Godzilla's first enemy, and later on, one of his closest friends and allies.

Anguirus debuted in 1955's "Godzilla Raids Again" (aka: Gigantis, the Fire Monster), the sequel to the first Godzilla movie, made within months of the first movie. First seen locked in mortal combat with Godzilla, the two brought their battle to the city of Osaka, tearing the city apart as they continued fighting. Godzilla eventually came out on top, though, via a nasty chomp to Ang's throat, followed up by the Monster King bringing the wrath of his fiery breath upon the dying creature.

But that wasn't the last we saw of ol' Anguirus, as he returned in "Destroy All Monsters", this time as an ally to Godzilla, as they, and a whole gang of Toho kaiju, curb-stomped poor Ghidorah.

He then returned to aid his buddy in "Godzilla vs. Gigan", further cementing the friendship the two shared. Sadly, due to his limitations, Anguirus couldn't mount much of an attack against their foes until about the end. So he served as the unfortunate damage magnet throughout much of the fight, even getting a taste of Gigan's abdominal buzzsaw to his face.

He didn't make a return engagement in the following movie, "Godzilla vs. Megalon", aside from a small bit cameo at the beginning.

Anguirus then appeared in "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla", being the first monster to try and fight off the Mechanical Menace while it was still mascarading as the real Godzilla. Despite putting up an impressive fight, MechaGodzilla eventually overpowered him, beating him savagely, then to add insult to defeat, mangled poor Anguirus' jaw with his bare hands.

Severely wounded, Anguirus fled from the battlefield, leaving MechaGodzilla, still in his Godzilla disguise, to terrorize mankind.

Sadly, Anguirus did not appear after that, not even during the 90's series, when most of the main cast of Godzilla friends and foes made return appearences. Naturally, this irked his many fans within the fan community and led to many petitions to bring him back to the big screen.

Unfortunately, those petitions were seemingly ignored throughout the "Millenium Series", and just when all hope for the return of Anguirus seemed to be in vain, along came Final Wars.

After almost 30 years of being on the shelf, Anguirus was finally allowed to come back in Godzilla: Final Wars, along with many of his fellow kaiju from the original series of film, many of whom were passed over during the 90's as well.

Just a little nod to one of Godzilla's most loyal comrades. ^^