Kumonga | |
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Godzilla film series character | |
First appearance | Son of Godzilla (1967) |
Last appearance | Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) |
Created by | Jun Fukuda |
Aliases | Spiga |
Kumonga (クモンガ?) is a mutated, enormous spider kaiju first appearing in Toho's 1967 film Son of Godzilla. Although it is the main antagonist of that film, it helped save the world in the following year's Godzilla film (set in 1999), Destroy All Monsters. In English language versions, the name is Spiga.
Kumonga can shoot a spider web and deploy a poison stinger from between the Chelicerae, and boasts prehensile pedipalps that can be used to grab small prey. The Showa version was able to survive multiple direct hits from Godzilla's atomic breath. The Millennium Kumonga's web was able to expand on contact with air from a single thread into a net for incapacitating foes. See Scytodidae for a real-world example of a spider which can spit webbing similar to Kumonga. In addition, the Millennium version was able to leap hundreds of meters at a time, much like a jumping spider (Salticidae).
In the Showa series, Kumonga is a giant mutant spider who was initially found on Sogell Island. It first appears after having trapped Minilla and a Kamacuras in its web. Kumonga kills Kamacuras with his stinger. Godzilla soon arrives and defeats the monster spider, burning it to a crisp with his and Minilla's atomic breath.
Later, Kumonga - a different individual from the same species - is placed on Monsterland, where it lives with all the other remaining monsters on the Earth. In 1999, aliens known as the Kilaaks capture the monstrous spider and release it along with the rest of Earth's monsters on the planet's major cities. In the end, Kumonga is freed from the aliens' control and takes part in the final battle against the Kilaak-controlled King Ghidorah, disabling the space monster's ability to fly in concert with the larval Mothra through use of their webbing and silk. Kumonga and the other monsters return to Monsterland to live out the rest of their days in peace.