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NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Mothra from the MonsterVerse. The mainstream version can be found here: Mothra.
Mothra, also known as Mosura, and dubbed as Titanus Mosura, is one of the main protagonists of the MonsterVerse franchise.
She is a divine moth-like Titan who defends the Earth from those seeking to conquer or destroy it. Due to her benevolent nature, she was revered as a goddess by ancient human civilizations for millennia, attaining near immortality by a biological cycle of reincarnation through the eggs of her offspring.
She also serves as a trusted ally of both Godzilla and Kong as she aided them in battle against malevolent Titans such as King Ghidorah and the Skar King.
Upon hatching from her egg as a larva, Mothra display signs of curiosity and inquisitiveness at the Monarch personnel around her. However, she becomes aggressive when they try 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. Even when provoked to aggression, Mothra notably goes out of her way to avoid killing humans unnecessarily, such as when she throws a containment team guard caught in her jaws into a nearby spiderweb (which cushions his impact whilst immobilizing him) instead of just crushing or devouring him. She also serves as voice of reason of sort among her fellow Titans, being the one who cleared up things to Godzilla and Kong when the latter's attempt to enlist the former's aid againsg Scar King don't end well.
Mothra remains loyal to Godzilla even after Ghidorah became the alpha Titan and immediately flies to his location after emerging from her cocoon. Mothra implicitly displays both intelligence and a capacity for self-sacrifice when she charges at Ghidorah in defense of the downed Godzilla, which prompts Ghidorah to vaporize her with his gravity beams but causes her radioactive ashes to empower Godzilla and unlock his Burning Godzilla form. In situations where Godzilla must team up with other Titans, Mothra serves as the voice of reason for the group, as evident when she broke up the brawl between him and Kong in order for the two to clear up their misunderstanding during the events of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Physical appearance[]
Larval[]
Mothra's appearance in her larval stage is mostly similar to that of her previous incarnations, being a giant segmented caterpillar-like creature. 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.
Imago[]
Mothra's appearance in her imago stage is mostly similar to that of her previous incarnations, being a gigantic moth-like creature 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.
In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Mothra's appearance in her imago stage is similar to the previous design from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, except she appears to now have thicker fur with a much brighter orange coloration and white stripes. When using her pulse attack, blue bioluminescent spots appear throughout her body, including around her mouth, chest, eyebrows, and on the tip of her antennae, as well as what appears to be a hidden third eye on her forehead that is only visible when these spots glow.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Titanus Mosura Physiology: As a Titanus Mosura, Mothra is incredibly powerful, possessing several physical and supernatural attributes that surpasses that of other Titans. She is also one of the most powerful Titans in existence and one of the few Alpha Titans known to this day.
Enhanced Strength: Mothra is shown to have physical strength despite her small size, allowing her to pick up and throw a guard into a wall in her larval form and knock Rodan off with her claws for a short period of time. In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, she is shown to be strong enough to knock Godzilla over after he attempted to kill Kong and was even able to carry a Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle filled with human passengers as well.
Enhanced Durability: Mothra is shown to be quite durable as she is able to withstand conventional weaponry such as electrical pulses from Monarch operatives in her larval form and was capable of continuing her fight with Rodan in Boston, despite being half-burned by exposure to the latter Titan's high temperatures. When she was subsequently disintegrated by Ghidorah with a point-blank blast of his gravity beams, she endured the attack for a few seconds before exploding into energy. Like all Titans, Mothra can also survive Gravitational Inversion, a planet's worth of gravity reversed in a split second.
Enhanced Mobility: Mothra is extremely fast and agile as her muscles and skeleton are incredibly flexible, allowing her to fly at high speed. During her fight with Rodan in Boston, she was capable of dodging his attacks while being pinned against a skyscraper and was quick enough to use her stinger to stab him in the chest before he could deliver the killing blow on her.
Enhanced Stamina: Mothra's musculature is considerably efficient. Her virtually inexhaustible stamina enables her to exert herself at peak capacity for an undefined period of time without tiring at all, allowing Mothra to fight her enemies without getting exhausted. This is proven in her fights against Rodan in Boston since completing her metamorphosis as well as the Skar King and his army of apes in the Hollow Earth. Even when flying, Mothra doesn't even seem to have any signs of fatigue.
Enhanced Reflexes: Mothra has amazing reflexes that are sufficient to dodge two thrusts of Rodan's beak as the Titan had her at his mercy while pinning Mothra against a building during their fight in Boston. She was even able to catch a Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle in mid-fall during her fight with the Skar King and his army of apes in the Hollow Earth.
Enhanced Endurance: Mothra's endurance is shown to be high, capable of enduring attacks from other Titans such as Rodan and able to fight with all her might while ignoring the pain.
Enhanced Senses: Mothra has a very strong sense of hearing as she is capable of sensing Godzilla in pain after he was injured by a blast of the Oxygen Destroyer.
Self-Sustenance: As a Titan, Mothra does not need to eat or sleep.
Accelerated Healing Factor: Despite her body's endurance, Mothra can sustain physical injury. If wounded, her metabolism quickly enables her to rapidly regenerate damaged bodily tissue much faster, depending on how serious her injuries are. After being half-burned by exposure to Rodan's high temperatures and then killed by Ghidorah's gravity beams in 2019 before being resurrected in 2027, she was completely healed.
Bioluminescence: In her larva and imago forms, Mothra can change color depending on her mood. When she is angry or aggravated, she turns red and whenever she's calm, she turns blue with traces of aqua green.
Mothra using her god rays to dispel storm clouds and produce massive winds.
God Rays: Mothra's signature weapon is her "god rays", concentrated beams of beta-wave bioluminescence which she can project through the patterns of her wings. She first uses this as a beacon to communicate with Godzilla and lead Monarch to him and can even weaponize it to create brilliant, near-blinding blue light or angelic-looking golden-white light. These god-rays are also powerful enough to completely dispel storm clouds and produce mighty winds.
Energy Dispersal: Upon her death, Mothra can release a cloud of energy which can empower Godzilla following the latter's thermonuclear overload, allowing him to emit smelting heat and release a series of all-devastating thermonuclear pulses.
Pulses: In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Mothra utilized pulses to break up Godzilla and Kong's fight in Egypt as they are shown to be powerful enough to knock Godzilla down before he could kill the latter. During the battle in the Iwi civilization, she was able to use one of her pulses to phase Shimo and caused her to cease her ice breath on Godzilla.
Flight: In her imago stage, Mothra is capable of using her massive wings to fly through the air at high speed and high altitudes. Her flight was notably hindered after her wings were burned by the lava dripping from Rodan's wings.
Telepathy: Mothra is capable of using telepathy as she and Godzilla are able to communicate with each other due to their symbiotic relationship.
Immortality: Mothra is effectively immortal as she has the ability to asexually lay an egg to be reincarnate. Each she will be reincarnated from an egg to be ressurected, she has her memories intact.
Meteorokinesis: Mothra is notably able to clear the sky in her immediate vicinity of the storms being spread around the world by Ghidorah. She first does this before she emerges from her cocoon and again when she arrives at Castle Bravo.
Silk: Mothra can launch short, controlled, and sudden blasts of sticky spider-like silk from inside her mandibles as she can do this in both her larval and imago forms. Her silk is strong enough to immobilize humans and is even shown to temporarily glue Ghidorah's heads to the side of a building for a significant length of time. In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Mothra uses her silk to restrain the Skar King's army of apes and later, she repairs the wall surrounding the Iwi's Hollow Earth village following the Skar King's defeat at the hands of Kong and Godzilla with assistance from Shimo and Suko in Rio de Janeiro.
Symbiosis: Mothra has a symbiotic relationship with 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 energy to Godzilla in order to empower him.
Thermal Vision: Mothra in her larval form is capable of sensing thermal radiation, although it is unknown if she still possesses this sense in her imago form.
Abilities[]
Genius-level Intellect/Master Tactician: Mothra is likely considered to be highly intelligent, possessing a level of understanding that allows her to grasp complex concepts like common goals, alliances, and sacrifice. Her intelligence is demonstrated through her ability to strategically aid humanity and other Titans, her unique relationship with Monarch scientists, and the fact that she can communicate with humans, though it's often through indirect means. She also understands the concepts of common goals and alliances as she led Monarch to Godzilla's resting place to awaken him to fight Ghidorah, a complex action that requires understanding the bigger picture. Mothra has even demonstrated the ability to communicate with humans both directly and indirectly since she can understand and respond to human intent. Her self-sacrifice against Ghidorah to empower Godzilla demonstrates a high level of awareness and understanding of death and its temporary nature, as she is a reincarnated being, implying that she knows her death is a strategic, temporary inconvenience for the greater good. She is shown to be exceptionally loyal, refusing to recognize Ghidorah as the new Alpha Titan and instead choosing to protect Godzilla and humanity, even when severely weakened. As a reincarnated being, Mothra possesses multi-lifetime experiences and knowledge, giving her a unique and ancient perspective. She has even appeared to have memories of past conflicts, such as her historical fights against Ghidorah. In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Mothra helped Godzilla and Kong fight the Skar King and Shimo when they attempt to conquer the surface world after she stopped the fight between the two Titans in Egypt and convinced Godzilla to ally with Kong against the Skar King and his forces.
Master Combatant: Mothra can use her raptorial forelimbs and stinger in combat against other Titans such as Rodan as well as the Skar King and his army of apes. Despite resembling a moth, her combat style is very similar to that of insects such as praying mantises and wasps; which use their raptorial legs and stinger in combat.
Stinger: Similar to wasps, Mothra possesses a large stinger in her abdomen which she could use as a formidable weapon. She is able to use it to incapacitate a target simply by impaling or stabbing them at point-blank range as she is able to impale Rodan with it when the latter has momentarily pinned her down. Presumably, her stinger also injects venom, though its properties are unknown.
Raptorial Forelimbs: Similar to praying mantises, Mothra's legs possess pointed tips which she could use to slash at opponents and fight other Titans at close range when needed. Also, a single strike from them is strong enough to ward off Rodan.
Weaknesses[]
Limited Durability: Although Mothra was incredibly powerful, she did have her limits; for example, Rodan's extremely-high body temperature was able to slowly burn away and weaken her during their fight in Boston, to the point that after the end of their fight, Mothra was reduced to weakly slouching and crawling. This also singed her wings, making Mothra unable to fly. She was also completely killed and disintegrated after being hit by a direct blast from all three of Ghidorah's gravity beams when she sacrificed herself to protect 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 empower him with her radioactive remains.
The extent of both Titans' loyalty to one another is later shown in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire at which Godzilla listens to the newly returned Mothra who comes to clear up his misunderstanding with Kong.
When Mothra hatched, even in her aggravated state she notably (but warily, delivering a warning gesture) allowed Emma to approach her carefully, and she became completely docile towards her and Madison once Emma successfully used the ORCA to calm Mothra down. Even when Emma initially used the wrong Titan frequencies and ended up provoking Mothra further before finding the right frequency, Mothra seemed to hold back from straight-up attacking her and Madison.
Madison was fond of Mothra when she hatched out of her egg. Mothra seemed to hold back from attacking Madison when she was aggravated, and after she was calmed down with the ORCA, Mothra was friendly and docile to Madison as she even let Madison touch her. The novelization heavily implies Mothra formed a telepathic bond with Madison upon hatching, and that Mothra psychically intervened to bring Madison back to life when the latter suffered a near-death experience in Boston.
Rodan[]
Rodan viciously fought Mothra 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 - it's unclear whether it was merely good fortune for Rodan that he survived the blow from Mothra's stinger, or if Mothra deliberately made sure to deal him a crippling but non-fatal blow.
Hieroglyphs and cave paintings indicate Mothra has aided Godzilla in fighting off Ghidorah before in ancient times. In modern times, when Mothra senses Ghidorah usurping command of the Earth's Titans from Godzilla and beginning to inflict an extinction event, Mothra refuses to acknowledge the hostile, life-threatening alien as the new alpha, and she speeds up her metamorphosis to aid Godzilla and humanity in defeating Ghidorah. During the Boston battle, she intervenes on Godzilla's behalf against Ghidorah, webbing him up and giving Godzilla and advantage, and it's implied she was aiming to skewer the alien monster with her raptorial forelimbs before Rodan arrived and forcibly kept her occupied fighting him. Even when debilitatingly wounded, Mothra charged at Ghidorah in defense of Godzilla's life, and it's implied she deliberately tricked Ghidorah into killing her so that her remains would empower Godzilla to end the three-headed monster's menace.
Not much to know of Mothra's relationship with Kong, but unlike Godzilla, who is still a rival to Kong, he seems to trust Mothra due to her kindness and wisdom as they both despise Ghidorah while they bond with humans, especially with Jia. When they first meet for the first time in Egypt, Mothra saves Kong from being killed by Godzilla, who's the only one to answer for Mothra since they have a bond, when she reveals Skar King, his ape army and Shimo are on their way to exit the Hollow Earth to reclaim his territory on Earth unless they must work together again before it's too late. Later, Mothra and Suko help Kong and Godzilla fight off the ape army while she silks them. After the battle, Mothra still remains alive while she flies away to look for a peaceful nesting ground.
When Mothra was first revived by Jia, she recognizes her as the last Iwi of skull Island while she is able to communicate with her through her mind and allows her to ride on her back to stop Godzilla from killing Kong in order to form an alliance to face the Skar King and his army. She even uses her essence to protect and heal Jia from suffocating inside the portal of the Hollow Earth.
Mothra sees the Skar King as the worst side of Ghidorah when she witnesses him enslaving the apes to act like his army along with Shimo as his enforcer. After she convinces Godzilla and Kong to help her stop the Skar King's army, all she can do is restrain them with her silk without even killing them since violence is not her option.
Not much to know about Mothra's connection with Shimo, but all she knows is Shimo is being enslaved by the Skar King to act as his attack dog. During the battle in the Hollow Earth, Mothra witnesses Shimo trying to freeze Godzilla under Skar's orders, whereupon she uses her god rays to block Shimo away from Godzilla so he can break free. After the battle, Mothra senses Shimo is now free from slavery after Skar is defeated and killed by Kong.
Trivia[]
This is the first incarnation of Mothra to appear in an American-made film.
To make Mothra's vocalizations, the filmmakers used a mix of animals by recording sounds of crickets, insects, whales and dolphins to create Mothra's vocal sound effects and as an example, they exponentially slowed down crickets' chittering to make it sound like a song. One of Mothra's vocals was previously used by the Nightmares from the 2018 game God of War.
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. Thus in Godzilla and Mothra's case, using their energy to empower one another.
This version of Mothra also has best dynamic with Godzilla unlike their previous incarnations who are prone to be at odds with one another. Interestingly, Mothra's status as "Queen of the Monsters" suggested their relationship is more than just allies, resulting in many fans shipping both Titans together (see relationships with Godzilla section above for more information).
Mothra has a wingspan of 803 feet.
Mothra's details are based on praying mantises and hornets. Her design is also more akin to real-life moths than her other incarnations, except she is added with longer legs in order to defend herself from danger.
Unlike the other Titans, namely Kong and Godzilla themselves, Mothra is portrayed completely in CGI.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the first time Mothra and Kong have interacted and acknowledged each other while Kong sees her no different than Godzilla since she is a peacekeeper.
Originally, Mothra and Kong were going to meet and fight each other in the unmade King Kong vs. Ebirah, which was later reworked into Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
Mothra's longer legs which included raptorial forelimbs and stinger capable of piercing through a Titan or similarly massive adversaries compared to previous incarnations were deliberate in Michael Dougherty's part so she could fare in combating other Titans very well if she had to.[1] Although prior iterations of the character weren't pushovers when it comes about close-quarter combat, their melee reach was woefully shorter thus relying more on long-range techniques instead.
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