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| Species: | Giant Spider |
| Height: | Showa: 45 Meters Millennium: 35 Meters |
| Length: | Showa: 45 Meters Millennium: 60 Meters |
| Weight: | Showa: 8,000 Metric Tons Millennium: 30,000 Metric Tons |
| Appearances: | Son of Godzilla (1967) Destroy All Monsters (1968) All Monsters Attack (1969) Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) |
Summary
Kumonga (Kumonga) is a giant spider kaiju who first appeared in the 1967 Toho Godzilla film, Son of Godzilla.
In his first appearance in Son of Godzilla, Kumonga was a giant spider native to Sollgel Island which slept in a valley on the island. Awakened by a stray boulder kicked into his valley by Minilla, Kumonga began threatening a team of humans stranded on the island and eventually captured both Minilla and Kamacuras. Kumonga was killed by the combined might of Minilla and Godzilla, but a second Kumonga appeared in Destroy All Monsters, where it was one of the monsters contained on Monsterland at the end of the 20th century. Kumonga assisted Godzilla and the monsters of Earth in battle against King Ghidorah, trapping King Ghidorah under webbing alongside Mothra. Kumonga reappeared in the final film of the Millennium series, Godzilla: Final Wars, where he was under the control of the Xiliens and unleashed in Arizona. Kumonga battled Godzilla in New Guinea under the invaders' commands, but was defeated.
Name
Kumonga's name comes from kumo, which is the Japanese word for "spider." The Kumonga featured in Destroy All Monsters is sometimes referred to in books as Second Generation Kumonga (Nidaime Kumonga), while the Kumonga from Godzilla: Final Wars is called Kumonga (3rd Generation) Kumonga Sandaime).
Kumonga's name in the English dubs of Son of Godzilla and Destroy All Monsters is Spiga or Spiega, which comes from "spider."
Design
Kumonga is a gigantic spider, with a mostly black body covered in gold stripes. Kumonga's body has some tufts of black hair on it, most prominently on its legs. Kumonga's head possesses six eyes, which are usually blue but in Son of Godzilla shift to red when the monster is agitated and are premanently red in Destroy All Monsters. Kumonga possesses chelicerae and fangs around its mouth. In the Showa series, Kumonga's mouth is filled with urticating bristles and can project a venomous stinger, while these features are not present in the Millennium incarnation. Kumonga has eight legs, each with three articulated joints in the Showa series and only two in the Millennium serues. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kumonga has brighter and more numerous gold stripes on its body, and its body is more angled toward the ground. The black on its body is also somewhat lighter and the texture of its body is smoother.
Personality
In Son of Godzilla, Kumonga is a vicious predator that attacks anything it sees. Kumonga is not averse to attacking humans, as it spends a good deal of time trying to capture Saeko and Goro and later attacking them and the team of scientists in a cave. Kumonga also appears to be highly territorial, and will attack other monsters who damage or enter their domain. The Kumonga in Destroy All Monsters is shown to live peacefully with the other monsters on Monsterland, and assists them in the final battle against King Ghidorah.
Origin
According to the research of Dr. Matsumiya, Kumonga is a gigantic spider native to Sollgel Island, which while not active and hunting hibernates for years at a time under a valley. It is unknown if Kumonga was affected at all by the radiation storms on the island that mutated the native giant praying mantises into Kamacuras, or if it was simply always 45 meters tall. Kumonga was actually one of the earliest kaiju to be discovered, as Dr. Matsumiya discovered it sometime prior to 1955, however the creature was confined to the island and only known to Matsumiya and his daughter Saeko until 1967.
History
Showa Era
While protecting Saeko Matsumiya from a Kamacuras, Minilla accidentally knocked a boulder into Kumonga's valley, awakening the giant spider from its sleep. Kumonga attacked Saeko and Goro Maki when they tried to reach Saeko's cave, but they escaped. Kumonga followed them to the cave and tried to break in, trapping them and the scientists there. Eventually Kumonga left and trapped the Kamacuras and Minilla in its web. Kumonga killed the Kamacuras with its venom, but Godzilla arrived before it could do the same to Minilla. Kumonga and Godzilla battled, with Kumonga damaging Godzilla's eye and trapping him in webbing. Minilla came to his father's aid, and eventually Godzilla and his son were able to defeat Kumonga by blasting it at the same time with their atomic breath, setting the giant spider ablaze.
By the end of the 20th century, a second Kumonga was living on Monsterland alongside the other monsters of Earth. One day, the Kilaaks attacked the island and took control of the monsters, sending them to attack various cities across the world. After the humans severed the Kilaaks' control over the monsters, Kumonga and the other monsters prepared to assault the aliens' base under Mount Fuji. The Kilaaks responded by sending King Ghidorah to attack the Earth monsters. Kumonga and Mothra assisted in the battle by encasing King Ghidorah in webbing. Kumonga was then returned to the island along with the other monsters to live in peace.
While visiting Monster Island within his dreams, Ichiro Miki and Minilla watched Godzilla battle Kumonga. Some of Kumonga's webbing was sprayed above them, forcing them to head to safer ground.
By 1972, Kumonga was one of many monsters coexisting peacefully on Monster Island. However, the evil M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens intended to exterminate all of the monsters on the island before they could interfere with their conquest of Earth. Fortunately, Godzilla and Anguirus learned of the invaders' nefarious plan and defeated them along with their pawns Gigan and King Ghidorah, securing the safety of their fellow inhabitants of Monster Island.
Millennium Era
In 20XX, Kumonga appeared in Arizona and destroyed a trailer park before being suddenly teleported away along with all of the other monsters rampaging across Earth by the Xiliens, who claimed to want to save Earth. However, the Xiliens' true motives were revealed, and the Controller of Planet X unleashed all of the monsters to resume their destruction of the planet's major cities. In response, the Earth Defense Force freed Godzilla from Area G and had him defeat the Xiliens' monsters. The Controller unleashed Kumonga in New Guinea to battle Godzilla. Kumonga was able to use its jumping ability to avoid Godzilla's attacks while trapping him in webbing, but Godzilla grabbed one of Kumonga's web strands and swung it through the air before letting go, sending Kumonga soaring over the horizon.
Trivia
- Unlike most real spiders, Kumonga does not have spinnerets, firing silk from its mouth instead. This ability may have been inspired by the spitting spiders, a family of spiders which hunt by spitting an adhesive mixture of silk and venom at prey.
- A "what-if" illustrated scenario in the 2004 book Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. Super Complete Works showed the JXSDF creating an army of mecha-kaiju with the help of DNA extracted from their organic counterparts, including Kumonga.
- Kumonga is the only Xilien-controlled monster in Godzilla: Final Wars who they never deploy to a heavily populated area.
- Kumonga is featured in concept art included in The Art of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, along with other established kaiju such as Anguirus and Gamera. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, director Michael Dougherty said, "We had thought about using some additional Toho creatures to give them some cameos but every Toho creature comes with a price tag. It was a choice to either shell out more money simply for the rights for these creatures to show up on screen for a few seconds, or embrace the opportunity and the challenge to create new creatures."
- The 2016 book Godzilla Against Type-3 Kiryu (Mechagodzilla) Completion adds Kumonga to the Kiryu Saga continuity, with Type 66 Maser Cannons successfully defeating him in 1967.
- In 2020, arachnologists Alireza Zamani and Yuri M. Marusik named a new species of spitting spider from southern Iran Scytodes kumonga, after this monster
