Had Toho gone with one of its early plans for Destroy All Monsters, the studio’s walrus kaiju would be remembered today as a piece of Godzilla history. Although it’s well-known that Godzilla is the bread and ʙuттer of Toho, it’s important to note that they made several monster movies outside the Godzilla brand, with varying levels of success. Some of the most prominent examples are Rodan, Mothra, and War of the Gargantuas.
In many of these cases, a connection to Godzilla did not exist at first but formed eventually, which is what ultimately happened with both Rodan and Mothra. One particular monster movie, Destroy All Monsters, is responsible for bringing several monster movies into the wider Godzilla universe as his allies, as it featured Varan from Varan the Unbelievable, Manda from Atragon, and Baragon from Frankenstein vs. Baragon. Interestingly, these weren’t the only standalone films Toho nearly connected with Godzilla’s world. Gorath almost became one of them, with Maguma serving as its proxy.
Maguma Nearly Appeared In Destroy All Monsters
Maguma Was Supposed To Help Godzilla Beat King Ghidorah
In 1962, Toho released Gorath, a science fiction disaster movie about humanity trying to stop an asteroid called Gorath from colliding with Earth. Toward the end of the movie, efforts to prevent the destruction of Earth resulted in the awakening of a giant monster known as Maguma from the ocean. Resembling a walrus, Maguma had a brief clash with Gorath’s human protagonists before being killed by their advanced weaponry. Ultimately, it was a small, inconsequential role. Since Maguma was only on hand for part of the climax, Gorath isn’t even considered a true kaiju movie.
Despite that, Maguma came close to making a surprise comeback in Destroy All Monsters. According to The Big Book of Giant Japanese Monsters: The Lost Films by John LeMay, an early draft of Destroy All Monsters called for Maguma to appear as one of the many monsters that the film’s alien villains would place under their control. There was supposed to be a sequence where Maguma would be shown guarding the aliens’ spaceship.
King Kong and Sanda from War of the Gargantuas were also dropped from Toho’s initial plan for Destroy All Monsters.
Like the other monsters in the movie, Maguma would have been freed from their control, paving the way for a team-up against Ghidorah (led by Godzilla) at the end of the movie. Apparently, in this version of the story, Maguma and Ebirah, Horror of the Deep’s Ebirah were meant to be among Godzilla’s primary allies during the final battle with Ghidorah. But as the story was revised, certain monsters (including Maguma) were taken out and others added in to replace them.
Maguma Is Only Loosely Connected To The Godzilla Franchise
Maguma Has Appeared In Some Godzilla Media, But Isn’t Canon To Any Of The Live-Action Movies
Given that Maguma was a throwaway creature in a lesser-known Toho film, Destroy All Monsters was arguably his best possible sH๏τ at relevance. Both Baragon and Manda demonstrate the potential impact his inclusion could have had; had he appeared, he’d have been permanently absorbed into Godzilla lore, opening the door to future franchise appearances. Years after appearing in Destroy All Monsters, Baragon returned in Godzilla, Mothra, and Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, while Manda appeared as a secondary antagonist in Godzilla: Final Wars.
As it stands, his biggest connection to the franchise is the novelization for one of Netflix’s Godzilla anime movies, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, where it was established that Maguma destroyed North Korea in that continuity’s history.
Maguma could have been afforded similar opportunities by a chance to help Godzilla in Destroy All Monsters. Instead, he’s a creature with minimal links to Godzilla’s world. He’s appeared in limited Godzilla media, such as comic books and mobile games, but has yet to feature in any movies since his 1962 debut in Gorath. As it stands, his biggest connection to the franchise is the novelization for one of Netflix’s Godzilla anime movies, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, where it was established that Maguma destroyed North Korea in that continuity’s history.
Maguma may continue to have such roles in Godzilla stories, but is likely to remain absent from the live-action side of his universe. Theoretically, Toho could revive him in a future installment in the Godzilla franchise, especially if it ever offers another team-up event on the scale of Destroy All Monsters, but given the low hype that would surround the character, the chances of that happening seem rather low.
