Godzilla (MonsterVerse)
is a fictional monster, or kaiju, in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse media franchise and based on Toho Co., Ltd.'s character of the same name. The character first appeared in Godzilla (2014), directed by Gareth Edwards. This incarnation of Godzilla is depicted as the sole survivor of a prehistoric superspecies, theorized by Ishirō Serizawa, acting as a force of nature that maintains balance. The character was initially designed by Matt Allsopp, modeled after the Toho version. It is the third incarnation of Godzilla to be created by an American studio, after Hanna-Barbera's 1978 animated series Godzilla and TriStar Pictures' 1998 film Godzilla, and overall the tenth onscreen incarnation of the iconic character. Overview Name Godzilla is referred to by Ishirō Serizawa, played by Ken Watanabe, as "Gojira" (ゴジラ) though later on he would be referred to by other characters as "Godzilla". Watanabe argued with the producer to have his character refer to Godzilla by his Japanese name, stating, "the important thing is where the icon comes from. The first [movie] it was very important for me to call him Gojira, and I explained that his name was the really correct version I needed to say." In the 2014 video game Godzilla, he