The 5 Most Powerful Monsters In Godzilla Movies Ranked

In the realm of kaiju cinema, "Who would win?" debates are just part of the game. That's inevitable when most movies' middle name is literally "vs." In his 70-year history, Godzilla has faced off against a staggering number of rival monsters — some almost as iconic as the king himself, others forgotten as soon as the credits started rolling on opening night. Just like in pro wrestling, truly stacked title fights can be hard to come by, which only makes movies like "Godzilla vs. Kong" more special and exciting when they roll around.

If you had to assemble a team with the toughest of the tough, though, who would be on it? If you're a kaiju fan, several prominent names probably just jumped to mind. A lot of the Toho roster can be ruled out immediately — sorry, Ebirah, Battra, and Kumonga stans, but we all know a benchwarmer when we see one. We're also going to leave King Kong off this ranking for several reasons, the most notable being his lack of experience against other behemoths. Yes, the MonsterVerse keeps telling us how strong Kong can be, but he's only ever lost to Godzilla in that continuity, and his victory over Mechagodzilla came with serious help. No shade to the ape, but he needs a few more notches on his belt before he can battle with the big boys.

So, without further ado, here are the five most powerful monsters in the Godzilla movies, ranked according to their fight records, biggest wins, and overall longevity.

We know, okay? We know that Mothra is most famous for getting blown up, set on fire, and ripped to pieces countless times over the course of the Godzilla franchise, and even in her own standalone movies. The giant bug has sort of become a meme at this point for her glorious deaths. So how could she possibly rank in a list of the strongest Godzilla monsters?

Well, for starters, she has more wins than you might realize. Mothra battles and bests multiple versions of King Ghidorah in the 1990s "Rebirth of Mothra" trilogy, which many fans may have neglected due to its absence of Godzilla. She defeats Gigan in "Godzilla: Final Wars" one-on-one, though it costs her greatly. And in "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack," Mothra gives Ghidorah his wings and the strength he needs to match Godzilla's strength (Ghidorah's the good guy in that one — it's a whole thing). Mothra even technically defeats Godzilla in their first duel in 1964, though she dies before the end and leaves her children to finish the job.

This is the Mothra conundrum: She dies a lot, but she's also racked up a lot of wins, or at least a lot of assists. Her greatest claim to making this list is that she never stops coming back. The people (well, fairies) always have her back, and whenever an adult Mothra dies, two little babies are ready to take her place. If defense wins championships, then Mothra at least deserves a fifth-place finish.

This one's for all the kaiju-heads out there. If you know who Destoroyah is, it means you're a longtime Godzilla diehard, you bought the DVD (please, Toho, put the Heisei movies on streaming), or you played "Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee" on the Nintendo GameCube.

Destoroyah appears, unsurprisingly, in 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah," the final film in the franchise's beloved Heisei era. First introduced as a multitude of smaller creatures, Destoroyah eventually emerges in his final form — a massive, winged demon creature painted the colors of hell itself. Is the design way too busy in a total mid-'90s kind of way? For sure, but he's at least memorable. And more importantly, he's one of the only kaiju ever to (kind of) beat Godzilla.

There is a caveat, which is that Godzilla's body is melting down like a nuclear reactor over the course of the film. This process ultimately takes the king down, but it also grants him enhanced powers during his final battle with Destoroyah. Without the energy boost and some key help from the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Heisei Godzilla might well have ended his career on a loss. The fact that Destoroyah was created by the Oxygen Destroyer — the very weapon used to kill Godzilla in the original 1954 film — only adds to Destoroyah's legend. He's the literal manifestation of Godzilla's many ghosts, and he nearly takes the big guy down.

Let's start with some clarification: There are many versions of Mechagodzilla. There's the alien robot from the Shōwa Era; the human-built mecha from the Heisei Era; the other human-built mecha from the Millennium films, codenamed Kiryu, which is powered by the original Godzilla's soul (kind of); and the evil Mechagodzilla from "Godzilla vs. Kong," which is powered by Ghidorah's brain (kind of). There's even an anime version, but we don't ever really get to see that one in action (rude, Toho — we crave the robots).

As with the other entries on this list, we're considering all forms of Mechagodzilla in aggregate. And the data places him at a respectable but definitive bronze medal spot. The Shōwa version of Mechagodzilla is cool, but it doesn't necessarily show that much more power than other leading kaiju from the era. The suped-up version seen in "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II," aptly called "Super Mechagodzilla," nearly achieves victory over its biological counterpart, and without the intervention of Rodan, it likely would have. In 2002's "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla," the battle ends in a stalemate, but in the direct sequel, Kiryu finally vanquishes Godzilla (with some help from Mothra).

The MonsterVerse version loses, but in a one-vs-two battle against both Godzilla and Kong. Against either of them individually, the mecha would have had much better odds. With such an impressive resume, you could argue that Mechagodzilla deserves to be even higher on this list, but he can't quite breach the greatest rivalry in the history of kaiju cinema.

There's Goku and Vegeta. There's Batman and the Joker. There's Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. And there's Godzilla and King Ghidorah.

Look through all of the biggest Godzilla movies, and Ghidorah rises up as the prime antagonist (or even protagonist) a huge percentage of the time. Ever since he first battled the king in 1964's "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster," he's been the de facto yang to Godzilla's yin. And mind you, in that very first battle, it took the combined powers of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan to defeat Ghidorah. And even then, he didn't die — he just retreated into space.

Who does the Earth summon as its last line of defense in "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack"? King Ghidorah, of course. Who distorts the very fabric of the natural world by his mere presence in the MonsterVerse? King Ghidorah. Who shows up as the final boss in the "Godzilla" anime film trilogy? A lightning-charged version of Ghidorah that destroys entire planets.

And that's without even mentioning movies like "Godzilla: Final Wars," where among a cavalcade of kaiju, Ghidorah still stands as the final ultimate opponent. The three-headed dragon is iconic, he's deadly, and he's battled Godzilla numerous times over a whopping 60 years. But if you thought that anyone other than Godzilla was going to top this list, think again.

They don't call him the King of the Monsters for nothing, right?

Godzilla really is like Goku. No matter how many foes try to take him down, or how many times he dies, he'll always come back even stronger and looking for a rematch — and he never loses a rematch.

Of course, if your name isn't Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla, you'd be lucky to take even a single battle against the king of kaiju. Listing off Godzilla's fight record would be rehashing dozens of movies, so let's get to the SparkNotes. In 70 years of films, Godzilla has only been defeated a handful of times, and some of those losses came at the hands of his own complicated biology. We could talk about his "Final Wars" arc where he chews through a dozen kaiju including Ghidorah without hardly breaking a sweat. We could talk about his underdog victory in 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," or the sheer destructive force showcased in movies like "Shin Godzilla" and "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah." We could talk about his Wolverine-esque regeneration factor, which makes him practically unkillable. We could talk all day, but we'd never find another kaiju who can truly contend for the crown.

And that's without even mentioning some of his most terrifying forms, like the evil demon of "Godzilla Minus One" or the 300-meter-tall Godzilla Earth of the Reiwa anime film trilogy. Add them all up, and there's no doubt that Godzilla is the most powerful kaiju ever.