Kumonga

Godzilla film series character
Kumonga
Alias Spiga
First Appearance Son of Godzilla (1967)
Latest appearance Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Created by Jun Fukuda

Kumonga (クモンガ) is a mutated, enormous spider kaiju who first appeared in Toho's 1967 film Son of Godzilla. Though he is the main antagonist of that film, he would go on to help save the world in the following year's Godzilla film (which takes place in 1999), Destroy All Monsters. He is also known as Spiga, a name given to him for English language audiences.

Overview

Abilities

Kumonga can shoot thick webbing and poison from between his mandibles, and boasts prehensile pedipalps that can be used to grab small prey. The Showa version was able to survive multiple direct hits from Godzilla's atomic breath. The Millennium Kumonga's web was able to expand on contact with air from a single thread into a net for incapacitating foes. See Scytodidae for a real world example of a spider which can spit web similar to Kumonga. In addition, the Millennium version was able to leap hundreds of meters at a time, much like a jumping spider (Salticidae).

Showa

In the Showa series, Kumonga is a giant spider who was initially found on Sogell Island. It first appears after having trapped Minilla and a Kamacuras in its web. Godzilla soon arrives and defeats the monster spider, burning it to a crisp with his and Minilla's atomic breath.

Later, Kumonga - either revived or a different individual from the same species - is placed on Monster Island, where it lives with all the other remaining monsters on the Earth. In 1999, aliens known as the Kilaaks capture the monstrous spider and release it along with the rest of Earth's monsters on the planet's major cities. In the end, Kumonga is freed from the aliens' control and takes part in the final battle against the Kilaak-controlled King Ghidorah, disabling the space monster's ability to fly in concert with the larval Mothra through use of their webbing. Kumonga and the other monster return to Monster Island to live out the rest of their days in peace.

Millennium

Kumonga is one of the monsters featured in the 2004 film Godzilla: Final Wars as one of the many mind-controlled monsters of the Xilians. This version of Kumonga is more reminiscent to a standard spider and less to a tarantula than its Showa counterpart, featuring less hair and a set of pronounced yellow stripes along its legs. When Godzilla is freed from Area G, Kumonga is released in New Guinea to battle him. At first, Kumonga is able to outmaneuver trap Godzilla with its jumps while simultaneously entangling the king of the monsters in its thick webbing, but Godzilla manages to gain the upper hand when he grabs hold of a strand of web and swings Kumonga around in circles before throwing him. Kumonga soars across the horizon, likely to its death, and isn't seen again.

Appearances

Films

Video games

Literature

References