Destroy All Monsters: Varan

Height: 50 meters
Mass: 15,000 tons

Powers & Weapons:
- Gliding: Via skin membranes connected to his arms and legs, Varan is capable of leaping into the air to glide at speeds of up to Mach 1.5.

Biography: Once worshipped as a sort of God within the Japanese countryside, Varan was discovered by a handful of scientists. Living within an isolated lake, the prehistoric monster sought only solitude. However, when the modern world discovered his existence and even his once protective villagers gave in, the spiky creature gave rise. He annihilated the village and took flight, eventually vanishing into the sea. Naval forces tracked and waged war on him, but it was futile. The so-called “unbelievable” reached Tokyo and assaulted Haneda airport, leveling the entire area and causing billions of dollars worth of damage in just under an hour.

Thankfully, before the legendary titan could reach the heart of Tokyo, he was tricked. When flares and parachutes were dropped from planes overhead, he began snatching them out of the air with his jaws. Loaded with some of the parachutes were some of the strongest explosives of the time, often used to hollow out mountains! Detonating inside of his belly, the bombs did tremendous damage and cast Varan back into the depths where, for the longest time, humanity believed he was dead…

Until 1979.

It took all that time, but Varan seemingly healed! Enraged, the beast lashed out at humanity and gained the attention of Godzilla. The nuclear monster cast off his loyal friend, Anguirus, into investigating the disturbance much like he did in 1972. Anguirus arrived in Okinawa and drew battle with the vicious Varan, clinging onto his limbs with pit bull tenacity. As mankind watched on, the ankylosaur-like kaiju defeated Varan, locking onto his throat to deny him oxygen. When Anguirus released him, Varan was out cold and his body gathered up and taken into custody, transported to the in-progress Monsterland for future study.

Eyes of the Earth

From the journal of Dr. Otani,

It is hard to separate what is fact and what is legend in this monster’s case. As a scientist, I can’t hold onto such things as fantasies and angry Gods, but kaiju like Varan and Mothra make me believe that there may just be some truth behind the mythology. I believe Varan to be a relative to prehistoric dinosaurs, much like Anguirus, Gorosaurus, and even Godzilla are. He may very well be a sort of hyper evolved monitor lizard, a family of reptiles made famous by Komodo dragons.

However, the fact the monster didn’t start to rampage until after his worshipping village turned their backs on him makes me wonder. Could there be more behind this creature than a mere animal? I’ve noticed Varan rarely ever makes contact with other monsters and his assault in 1979 was simply barbaric, even compared to the likes of King Ghidorah. Either way, I hope to uncover all of the answers with future research.


Eyes of the Kilaakians

So this is the monster that showed us our control devices work. Good. I was almost thinking humanity killed him. We’ve always hoped that humanity and us Kilaakians would make a peaceful alliance, but I’ve always had a hunch that was a fool’s dream. It’s a good thing we found Varan in 1958 and put him under our control. The legend behind the animal was a perfect mask to test our devices. His reappearance in 1979 showed us just how long our control lasted…

The bio-mechanical device in his brain didn’t decompose until 1984. We owe this monster for showing us how powerful our control beads are. So I thank you, Varan! You are a valuable asset to this day! And for that, we shall let you vent your rage upon London!