Warner Bros. vs Toho! These two Titans are reptilian in appearance, as well as quadrupedal and weak, so let's see who's the superior inferior!
Interlude[]
Tabashi: In the world of Kaiju, one species has stood out from all the rest. Any guesses?
Angel: …Uh, Apes?
Tabashi: Close, but no. I'm talking about lizards.
Angel: Specifically, the quadrupedal kind!
Tabashi: Varan, the Unbelievable.
Angel: And the Rhedosaurus, the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. He's Tabashi and I'm Angel!
Tabashi: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win in a Death Battle!
Rhedosaurus[]
Varan[]
Tabashi: At least 251,000,000 years ago, an ancient reptilian species known as the Varanopodes ruled the Earth alongside Godzilla and Anguirus’ species. When the event that killed the dinosaurs forced the Kaiju into hibernation, most of the Varanopodes were wiped out. Well, all but at least one, that is, and that one went to live in a lake for millions of years.
Angel: This survivor would be seen as a God to the villagers living near the lake, who gave him the title “Baradagi,” or “Baradagi Mountain God.” But that’s hard to both remember and say, so eventually, he was given a much cooler name-
Tabashi: -Varan, the Unbelievable.
Angel: Now, Varan has had a few different heights over the course of his film career, but to make this fight fair, he will stand at 164 feet (50 meters) tall, and weigh in at 15,000 metric tons. And that is heavy for a giant Flying Squirrel.
Tabashi: Actually, Angel, Varan's not a Flying Squirrel.
Angel: Really? He walks quadrupedally, glides, and looks as ugly as a Flying Squirrel, but he isn't one? Well, then what the heck is he?!
Tabashi: Well, as I stated before, Varan is actually a Varanopode, which (according to the films) is a giant gliding reptile. However, according to a toy released in 2016, it's possible that Varan has a close evolutionary relationship with both Godzilla and Rodan.
Angel: Oh. Well, I guess that would explain some of Varan's abilities, like his nigh—impenetrable hide and glide speed of Mach 1.5 (1,151mph). That's the exact same as the Showa Rodan!
Tabashi: We're not there yet. Anyways, Varan first appeared when some scientists were sent to the lake to investigate a pair of rare Siberian Butterflies. Varan killed the scientists, and when another team was sent to investigate, he attacked them, killing the village Priest in the process. Varan then proceeded to destroy the village before returning to his aquatic home.
Angel: Unfortunately for him, the JSDF decided to attack by infecting the lake with chemicals, and opening fire upon flushing Varan out. That was a dumb move on their part, though, because Varan got so pissed off that he glided off towards Tokyo.
Tabashi: Varan surfaced from Tokyo Bay and attacked Haneda Airport. The JSDF bombarded Varan with all their available artillery and jets, but Varan was still unharmed. Luckily, though, after swallowing some experimental explosives, Varan finally died.
Angel: But in 1999 (the time Destroy All Monsters takes place), a 33—98 foot (10—30 meter) tall juvenile Varan was living on Monsterland among Earth's other monsters. When the alien beings known as the Kilaaks took control of the Kaiju, Varan disappeared, and wasn't seen again until the Earth Kaiju fought King Ghidorah at Mount Fuji.
Tabashi: Now, I know what all you G—Fans are thinking: "But wait a minute, Varan, Baragon, and Manda didn't actually participate in the battle! They were basically just cheerleaders!" Well, you would be right, except for one little thing.
Angel: See, Varan, Baragon, and Manda were actually meant to participate in the final battle. The only reason they didn't is because their damn suits suffered from too much use! I mean, even the posters showed them fighting King Ghidorah! Then again, one of them ALSO made Gorosaurus look like the original Yongary for some reason, so maybe we shouldn't fully trust those.
Tabashi: Probably not. Anyways, what we're trying to say is that in literally EVERY WAY except what happened in the film, Varan, Baragon, and Manda were supposed to fight King Ghidorah. In fact, the Manga adaptation for Destroy All Monsters shows them taking part in the fight, with Manda wrapping around King Ghidorah's wing and Varan sucker—punching one of the Three—Headed Monster's heads! And it looked painful, too!
Angel: And here come the abilities. As I stated before, Varan can glide at Mach 1.5 (1,151mph), which, with his weight of 15,000 metric tons, gives us a Kinetic Energy yield of 475 tons of TNT. But it gets much better than that, so stay tuned!
Tabashi: In case you haven't figured it out yet, Varan is a Tri—phibian. That means that he can easily walk on land, swim underwater (he did live in a lake for millions of years, after all), and fly in the air. Fun fact: Did you know that Varan is one of a very select few Kaiju in Toho and Daei/Kadokawa's Verses that's Tri—phibious? Yeah! In fact, Godzilla, Gamera, Hedorah, Zigra, the Gappas, Destoroyah, and Jiger are some (if not all) of the others.
Angel: Weird! And even weirder is the science of Varan's skin! Apparently, it's covered with huge blisters and lumps (that could possibly contain poison glands), which serve as osteoderms, or armor plates. But perhaps most bizarrely of all, there's a theory that... uh... help me out here, please!
Tabashi: There's a theory that Varan glides by somehow separating the oxygen and hydrogen in the water, and expelling the oxygen while pumping the hydrogen molecules into his lumps/blisters. But make no mistake: Varan may not have been seen in combat with any other monsters on film, but he still has a rather impressive set of feats.
Angel: Varan's easily cut through/crushed buildings using his arms, legs, and tail, suggesting that he may prefer melee combat over the ol' fly—by—smack technique. His spikes could be used for slicin' and splittin', and Varan's got one of the best levels of durability for a Kaiju made in the '50s, as no conventional weapon was able to penetrate that Varanopode's tough—ass hide.
Tabashi: According to Wikizilla and Gojipedia (official Wikis on Godzilla, Gamera, King Kong, and other Kaiju), Varan's durability comes not from his skin's thickness, but rather it's flexibility. This allows Varan to withstand hits from projectiles and explosives.
Angel: And as we said earlier, Varan sucker—punched one of King Ghidorah's heads. The 1st generation King Ghidorah (in his early years) apparently shook Venus, which turned out to be about a Magnitude 11.2 earthquake. That's a power output of 883—935 Gigatons of TNT! But since King Ghidorah was defeated by 9 Kaiju (counting Varan, Baragon, and Manda, but not counting Minilla), then do we MULTIPLY that power output by 9, or DIVIDE it?
Tabashi: Um... I'm not sure, actually. But for now, let's just do both. By dividing it, we get 98.1—104 Gigatons of TNT, still an impressive power output. But by multiplying, we get 8—8.4 Teratons of TNT! That is impressive!
Angel: Indeed it is, for a Kaiju that doesn't have any ranged attacks.
Tabashi: Which leads us to Varan's weaknesses. In terms of exploitable ones, Varan is actually pretty clean. However, there is one spot on his body that might be more vulnerable than the rest: his stomach. See, when a bunch of those experimental bombs we mentioned earlier exploded underneath Varan, he was visibly stunned. However, he quickly got back up showing no ill effects, so it's going to take a lot more than a few explosions to the gut in order to hurt Varan!
Angel: However, the inside of Varan's body is a whole other story, because when he swallowed those bombs, and they exploded inside him, he was dead!
Tabashi: Also, Varan (in any media you're looking at) may be more than capable of fighting one—on—one, but if he's going up against a King Ghidorah—level opponent, Varan's going to need some help!
Angel: But even so, don't anger the Unbelievable Baradagi if you value your life!
Death Battle![]
Pre-Fight[]
Results[]
Trivia[]
- The connection between the Rhedosaurus and Varan is that they are both weak, quadrupedal reptilians that were made in the 50s.