The greatest monster team-up in the history of the Godzilla franchise had the potential to be even bigger. That’s saying a lot, considering that Destroy All Monsters was already an unprecedented affair. Crossovers were rare but admittedly nothing new, as Universal, for example, had brought handfuls of their horror movie properties together in the 1940s. However, no one had accomplished something on the scale of Destroy All Monsters, and it remains impressive even by today’s standards..

Ahead of the movie, Toho had a host of monsters available of them, many of which being creatures who had no prior ᴀssociation with Godzilla. Such was the case for Varan (Varan the Unbelievable), Gorosaurus (King Kong Escapes), Baragon (Frankenstein vs. Baragon), and Manda (Atragon). Also on hand were Mothra and Rodan, creatures who had already been woven into the Godzilla franchise as his allies after enjoying their own solo movies. As if that wasn’t enough, Destroy All Monsters packed even more monsters into the story by adding in a few kaiju original to Godzilla’s movies, namely Kumonga, Minila, Anguirus, and King Ghidorah.

Toho Cut 4 Kaiju From Destroy All Monsters

Sanda, King Kong, Ebirah, And Maguma Were All Cut

Destroy All Monsters ultimately included a whopping total of 11 monsters from Toho’s kaiju library. Interestingly, that’s actually less than what Toho originally intended to do. According to The Big Book of Giant Japanese Monsters: The Lost Films, Toho’s vision for Destroy All Monsters was for it to combine all of its monsters, not just most of them. Specifically, it had four additional kaiju in its initial plans for Destroy All Monsters: Sanda, King Kong, Ebirah, and Maguma.

Two of the four creatures had never met Godzilla, and in turn would have amounted to especially significant additions to the story. Sanda was one of the тιтular Frankenstein’s Monster-inspired creatures from War of the Gargantuas, a sequel to Frankenstein vs. Baragon. Since he didn’t show up, Baragon stands out as the franchise’s only contribution to Destroy All Monsters’ kaiju lineup. As for Maguma, he was a walrus kaiju with a small role in Toho’s 1962 monster film, Gorath. Since Maguma didn’t end up appearing in Destroy All Monsters (or any other movie), Gorath remains a standalone movie in Toho’s kaiju universe.

The other two creatures were existing enemies of Godzilla. Lobster kaiju Ebirah was the тιтular villain of 1965’s Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. King Kong, who needs no introduction, had appeared in two Toho movies up to this point – King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes. King Kong Escapes released just a year prior, meaning Destroy All Monsters would have been an immediate follow-up appearance for the King of Skull Island.

King Kong’s absence can be attributed to the length of time Destroy All Monsters remained in development. The movie was originally slated to release a year earlier alongside King Kong Escapes, which would have enabled it to fit neatly into the five-year contract that Toho had worked out with Rankin-Bᴀss when it made King Kong vs. Godzilla. But since Destroy All Monsters took longer than expected to make, Toho would have had to reach another agreement just to put King Kong in Destroy All Monsters.

Destroy All Monsters’ Kaiju Selection Depended Largely On Suit Availability

Which Monsters Appeared In Its Movies Weren’t Always Decided By Creative Decisions

As for the other three monsters, the reasons for their absences are less clear-cut. However, Toho’s usual formula for picking its monsters offers a possible explanation for why they may not have been involved. The vast majority of Toho’s Godzilla movies in the Showa era were not big-budget films, and since the monster suits were so expensive to make, it was cost-effective for Toho to simply reuse costumes from its previous films. That was the plan Toho had for Destroy All Monsters, since all of its kaiju were returning monsters.

That said, not every monster suit was always on hand or in good enough condition to be used for filming. One example of these issues being an obstacle is Baragon; another LeMay book, The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Showa Completion 1954-1989, claims that Baragon would have played a role in the fighting if his suit hadn’t been loaned out to a different movie studio.

There were also restrictions on what it could do with Manda and Varan, as the studio possessed few remaining props ᴀssociated with the creatures. It’s possible that a similar situation impacted Toho’s decision-making when it came to Sanda, Maguma, and Ebirah. If there was an issue with any of the three suits, it’s unlikely that Toho would have produced a new one just for a small part in Destroy All Monsters.

How The Godzilla Franchise Might Have Been Different If All 4 Kaiju Had Appeared

It Could Have Led To More Appearances From Maguma & Sanda

Had Toho been able to use the entire roster it had crafted for Destroy All Monsters, it would have had the potential to offer an even more epic team-up. After all, it would have included King Kong, one of the most recognizable movie monsters of all time and one of Godzilla’s most notable adversaries. Sanda would have been a major addition as well, especially since War of the Gargantuas is one of Toho’s most popular non-Godzilla kaiju movies. But aside from the added excitement factor, it doesn’t appear that this version of Destroy All Monsters would have differed much from the final product.

Both were stories about aliens controlling Godzilla and the other Monster Island residents, who would eventually unite for an action-packed finale. Among the only known differences is that there would have been a scene where Maguma would have been shown guarding the aliens’ spacecraft in the first draft, but it’s hard to say if this would have culminated in any additional action sequences or monster fights. However, it may have amounted to some fun scenes where King Kong has a team attack with Godzilla against Ghidorah or Sanda joins Godzilla and the others in the beatdown against Ghidorah.

Chances are, the biggest impact of these four monsters appearing would have been the effect they’d have on the lore of the franchise. For instance, establishing Maguma as an ally or enemy of Godzilla in Destroy All Monsters would have drastically raised his profile, possibly leading to more interest in the kaiju in future projects. Sanda stands out as the biggest Toho monster never to have a connection to Godzilla, and it’s worth wondering if helping him beat King Ghidorah would have paved the way for more team-ups with Godzilla.