Films: Garuda (2004)

Alias: None

Type: Mystical

Location: Underground/Civilized Area

Height/Weight: Thrice that of an average human.

Affiliation: Evil

Summary: Whomever thought of awakening ancient Gods ought to be sacked immediately. Nothing good ever comes out of it, even if it was a supposedly benevolent one. But nothing gets bad like rousing a being that tiptoes the line between God and beast...

History: Imprisoned in an ancient underground tree and guarded by a large naga snake, the great beast Garuda has been sleeping for quite some time under the city of Bangkok, Thailand. But then some folks began to dig too deep for the sake of both subway space and archeological boons. Garuda awakened, and was not only miffed that the outside world had changed so much, but at least one individual had his missing claw in a necklace. Pursuing the woman with the necklace and killing all in his path, Garuda was to give the modern world a painful reminder of what happens when you forget about the past...

Notable Kills: Purposefully leads a guided missile into the path of many soldiers, killing many.

Final Fate: A rooftop confrontation ends with Garuda ripping off his bullet-riddled right wing, and falling off a building while trying to get the claw. As he climbs up, he is shot in the head with a powerful bullet, sending him plummeting to the ground and killing him.

Powers/Abilities: Garuda is incredibly resilient, and can use his massive wings to create powerful wind gusts. He is also deceptively intelligent.

Weakness: Heavy artillery. Also, he is obsessed with his missing claw, making it a worthy distraction.

Scariness Factor: 3-Garuda is huge, menacing, powerful, cunning...and rendered like a video game character. It's sad how a potentially terrifying beast can be humbled like this.

Trivia: -Ironically, Garuda is a benevolent figure in mythology, acting as a protector of humanity, an enemy to the evil serpent, and occasionally a mount for the great God Vishnu. He is either depicted as a purely bird-like beast or an anthropomorphic being with bird-like features, sometimes that of a kite bird. In this film's country, Thailand, Garuda is even their national symbol, and uses the anthropomorphic interpretation.

-Apparently, a practical version of Garuda came close to existing, but the director demanded that it all be in CGI. At least he was meticulous in developing the beast's facial expressions.