[30] Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a "giant beast" woken from its "slumber" that then takes terrible vengeance on Japan.

Later films address disparate themes and commentary, including Japan's apathy, neglect, and ignorance of its imperial past,[34] natural disasters, and the human condition.

[35] Godzilla has been featured alongside many supporting characters and, over the decades, has faced off against various human opponents, such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), in addition to other gargantuan monsters, including Gigan, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla.

[41] The most widely accepted report of its origin is that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka named the monster after sturdy Toho worker Shirō Amikura, the later chief of the theater club of Toho, who was jokingly dubbed "Gujira" (グジラ) then "Gojira" (ゴジラ), a portmanteau of the Japanese words gorira (ゴリラ, "gorilla") and kujira (鯨, "whale") due to his burly build to resemble a gorilla and his habit to favor whale meat.

[51] Within the context of the Japanese films, Godzilla's exact origins vary, but it is generally depicted as an enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation.

[53] Inspired by the fictional Rhedosaurus created by animator Ray Harryhausen for the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,[54] Godzilla's character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur[55] with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, lobed bony plates along its back and tail, and a furrowed brow.

[56] Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a Tyrannosaurus, an Iguanodon, a Stegosaurus and an alligator[57] to form a sort of blended chimera, inspired by illustrations from an issue of Life magazine.

[59] The basic design has a reptilian visage, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and three rows of serrated plates along the back.

In the original film, the plates were added for purely aesthetic purposes, in order to further differentiate Godzilla from any other living or extinct creature.

It is generally not motivated to attack by predatory instinct; it does not usually eat people[68] and instead sustains itself on nuclear radiation[69] and an omnivorous or piscivorian diet consisting especially of cetaceans and large fish.

"[68] Tomoyuki Tanaka noted in his book that Godzilla and humanity can become temporal allies against greater threats, however they are essentially enemies due to the difficulty to co-exist.

[73] Toho's special effects department has used various techniques to render the beam, from physical gas-powered flames[74] to hand-drawn or computer-generated fire.

Haruo Nakajima, the actor who played Godzilla in the original films, was a black belt in judo and used his expertise to choreograph the battle sequences.

[75] Godzilla is amphibious: it has a preference for traversing Earth's hydrosphere when in hibernation or migration, can breathe underwater due to pore-shaped gills[73][62] and is described in the original film by the character Dr. Yamane as a transitional form between a marine and a terrestrial reptile.

Godzilla is shown to have great vitality: it is immune to conventional weaponry thanks to its rugged hide and ability to regenerate,[76] and as a result of surviving a nuclear explosion, it cannot be destroyed by anything less powerful.

[77] Various films, non-canonical television shows, comics, and games have depicted Godzilla with additional powers, such as an atomic pulse,[78] magnetism,[79] precognition,[80] fireballs,[81] convert electromagnetic energy into intensive body heat,[82] converting shed blood into temporary tentacle limbs,[83] an electric bite,[84] superhuman speed,[85] laser beams emitted from its eyes[86] and even flight.

),[88][89] which was created by composer Akira Ifukube, who produced the sound by rubbing a pine tar-resin-coated glove along the string of a contrabass and then slowing down the playback.

[90] Aadahl described the two syllables of the roar as representing two different emotional reactions, with the first expressing fury and the second conveying the character's soul.

[68] The miniature sets and costumes were typically built at a 1⁄25–1⁄50 scale[93] and filmed at 240 frames per second to create the illusion of great size.

[104][105] Godzilla's appearance has traditionally been portrayed in the films by an actor wearing a latex costume, though the character has also been rendered in animatronic, stop-motion and computer-generated form.

[106][107] Taking inspiration from King Kong, special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya had initially wanted Godzilla to be portrayed via stop-motion, but prohibitive deadlines and a lack of experienced animators in Japan at the time made suitmation more practical.

[60] Haruo Nakajima, who portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972, said the materials used to make the 1954 suit (rubber, plastic, cotton, and latex) were hard to find after World War II.

[112] Satsuma himself suffered numerous medical issues during his tenure, including oxygen deprivation, near-drowning, concussions, electric shocks and lacerations to the legs from the suits' steel wire reinforcements wearing through the rubber padding.

The Cybot Godzilla consisted of a hydraulically powered mechanical endoskeleton covered in urethane skin containing 3,000 computer operated parts which permitted it to tilt its head and move its lips and arms.

Godzilla's design in the reboot was intended to stay true to that of the original series, though the film's special effects team strove to make the monster "more dynamic than a guy in a big rubber suit.

"[120] To create a CG version of Godzilla, the Moving Picture Company (MPC) studied various animals such as bears, Komodo dragons, lizards, lions and wolves, which helped the visual effects artists visualize Godzilla's body structure, like that of its underlying bone, fat and muscle structure, as well as the thickness and texture of its scales.

[130] Roger Ebert cited Godzilla as a notable example of a villain-turned-hero, along with King Kong, Jaws (James Bond), the Terminator and John Rambo.

[150] Godzilla's ubiquity in pop culture has led to the mistaken assumption that the character is in the public domain, resulting in litigation by Toho to protect their corporate asset from becoming a generic trademark.

[161] The main-belt asteroid 101781 Gojira, discovered by American astronomer Roy Tucker at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory in 1999, was named in honor of the creature.

"[164] In a 2007 interview, Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba said that he would mobilize the Japan Self-Defense Forces in response to an appearance by Godzilla.