Monster of the Week: Gigan (Millennium)

This Gigan is a space monster that came to earth 12,000 years ago. While the Showa version was more of a  bully than a world destroyer, this one was the latter. This Gigan pretty much destroyed everything before Mothra intervened. After a great battle she defeated Gigan and he was turned into a mummy. 12,000 years later he is discovered and brought to  a research lab. That is where the events of Godzilla: Final Wars takes place...

This Gigan is a complete showoff. Then again, he has every right to be. He knows he's awesome and pretty powerful, but unlike the honorable Battra, he just loves to act 'cool.' Sometimes I think he's more concerned with looking cool than actually winning a fight. Apparently the Xiliens knew Gigan, cause the leader knew him by name. "Gigan.....rise!!!!!" That is what he said. (It is possible that it was the Xiliens that originally sent the cyborg.) After that quote, Gigan's visor lit up and he started shaking his claws. He was back, and he was happy about it, already making some poses attempting to look cool. Then he slashed the roof open, and just like that he was back in the world. He roared a roar saying he was back. Unlike his Showa counterpart, this one actually liked to use his beam. On the way he decided to blow up a rather tall building. How can an evil monster not blow up a tall building? Later in the day ol' chicken-head (okay, to be fair, this version looks a lot less like a chicken than his Showa counterpart) was called in to destroy the Gotengo, which was going to awake Godzilla. Gigan is a loyal, arrogant monster. He'll get the job done while looking cool. Gigan was pretty much laughing to himself as the Gotengo's missiles didn't hit him. Of course he hadn't expected them to melt Godzilla's icy prison. Gigan was caught off guard by a sudden blast of atomic radiation. Godzilla was then occupied by blowing up a building, but Gigan was quick to retaliate, showing Godzilla his own beam. After a blast he landed, roaring. He knew he was cool, and he thought Godzilla knew that too. Despite what you might think, Gigan isn't one to 'play around' with his victims like his serial killer Showa counterpart, he's a serious fighter, but likes to look cool along the way. He likes to show his opponent who's boss. He's also merciless, his opponents die slow painful deaths from that buzzsaw, Godzilla would be the next. Or so he thought. After he managed to tie Godzilla's neck, he shouted a roar of knowing he had this in the bag and started up his buzzsaw as he reeled Godzilla in. He then roared a roar of mockery to Godzilla.Though Gigan has one very sensitive area, his head. One good blast, and it's destroyed. That's exactly what Godzilla did. A blast of atomic radiation easily destroyed his head, rendering him powerless. However, that wouldn't be the end of our Millennium friend, if you thought he couldn't get cooler, you were wrong.

While Godzilla was dealing with Monster X, Mothra was arriving to help out. Of course, can't have two earth monsters ganging up on ol' Monster X. So the Xilien leader sent out a new and improved upgraded Gigan, complete with chainsaws. And he loved them, already showcasing them as he left the Xilien mothership. However, he's not one to waste too much time, his mission was to destroy Mothra. And he was pretty happy about it, he could exact revenge on his old rival. He flew toward her and they went at it. Then they both went to the ground some distance between them. Gigan roared and got into a battle stance, anticipating his battle with Mothra, and then her death. Gigan didn't consider Mothra to be a respectable rival like Battra did, she was nothing more than a bother to him, an extreme bother. Mothra kept roaring at her old enemy. Gigan lifted one of his chainsaw claws, he had a plan. He zoomed and managed to grab Mothra's abdomen with his tail and swung her away like rag doll. Gigan like I said before is a serious fighter, but when it comes to Mothra, it's a grudge fight. Right after Mothra flew into the air, he was hot on her tail, clipping one of her annoying wings off. She fell, defeated.. Once she was down, only thing left was Godzilla. So he stepped in to assist his ally Monster X. (See the reference to when his Showa counterpart teamed up with Ghidorah back in 72?) After a beam of letting know he was here, he landed and started up his chainsaws, making another 'cool' pose. This guy was really full of himself. He knows two against one isn't honorable, but he doesn't care about that stuff. He just wants to get the fight over with. And look cool while doing it. After Monster X managed to subdue Godzilla, Gigan roared in thrill as he approached. He showed Godzilla his chainsaw as if saying you're about to feel a lot of pain, and then laid a blow. Of course, being how smart is, Godzilla spun around Monster X and Gigan struck him insead. However, the two didn't argue, it was a mistake. Unlike his Showa counterpart, this Gigan knew what it meant have an ally and when mistakes happen. Then Mothra came and knocked them both down. Of course, since she was back, she was once again Gigan's main target. After chasing after her, Mothra went beind him and shouted something like "Hey!" Gigan turned around, struck another pose, then shot out two ninja stars, Mothra easily avoided them, but Gigan unexpectedly shot a beam, setting fire all around. With the explosion in the background, he turned around, looking 'cool' while roaring a roar of victory and bragging about it. Sadly for him, as embarrassing as it sounds, his arrogance got the best of him, he forgot about his ninja stars and they came back and decapitated him. Yes, he was decapitated twice in the film. A little bit of a running gag. However, this upgraded version could actually still operate without the head, but 'Fire Mothra' emerged and went sraight into Gigan, blowing him up and ending his reign of terror for good.


That was the end of the Final Wars Gigan. Comparing to his Showa counterpart, this one was obviously faster, loves to show off, and just generally cooler. (It's no surprise that he's my favorite kaiju.) While he was the running joke of the film, there's no denying that he made a great impression with what is by far the coolest monster design (or re-design in this case) ever. With his arrogance, show-off persona, and look, the Millennium Gigan will never be forgotten, despite being decapitated twice in the same film.