is a fictional monster, or

kaiju is a Japanese term that is commonly associated with media involving giant monsters. Its widespread contemporary use is credited to ''tokusatsu'' (special effects) director Eiji Tsuburaya and filmmaker Ishirō Honda, who popularized the ''kaiju'' ...

, who first appeared in

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

's 1973 film '' Godzilla vs. Megalon'' as the titular main antagonist. It is also his only film appearance to date.

Overview

Design

Megalon is a bipedal, humanoid, burrowing

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

-like entity resembling a beetle, standing 55 meters (180 feet) tall and weighing 40,000 metric tons (44,092 short tons). The creature is worshiped as the god of the subterranean nation of Seatopia. While Megalon possesses limited intelligence (he must be led to his destination by the protagonists' robot, Jet Jaguar), he makes up for it with his strength. Megalon has two drill-like front appendages, which it uses both for burrowing and as weapons, and it possesses a set of wings usually covered by a beetle-like shell. Unlike most kaiju under fire from humans who prevail with brute force, Megalon uses retreat and ambush tactics to defeat human forces in his first encounter. Megalon also has a horn (similar to a

rhinoceros beetle Dynastinae or rhinoceros beetles are a subfamily of the scarabaeidae, scarab beetle family (biology), family (Scarabaeidae). Other common names – some for particular groups of rhinoceros beetles – include Hercules beetles, unicorn be ...

) from which it can fire

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

-like bolts of electricity, and it is capable of spitting

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...

bombs from its mouth, which are officially called Geothermal Napalm Bullets. He can also travel at immense speeds, being able to fly through the air and drill through the ground at speeds of up to

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

3, while he can swim at Mach 4. Megalon is also able to leap through the air for ten kilometres at a time.

Character's biography

Showa era (1973)

In '' Godzilla vs. Megalon'', Megalon is worshiped as a deity by the people of the subterranean kingdom known as Seatopia. The Seatopians unleash Megalon on the surface world as revenge for the damage caused to Seatopia through reckless

nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of Nuclear explosion, their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to si ...

. During his assault on the surface world, Megalon comes into conflict with

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

and Jet Jaguar.

Reiwa era (2017-2023)

Megalon returns in ''Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse'', a prequel novel to '' Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters''. Megalon appeared on the West coast of Africa in 2012 and crossed the continent, destroying countless nations, and disappeared into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

. There were 20 million casualties, including the wounded. Shortly after Megalon's attack across

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, millions of refugees fled to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

due to

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

s across the continent, this also lead to a dispute between refugees and locals in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

that lead to a second civil war. Megalon returned 10 years later and attacked

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, forcing humanity to abandon the continent. In ''Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla'', a prequel novel to '' Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle'', 7 years later, Megalon moves to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It annihilates

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, both of whom just recovered from a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

against each other. After destroying the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, Megalon attacked

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, but was intercepted by

King Caesar is a 1974 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Jun Fukuda, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects subsidiary Toho–Eizo, it is the 14th film of the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and features t ...

, a guardian deity of the island, and both monsters died in the resulting battle. Megalon made his return in the short film ''Godzilla vs. Megalon'', released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the character. He is summoned to fight Godzilla, after his victory over

Gigan is a fictional monster, or kaiju, that appeared in the 1972 film, '' Godzilla vs. Gigan''. Gigan is a giant extraterrestrial space monster, resembling a species of reptile, who was turned into a cyborg by the alien race known as the Nebulans. G ...

in the previous short, ''Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex''.

Appearances

Films

* '' Godzilla vs. Megalon'' (1973)

Web content

* ''Godzilla vs. Megalon'' (2023)

Television

* '' Godzilla Island'' (1997–1998)

Video games

* ''Godzilla'' (1993) - Arcade * ''

Godzilla Trading Battle This is a chronological list of games based on Toho's ''Godzilla'' franchise . Since the early 1980s, a variety of video games have been developed and released on various platforms. The majority of these games were exclusively released in Japan, ...

'' (

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

, 1998) * '' Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee'' (

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, 2002–2003) * '' Godzilla: Domination!'' ( GBA, 2002) * '' Godzilla: Save the Earth'' (Xbox,

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 November, in Australia on 30 November, ...

, 2004) * '' Godzilla: Unleashed'' (

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

, 2007) * '' Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash'' (

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

, 2007) * '' Godzilla: Unleashed'' (PS2, 2007) * ''Godzilla Defense Force'' (2019) * ''Godzilla Battle Line'' (2021)

Literature

* '' Godzilla at World’s End'' (1998) * '' Godzilla: The Half-Century War'' (comic, 2012–2013) * '' Godzilla: Rulers of Earth'' (comic, 2013–2015) * '' Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse'' (2017) * '' Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla'' (2018)

References

Sources

* * {{Godzilla Fictional beetles Fictional insects Fictional gods Film characters introduced in 1973 Godzilla characters Kaiju Fictional monsters Science fiction film characters Toho monsters Fire-breathing monsters