How would you do King Ghidorah's origin?

Yeah, again all of this mutation/evolutionary deformation...etc...etc... is just making King Ghidorah even less buyable. The more we throw, "Yeah science!" at King Ghidorah the more silly he sounds. That's why it's best left ambiguous with an extraterrestrial origin.

Give him an Earth background linking him up with asian mythology and legend and the conclusion he landed on Earth in an astroid millions of years ago. That takes the character as far as he needs to go. We've never had to learn the in-and-outs of King Ghidorah's origins in the Showa series (hell, we didn't really know how he came into being in GMK) and I don't think it's an important point to make now.

BTW, the whole snake mutation angle isn't completely far-fetched, dragons evolved from snakes according to Japanese/Chinese mythology and closely resemble snakes, take a look at this pic of the Hydra from Hercules 2014 and tell me they don't bear a snake-like appearance or could have easily evolved from them:

Even Ghidorah's three heads have some very snake-like features to them:

Notice the coiled tongue on the bottom most head (the left one). If Godzilla was able to mutate and grow into a 355 foot tall, nuclear, plasma-breathing dinosaur from absorbing nuclear radiation, then I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility per this franchise for a trio of prehistoric snakes to evolve into creatures of similar figure as in the pics above from the same nuclear energy as he. In fact, I could see them very much resembling them.

We're not doubting the evolution angle. Far from it. We're all very much in support of an ancient non-terrestrial lifeform evolving somewhere out there. What most of us don't like is the idea of the resultant evolution being due to some scion made up of three separate creatures. It just doesn't fit with the whole idea of a singular organism like King Ghidorah. I can maybe see creatures forming colonies eventually becoming singular in some place not on Earth.

I'm not doubting that a snake-like being could  be the origin of such a creature liek King Ghidorah. But neither Legendary's Godzilla nor the MUTOs had any real other explanation other than being ancient evolved beings. I think you might be overthinking it, since we've been saying he's an evolved creature not from Earth, but nothing more.

@Kmanx You're missing the point. Legendary Godzilla DID NOT mutate to be 355 feet tall and breathe radioactive plasma. He is a naturally evolved creature. He and the M.U.T.O.s evolved to metabolize radiation and reach incredible sized, they WERE NOT mutated by radiation. Godzilla is the result of earthly evolution, just as King Ghidorah should be the result of unknown extraterrestrial evolution.

That's because Godzilla and the MUTO were already on earth from the very beginning and it's actually possible for a creature to originate on land here on earth, whereas it's not possible for any creature to originate inside of an asteroid barring some insane plot device that would require an explanation just like Godzilla's atomic breath, that's the difference. Plus there was nothing ambiguous about their species, hence there was nothing to explain of their origin apart from their mutation and their special abilities (EMP and atomic breath, respectively), which, as they explained in G14, was a result of them absorbing nuclear radiation 250 million years ago in the world's most radioactive era. A complete mythical creature like a dragon miraculously being born with three heads and no deformities of any kind coming from outer space (again, whether he originated there or not) and can shoot lightning from his three mouths, on the other hand, raises a ton of questions, unlike Godzilla or MUTO's origins.

Please understand the difference. Godzilla and MUTO didn't need much explanation because their origins are fairly open and shut with not much mystery to their respective character, Ghidorah, not so much.

Also, just because he doesn't come from space right off the bat doesn't mean he can't arrive on earth from outer space later on in the film with filler parts in between to make it interesting. For example, a group of astronauts could find him on the moon after getting reports of mysterious sightings from their satellite feeds and inadvertantly awakens him, which I think would make for quite an entertaining and thrilling scene, or they could arrive there and there's no sight of him, only for Ghids to mysteriously arrive and blow crap up with his gravity beams. And then he could be sent from outer space sometime afterwards via some kind of solar disruption, even by accident, via solar devices, satellites, whatever. And then he could've been buried in an asteroid extraneously somehow and the whole moon arrival scene was archive footage as opposed to him originating there right off the bat which, again, isn't possible.

We are not suggesting that Ghidorah was born in a meteor, only that he used one to travel to Earth. King Ghidorah could have been born on some other planet and evolved over time in an extraterrestrial evolutionary cycle. However, as this occured outside of Earth, humankind can only speculate about what he is and why he exists. All that matters is that he exists and hitched a ride on a meteorite and came to Earth at some point. Explaining his origin in a complex and frankly impossible way is just going to be unneccessary and clunky. King Ghidorah is supposed to be a mysterious character. We don't know where he came from or what he is, while we understand what Godzilla and M.U.T.O. are. That is the entire point. Ghidorah is mysterious and has no definite origin and doesn't need explanation. Why would we need to have an entire complex impossible backstory for him when we could just be teased with his mysterious quality? 

And there you go again with Godzilla and M.U.T.O.'s mutation. Their size and powers are not mutations, they are evolved traits. They fed on radiation, they didn't become mutated from it.

A creature like Ghidorah doesn't make much sense anyways, regardless of the way it's approached. It's just as unlikely on Earth as it is in space. And we're not saying he should just inexplicably appear either. Nor have we been saying he specifically originates inside an asteroid.

Arriving on Earth via asteroid is no less realistic than coming from the Moon or from Earth, since it's been proven that organisms can survive hitching rides on asteroids, which invalidates your argument that it's impossible. And who says it has to be a sudden asteroid? It could've been one of the mega-asteroids, that ended those previous eras of life.

As well, the analogy of King Ghidorah coming to Earth by hitching a ride inside an asteroid carries a lot of thematic weight as well. Like the MUTOs being a parasite of the Godzilla species, so too could the King Ghidorah species, only on a much grander scale, acting as a parasite for entire planets, which means the species would have an elevated threat level since their kind are destroyers of life wherever they go to further propagate the species.

Hey guys, what do you think about such an analogy? I can imagine Serizawa or Graham discussing his appearance and reasoning sort of like this:

King Ghidorah. An odd name implying something grand in design and stature. Whilst both are true, the role of the species appears to be more akin to that of a parasite, like the MUTOs, only on a much grander scale. This creature appears to not be of this Earth, but is consuming resources as though by instinct. I believe that this may point to it acting like a parasite for entire ecosystems, traveling to other planets by way of asteroid, never fully satiated.

I don't understand why King Ghidorah in an astroid would need explaination. How many of the more horrific (and better) horror films dealing with alien lifeforms have left much of the explaintion ambiguous. If King Ghidorah were revealed to have been in an astroid and dormant for millions of years, how much more could the characters really learn about him? It simply confirm there was life outside of Earth and give them no further leads-- So who exactly is going to (over) explain the origin?

Hey guys, I made a blog on a Wiki site that explains more about my "King Ghidorah is a parasite" idea. Click it, read it, then come back here and we can discuss it further C:

Here's the link to my blog with the expanded details on my theory :D

I completely agree with Gman2887. Again I bring up my example of John Carpenter's The Thing. The extraterrestrial creature in the film arrived on Earth long ago in a spacecraft. How it piloted the craft or what the craft contains is never explained. Not to mention, the Thing's anatomy and abilities are completely unearthly and astonishing. But do they ever explain how it gained these abilities or how or why it came to Earth in the ship? No, they just realize how great of a threat the Thing is and try to survive. As far as the audience knows, the Thing could have been an experiment that killed the actual occupants of the spacecraft and caused it to crash to Earth, or an unstoppable sentient race that constructed the craft themselves to travel to Earth and assimilate its life. No definitive explanation is ever given, but the film remains grounded, the characters react realistically to their situation, and the Thing maintains a truly terrifying presence. This same basic formula could easily work for King Ghidorah.

^Exactly. The Thing is one of the most chilling examples of this and it was exactly what I was thinking of when I mentioned movies that do this very well. We get a basic backstory of it arriving on Earth, but after that? Who cares! Not the people being killed and mimiced by the the Thing. That's for sure.

It was the same way for King Ghidorah in 1964 and should be again. He should be leveling the world too quickly for characters to care where he came from and that's where much of the attention should be for him anyway. Besides if the Legendary movie can get away with Godzilla and MUTO having simply existed, the sequel can with King Ghidorah as something otherworldly.

Sorry, I meant to say "buried inside of an asteroid, and THEN sent to earth in said asteroid, accidentally or otherwise" in the last paragraph in my last post, stupid thing won't let me edit my posts.

But yeah, Ghidorah just magically birthing inside of an asteroid without an explanation of how he got there (via the Big Bang or some other cosmological event they made up just for him in the sequel) would be the very definition of a plot hole. I could understand if he was somehow buried/coccooned inside of a meteor while in space or on the moon or whatever and he moved through and from space while inside it via magnetic/galactic force energy he possesses, but as far as I know (and again, I'm no evolutionary or science expert), it's not possible for a creature to originate inside of an asteroid like they can on land.

Good thing we weren't saying that :P

Also, did you guys check out my "planetary parasite" theory for the origin of the Legendary King Ghidorah?

After thinking about it some more and doing more Googling (if that's even a word), they could say he was caught in the middle of an asteroid belt and that's how he got there. Makes sense, seeing how asteroid belts create new meteors during collisions. Or he could've used his gravitational/magnetic powers to lure the smaller meteors within the asteroid belt all over his body to form one gigantic asteroid around himself. And he evolved and gained these galactic powers in space the same way Godzilla evolved and gained his nuclear powers on land: by centuries worth of absorbing dark/galactic energy from space as mentioned. They could do this and still keep the Mayan worship angle I brought up earlier, which is a good way for him to gain his "King of Terror" nickname in this new franchise from Legendary IMO.

Or better yet, the Monarch scientists (Graham and Serizawa) could say it's a theory, thus leaving some sense of mystery/ambiguity to his origin, something along the lines of "how his meteor came into existence, we are not sure, but we believe he burrowed himself within the middle of an asteroid belt using some sort of magnetic force." 

To make it even better, they could say he's the only known lifeform from outer space because it's been said he would also destroy any potential extraterrestrial lifeforms in his centuries worth of galactic destruction. 

It doesn't even have to be an asteroid, it can be a rock-like "cocoon", a secretion it uses for space travel. 

"But yeah, Ghidorah just magically birthing inside of an asteroid without an explanation of how he got there (via the Big Bang or some other cosmological event they made up just for him in the sequel) would be the very definition of a plot hole."

Not in the least.

"A gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot." - Motion Picture Narratives and Superlatives, 9th Edition

There's no inconsistancy with not explaining King Ghidorah's origin because there's no rule against it and it doesn't disrupt the flow of the storyline as far as we know right now-- Largely because there is no story at the moment.

It is however the definition of ambiguity:

"Doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention."

That's exactly what it was in 1964. Trying to come up with an explaination as to how he got there puts too much focus on it and could back fire, making it even sillier. Plus how exactly are these characters supposed to figure all this stuff out anyway? We reach and reach and reach with all of this goofy psuedo-science that helped torpedo the Godzilla series anyway and we're supposed to believe these "grounded" characters are able to figure out all of the intergalactic voodoo? Keep it simple. Tell the story and move on.

What do you really get from explaining him? The Xenomorph, the thing, the blob(the original not the military weapon in the remake) never had any explanation in their original movies. I know the lack of explanation for those monsters didn't ruin my viewing experience. We don't get a real backstory for the MUTOs and they're from earth. I don't think it would make more sense to give a backstory to a monster that isn't even form here. I would even like it more if someone asks and a character answers "I don't know." It adds a lot to see a monster that's destroying everything in it's path and have no idea why it's doing that or what it is.

Also, how's this for an idea?

In a breaking news story from decades earlier, the mass extinction-causing meteor was actually found here on land (be it by paleontologists, Monarch scientists, whatever) and Monarch came in to research it. However, as Serizawa explains, NASA ordered the meteor be sent back to space before they can finish conducting tests on it, he tells the FBI this after he's brought in for questioning after some insane Ghidorah plot device is discovered (after all, no one would know better than he), I think a good example of one would be the ancient Mayan satellite, Black Knight, crash-landing onto earth with three tears in its exterior and a black box with extraterrestrial cackles on it found inside, this is taken straight from my Godzilla 2 story treatment I wrote and published online and even shared with you here in the GFW forum.

But then, here's the kicker: after a shocking discovery (since we're including the FBI in it in this idea, it might as well be them who finds this out after an investigation), it turns out, surprise, surprise, that it was actually MONARCH, not NASA, who ordered the meteor be launched back to space in the middle of tests, knowing the truth and wanting to desperately cover tracks, revealing another one of their shady cover-ups, I think that would make for an interesting twist. It would also explain the Ghidorah meteor crash-landing yet again on earth later on in the film's present time, which absolutely needs to happen IMHO.