Top 10 Times Godzilla Went Beast Mode

“Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004)
In 1998, Hollywood attempted to reimagine the Godzilla franchise, by unleashing a drastically redesigned version of the monster on New York. It was… not a critical success. But it did set up the perfect beatdown to kick off our list. Since Godzilla’s original creators weren’t big fans of the US version, they brought the despised lizard into “Godzilla: Final Wars”. When American Zilla dodges Godzilla’s first atomic fire blast, you think the copycat might stand a chance for a second. Well, for a second. That’s before Godzilla tail-slaps his copycat out of the air and into the Sydney Opera house. It’s over in a shake of a kaiju tail. Godzilla couldn’t resist showing Zilla how a real kaiju throws down.

“King Kong vs Godzilla” (1962)
Godzilla and King Kong have duked it out for monster superiority once before. And back then, it wasn’t even a fair fight. Say what you will, Kong fans, but it turns out an atomic heat ray does make for a pretty big advantage. After Kong is hilariously airlifted into battle by what looks like birthday balloons, Godzilla proceeds to beat the absolute snot out of the giant ape. He doesn’t stop until Kong is buried under rocks and surrounded by nuclear fire. Apparently, Godzilla takes that “King of the Monsters” title pretty seriously. He probably would have won if Kong hadn’t suddenly and inexplicably gotten superpowers from a bolt of lightning. No, you heard that right. This movie’s just insane.

“Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack” (2001)
In this film, Godzilla became a metaphor for the specter of national guilt. During the film, Godzilla gets possessed by the spirits of people killed during World War II. You can see the unearthly fury of this new form of Godzilla in his milky white eyes and ferocious expression. Godzilla beats down kaiju like Baragon, Mothra, and even King Ghidorah. It takes the combined efforts of kaiju and humans to stop him in his tracks. It was certainly an explosive way to both represent and cope with the guilt of a nation’s past.

“Godzilla vs. Destoroyah” (1995)
Godzilla feeds on radiation. But it turns out there are limits to what even he can safely consume. We see this firsthand after he feeds off a uranium deposit in “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah” and begins to have a meltdown. And we’re not talking about a building-stomping temper tantrum. Godzilla had a nuclear meltdown that was powerful enough to destroy the whole planet. Thankfully, the movie’s villain, Destoroyah, gave him somewhere to spend some of that extra energy. When the evil kaiju takes out Godzilla Junior, the enraged Godzilla uses his excess power to unleash an infinite heat ray that absolutely wrecks Destoroyah. Although Godzilla’s body ultimately couldn’t handle the meltdown, he still went out as an ultra-powerful kaiju.

“Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II” (1993)
Pop quiz. What’s more powerful than a giant robot kaiju designed to give Godzilla a taste of his own medicine? The answer is Godzilla plus the power of a whole other kaiju coursing through his veins. While the math here might not make the most sense, the results speak for themselves. After Godzilla absorbs Rodan’s energy, he proceeds to fire a volley of atomic rays at Super-Mechagodzilla until it straight up explodes. Admittedly, the atomic breath the hero uses here doesn’t look as powerful as the attack he used against Destoroyah. However, the way he fires blast after blast against his robot doppelganger makes this a prime example of how savage Godzilla can get.

“Godzilla” (1954)
Even people who have never seen a full Godzilla movie know that he has a knack for going on destructive rampages. When compared to the level of chaos he sows in later entries of the franchise, the way he stomped his way through Tokyo in the original film seems almost tame. Still, there’s just something special about the first time, isn’t there? Maybe it’s because his first rampage happened right after he was awakened by the fateful nuclear test that scarred him. Or maybe it’s because Godzilla takes his time to eradicate as many man-made structures as he can. No matter what draws us to this scene, his grief and fury shine through with blazing clarity.

“Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004)
“Godzilla: Final Wars” is full of unbelievable Godzilla moments. But one of his best scenes comes after he gets supercharged by an energy weapon. Godzilla gets filled with enough power to electrocute Ghidorah just through touch. And that’s just the beginning. Since Ghidorah has multiple heads, Godzilla gets creative in how he takes two of them out. When only one remains, he flips Ghidorah back and forth like a cartoon character before launching him into the atmosphere with his atomic breath. And did we mention he did this all to Ghidorah’s ultimate Keizer form? We guess when Godzilla is this tremendously strong, even your super ultimate form won’t do you much good.

“Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters” (2017)
You might have noticed that Godzilla has been getting bigger as time goes on. And the idea of ratcheting up his appearance to match the increasing scale of his stories makes sense. But in one trilogy of animated movies, his growth went way off the charts. The animated version of Godzilla grew to be over 300 meters tall. He also had a wide range of powers that included a more powerful radioactive blast attack, the ability to generate force fields, and the power to terraform the planet with his DNA. After his global rampage, the surviving humans evacuated planet earth. Getting all of humanity to give up on their own home is one of the most brutal victories Godzilla ever claimed.

“Shin Godzilla” (2016)
Shin Godzilla showed us a terrifying new version of the king kaiju. Instead of an angry but relatable monster, he’s a grotesque, rapidly mutating nightmare. And nothing showcased his inhuman malevolence and power more than the movie’s climactic scene. The monster seems almost sick as he bends over and belches out dark clouds of fog. But before we can get worried about him, the clouds ignite into a fireball that decimates the surrounding city. And then he starts doing something… worse. Shin Godzilla focuses the gas into a laser-like beam that destroys anything it touches. Surely that’s the worst he could ever be, right? Unless he could scatter heat rays in all directions, or—oh he can that too? That’s just overkill.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Overwhelming SpaceGodzilla
“Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla” (1994)

Terrifying Tokyo Bay
“Return of Godzilla” (1985)

Reeling in Mechagodzilla with Electromagnetic Powers
“Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” (1974)

Beating Three Kaiju Without Breaking a Sweat
“Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004)

Wrecking Megalon & Gigan at the Same Time
“Godzilla vs. Megalon” (1973)

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019)
This list has been full of examples of Godzilla’s awesome might. He’s pulled off so many incredible feats that it’s hard to figure out one moment that could top every tail lash and atomic fire blast. That was until 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”. During his final fight with Ghidorah, he became so powerful that he was able to melt buildings just by standing near them. That probably would have been enough to win the fight on its own, but he’s never been content with “enough.” Godzilla destroys two of Ghidorah’s heads with a nuclear pulse, stomps on his enemy’s body, and finishes the final head off with an atomic blast. We definitely think he’s worthy of being called the king of the monsters.