The 10 Saddest Deaths In Godzilla's Movies, Ranked

Summary

  • Godzilla movies feature surprisingly emotional deaths, from the tragic fall of Mothra to the selfless sacrifice of Dr. Serizawa.
  • The original 1954 Godzilla’s demise is a mixture of relief and tragedy, showcasing the creature as a victim of nuclear testing.
  • Sacrifices play a prominent role in Godzilla films, with characters like Mothra and Rodan giving their lives to empower Godzilla.



As giant monster movies, it’s no surprise that the Godzilla films feature plenty of death. What can be a shock is just how poignant many of these deaths are. Across Godzilla’s many eras, the series has become increasingly silly, making it hard to believe that the franchise could muster any genuine emotional downbeats. Yet several of the death scenes featured throughout Godzilla’s many films can be quite somber affairs, eliciting a tearful reaction amidst the chaos of kaiju battles.

The tragic deaths of Godzilla’s movies come in many forms. More often, it’s the kaiju themselves that meet their doom throughout their hectic battles, with sympathy able to be extracted from even the most evil and menacing of Godzilla’s opponents. Of course, the many collateral human deaths that occur in the wake of the monsters’ activities can lead to some even bigger tearjerker moments, with human characters always being easier to relate to than giant rampaging beasts. Either way, Godzilla movies can be surprisingly tragic when they want to be.


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10 Godzilla Is Trapped Within A Volcano

The Return of Godzilla, 1984

It’s hard not to feel a certain sense of remorse as the villainous Godzilla goes out in such a horrific way


Across the many confusing iterations of the Godzilla timeline, the King of the Monsters himself has died and come back a great many times. Even though audiences can be assured some version or another of Godzilla will lumber his way back to movie screens, the death of a given individual representation can prove to be very heartfelt. Such is the case with 1984’s The Return of Godzilla, a reboot and sequel that starts the franchise over as a direct follow-up to the original film.

In The Return of Godzilla, like its 1954 predecessor, is one of the rare Godzilla films to plainly make Godzilla the antagonist, a destructive force of nature that humanity must destroy. Even so, there’s something tragic about the great beast’s demise here, helplessly trapped in the rubble of an active volcano as he wails in anguish. Even if this death is technically a happy ending, it’s hard not to feel a certain sense of remorse as the villainous Godzilla goes out in such a horrific way.


9 Mothra Is Fried By Godzilla’s Atomic Breath

Mothra vs. Godzilla, 1964

Mothra is the only recurring staple kaiju in the Godzilla series to have a history nearly as storied as the King of the Monsters himself. Appearing in her own solo film before crossing over with Godzilla, Mothra’s ubiquity as one of the second most-famous movie monsters means that she’s essentially famous for dying and coming back to live in larval form. The first major example of this phoenix-like cycle is in Mothra vs. Godzilla, which sees the two famous monsters duke it out.

Despite being framed as the hero of the two giant beasts, Mothra initially fails against Godzilla, being burned to death by Godzilla’s infamous atomic breath during their battle. With her dying breath, she manages to imbue her life force into an egg, which hatches twin Mothra larvae that manage to finish the fight. Even though she reincarnates soon after with her offspring, it’s heartbreaking that Mothra perishes under Godzilla’s atomic breath for the sake of humanity.


8 Mothra Sacrifices Herself To Empower Godzilla

Godzilla: King of the Monsters, 2019

The Monsterverse films have slowly begun re-introducing classic tropes from Godzilla’s most iconic films, and Mothra’s death is certainly among them. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mothra is introduced as Godzilla’s historical ally, joining him in the fight against the dangerous invasive species that is King Ghidorah. Sadly, she is heavily injured by Rodan in battle, and ends up sacrificing herself in order to grant Godzilla her life force to keep fighting.


This death is a little sadder than other Mothra deaths for being such a willing sacrifice. Mothra knows she isn’t strong enough to defeat King Ghidorah on her own, or even help Godzilla in a meaningful way fighting alongside him. Instead, she chooses to die so that Godzilla might have a fighting chance, purposefully giving her life force away to her old friend. However, Mothra was sure to return in some form or another, and does so in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

7 Rodan Gives Up His Life To Save Godzilla

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, 1993

Mothra wasn’t the only one of Godzilla’s flying frenemies to sacrifice themselves so that Godzilla himself could rise again. It’s likely that Godzilla: King of the Monsters drew inspiration from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II for the sequence, with the latter film having a very similar beat with none other than Rodan. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II sees Godzilla go up against the second incarnation of Mechagodzilla, by far one of the deadliest human-built weapons used against Godzilla ever.


The Global Defense Force finds out about the secret second brain Godzilla has and targets it with a devastating electric harpoon, seemingly close to killing the King of the Monsters once and for all. But just as Godzilla seems to have died, Rodan swoops in, offering up his fiery life force to rekindle Godzilla once more. This heartless sacrifice is a truly bittersweet moment in the franchise, bringing back one iconic monster at the cost of another. Still, this would be far from Rodan’s last appearance in a Godzilla film.

6 Kiryu Takes Godzilla Down With Him

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., 2003


The millennium era of Godzilla movies rebooted themselves with every new installment, meaning that nearly each featured film was a unique continuity all its own. In Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., Godzilla dukes it out with yet another incarnation of Mechagodzilla, a powerful cyborg built around the bones of the original 1954 Godzilla named Kiryu. Despite the original Godzilla’s latent consciousness lying dormant within the bones of his frame, Kiryu still chooses to take one for the team and save all of humanity.

Another film in which Godzilla is more-or-less firmly the villain, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. posits Kiryu as something of a tragic hero as he tackles Godzilla deep into the ocean, using his boosters to ensure both of them are buried beneath an underwater trench. Before doing so, he ensures that his pilot, Yoshito, is able to escape, proving Kiryu as a friend to humanity even after the spirit of the original Godzilla has taken over. This perhaps suggests some regret on behalf of the original 1954 rampage.


5 Shindo Is Killed After Being Recognized By Godzilla

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, 1991

It’s rare that Godzilla even recognizes individual humans, let alone feels bad for killing them. Yet that precise scenario happens in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, exploring the emotional side of the franchise with both humans and monsters. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was one of many reboots the Godzilla series went through, retelling the origin story of Godzilla as a simple dinosaur that was re-awakened by nuclear testing. Shindo, a shrewd, opportunistic venture capitalist, who helps re-create Godzilla after the invasion of King Ghidorah necessitates it.


A representation of human greed, Shindo harbored nuclear devices behind the Japanese government’s back, and by all means deserved what was coming to him. Yet during his Tokyo rampage, Godzilla seems to recognize Shindo, and hesitates, before Shindo gives him a brief nod, accepting the consequences for his responsibility in the new reign of destruction. This is a fascinating human-monster dynamic that hasn’t been recreated in any Godzilla movie since, though it is a bit difficult to understand.

4 Godzilla Junior Is Killed By Destoroyah

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, 1995


Godzilla’s offspring, affectionately referred to as BabyGodzilla by the English dub of his debut film, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, was a contentious introduction to the Heisei era Godzilla films. However, the child of Godzilla became endearing as the films progressed, making it all the more heartbreaking when he is eventually killed in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995. While the infant Godzillasaurus holds his own against a weaker form of Destoroyah, the beast’s upgraded final appearance makes short work of him.

After ascending to his “perfect form”, Destoroyah drops Godzilla’s child, now known as “Godzilla Junior”, from a great height before blasting him with his Micro-Oxygen beam. Junior’s death so soon after reuniting with his parent is incredibly saddening, and the brutality with which Destoroyah kills him makes him easily one of the most detestable Godzilla villains ever. Godzilla’s useless attempts to resuscitate his dead child only make the death hit harder. Even if Godzilla Junior wasn’t especially popular, he didn’t deserve such a tragic fate.


3 Godzilla Falls To The Oxygen Destroyer

Godzilla, 1954

Of all the Godzilla films ever made, the original 1954 classic Godzilla most firmly establishes the titular kaiju as a villain and threat to humanity, through and through. That being said, there’s still something incredibly poignant about his death in the film that started it all. While the moment Godzilla dies should feel like a moment of triumph, the ultimate scene ends up playing out like a hollow victory, with Godzilla’s death being equal parts relieving and tragic.


The oxygen destroyer is one of the most sinister weapons ever developed, and its insidious unnatural method of killing is made apparent from its first successful test on a school of unsuspecting fish. It’s important to remember that Godzilla is just as much of a victim of nuclear testing as the rest of humanity, lashing out at civilization out of confusion and fear as much as revenge. The unsettling feeling of watching Godzilla breathe his last breath after the activation of the device perhaps explains why the oxygen destroyer was only used once.

2 Dr. Serizawa Sacrifices Himself To Revive Godzilla

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Like the original film, the Monsterverse features a prominent character known as Dr. Serizawa. Rather than creating the oxygen destroyer, this Dr. Serizawa instead serves as Monarch’s expert on Godzilla, following the creature closely his entire life. When Godzilla is nearly defeated by King Ghidorah, and requires a high dosage of human-made radiation to empower him enough to face the alien invader before he destroys all of human civilization, someone must volunteer to manually detonate a nuclear device strong enough to wake him.


Few human deaths in the series are as bittersweet to watch as Serizawa’s final goodbye to Godzilla

Dr. Serizawa volunteers for the position, choosing to sacrifice himself in order to give Godzilla, whom he regards as an old friend, a fighting chance against King Ghidorah. The touching moment in which Godzilla recognizes Serizawa, granting him the rare honor of voluntarily petting the kaiju’s massive snout, is one of the most poignant scenes in all the Monsterverse. Few human deaths in the series are as bittersweet to watch as Serizawa’s final goodbye to Godzilla before succumbing to the lethal amounts of radiation.

1 Dr. Serizawa Takes The Secret Of The Oxygen Destroyer To His Grave

Godzilla, 1954


The Monsterverse’s Dr. Serizawa wasn’t the only character of that name to sacrifice himself for the greater good, with the idea being one of the many scenes the Monsterverse took from previous Godzilla movies. Whereas the Monsterverse’s Dr. Serizawa is a Godzilla expert, in the original film, he was the scientist responsible for creating the deadly oxygen destroyer, a powerful weapon capable of taking down Godzilla. After the device is successfully used against the creature, Dr. Serizawa burns his notes, ensuring that no one else could replicate the oxygen destroyer for use against humans.

Unfortunately, Serizawa is smart enough to recognize that his own mind still contains the secrets of the weapon. Telling protagonists Ogata and Emiko to “be happy together“, Serizawa asphyxiates himself to death after dropping the last working model off in the middle of the ocean, ensuring that the secret of the oxygen destroyer’s creation dies with him. This poignant moment is by far the most heartbreaking death of any Godzilla movie.


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