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Godzilla is a fictional giant monster and the titular creature featured in the 2014 American feature film Godzilla by Legendary Pictures. This version of Godzilla differs from previous incarnations in that he is an ancient creature that existed during the prehistoric era and survived the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. Classified as a M.U.T.O. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), Godzilla sustained itself by absorbing and feeding off radioactive energy. Following the extinction of the dinosaurs, Godzilla went into hibernation in the body of the ocean, feeding off ambient radioactive energy given off by the Earth's core.
In the 1940s when the Allied forces used atomic weapons to bomb Hiroshima, Japan, the sudden increase in radioactivity awakened Godzilla and he surfaced for the first time in millennia. His inexplicable presence, along with that of a parasitic M.U.T.O. called Shinomura, were soon discovered by humanity. Stories of giant monsters circulated throughout Japan and the Philippines. The Japanese military attempted to destroy Godzilla with atomic weapons, not realizing what effects such weapons would have on such a creature. The first attack was in 1946 at Bikini Atoll. When these attacks failed to destroy him, a team of scientists formed a group known as Monarch, whose primary function was to study M.U.T.O.s. and coordinate their findings with the military to determine a more effective means of stopping them.
Godzilla remained relatively dormant for the next several decades until a meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Janjira, Japan caused a sudden surge of atomic radiation. It was around this time that Monarch discovered the dormant fossilized remains of an ancient eight-legged M.U.T.O. with physical characteristics similar to that of a preying mantis. The area around Janjira was quarantined and Monarch erected a laboratory facility around the M.U.T.O. fossil. In 2014, the creature awakened and began slaughtering everyone at the Monarch facility as well as the surrounding environs. This monster had the ability to generate an electromagnetic pulse that would short-out all electrical equipment in the area. This energy awakened Godzilla and he began tracking the M.U.T.O., following it first to Hawaii and then to San Francisco, California.
As an apex predator, Godzilla's instinctive need was to destroy this creature. During this event, a larger female M.U.T.O. emerged from a nuclear storage facility in Nevada and the two monsters began fighting. Godzilla was able to ultimately defeat the M.U.T.O. by projecting his atomic breath directly into its mouth and then tearing its head off. When the battle was over, Godzilla returned to the sea. American media celebrated him as the Savior of Humanity.