Mothra (Godzilla)

1
2

“	If the world lives to see another century, please remember what Mothra did for you and the planet you live on.	„
	~ The Cosmos.

“	Mothra, Queen of the Monsters.	„
	~ Dr. Ilene Chen.

Mothra

Series	Godzilla (series)
Age	Unknown
Birthday	Unknown
Sex	Female
Species	Unknown
Height	52ft (15.8 meters)
Weight	25,000 tons
Alignment	Lawful Good

Mothra is a giant divine moth kaiju who first appeared in the 1961 serialized novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra, which was adapted the same year by Toho into the film Mothra, before starring in the Godzilla media franchise.

Background[]

Long ago, an expedition to a quiet island in the South Pacific lead to the discovery of a trio of fairies known as the Elias: the wise Moll, the loving Lora, and the courageous Belvera. The three fairies were the last of a race that predated humanity and worshipped the great moths Mothra and Battra, both created to protect the Earth from all threats. When Moll and Lora were taken, Mothra hatched from her egg and devastated anything that got in her way to save the sisters. However, unlike Belvera and Battra who believed humanity was a threat to the world, Mothra, Moll, and Lora saw them as much a part of Earth as they are and are forced to deal with their kind unless a mutual enemy appears.

Powers and Abilities[]

Scales: Typically, Mothra emits "scales" from her wings as a last resort, a yellow poisonous powder that can incapacitate enemies.
Telepathy: Mothra possesses telepathic abilities which she can use to communicate with her Shobijin across great distances.
Silk: Mothra can spit a stream of silk at her enemies to either disorient or entrap them. Usually this ability can only be used in her larval stage, but in Godzilla: King of the Monsters she is able to use her silk attack even as an imago.
Wind: In her imago stage, Mothra can flap her wings to create gales which tear apart buildings and knock other kaiju down.
Antenna Beams: Mothra can fire twin laser beams from her two antennae.
Lightning: Mothra can fire arcs of lightning through her wings or release this electrical energy through her touch.
Stinger: In GMK, Mothra can fire a hail of poisonous dart-like stingers from her abdomen. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, she instead possesses a single larger stinger attached to her abdomen which can immobilize enemies pierced by it.
Flight: Mothra is capable of flight, usually at supersonic speeds, while in her imago stage.
Eye Beams: In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Mothra fires blue beams from her eyes during her fight against Battra on Infant Island.
Stinger Blast: In the games Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed, while in her imago form, Mothra can shoot white balls of energy from her rear that hone in on targets before exploding. In Save the Earth specifically, Mothra also uses this technique to enhance some of her melee attacks.
Cry for Peace: In the Pipeworks Godzilla games, while in her imago form, Mothra can send out a rainbow colored shockwave while crying out loudly. Opponents caught in the shockwave receive minor damage but are stunned for a couple of seconds.
God Rays: In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mothra can emit concentrated beams of beta-wave bioluminescence from the patterns on her wings. Mothra's God Rays are yellowish-white in color and are powerful enough to completely dispel storm clouds. While they produce blinding light, Mothra does not use her God Rays offensively and seems to use them like a beacon to communicate with Godzilla and lead Monarch to him.

Alternate Forms[]

Larval Stage[]

Like any lepidopteran, Mothra always starts out as a larva, a massive brown, segmented caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing blue eyes. In her larval stage, Mothra's primary form of physical attack involves using her mandibles to bite opponents. Typically she bites onto an enemy's tail, causing them physical pain while she holds on.

Fire Mothra[]

Mothra briefly entered this state when she was hit by Gigan's Gigarium Cluster, which caused her to erupt into flames. While in this form, Mothra flew into the decapitated Gigan in a kamikaze attack that seemingly killed them both in a fiery explosion.

Feats[]

Strength[]

In larva form, is strong enough to hold King Ghidorah back.
Knocked down Godzilla during take off.
Bashed Godzilla down by tackling him.
Was able to drag Showa Godzilla, who weighs 20,000 tons, a large distance
She is stated able to use her own strength alone change the course of a planet wrecking asteroid.
Together with Battra, was able to lift and drag Heisei Godzilla.
Able to ride out on Godzilla's head for a time.
Knocked down Godzilla with a fly by.
Lifted and threw 25,000 tons of Godzilla.
Matched blows with Gigan.
Knocked over both Gigan and Monster X with a sneak attack.
Smashed Battra and destroys hundreds of tons worth of rock formations from their battle.
Smashed IDW Godzilla aside and into a skyscraper.
Smashed IDW Godzilla into the ground.
Briefly restrained King Ghidorah with her silk.
Fought Rodan, who momentarily traded blows with King Ghidorah.
Her God Rays can disperse the clouds.

Speed[]

Can fly at least Mach 3 speeds.
Kept up with King Ghidorah, who traveled from the Space Hunter M Nebula to Earth within minutes.
In 2 years, Mothra managed to fly beyond the solar system.
Easily keeps up with Godzilla, who can tag SpaceGodzilla, who can traverse outer space.
Intercepted a heat beam attack from Godzilla that was aimed at Battra.
Dodged an Atomic Breath blast that was accurate enough to pick off jets easily.
Easily dodged Gigan's razor discs.
Caught Monster X and Gigan off guard.
Dodged Godzilla's Atomic Breath multiple times
Dodged close range eye beams from Battra.
Dodged multiple close range attacks from Destoroyah.
Appeared as a blur to Megaguirus and kept up with her easily.
Effortlessly dodged Godzilla's Atomic Breath with a damaged wing.

Durability[]

Tanked large amounts of Anti Air fire and rockets.
Took a face full of Atomic Breath and lived though heavy damage.
Was shot by King Ghidorah's Gravity Beams but continued to fight.
Effortlessly shrugs off Battra's beams.
Takes hits from Godzilla's Atomic Breath
Survived Godzilla's Nuclear Pulse
Took a powerful blast of energy from Desghidorah.
Shrugged off a tail strike that was strong enough to send Baragon flying
Survived a large fireball that destroyed multiple city blocks with no sign of major damage.
Had a piece of her wing cut off and then suffered a large crash.
Endured being caught in a large inferno and set on fire long enough to destroy Gigan.
Withstands Godzilla's physical blows.
Was choked and slammed by Destoroyah, but got back to fighting with no sign of damage.
Was hit by the Oxygen Destroyer attack, which destroys matter on a molecular level, and survived.
Was blasted by Monster X and sent flying back thousands of meters, through a bridge, and into a city.
Survived getting hit with Godzilla's Spiral Ray.

Skill[]

Is one of the most heroic monsters to defend Earth.
One of the few kaiju to have defeated Godzilla himself several times.
- Was the first monster to make Godzilla Earth retreat in a straight-up fight (Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla novel).
Broke up the fight between Godzilla and Rodan and gotthem to help fight King Ghidorah.
When Godzilla and Rodan still fought each other, Mothra decided to go fight King Ghidorah alone.
In Destroy All Monsters, helped Earth's other monsters defeat King Ghidorah.
In the Heisei Era, she's the replacement protector of Earth after Battra went too extreme.
Joined forces with Battra to stop Godzilla.
Once defeated Desghidorah, a monster so powerful it turned the planet Mars into a wasteland.
Defeated Gigan twice.
Helped Haruo Sakaki overcome Metphies' influence and defeat him, severing King Ghidorah's connection to reality and allowing Godzilla Earth to banish him back to the Void.
Sealed King Ghidorah in Antarctica alongside Godzilla in the ancient past.
The only Titan aside from Godzilla and King Kong that didn't respond to King Ghidorah's Alpha Call which was able to command every other Titan, including Rodan.
Helped revive Godzilla.
Defeated Rodan.
Sacrificed herself to save Godzilla from King Ghidorah, allowing him to absorb her energy, access his Burning form, and finally defeat Ghidorah.

Weaknesses[]

Relatively lightweight for akaiju.
Only rampages if Moll and Lora are endangered or if she senses the presence of a grave perversion against nature like Kiryu.
Has been killed by Godzilla three times (she died of old age in her first duel).
Was killed by the revived Desghidorah, mostly due to old age.
Mothra is normally at the end of her lifespan after she lays an egg.
Wings are abnormally frail.
- Wings can be weakened if she sheds her scales during her poison dust attacks.

Fun Facts[]

Mothra was the first Toho kaiju Godzilla faced that did not debut in the Godzilla series but was instead incorporated into and absorbed by it, becoming one of the series' recurring characters.
- Mothra is also the only Toho kaiju to receive films dedicated to herself and her kind (Rebirth of Mothra and its two sequels) after appearing in the Godzilla series.
According to an interview with Kenpachiro Satsuma, Koichi Kawakita originally wanted Mothra to be killed in Godzilla vs. Mothra and appear in a sequel as MechaMothra.
Toho had intended to follow Godzilla vs. Biollante with a revival of Mothra in her own spin-off film, Mothra vs. Bagan. However, following the unimpressive box office performance of Biollante, Toho discarded the project in favor of another Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. A 1992 survey revealed that Mothra was Toho's most popular kaiju among women, an observation which inspired Toho to again revise its plans, abandoning a proposed direct sequel to King Ghidorah in favor of a Godzilla–Mothra film. Following the end of the Heisei Godzilla series, Toho produced the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. Mothra thus became the first Toho kaiju to lead its own films after its incorporation into the Godzilla franchise.
Although Mothra is one of Godzilla's most frequent allies, she has only been his ally in the films Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla: Final Wars, although briefly, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In all of her other film appearances alongside Godzilla so far, Mothra has been his enemy.
Early concept art by Tohl Narita for the monster Guesra from Ultraman envisioned the monster as a spiky, caterpillar-like creature who would have been portrayed with a modified Mothra larva prop. Tsuburaya Productions ended up modifying the Peter suit from Ultra Q instead.