King Ghidora
Kingu Gidora
(Part 2)
King Ghidorah wouldn't make his triumphant return until 1991 in the two film established Heisei Godzilla series,, in a film appropriately titled Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.  In the film, people from the future join forces with people from the present to erase Godzilla from history, because according to the Futurians, Godzilla will eventually destroy all of Japan.  A selected crew from present and future go to 1944 to the rumored place of origin for the creature, Lagos Island.  Once there, they find a giant dinosaur who they believe is destined to be hit by the H-Bomb and become the beast they would eventually fear.  The dinosaur is transported off the island to the bottom of the ocean (where it would eventually find radiation of a different sort and mutate into a more powerful Godzilla, but that's a whole different origin).  The mission is considered a success, yet the Futurians have an agenda of their own.  It is discovered that they were lying about Godzilla destroying Japan, and in fact wanted to create a monster that would destroy Japan and prevent it from becoming the most powerful country in the world.  The Futurians leave behind three creatures known as Dorats to be hit by the H-Bomb instead of the dinosaur.  These creatures mutate into King Ghidorah, a beast controlled by the Futurians.  Ghidorah attacks Japan without mercy, until the new and improved Godzilla comes ashore to challenge him.  A long battle ensues, yet Godzilla emerges victorious as he blasts Ghidorah's middle head off with his radiation breath and, as the beast was trying to escape, was blasted again and plunged into the middle of the ocean.  Godzilla continues King Ghidorah's rampage for him, leading more sympathetic Futurians to help protect the small country.  They travel back to the future, and use their advance technology to rebuild the preserved King Ghidorah as Mecha-King Ghidorah, who fights the vicious lizard in the end.

But Ghidorah isn't out yet.  The beast was the loose inspiration for Desghidorah, a three-headed dragon that opposed Mothra in 1996's Rebirth of Mothra, but a more traditional (for lack of a better word) version of the infamous dragon wouldn't arrive until the 1998 sequel.

In Rebirth of Mothra III, King Ghidorah is once again a space monster.  King Ghidorah was an ancient beast who has returned to Earth to conquer it.  Ghidorah destroys the cities and takes children captive inside a giant dome.  Enraged by the beast, Mothra challenges Ghidorah, but the beast is too strong.  Mothra's only hope is to travel back in time to the age of the Dinosaurs and defeat a weaker version of Ghidorah.  Mothra is successful in his attempt at time travel and challenges the prehistoric beast in the past.  A battle ensues, and Mothra tosses the past Ghidorah into a volcano, where he is appearantly killed.  Using the cocoon of an past larva Mothra, present Mothra preserves itself inside and wakes up back in the present.  But King Ghidorah wasn't erased from history, instead a piece of Ghidorah's tail severed in battle regenerated into the modern Ghidorah.  Luckily, Mothra's ages in the cocoon allowed him to evolve.  This new stronger form of Mothra defeats the menace with ease.  Ghidorah explodes, ending his reign of terror in the Mothra series.

Ghidorah returned in Godzilla's Millennium series, like the last several films, bearing no continuity with the previous incarnations..  2001's Godzilla; Mothra; King Ghidorah:  Giant Monsters All-Out Attack marked the first time the monster was portrayed as a hero.  In GMK, Ghidorah is one of Earth's Guardian Monsters, along with Mothra and Baragon.  After Baragon fell at the hands of the destructive Godzilla, Ghidorah came to the aid of Mothra to defeat the monster.  A massive battle ensues and Mothra sacrifices her life to save Ghidorah.  The life force of Mothra revives the failing Ghidorah, and the monster becomes more powerful than before.  The Guardian Monster challenges Godzilla to a solo battle   The battle is furious, but Godzilla eventually destroys the Guardian.  However the life forces of all three creatures throw themselves at Godzilla, dragging the monster to the bottom of the sea.

Ghidorah had one final interpretation of him, though not entirly similar to what we've known in the past.  In 2004's 50th anniversary film Godzilla:  Final Wars, the space creature known as Monster X mutates into a beast resembling Ghidorah (known as Keiser Ghidorah) and does battle with Godzilla in the finale.

Should Godzilla's series rise again, it is pretty much inevitable that Ghidorah will return to do battle with the monster yet again.  So don't think you've seen the last of him.

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