Kumonga

Kumonga (Showa 1967–1968)

Kumonga (Showa)

Showa Kumonga (クモンガ, Kumonga — designated as Spiga in international English releases) is the premier giant predatory arachnid of Toho's golden tokusatsu era. Debuting in director Jun Fukuda's tropical survival adventure *Son of Godzilla* (1967 — *Kaijūtō no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko*) featuring landmark puppet wirework by special effects directors Sadamasa Arikawa and Eiji Tsuburaya, Kumonga is an ancient carnivorous predator awakened from deep hibernation in a mist-shrouded valley on Solgell Island. Standing 45 meters tall, weighing 8,000 metric tons, and possessing a colossal 90-meter leg span with yellow-and-black warning coloration, Kumonga reigns as a terrifying ambush predator. Armed with high-pressure adhesive silk webbing capable of entangling titans and a retractable neurotoxic stinger dart fired from its mandibles, Kumonga proved a lethal adversary even for Godzilla. Returning in *Destroy All Monsters* (1968), Kumonga secured sanctuary on Monsterland and played an instrumental role in the battle of Mount Fuji, teaming with Mothra to encase King Ghidorah in an inescapable cocoon of silk.