Godzilla: 20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know
5. None Of The Monsters Breathe Fire
Most people who have never seen Godzilla erroneously believe that he breathes fire.
In the original film, Godzilla expels a radioactive vapour from his mouth. The vapour that Godzilla spews was eventually termed “atomic breath” in later movies.
Although Ghidorah was inspired by dragons from Japanese mythology, the creators thought it was too cliched for him to breathe fire. There were plenty of movies of fire-breathing dragons and the filmmakers wanted Godzilla's nemesis to stand out so they gave him a unique attack. Because of this, Ghidorah shoots x-ray blasts from his mouth.
Wait, Godzilla has fought about 30 monsters over the years. Surely, one or two of them were fire-breathers, right?
Nope. No monster breathes fire at any point in the franchise. Mothra spews poisonous powder, Megalon fires boulders, Minya unleashes smoke rings, Hedorah releases pollution, Biollante discharges corrosive sap, SpaceGodzilla emits a corona beam, and MechaGodzilla launches missiles and lasers.
The reason why none of the creatures breathes fire is simple; it's dangerous. Fire could burn the actors portraying the monsters or damage the costumes. Godzilla's atomic breath or Ghidorah's x-ray blast is simply drawn in by an animator, which is easier, safer, and cheaper.