The presence of Ghidorah in any form elevates any movie he’s in. The three-headed golden dragon is probably Godzilla’s most recognizable foe and is rightly considered his arch-enemy, appearing in nearly as many films as Mothra and almost always in the role of villain. In many of his films, Ghidorah is a “super boss” such as in Destroy All Monsters, where it takes half a dozen combatants to go toe-to-toe with him. Couple that with a distinctive and cool-looking design, and you’ve just got a great monster, one who looks even cooler once he becomes “Mecha-King Ghidorah” in the Heisei series. Ghidorah may not have been in the absolute best Godzilla films, but he’s one of the strongest indicators of any Godzilla movie’s quality.

Put in the grave:
Typhon http://www.fumbbl.com/p/player?player_id=10848076

Rodan is another monster that first appeared in his own movie before battling Godzilla. He fought the Big G in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster before being persuaded by Mothra to help Godzilla take down Ghidorah. If that sounded ridiculous, that's only because it was. Rodan helps and battles Godzilla on numerous occasions, and, while essentially just a big pterodactyl, he's pretty hardcore. Especially when he gets mutated by Godzilla's radiation and becomes Fire Rodan.

Biollante is unquestionably the most creative monster design to come out of the Heisei series of Godzilla flicks, and when he showed up it was really a breath of fresh air for the series. This plant-based monster was the first Godzilla enemy to be born using his DNA as a base, but he looks nothing like Big G. The design is absolutely wicked, a tangled mess of vines and a massive mouth full of sharp teeth. Biollante is legitimately scary-looking, and he also possesses the ability to regenerate large amounts of his body if they’re destroyed. The fact that this is still a costume intended to be worn by a human being is incredible. He remains one of Godzilla’s most creepily unique opponents.

Here’s a monster that is better than all of the movies he’s featured in. The design for Gigan is absolutely nuts—whoever dreamed him up should be closely monitored. He’s basically a walking set of blades, with big, curved scythes for arms. His signature weapon, though, is a rotating saw blade stuck right down the middle of his chest. It spins like a table saw and spells death for anyone stupid enough to blunder into it. His early films in the Showa series really aren’t among the better ones in the series, but the greatness of Gigan was recognized in a greatly expanded part in Final Wars. Always a villain, he inevitably loses, but perhaps someday it will be Gigan’s day of triumph.

When Toho decided to legitimately kill Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, they knew they would need a true monster to do the job. Destoroyah was fittingly born from the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that killed the original Godzilla in the 1954 film. He’s huge, even bigger than the adult Godzilla and absolutely diabolical-looking, combining elements of crustaceans, dragons and demons. He takes on the most powerful version of Godzilla ever put on film, one that is in the process of melting down, and brings him to the brink of death. His creation may be a little wonky, but you can’t argue with Destoroyah’s importance to the Godzilla canon. He may very well be Godzilla’s most powerful opponent ever.

Sent to the grave:
Garryth http://www.fumbbl.com/p/player?player_id=10848085