Weakest Monsters In Godzilla Movies

Highlights

Not all kaiju in the Godzilla franchise are created equal, with some monsters proving to be weak and easily defeated by stronger opponents.
From the disappointing Giant Octopus to the pathetic Gabara, these kaiju failed to live up to the powerful reputation of Godzilla and his adversaries.
Whether defeated by normal missiles or mutant humans with rifles, these weakest kaiju in the franchise lacked the strength and abilities to make a lasting impact.

For almost 70 years, the entire Godzilla franchise featured some of the most powerful and imposing kaiju ever created in its genre: from evil creatures from outer space, like King Ghidorah, to graceful guardians of the earth, like Mothra. And there’s also Godzilla himself, of course, who had to face and defeat many of these strong monsters.

5 Scariest Versions Of Godzilla

Though usually a blockbuster hero, Godzilla sometimes goes back to his horrific roots.

But there’s another side of the coin, because not all kaiju are created equal. After all, this is a long-running movie franchise with many different incarnations of Godzilla, who occasionally ends up facing some really weak and fragile monsters whose power levels leave a lot to be desired. And these are some of the most infamous culprits.

9 Kamoebas

It Was Killed Off-Screen

Kamoebas washes ashore dead in the beach.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Released: November 3, 2003
Era: Millenium
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Masaaki Tezuka

Kamoebas first appeared in the 1970 film, Space Amoeba, where it was introduced as a mutated giant turtle that fought another kaiju known as Ganimes. While it didn’t seem like it was particularly weak, it was not very impressive either. And Kamoebas' reputation would only get worse in its next appearance, in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

In this brief cameo, a dead Kamoebas washes ashore on the beach with wounds on its neck, which were supposedly caused by Godzilla. Despite its unique origin and intimidating design, Kamoebas was so weak that it was used as fodder to make Godzilla look stronger. The worst part is that viewers didn’t even get to see their battle.

8 Godzilla 1998/Zilla

Not Worthy Of The “Godzilla” Name

GODZILLA

Released: May 20, 1998
Studio: TriStar Pictures
Director: Roland Emmerich

The 1998 American version of Godzilla is controversial among fans for many reasons, one of which is the monster itself. This new take on Godzilla didn’t look like the iconic King of the Monsters, didn’t have the classic atomic breath, and was even taken down by a bunch of regular missiles. This was especially disappointing, seeing as no previous iteration of the character was ever defeated by conventional weaponry.

9 Strongest Versions Of Godzilla, Ranked

Godzilla has taken countless forms and acquired various powers throughout the decades. Here are the strongest versions of the kaiju so far.

This version of Godzilla was so lame that it was renamed Zilla when it reappeared in the Japanese film, Godzilla: Final Wars. On this occasion, it got to face the original Godzilla, which promised to be an interesting clash… until Godzilla defeated Zilla with a blast of his atomic breath, something that barely took him 30 seconds to accomplish.

7 Minilla

Godzilla's Son Had A Lot To Learn

Son of Godzilla

Released: December 16, 1967
Era: Showa
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Jun Fukuda

It would normally be quite exaggerated to expect a lot of power from an infant monster, but Minilla was the adoptive son of the King of the Monsters himself, and Godzilla tried his hardest to train the young kaiju in the only way he knew. However, Minilla ended up being a disappointment in most of his appearances, even if he could use a less powerful version of the iconic atomic breath.

In both Son of Godzilla and All Monsters Attack, Minilla is constantly pummeled by other kaiju, like Kamacuras, Kumonga, or Gabara. That said, he eventually got used to firing his weaker atomic breath and used it efficiently against King Ghidorah and Gabara.

6 Baragon

A Disappointing Guardian

Baragon is about to fight Godzilla in GMK.

Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Released: December 15, 2001
Era: Millenium
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Shusuke Kaneko

In Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, the kaiju known as Baragonwas brought back from the Showa era. However, this time, the monster was portrayed as one of the three guardians who had to stand up against the new evil Godzilla that was revived by the restless souls of the people who died during World War 2.

This was an interesting premise and a promising comeback for this once-forgotten monster, but Baragon sadly didn’t live up to the hype. Despite all of its best efforts and useful burrowing abilities, it didn’t take much for Godzilla to defeat it, mainly because of how small Baragon was in comparison. After a brutal pummeling and an atomic breath to the face, the feeble guardian exploded into pieces.

5 Kamacuras

Numbers Only Matter If The Monsters Are Actually Strong

A swarm of Kamacuras and Kamacuras getting impaled.

Godzilla: Final Wars

Released: December 4, 2004
Era: Millenium
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

The creativity of the kaiju in this franchise varies a lot. Some are unique and impressive, and others are just boring giant versions of existing real-world animals. This is the case of Kamacuras, who are just a bunch of gigantic praying mantises with no special powers.

In Son of Godzilla, a swarm of Kamacuras try to attack Godzilla and Minilla, only to be disposed of by the King of the Monsters with no problems, since they were particularly vulnerable to his atomic breath. Many years later, a single Kamacuras appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars; despite its blinding speed, the monster quickly died when Godzilla impaled it on a transmission tower.

4 Giant Octopus

King Kong’s Weakest Opponent

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Released: August 11, 1962
Era: Showa
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Ishirō Honda

Following in the tradition of kaiju who are just giant animals, there was also the Giant Octopus, who first appeared in 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla. As its name says, it's just a big octopus with no special powers. It didn’t even destroy much of the island nor kill many villagers during its brief rampage.

While its sticky tentacles were a bit tricky for King Kong, the giant ape managed to defeat it fairly quickly, and this encounter was later referenced in Kong: Skull Island when Kong fought (and ate) the Mire Squid similarly. At the end of the day, the Giant Octopus will always be remembered, mostly because the crew of King Kong vs. Godzilla cooked and ate some of the octopi that were used to portray this monster.

3 Gabara

A Pathetic Bully Living Inside A Dream

All Monsters Attack

Released: December 20, 1969
Era: Showa
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Ishirō Honda

Gabara is one of the strangest monsters in the Godzilla franchise. This bizarre cross between an ogre and a cat only exists within the dreams of Ichiro Miki, and it's pretty much a monstrous ruffian who represents the boy’s real-life bullies (and also his kidnappers). All Monsters Attack is a very weird movie.

10 Games With The Best Godzilla Crossovers

Despite being a reptilian monster, Godzilla has become a pop-culture icon. Here are ten of Godzilla's video game appearances.

Despite his size and his impressive electric punch, Gabara had issues fighting against Minilla, and he was obviously no match for Godzilla himself. However, the King of the Monsters lets his son finish the fight, who eventually manages to defeat his own bully thanks to his quick thinking and his atomic breath. That’s right; Gabara is a kaiju so weak that he is mainly defeated by Minilla.

2 Ebirah

Defeated By Small Humans

Ebirah fighting Godzilla and Ebirah gets defeated by humans.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Released: December 17, 1966
Era: Showa
Studio: Toho Pictures
Director: Jun Fukuda

As a giant crustacean with no special abilities, Ebirah was not an exceptionally powerful opponent for Godzilla in its debut film. Its main advantage was being better than the King of the Monsters at fighting in the water but, once Godzilla managed to get a good hold of it, he quickly tore Ebirah to pieces.

Like many other kaiju, Ebirah appeared once again in Godzilla: Final Wars, where it was disposed of by Godzilla in a few seconds. But this monster’s biggest shame happened earlier in the movie when it was defeated by a group of mutant humans with rifles. This means that Ebirah is so weak that it holds the dishonor of being the only kaiju in the series to be defeated by normal-sized humans with firearms, without the use of any vehicles or special weapons.

1 Giant Condor

It’s Just A Bird

Appears in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

There are a lot of kaiju in the Godzilla series that are just giant animals, but most of them at least tried to hold their own in a fight and some even had one or two special abilities. But this wasn’t the case for the Giant Condor, who is just a big bird and nothing more. It has no impressive characteristics – like strength, speed, or defense – and it doesn't even have an interesting design.

In its one and only appearance in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, the Giant Condor appears for a few minutes, tries to fight Godzilla (and barely damages him), and is quickly defeated by the King of the Monsters. This bird failed to make an impact on both its opponent and the audience, and its only accomplishment will always be holding the title of weakest and most pathetic kaiju in the entire franchise.