Varan

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Varan

is a kaiju

Kaiju

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Encyclopedia

Toho Toho is a large Japanese independent film studio. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group.... character

Varan
Species	Varanopode
Alias	Baradagi-Sanjin O-baki (English version)
Height	10-50 metres
Weight	60-15,000 tons
Air speed	Mach 1.5
Major enemies	King Ghidorah King Ghidorah , sometimes spelled King Ghidrah, King Ghidra or King Ghidora, is a kaiju featured in several of Toho Godzilla films and in their Rebirth of Mothra trilogy....
Major allies	Godzilla Godzilla is a kaiju from the Godzilla series of science fiction films. He was first seen in the 1954 in film film Godzilla and has appeared in 28 films to date, all of which were produced by Toho As one of the most iconic characters in film history, Godzilla has also appeared in numerous Godzilla , Godzilla video games, novels and Godzilla in popula... Mothra Mothra is a kaiju, a type of fictional monster who first appeared in the novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga. Since her film d?but in the 1961 film Mothra , she has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films.... Rodan Rodan is a kaiju, introduced in Rodan , a 1956 release from Toho, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, it is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile .... Baragon Baragon is a fictional Kaiju that was first featured in the 1965 Toho produced film, Frankenstein vs. Baragon. Baragon is a four-legged dinosaur with a horn on his head and large ears.... Minilla Minilla is a Kaiju from the Godzilla series of films and is the first of several young Godzillas. He first appeared in the Showa film Son of Godzilla and also appeared in Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack and the Millennium film Godzilla: Final Wars.... Anguirus Anguirus is the second Kaiju , who appeared only a year after Godzilla in the 1955 Toho film Godzilla Raids Again.... Gorosaurus Gorosaurus is a fictional theropod dinosaur created by Toho Studios. He stands 35 meters tall and weighs 8,000 tons in his first appearance. He was an opponent of King Kong in 1967's King Kong Escapes.... Kumonga Kumonga is a giant spider daikaiju that appeared in the Toho produced Godzilla series.... Manda
Controlled by	Kilaaks List of Toho alien races This is a list of the fictional extraterrestrial life featured in the tokusatsu films and television series produced by Japanese production company Toho, including the various Godzilla films....
First appearance	Varan the Unbelievable Varan the Unbelievable *Varan the Unbelievable*, released in Japan as , is a 1958 kaiju eiga directed by Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya , and their last black-and-white monster film....
Created by	Ken Kuronuma Ken Kuronuma ; was the pen-name of a novelist, science fiction writer, and mystery writer in Showa period Japan. His real name was Soda Michio . His father, Soda Kiichiro , was an economist and a banker....
Portrayed by:	Haruo Nakajima Haruo Nakajima is a famous Japanese actor. Nakajima is best known for playing Godzilla and is considered by many to be the best monster suit actor. He retired from suit acting in 1972 after the death of special effects director and close friend Eiji Tsuburaya.... Katsumi Tezuka Katsumi Tezuka is a Japanese actor. He is best known for playing kaiju in several Toho science fiction and horror films directed by Ishiro Honda....

is a kaiju

Kaiju

Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
with skin membranes between his arms and legs, allowing him to glide much like a flying squirrel

Flying squirrel

The flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of squirrels . There are 43 species in this tribe, the largest of which is the woolly flying squirrel ....
, and a horned head.

Powers and Abilities

In all of his film appearances, Varan does not have any special abilities. He can glide at speeds of Mach 1.5, and has a row of spines along his body which may afford protection.

Film history

In his first appearance, Varan is a monster

Kaiju

File:Gojira 1954 poster 3.jpgFile:Jujin Yuki Otoko poster.jpg is a Japanese language word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English language as "monster." Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
that lives in a saltwater lake within the Kunishiroshima valley, where he is known to the natives as Baradagi-Sanjin. He kills an expedition duo and then completely destroys the village. The monster proceeds to attack Tokyo and is seemingly unstoppable until he is tricked by the military into eating bombs.

Varan reappears in Destroy All Monsters
Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters, released in Japan as , is a 1968 in film Kaiju eiga . The ninth in Toho' Godzilla series, it was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and Sadamasa Arikawa....
living on Monsterland

Monsterland and Monster Island

Monsterland and Monster Island are fictional locations in Toho Studios' Godzilla , both serving as nature reserves or homes for several daikaiju....
with many other kaiju including Godzilla

Godzilla

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series of science fiction films. He was first seen in the 1954 in film film Godzilla and has appeared in 28 films to date, all of which were produced by Toho As one of the most iconic characters in film history, Godzilla has also appeared in numerous Godzilla , Godzilla video games, novels and Godzilla in popula...
. Varan is seen in the climax, joining the other Earth monsters to fight against the King Ghidorah, though he does not actually participate in the fight. After King Ghidorah is killed, Varan, along with the other kaiju return to Monsterland.

Lost Projects

In one of the early drafts of what would become Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla vs. Gigan

Godzilla vs. Gigan, released in Japan as and also known as Godzilla on Monster Island when first released to U.S. theaters, is a 1972 tokusatsu film....
, Varan was to have joined Godzilla and Rodan

Rodan

is a kaiju, introduced in Rodan , a 1956 release from Toho, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, it is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile ....
in defending the Earth against King Ghidorah, Gigan

Gigan

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cyborg monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands....
, and a new monster that had never been seen before with the name Mogu. Shusuke Kaneko, director of the popular Heisei

Heisei era (daikaiju eiga)

In the context of Japanese monster cinema the Heisei Era refers not to the Heisei in Japan but to all daikaiju eiga made between 1984 in film and 1999 in film ....
Gamera

Gamera

Gamera is a giant, flying turtle-like creature from a popular series of Kaiju eiga monster movies produced by Kadokawa Pictures in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the kaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right....
trilogy had originally considered Varan, along with Anguirus to star in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

is a 2001 Kaiju film directed and co-written by Shusuke Kaneko. It was the twenty-fifth film to be released in the Godzilla film series. It is part of the Millennium series and is a direct sequel to the original Godzilla ....
as antagonists to Godzilla. Varan and Anguirus were however replaced with the far more popular Mothra
Mothra

is a kaiju, a type of fictional monster who first appeared in the novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga. Since her film d?but in the 1961 film Mothra , she has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films....
and King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah

, sometimes spelled King Ghidrah, King Ghidra or King Ghidora, is a kaiju featured in several of Toho Godzilla films and in their Rebirth of Mothra trilogy....
. Supposedly, the suit designer tried to compromise by giving some of Varan's facial features to King Ghidorah.

Game appearances

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters is a Nintendo Entertainment System video game released in the US in 1989 by Toho....
(1988) Nintendo
Nintendo

is a global company located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

Monster King Godzilla (1993) Game Boy
Game Boy

The is an 8-bit handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in August , and in Europe in ....

Godzilla: Unleashed
Godzilla: Unleashed

Godzilla: Unleashed, abbreviated as G3 or GU, is a 3D computer graphics fighting game video game based on the Godzilla film franchise for the Wii and PlayStation 2, developed by Pipeworks Software and published by Atari....
(2007) Wii
Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a History of video game consoles console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3....

Godzilla Trading Battles (1998) PS1

Varan was considered for Godzilla: Save the Earth
Godzilla: Save the Earth

Godzilla: Save the Earth is a fighting game released on November 2, 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles based on characters and situations from the Godzilla film series....
, but was scrapped at some point.

Varan made his first playable video game appearance in the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed
Godzilla: Unleashed

Godzilla: Unleashed, abbreviated as G3 or GU, is a 3D computer graphics fighting game video game based on the Godzilla film franchise for the Wii and PlayStation 2, developed by Pipeworks Software and published by Atari....
as an Earth Defender. He is given the ability to fire a sonic beam and a concentrated sonic energy ball. He has a gliding ability that works much like Rodan's flying, he can be unlocked by destroying the three purple objects on the Vortaak mothership while playing as an Alien.

Action figures

Few figures of Varan have been issued compared to other kaiju and Bandai

Bandai

is a Japanese toy making company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third largest producer of toys. Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs....
has issued no figures as of yet. The only figure released on the 6" scale was by Y-MSF in 2005.

Varan

Powers and Abilities

Film history

Lost Projects

Game appearances

Action figures

Footnotes