Top 10 Biggest Godzilla Kill Counts

WatchMojo

This iconic kaiju isn't afraid to incur a little collateral damage. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Godzilla films where Big G ranks up the biggest body count.

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Godzilla films where

00:15 Big G ranks up the biggest body counts.

00:27 Number 10.

00:28 116.

00:29 "The Return of Godzilla"

00:32 1984's "The Return of Godzilla" not only brought Big G back to North American

00:37 shores with its "Godzilla" 1985 edit, but the film was a notable return to some

00:43 dark and dangerous thematic territory.

00:56 This stood in stark contrast to the Showa era's largely kid-friendly approach to

01:01 kaiju monster battles.

01:16 The "Return of Godzilla" racked up a formidable body count of 116, including a number of unnamed

01:23 victims of collateral damage.

01:26 "Godzilla" also takes out the Russian warship commander, Colonel Kashirin, while

01:31 his city attacks demolish both lives and property in equal measure.

01:43 Number 9.

01:44 133.

01:45 "Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S."

01:46 "Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S." isn't a film that's mentioned often when it comes to

01:53 Big G's filmography.

01:55 This isn't necessarily due to the quality of its content; it just sort of tends to slip

02:00 through the cracks.

02:02 Modern reassessment, however, results in a surprisingly high body count.

02:14 The body of a Kamibas from Toho's 1970 film "Space Amoeba" washes up in the film,

02:21 with bite marks consistent with that of "Godzilla."

02:24 Elsewhere, Big G takes Mothra up on her offer of a heroic sacrifice, fatally blasting her

02:31 with atomic breath.

02:36 Finally, there are 131 civilians and soldiers that fall victim to the king of the monsters,

02:46 making "Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S." stand as something of a morbid dark horse entry in

02:52 Godzilla canon.

03:01 Number 8.

03:02 144.

03:03 "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah"

03:06 There are a number of named human casualties who fall victim to the king of the monsters

03:11 in 1991's "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah."

03:15 Both Wilson and Gran Chico of the Futurians perish, along with many others, when Godzilla

03:21 blasts their UFO.

03:32 Big G also memorably blasts Japanese Major Yasuaki Shindo to kingdom come during the kaiju's

03:39 assault on Tokyo.

03:52 There are also many other unnamed victims of these attacks, however, including 15 soldiers,

03:59 123 civilians, and a television news crew.

04:03 Godzilla also beats Mecha-King Ghidorah for good measure, resulting in a kill count of

04:08 144.

04:22 Number 7.

04:23 179.

04:24 "Ebirah – Horror of the Deep"

04:27 The films produced during the Showa era could often vary wildly in tone, as well as in terms

04:33 of their body count.

04:35 "Ebirah – Horror of the Deep," for example, probably isn't the first G-film one may

04:40 associate with human casualties.

04:49 A closer look at the film's plot, however, reveals some surprising statistics.

04:54 The entire island of Lechi is demolished by the film's end, thanks to a Godzilla attack

05:00 that sets off a self-destruct mechanism.

05:03 As a result, 175 scientists working for the Red Bamboo terrorist organization are killed.

05:10 Additionally, one particular scientist gets trampled underfoot by Big G, while Ebirah

05:17 itself gets its claws unceremoniously torn off in battle.

05:25 Oh, and there's a giant condor named Okondoru.

05:35 Let's not forget the giant condor.

05:47 Number 6.

05:49 181.

05:50 "Godzilla 2000"

05:52 The Godzilla cinematic franchise has had a rough go of it in terms of North American

05:57 distribution in the aftermath of 1999's "Godzilla 2000."

06:11 The film was the last to receive a wide release in that area until 2023 with "Godzilla -1."

06:18 The financial disappointment of "Godzilla 2000" doesn't necessarily reflect the film's

06:23 quality or body count, however, since this film racks up a relatively high number of

06:29 181.

06:35 Granted, most of these deaths are attributed to collateral damage as a result of Godzilla's

06:45 rampage.

06:46 There are only two named characters to receive on-screen damage by Godzilla – Crisis Control

06:52 Intelligence founder Mitsuo Katagiri and the monster, Orga.

07:05 Number 5.

07:06 211.

07:07 "Godzilla vs. Mothra"

07:10 There were a number of films produced during Godzilla's Heisei era that served as sequels

07:15 – of sorts – to the events that took place during 1991's "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah."

07:31 Godzilla vs. Mothra was one of those films, and pitted the King of the Monsters against

07:37 the Queen of Infant Island for another kaiju battle matchup.

07:42 Spoiler alert, Godzilla doesn't win, although he does take down a male divine moth named

07:48 Bhadra, with a fatal bite to the neck.

08:00 Aside from this, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" also chalks up 36 soldiers and approximately

08:06 174 citizens that run afoul of all the chaos surrounding each attack.

08:21 Number 4.

08:22 226.

08:23 "Shin Godzilla"

08:25 The image and creature design of Godzilla received a welcome upgrade with 2016's "Shin

08:32 Godzilla," and with this came a whole new set of deadly abilities.

08:37 That said, it's Godzilla's atomic breath that serves as the biggest dealer of death

08:42 in the film.

08:49 The King of the Monsters annihilates four named characters on screen with this attack.

08:54 These include Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi, Prime Minister Seiji Okoji, Tank Captain Ikeda,

09:02 and Defense Minister Reiko Hanamori.

09:10 Elsewhere, the carnage of "Shin Godzilla's" rampage is without prejudice or mercy, indiscriminately

09:20 killing soldiers, civilians, and families along the way.

09:32 Number 3.

09:34 441.

09:35 "Invasion of Astro Monster"

09:38 We don't normally attempt to rationalize exactly how many individuals might happen

09:43 to be within a structure after Godzilla blows it up.

09:46 Yet, this is exactly what we must do if we're to properly analyze how many meet their maker

09:52 during 1965's "Invasion of Astro Monster."

10:08 Godzilla and Rodan effectively share grisly credit on this film, since an approximate

10:13 total of 371 civilians and 45 soldiers die after Godzilla and Rodan fall under alien

10:21 mind control.

10:33 These aliens, the Exilians, also receive their comeuppance by the film's end, however,

10:39 with 25 of their numbers biting the dust.

10:52 Number 2.

10:54 5,979.

10:55 "Godzilla vs. Kong"

10:59 Comic book movie fans will likely recall the controversy both Marvel and DC faced in terms

11:04 of the collateral damage associated with their CGI superhero battles.

11:09 This, for better or worse, didn't seem to affect 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong," which,

11:16 well, it features a lot of that kind of stuff.

11:24 Sure, there are a number of unnamed extras that we see get the smackdown by Godzilla,

11:34 both from the United States Air Force as well as from Apex Cybernetics.

11:47 Beyond this, however, there are over 5,900 Navy men and women who fall during Godzilla's

11:54 attacks.

11:55 Additionally, 69 citizens of Hong Kong die as Godzilla enters the area, preparing for

12:01 his battle with King Kong.

12:27 Number 1.

12:28 Approximately 22,223,287.

12:31 "Destroy All Monsters"

12:36 This 1968 film may have been titled "Destroy All Monsters," but it's the people who

12:42 are actually decimated by the end credits.

12:46 That's because the alien race known as the Kilaks take over some of the world's most

12:51 dangerous monsters, and set them on a course for total destruction.

13:07 Fans have estimated that Godzilla alone is responsible for the deaths of 90,300,000 people

13:14 during his attack on New York City, although this number stands in contrast to lower urban

13:26 population data from around this time.

13:30 Setting this number aside, "Destroy All Monsters" still dwarfs nearly every other

13:34 Godzilla film, with over 2 million dead during a shared Tokyo attack between Big G, Rodan,

13:41 Mothra and Manda.

13:51 Did any of these entries surprise you?

13:53 Let us know in those comments below!

14:11 [Outro]

14:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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