Rodan joins Warner Bros. and Legendary's Monster-verse in next year's Godzilla: King of the Monsters. A staple of the kaiju genre, the pteranodon will be making its debut in a Hollywood production, alongside Mothra and King Ghidorah. As such, many audiences will be seeing the mighty beast for the first time, unaware of the decades of history that have brought the prehistoric creature here.

Rodan has a special place in kaiju history as the first named monster to get its own movie from Toho after Godzilla and its sequel proved a huge success. And among all the different creations that have been added to Toho's canon over the years, all the many dinosaurs and alien beings and man-made mutations, Rodan, has stood the test of time as an icon of the studio and the genre. Its debut in a big western blockbuster is, for anyone familiar with these movies, long overdue, as synonymous as this thing is with Godzilla.

Related: Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Rodan, Mothra & Ghidorah Explained

Throughout their time in the franchise, Rodan and the big G have shared the spotlight quite a few times. Rodan has been present for some of the biggest, most defining movies in Godzilla and Toho's filmography, sometimes battling against the king of them all, sometimes battling with them to fend off a bigger foe. They're a dysfunctional tag-team, and bringing them together for the monster-verse is a big occasion – here's a look at their relationship to date.

Rodan And Godzilla's Previous Encounters

Rodan debuted in the self-titled movie in 1956. The sequel to Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, hadn't done as well as Toho would've liked, so they shelved Gojira in favor of expanding and telling other monster stories. Writer Ken Korunuma wanted to create something thematically similar to Godzilla, sticking to the use of a prehistoric animal that represents some allegory on our treatment of the planet. He went with the winged pteranodon, and whereas Godzilla is considered the embodiment of the American nuclear threat, Rodan is looked at as the Soviet Union equivalent.

The first time Rodan and Godzilla met in combat was a film that came later, the 1964-released Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. This is the first of a trilogy of sorts, the others being 1965's Invasion Of Astro-Monster and 1968's Destroy All Monsters, that brings together several prominent creatures for a big slamboree. Ghidorah is Legendary's King of the Monsters biggest inspiration, and in it Rodan and Godzilla are awakened, but instead of working together they begin tearing Tokyo apart in a skirmish, eventually calling a truce and joining Mothra to stop King Ghidorah.

Invasion Of Astro-Monster carries on from The Three-Headed Monster, bringing back Ghidorah, Rodan and Godzilla for a plot in which the three of them are put under mind-control by an alien race known as the Xiliens. The trio begins duking it out before the human characters find a way to disrupt the alien mind-control devices, causing the behemoths to fight each other instead. The movie ends with Rodan and Godzilla landing in the ocean while Ghidorah flies off into space.

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Having introduced aliens, one of the core recurring ideas of kaiju movies, Destroy All Monsters brings in Monster Island (or 'Monsterland'), the other narrative benchmark, wherein all these massive walking earthquakes live on a single isle on planet earth. Another alien race, this time the Kilaaks, set the creatures free and using mind-control again to piggy-back off their power to take over the planet. The film has bigger stakes than before by way of using more international locations - Godzilla attacks New York, Rodan attacks Moscow and so on. A team of UN soldiers successfully take over the Kilaak base on the moon and take back control of the kaiju, before the Kilaaks send in their secret weapon: King Ghidorah. Unable to fend off all the half-dozen strong monster squad, Ghidorah falls and Godzilla and co. make short work of the remain Kilaak presence on earth before peacefully stomping back to Monster Island, having been established as heroes.

Rodan's last two Toho appearances are the eponymous rematch between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II, from 1993, and 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars, another monster battle royale. In the former, Rodan is badly wounded twice, first by Godzilla, then by Mechagodzilla, and as a dying move transfers their lifeforce to Godzilla to help them defeat their mecha adversary. The latter has Rodan attacking New York city when all hell breaks loose and the Xiliens return to try and use humans as a food source. It's all a bit weird and contrived, but the special effects and fight scenes are some of the best Toho has produced.

Page 2 of 2: What Could Happen Between Rodan & Godzilla In King Of The Monsters

What Could Happen Between Rodan & Godzilla In King Of The Monsters

The new Godzilla: King of the Monsters is working off the blueprint left by Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, which is smart, because that plot covers all the bases for introducing three new, huge monsters into a cinematic universe. Rodan's story looks to be similar to its original telling – a preserved egg of a prehistoric creature – but modernized for this darker, more grounded and horror-tinged telling.

According to the Monarch website that's part of the viral marketing for the movie, Rodan is in a form of pyrostasis, sleeping within a bed of magma in the Isla de Mona volcano. Legend has it this was once a dominant predator of the skies, with a massive wing-span and powers that could devastate the land below. A facility has been built around the resting Titan (as they're known to this universe) to monitor and study it. Rodan's powers here seem to be heat-related, too, including his sonic thunderclap.

Read More: Rodan Explained: Godzilla 2 Monster Origin & Powers

In the Comic-Con trailer, we can see that Monarch facility is blown up to awaken Rodan, whom we see unleashing a mighty roar atop the mountain, having been so rudely awakened. It stands to reason that Rodan and Godzilla will fight for some portion of the film, possibly while the humans, led by Vera Farmiga's Dr. Emma Russell and Millie Bobby Brown's Madison Russell, work to bring out Mothra in order to have the three fend off Ghidorah. But that's if this flick follows the 1960s Ghidorah, plot information is relatively limited and the only things we know for certain are that Monarch is heavily involved and the broad idea is for a three-on-one against Godzilla's three-headed nemesis.

Some of the imagery available really leans into Rodan's roots as a metaphor for the Soviet nuclear threat. There's a shot of its shadow as it glides over the land, and then later we see a city in ruin. The connotations for this iteration are more towards climate change, us being an infection and the whole mess being our inability to reckon with what we're doing to the planet, which is still prevalent with the use of a volcano and natural disaster. It's still nice, and reassuring, to see director Michael Dougherty and his team haven't forgotten the roots of these monsters and the through-line significance of their symbolism.

As is the standard set by Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, not all these monsters will be left standing by the end. Unlike those flicks that introduced new enemies for their namesake heroes to trample, this time we're watching kaiju with a deep history, clashing once again. This is going to be a big, messy scrap between four cultural titans, and good money is on Godzilla being the only one to walk away. Rodan's Hollywood debut might be short-lived, but from the first trailer, it's going to be a debut for the ages.

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