King Ghidorah (ã‚ングギドラ Kingu Gidora?) of the IDW Publishing continuity is a three-headed dragon kaiju. He appears in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters and makes a brief appearance in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.
Name[]
King Ghidorah's name is composed of "King" (ã‚ング Kingu?) and "Ghidorah." The "Ghidorah" part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the Japanese word for "hydra" (ヒドラ Hidora?), which is spelled very similarly to the Japanese katakana for Ghidorah.
Design[]
Appearance[]
King Ghidorah is a golden dragon monster with two legs, three heads on long necks, giant bat-like wings, and two tails.The heads have two curved horns on both sides with a crescent in the middle and a mane on each one.
In Rulers of Earth, Ghidorah appears dead in a flashback, looking near identical to his Heisei apperance. He is brought back to do battle with Godzilla as Mecha-King Ghidorah. His entire torso was replaced entirely with metal, a good portion of it being a giant claw capable of restraining kaiju as big as Godzilla. His middle head was also replaced with a metal, giving him bright green eyes, a segmented neck, and a massive energy beam projector where his tongue once was.
Roar[]
Personality[]
Origins[]
King Ghidorah destroys the Cryog homeworld in a flashback.
King Ghidorah is portrayed as an ancient monster that came from outer space. In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth issue #24, it was revealed by Rhizon in a flashback that the Cryogs' homeworld was destroyed by King Ghidorah, and that the race's emperor, Karkaro, fled the planet when King Ghidorah arrived, prompting Rhizon to seize control of the planet. At a unknown point in time, he was somehow imprisoned inside a temple in the mountains.
History[]
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters[]
King Ghidorah was featured in IDW's Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, where, in issue #8, he was revived after a young Asian monk performed a suicide ritual in order to revive the monster. Upon awakening, King Ghidorah flew to combat Godzilla in Washington, D.C. In the ensuing battle, King Ghidorah was beaten when knocked down by Godzilla. In a later issue, he briefly participated in a battle between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. In the following three-way battle, Steven Woods fired Mechagodzilla's special weapon at both King Ghidorah and Godzilla, knocking out both monsters in the process. King Ghidorah did not appear again in the series and was presumed to be dead.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth[]
The near-dead King Ghidorah in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #16
In the third IDW series, it is revealed that Ghidorah survived his earlier battle with Godzilla and Mechagodzilla albeit badly wounded. A flashback in issue #16 reveals the Cryog leader Rhizon discovered King Ghidorah following his battle. Rhizon ordered Gigan to slice off Ghidorah's middle head so that he could replace it with a mechanical head that gave him control over the entire monster.
King Ghidorah returns as Mecha-King Ghidorah in issue #15 of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. After Godzilla survives an onslaught of Mechagodzillas, Mecha-King Ghidorah flies above him and abducts him with his capture cables and machine hand.
Mecha-King Ghidorah carries Godzilla.
Mecha-King Ghidorah, who is being telepathically controlled by the psychic twins Minnette and Malorie working for the Cryog leader, is ordered to take Godzilla to a robotics facility in Russia, which the Cryog leader has converted into a battle arena. Ghidorah drops Godzilla in the arena, where other Mechagodzillas are waiting. While the alien robots begin to overwhelm Godzilla, Anguirus escapes from the downed Kiryu's grip and enters the arena to help Godzilla.
As the battle progresses, the twins note that either they are losing control over Mecha-King Ghidorah, or they never had it in the first place. After Godzilla destroys the Mechagodzillas and Ghidorah's control module, the twins are knocked out from the shock and Ghidorah flies away under his own power. After this, Mecha-King Ghidorah disappears, and he is never shown interacting with the Trilopods in any way, nor do the Cryogs ever attempt to retrieve him.
Abilities[]
Gravity Beams[]
In all of his appearances in the series, King Ghidorah retains his signature gravity beams. He fires electrically charged yellow beams of light from each of his three heads, and have been shown to be on par with Godzilla's own atomic breath on many occasions, the two only being able to overpower one another with help.
Flight[]
Like his other incarnations, King Ghidorah is capable of flight using his massive wings. He is still capable of flight in his Mechanized form, and is even able to carry Godzilla while doing so.
Machine Claws[]
Like his Heisei Counterpart, Mecha-King Ghidorah has several wires and claws capable of restraining his opponents. They allow him to restrain other kaiju, like Godzilla, and transport them to better areas to battle in.
