5. Moby Dick

• Fictional: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

The author of the story known as Moby Dick; or, The Whale, Herman Melville, actually patterned his story after a real event that was claimed to have happened to a crew of men. Few believed their sea tale, but after Moby Dick was published, intrigue began to set in making people wonder if this had some truth to it in some way. There was a whale in history that you could look to as a possible Moby Dick.

It’s called the Livyatan Melvillei, this species of whale lived around 12 to 13 million years ago. It was the size of a modern sperm whale that ate other whales and anything else they felt like. Modern sperm whales use suction in the water to grab food. Yet the Livyatan Melvillei operated like Orcas, using their teeth to bite into and tear their prey apart. That novel was certainly not completely a fictional tale if the story it was based on involved a whale, like Livyatan Melvillei.

4. Cyclops

• Multiple Mythologies

It seems that every major mythology has some version of the Cyclops. The biggest stories they are connected to are Theogony by Hesiod as well as The Odyssey by Homer. In the former, there is a group of Cyclops creatures known as Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. They actually made Zeus’ thunderbolt. Meanwhile, in Homer’s story, the creatures are uncivilized shepherds. They are encountered by Odysseus on his travels.

Of course, the other most notable use has to be the Cyclopean Walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. Cyclops are usually referenced as One-Eyed beings that are generally large. Most use several grunts as their language. They were basically large Great Apes. Regardless of where or how they are used, they tend to be gigantic with extreme power. However, they are usually solitary and only go into normal civilizations in rare instances. If you make them angry, especially by invading their home, they are top monsters who will rip you in two.

3. The Predator

• Fictional: Predator Franchise

It might be getting old to read about alien humanoids, but we all know The Predator belongs on this list. We first see The Predator in rare instances in the original Predator film. All we know is that it is using some type of cloaking technology and has advanced thermal imaging that can track humans with ease. The creature is seemingly a sportsman first and a cold-blooded killer second. It does not want to kill an unarmed person because there’s no sport in that.

This is why it might spare the lives of humans that are injured, out of bullets, or unarmed entirely. Exclusively, they are about the hunt and that means taking out several Armed Forces members. While it will use weapons, the Predator also does not mind a hand-to-hand combat opportunity. The Predator rarely loses, even when it does. Due to the massive destruction it causes, we feel the alien known as The Predator deserves to be ranked highly among the top monsters in history.

2. King Kong

• Fictional: King Kong Franchise

You could state that King Kong is nothing more than a great ape with an overactive pituitary gland but this giant gorilla is much more than that. Kong first appeared in movie form back in 1933 and has since been dubbed “the Eighth Wonder of the World” by many. The creature is supposedly a prehistoric ape and not a regular ape that we might see elsewhere. In fact, it even connects somewhat to humans as it will often move around in a humanoid fashion, especially in its upright walking pattern.

Kong possesses semi-human intelligence with major physical strength. The size of Kong often differs from original movies due to the way sets had to be built as well as how Kong himself had to be constructed. Today, we can use CGI but back then it was all model work. This is why he has been between 40 to 70 feet in films. The most recent films have him at over 100 feet tall, however. Kong is the last of his species, we assume. He is territorial of his home, yet he does connect with some humans and allows them near. Kong is the King of Skull Island, and you best not anger the King, feeble humans.

1. Godzilla

• Fictional: Godzilla Franchise

What is a King to a God, right? Of course, like other Japanese monsters, Godzilla had a rocky start to his initial existence due to the lack of CGI for most of the early films. However, the origin of the character has largely remained the same. Godzilla is a prehistoric sea monster that was somehow awakened and even empowered by nuclear radiation. This was a genius idea by his Japanese creators because Godzilla first appeared in the 1950s.

Yet just a decade prior, Japan was bombed by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore, a creature that came out of that was awesome. While Godzilla was initially a villain, portrayed as an out-of-control monster, he’d eventually be used as an anti-hero. One that saves humans and defends them from the other monsters, some of which the world has not seen, at least yet. When you have a list of top monsters, it is not complete without the King of the Monsters for sure.

 

Sources:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Legendary Pictures

Hanna-Barbera

Tristar Pictures

Hollywood Reporter

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale Novel

Stephen King’s IT Novel & Movie Series

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus Novel

Homer’s Iliad & The Odyssey

A Quiet Place Film

Alien Movie Series

Godzilla Movie Series

King Kong Movie Series

Creature from the Black Lagoon Film

Cloverfield Film Series

History.com

American-Literature.com

Greekmythology.com

Norsemythology.org

Ancient.eu

Britannica

Fandom.Wikia

The Verge

The Guardian

Live Science

WIRED

All That’s Interesting

Screen Rant