Ranking Godzilla's best (and weirdest) crossovers

Godzilla is indeed the king of the monsters, but he is also the king of staying booked and busy. It's extremely hard to go through life without ever seeing Godzilla, because he has been in everything from Dr. Pepper commercials to comic books to random television appearances. An entire encyclopedia could be dedicated to everyone's favorite kaiju, detailing every piece of media he's found himself or his likeness featured in — and some of them are downright weird.

We've compiled a ranking of seven of Godzilla's most interesting crossovers and encounters.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)/Toho

While it’s kind of hard to imagine how the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong movie will pan out, given that the newest Godzilla can hadouken out of his mouth at will and King Kong is just a very dedicated Crossfitter, the two are a bit more evenly matched in their earlier encounters. In the 1962 film King Kong vs. Godzilla, the larger than life monsters face off at the summit of Mount Fuji. It's a battle full of bad breath, drop kicks, tail smashes, left hooks, and a lightning resurrection. Godzilla and Kong’s first fight does not disappoint. 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1979)/Marvel Comics

Godzilla makes his way to New York City in Issue 23 of Godzilla: King of the Monsters which means the editor-and-chief of the Daily Bugle needs his photos and he needs them right now. Jameson is being rude and obnoxious as usual and wants the scoop on the behemoth lizard regardless of the fact that everyone is too busy running for their lives to actually sit down and type it. Like the fool he is, J. Jonah opens the window and yells at Godzilla. In return, Godzilla hits him with a breath of hot air. It was honestly a read on JJJ — he’s just full of hot air and Godzilla, the King of Reads, gave him a nice reminder.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1979) #23/Marvel Comics

In the span of two issues of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla takes the Avengers and goes right on to the Fantastic Four, sweeping them up like light work. At one point the Avengers have to rely on the Wasp and Yellow Jacket like they're the sixth men off the bench to be clutch during crunch time. Unfortunately for them, they aren't. To add injury to insult, Spider-Man shows up late to the party and that’s only to take a picture of Godzilla’s backside. At least Jameson finally got those photos he almost got himself barbecued over. 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1979) #18/Marvel Comics

The Marvel Godzilla comics are full of some gems. In Issue 18 of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, he goes toe to toe with Chuck E. Cheese’s daddy. At this point in the series, Godzilla has been shrunken down in size, but like the rapper DaBaby, size means absolutely nothing when it comes to throwing hands. In one of the most epic battles to happen in the sewers, no shade to the Ninja Turtles, Godzilla faces off with one of San Francisco's mightiest beasts. The rat gives its best but it's just not enough. Godzilla brutally sets the rat on fire and remains the King.

The 1969 animated short "Bambi Meets Godzilla," created by Marv Newland, was ahead of its time. Robot Chicken is shaking. This Godzilla encounter is the crossover you didn’t know you wanted but always needed. Toho meets Disney. It’s petty and delightful at the same time. Bambi grazes in an idyllic meadow as the opening credits show only for Godzilla’s big Shaq-sized foot to smash the poor deer. Hasn’t he endured enough already? Clearly, Marv didn’t think so and gave us the stomp of the century.

The ’90s were an interesting time. In this 1992 Nike ad, Godzilla and the great Charles Barkley face off in the streets. There's a makeshift basketball hoop conveniently available thanks to Godzilla's destruction. Barkley and Godzilla face off in the battle of big men and of course, Barkley comes out on top thanks to Godzilla’s ankles going in the opposite direction of his legs. Godzilla may not get drafted by any NBA teams anytime soon, but at least he and Barkley got an entire comic issue dedicated to this memorable matchup.

Godzilla and the one and only Batman meet in this unmade 1966 Godzilla film. This story idea was intended to be a collaboration between Toho and Greenway Productions. There are two separate treatments that exist, one by Shinichi Sekizawa and the other by an unknown American author. Even though this film never happened, thanks to the plot summary, we learn the Caped Crusader is the ultimate detective and is truly always prepared for potential threats. Batman deduces that Godzilla is indeed the cause of a tidal wave because of footage he watched of a fight between King Kong and Godzilla. It's sad we only have our imagination to go off, especially because the Batcopter was involved in Batman’s first encounter with Godzilla. There is even mention of Batman, Robin, and Batgirl all fighting Godzilla with their respective vehicles, which sounds like the next and best installment of the Fast and Furious series. We are devastated not to have a psychedelic dance sequence with Batman, Robin, and Godzilla. That alone would be worth the number one spot.