Christmas season, what a lovely time! What? It’s still November, you say? Oh, screw you, I do whatever I want. We celebrate the birth of Christ and whatnot and butcher turkeys in honor of the Son to offer him sacrifices of blood, for he is only satiated by the souls of men or turkeys, and turkeys are cheaper. Oh, sorry, did I say “we celebrate”? Sorry, I meant you celebrate. Being a stout Shintoist, I’m only in it for the presents and the cakes. Now, I tried to think of something fancy for a Christmas special, since you guys are such fantastic people and I want to repay you for that. However, after hours of meditation, I came to a conclusion which I did not expect:
Isn't the glorious presence of Kazanshin the Magnificent a present in and of itself?
So without further ado, I present to you, my friends, a most wonderful battle of the dreams, the kaiju movie of kaiju movies. Ladies and bozos, I hope you will enjoy the show:
Tokusatsu daikaiju. Don’t lie to me, all of us, we all think giant monsters, heroes and robots are awesome, and we all have had some kind of exposure to it, through blockbuster movies, childhood series like the Power Rangers or simply because kaijus are so famous and widespread in the media. However, even in such a massive and famous category of entertainment, it is not hard to spot two cases that stand out, embodying all the values of the genre and yet more. No, Gamera, I’m not talking about you. This is a dream match that any child who watched both series fantasized about and simulated with action figures, and that nerds and otakus across the world dreamed of in their sweetest sleeps. Today, I bring this battle to life:
Godzilla the King of the Monsters, the unstoppable rage-filled abomination who embodies human arrogance and carelessness with nuclear energy!
Ultraman the Titan of Light, the fearless alien superhero who came from across the stars and inspired hope and kindness in the hearts of children!
WHO. IS. DEADLIEST!?
Godzilla[]
| “ | A living nuclear weapon destined to walk the Earth forever. Indestructible. A victim of the modern nuclear age.
— Makoto Hayashida
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” |
-Height: 100 meters
-Length: 200 meters from head to tail
-Weight: 60 000 tons
Godzilla is, by far, the most famous of all kaijus in the Tokusatsu Daikaiju genre. Born from exposure to nuclear radiation and awakened by a volcanic eruption at Daikoku Island, Godzilla rampaged his way across Japan a total of seven times to take revenge against the humans who turned him into a mutant monstrosity, each time spreading destruction wherever he went and all of humanity’s attempts at stopping him proving to be futile, even when Futurians attempted to go back in the past and stop him from even existing in the first place. In almost all of his assaults, Godzilla also fought against rival kaijus who got in his way, from the twin divine moths Mothra and Battra to his archrival King Ghidorah and finally the most brutal of enemies, the mutant abomination Destroyah. Despite the destruction he spreads, Godzilla evolved throughout his series from a rage-filled berserk monster to a sort of anti-hero, unwillingly teaming up with humanity to destroy threats too great for either to overcome alone. Ultimately, however, Godzilla is mortally wounded in his battle against Destroyah and is put to rest by humanity, his nuclear energy absorbed by his son Godzilla Junior so his legacy will be carried on.
Physical weaponry: If it wasn’t obvious, Godzilla’s body is practically built like a weapon by the fact that he is a giant mutated dinosaur. His claws and fangs can deal deadly wounds, his tail can serve as a mid-range weapon to whip his enemies and knock them around and his strength is so tremendous he effortlessly lifted and threw massive foes like Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah. Despite this, Godzilla appears to prefer long range combat to melee.
Durability: Godzilla’s hide is extremely durable, being capable of tanking repeated attacks from various enemies only for him to get back up and keep fighting. It’s completely immune to conventional human weaponry and even energy blasts from the like of Mechagodzilla and Spacegodzilla only managed to temporarily knock him down before he got up and resumed the battle. Godzilla's hide was in fact wounded by powerful slashing attacks like Destroyah’s horn katana, but considering said horn katana was powerful enough to slice straight through buildings like a lightsaber, the fact that he only suffered external injuries is impressive enough. He also shows great resistance to heat, having been submerged in magma for years with no damage. The only things that have severely wounded Godzilla were the Oxygen Destroyer beams of Destroyah, which dissolves organic tissue. If he is wounded, however, Godzilla’s G-Cells are capable of rapid regeneration, especially by absorbing outside radiation, to the point where he reformed his brain in a matter of seconds.
Superhuman reflexes: While the usage of the word “superhuman” for a giant irradiated dinosaur of death and terror gives an aura of Captain Obvious, Godzilla is very swift despite his size, and he was capable of keeping pace in battle against rivals as fast as Rodan, who can fly at Mach 3.
Amphibiousness: Though technically a reptile and not an amphibian, Godzilla has an amphibious lifestyle and is as adept a fighter underwater as he is on land. Capable of marching on the seafloor or swimming by undulating his tail like a crocodile, Godzilla is able to breathe underwater and being submerged apparently does not impede his atomic ray. He engages opponents in the sea on multiple occasions, fighting Battra, Biollante and Mothra either beneath or on the surface of the waves.
Godzilla, despite his immense power and resilience, is not completely invincible. As stated before, his meltdown will eventually cause him to destroy his own body, and his regeneration without outside radiation sources is limited. However, his most glaring weakness is his possession of a second brain in his spine, which if destroyed will paralyse him from the waist down. While his body constantly generates radiation, if by some method an enemy was to significantly lower his radiation level, he will be forced to hibernate.
Ultraman[]
| “ | What is important is to face your challenge until the very end.To fight on and believe in victory as long as there is even a little hope. “A heart that believes.” The strength of your heart will make the impossible possible. That is an Ultraman!
— Ultraman, alongside the Ultra Brothers
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” |
-Height: 40 meters
-Weight: 35 000 tons
Just as Godzilla is the face of the Tokusatsu Daikaiju genre, Ultraman is by far the most famous hero of the Tokusatsu Kyodai Hero genre. Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, one of the creators of Godzilla, Ultraman is a warrior from the Land of Light, a distant planet in the M78 Nebula, and a member of the Intergalactic Defense Force, whose job it is to uphold intergalactic laws across the cosmos. One day, upon chasing the fleeing monster Bemular to Earth, Ultraman accidentally collides with a jet piloted by Shin Hayata, a member of an anti-kaiju defense force known as the Special Science Search Party. To save the young man from death, the cosmic hero merges with him and fights alongside the SSSP against the hordes of monsters and aliens that ravage the Earth, from the evil genius of Alien Mefilas, to the necromancer monster Geronimon, to BLOODY SPACE CRAB NINJAS like Alien Baltan. Ultimately, however, Ultraman is defeated by the overwhelming power of the monster Zetton and brought back to his home planet to recover after witnessing humanity defeat the monster, knowing that humanity is now capable of defending itself even without his protection. Even after this, Ultraman frequently aids his fellow Ultra warriors in the defense of Earth as an elite member of the Intergalactic Defence Force.
Slash Ray: As a less powerful but more spammable alternative to the above attacks, Ultraman can fire volleys of energy arrows from his hands to attack his enemies. While they do not pack the power of the Specium Ray or Ultra Slash, with each one being roughly one third as powerful as the latter, they can quickly be used without charging to rapidly attack enemies from afar.
Catch Rings: By spinning at a very high speed, Ultraman can release yellow rings of energy that wrap around his enemies, restraining their movements and constricting them. However, beings with immense physical strength like Zetton have been known to shatter these rings, and they don’t stop them from using projectile attacks.
Physical abilities: Ultraman, aside from his powerful energy attacks, has many powerful physical abilities that his species posseses and is a very competent martial artist with thousands of years of training under his belt. His eyes can see far beyond the human visible spectrum and perhaps the entire light spectrum, allowing him to see through walls and other obstacles. He channels his colossal strength through techniques drawn from karate, judo and pro wrestling to engage his enemies in fierce close combat brawls. These include (but are not limited to) the standard Ultra Punch and Kick, judo throws, the giant swing where he grabs his enemy by the tail and spins them around before throwing them away and the Flying Body where he channels his energy through a powerful, explosive body slam. His hands can also be hardened with energy to become blades, which he can use to viciously slash at enemies with karate chops.
Size manipulation: While on average, Ultraman’s height is 40 meters, he has the ability to grow and shrink in size depending on the size of his enemy, growing much taller than usual when fighting larger enemies like Mefilas and Telesdon. However, he only ever uses this to match his enemies and has never uses it to grow bigger than them.
Ultra Armor: Ultraman’s silver and red skin acts as very durable armor and has many defensive properties that are useful in battle. He is completely immune to electricity and resistant to acid, immense , allowing him to see through obstacles and wall.heat and nuclear warheads. Though he was badly damaged, he was able to survive Zetton’s one trillion degree fireballs and took Mefilas’ lightning bolts to the chest without a scratch, the same lightning bolts which could destroy regular monsters in a single shot. Additionally, his skin acts as a sort of solar energy plant and if he ever finds himself damaged or out of energy, he can escape Earth’s atmosphere to regain his strength in a matter of seconds.
Ultraman’s most glaring and famous weakness is his inability to fight in Earth’s polluted atmosphere for more than 3 minutes, after which he will run out of solar energy. This forces him to retreat to outer space at regular intervals to regain his strength. Granted, it appears he doesn't always need to fully exit the atmosphere, and that flying high into the sky is enough to let him regain his energy. Additionally, his color timer, the blue light on his chest, is vulnerable to attacks and physical blows there can be very dangerous, though energy attacks like Mefilas’ energy beam don’t appear to be any more effective than elsewhere.
X-Factors (Godzilla - Ultraman):[]
Strength: 95 - 85[]
Both Ultraman and Godzilla, due to their great size, have shown impressive feats of strength. Godzilla effortlessly lifted the 150 000 tons Mechagodzilla and threw him around like a ragdoll and physically overpowered almost all his enemies except Destroyah. Ultraman, while also immensely strong, does not quite match up to this power, and his best feat of strength was when he lifted and threw the 120 000 tons Telesdon.
Training: 40 - 95[]
Godzilla’s “training”, practically being a wild animal, comes from his fighting experience and bestial instincts. While this has proved to be very useful and more than enough to dispatch most of his enemies, Ultraman has trained for thousands of years to defeat monsters and aliens and is a master martial artist, securing him an easy edge.
Tactics: 70 - 80[]
Godzilla, despite being a rampaging monster who often fights by instinct, has shown a surprising level of intelligence, such as destroying the crystal towers that provided Spacegodzilla energy and aiming for Mecha King Ghidorah’s cockpit in their battle. As for him, Ultraman doesn’t lack in tactics, being a fully sentient being and a professional monster slayer. He often alternates between his attacks as soon as he sees they aren’t effective and even employs Miyamoto Musashi-like tactics by angering his enemies then slaying them in their careless assault.
Experience: 70 - 90[]
Godzilla, in this specific incarnation, is very experienced at battling other monsters, having defeated 8 different monsters in the forms of Biollante, Mothra, Battra, King Ghidorah, Mecha King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Spacegodzilla and Destroyah. However, Ultraman is the main character of a weekly TV show, unlike the movie franchise of Godzilla, resulting in many more fights against many more enemies, a total of 58. Ultraman is also far older than Godzilla, being 20 000 years old while Godzilla has only been irradiated for a couple decades.
Destructive power: 95 - 95[]
Both Godzilla and Ultraman are capable of planetary feats of destruction. Godzilla, aside from his meltdown threatening to destroy the Earth, defeated Mechagodzilla, who was stated to have destroyed multiple planets on his way to Earth. Ultraman, while not having demonstrated such power, has consistently shown to be on a level similar to other Ultra Warriors like Leo, who destroyed Planet Black Star which threatened to collide with Earth, as well as 80, who fought and defeated the planet devouring Rugosite.
Restraint: 100 - 30[]
Ultraman, being a hero, is very careful and tries his best to avoid collateral damage. Should human lives be in danger, he will quickly move in to defend them even if this puts him at risk, and will try to move the battle’s location where collateral destruction will be minimal. Godzilla, on the other hand, is a being whose existence revolves around the stomping of human cities, and as such has absolutely no restraints when it comes to fighting. If a million poor slobs must die for his victory, then die they shall.
Scenario:[]
Godzilla emerges from the bay of Tokyo to ravage the city as he always does, two kilometers away from the JERA Shinagawa Nuclear Power Station. As he begins destroying the city and citizens evacuate in panic, Ultraman appears and confronts him, leading to the two fighting. Very straightforward in terms of kaiju movie scenario.
Notes[]
You know the drill. I hold the right to deny a vote if I see it as being of sub-par quality or too flawed to count. While I believe edge style votes are going to be very hard on this battle, if you can do one that's great. If not, well written paragraphs and votes are just as good.