Retooling the Tohoverse: Several Kaiju in need of the “Minus One” treatment

Godzilla Minus One. Image courtesy Toho International, Inc.
Godzilla Minus One. Image courtesy Toho International, Inc.
1 of 4
Godzilla vs. King Kong: The New Empire – ©2023 Warner Bros
Godzilla vs. King Kong: The New Empire – ©2023 Warner Bros

With Godzilla: Minus One wowing critics in theaters, let’s look at some other kaiju that could do well in the Minus One universe this film creates.

Godzilla: Minus One is upon us now and it’s still a film critic darling (save for a couple of critics that tried to get free publicity by doing fake bad reviews to get their name to show up at the top, we see you) and, honestly, an incredible film which, even as a kaiju “ride-or-die” it is a crazy thing to think. Like, I’ve seen every Godzilla film I could get my hands on and while I love it, I can’t tell people they’re “good movies”. Hell, my favorite, Godzilla Final Wars, I love specifically because of how crazy and insane it is and not because it’s necessarily a good film.

But Minus One has completely changed the game of what we could, potentially, expect from our kaiju films in the future. More than likely the success of this film will cause a sequel of some sort. And while other monsters could show up in future Godzilla films in the Minus One universe, there are a lot of great creatures out there that could be perfect for their own film.

Don’t get me wrong, for every great like Godzilla, there are a ton of really awful-looking creatures that are best left to their retirement on Monster Island. Critters like King Caesar, Gorosaurus, and the remarkably silly Zandora are best taken behind the giant radioactive shed.

What we need to do with this article is think of the world of Minus One. In the film, Japan is coming out of World War II having lost a lot. And because of the Americans fooling around with nuclear weaponry and testing, Godzilla has been awakened and going for the closest target…you guessed it…Japan. So, we have a town of people that have lost everything and are now losing more thanks to a giant kaiju, thus the “Minus One” title.

So who would fit? Turns out there are a couple of great ones we can seamlessly add.