manages to capture the humongous scale of Godzillaand his fellow Titans (what kaiju are known as in theMonsterverse timeline), which creates a new level of majesty and strength for Big G. It’s also a great starting point for anyone who might struggle with thetokusatsupractical effects style of the Toho films.
Godzilla
Godzilla is a 2014 American reboot of the popular kaiju property and the first film in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise. The film centers around Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who travels to Japan after his father Joe (Bryan Cranston) is detained for trying to uncover the truth about his wife’s death 15 years prior. Together they fight to survive as Joe’s conspiracy theory becomes true and giant monsters begin attacking the world.
4Shin Godzilla (2016)
A unique take on Godzilla as a destructive force of nature
Toho quickly responded to 2014’sGodzillawith their own modernized version of the atomic lizard in a movie known asShin Godzilla.Shin Godzilla represented a major pivot for Tohoin how they depicted Godzilla; the monster began in a much smaller form, and steadily evolved across eight different forms, each more deadly than the last. At the time, the final form of Shin Godzilla was the largest that the monster had ever been in a movie.
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What made Shin Godzilla truly unique was the horror lean that the monster’s various evolved forms had. Not only were the designs gruesome to look at, they were unsettling in their abilities. The final, bipedal form of Shin Godzilla was also the most destructive that Godzilla had ever been, with thetypical blue atomic breathreplaced by a purple, laser-like blast that could be ejected not only from his mouth, but his tail and dorsal plates as well.Shin Godzillarepresents a return to Godzilla’s roots as a destructive force of nature, this time dialed to 11.
3Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
The debut of the Queen of the Monsters
After being introduced in her own solo movie,Mothra, in 1961, the benevolent kaiju known as the Queen of the Monsters was tasked with stopping a rampaging Godzilla inMothra vs. Godzilla. Mothra may be second only to Godzilla when it comes to the significance and fame of Toho’s varioustokusatsumonsters, and both her larval and adult forms appear in the 1964 classic. It’s an important movie for the franchise, asMothra is one of Godzilla’s most steadfast allies(when he was on the side of humanity, that is), so her introduction is significant.
2Godzilla Minus One (2023)
The modern return to Godzilla’s terrifying roots
Godzilla Minus Onefeatures maybethe most destructive version of Godzilla ever put on the big screen, despite his smaller stature (compared to Shin Godzilla and Monsterverse Godzilla). His atomic breath mimics a literal nuclear bomb blast, and he is also able to heal and regenerate after virtually any injury he sustains. He seems truly unstoppable throughout the movie, rendered even more psychologically devastating considering he attacks Japan just as they began recovering from World War II.
Godzilla Minus Onefeatures what many consider to be the strongest human story, and as an Academy Award-winning movie it has to be considered one of the best places for any Godzilla newcomer to start.It perfectly captures the destructive, villainous version of Godzilla, perhaps to a level never achieved since the first movie in the franchise.
Godzilla: Minus One
Godzilla: Minus One is the first Godzilla film since the release of Shin Godzilla in 2016 in the U.S. domestic market. The film brings things back to the start as the King of Monsters returns in destructive fashion.
1Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla’s original appearance
The original Japanese version of Godzilla in 1954’sGodzillastill reigns supreme when it comes toportraying the radioactive monster as a nuclear holocaust metaphor. As the origin of the franchise, it features many of the key elements of the character presented for the first time, including the earliest iteration of his atomic breath, the Oxygen Destroyer weapon that has reared its head multiple times in the franchise, and the concept of Godzilla’s regenerative abilities. The black and white style of the movie elevates the terror and overall dread that Godzilla conjures.
Any newcomer to the Godzilla franchise should start with the 1954 original, as it’s the basis for every other version in the franchise. Many versions of Goji throughout the years make direct reference to the original, with multiple iterations acting as direct sequels, ignoring all other films of the franchise except that. Godzilla beginners have plenty of choices when it comes to familiarizing themselves with the franchise, but the original should always be the first stop.
The Godzilla franchise, spanning over six decades, follows the adventures of the titular kaiju, a colossal, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. Originating in Japan, Godzilla has evolved from a destructive force of nature to a protector of humanity, battling various other giant monsters, including iconic foes like King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Mechagodzilla. The series explores themes of environmental destruction, nuclear anxiety, and human resilience. With numerous films, TV series, and an expanding universe, Godzilla remains a cultural icon, captivating audiences worldwide with its epic battles and compelling narratives.
