Zilla (ジラ,   Jira^?) is a daikaiju that first appeared in the 2004 Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars. Its design is derived from that of the creature that appears in the 1998 TriStar film Godzilla, with the rights to that design now belonging to Toho.

Name[]

Six years after the 1998 TriStar film Godzilla was released, Toho Company Ltd. acquired the rights to the creature from the film and officially re-branded the creature's design as "Zilla" in any appearances post-2004. However, any appearances before then in any media still refer to the creature as "Godzilla", officially. The reason for the name change was because, according to Shogo Tomiyama, the TriStar creature's design "took the 'God' out of 'Godzilla.'"^[1] This "Godzilla" branding includes post-2004 releases of earlier productions featuring the creature, such as the 1998 Tristar Godzilla as released in home video formats by Sony Pictures in 2009^[2] and 2019.^[3]

This followed with Godzilla: Final Wars featuring "Zilla"—a creature directly visually and conceptually derived from the TriStar Godzilla but with the "Zilla" branding and icon, matching the same for other Toho monsters as intellectual properties. The result in real-world production history thus created two distinct creatures that highly resemble each other. Thus, "Zilla" as a trademarked-concept was created following from Toho's legal acquisition of the TriStar Godzilla; the effective result of the real-world production history also stipulated the kaiju's trademark and new name applied wherever the monster appeared. As such, the 1998 original, Japanese, and any version based on him are all named Zilla.

In 2007, Toho registered a new "Zilla" trademark, which declared that any subsequent appearances of the 1998 character and, by extension, the version from Final Wars, will be under the name "Zilla."^[4]

Design[]

Development[]

The creature was created entirely through computer generated imagery, as was its inspiration from the 1998 film.

The CGI model for the design was created by scanning Trendmasters' Ultimate Godzilla figure.^[5]

Appearance[]

This design is mostly based on the 1998 Godzilla design, and remains mostly unchanged. The two most notable differences between the 2004 design and its predecessor are its scutes, which now point up straight instead of curving forward like the original design's scutes.

Additionally, another difference is the color of its skin, which is now a stone grey, presumably to blend in with the Sydney architecture, similar to how the 1998's design blended in with New York's architecture.

Roar[]

Zilla reused the 1998 Godzilla's roars, albeit they were slightly altered for the film.

Personality[]

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Zilla was shown to not run away nearly as much and tried to fight even when outmatched. In Sydney, he faced Godzilla head-on, a move that, while not smart, was brave, although this could be because he was under the Xiliens' control and was forced to fight Godzilla.

Origins[]

Zilla's origins go unexplained in Godzilla: Final Wars, and he is never even mentioned by name in the film. According to supplementary materials for the film, Zilla is a monster "closely resembling" a monster that attacked New York City in 1998 and may be the same creature, though this is "unconfirmed," an obvious inside-joke referencing the 1998 film.^[6]

History[]

Godzilla: Final Wars[]

In the film, Zilla is one of the monsters controlled by the Xiliens, and under their control he attacks Sydney, Australia. The towering reptile topples down buildings, chomps on vehicles, incinerates a crowd with his acidic flame breath, and even eats a couple of civilians.

Then suddenly, the Xiliens teleport the reptile and the other monsters around the world. They tell the humans that they took the monsters away to save Earth. However, the humans find that the Xiliens were controlling the monsters and the Xiliens release all the monsters again to finish destroying the cities they were attacking. When Godzilla is freed from the south pole and defeats the Xilien warrior Gigan, the alien leader's re-release Zilla in Sydney to do battle with Godzilla. He is defeated rather quickly by Godzilla himself, who sends him flying into the Sydney Opera House and finishes him off with his atomic breath.

Abilities[]

Agility[]

This creature was shown to be extremely agile and fast.

Camouflage[]

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Zilla's stone-gray skin color seemingly allows him to blend in with Sydney's architecture.

Acidic flame breath[]

In Final Wars, Zilla is said by director Ryuhei Kitamura to possess an "acidic flame breath." This is most likely a variation of his previous incarnation's power breath, but it is never seen in use, only hinted at when Zilla emerges from behind an explosion similar to the one caused by Godzilla's power breath in the 1998 film.^[7]

Intelligence[]

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Zilla does not exhibit a great deal of strategy, as he attempts to attack Godzilla head-on, only to be swatted into the air and quickly reduced to a pile of ash by his atomic breath.

Video games[]

Godzilla: Unleashed[]

According to an interview with Simon Strange conducted by Chris Mirjahangir from Toho Kingdom, Zilla was in fact considered for the game, but due to lack of popularity from fans who said that "his inclusion would ruin the game," Zilla was scrapped.^[8][9]

Comics[]

Godzilla: Oblivion[]

Zilla appeared at the very end of the fourth issue of Godzilla: Oblivion, where he emerged from an interdimensional portal alongside Biollante, Rodan, Rodan, Rodan and King Caesar. In the following issue, where Hedorah joined the monsters, Zilla wandered off and rampaged through the city on his own, later establishing a nest and laying hundreds of eggs, while most of the other monsters tried to battle Mecha-King Ghidorah. Later, after Mecha-King Ghidorah was defeated by Godzilla, all of the monsters were left behind as the humans left the Earth as it became covered by tiny robotic cells that served as interdimensional doorways.

In other languages[]

• Russian: Зилла
• Bengali: জেলা
• Chinese: 斯拉
• Gujarati: જીલ્લા
• Hebrew: זילה
• Hindi: जिला
• Kannada: ಜಿಲ್ಲಾ
• Korean: 질라
• Marathi: जिल्हा
• Telugu: జిల్లా
• Urdu: ضلع
• Yiddish: זיללאַ

List of appearances[]

Films[]

• Godzilla: Final Wars

Trivia[]

• Due to the rebranding of Tristar Godzilla to Zilla, the 1998 version shares the same name and trademark as the similar but separate character of Final Wars, Zilla.^[4]
• The battle between Zilla and Godzilla is the shortest in the Godzilla series, unless one counts the deleted "Godzilla vs. Manda" scene from Destroy All Monsters.
• In the DVD release of Final Wars, the scene with Zilla and Godzilla is labeled "Pretender to the throne" in the chapter selection menu, which may be an inside joke about Godzilla being nicknamed "King of the Monsters" and denotion to the controversy with Zilla's status as Godzilla.

References[]