Anguirus (アンギラス Angirasu?) of the IDW Publishing continuity is an ankylosaurus daikaiju. He appears in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, then Godzilla: Ongoing, and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. Though he and Godzilla initially met as enemies, he has since become Godzilla's most trusted ally.
Name[]
Anguirus' Japanese name, Angirasu (アンギラス?), comes from the Japanese spelling of the name of the dinosaur genus Ankylosaurus (アンキロサウルス Ankirosaurusu?), upon which the monster's design is based.
Design[]
Appearance[]
Anguirus has scaly brown (sometimes gray) skin and a spiky carapace on his back. He has a crown of spikes on the top of his head. He normally moves on all fours, though at times he has stood upright on two legs.
In Kingdom of Monsters, Anguirus resembles a more muscular version of his 1955 design, with tusks jutting out of his mouth, a tail club, and a posture like a human crawling on its knees. His differences are white eyes with no pupils, large osteoderms on his arms, a larger shell, and gray skin instead of green.
In Ongoing, he looks like a mix of all the Showa designs, with the 1973-74 dark gray skin, the 1955 bumps and small osteoderms, and the 1968-72 big eyes and small tusks and taller nose horn.
In Rulers of Earth, he is a brown version of the 1968-72 design.
Personality[]
Anguirus is incredibly fierce and brave. Despite being one of the weaker monsters in the comics, Anguirus frequently takes on opponents much larger and more powerful than himself, such as Mechagodzilla. Anguirus keeps fighting no matter how outmatched he is and will only retreat or give up when death is certain. Despite initially meeting Godzilla as his enemy, Anguirus has since shown strong loyalty to him and will come to Godzilla's aid when needed.
History[]
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters[]
Anguirus appears in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters. He appears in Mexico and travels to the United States, where he engages Godzilla in battle in California. After being defeated by Godzilla, Anguirus heads east, eventually encountering Mechagodzilla, who defeats him as well.
Godzilla: Ongoing[]
Anguirus is initially seen attacking Edinburgh, Scotland. Boxer and his "Kaiju Kill Crew" intercept Anguirus and try to take him down using their "headache beams." Anguirus puts up a vicious fight against Boxer's team but is eventually neutralized and transported to Monster Island, where the U.S. military is collecting giant monsters for unknown purposes.
When the space monsters Hedorah, Gigan, SpaceGodzilla, and Monser X attack Earth, Boxer's estranged son steals Kiryu and flies him to Monster Island to break out Anguirus and the other Earth monsters. Anguirus heads to Hong Kong, where he joins up with Rodan to battle Gigan. Anguirus sustains gruesome wounds in the battle, but with Rodan's help he is able to defeat Gigan, leaving the cyborg blinded with a shattered visor.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth[]
In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Anguirus is considered a land monster that was frozen in an ice cap until he was reawakened along with all the other Earth monsters.
In Rulers of Earth 14, Anguirus is ambushed by a Mechagodzilla that was built by the Cryog leader disguised as a Russian warmonger. The mecha badly wounds Anguirus and nearly snaps his jaw. Eventually, Mechagodzilla blasts Anguirus with several weapons and leaves him for dead. When Lucy Casprell and her team arrive, they discover that Anguirus is still alive and send Kiryu to retrieve him and bring to the Monster Islands. Kiryu is suddenly given new orders to bring Anguirus to a Russian facility, and flies off with the downed saurian. Along the way, Kiryu is shot down by a group of more Mechagodzillas near a robotics facility in Russia.
Anguirus manages to escape Kiryu's grip and enters the facility, which the Cryog leader has converted into an arena, where Godzilla is doing battle with Mecha-King Ghidorah and more Mechagodzillas. Anguirus joins the battle alongside Godzilla. Godzilla uses Anguirus as a club and slams him into Ghidorah's chest, critically damaging him. Eventually, Godzilla destroys the remaining Mechagodzillas while Mecha-King Ghidorah retreats. Godzilla and Anguirus then leave the arena together, but not before Godzilla completely destroys it with his atomic breath. Eventually, Anguirus was captured by the Trilopods, who absorbed his DNA, and was imprisoned in their hive in Los Angeles. When King Caesar allowed himself to be captured by the Trilopods, he freed the other kaiju inside the hive, and they all joined together to help Godzilla, Zilla, and Jet Jaguar battle against the Trilopod hybrids.
After the Trilopods were defeated, the giant Trilopod Magita was unleashed and attacked the monsters. Anguirus attempted to battle Magita, but was knocked aside by the massive creature. After Godzilla destroyed Magita using his hyper spiral ray and nuclear pulse, Anguirus and the other monsters followed him out to sea, then dispersed around the globe to live in peace.
Abilities[]
Burrower[]
Anguirus is capable of burrowing substantial distances.
Carapace[]
Perhaps his most notable and recognizable feature, Anguirus has numerous, sharp spikes all over his shell-like carapace. This carapace can protect Anguirus from enemy attacks and inflict damage if Anguirus slams his back into an opponent. He uses his spiked carapace in battle to stab opponents, and can also swing his spike-covered tail as a weapon.
Coordination[]
Due to his quadruped appearance, Anguirus is a relatively fast and agile monster. Additionally, he is capable of leaping incredible distances.
Other abilities[]
Anguirus possess astounding stamina and determination, able to keep fighting after absorbing vicious assaults that would force most other monsters into retreat. Godzilla: Rulers of Earth demonstrated Anguirus' impressive resilience. In one issue, Anguirus was brutally beaten and apparently killed by a Mechagodzilla, but after being transported to Siberia he broke free of the humans' restraints and immediately joined forces with Godzilla to battle an army of Mechagodzillas and Mecha-King Ghidorah. During the battle, Godzilla even utilized Anguirus as a flail, grabbing him by the tail and slamming his carapace against Mecha-King Ghidorah, with Anguirus showing no visible pain. After the battle, Godzilla was visibly exhausted, but Anguirus gave Godzilla a sarcastic glare, almost as if mocking him for being tired by the battle.
Relationships[]
Godzilla[]
Godzilla is Anguirus' closest ally. The two initially met as enemies and clashed in Los Angeles, with Godzilla winning their fight. Since then, Anguirus has fought frequently by Godzilla's side, forming a bond of loyalty to him. It was Anguirus who sought out Godzilla after the latter had disappeared following the underwater battle at the Devonian capital city. The two are capable of coordinating attacks together, as seen when Godzilla used Anguirus as a flail against Mecha-King Ghidorah.
