Radon
AKA
Monster Zero-Two
In his debut film appearance, 1956's Rodan, a giant egg was discovered while coal minors investigate giant insects (Meganulons) found in a mine. A baby Rodan hatches from the egg and begins feeding upon the insects before flying off. Now free, Rodan grows in size, and destroys the aircraft that dare challenge it and feeds upon cattle and humans. The army attacks Rodan, only to discover that it has a mate in hiding. The two monsters lay waste to a city, and fly back to their nest in Mt. Aso. The army quickly retaliates against the monsters by sending a missle into the pit of the volcano, causing an eruption. The molten rock sets one of the Rodans on fire, and the other sinks into the lava, in what the humans interpret as a suicide, due to the death of it's mate.
But did they both die? One of the Rodans waited 8 longs years to make it's return, and in 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster he finally breaks free of his tomb. Rodan terrorizes Japan once more, only to run into Godzilla. The two beasts duke it out for the pleasure of tearing civilization apart, only to be stopped by a Mothra larvae. Mothra informs them both that the Earth is currently under attack by the space dragon King Ghidorah, and asks them to join together with him and fight. Rodan and Godzilla let their indifference to the Earth's destruction be known, and the disappointed Mothra challenged Ghidorah all by himself. The little caterpillar is outmatched, and unable to sit by any longer, Rodan and Godzilla join the fight and help drive off the invading monster. The humans of the world no longer look upon their allied monsters as threats, but beings of the same Earth they occupy.
Rodan seems to have laid a nest in yet another volcano, for 1965's Godzilla vs. Monster Zero finds Rodan hidden on Mt. Fuji. The alien race from Planet X asks for the assistance of Rodan and Godzilla to help rid their world of King Ghidorah. The world agrees, with the promise of a miricle cure to all desease. The beasts are brought to Planet X, where they do battle with their old nemesis. Rodan and Godzilla emerge victorious, and Ghidorah flies back out into space. However, the Xillians have a plan of their own. Breaking their promise to the Earthlings, they reveal that Ghidorah was under their control the whole time, and now they have both Rodan and Godzilla under their power as well. All three monsters are unleashed upon Earth, and remain so until the Xillians are defeated by the humans and a new weapon developed by soundwaves. Rodan and Godzilla find themselves free of Xillian control and do battle with Ghidorah once more. They fight several minutes before all three plunge into a lake. The only one to surface is Ghidorah, who flies back into space.
Obviously, Rodan was down and not out. For in the future year 1999 he is seen alive and well on Monster Island for the 1968 feature film Destroy All Monsters. Rodan found himself under alien control yet again by an invading race known as the Kilaaks, along with Godzilla, Mothra, Anguirus, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, Baragon, Varan, and Minilla. The aliens use Rodan to invade Moscow, and the monsters supersonic flight is used to level the city. However, when the human race finally frees the monsters from the Kilaaks control, Rodan once again finds himself in a showdown with King Ghidorah, along with the rest of the inhabitants of Monster Island. With the rest of the monsters attacking from land, Rodan attacks from the sky, and together they finally kill the invading dragon. However, Rodan is severly injured by a flaming flying saucer called the Fire Dragon, which the fighting human beings take down themselves. Rodan seems to recover, and returns to Monster Island to live out the rest of his days.
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