Godzilla’s height has fluctuated many times across his numerous movie appearances. At this point, the King of the Monsters has been trashing cities on the big screen for over 65 years, with his latest live-action role being in Godzilla vs. Kong, the movie that marks only his second meeting with King Kong.
For decades, Godzilla and King Kong have been the two biggest names in the giant monster movie genre. Though there have long been debates over which of the two pop culture icons would win in a fight, there’s traditionally a huge discrepancy between the two in of their size. In the cases of King Kong vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Kong, the two have been able to fight on an equal playing field, with the two monsters tall enough to stare each other down. However, that’s because in both instances, a dramatic size increase was needed for Kong to match blows with him.
True to his title, the King of the Monsters is a creature of titanic proportions who destroys cities just by walking through them. Tanks and fighter jets have repeatedly failed to do more than mildly irritate him. He also has a reputation for battling larger-than-life monsters powerful enough to threaten the world itself, including King Ghidorah, Orga, and SpaceGodzilla. He’s consistently humongous, but he doesn’t always stand at the same height. Here’s how tall every version of Godzilla is.
Godzilla (1954) – Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
When Toho’s Gojira first burst onto the scene in 1954, he stood at an impressive height of 164 feet, which made it possible for him to dwarf large buildings. Toho was able to make this work by creating realistic models of buildings, vehicles, tanks, and scaling them to the size of Godzilla, who was brought to life through an actor in a monster suit. This was in contrast to how MGM made Kong, who was created through stop-motion animation.
Godzilla remained at this size through 1975, battling kaiju such as Ghidorah, Mothra, Mechagodzilla, Megalon, Titanosaurus, and more. It’s worth noting that despite being one of the smallest versions of the monster, the Showa series Godzilla is approximately the same height as the second tallest depiction of Kong. Kong, who is normally 50 feet tall or less, was briefly brought up to Godzilla’s level for King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962.
Return of Godzilla (1984) & Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Toho rebooted and redesigned the kaiju in 1984 with Return of Godzilla. Made to look more menacing than his predecessor (who was portrayed as heroic and kid-friendly in his later years), the Heisei Godzilla was made to look taller than ever. This particular take on Godzilla was 262 feet tall, and this size was retained in the next installment in the franchise, Godzilla vs. Biollante.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) – Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
After just two movies, Toho bumped his size up from 262 feet to 328 feet, a height that went unchanged until the Heisei series ended. At this size, Godzilla experienced some of the most challenging and intense battles in the history of the character, among those being his fights with Destoroyah, his third showdown with Mechagodzilla, and his team-up with Moguera against SpaceGodzilla.
Godzilla (1998)
The first American production in the Godzilla franchise introduced audiences to the most unpopular incarnation of the classic kaiju. The great of deal of criticism that the movie has received stems mostly from its portrayal of Godzilla himself, whose design was changed considerably. One of the biggest problems that fans had was that Sony Pictures took away his fearsome image. While it’s true that he’s nowhere near as powerful as most versions of Godzilla, he isn’t actually the shortest version of the monster. At an approximate height of 229 feet, the 1998 Godzilla is taller than the Godzilla from the Showa and Millennium series, with the one exception to that being the monster from Godzilla: Final Wars.
Godzilla 2000 (1999) – Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Following the negative reception to the 1998 Godzilla, Toho kicked off another string of Godzilla movies, beginning with Godzilla 2000. Though this movie took Godzilla back to basics and properly restored his destructive reputation, this version of the creature was a bit shorter than what viewers had grown accustomed to during the 1980s and 1990s. At about 180 feet, he was closer in stature to the Showa series Godzilla. He was featured at the same height in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Toho wasn’t completely consistent with Godzilla’s size during the Millennium series. One example of this was Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, which exists in a separate continuity from the other movies. In this unusual take on the story, the 196-foot-tall Godzilla is the reanimated body of the 1954 Godzilla, now under the control of the spirits of people who lost their lives in World War II.
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
After facing off against Mothra and Mechagodzilla in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., the King of the Monsters returned for Godzilla: Final Wars, which raised his height all the way up to his previous max of 328 feet. The colossal difference between this and the 1998 Godzilla was clearly illustrated in a scene that pitted the two against each other. In what was seen as an obvious insult to the American adaptation, the much-larger Godzilla made short work of his significantly smaller counterpart.
Godzilla (2014)
Hollywood got a second shot at Godzilla with the launch of the MonsterVerse in 2014. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the 2014 film topped the size of the Heisei Godzilla by bringing his height to 354 feet. Though this number his since been exceeded, the 2014 Godzilla is still a bit taller than Kong’s maximum height. In Godzilla vs. Kong, the King of Skull Island will be 335 feet tall.
Shin Godzilla (2016)
Not to be outdone by Legendary, Toho temporarily took away the MonsterVerse’s Godzilla title as the biggest version ever when it released Shin Godzilla in 2016. Quite unlike what Toho typically did with the monster, the new, 388-foot-tall Godzilla was more powerful and more chaotic than previous versions.
Godzilla: King the Monsters (2019) & Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
In 2019, Legendary put their Godzilla back on top of the size charts with Godzilla vs. Kong.
