Godzilla Minus Zero is upon us, and going by the reviews, it looks like the venerable kaiju franchise has another winner on its hands. More than 70 years after his debut, Godzilla continues to be one of the most iconic characters in cinema history. But even though Minus Zero is another strong entry for the King of the Monsters, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that the movie continues a frustrating trend that’s plagued the last couple decades of Godzilla movies by only featuring a handful of his monster co-stars.

Specifically, King Ghidorah is the antagonist of Minus Zero, once again assuming his role as the Big G’s archenemy. Now, I love King Ghidorah, but the alien dragon takes up a lot of oxygen in Toho’s filmography, and there is a deep bench of Godzilla friends and foes who haven’t shown up in years. Let’s look into how the Godzilla franchise isn’t using its roster of monsters to their full potential.

Although most Western audiences probably haven’t seen many of them, Toho has produced more than 30 Godzilla films since the big guy’s debut back in 1954. Godzilla may have been the sole kaiju in his first film, but starting with the sequel, Godzilla Raids Again, the first of many monster co-stars was introduced. That would be Anguirus, an ankylosaur-like kaiju who was Godzilla’s earliest adversary. Luckily, the pair made up and Anguirus became Godzilla’s most steadfast ally across the Shōwa era, consisting of the first 15 films.

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