The monster is usually a villain, but can be a metaphor of humankind's continuous destruction; giant monsters since the introduction of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" have for a time been considered a symbol of atomic warfare, for instance. On the contrary, Godzilla began in this fashion yet as time moved on his reputation quickly grew into that of a cultural icon to the Japanese, as much as Superman is a cultural symbol to America, with a number of films presenting Godzilla as a sort of protagonist who helps protect humans from other, more malevolent monsters.