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Godzillais a complicated character. Sometimes the King of Monsters ishumanity’s greatest foe, other times he’s one of its stalwart defenders. He can team up with fellow kaiju and is just as ready for fisticuffs in city-destroying battles. While Godzilla’s alliances shift depending on a writer’s interpretation of him, Godzilla is constantly pitted against aliens. These aliens typically have a human appearance at first, only to be revealed to be covering up a more alien appearance as well as nefarious intentions. The sparkly all-female Kilaaks are actually slugs. Theruthless, all-black-clad Xiliens’true form is reptilian. Then there’s the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, also known as the Nebulans.
The Nebulans made their onscreen debut inGodzilla vs. Gigan(1972). They are a species of giant cockroaches who use the bodies of recently deceased humans as their disguises. In these human bodies, they enjoy dressing in groovy, bright orange suits. Although, there are tells to their true nature. For instance, their chairman took over the body of a teenage boy, a surprise for the protagonist of the film, who didn’t expect someone so young to be in charge of a “company”. (Not unlike acertainYu-Gi-Ohrival.) Additionally, their true forms can be seen in the shadows. So what does a species of space cockroaches want with Earth?
They Want to Create a Utopia on Earth (Sans Humans)
The Nebulans are refugees. They became the dominant life forms on their planet after the advanced human-like aliens on their homeworld went extinct due to pollution. Although the Nebulans were able to adapt to the harsh conditions and survive on their world for a time, developing advanced technology in the meantime, eventually their own planet became unbearable, and they had to search for a new one. It just so happened that their homeworld was very similar to Earth, so they decided they would take over and replace technology all together. They decide the best way to go about this would be to make it seem like they are building a Monster Island-inspired theme park with a 50 ft tall Godzilla tower as a centerpiece. The aim of this park, they stated, was to teach children about peace. Why? To paraphrase theMystery Science Theater 3000theme, “It’s just a [movie]… relax.” (To be fair, aGodzilla theme park attractiondoes exist in the real world.) However, the perfect peace Nebulans were seeking all along for only their kind, and they decided that in order to achieve it, they would need to control some existing kaiju as well as one of their own.
The M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens Created Gigan
Gigan is a reptilian monster turned into a cyborgby the Nebulans. He is considered to be one of Godzilla’s most brutal opponents and isn’t above fighting dirty. He can fly fast, especially in space. His cybernetic advancements also give him a dangerous edge, including a laser beam in his eyes and various saws in his stomach and neck. In his debut, he was paired with King Ghidorah to face off against Godzilla and Anguirus. However, when humans bombed the radio tower transmitting the instruments the Nebulans had recorded in mysterious tapes that only kaiju could discern, they fled. Gigan would go on to become on Godzilla’s most popular foes, more often than not separate from the Nebulans. However, they are an important part of his first origin story.
They Are Allies with Other Godzilla Antagonists.
Despite only appearing properly in one Godzilla film, the Nebulans are shown to be allied with other villains in the franchise. InGodzilla vs. Megalon, the Seatopians reach out to the Nebulans, requesting to borrow Gigan to help their own kaiju, Megalon. The Seatopians, who live underground, want help in getting revenge on the surface dwellers whose nuclear testing had ravaged the Earth. Additionally, in the television showGodzilla Island, Zagreth, a Xilien, is asked by a Nebulans for her assistance to save his people in exchange for her using Gigan to take over Godzilla Island. Zagreth accepts, until Gigan is defeated, and she ends up squashing the Nebulan. Not a great start to an alliance, but this does open the door for Nebulans and Xiliens to team up again in future installments.
Thus far, the Nebulans have been under utilized in theGodzillafilm franchise. Although they have shown up from time to time in the comics and video games, as well as a fun little cameo in the end credits of the animeGodzilla Singular Point, it would be interesting to see what a modern film version of them would look like. Considering the creepy way they camouflage themselves, they could potentially be captivating twist villains. Regardless, despite their few appearances in film and television, they are still one of the most memorable antagonists and style icons.
