Ranking Every Godzilla Incarnation

It is time to think bigger as Godzilla: King of the Monsters is set to hit cinemas worldwide this weekend. KOTM will be the second Godzilla film and third entry into Legendary's Monsterverse.

Since the monster's debut in 1954, Godzilla has been a steady presence on screen. As of today Godzilla tops such properties as James Bond and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the longest running movie franchise of all-time.

With such a long and storied history Godzilla has taken many different forms. Every generation has been treated to their own version of the beast, some marveling at a larger than life God-like figure that protects the planet. Others were given a destructive force and apocalyptic threat to humanity. A lucky few even got to see Godzilla on water skis in an ad for Snickers (real thing that actually happened).

Considering that Godzilla is a large, atomic breath having, prehistoric beast it is amazing just how many iterations we have seen so far. Some have been better and more memorable than others, so before he graces our screens again lets take time to reflect on the King of the Monsters.

Tristar Pictures is responsible for one of the most unforgettable iterations of Godzilla we have ever seen. The only problem is we would all rather forget. Directed Roland Emmerich, starring Matthew Broderick and featuring more Simpsons cast members than you realized at the time, TriStar's Godzilla film was one of the biggest film blunders of its decade.

This incarnation was shunned by Godzilla fans for virtually every reason, from the origin as a mutated iguana to the lizard's evasive fighting style. To list all of the problems, we would not know where the criticism of the monster ends and criticism of the movie itself begins.

Toho despised the creation even more than fans, disavowing the monster entirely. The creature is now known as Zilla, which arguably negates its entry on this list (the film is named Godzilla, so sadly it still counts).

If you're the glass half-full type, the accompanying Saturday morning cartoon fared far better. The ridiculous design from the film was still used, but Zilla actually engaged in some entertaining monster mayhem. Still, the film was too high a price to pay for the solid animated outing.

If presented in a vacuum as a completely original creation, and assuming it ever got made without the Godzilla name attached, Tristar's Zilla would have been relegated to pop culture obscurity. If only it were that lucky.