The MonsterVerse has laid the groundwork for a number of Toho kaiju to appear in future Godzilla movies. At this point, Legendary Pictures has made use of five monsters from Toho’s rich library giant creatures, including Godzilla himself, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. His robotic counterpart was the most recent addition to the MonsterVerse, having appeared as the main villain of Godzilla vs. Kong.
To use these monsters, Legendary had to purchase the rights to them from Toho. According to Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty, the prices attached to each kaiju is one of the main reasons why no additional Toho monsters made appearances in King of the Monsters. Otherwise, fans could have been treated to cameos from some iconic fan favorites. Since budget issues stood in the way of that happening, King of the Monsters instead introduced a few brand-new Titans to the MonsterVerse, such as Behemoth, Methuselah, and Scylla. It’s possible that this approach will be taken again if the MonsterVerse moves forward. However, Legendary is unlikely to limit itself only to new Titans. With each new installment, it may be able to make room for a Toho monster or two. They could serve as either allies or enemies in Godzilla and Kong sequels.
With over 30 movies to his name, Godzilla has fought more than his fair share of villains, giving Legendary plenty of good choices when it comes to bringing in new Titans. In the case of some of them, the MonsterVerse has already built the foundation for their eventual introduction. Here are all the Toho kaiju set up by Godzilla’s movies.
Destoroyah
There’s a chance that the MonsterVerse’s Destoroyah was created during the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, it was revealed that unbeknownst to the military, the Oxygen Destroyer (the weapon that killed the 1954 Godzilla) mutated a crustacean in the ocean, thus setting into motion its transformation into Destoroyah, a creature that even a powered-up Godzilla struggled to bring down. In a way, Destoroyah represented the physical embodiment of the weapon that can kill Godzilla. If the MonsterVerse has any intention of pitting Gojira against him in Godzilla 3, it can easily use King of the Monsters to explain his creation. The military deploying the Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla and Ghidorah could have given birth to the dreaded Toho monster without anyone’s knowledge. Similar to Toho used him to close out the Heisei series in 1995, he could be the perfect final villain to end the franchise.
Moguera (Or Jet Jaguar)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters teased a robotic Titan in the newspaper articles featured in the credits. Under the headline, “Monarch Boosts Forces Around Skull Island”, it was stated that Monarch was previously working on the construction of a “mechanized giant”. When it was discovered that Mechagodzilla would be the villain of Godzilla vs. Kong, many assumed that he’s what the credits were hinting at, but the movie’s plot indicates that he may not have been Monarch’s “mechanized giant” after all. That’s because in Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla is a creation of Walter Simmons (Demin Bichir) and APEX. This of course raises questions about what Monarch was actually building. If it wasn’t Mechagodzilla, what was it? If it’s a Toho monster, the only options are Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla’s Moguera and Godzilla vs. Megalon’s Jet Jaguar. Given the campy nature of the latter, the one that makes the most sense is Moguera, a robot that the Japanese government built as a defense against Godzilla in the Heisei era. A later Godzilla movie could really shake things up with a heroic Mecha-Titan like Moguera or Jet Jaguar. Looking at what happened with Mechagodzilla, Godzilla would naturally have good reasons to be reluctant about teaming up with him. Plus, an alliance between a robot and a Titan hasn’t happened in the MonsterVerse, so it could be a fun direction for a future movie to take.
Biollante
The “mechanized giant” line garnered an understandable amount of attention from fans, but it actually wasn’t the only interesting line in the “Monarch Boosts Forces Around Skull Island” article from the credits. The article also mentioned Monarch’s efforts to make “organic Titans”. Such a creature would be new to the MonsterVerse, but not to the Godzilla franchise. Biollante stands as a prime example of a genetically engineered monster. In Godzilla vs. Biollante, the plant-like kaiju was conceived from the merging of DNA from Godzilla, a rose, and a dead girl. Scientists trying to create their own Titans in the MonsterVerse opens the door for its take on Biollante to be born at any time.
Gigan
In Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla and Anguirus had to battle not one, but two extraterrestrial foes. Ghidorah, who he had already fought, returned from outer space accompanied by the equally monstrous Gigan, allowing the two to act as a powerful duo for Godzilla to face against. With Gigan’s hooked blades, the villain proved to be one of the deadliest adversaries Godzilla has ever faced. Thanks in large part to his ruthless nature, Gigan has developed a reputation as one of Godzilla’s best villains. He’s also one of the most popular choices for his opponent in a potential Godzilla 3.
Leading into Gigan for Godzilla 3 (or a different movie) would be quite easy for the MonsterVerse, considering that it’s already established the existence of aliens via Ghidorah. If there’s one hiding on Earth, there could easily be another. They could theoretically use Orga or Hedorah, but Gigan, who has never been a solo villain in a Godzilla movie before, feels like a more viable candidate than the other Toho aliens. In fact, Gigan may have fought beside Ghidorah all those years ago when they crossed paths for the first time in Antarctica. It could be explained later on that like their Toho counterparts, the two were on the same side.
Anguirus
In a blink-and-miss-it moment, a skeleton identical to Anguirus can be glimpsed in Godzilla’s underwater lair in King of the Monsters. The link was later teased by Dougherty in a tweet when he mentioned the inclusion of a skeleton that “may or may not belong to Anguirus”. He’s never confirmed it outright, despite the unmistakable resemblance. However, it’s not hard to understand why. Legendary doesn’t own the rights to this creature, so this connection couldn’t be made official. But while this could have been just a fun Easter egg, it could still have special meaning for the future. Legendary may not own the rights now, but that could change. Regardless, what the skeleton ultimately means is that Anguirus’ species does exist in the MonsterVerse. There might be another one out there somewhere, possibly in hibernation in the Hollow Earth world. If so, he could emerge in Godzilla 3 as an ally to Godzilla against the movie’s villain.