The Hollow Earth and the ancient history of the Titans are ultimately the concepts that distinguish the Monsterverse from all other versions of Godzilla’s story. Over the years, there has been a multitude of timelines associated with Godzilla, but only in one – Godzilla and Kong’s Monsterverse – is he recognized as an ancient monster linked to an underground world. But had a particular Godzilla project from 1955 reached fruition, these ideas wouldn’t be unique to the Monsterverse.
Over the years, Toho had a long list of plans for Godzilla’s movies that never actually moved forward. Godzilla vs. Bagan, Godzilla and King Kong’s 1990s crossover, and The Return of King Ghidorah! are among the exciting films abandoned by Toho. Another is Bride of Godzilla? While its title may be indicative of some potentially absurd additions to Godzilla’s universe, it was actually quite innovative, in that it would have introduced ideas that would later be crucial to the foundation of Legandary’s $2.5 billion monster movie franchise.
How Toho’s Bride Of Godzilla Movie Would Have Redefined The Kaiju In Godzilla’s World
The Most Important Part Of The Monsterverse Was Almost Added To Godzilla’s Francise In The 1950s
In 1955, Toho released its first sequel to the original Godzilla movie, Godzilla Raids Again. As the first movie in the franchise to feature a monster fight, Godzilla Raids Again brought Anguirus into the kaiju’s world. Within the same year, the studio developed a script for a Godzilla Raids Again sequel, titled Bride of Godzilla? According to The Big Book of Giant Japanese Monsters: The Lost Films by John LeMay, Bride of Godzilla would have picked up where Godzilla Raids Again left off by having the scientists delve into the origins of Godzilla and Anguirus. Curiously, the real-life Hollow Earth theory would have been the answer to their questions.
A scientist named Dr. Zenji Shida would have laid out an explanation for Godzilla and Anguirus’ existence; as he explained, Godzilla and Anguirus originated from a “hollow earth” cavern deep underground, which also housed prehistoric creatures thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago. The discovery of one of these caverns – plus the emergence of a dinosaur – later on in the film would prove Dr. Shida’s speculations to be accurate. All of this would be weaved into a story focused on Godzilla’s battle with a giant-sized, mechanical woman known as the Bride of Godzilla.
Why Bride of Godzilla? Never Happened
Bride Of Godzilla? Had Too Many Monsters & Too Much Action To Be Feasible In 1955
As proven by the success of the Monsterverse, there’s all sorts of storytelling potential that comes with the notion of making the Hollow Earth concept the center of Godzilla’s backstory. Clearly, though, the filmmakers behind the Monsterverse were not the first to ponder taking this route with Godzilla. Of course, that raises questions as to why Toho didn’t do anything with the idea. Why the studio never explored it is unclear, but its reasons for not doing it as early as 1955 are much less mysterious. From the looks of things, Bride of Godzilla? was too ambitious for the budget Toho would have allotted.
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LeMay argued in his book that Bride of Godzilla? would have been very expensive to make, and it’s not hard to see why. The scenes of the hollow earth cave would have been a heavy expense, not to mention the cost of creating the Bride of Godzilla suit, the additional dinosaurs in the script, and all the monster action that would have come from having Anguirus back as well. The number of creatures involved would have made Bride of Godzilla? a costly venture.
What’s more, it would seem that at that time, Toho wasn’t fully invested in making another Godzilla film immediately after Godzilla Raids Again. After all, it didn’t replace Bride of Godzilla? with another Godzilla project. Instead, it pivoted to Rodan and didn’t make another Godzilla movie until King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962. And when it did revitalize the franchise, it did it without the concepts that fueled its Bride of Godzilla? script.
How Godzilla’s Bride Of Godzilla? Origin Differs From The Monsterverse
The lore changes that Bride of Godzilla? would have contributed to the franchise closely align with the Monsterverse, but some important differences remain, largely due to what came before. Since Bride of Godzilla? was supposed to be in canon with the last two movies, it stands to reason that it wouldn’t have retconned Godzilla’s connections to the atomic bomb. In the Monsterverse, Godzilla was simply awakened in modern times by nuclear testing, whereas Toho’s Godzilla received his signature appearance and powers from the blast.
Both definitions of Godzilla’s origin would have been true in Bride of Godzilla? In this iteration, that would be plausible, considering that Godzilla was already understood to be a prehistoric creature prior to his exposure to nuclear radiation. What that means is that Bride of Godzilla?’s world was likely a place populated by dinosaurs, but not necessarily kaiju. It can be presumed that Godzilla’s nuclear transformation happened after he left the underground caverns.
How Bride Of Godzilla? Would Have Changed The Godzilla Franchise
Assuming that Bride of Godzilla? wouldn’t been a one-and-done installment, it’s likely that it would have served as a massive building block for the franchise to work with. Similar to how the Monsterverse has utilized the Hollow Earth, Toho’s movies could have used it as the backbone for so many of its adventures. In the Showa era, several of its creatures didn’t have fully developed backstories, but via the introduction of an underground world, Toho would have had a working explanation for nearly every monster’s presence in its world. Were that the case, this place could have been a recurring element in the franchise.
What’s more, it could have used this addition to the franchise to better explain other corners of its universe and to bridge them all together. One example of this is Seatopia. The home of Megalon, Seatopia was introduced in Godzilla vs. Megalon as a subterranean city, which was the closest the franchise came to a proper underground world populated by monsters. If Bride of Godzilla? had happened, Seatopia would have fit seamlessly into Toho’s Godzilla lore. It could have been encountered on an adventure by its human characters, who could share underground adventures much like the ones in the Monsterverse.
Monsterverse
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The Monsterverse is a giant kaiju franchise that began in 2014 with Legendary’s Godzilla starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Olsen. The film was followed up by Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
- Cast
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Bryan Cranston , Elizabeth Olsen , Ken Watanabe , Sally Hawkins , Vera Farmiga , Brie Larson , Samuel L. Jackson , John Goodman , Corey Hawkins , Tom Hiddleston , Jason Mitchell , Toby Kebbell , Tian Jing , John C. Reilly , Millie Bobby Brown , Kyle Chandler , Zhang Ziyi , Charles Dance , Alexander Skarsgard , Brian Tyree Henry , Julian Dennison , Kaylee Hottle , Rebecca Hall , Kurt Russell , Wyatt Russell , Anna Sawai , Mari Yamamoto , Ren Watabe , Kiersey Clemons