Zilla Junior

Not to be confused with Godzilla Junior.

Zilla Junior
Godzilla character
Zilla Junior fighting Nessie
First appearance	Godzilla (1998)
Last appearance	Godzilla: The Series (1998-2001)
Voiced by	Frank Welker (vocal effects)
In-universe information
Species	Mutated iguana
Family	First Godzilla (biological father) † Baby Godzillas (siblings) † Nick Tatopoulos (adoptive father) Komoditrax (female partner)
Origin	Madison Square Garden

Zilla Junior, depicted as Godzilla in Godzilla: The Series is a titular cameo character in the live-action 1998 kaiju film, and the titular main protagonist of Godzilla: The Series. He was given birth by the first Godzilla until Dr. Niko Tatopoulos adopted him as his son, and also became best friends with him.

Overview

Name

This kaiju's name is simply referred to as "Godzilla" throughout Godzilla: The Series between 1998 and 2001. In the Season 1, Episode 15 "Competition," the Japanese characters always refer to him as "Gojira," even when speaking English.

Design

While this Godzilla's design is mostly the same design like his father in the 1998 film, he was given a recolor on his skin color. In early production artwork behind Godzilla: The Series, he was given a bright blue coloration. But in the series and it first aired between 1998 and 2001, he was given a desaturated purple that is lighter on the undersides.

Additionally in the series, he had been given red eyes with orange pupils. He also lacked the fifth digit on his two hands that his father originally possessed. When unleashing his atomic breath, his dorsal fins and eyes briefly light up.

His atomic breath is depicted as a green hue instead of a traditional blue hue.

Character biography

After the events of Godzilla, where Godzilla laid 200 eggs at Madison Square Garden, Zilla Jr. was born from a large egg that survived the onslaught of the US military, he is the only surviving child of his asexual father who attacked New York in the film. His father, who was originally falsely described as "Godzilla", was later discovered to be a new species of kaiju created by the mutation of a marine iguana through shelling in World War II, properly known as "Zilla". Zilla was shot down at the Brooklyn Bridge by fighter jets and most of his offspring was incinerated with the detonation of Madison Square Garden.

Zilla Jr. was the last of his kind, a unique species alone in the world. Within the first few moments after birth, Zilla Jr. encountered Nick Tatopoulos, a scientist who was studying his father and came to the site to check for surviving offspring. Like many animals do at such a young age, the newborn kaiju bonded to the man. Growing at a rapid pace, he was quickly targeted by the US military as a threat that is similar to his father, but his attachment to Tatopoulos became clearly evident, and the military backed down on the ground that he could be useful to help aid in battles against other kaijus, which were appearing rapidly across the globe. He was also found to be sterile, or at least unable to reproduce asexually like his father, and so there was no threat of him reproducing at an exponential rate and spreading more mayhem across the world.

More durable in battle than his father, Zilla Jr. has been shown to be able to take much more of a hit than he first expected and helped defeat several kaijus of different shapes, sizes, abilities and backgrounds throughout the series, storming to the battlefield whenever he is summoned into action by Tatopoulos and his crew H.E.A.T..

Appearances

Movies

• Godzilla (1998; a baby at the end of the film)

TV series

• Godzilla: The Series (1998–2001) - As Godzilla