The very first scenario you highlighted actually happened in my own main written series, Colossus By Design.
Giant monsters showed up in the not-too-distant future, forcing Humanity to unite and create giant robots to combat them. After years of battle, the giant monsters weren't seen again for a long time, and Humanity engaged in WWIII with their giant robots, causing so much destruction that the world governments decided to stow away these machines indefinitely.
Of course, the giant monsters resurfaced later on, and so did Godzilla, whom was only tangentially known in inner circles and infrequently appeared throughout history.