The original Godzilla in Godzilla or Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was a prehistoric monster 50 meters tall and weighting 20,000 metric tons that was disturbed by American atom bomb testing in the Pacific Ocean. After attacking Tokyo, destroying much of the city and killing tens of thousands, Godzilla was defeated when the scientist Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) sacrificed himself to use an experimental weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, which completely dissolved Godzilla. It was stated at the end of the film that it was doubtful that there was only one creature, alluding not only to the many incarnations of Godzilla that would later appear but also to all the other kaiju monsters that would be featured in movies produced by Toho.

The following series would use the events of the first movie as part of their narrative but would occur in their own continuity separate from each other.

As alluded to at the end of the original movie, Godzilla again surfaced at first as a menace in Godzilla Raids Again (shown in the United States as Gigantis, The Fire Monster. Setting the tone for future Showa-series films, Godzilla's fate is uncertain at the end. His next film was 1962's King Kong vs Godzilla ((キングコング対ゴジラ, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira), where once again, the ending was ambiguous. The "bad" Godzilla's final film in the Showa series was 1964's Godzilla vs. The Thing (that being the original American release title, but since better known as Mothra vs. Godzilla (モスラ対ゴジラ, Mosura tai Gojira). Starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla took on the "good guy" persona he would wear for the remainder of the series. He would team up with Mothra, Rodan, and Anguirus to battle a variety of foes both mundane (Ebirah, Kumonga, and Kamacuras) and bizarre (Hedorah, Gigan, and Megalon). He even gained a son in the form of Minilla. The series ended with Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975. The final scene depicted Godzilla wading off into the sea, not to be seen until his return in the VS series ten years later (It is notable, however, that the earlier-released film Destroy All Monsters took place in 1999, twenty-four years after Terror of Mechagodzilla, so the series could also be said to truly end with Destroy All Monsters's ending, which depicted all of Earth's kaiju living out the rest of their days in peace on Monster Island. This "jump" of dates also explains how King Ghidorah appeared in movies such as Godzilla vs. Gigan after he was killed in the earlier film.).

The VS series is in the era known as the Heisei Period wherein, not only did Godzilla return after more than a decade's absence, but it marked a transition between the reign of the Showa Emperor Hirohito to that of his son Akihito now dubbed the Heisei Emperor.

In The Return of Godzilla, rather than being disturbed by atom bomb testing in the Pacific Ocean, the second Godzilla monster of the Versus series, 80 meters tall and 50,000 metric tons, is the direct result. Return of Godzilla ignored all previous films in the series aside from the original, and the following Heisei series would hold some varying ambigiuity over whether the Godzilla awoken in Return was in fact the original, or another of its species. Awakened by volcanic erruption and hungering for nuclear energy, the new Godzilla attacked a Russian nuclear submarine before turning towards Japan's nuclear powerplants. After his battle with the Super X, Godzilla was lured to Mount Mihara by Professor Hayashida where he would be dropped into the lava below. There he entered a state of dormancy.

During his slumber, Japan developed the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria (ANB) as a contingency in case Godzilla ever returned.

Reawakened by explosions, Godzilla headed for Lake Ashino where he would do battle with Biollante, the hybrid monster of Godzilla’s own DNA and the cells of a rose that had bonded with the soul of a scientist's daughter. After their first batttle was done, Godzilla was confronted by a new Super X-2 that distracted the monster so soldiers could administer the ANB through rocket propelled grenades. Super X-2 was destroyed in the battle. In an attempt to activate the ANB, Godzilla was lured to a site with experimental lightning generators whose purpose would be to increase Godzilla's core temperature so the bacteria could function properly. At the site, a new form of Biollante arrived and beseiged the weakening Godzilla. The ANB had taken effect and forced the battle to draw. Biollante was mortally wounded and Godzilla had fallen into the ocean, where he would die from the ANB. The cold waters of the Pacific would lower Godzilla’s body temperature, forcing the ANB to fall dormant and allowing Godzilla to live on.



In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, time travelers from the future go back in time to 1944 to relocate the Godzillasaurus (which would become the second Godzilla) in the Bering Sea, and to replace it with their own creation—three tiny Dorats, which were harmless pets of the Futurians—to allow it to undergo Godzilla’s nuclear transformation instead, mutating and combining them into a three headed golden dragon, King Ghidorah.

In efforts to stop the Futurians' monster, those who were tricked into leading the Futurians to the Godzillasaurus made plans to send a nuclear submarine into the Bering Sea in an attempt to create the second Godzilla. Instead of finding the Godzillasaurus, the submarine would come face to face with Godzilla himself, 100 meters tall and 60,000 metric tons. The Futurians’ ignorance of the past leads them to create the second Godzilla in the first place rather than removing him from history. Godzilla would absorb the power of the nuclear sub, and not only would it seem to have cured the monster of the ANB but it would also mutate it even further, becoming powerful enough to defeat King Ghidorah, the Futurians’ monster. Godzilla went on to attack Japan himself, but was stopped when Emmy, one of the Futurians who had turned on her fellows, resurrected Ghidorah as a cyborg, Mecha-King Ghidorah. The two battled in Tokyo, with both falling into the sea at the movie's conclusion.

Further movies showed mankind's efforts in defeating Godzilla while also being challenged by other monsters such as Mothra, Rodan, and SpaceGodzilla. This series featured a team of monster-fighting soldiers called G-Force. Several ways G-Force planned to stop Godzilla included the construction of two "mecha-kaiju", Mecha Godzilla (who would do battle with both Godzilla and Rodan) and M.O.G.U.E.R.A, also called Moguera (Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla). Like in the previous series, Godzilla had a son (Which confused some fans wither Godzilla's a male of female), this time the smaller creature was simply called "Baby Godzilla", "Little Godzilla," and "Godzilla Jr". (Junior for short).

Ultimately this Godzilla would meet his end in the finale of the versus series, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Everything comes full circle when Godzilla is faced with a monster, Destoroyah, created by the experimental weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, which was used to kill the first Godzilla in 1954. The end of Godzilla came when the radiation became too much for his body to control, and he finally succumbed to a total nuclear meltdown. This was not the end of Godzilla's legacy, however; the wounded Godzilla Junior absorbed all of the energies from his "father"'s remains and fully matured into an adult Godzilla like him. The future becomes reality as Junior is the Godzilla that never destroys Japan due to the humans he befriended as an infant, and child.

Again disregarding the continuity of previous films of the millennium series, the Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is confirmed to be the original monster, now driven by the souls of those who died in the Pacific in World War II. This film returns Godzilla to his roots of being a genuinely malevolent being who deliberately seeks to punish Japan for the sins of WWII. Godzilla would do battle with the Yamato beasts Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah but ultimately would meet his end by the actions of general Tachibana, who piloted a submersible down Godzilla's throat and out through a wound in his neck. The next two times Godzilla attempted to use his thermonuclear breath it shot out of his wound, and eventually tore him apart from the inside. This would not be his end. At the bottom of Tokyo Bay the monster's heart lived on, beginning to rejuvenate his body.

1998 saw the release of an American film called Godzilla, which bears little resemblance to previous works and was clearly influenced by Jurassic Park, but included modern visual effects.

Further information on the creature can be read in the Zilla article.