The Monsterverse Needs To Resurrect One Of Godzilla's…

The Monsterverse rarely casts Godzilla in the best light. He's a complicated figure who appears more like an animal than he ever has. He's territorial, violent, and largely unconcerned with most other living beings. He kills other Titans with wild abandon, sometimes for little more than a temporary power boost. Monsterverse Godzilla doesn't have a lot of friends. He has Mothra and a tenuous peace with King Kong, but the rest of his species worships or fights him. Now would be a great time to bring back a classic ally for a new generation, and Jet Jaguar might be the perfect candidate.

The Monsterverse is currently entering its greatest period of success. It started out with a humble Godzilla reboot before delivering two absurd festivals of monster-based violence. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the most profitable movie in Godzilla's 70-year career. It comes alongside Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, perhaps the most creatively well-handled project in the franchise. This is a very good era to be a Godzilla fan. Still, the giant monsters always have room to grow.

Who is Jet Jaguar?

Name	Jet Jaguar, Jet Jagger, Red Alone, etc.
Subtitle	Electronic Robot, Martial Arts Master, Warrior of Justice
Creators	Masaaki Sano and Teruyoshi Nakano
Suit Actors	Tsugutoshi Komada, Masachika Mori, and Kenya Saitou
Voice Actors	Rie Kugimiya, Kira Buckland, and Corinne Martin
First Appearance	Godzilla vs. Mothra
First Appearance Date	March 17, 1973

Jet Jaguar is a giant, smiling robot who has appeared in one feature film, three television series, and one short film. His hilarious design allows him to stand out among the usual Godzilla cohort. Jet Jaguar is the result of a 1971 marketing campaign for the Japanese department store company Seiyu. That project, known as "Children Monster University," allowed kids all over Japan to draw and submit their designs for a potential monster. The winner would get to appear on an afternoon variety show with a movie-quality suit based on their work. Young Masaaki Sano discovered on the show that his monster, Red Alone, would appear in the next Godzilla movie the following year. The character would undergo a lengthy and complicated redesign process. The eventual result actually had very little to do with Sano's drawing. They shared only a couple of details in the torso area. Jet Jaguar wasn't so much created by a child as he was inspired by one. Teruyoshi Nakano ultimately designed most of Jet Jaguar, turning him into a satirical poke at the popularity of characters like Ultraman.

In the fiction of the film, Jet Jaguar is a humanoid robot that stands about as tall as his creator, Goro Ibuki. Godzilla vs. Megalon, Jet Jaguar's debut feature, doesn't explain why Goro made this machine. Goro becomes the target of the Undersea Kingdom of Seatopia, an Atlantis-like nation of advanced humans. They break into Goro's lab, finding Jet Jaguar just before Goro puts the finishing touches on his creation. The Seatopians intend to kidnap Goro and force him to build an army of similar robots. This led to an extended struggle, during which surface dwellers and Seatopians frequently gained or lost control of Jet Jaguar. Goro tried to use Jet Jaguar to summon Godzilla so that he could fight Megalon. After he returns to Goro, he flies off to fight Megalon on his own. Jet Jaguar develops free will through unknown means. He then somehow grows to fifty times his usual size and challenges Megalon to a one-on-one brawl. He has the edge until Gigan joins Megalon's side. Godzilla comes to Jet Jaguar's aid. The duo deliver the most iconic team-up attack in the franchise as Jet Jaguar holds Megalon while the King of the Monsters soars through the air for a drop-kick. Megalon and Gigan run off, and Jet Jaguar returns to his usual size.

Why should the Monsterverse include Jet Jaguar?

The Monsterverse is much more consistent than its predecessors. The Toho films threw everything against the wall to see what would stick, while the modern franchise is far more straightforward. Almost everything comes from the Hollow Earth. The Monsterverse story features two worlds. The Hollow Earth provides everything that is or was incongruous with normal life. The surface world can affect the Hollow Earth, but it's mostly there to provide characters who can explain everything in English. Gradually, humans have contributed more and more to the Titans, who do most of the fighting. Godzilla x Kong featured a massive robot arm that allowed Kong to fight against his enhanced foes. This suggests a new dimension to the franchise's usual humanity vs. Nature themes. Some decent people can contribute advanced technology for good. Others, like the villains who made Mechagodzilla, make things worse. Jet Jaguar is a human product who gains sentience and fights for the good of his people. If the human characters are going to continue their presence in the franchise, they should add something.

Jet Jaguar is a bizarre and hilarious throwback to an earlier era. He feels like the kind of reference franchises love to make today. It's like when Marvel tosses Howard the Duck into something. Despite his novelty, Jet Jaguar could add something to the strange and inconsistent themes of the Monsterverse. Let Jet Jaguar fly back into fans' hearts. If nothing else, everyone wants to see another dropkick with modern VFX.