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| “ | Mothra, Queen of the Monsters. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Ilene Chen describing Mothra. |
Mothra, also dubbed Titanus Mosura, is the kaiju deuteragonist of the 2019 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. She also appeared as a cave painting in the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island.
Mothra is a moth-like insectoid kaiju capable of defending the natural world and was revered as a goddess by ancient human civilizations. She also serves as Godzilla's trusted ally; as she aided him in battle against his nemesis, Ghidorah.
Unlike the other titans in the movie, she is portrayed entirely by CGI.
Contents
Biography
Origins
Mothra is a prehistoric insectoid titan as she is part of the natural order as well as the guardian of the Earth who was worshipped as a goddess. In ancient times, she, along with Godzilla, protected the Earth and humans from titans who wished to destroy the planet. Stories of Mothra and the other titans have been pasted down to Ling Chen and her sister Ilene Chen for generations. Mothra is one of the three guardian monsters who became friends with Godzilla at some point in the past and helped him battle against King Ghidorah a long time ago. As the protector of Earth and as one of the three ancient guardians, it is Mothra's job along with the other guardians to protect Earth from Ghidorah and other monsters who aren't from Earth or other titans who are from Earth but disrupt the natural order. Because of the Chen sisters knowledge of Mothra and being third generation members of Monarch, they have a secret connection with Mothra. When Mark Russell finds out thar Ilene Chen and Ling Chen are third generation Monarch members, he sees photos of the twins family and some photos of their family on a Monarch mission from 1961.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Mothra is first seen as a larva hatching from her egg after being closely monitored by Monarch for years. She becomes agitated when Monarch operatives fire electrical pulses at her and spits silk at them in defense. The Monarch scientists decide to terminate her before she can destroy the facility, but Dr. Emma Russell manages to calm her down using the ORCA device, which releases sonar pulses only understood by Titans. Now more relaxed, Mothra leans close towards Dr. Russell and her daughter, Madison, and allows them to touch her. Soon after, eco-terrorists raid the facility, killing all the Monarch personnel except for Emma and Madison, who they abducted. Mothra retreats into a waterfall before the eco-terrorists can capture her, and seals herself off in a cocoon.
Sometime later, Mothra hatches from her cocoon in adult form and spreads her wings for the first time. She takes flight and later assists Monarch in discovering where Godzilla was regenerating after nearly being killed by the Oxygen Destroyer.
Mothra travels to Boston and assists Godzilla in his re-match against Ghidorah. She spits silk at Ghidorah, pinning him to the side of a building and allowing Godzilla to brutally ram him through. Before she can further assist her alpha, Rodan appears and intercepts her, slamming her into a building. The two Titans grapple each other in the sky, and a fierce aerial battle ensues. Rodan, being much larger and, arguably, more powerful than Mothra, has the advantage for most of the fight. He pins her to a building and prepares to deliver the killing blow, but Mothra pierces Rodan with her hidden stinger, which incapacitates him. Severely wounded and weakened, Mothra flies over to Godzilla, who had just been dropped from thousands of feet by Ghidorah. Using the last of her strength, she flies towards Ghidorah, who blasts her with his gravity beams. As Mothra burns up and disintegrates, her ashes fall down onto Godzilla, transferring her power to him. Godzilla, now burning red, blasts Ghidorah with thermonuclear pulses, which take the shape of Mothra's wings. Using these thermonuclear pulses, Godzilla is able to avenge Mothra by destroying Ghidorah and secures his position as the alpha Titan.
Following Ghidorah's death, newspaper articles reveal that another Mothra egg has been discovered.
Personality
Upon Mothra hatching from her egg as a larva, she display signs of curiosity and inquisitiveness at the Monarch personnel around her, however, she becomes aggressive when they tries to contain her and webs up some of them with her silk attacks. When Emma emits the Alpha frequency from the ORCA, Mothra immediately calms down, allowing Madison to approach and nearly touch her.
Mothra remains loyal to Godzilla even after Ghidorah became the alpha titan and immediately flies to his location after emerging from her cocoon, she helps Godzilla in fighting both Ghidorah and Rodan in Boston, but sustains great amounts of injuries in the process. Despite Rodan injuring her, Mothra does not kill him and instead knocks him down on the ground after stabbing him with her stinger, showing how she is unwilling to kill. When Godzilla is greatly wounded after being dropped thousands of feet from the sky, Mothra stands between him and the approaching Ghidorah. To prevent Godzilla from undergoing a nuclear meltdown, Mothra sacrifices herself to Ghidorah's gravity beams, giving Godzilla her life-force energy so that he can avenge her by having all the power to destroy Ghidorah.
Physical appearance
Mothra's larval stage maintains the appearance of a giant segmented caterpillar. The segments of her body are rounded, and her head is very small compared to the rest of her body. The legs of her larval form are larger and more visible than they have been in her past designs. Instead of the large oval-shaped eyes of the imago stage, Mothra's larval stage has much smaller blue eyes. She possesses a vaguely armadillo-like segmented back, and three arthropod-like mandibles and teeth, as opposed to her past incarnations which only possessed two mandibles. Her larval stage possesses several bioluminescent patches, which emit a soft blue light when she is calm but change to a red color when she is hostile and is ready to attack.
Mothra's imago stage is a resemblance to a gigantic moth with a segmented insect-like body, equipped with six legs and two wings. Her legs are considerably different from those of her past designs, which are typically small and equally-sized, with clawed bird-like feet. Mothra also has two long hind legs with two joints and two clawed toes. She has four forelimbs, two on each side of her body, with one large pair and one smaller pair. Her forelimbs are longer and more muscular than those of her past designs, and end in large hooked claws, similar to a praying mantis. Mothra's head is comparatively smaller than it usually is, though it retains her traditional large blue eyes, which are oval-shaped rather than circular while she retains a facial resemblance to her larval form in the form of her mandibles. She possesses two large white antennae which typically lay flat against the top of her head. Also, Mothra possesses an abdomen shaped like a wasp's with a large, retractable stinger. Mothra has two gigantic compound wings each composed of two segments; a larger segment near the front of her body and a smaller segment toward the rear. The wings possess intricate patterns with the character's traditional orange, yellow and black coloration, which can emit bioluminescent glows that shift in color. There is a circular pattern on both sides of the front corners of Mothra's wings, as is the case with her previous designs. However, these circles are meant to represent Godzilla's eyes, demonstrating a connection between the monsters. Mothra also is clearly seen possessing white fur, with some orange fur on her forehead.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Insectoid Titan Physiology: As an insectoid titan, Mothra is incredibly powerful; as she possesses several physical and supernatural attributes that surpasses that of most other titans.
- Advanced Strength: Mothra was much stronger than humans and most other titans; for example, a strike from her limbs is strong enough to stagger Rodan for a short period of time and her stinger is sharp enough to pierce through his geothermal armor.
- Advanced Durability: Mothra was far more durable than humans and most other titans; for example, bodily tissue is substantially harder than it seemed.
- Advanced Endurance: Mothra's endurance was far more greatly developed than humans and most other titans; for example, even after sustaining burns and injuries from Rodan's attacks, she can fight at near full-strength and even temporarily take the full force of Ghidorah's gravity beams.
- Advanced Speed: Mothra was much faster than humans and most other titans; for example, she was able to swiftly launch her silk to glue Ghidorah to the side of a building, and she is quick enough to use her stinger to stab Rodan before he can finish her.
- Advanced Stamina: Mothra possesses far more stamina than humans and most other titans; allowing her to remain physically active for long periods of time.
- Abdominal Stinger: Mothra possesses a large stinger in her abdomen similar to wasps. Unlike her previous incarnation whose stinger can fire armor-piercing darts, Mothra's stinger acts as a last resort weapon to incapacitate a target by impaling or stabbing them at point-blank range as she demonstrated against Rodan when the latter has momentarily pinned her down.
- Bioluminescence: Mothra's thorax is capable of emitting beta-wave bioluminescence that can be projected through the patterns of her wings and weaponized as blinding 'god rays' that are able to disperse clouds.
- Reincarnation: Mothra possesses god-like qualities, where one of them being reincarnation. While immortal, Mothra's physical form can still be destroyed and to make up this shortcoming, and she will asexually lay an egg from which she will be reborn.
- Raptorial Forelimbs: Mothra's legs possess pointed tips like a praying mantis, allowing her to fight other kaijus at close range when needed.
- Silk: Mothra can launch incredibly strong silk from glands inside her mouth, and she can do this in both her larval and imago forms. Her silk is shown to be strong enough to temporarily glue Ghidorah to the side of a building.
- Symbiosis: Mothra can form symbiotic relationships with other kaijus; such as Godzilla where they can share their life-force to one another to gain an edge in combat. When taking Ghidorah's gravity beams, she managed to disperse every ounce of her life energies to Godzilla to empower him.
- Flight: Due to Mothra's wings; she can fly at high speeds and at high altitudes.
Abilities
- Advanced Combatant: Mothra can use her raptorial forelimbs and stinger in combat.
Relationships
Godzilla
Mothra and Godzilla have a symbotic relationship. Mothra helps Monarch find Godzilla when Godzilla's nearly dead. Mothra remains loyal to Godzilla; even after Ghidorah becomes the alpha titan. Mothra sacrifices herself to save Godzilla from Ghidorah and Godzilla was greatly saddened when she dies; due to Ghidorah.
Emma Russell
When Mothra hatched, Emma stopped her from being killed and calmed her down with the Orca. After doing so Mothra was docile and friendly to Emma and Madison.
Madison Russell
Madison was fond of Mothra when she hatched out of her egg. Mothra was initially hostile, however, after she was calmed down with the Orca, Mothra was friendly and docile to Madison as she even let Madison touch her. Madison saddened when Mothra died.
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Mark Russell
Rodan
Rodan and Mothra did fight in Boston during the final battle. Rodan overpowers and nearly kills Mothra, but she stabs him with her stinger and pushes him on the ground. However, Rodan survives the wound likely because Mothra stabbed his shoulder and not his heart because she wasn't really trying to kill him.
Ghidorah
Alan Jonah
Trivia
- It is revealed that Mothra and Godzilla are in a symbiotic relationship; which is where two species of animals take care of each other and receive a benefit from the relationship.
- Benefits received in symbiotic relationships are food, protection and shelter these benefits are given to animals that help to take care of another animal of a different species.
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