Hedorah (1)

Smog Monster

Biological Information

Smog Monster


Microscopic Form
Aquatic Form
GvH - GRoE
Land Form
GvH - G:O
Flying Form
GvH - G:L - G:O
Final Form


30 meters
20 meters
60 meters
120 meters[2]


20 meters
40 meters
102 meters
180 meters


0.001 metric ton
48,000 metric tons
70,000 metric tons[2]

Affiliation Information

Monster X


Mothra Leo



Controlled by


Production Information
Created by

Yoshimitsu Banno
Tomoyuki Tanaka

Portrayed by

Kenpachiro Satsuma
Kazuhiro Yoshida

More Roars
First appearance

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

Last appearance

Godzilla: Final Wars

Hedorah (ヘドラ,   Hedora?) is an alien pollution kaiju created by Toho that first faced Godzilla in the 1971 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah.




In its first form, Hedorah resembled a tadpole. In its second form, it resembled a quadrupedal reptile. Its third form was like a flying saucer, and its final form took on a humanoid shape. Hedorah's forms all share multiple common characteristics - all have green, kelp-like surfaces and large, yellow eyes with red irises. These eyes are positioned so that they blink sideways.

According to an interview with Yoshimitsu Banno by the Japanese magazine Eiga Hi-Ho, Hedorah's eyes were modeled after vaginas.[3] In his Godzilla: Final Wars design, this allusion is significantly toned down, and his eyes were tilted, thus appearing to have a more 'normal' appearance.

In Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla tears out two white orbs from Hedorah's body. Their role is never explained, and no known source so far explains what they are for.


Hedorah seems to be primarily driven by instinct and the will to survive, and the horrific death and destruction he causes are mostly derived from his bizarre biological properties rather than any true malice. However, he does demonstrate aggression and awareness in his encounters with Godzilla. When first confronted by Godzilla, Hedorah answers Godzilla's taunts and seems to even mimic his gestures. During the monsters' final battle, Hedorah even laughs while smothering Godzilla in sludge.

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was under mind control and did not act independently. His only visible onscreen actions involve him being blasted out of Tokyo Bay, then visibly waving his arms and panicking before Ebirah's claw pierces his eye.

In the comic series Godzilla: Ongoing, Hedorah is aligned with the other space monsters, and seems to be intentionally causing destruction.


Hedorah's gurgling roar comes from Kemular, a poison gas monster from the original Ultraman series. When feeding on toxic fumes, Hedorah makes breathing noises that are recycled from Gezora. In addition, he utters several high-pitched laughter-like sounds, mostly in his final form. In Godzilla: Final Wars, his roar mostly remains the same, but he also emits sounds that are similar to an elephant trumpeting that has been lowered in pitch, and his roar now echoes.


In the Showa series, Hedorah was an alien life form from the Dark Gas Nebula in the Orion constellation that landed on Earth traveling on a comet for at least 243 light years. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was one of many monsters under the control of the Xiliens, but his origin and how he came under the Xiliens' control is never explained.

In IDW Publishing's Godzilla: Ongoing comic series, Hedorah is an alien monster that came to Earth along with fellow aliens Gigan, Monster X and SpaceGodzilla in order to wreak havoc.


Showa Series

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

Hedorah (1)

Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah




Godzilla Island

Cast hedorah

Hedorah in Godzilla Island

Hedorah appeared in the television show Godzilla Island. He attacked Mothra and managed to injure her, but was dehydrated by Godzilla.

There was also another Hedorah in Godzilla Island called Neo Hedorah.

Millennium Series

Godzilla: Final Wars


Hedorah in Godzilla: Final Wars

Hedorah later returned, albeit briefly, under the control of the Xiliens in Godzilla: Final Wars. Hedorah, along with Ebirah, was seen being blasted out of Tokyo Harbor by Godzilla and crashing into a building, with Ebirah's claw piercing Hedorah's left eye. The two were then destroyed by a blast of Godzilla's atomic ray, much to X's frustration. During the end credits a few deleted scenes were shown, one of which was Hedorah destroying Tokyo using his sulfuric acid mist emitted from his tube.


Hedorah is one of the strongest opponents Godzilla faced in the Showa series. While Hedorah's attacks were incapable of killing Godzilla, they were still incredibly effective. Hedorah's toxic sludge alone was capable of burning Godzilla's armored flesh, and even cost Godzilla his eye. Hedorah's blood was able to actually burn all of the skin off Godzilla's hand. As a result, Hedorah was the first kaiju to ever visibly penetrate Godzilla's skin.

Acidic properties


Combining abilities

Hedorah can combine with other Hedorahs to become larger, or divide into multiple smaller Hedorahs.

Eye Laser

It could also fire a red laser beam from its eye, capable of setting objects on fire and burning the flesh off any opponent it strikes.

Sludge attacks


Strong defenses


Sulfate properties

In its saucer form, it was also able to fly, and spread a mist of sulfuric acid as it went along, and in its final form it could revert back to its flying form at will. Hedorah does not require oxygen to survive, but rather thrives on inhaling toxic pollutants. The byproduct of Hedorah consuming these pollutants is a highly concentrated sulfuric mist, which is capable of corroding any metal and completely disintegrating organic life.

During Godzilla's "Fight" with him in Tokyo Bay, when Ebirah's claw stabbed Hedorah's left eye, Sulfuric acid mist can be seen spraying from Hedorah's body, though only for a split second. this may have been a feeble attempt at trying to repel Ebirah. In the ending credits of Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah is also shown spraying sulfuric acid mist from tubes on his body, while stomping through city ruins. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was also given a whip-like arm, which he was not shown to have used in battle, although he is seen using it during the boss fight against his '04 incarnation in the iOS game Godzilla: Defense Force.

The sulfuric mist given off by Hedorah's flying form was also capable of causing Godzilla to gasp for air and collapse.

Video games




Monster's Fair

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

Hedorah appears as a villain in the 1988 Nintendo game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, as well as the sequel, Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters. Hedorah was an enemy in Gojira-kun and the Godzilla Gameboy game as well, and was unique because Godzilla's blows couldn't hurt him, but rather push him back somewhat.

Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

Hedorah appeared within the game Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee



Godzilla (2014 video game)

Pollution deposits at Shizuoka Prefecture's Taganoura Port triggered mutations in Hedrium, a mineral life form that piggybacked its way to Earth on a meteor. At first, it took the shape of a large tadpole, but after repeated cell division and amalgamation it eventually reached its fully evolved form—an uncanny destroyer of life and civilization.

Hedorah is a monster of pure contamination, feeding off factory smog and waste fluids to grow. It turns metal to rust and bone to ashes wherever it passes. However, its body is weak against dryness, and ultimately it was turned to ash by electric bolts from the giant electrode plates made by the Defense Forces.

A second Hedorah appeared in "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004). It was manipulated by the Xiliens to attack Godzilla in Tokyo Bay, shooting red lasers from its eyes and spewing sulfate mist out of its mouth. However, Godzilla was able to blast it ashore with its atomic breath, causing it to crash into buildings before ultimately being incinerated.

— Hedorah Kaiju Guide bio

Hedorah appears for the first time as a playable character in the PS4 version of the 2014 Godzilla game, and as an enemy monster in the PS3 version. He is one of the lower tier characters, and can be fought on any difficulty path.


Square One tap: Triangle Stroke
Two taps: Headbutt
Three taps: Tail Attack
X Tap: Jump
Forward + Tap: Forward Jump
Back + Tap: Back Jump
Left/Right + Tap: Left Right Jump
Triangle Tap: Mount
Circle Tap: Crimson Beam
Forward + Tap: Acid Spray (Front)
Back + Tap: Acid Spray (Area)
Left/Right + Tap: Acid Spray (Wide Area)
Roar + Tap: Crimson Beam Combo
R2 Tap: Acid Mist Body Press

Godzilla: Kaiju Collection

Hedorah appeared within the mobile title Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.


Godzilla: Legends


Godzilla: Ongoing


Godzilla: The Half-Century War


Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

Hedorah is briefly seen in the first issue of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, as part of Dr. Kenji Ando's conference about the reasons why kaiju have gained their own place in the natural order. In the presentation, it's learned that the "Smog Monster," as the news like to call Hedorah, attacked several oil rigs in the ocean. Though Hedorah is presumably still alive and present on Earth during the events of the series, no attempts have been made to locate or capture him, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Godzilla: Oblivion

Hedorah reappeared in the final issue of Godzilla Oblivion as a monster from another dimension, where he joined Anguirus, Rodan, Zilla, King Caesar, Biollante, and Mothra and her larvae as they joined Mecha-King Ghidorah in his fight against Godzilla. After he caused a lot of destruction in the city and after Mecha-King Ghidorah was defeated by Godzilla, Hedorah challenged him, only to be shot by the leviathan's atomic breath. Later, after Mecha-King Ghidorah was defeated by Godzilla, all of the monsters were left behind as the humans left the Earth as it became covered by tiny robotic cells that served as interdimensional doorways.

In other languages

  • German: Hydrox
  • Italian: Hidrax
  • Russian: Хедора
  • Chinese: Hēi duō lā (黑多拉)


  • In both of Hedorah's film appearances, his left eye is injured in some way.
  • Hedorah's blood is very toxic and acidic, but the only part of his body which is vulnerable to it is his eyes. If Hedorah bleeds over his eyes, he has to close them to prevent them from being damaged. However, in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Hedorah used this to his advantage, after Godzilla punched through one of his eyes, the acidic blood caused the flesh on Godzilla's hand to be burned off down to the bone.
  • The end of Godzilla vs. Hedorah shows one of Hedorah's tadpole forms is still alive, alluding to a sequel that was never made.
  • Due to Hedorah's very brief appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars, he carries out the least on-screen destruction in the entire film, as he was only shown feeding on the pollution in Tokyo Bay before Godzilla attacked him. The footage showing him using his sulfuric mist suggests that he was to have more screentime in the film, but that it was cut as a result of time constraints.
    • Hedorah is also the only monster in the entire film (other than Gigan and Monster X) not to appear before the Xiliens reveal their plans.
  • Hedorah's debut in Godzilla vs. Hedorah coincided with the revival of the Ultraman series with The Return of Ultraman. Curiously, the first episode of the new series featured a monster called Zazahn, a kelp monster bearing a remarkable likeness to Hedorah who was supposedly attracted to a city by pollution. Curiously, the episode which featured the debut of Zazahn was also directed by Ishiro Honda.
    • Coincidentally, a monster named Hedoron, a massive sea slug mutated by Earth's polution under Ape Man Gori's command from Spectreman, appeared four months before Hedorah even made his on screen debut.
  • Hedorah was likely an inspiration for the monster Destoroyah in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Both monsters possess multiple forms, including microscopic, flying, and gigantic bipedal final forms, are composed of trillions of microorganisms that have merged together, are extremely difficult opponents for Godzilla, and are incredibly deadly to organic life. Both Hedorah and Destoroyah likely influenced the creation of the monster Shinomura from the comic Godzilla: Awakening, which also shares many of these similarities.
  • In Bandai's 1984 Godzilland merchandise line, Hedorah is depicted as a female monster and one of Godzilla's friends. The Godzilland Hedorah is generally purple in color with long eyelashes above its eyes. This is the only known instance of Hedorah being portrayed as an ally or friend of Godzilla.

List of appearances


Television series

Video games



Film-based kaiju
Godzilla kaiju
King Kong kaiju
Mothra kaiju
Gamera kaiju
Other kaiju
Scrapped kaiju
