The Hollow Earth and the ancient history of the Titans are ultimately the concepts that distinguish the Monstroverse from all other versions of the Godzilla story. Over the years, there have been a multitude of timelines associated with Godzilla, but only in one – Godzilla and Kong's Monsterverse – is he recognized as an ancient monster linked to an underground world. But if a specific 1955 Godzilla project had come to fruition, these ideas wouldn't be exclusive to the Monsterverse.
Over the years, Toho has had a long list of plans for Godzilla films that never moved forward. Godzilla vs. BaganGodzilla and King Kong crossover in the 1990s, and The Return of King Ghidorah! are among the exciting films abandoned by Toho. Another is Godzilla's bride? While its title may be indicative of some potentially absurd additions to the Godzilla universe, it was actually quite groundbreaking in that it would have introduced ideas that would later be crucial to the founding of the $2.5 billion monster movie franchise. from Legandary.
How Toho's Bride of Godzilla Movie Would Have Redefined the Kaiju in Godzilla's World
The Most Important Part of the Monsterverse Was Almost Added to Godzilla's Francise in the 1950s
In 1955, Toho released its first sequel to the original Godzilla film, Godzilla attacks again. As the first film in the franchise to feature a monster fight Godzilla strikes again brought Anguirus into the world of kaiju. In the same year, the studio developed a script for a Godzilla strikes again sequence, titled Godzilla's bride? According to The Big Book of Giant Japanese Monsters: The Lost Films by John LeMay, Godzilla's Bride Where would I have picked it up? Godzilla strikes again left causing scientists to investigate the origins of Godzilla and Anguirus. Interestingly, the real-life Hollow Earth theory would have been the answer to their questions.
A scientist named Dr. Zenji Shida is said to have come up with an explanation for the existence of Godzilla and Anguirus; as he explained, Godzilla and Anguirus originated from a “hollow earth“deep underground cavewhich also housed prehistoric creatures thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago. The discovery of one of these caves – plus the appearance of a dinosaur – later in the film would prove Dr. Shida's speculations accurate. All of this would be woven into a story focused on Godzilla's battle with a giant-sized mechanical woman known as the Bride of Godzilla.
Why Bride of Godzilla? Never happened
Godzilla's bride? It had too many monsters and too much action to be viable in 1955
As proven by the success of the Monsterverse, there's all sorts of storytelling potential that comes with the notion of making the Hollow Earth concept the center of Godzilla's story. Clearly, though, the filmmakers behind the Monsterverse weren't the first to consider going this route with Godzilla. Of course, this raises questions about why Toho didn't do anything with the idea. It's unclear why the studio never explored it, but the reasons for not doing so as early as 1955 are much less mysterious. From the looks of things, Godzilla's bride? it was too ambitious for the budget Toho would have allocated.
LeMay argued in his book that Godzilla's bride? It would have been very expensive to make and it's not hard to see why. The hollow earth cave scenes would have been a heavy expense, not to mention the cost of creating the Bride of Godzilla costume, the additional dinosaurs in the script, and all the monstrous action that would come from having Anguirus back as well. The number of creatures involved would have made Godzilla's bride? an expensive undertaking.
What's more, it seems that at that time, Toho wasn't fully invested in making another Godzilla movie immediately after Godzilla strikes again. After all, it did not replace Godzilla's bride? with another Godzilla project. Instead, it turned to Rodan and I didn't make another Godzilla movie until King Kong vs Godzilla in 1962. And when he revitalized the franchise, he did so without the concepts that fueled its Godzilla's bride? road map.
What does Godzilla's bride look like? The origin differs from the Monsterverse
Tradition changes that Godzilla's bride? would have contributed to the franchise aligning closely with the Monsterverse, but some key differences remain, largely due to what came before. Since Godzilla's bride? should have been in the canon of the last two films, it stands to reason that it would not have reconfigured Godzilla's connections to the atomic bomb. In the Monsterverse, Godzilla was simply awakened in modern times by nuclear testing, while Toho's Godzilla received his signature appearance and powers from the explosion.
Both definitions of Godzilla's origin would have been true in Godzilla's bride? In this iteration, this would be plausible, considering that Godzilla was already considered a prehistoric creature before his exposure to nuclear radiation. What this means is that Godzilla's bride? The world was probably a place populated by dinosaurs, but not necessarily by kaiju. It can be assumed that Godzilla's nuclear transformation happened after he left the underground caverns.
As Godzilla's bride? It would have changed the Godzilla franchise
Assuming that Godzilla's bride? Had it not been a single installment, it likely would have served as a huge foundation for the franchise to work from. Similar to how the Monsterverse utilized the Hollow Earth, Toho's films could have used it as a backbone for many of their adventures. In the Showa era, several of its creatures did not have fully developed backstories, but through the introduction of an underground world, Toho would have a practical explanation for the presence of almost all of the monsters in its world. If that were the case, this location could have been a recurring element in the franchise.
What's more, it could have used this addition to the franchise to better explain other corners of its universe and tie them all together. An example of this is Seatopia. Megalon's home, Seatopia was introduced in Godzilla vs. Megalon like an underground city, which was the closest the franchise came to an underground world proper, populated by monsters. If Godzilla's bride? Had it happened, Seatopia would have fit perfectly into Toho's Godzilla lore. It could have been encountered on an adventure by its human characters, who could share underground adventures very similar to those of the Monstroverse.