Did you know Superman fought Godzilla over a decade before Toho Co invented the character? In the 1942 animated short “The Arctic Giant,” the Man of Steel defeats a tyrannosaurus that was found frozen in the ocean after it rampages through Metropolis.
This is 12 years before Toho released “Godzilla” directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda in 1954.
“The Arctic Giant“
In “The Arctic Giant,” the tyrannosaurus is found in the oceans of Siberia and kept frozen with special equipment. The creature ends up in Metropolis’ Museum of Natural Science where a rumor begins to spread that it may still be alive inside of the ice. For professional reasons and plot convenience, reporter Lois Lane shows up to do a story on it. While she is being given a tour, a mistake by one of the engineers causes the machines keeping the tyrannosaurus frozen to malfunction.
Of course, the ice ends up melting and the dinosaur is somehow still alive. It runs off to do your normal monster attacking the city things like breaking a dam, smashing a bridge, and collapsing a few buildings. The police shooting at it doesn’t slow down its path of destruction. Nor do the fire boats shooting pressurized water hoses as canons at it.
When the Daily Planet’s editor-in-chief, Perry White, tells Clark Kent that Lois was in danger. He jumps into action to save her from the wreckage of the museum before racing off to stop the chaos. Then Lois chases after him only to need to be rescued once again. This all builds to a showdown where Superman defeats the tyrannosaurus. Before the dinosaur is put on display in a public zoo… for some reason.
It wasn’t until 2023, that Superman officially crossed paths with Toho’s creation in “Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong.” Which stayed true to the formula of the now robust kaiju genre.
You can check out “The Arctic Giant” for yourself below:
