As Godzilla prepares to return to the big screen in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the age-old debate surrounding the kaiju’s gender is bound to resurface.
It’s unclear when the debate around Godzilla’s gender first arose. Upon Godzilla’s initial creation by Toho, the monster was simply referred to as “it.” Given that Godzilla is a fictional kaiju, some may have accepted that perhaps this species was genderless or never thought much about gender at all. However, despite the monster’s creators not initially assigning gender to Godzilla, the English dubbed versions of those early Japanese films referred to the kaiju using he/him pronouns. The tradition of characterizing Godzilla as male has continued all the way into the present-day MonsterVerse, where Godzilla is always referred to with male pronouns by humans in the movies, and the monster is even assigned the male title “King of the Monsters.”
Naturally, given that Godzilla’s creators didn’t assign a gender, some viewers have begun to question why everyone just automatically assumed that the monster is male. One can’t help but wonder if perhaps the male gendering was the result of facts or subtle sexism. After all, there never was any reason why Godzilla couldn’t be female. The debate has also grown a bit more complicated as some viewers have gone as far as to compile evidence that seems to support that Godzilla is, indeed, female.
Godzilla’s gender debate explained
The idea that Godzilla could be female arose mainly because of the monster’s reproductive history. In the 1967 film Son of Godzilla, a massive egg is discovered, which hatches into a baby Godzilla. While it is eventually established that the egg is not Godzilla’s and the baby is the monster’s adopted son, this was the first movie to explore the concept of egg laying in Godzilla’s species. Decades later, director Roland Emmerich brought back the concept of reproduction in Godzilla (1998), which saw Godzilla reproduce for the first time, laying hundreds of eggs that hatched into monstrous offspring to take over Earth.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, production designer Patrick Tatopoulos revealed that the crew actually sculpted female genitalia onto the monster’s CG model. However, Tatopoulos himself continued to refer to the monster as a “he,” and, in the movie, the lead character deduces that Godzilla reproduces asexually.
Still, there are some biological details that back up Godzilla’s potential female identity. Godzilla is often described as reptilian and is associated with lizards. In many species of reptiles, including lizards, the females tend to actually be bigger than the males, meaning it makes more sense for the oversized reptilian monster to be female. Additionally, while some species are capable of reproducing asexually, such as the Komodo Dragon or New Mexico Whiptail Lizards, the phenomenon still only occurs in females.
So, it would make sense, biologically, for at least Emmerich’s Godzilla to be female. However, Emmerich’s movie is just one of many Godzilla remakes and reboots, meaning this monster’s characteristic of laying eggs is not present in every depiction of the kaiju. Meanwhile, Godzilla creator Tomoyuki Tanaka seemed to officially settle the debate in his book Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction, in which he wrote that Godzilla was likely male, given his fatherly attitude towards Minilla. However, while his Godzilla is male, he suggests that female Godzillas do exist, as well.
Still, the book wasn’t published until 1984, so the English-dubbed films didn’t have confirmation of gender until decades after they automatically assigned Godzilla male pronouns. Ultimately, Godzilla is male in the Japanese and American films, although Emmerich’s Godzilla might have been female, and there’s nothing really stopping further reboots or remakes from making the monster female.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
