King Ghidorah

King Ghidorah
Godzilla character
A production image of the first Ghidorah suit, not fully painted[1]
First appearance	Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Last appearance	Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Created by	Tomoyuki Tanaka[2] Eiji Tsuburaya[3] Shinichi Sekizawa
Designed by	Akira Watanabe[3]
Portrayed by	Shōwa era: Shoichi Hirose[4] Susumu Utsumi[5] Kanta Ina[6] Heisei era: Hurricane Ryu[7] Tsutomu Kitagawa[8] Millennium era: Akira Ohashi[9] Legendary Pictures: Jason Liles[10] Alan Maxson[11] Richard Dorton[11]
In-universe information
Alias	Ghidrah[12] King Ghidra[13] King Ghidora[14] Monster Zero[15] The 10,000 Year Old Dragon[16] The King of Terror[17] The Gold King[18] God of the Void[18] King of the Void[18] Titanus Ghidorah The Death Song of Three Storms Ghidorah The One Who is Many
Species	Three-headed dragon-like monster

King Ghidorah (キングギドラ, Kingu Gidora) is a fictional monster, or kaiju, which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. The monster was initially created by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya and Shinichi Sekizawa as an homage to the eight-headed mythological Japanese dragon Yamata no Orochi. Although the name of the character is officially trademarked by Toho as "King Ghidorah",^[19] the character was originally referred to as Ghidorah, Ghidrah or Monster Zero in some English markets.^[12]

Although King Ghidorah's design has remained largely consistent throughout its appearances (an armless, bipedal, golden and yellowish-scaled dragon with three heads, two fan-shaped wings, and two tails), its origin story has varied from being an extraterrestrial planet-destroying dragon,^[20] a genetically engineered monster from the future,^[21] a guardian monster of ancient Japan,^[22] or a god from another dimension. The character is usually portrayed as the archenemy of Godzilla and a foe of Mothra,^[23] though it has had one appearance as an ally of the latter.^[22]

Despite rumors that Ghidorah was meant to represent the threat posed by China, which had at the time of the character's creation just developed nuclear weapons,^[24] director Ishirō Honda denied the connection and stated that Ghidorah was simply a modern take on the dragon Yamata no Orochi.^[25][2][26]