Jira
AKA
Godzilla
Zilla's first appearance was in the 1998 film Godzilla. The film portrayed Zilla as a creature who was mutated by French nuclear testing. Zilla attacked fishing boats in the ocean before making his way to New York City. Once there, he rampaged through the city and burrowed himself a home underneath the city. A scientist named Nick Tatopolous discovered that Zilla is asexual, meaning he can lay eggs without a mate. Worried that there may be a nest in the city, Nick gains some help and searches for it while the army tackles the adult beast with submarines. The subs are appearantly successful, as two torpedoes hit it directly and it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Meanwhile, the nest is found in Madison Square Garden, and it's begun hatching into over 200 baby Zillas. Dodging the babies and trying to get out of the Madison Square Garden alive, Nick and his friends contact the army, which promptly sends jets to blow them all to hell. Nick and his friends manage to make it out of the building just mere seconds before missiles blow it up. However, as soon as it all appears over, the adult Zilla appears once again, not as dead as once thought. Witnessing his massacred babies lying in his former nest, Zilla takes it out on the only people he sees, Nick's little group. Taking off in an abandoned taxi cab, Zilla chases them through the city in a fit of rage. Zilla chases the cab to the Brooklyn Bridge where he becomes caught in the suspension cables, making him a sitting duck for jets to take out. The missles launch and Zilla is hit several times. The beast collapses and slowly dies. However, back at Madison Square Garden, one egg was left unscathed by the missles that killed it's many brothers, and it's hatching...
The only continuation that the last baby Zilla recieved was in the form of an animated series. Just mere months after the original film arrived in theaters, Godzilla: The Series began to air. Picking up where the film left off, Nick decides to double check the nest, to make sure that not a single egg survived. He discovers the last egg just as it hatches into a new born. Afraid for his life, Nick tries to run before the baby eats him, but instead of chewing on him, the new Zilla gives him a loving lick. Soon after, Zilla is scared off by nearby livewires. Confused by the Zilla's behavior, Nick and a group of friends (some featured in the film, some not) try to capture the creature alive, only to discover that in a day's time he's grown into a full adult. But Zilla remembers Nick, and adopts him as a mother. Throughout the rest of the series, Nick, his crew, and Zilla hunt down other monsters in the world. The original Zilla did make a return, of sorts, as aliens turned him into a cyborg to help them conquer the world, sort of a modern day Mechagodzilla. The animated series centered Zilla was confused by the appearance of another member of his species, and even joined forces with him for a time, but eventually didn't take to his nasty ways. The series never had an ending. For all we know, Zilla could still be out there fighting monsters.
Godzilla was set to also have theatrical sequels, but these never came to be due to a combination of poor reception of the first film and creative disputes in pre-production, causing the director/producer combo of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin to leave the production. There have been small rumors of kick starting the sequel again, but Tri-Star's rights to make a sequel expired in 2003, so the project is officially dead.
That was not the last we would hear of the beast, however. Zilla had a small mention in the 2001 film Godzilla; Mothra; King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, when a briefing of soldiers mentions that there was an attack on New York City that was "mistakenly" thought to be Godzilla. The creature was not seen in the film, however.
Zilla's only other screen appearance was in 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars. Aliens known as the Xillians have most of Earth's monsters under their control and use them to attack major cities. Zilla is seen rampaging though Sidney, Australia. When the humans revolt against the Xillians and free Godzilla to come to their aid, they lead Godzilla directly to Sidney, where it fights with Zilla. Zilla doesn't even get a punch in, however, as it's immediatly batted to the side by Godzilla's tail and killed by Godzilla's radioactive breath.
Even though Zilla is now considered part of Toho's official Kaiju lineup, I think the chances of another appearance are slim to none. They seem to disrespect the monster a great deal, and other than making fun of him, they have no use for him.
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