years after an initial attack on tokyo in 1954, godzilla is entrapped under ice in antarctica after a battle with the original "gotengo". in later years, environmental disasters cause the appearance of giant monsters and superhumans, dubbed "mutants", who are then recruited into the earth defense force (edf) to battle the monsters. an upgraded "gotengo", commanded by captain douglas gordon, battles and destroys manda, but the ship is wrecked in the process and its captain is suspended from the edf.