The Land Unknown

 

This unknown land is pretty darn savage!  We have talked about it on this blog a few times, and featured the creatures way back in the "Monster of the Week" posts.  I didn't even remember posting that oddball Super 8 trailer a couple years ago.  It sure will make for a great addition to the future podcast episode I have planned.  I like the movie, though I kinda wish Universal had put a bit more money into the movie, since it is a cracking good adventure movie.  Very pulp-like, if you will.

Hero of the Week- Superman

 

Today marks the first Hero of the Week post, as the MOTW posts are taking a bit of a sabbatical for maybe two years.  Naturally, we will start with the first true superhero- Superman.  Sure, he wasn't the first strongman hero, or the first invulnerable hero, or even the first hero with a costume.  But he was the one who combined all of those and more into one amazing hero.  DC Comics sure did not see that exploding like it did in 1938.  They also got it for a steal, literally, from writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which is another story that has been well documented.

Robot MOTW- Mechagodzilla 93

 

This is not the most fearsome looking version of Mechagodzilla (nothing will top the original) but it did manage to kill the second series monster.  At least for a few minutes, anyway.  It is loaded with weapons, but looks barely mobile.  Rodan and a baby Godzilla are running around the movie as well.  This MG is also a transformer, as it can pair with the Garuda and become Super Mechagodzilla.  The weapons are all beams, which allow it to stay away from Godzilla.  Part of the plan to kill Godzilla stems from a now discredited theory of dinosaurs having a second or hind brain to relay commands to their lower bodies.  This would not work today, obviously.

Robot MOTW- The Colossus of New York

 

From Wikipedia- "Following an accident, Jeremy Spensser's brain is transplanted by his scientist father into the huge body of an unattractive, frightening cyborg, to save his brilliant son's mind so that it can continue to serve mankind. Soon, his son's brain becomes transformed by the experimental procedure, losing key attributes that make him human and define his personality."  It also develops death rays from it's eyeballs, and of course, runs amok before Jeremy's son manages to touch his lost humanity and shut the robot body down.

Robot MOTW- Ultron 7

Ultron 7 took on the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans all at once, and nearly beat them all.  He had the use of the body of Omega, which granted him even more power, though it was not made of adamantium like his other bodies have been.  It also made Ultron gigantic, which does help when battling many different heroes.  It is a good thing that Agatha Harkness was tending to tiny, comatose Franklin Richards in Attilan at the same time.  Ultron's encephalo rays woke him up and he blasted the robot with his own mutant mind beams.  That was the last we saw of Ultron 7.  He would return later, and finally ditched the numbering.  Why advertise how many times you have been defeated?

Robot MOTW- Maria

 

A lower class worker, Maria, is copied into a robot, in order to crush a rebellion of workers.  This robot assumes Maria's identity.  Rotwang is her creator, and he more than lives up to his name.  The workers and the upper class fight, but eventually they are brought together.  It's a massive movie, and I have only seen most of it once.  Faux-Maria is not really a monster, she is only doing as she was programmed.  It is really Rotwanker that is the monster, and the upper class who look down upon the lower classes.

MOTW- Robot Model B9

 

Planetary Robot B9 was a late addition to the crew of tje Jupiter 2.  It has a wide variety of capabilities, and tapes that can program it to do even more things.  It has electrical bolts as well as laser beams.  These are both offensive and defensive weapons.  At first, the robot was considered dangerous to the family, since Dr. Smith was controlling it.  He was using the Robot for his own devious ends.  After operating amongst humans for a time the Robot started developing a personality, which led the younger Robinsons to treat "him" as a part of both the crew and the family.

Robot MOTW- Mechanikong (1967)

 

This amazing robot is the creation of Dr. Who, the international Judas.  It is one impressive robot.  It does have some bombs to use, but only for the mining operation.

Dr. Who: “He's exactly like the original Kong. With this, the world is ours.”

Madame Piranha: “It's still not the original. You sure you didn't just build a giant toy?”

Dr. Who: “A toy? That's an insult! How can you say that? It is the strongest thing there is in the world today!”

― Dr. Who reveals Mechani-Kong to his benefactor Madame Piranha (King Kong Escapes)

Robot MOTW- Creeper robot

 

Dr. Zorka invents an eight foot slave robot to do his evil bidding.  It roams through 12 chapters of The Phantom Creeps way back in 1939.  It hulks about doing the bad doctor's bidding, until it gets destroyed.  Dr. Zorka also does not fare well, but that is par for the course in serials.

Robot MOTW- The Automaton

 

This giant robot protects a powerful cartel.  It uses a deadly gas weapon called The Madagascar Madness.  Harry Houdini breaks the cartel up and exposes this robot as a human in disguise.  This is an early serial, and most of it has been lost to the ashes of time, but a few chapters are left for your viewing pleasure.  The robot doesn't look very threatening at all, but I am sure over a hundred years ago it was something to behold at the time,  Too bad it was just a dude in disguise.  The cartel would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that darn Houdini!

Robot MOTW- Gort

 

Robots really aren't monsters, though they can certainly cause damage.  Gort has a lot of power, including disintegrating beams.  These are used against artillery and the army.  Gort is one of the first robots that looks futuristic.  The mechanical men of the serials, while being cool, didn't always look great.  They were clunky, and definitely of the time they were created in.  Gort looks great today, with a sleek and powerful build.  It doesn't hurt that they filmed him being at least eight feet tall. 

Robot MOTW- Mechagodzilla

 

Strange ape-like aliens create a robotic clone of Godzilla, and not surprisingly name it Mechagodzilla.  It is loaded with a massive array of weapons, including lasers, missiles, eye beams and an incredible force field.  Those aliens from the third planet in the black hole weren't messing around.  Mechagodzilla can even fly!  It is a wonder that Godzilla wasn't killed d-e-d dead during the battle.  Mechagodzilla almost did destroy the King of the Monsters.  Fortunately, Godzilla had an ally in King Shisa and was able to prevail over his doppelganger.

MOTW- The Thing (FF)

 

Mama Grimm's baby boy Benjy isn't really a monster- at least not after the first 10 issues of The Fantastic Four.  He was kind of bitter about his situation back then.  But since this is the REAL Godzilla vs the Thing, I couldn't resist, and I think Ben would be amused by this post.  He does have a great sense of humor.  This is from the March, 78 issue, #20.  We didn't know there were only four issues left at the time.  Hank Pym's shrinking effect (pre-Pym particles) is wearing off Godzilla, and our heroes, S.H.I.E.L.D. don't know exactly what to do.  The FF show up and fight Godzilla in a museum.  It ends with Ben knocking Godzilla into a shark tank (why is that in a museum with live White Sharks?).  What will happen?  Well, Ben helps Godzilla get out of the tank, Reed slightly suffocates him and they send him back in time to the Cretaceous Period.  

MOTW- Krollar

 

Krollar is the final Mega Monster here.  It is rather insectoid, with several pairs of legs.  It has a retractable horn that can be used for attack.  It can also burrow into the ground, and as seen, the horn can be used as an anchor.  It can also vomit earth back out it's maw, using that as a weapon as well.  However, since it has to open it's mouth to attack, that makes it vulnerable to Godzilla's atomic breath.  This finally makes the Megans decide they are tired of war, and may sue for peace with the Betans.

MOTW- Triax

 

Triax was the first Mega Monster that Godzilla and Red Ronin encountered.  It has two eyes on stalks, a hard shell, a sharp beak and stumpy legs that have been enhanced by jets.  It uses hit and run tactics, but is not powerful enough to stop our heroes.  Hence the reason the Megans decide to send the other two beasts to Earth.  The creature is not very bright, or is rather overconfident in it's abilities, as even after the power enhancement, it confronts Godzilla head on and gets a blast of atomic breath right in the face.  This blast goes all the way through the monster, and that is the end of Triax.  I go with it not being a very smart monster.

MOTW- Rhiahn

Rhiahn is the coolest looking of the Mega Monsters, right out of the 70s Godzilla movies.  It has a disc shaped head full of sharp teeth, clawed forearms and a helicopter tail.  Said tail can also be used as a weapon, as Rob and Red Ronin found out.  Rhiahn could be a master of a flying guillotine.  It puts up a good fight with Godzilla, and can move fast enough to grab a SHIELD saucer right out of the air.  Its jaws can clamp down on Godzilla and not let go.    However, it is not the smartest monster and without the Megans guidance it meets a fitting end from Godzilla.

MOTW- Beta-Beast

 

The Betans transport Godzilla to the Moon and have him battle their deadliest monster, the Beta-Beast.  This thing can shoot fire from the top of it's head, and has deadly missiles that it can shoot from its tentacles.  It can also survive on an airless planet.  Godzilla defeats it in short order, and then explains to Godzilla why they brought him to the moon.  Their enemies, the Megans, are about to win the long war, and are sending their top three monsters, the Mega Monsters to Earth so they can take all the resources from our planet.  It seems like it would have been a better idea to have their monster become an ally to Godzilla, but aliens gotta alien.  Godzilla seems to understand all of this and returns to Earth just as the first Mega monster attacks Red Ronin.

MOTW- Yetrigar

 

Deep in the past in the American Northwest, a sasquatch (or Mangani, if you will) gets frozen.  This places him in suspended animation.  Then in the 1950s, atomic tests in the US awaken the creature.  And as always, exposure to the radiation makes the creature grown to an approximate height of 50 meters (well, whatever size the Marvel-zilla is).  Due to this, Yetrigar comes into conflict with Godzilla, and shortly thereafter, the giant robot Red Ronin.  This leads to the poor beast getting buried under an avalanche, courtesy of a guilt stricken Rob Takaguchi.  He thinks he killed Yetrigar.  Later on, though, Mockingbird revives the creature.

MOTW- Ghilaron

 

Ghilaron is the final creation of Dr. Demonicus to attack Godzilla.  This battle lasts the longest, but still ends the same way with Godzilla snapping the poor beast's neck. Godzilla then does away with Demonicus Island.  Godzilla never saw the bad doctor again, but he resurfaced later on in various other Marvel mags to vex other heroes.  I guess the Marvel Godzilla showed up again, in a sad, mutated form, but then again returned to his normal self.

MOTW- Lepirax

 

Lepirax is a giant mutated butterfly.  We know how that how that is going to end.  Butterflies never do well when fighting Godzilla, and this one is a lot smaller than Mothra.  So it can't even fight Godzilla properly, though it does do a number on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter.  But that is about it.  Much like Centipor, Lepirax is not immune to atomic breath.  It is rare to find a creature that can take a blast, though.  Rodan is one of the few Earth monsters that.  To add insult to injury, Godzilla stomps the ashes of the bug after said blast burns it to a crisp.