Godzilla’s imagined New York attack meets a perfect setting as postwar Godzilla Minus Zero begins today

A vision of New York attacked

The sequel’s main dangers include King Ghidorah and Godzilla’s return. It also considers the Japanese and United States governments’ interest in controlling kaiju as weapons, linking the monsters to the nuclear arms race after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Professor Kanji Murakami, a Hiroshima survivor who lost his family in the atomic bombing, created a sonic resonance amplifier. In a vision driven by revenge, he imagines Godzilla destroying New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, before using its heat ray against Manhattan’s population.

The attack remains only a vision. Dr. Noda persuades Murakami to abandon his revenge, and Murakami destroys his work to prevent another cycle of death and violence.

The threat remains unresolved

At the ending, Murakami and his assistant are detained by the US military, which hopes to use his work to control Godzilla. The story therefore leaves open the possibility of a New York attack in a future film from director Takashi Yamazaki.

A sequel to Godzilla Minus Zero has not been confirmed. The film’s ending, however, gives its imagined US attack a possible connection to future stories.

A comic revisits the city

IDW’s Godzilla vs. America: New York City #1 arrives alongside the film’s New York sequence. It is part of an anthology series that imagines Godzilla causing destruction in cities across the United States.

The one-shot brings together stories by several comics creators, each offering a different take on Godzilla targeting New York. One story gives the monster King Kong’s classic origins, and the collection develops the same-city scenario from several angles.