Summary

• Godzilla's height has changed throughout his many movie iterations, ranging from 50 meters to 300 meters.
• His appearance and size often depend on the director's vision and the specific era of the franchise.
• The MonsterVerse Godzilla currently stands at 120 meters, making him the tallest version in Hollywood's take on the iconic monster.

When looking at the Godzilla size comparison since his inception nearly seventy years ago, the monster has gone through many changes. He was depicted as a hero and a villain, a force of nature and a big, lumbering brute. He’s sparred with the Japanese Self-Defense Force and fought other giant monsters. His visual appearance has also changed so much that the Godzilla of the past is practically a different creature than the one that now exists. One aspect of Godzilla’s design that refuses to stay the same is his height.

Just like his appearance, Godzilla has grown and shrunk, depending on who’s sitting in the director’s chair. Godzilla is the definitive giant monster, also known as a kaiju. He was not the first, but ever since his introduction in 1954, he has become an icon of cinema with countless amounts of movies, shows, and video games featuring him. Since Godzilla remains one of the most financially successful brands of all time, it's difficult to keep a good monster down. From Legendary's MonsterVerse to Godzilla Minus One, the creature continues to be rebooted and revamped, giving new heights to compare to the many incarnations of the past.

11 Showa Era Godzilla (1954-1975)

50 Meters

Before he fought Mothra and Ghidorah and became a household name worldwide, Godzilla was a towering metaphor for the destructive power of nuclear weapons. His original design, while simple, was nonetheless effective in driving the film’s point home. The goal was to make a monster who was mangled and grotesque, like the victim of a radioactive bomb. Throughout the original series, Godzilla’s appearance underwent a metamorphosis, beginning with King Kong vs Godzilla in 1962. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Toho capitalized on Godzilla’s popularity with children by softening his features. Throughout it all, Godzilla stood at a consistent 50 meters.

10 Millennium Godzilla (1999-2003)

55 Meters

At the turn of the century, Godzilla underwent his biggest change in almost 40 years. This new creature, who first appeared in Godzilla 2000, was given a more reptilian appearance, with a large mouth, narrow head, jagged dorsal spines, and a sleeker, leaner build. He was also the first Godzilla to be green, forgoing the dark charcoal shades of years past. This design also went back to basics, shrinking Godzilla to close to its original size. This represented the first size reduction in the franchise. Millennium Godzilla was such a hit with fans that it was Godzilla’s de-facto appearance for much of the early 21st century.

9 GMK Godzilla (2001)

60 Meters

Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (GMK for short) is one of the more unique movies in the franchise. Godzilla is possessed by the souls of those killed by the Japanese during World War II, and the only creatures that can stop him from destroying Japan are Mothra, Ghidorah, and Baragon. To capitalize on Godzilla’s sinister agenda, Godzilla was given a design that harkened back to the early Showa era creatures, with one major alteration. His eyes turned white, with no visible irises or pupils. Despite being only ten meters taller than the original, GMK Godzilla was still the tallest creature in this movie.

8 Zilla (1998)

70 Meters

In 1998, Sony Pictures hired famed action director Roland Emmerich to direct the first-ever American Godzilla movie. The result was universally panned, and this includes critics' and fans' impressions of Zilla, who was so universally panned that Toho refused to acknowledge him as a true Godzilla, hence dropping the "God" from the name. While his size increased, so as not to look dwarfed by New York’s skyline, he still managed to get stuck in the wires of the Brooklyn Bridge, a move that cost him his life. The height was 70 meters and that ended the United States' work on Godzilla until the MonsterVerse arrived.

7 Heisei Era Godzilla 1 (1984-1991)

80 Meters

After a long hiatus, Toho finally made The Return of Godzilla, (also called Godzilla 1985), a movie that served as a direct sequel to the original, while ignoring the continuity of the previous movies. Released in time for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, Return was the first time Godzilla’s height changed. To compensate for the fact skyscrapers had gotten taller since 1954, Godzilla’s height was increased by 30 meters. Godzilla’s appearance also changed to more closely resemble the frightening incarnation of the ‘50s. For 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla’s head was slimmed, and his face was given a more feline look, which remained consistent throughout the Heisei era.

6 Heisei Era Godzilla 2 (1991-1995)

100 Meters

Thanks to the meddling of future humans in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla underwent a growth spurt that saw him break the 100-meter mark. While his appearance didn’t change much visually, he did pack on some bigger muscles along his legs and torso. For the last movie in the beloved Heisei era, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla suffered a catastrophic nuclear meltdown, causing fiery blisters to erupt over his skin and turning his dorsal spines bright orange. Burning Godzilla, as this version has since been called, has gone down as one of the most iconic incarnations in the franchise’s history.

5 Final Wars Godzilla (2004)

100 Meters

For Godzilla's 50th birthday, Toho brought back Godzilla and threw in most of the monsters he had fought throughout his existence. Godzilla: Final Wars was a movie that played as a love letter to Godzilla movies from the past and Toho made sure to redesign Godzilla as a leaner monster. He was also one of the tallest in the franchise’s history at the time, at just over 100 meters. Godzilla: Final Wars is one of the most action-packed films in the franchise, so it made sense to create a monster that had the build of Millennium but the height of Heisei.

4 Godzilla Ultima (2021)

100 Meters

In 2021, Godzilla appeared in the Godzilla: Singular Point anime, which had Godzilla fans at the time divided among each other. Like most movies and shows in the Reiwa-era of Godzilla, the titular character goes through many forms and evolutions before reaching his final form. When he first appears, Godzilla Ultima is about 40 to 50 meters tall, making him near the size of the Showa-era Godzilla. That changed in the 12th episode when Godzilla grows even larger, reaching about 100 meters, matching the Heisei era in his seemingly final form in the series.

3 Shin Godzilla (2016)

118 Meters

The first movie of the Reiwa era, Shin Godzilla was a bold installment in the franchise that makes many changes to the lore of Godzilla. At 118 meters tall, Shin Godzilla was the tallest Godzilla in the franchise’s history at the time and is still the largest live-action incarnation produced by Toho (Godzilla is only 50 meters tall in Godzilla Minus One). Along with the impressive height, Godzilla also got a radical redesign, one that harkens back to the grotesque roots of the past. He may be ugly, but this Godzilla stands out among the rest.

2 MonsterVerse Godzilla (2014-Present)

120 Meters

Hollywood brought back Godzilla with Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse. The current face of the Godzilla franchise stateside, this creature features pointed dorsal spines, a thick build, a flattened forehead, and an emotive face that’s enhanced by advanced motion capture technology. When he made his debut in 2014, Gareth Edwards' Godzilla topped out at 108 meters, but with 2019’s sequel, King of the Monsters, Godzilla hit a growth spurt that increased his height by an additional nine meters. In Godzilla vs Kong, it is stated that Godzilla is now 120 meters tall in his battle against the legendary Kong. He could be even bigger in Godzilla X Kong in 2024.