MonsterVerse’s Destoroyah Won’t Work As Well Because Of Godzilla: KOTM

Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Destoroyah setup will prevent a MonsterVerse version of him from working as well as the original. Destoroyah, often credited as the monster who caused Godzilla’s death in the 1990s, is a kaiju created by the Oxygen Destroyer that killed Godzilla in the 1954 classic. The two monsters had a memorable clash in 1994’s Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, which was the final film in the Heisei era of the franchise.

Destoroyah, who has only been in one Toho film, is a fan-favorite choice to the villain of Godzilla’s next MonsterVerse movie. Due to his fearsome design and reputation, he’s considered by many to be the top candidate for this role if and when Legendary puts Godzilla 3 into development. If Destoroyah does end up joining the MonsterVerse in Godzilla 3, the groundwork for his introduction has already been built. In King of the Monsters, the military employed the Oxygen Destroyer in the ocean in a failed attempt to kill Godzilla. Since it was the use of the Oxygen Destroyer that created Destoroyah in Toho’s movies, it’s entirely possible that King of the Monsters secretly gave birth to the MonsterVerse’s Destoroyah.

While it’s true that Destoroyah can be introduced now, he won’t have the essence of the Toho monster. His existence in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah carried great symbolic meaning that can’t be shared by the MonsterVerse. The original movie delivered a story where Godzilla had to battle a villain created by the Oxygen Destroyer, the very weapon that killed the previous Godzilla. So in a sense, Destoroyah was the personification of that weapon, which has an infamous reputation on account of its history in the franchise. That aspect of Destoroyah’s origin contributed greatly to his menacing image and made him feel like the perfect kaiju to be Godzilla’s final opponent.

Due to how the Oxygen Destroyer was used in King of the Monsters, the MonsterVerse’s Destoroyah won’t be as meaningful as the Toho version. The Oxygen Destroyer used in the movie simply doesn’t have the legacy of the one from Toho’s Godzilla universe. Though it was designed for essentially the same purpose and was based around the same concept, it wasn’t powerful to kill the MonsterVerse’s take on Godzilla. It wounded him but lacked the power to end his life. What it really did was make Dr. Serizawa’s sacrifice necessary.  As noted in the movie, Dr. Serizawa had to use nukes on Godzilla not to save him, but to speed up the recovery process.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Oxygen Destroyer not being remembered as the weapon that killed Godzilla lowers the level of significance that Destoroyah can have in the MonsterVerse. Unfortunately, he can no longer represent death and the end of Godzilla in the same way that he did in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. For this reason, a MonsterVerse movie that uses Destoroyah as its main villain would have to find other ways to sell him as the ultimate adversary for Godzilla.

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