CREATURE FEATURE : Ebirah

Ebirah (エビラ Ebira), is a fictional kaiju (Japanese giant monster) that first appeared in the Showa Godzilla film Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. He is one of the two main antagonists of the film. So far Ebirah has also appeared in All Monsters Attack and Godzilla: Final Wars.

Origin
Showa series
In Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, a terrorist organization called the Red Bamboo had set up a base of operations on Letchi Island. The giant shrimp Ebirah was successfully used to destroy any ship that came too close to the island. The Red Bamboo ships used a special extract from the island’s fruit to protect themselves from Ebirah. When a small group of people stranded on the island saw the mutant dinosaur Godzilla sleeping in a cave, they woke him so he could fight Ebirah. Godzilla easily won and injured the crustacean with his atomic ray. The day after, a Red Bamboo ship appeared, but they unknowingly used a placebo and not the fruit extract. Ebirah attacked and tore the ship apart. Godzilla reappeared, but this time, Godzilla pulled off Ebirah’s claws. The wounded Ebirah then fled.
Ebirah was not seen again until he appeared on Monster Island in Ichiro’s dreams in All Monsters Attack. His appearance in this film is simply stock footage utilized from Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. Ebirah was originally going to appear in Destroy All Monsters, but did not make it to the final draft.

Millennium series
In the Millennium era, Ebirah makes an appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars as one of the many controlled monsters of the Xiliens, a race of extraterrestrial beings. He destroys a factory near Tokyo, and the military forces are sent to destroy him, but are outmatched by the immense crustacean. Instead, the mutant soldiers are called to stop the kaiju. The mutants successfully defeat Ebirah and are about to kill him, when he disappears in a flash of light. The Xiliens arrive and say that they destroyed the monsters to save Earth. However, it is soon found out that the monsters were in fact controlled by the Xiliens all along.
The Gotengo then frees Godzilla from the Antarctic so he could fight the controlled kaiju. The plan is a success and Godzilla successfully defeats all of the kaiju. When he arrives in Tokyo Bay, he faces Ebirah and the smog monster Hedorah. However, they are no match for Godzilla, who blasts them out of the water with his atomic ray and the duo crash into a building, where Ebirah's claw stabs Hedorah's eye. Godzilla fires another blast and knocks out both Ebirah and Hedorah.

Video game appearances
Ebirah has been featured in as a non-playable enemy kaiju in three video games:
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Godzilla: Save the Earth
Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
Ebirah was only featured as a playable character in the Japan-only game Godzilla Trading Battle.

Appearances in comic book
Ebirah made an appearance in the IDW comic book series Godzilla: The Half-Century War.