Godzilla: 17 Easter Eggs, References & Fan Nods You Need To See

15. The Nautilus

As the backstory of how Godzilla - established as an ancient creature who has been around for a lot longer than humanity on Earth - was awoken in 1954, we get a look at some extremely authentic looking aged footage (achieved using a 1960s camera lens and some clever digital trickery) that reveals the trigger. In Gareth Edwards' mythology, the beast was awoken by a deep sea exploration that went too deep and awoke something it didn't intend to - Balrog style - and the vessel in question was called the Nautilus, as a brief shot confirms. That of course is a reference to the submarine piloted by Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's classic "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" - a story, naturally, about a sea monster and the dangers of unbound scientific thirst, whose film adaptation also came out in 1954. The name also explains the fake working title attached to the film, which is alternatively and playfully known as Nautilus during production.