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| Species: | Oxygen Destroyer-Mutated Prehistoric Crustacean |
| Height: | Heisei: 120 Meters |
| Length: | Heisei: 230 Meters (Perfect Form) |
| Wingspan: | Heisei: 210 Meters (Perfect Form) |
| Weight: | Heisei: 80,000 Metric Tons (perfect Form) |
| Forms: | Micro Form, Crawl Form, Juvenile Form, Aggregate Form, Flying Form, Perfect Form |
| Appearances: | Godzilla vs Destroyah (1995) |
Summary
Destoroyah (Desutoroia) is a crustacean kaiju who first appeared in the 1995 Toho Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Godzilla's final opponent in the Heisei series, Destoroyah is the incarnation of the Oxygen Destroyer, the chemical weapon used to kill the original Godzilla in 1954. When the weapon was detonated at the bottom of Tokyo Bay, it revived a colony of Precambrian crustaceans trapped in the strata, and the resulting anaerobic conditions caused the creatures to undergo an abnormal path of mutation and evolution until they finally came to the surface in 1996. Able to grow and evolve by combining with each other, the creatures took on numerous different forms before finally converging into a single gigantic demonic monster. Destoroyah fought Godzilla at the peak of his power and nearly defeated him, but was finally destroyed by a combination of the JSDF's ULT cryolasers and the extreme heat given off by the near-meltdown Godzilla.
Name
Both Destoroyah's Japanese and English names are derived from "destroyer," which in turn comes from the Oxygen Destroyer weapon that spawned him. A possible reason that the name "Destroyer" isn't the monster's trademarked English name is because the word itself could not be trademarked by Toho. He is referred to as Destroyer in Omni Productions' international English dub for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, as well as in the English subtitles on Sony's 2014 Blu-ray release of the film, while "Destoroyah" is Toho's official trademarked English name for the character. Destoroyah's subtitle is Perfect Lifeform (Kanzen Seimei-tai).
Destoroyah's forms are denoted as Micro Form (Bishō-tai), Crawl Form (Kurōru-tai), Juvenile Form (Yō-tai), Aggregate Form (Shūgō-tai) or Intermediate Form (Chūkan-tai), Flying Form (Hikō-tai), and Perfect Form (Kanzen-tai).
Destoroyah receives his name in the film when Dr. Ijuin witnesses the monster's juvenile forms merge together into their aggregate form. He remarks that Micro-Oxygen does not have that kind of power, and that these creatures have become a living Oxygen Destroyer, giving it the name "Destoroyah." In the novel GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla, Destoroyah is never referred to by name, only given the designation J-MO7 and speculatively called a subspecies of Ganimes (Ganime no Ashu).
Design
Destoroyah goes through multiple forms over the course of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, with each being distinct, though sporting the same core crustacean-like elements such as dark red armor plating or skin, multiple appendages, and spiky protrusions.
Destoroyah's first form, the Micro Form, is never actually seen in the film, though artwork of it gives it a trilobite-like appearance with prominent "horns" at the sides of its body. His second form is the Crawl Form, which is seen in the film and often confused with the Micro Form. It resembles a red miniature horseshoe crab, with two large spikes on its body, eight small legs, a pointed tail, and two prominent mandibles.
Starting with its third form, the Juvenile Form, Destoroyah ceases to be microscopic and its forms retain more common design elements. This form walks on a set of segmented crab-like legs, with a mound of spikes on each of its shoulders, a circular opening on its chest, and a frilled head with two orange eyes that glow yellow, and an extendable jaw inside its mouth. It also has a long tail tipped with a fork-like structure and reddish purple armor plating.
Destoroyah's Aggregate Form resembles a larger version of the Juvenile Form, with the addition of two crab-like claws on its chest and two long spear-like appendages sprouting from its back.
Destoroyah's Flying Form has the body of the juvenile and aggregate forms, but with two wing-like lobes on its sides that allow it to fly. The head of this form is unique, with a reptilian mouth rather than the crustacean-like mandibles of the other forms, along with a prominent orange horn on its forehead.
Destoroyah's Perfect Form is far larger and bulkier than any of its previous forms. It stands upright on two legs, with two large bat-like wings on its back and two smaller wings on its sides. Destoroyah's head in this form is similar to that of the Flying Form, only with much larger frills on its sides and its horn being lighter in color. In addition, it features two developed arms with three claws on its hands, and its tail ends in a pincer-like appendage.
Personality
Destoroyah is often considered one of Godzilla's most merciless, intelligent and evil foes, along with the Showa King Ghidorah and SpaceGodzilla. Unlike monsters that kill and destroy unintentionally and act only out of instinct or while under mind control, Destoroyah seems fully aware of the death and destruction he causes, and takes pleasure in causing it. His cruelty is most visible when he attacks Godzilla Junior, and later kills him while the latter is trying to reunite with his father. While Godzilla is grieving over his son, Destoroyah attacks him on two separate occasions, even appearing to laugh while he drags Godzilla by the neck. This makes Destoroyah only the second kaiju to attack Godzilla both emotionally and physically, after SpaceGodzilla. Destoroyah's strategies seem to revolve around causing as much pain to his opponents as possible, as his aggregate form is shown repeatedly stabbing Junior with his limbs and administering extremely painful doses of Micro-Oxygen into the wounds.
Non-film media also depict Destoroyah as incredibly evil and malevolent. According to Destoroyah's bio in the game Godzilla: Unleashed, Destoroyah "seeks nothing else than the total annihilation of all life-forms in existence." In the comic series Godzilla: Cataclysm, Destoroyah is described by one character as a "demon," and at one point splits apart into his juvenile forms and brutally massacres several villagers one by one. Destoroyah exhibits similar behavior in his appearances in other IDW comic series.
Origin
Destoroyah originated as a colony of Precambrian era microscopic crustaceans that had thrived living in anaerobic environments 2.5 billion years ago, and had survived into the 20th century trapped inside the strata under Tokyo Bay.[12] When Dr. Serizawa detonated the Oxygen Destroyer in Tokyo Bay to kill the first Godzilla in 1954, the resulting anaerobic conditions and exposure to the chemical weapon revived and mutated the crustaceans, and they evolved abnormally over the course of 40 years, incorporating Micro-Oxygen into their biological processes. After being disturbed by the construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, the organisms moved to the surface and began feeding on organic life, gradually combining with each other into larger and deadlier forms.
History
Heisei Era
In 1954, when Daisuke Serizawa detonated the Oxygen Destroyer under Tokyo Bay to kill the original Godzilla, the chemical weapon awakened a colony of microscopic crustaceans that had survived in the strata under the bay since 542,000,000 BCE. The crustaceans, which had once thrived in anaerobic environments, had an unusual reaction to the weapon, causing them to begin an accelerated and abnormal path of evolution and begin incorporating Micro-Oxygen into their biological processes. In 1996, the construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line in the same spot where the Oxygen Destroyer was fired drew the attention of the creatures, who destroyed an elevator and then traveled to the surface. The creatures went to the Shinagawa Aquarium, where they used Micro-Oxygen to disintegrate and feed on the fish located there. Growing larger and stronger, the crustaceans began combining with each other, eventually evolving into larger human-sized forms. The creatures traveled further inland and infested the Tokyo Telecom Center. A SWAT team was sent in to exterminate the beasts, but were brutally attacked by the monsters, which proved immune to conventional weaponry. The SWAT team eventually discovered that explosives and flamethrowers were effective against the creatures, and were able to kill several of them. One of the creatures escaped the building and tried to kill reporter Yukari Yamane, but she was saved by Kensaku Ijuin and a SWAT team, who incinerated the beast with flamethrowers.
After further analyzing the creatures, Ijuin determined that extreme temperatures destroyed the Micro-Oxygen in their bodies, meaning they could theoretically be killed using the JSDF's arsenal of freezer weapons. A fleet of Type 90 Tanks, MBT-MB92s, MBAW-93s and CLT-95s, supported by a detachment of AH-64 Apache helicopters, confronted the remaining creatures in the outskirts of Tokyo. The Maser Cannons opened fire on the creatures with their ultra-low temperature (ULT) cryolasers, while the tanks bombarded them with cadmium shells. Several of the creatures were killed, but they then converged and merged together into a single Aggregate Form. The giant beast quickly turned the tables on the JSDF, eradicating their vehicles with a ray of concentrated Micro-Oxygen fired from its mouth. Dr. Ijuin remarked that Micro-Oxygen did not possess this kind of power, but the Oxygen Destroyer did. Ijuin then gave the monster the name "Destoroyah," as it had become a living Oxygen Destroyer. Destoroyah then transformed into a flying form and flew into downtown Tokyo to resume its rampage.
Meanwhile, Godzilla was about to undergo a catastrophic nuclear meltdown that would destroy the world, leaving G-Force with one desperate option: lure him to Tokyo so he would fight and hopefully be killed by Destoroyah. G-Force's psychics Miki Saegusa and Meru Ozawa used their telepathy to bring Godzilla's adopted son, Godzilla Junior, to Tokyo, knowing Godzilla would follow. When Destoroyah saw Junior, he immediately attacked the young monster, transforming into his Aggregate Form and pinning Junior to the ground. Destoroyah bit down into Junior's chest with his secondary jaw, injecting Micro-Oxygen directly into his bloodstream, causing Junior to foam at the mouth and suffocate. Junior then managed to recover and fired his atomic breath at Destoroyah, blasting off the claws on his back and forcing him to get off of Junior. Junior blasted Destoroyah again, sending him flying into a nearby refinery, which exploded. His enemy seemingly defeated, Junior reunited with his father outside of Haneda Airport.
But Destoroyah was not dead, and used DNA he had absorbed from Junior's blood to mutate further. Another explosion rocked the refinery, and from it emerged Destoroyah's demonic Perfect Form. With vengeance on his mind, Destoroyah flew to Haneda Airport, knocking Godzilla to the ground and grabbing Junior in his clutches. Destoroyah flew high into the sky and dropped Junior onto Ariake Coliseum from hundreds of feet in the air. Destoroyah then blasted Junior with his Micro-Oxygen ray, seemingly killing the young monster. Before Godzilla could grieve for his son, Destoroyah attacked him, dragging him by the neck into Tokyo Bay with his tail pincer, all while bellowing maniacally. Godzilla walked back onto land and engaged Destoroyah in combat near the airport. Destoroyah sliced through Godzilla's flesh with his laser horn, but Godzilla retaliated by firing his atomic breath directly into Destoroyah's chest, opening a gaping wound. Godzilla fired into the open wound, causing Destoroyah to vomit blood. Godzilla punched the wound, sending Destoroyah falling to the ground. Destoroyah vanished into a white mist upon striking the ground, leaving Godzilla apparently victorious. However, Godzilla was quickly swarmed by several of Destoroyah's smaller aggregate forms, which breathed Micro-Oxygen into Godzilla's face and dragged him to the ground. Godzilla got back to his feet and obliterated the creatures with his nuclear pulse, then walked to his fallen son, attempting to revive him.
As Godzilla tried and failed to breathe life back into Junior, Destoroyah returned in his Perfect Form, flying overhead and blasting Godzilla with his Micro-Oxygen ray, then dragging him into the outskirts of Tokyo with his tail. Godzilla rose back to his feet and prepared for one final confrontation with his son's killer. The two monsters exchanged blows, as Godzilla's temperature climbed to critical levels. Godzilla blasted off Destoroyah's shoulder and part of his head frill with his atomic breath, then began emitting powerful nuclear pulses, which set the surrounding area ablaze. Realizing he couldn't win the battle, Destoroyah took to the sky, attempting to retreat. The JSDF, unwilling to let the demon escape, fired their cryolasers at Destoroyah's wings, freezing them solid and sending Destoroyah plummeting to the ground below, which had been superheated by Godzilla's presence. Destoroyah impacted the ground and dissipated into a white mist, destroyed for good.
Trivia
- A deleted scene at the end of the film shows that after Destoroyah is brought to the ground when trying to escape from Godzilla's meltdown, he rises again as opposed to dissolving. With his wings torn up from the ULT lasers, he could no longer escape Godzilla's fury, thus was forced to fight Godzilla as the monster king began to meltdown. Godzilla quickly overpowered Destoroyah, grabbing him by his horn and pummeling him repeatedly. As Godzilla melts down, the JSDF rain their ULT weapons upon him, as well as Destoroyah. Unable to stand against the immense heat of Godzilla's meltdown and the freezing cold of the ULT lasers, Destoroyah falls and evaporates. However, it was thought that having Godzilla fight Destoroyah while he melted down took away the focus from Godzilla's death, which was to be the main point of the movie. So the scene was re-edited to have Destoroyah die after the JSDF shoots him down, and allow Godzilla to have center stage as he finally dies.
- While the ending was changed for the movie, one manga adaptation still has Destoroyah die as Godzilla melts down while holding him.
- Destoroyah is the only kaiju in the Godzilla series to have been mutated by a source other than radiation, instead being mutated by the chemical reactions given off by the Oxygen Destroyer.
- Unlike the majority of his enemies from the Heisei series, Destoroyah was not directly defeated by Godzilla. Rather, he is brought down by the combined efforts of Godzilla and the JSDF.
- Because Destoroyah originated as a colony of crustaceans from the Precambrian era, he is the oldest known monster to appear in the Godzilla series, being 2.5 billion years old. In reality however, crustaceans did not evolve until the Cambrian.
- Destoroyah is Godzilla's only opponent in the Heisei series who does not engage in a rematch with Godzilla. Destoroyah is only fought by Godzilla once, whereas all his other opponents reappeared for a final battle after their first encounter with Godzilla, often in different forms.
- Destoroyah shares many similarities with Hedorah. Both are composed of countless microorganisms sharing a single body; both possess multiple forms including microscopic, flying, and gigantic bipedal perfect forms; both are extremely difficult opponents for Godzilla, and both are incredibly deadly to organic life. The monster Shinomura from the comic Godzilla: Awakening also shares some of these traits.
- Destoroyah possesses the most unique forms of any transforming kaiju in the Godzilla series, at a total of 6. Though, according to the theater program for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Destoroyah's evolution may not have ended with his Perfect Form.
