Destoroyah (デストロイア Desutoroia), alternatively Destroyah or Destroyer, is a kaiju from the 1995 film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. He originated as a colony of Precambrian crustaceans that had been awakened and mutated when the Oxygen Destroyer was detonated to kill the original Godzilla in 1954 (Godzilla). Hedorah may be the inspiration for Destoroyah, since both go through four stages in their life cycles. A possible reason that the name "Destroyer" isn't commonly used in various markets is because the word itself could not be trademarked. He is often referred to as "Destroyer" in dubbed versions of the film, while "Destoroyah" is Toho's official name for the character.
Although he emerges in 1996, Destoroyah's origins lie with Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer, the device that killed the original Godzilla in 1954. After it's detonation, the energy released, revived, and mutated a group of Precambrian crustaceans that lay beneath Tokyo Bay. 42 years later, the small, crab-like creatures are released by underwater drilling and quickly begin to spread. Several find their way inside of an aquarium and kill several of the fish. They eventually escape and grow into their 2-meter forms, destroying a bridge and then hiding in a factory. The Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) sends in numerous soldiers in an attempt to destroy the creatures, but their assault rifles cause no damage to them. The creatures badly wound and kill a number of soldiers. Eventually the JSDF attacks them with flamethrowers, badly wounding the aggregates and causing them to retreat. It becomes known that the aggregates are vulnerable to extreme heat or cold.
The JSDF deploy a squadron of Maser Tanks and missile batteries armed with Ultra Low Temperature lasers (ULT Lasers) and cooling shells. When the aggregates emerge again, they begin bombarding them with the freezing barrage. It seems to be working against the creatures, until they all converge on one position and merge into one giant monster. The giant aggregate then transforms into a giant bat-like form and flies away.
When trying to think of another way to defeat the destructive monster, the JSDF decides to try and lure Godzilla to Destoroyah. They agree to the plan, despite protests from the psychic, Miki Saegusa, and decide to lure Godzilla Junior to Destoroyah, knowing Godzilla will follow. Miki and another psychic fly out to Junior and use their psychic powers to make him change his course for Tokyo. When Junior arrives, Destoroyah attacks him in its flying form. Junior is battered by the stronger monster, until he manages a lucky shot and brings the flying form down. Destoroyah quickly recovers, attacking Junior in its giant aggregate form. Destoroyah pins Junior beneath its massive body and tears into his skin with its double jaw, injecting him with micro-oxygen. When all hope seems lost, Junior fires one last blast at Destoroyah, knocking it into the air. Junior then fires one final radioactive burst, sending Destoroyah flying into a factory.
When Godzilla finally arrives in Tokyo, the final form of Destoroyah rises from the fires of the factory. The vile behemoth takes to the air and flies toward Godzilla and his son, striking Godzilla to the ground and grabbing Junior in his massive claws. He flies high into the air and drops Junior, sending the young Godzillasaurus plummeting to the ground. Destoroyah then blasts Junior with his micro-oxygen beam, killing the young monster.
Godzilla rises from the ground, enraged by Junior's death. Destoroyah lands and bellows at Godzilla, challenging him to a final battle. Destoroyah proves to be a powerful and vicious opponent, even for Godzilla in his most powerful form. He batters the Monster King with bursts of micro-oxygen rays and pummels him to the ground with his mass. Destoroyah then wraps his tail around Godzilla and drags him out to sea, dropping him in the ocean. Godzilla returns to shore and unleashes his full fury upon Destoroyah, blasting Destoroyah multiple times with his red spiral atomic ray and causing the demon to spurt vast amounts of blood. Destoroyah quickly counter attacks in his multiple small aggregate forms. As they swarm upon Godzilla, the monster king is overwhelmed by the mass and unleashes a powerful nuclear pulse, destroying the aggregates.
After Godzilla fails to revitalize his fallen son, the grief in his heart causes his Meltdown to begin to go critical. The JSDF quickly dispatches the Super X III and the maser tanks armed with freezing masers to stop Godzilla's meltdown. As Godzilla continues to mourn his son and his nuclear heart begins to overheat, Destoroyah returns again. The evil beast strangles Godzilla with his tail and then throws Godzilla away from his son and prepares to battle again. Godzilla rises, and his dorsal fins begin to melt as the meltdown begins. The overload of power causes Godzilla's ray to increase in strength to immeasurable levels. Godzilla then unleashes his ray, increased in power by his meltdown, which blasts Destoroyah apart and decimates the landscape around him. As Godzilla begins to melt, Destoroyah notices and tries to escape from the meltdown by flying into the air. However, the JSDF and the Super X-III blast out his wings while he is distracted. With the micro-oxygen in his body now frozen, Destoroyah loses his lift and falls to the ground below, exploding into a cloud of mist upon impact.
Destoroyah grows quickly and adopts several appearances throughout the film, including his microscopic form, 3-mm form, insect-sized form, 2-meter form, 18-meter crab-like forms, a larger aggregate crab-like form, a bat-like flying form, and a bipedal 120-meter, demonic final form. He also has some of the same features as the Alien.
Powers and abilities
Destoroyah is considered by many to be Godzilla's ultimate foe, a title that is only shared by a handful of other monsters, such as King Ghidorah, Hedorah, Gigan, MechaGodzilla and SpaceGodzilla, This is due to the fact that Destoroyah could survive multiple hits from his red spiral atomic ray (although he was shown throwing up large amounts of blood), an attack which instantly killed or crippled most enemies in one shot. Also, Destoroyah had fought Godzilla, at the point of the peak of his power many times, and actually won a majority of them. Destoroyah is also the only enemy that actually hurt Godzilla emotionally when he killed Godzilla Jr.
Like Hedorah, Destoroyah is a composite life form formed from trillions of near-microscopic organisms and thus possesses vast capacities to adapt and regenerate. The base organism resembles a miniature horseshoe crab barely larger than a speck of sand. Trillions of these creatures would later combine to form Destoroyah's aggregate form which manifested as several man-sized crustacean monsters which were reminiscent of the Alien. When threatened by the JSDF, the creatures merged again into a larger aggregate form and then into its winged bat-like form. After being wounded by Godzilla Junior, Destoroyah regenerated into its demonic ultimate form and would later temporarily separate into its aggregate form in an attempt to overwhelm Godzilla during their battle. It appears that when the individual Destoroyah organisms fuse, they all die if the resulting creature is killed before it can split up into a smaller form and reform, this is shown when Godzilla nearly kills Destoroyah by blasting the exposed floral pattern on his chest and Destoroyah breaks up into a smaller form but when the Super X-III and Godzilla blasted out his wings the Super X-III used the Ice Maser and froze it at a microscopic level, he couldn't separate and thus all the Destoroyah organisms making up the final form were killed.
Destoroyah's primary weapon was a oxygen-destroyer ray fired from his mouth which could vaporize organic matter and was even capable of penetrating most metals. All of Destoroyah's forms possessed the ability to fire the ray but its aggregate form was also equipped with a pair of extending secondary jaws that injected the micro-oxygen directly into an opponent's bloodstream and drained a victim's energy. In its final form, the horn projecting from Destoroyah's forehead had the ability to generate a blade of energy powerful enough to cut through Godzilla's flesh. The aggregate forms were equipped with spiked claws similar to those of a praying mantis while Destoroyah's flying and ultimate forms possessed a tail tipped with a grappling pincer that was strong enough to even hold Godzilla. The tail also had the ability to drain energy and give an energy discharge. In the manga version of Godzilla vs Destoroyah, he is capable to shoot his horn at Godzilla and then his head falls after Godzilla blow up his body, he fires his last beam and successfully killed Godzilla.
Destoroyah has been playable in its final form in both Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee and Godzilla: Save the Earth. Destoroyah is a mutant in Godzilla: Unleashed. In all of these games Destoroyah is a "bruiser" character, being able to take a lot of damage while also dishing it, but is also slow. Unlike in the film, he can't fly, but he can jump very high. He gains a new ability to create energy mines that pull his enemies and then send them flying, leaving them very vulnerable. His signature attack in the games is using the laser katana sword generated from his horn. The attack is strong, and can't be blocked, the only weakness to it is that uses up energy whenever used. A favored tactic used by the CPU is to repeatedly strike the enemy with the laser blade when they're knocked down, during which the opponent is helpless until Destoroyah's energy is depleted. In Godzilla: Unleashed, the laser blade no longer uses up energy, causing some fans to view Destoroyah as imbalanced in the game (one of his grapple attacks is to impale an opponent with his laser horn and throws his opponent with his tail). His rage attack in Save the Earth is the Oxygen Destroyer, where he fires a purple blast of energy into the air that comes down on his opponent, inflicting a large amount of damage. In Godzilla: Unleashed, Destoroyah can release an orb of micro-oxygen energy that will draw nearby kaiju and then detonate.
"Destoroyah is death incarnate. Born from anaerobic environments deadly to all other life, Destoroyah seeks nothing else than the total annihilation of all life-forms in existence. Although his massive clawed hands, long crescent-tipped tail, and taloned feet can tear monsters apart in a heartbeat, Destoroyah tends to use ranged attacks in compensation for his sluggish land movement. He can breathe choking clouds of micro-oxygen, emit explosive spheres of micro-oxygen, and create oxygen destroyer comets of pure annihilation. His most fearsome attack, however, is the piercing Laser Horn, which extends from his central horn. This focused energy can slice through even the strongest monster flesh and reduces buildings to rubble."
So far, Destoroyah has only had one appearance in an IDW comic, Godzilla Legends: The Underdog. In that universe, Destoroyah is the second most powerful monster next to Godzilla. He first appears attacking Sydney, Australia when a signal that was initially used to summon Godzilla instead summons Anguirus, a monster who has lived in the shadow of the Monster King. Although Destoroyah has the upper hand over the lesser kaiju, the tide turns to Anguirus' favor when a duo who survived the more powerful kaiju's attack on a military base offer him aid and use a cryogenic material to make Destoroyah vunerable and allowing Anguirus to slam into him, sending Destoroyah into a full-on retreat. He has also been confirmed for Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.
Gallery
A mini figure of the Aggregate Destroyah by Bandai Creation
A cut scene from the film that was completely scrapped and lost (or possibly locked away) by Toho revealed that Destoroyah had a special ability not seen in the finished film release or in any other commercially released product, toy, game, or otherwise. The cut scene showed that Destoroyah could open up the floral pattern on his chest and fire a devastating beam, with oxygen destroying properties and capable of knocking Godzilla over with immense force. Supposedly, the attack was used only one time in that scene, and no where else. It is shown on the Region 2 DVD. As it was only featured in this deleted scene, its canonity is disputed.
Another deleted scene in the movie took place at the end of the film. After Destoroyah is brought to the ground when trying to escape from Godzilla's meltdown, he rises again as opposed to dissolving. With his wings torn up from the ULT lasers, he could no longer escape Godzilla's fury, thus was forced to fight Godzilla as the monster king began to meltdown. Godzilla quickly overpowered Destoroyah, grabbing him by his horn and pummeling him repeatedly. As Godzilla melts down, the JSDF rain their ULT weapons upon him, as well as Destoroyah. Unable to stand against the immense heat of Godzilla's meltdown and the freezing cold of the ULT lasers, Destoroyah falls and evaporates. However, it was thought that having Godzilla fight Destoroyah while he melted down took away the focus from Godzilla's death, which was to be the main point of the movie. So the scene was re-edited to have Destoroyah die after the JSDF shoots him down, and allow Godzilla to have center stage as he finally dies.
Marvel Comics published Godzilla comics between 1977 and 1979. In 1984 John Byrne created for Marvel a kaiju-like character called Terminus. It was later established in 1990's The Terminus Factor storyline that the Termini go through stages of development remarkably similar to those of the Destoroyah, right down to the vulnerability of early stages to cold. Since Destoroyah is a 1995 creation, it is possible that Toho borrowed a page from its own former business partner, which may itself have borrowed the idea from earlier Toho kaiju (and Godzilla foe) Hedorah.
Destoroyah was considered to appear in Godzilla: Final Wars. The significance of his role is unknown.
Destoroyah's wings bear a striking resemblance to the wings of Desghidorah.
In the Mecha anime Godannar, Milla almost lost her life to defeat a monster that looks like the aggregate form of Destoroyah. The battle reappears many times throughout the anime, meaning the Destoroyah-like kaiju has multiple cameos.
Destoroyah is considered to be the most original of all of Godzilla's enemies in the Heisei series in that he is not a former Toho kaiju, his design is not influenced by Godzilla's in some way, nor does his origin have to do with being a somewhat copy of Godzilla or (as in Battra's case) another monster. Biollante and SpaceGodzilla were created through Godzilla's cells. King Ghidorah, Mothra, MechaGodzilla, Rodan, and M.O.G.U.E.R.A., had previously appeared in the Showa Era. Battra was the moral opposite of Mothra.
Destoroyah is the second largest Kaiju in the Godzilla series, behind Biollante. Destoroyah also shares some design similarities with Biollante, like the multiple forms and the white spikes/tusks surrounding the mouth. It also shares some traits with SpaceGodzilla (the tusks around the mouth again).
Destoroyah is one of the, if not only, monster(s) who isn't defeated by Godzilla. Instead, he's taken down by the military.
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