Hedorah ヘドラ [Millennium]

Hedorah was one of the many kaiju controlled by the Xilien. As its alien masters made a bid for conquest, the smog monster was held back. The sentient sludge was not deployed during the other kaijus' worldwide assault, nor did he join the Xilien ships in their combined attack on Earth.

The creature was dispatched, however, when Godzilla was finally reawakened. After losing many of their other monsters, the Xilien teamed up Hedorah and Ebirah. In an attempt to finally defeat the nuclear leviathan, the two titans engaged Godzilla in Tokyo bay. As the monsters raged an underwater war, the Xilien's effort was ultimately for naught. Godzilla quickly tossed the smog monster out of the water, sending him smashing into a nearby building. Shortly after, Godzilla flung Ebirah out of the water as well. The sea monster was sent crashing into the pollution spawned demon. During the collision, Ebirah's giant claws pierced right through Hedorah's eye. The smog monster cried out while Godzilla lifted himself above the waves in the distance. The King of the Monsters wasted no time, though, and quickly fired his atomic ray at the two downed combatants. The beam slammed into them, as the force pushed them and the building backwards. Eventually the tangled mess of kaiju and skyscraper slammed into other structures, erupting in an explosion. The Xilien watched on in frustration, as the cries of both Hedorah and Ebirah were heard as Godzilla killed them both.

• The smog monster was portrayed by suit actor Kazuhiro Yoshida, who also played Gigan in the movie.
• The Millennium version of Hedorah was designed by Nobuji Nishikawa.
• During the end credits for the 2004 film, Hedorah is shown a couple times in unused sequences. One of these displays Hedorah using his sulfuric acid mist spray. Furthermore, many production stills exist showing Hedorah using this attack either by himself or while engaged with Godzilla.
• When asked about the use of the character in the 2004 film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) director Yoshimitsu Banno expressed dissatisfaction. In particular at the very brief appearance of Hedorah, citing that he was not sure why Varan (believed a slip up and that he had intended to say Anguirus) had so much more screen time in contrast. This was mentioned at G-Fest XII in 2005.
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) director Ryuhei Kitamura mentioned that he originally planned for Hedorah to attack Odaiba, Japan earlier in the film. The sequence was actually envisioned by the director to be a parody of the Bayside Shakedown franchise, as Odaiba is the location of the series and where the box office smash Bayside Shakedown 2 (2003) took place the year before. However, producer Shogo Tomiyama rejected the idea, at least according to the audio commentary on the DVD release of Godzilla: Final Wars in Japan.
• The final, Japanese artwork poster for Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) actually depicts the Showa version of Hedorah rather than the Millennium one. This is noteworthy as all of the other monsters shown line up with their Millennium versions, although Godzilla has an artistic take. The exact form of Hedorah shown is his land incarnation.
• The mobile game Godzilla Defense Force has codex entries for every kaiju that appears in the game, tied to their movie appearance(s). This is broken down by specific versions, and both the 1971 and 2004 versions of Hedorah each have their own codex. For the Millennium version it notes that:
  "This is not the same creature that appeared in Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), as this one has a red extension on its left hand that only occurs in the males of the species."
  This would indicate that the Hedorah seen in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) was male. This could also be interpreted as saying that the Hedorah in the Showa series was female in contrast, but doesn't necessarily confirm this nor is it brought up in the separate codex entry for the 1971 Hedorah.
• This same Hedorah suit was used for the short film Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021), which was released online for Godzilla Day 2021. During the short film, the smog monster was seen to use its sulfuric acid mist. This attack was strong enough to inflict a significant wound to Godzilla's eye. Hedorah was also impaired due to coming into contact with electrical wires, likely due to drying him out. That said, the short film has no continuity with Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) and these feats and weaknesses can't be associated with the theatrical version of the character.