Theory about the origin of "Godzilla vs. The Devil"

[DrBreakfastMachine]

I remember when Toho Kingdom had a lavish page for Godzilla vs. the Devil in the Cutting Room, and I was disappointed when that vanished and was replaced by a small write-up on the Toho Busters page.

Since finding out that the project was just an urban legend, I've often wondered: if official plans for the movie never existed, where did the story come from? It always struck me as being oddly detailed for a nonexistent movie. Today while trying to find a little more information, I came across this:

http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Godzilla ... sidered.3F

What jumped out at me was this:

The whole idea came from a misreading of an early script for a Godzilla film in the 80s before The Return of Godzilla. Bagan was originally meant to be in the film, and the codename for the script was 'Godzilla vs the Devil'.

Now, I'm not at all familiar with Wikizilla, so I have no idea how trustworthy their info is, but I do notice right away that they don't give any sort of citation for that part of the story (well, they do, but it's just a link to the Toho Busters page which says nothing of the sort). I also haven't been able to find anything anywhere else that backs that story up.

But in spite of all of this...it is definitely interesting to think about. Godzilla was the Devil was supposedly going to come out in 1978 and featured Godzilla fighting a giant spider, a giant fish, and a giant flying monster before battling Satan himself. The original script for The Return of Godzilla, aka The Reawakening of Godzilla, was meant to come out in 1980 and pit Godzilla against a giant ape, a giant fish, and a giant flying monster before fighting Bagan's final form, which could easily be described as demonic (especially if you remember that this version of Bagan had three faces which are all different colors, much like Satan does in Inferno by Dante).

If you ask me, that is a LOT of similarities for two projects, one mythical and one confirmed, with release dates only two years apart. Obviously there are differences, like the fact that Godzilla vs. the Devil was rumored to be a co-production between Toho and UPA, which is not the case of Reawakening, but I find myself believing more and more that there's a connection between the two.

So what do you guys think? Is it possible that Godzilla vs. the Devil sprung an early report of Reawakening that got corrupted during translation, or are the similarities between the two a huge coincidence?

[Space Hunter M]

[Mechagigan]

http://s13.postimg.org/lq2dwqo6f/upload.jpg

I thought there were rules about posting pornographic content?

[DrBreakfastMachine]

http://s13.postimg.org/lq2dwqo6f/upload.jpg

To quote James Rolfe:

"Oh my God. Oh that's fucking with my eyes so bad. Oh no! No I...God! Oh my God, oh my eyes. Holy shit!"

[NSZ]

Now, I'm not at all familiar with Wikizilla, so I have no idea how trustworthy their info is,

Not very.

[DrBreakfastMachine]

That's not exactly a helpful response. I said myself that they didn't cite a source and that nothing else I could find backs it up.

I want to know if anyone else thinks the theory is PLAUSIBLE, since it looks like there isn't any actual proof that it's true.

[G2000]

It seems plausible enough. As you said, in both the original G'84 concept and the "Godzilla vs. The Devil" myth Godzilla fights three monsters before battling the main opponent. It wouldn't be too far out there to suggest it may have been born from leaked details of the early Return of Godzilla script, and then by mistake or embellishment, mutated into the myth we all know and hate.

[DrBreakfastMachine]

It seems plausible enough. As you said, in both the original G'84 concept and the "Godzilla vs. The Devil" myth Godzilla fights three monsters before battling the main opponent. It wouldn't be too far out there to suggest it may have been born from leaked details of the early Return of Godzilla script, and then by mistake or embellishment, mutated into the myth we all know and hate.

Honestly, I think I'm like 90% convinced that this is what happened even though there's nothing definitely confirming it. The two concepts are so similar and both sprang up so close to each other it would be more surprising if the real script and the fake one had nothing to do with each other.

[H-Man]

It seems plausible enough. As you said, in both the original G'84 concept and the "Godzilla vs. The Devil" myth Godzilla fights three monsters before battling the main opponent. It wouldn't be too far out there to suggest it may have been born from leaked details of the early Return of Godzilla script, and then by mistake or embellishment, mutated into the myth we all know and hate.

Hate? As in dislike the very idea of Godzilla taking on Satan? I personally lament que that it doesn't exist.

[DrBreakfastMachine]

I think what G2000 meant is that we hate how often people mistake it for a real lost project and try to discuss what it would have been like if finished, perpetuating the myth.

It IS obnoxious when a story that was proven false decades ago just keeps coming back and fooling people. The only Godzilla urban legend I can think of that compares to it is the alternate ending of King Kong vs. Godzilla where the Big G wins.

[G2000]

/\ Yeah, that's what I meant. Godzilla fighting Satan would be cool enough, but the fact that it's been disproven over and over again and yet it's still perpetuated throughout the fandom irks me.

[Godzillabriano]

The Omen pops in my mind every time i try to picture this movie coming to a reality.

The Devil is depicted in many franchises, Godzilla would be no different. It seems so taboo the thought of the embodiment of man's mistakes fighting the Devil himself.

The closet thing we got is Godzilla goes to Hell which is very fitting and the Godzilla creepypasta, even though is just a big gun in that story.

(Yea i know this project is debunked as false )

[H-Man]

/\ Yeah, that's what I meant. Godzilla fighting Satan would be cool enough, but the fact that it's been disproven over and over again and yet it's still perpetuated throughout the fandom irks me.

Then I must implore the forgiveness of you and DrBreakfastMachine for including it in the poll. I must be disembowled.

[edgaguirus]

With so many similarities, it has to be a misunderstanding of another idea. It makes much more sense to have Godzilla fighting Bagan than him in battle with the prince of darkness. Although, the horns of the Legend devil would make excellent weapons in a fight.

[djkgoji]

I think your theory is probably correct, though the Famous Monsters-reading child in me would still love to think that Hank Saperstein at one time was trying to get Toho to cash in on The Exorcist & The Omen with a supernatural Godzilla picture.

When I first heard about this "project" oh so many years ago, under the partially Americanized title Godzilla vs. Debiru (which I vastly prefer to the more generic sounding Godzilla vs. the Devil), I assumed that Debiru/the Devil would just be a demonic-looking monster of some sort, rather than an actual manifestation of the Biblical Satan. In my mind's eye, I suppose I was picturing something akin to the final form of Destroyah.

[Pkmatrix]

I think your theory is probably correct, though the Famous Monsters-reading child in me would still love to think that Hank Saperstein at one time was trying to get Toho to cash in on The Exorcist & The Omen with a supernatural Godzilla picture.

That's another interesting (though, less likely than the OP's) theory about where it came from: Saperstein either read the early RoG script or heard about it, then maybe off-handedly tossed out the idea that they could retool it into something like "Godzilla vs. the Devil" as a cash-in on the then-current Satanic Horror trend. Someone heard that, repeated it, and with time it turned into the rumor we're all familiar with.

The way this fandom is (and was, pre-Internet), I wouldn't be all that surprised if MANY of the rumored lost projects started as some variation of either that or the OP's idea.

[KaijuFiend]

I think a mistranslation/misunderstanding of the G84 concept is exactly what caused the rumors, especially since it was before the Internet became a thing.

[Giga Kaiju]

The rendition of Matt Frank of the Devil looked pretty cool. Sad that can't be found anymore with the exclusion of the article.

[SuperMonsterZero]

I think a mistranslation/misunderstanding of the G84 concept is exactly what caused the rumors, especially since it was before the Internet became a thing.

The first mention of "Godzilla vs. The Devil" was in Japanese Giants #5, published in 1978. This predates the proposed Rebirth of Godzilla by two years.

[DrBreakfastMachine]

It predates the first recorded proposal of the project. Someone might have been verbally kicking the idea around in 1978 but just didn't write it down anywhere.