Mothra (disambiguation)

Mothra モスラ (Mosura) is a giant divine moth created by Toho that first appeared in the 1961 Toho film, Mothra, and made her first appearance alongside Godzilla in the 1964 Godzilla film, Mothra vs. Godzilla.

Name
The name "Mothra" is the suffixation of "-ra" (a common last syllable in kaiju names) to "moth." Since the Japanese language does not have dental fricatives, it is approximated "Mosura" in Japanese. Originally, Mothra's name was approximated in English as "Mosla," but it was later corrected to "Mothra" by the time of the release of her debut film. In the American dubbing and various posters for Mothra vs. Godzilla, Mothra is also referred to as "The Thing." She is among Toho's most popular characters, primarily among female fans, and she has appeared in every Godzilla film era. Toho even honored Mothra with the title "Queen of Monsters" for the soundtrack and home video releases of Rebirth of Mothra, illustrating her proximity in status to Godzilla himself.

In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, the guardian monster Mothra's name is spelled in kanji but pronounced the same: 最珠羅 (Mosura).

Appearance
Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle: Mothra's mammoth egg is decoratively colored in blue and yellow waves. The egg hatches into her larva, a massive brown, segmented caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing blue, sometimes red, eyes. In rare circumstances, twins may emerge from the egg. The caterpillar eventually spins a silken cocoon around itself (the pupa stage), and from this cocoon the imago (adult) Mothra emerges, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings. Mothra's life cycle—particularly the tendency of an imago's death to coincide with its larvae hatching—echoes that of the Phoenix, resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity.

In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Mothra is portrayed with purple eyes, although her eyes are normally blue.

Personality
Despite having wrought destruction worthy of any Toho, Mothra is almost always portrayed as a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction only when acting as protector to her worshipers on Infant Island or to her egg, or as collateral damage while protecting Earth from a greater threat. Mothra is usually accompanied by two tiny priestesses or fairies (often called Shobijin—Japanese for "small beauties") who also speak for her.

Origins
Mothra's origins have somewhat varied from film to film, but she is always portrayed as a benevolent and ancient creature that possesses some level of divinity.

In the Showa era, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla: Final Wars, Mothra is the guardian goddess of the remote Infant Island in the south Pacific Ocean. There, she is perpetually reborn through an egg and is worshiped by the island's natives. She is spoken for by two miniature telepathic fairies, called either the Shobijin, Cosmos, or Elias.

Mothra's origin is gone into in greater depth in Godzilla vs. Mothra. This film explains that Mothra was the guardian of the ancient world, protecting all life on Earth from threats. When an ancient civilization created a climate-controlling device, the Earth became offended and created a dark Mothra, called Battra, to destroy it. After destroying the device, Battra proceeded to eradicate the entire civilization and sought to exterminate all of mankind, believing humans to be a blight on the planet. Mothra challenged Battra and defeated him, sealing him away in the North Sea. Following this battle, Mothra and the Cosmos, the only remnants of the ancient civilization, took up residence on the remote Infant Island, where they lived in peace for the next twelve thousand years.

In Rebirth of Mothra, it is established that Mothra is the last living member of an ancient race of giant guardian moths that defended the Earth throughout its history. In her old age, Mothra lived in solitude with the Elias on Infant Island, and with the last of her strength summoned forth an egg to continue her legacy after her death.

In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Mothra's origin receives its first major alteration. In this film, Mothra is one of the three Guardian Monsters and the Goddess of the Sea. In ancient times, Mothra and her fellow guardians Baragon and King Ghidorah were slain by Japanese warriors. Mothra was laid to rest under Lake Ikeda while the warriors who slayed her prayed for her soul, that she would return one day to save Japan. Thousands of years later, the prophet Hirotoshi Isayama awakened Mothra by transferring the souls of Japan's honorable dead into her, so that she and the other Guardian Monsters could together stop Godzilla.

Mothra
Mothra was first discovered on Infant Island, where natives to the island worshiped her as a goddess. Invaders from Rolisica took over the island and stole the Shobijin. The natives went to a temple, where a giant egg was held. The egg hatched into a larva, called Mothra, which swam across the Pacific Ocean and destroyed the Orion Maru as she journeyed north towards Japan to save the Shobijin from the humans. She destroyed Tokyo while trying to find them, then tore down Tokyo Tower and formed her cocoon. She emerged from the cocoon in her imago form, having been inadvertently helped by the army's Atomic Heat Ray Guns. She went to New Kirk City, and was reunited with the Shobijin at an airport runway after destroying a large portion of the city.

Mothra vs. Godzilla
Mothra's egg washed up on the shores of Japan when it washed off Infant Island. The owner of the land where the egg was found quickly bought the egg, and planed to turn it into an exhibit to cover his loses. The Shobijin wanted to return the egg to Mothra, but they were almost killed by the CEO of the company that owned the land. They then warned them of Mothra and how she would come take the egg by force. Soon after Godzilla was awoken from his sleep on the bank, the Shobijin were convinced to send Mothra to defeat Godzilla. Mothra attacked Godzilla, but she was defeated and killed. Soon after, her egg hatched into two twin larvae, who then continued to battle Godzilla. The young Mothras managed to drive Godzilla back out to sea, and they then returned to Infant Island.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Mothra returned again in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster in her larval form. Mothra was called upon to stop King Ghidorah and persuade Godzilla and Rodan to attack him. After a failed attempt at trying to get Godzilla and Rodan to cooperate, Mothra decided to take on King Ghidorah herself, but she failed. Godzilla and Rodan joined the fight and after a long and tough battle the three Kaiju managed to drive King Ghidorah away.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Mothra returned briefly near the end of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, where she briefly fought Godzilla and saved the natives of the island from the Red Bamboo Organization after the island was set to self destruct.

Destroy All Monsters
Mothra returns in Destroy all Monsters as a monster living on Monsterland. She is mind-controlled by the alien Kilaaks and is sent to attack Tokyo with Godzilla, Rodan, and Manda. After the mind control is broken, Mothra helps the other Kaiju in the battle against King Ghidorah by firing her web from a distance, along with Kumonga.

Godzilla vs. Mothra
Mothra returned in the Heisei series with Godzilla vs. Mothra. On remote Infant Island, a storm washes away a giant egg from a hillside. The company that owns the island then sends an investigation team to discover any damage, and the egg is found in the process. The egg is transported back to Japan, but the voyage is interrupted by Godzilla. The battle causes the egg to hatch into Mothra, and she attacks Godzilla. Mothra flees when Battra arrives, and she swims away. After finding that the Cosmos have been stolen, she heads to Japan and starts to look for her fairies. After finding them, she forms her cocoon and changes into her imago form. Battra and Godzilla soon arrive in Tokyo, and the battle begins. Mothra fights off both monsters, but Battra soon switches sides and helps Mothra defeat Godzilla. The two knock Godzilla unconscious and fly him out to sea. Godzilla awakens and kills Battra mid-flight, and Mothra drops both monsters into the sea. Then, in keeping with a promise she made to Battra in the event of his death, flies into outer space to prevent a meteor from striking the Earth.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
While flying through space to intercept the meteor that was destined to hit Earth in 1999, Mothra became aware of an evil extraterrestrial clone of Godzilla called SpaceGodzilla that was heading to Earth with the intention of killing his Earthling counterpart and conquering the planet. Mothra sent a Fairy Mothra to Earth, where it revealed itself to Miki Saegusa and transformed into a projection of the Cosmos, who warned Miki of the impending to disaster and stressed the importance of Godzilla in defending the planet. When SpaceGodzilla was ultimately defeated by the combined efforts of Godzilla and G-Force, the projection of the Cosmos reappeared to Miki and congratulated her on saving the planet.

Rebirth of Mothra
Millions of years ago, a space monster called Desghidorah arrived to destroy the Earth. This three-headed demonic dragon was forced to deal with resistance in the form of a species of highly advanced, enormous moths, which are known as Mothras. These moths were the protectors of the Elias, a race of tiny, human-like beings, who inhabited the planet. After the ensuing battle, Desghidorah was defeated and sealed within the Earth, although a great deal of life on the planet Earth was lost. Three Elias: Moll, Lora, and Belvera, were all who were left of their once prosperous civilization. Though the benevolence of Moll and Lora was undeterred, Belvera became twisted and vengeful due to the mass extinction of her race. These tiny fairies, along with one final Mothra, lingered on for thousands of years.

In order to preserve her legacy, Mothra summoned an enormous egg, however, she became physically exhausted from the ordeal. Shortly afterwards, a logging company uncovered the subterranean prison of the demonic dragon that had ravaged the Earth long ago. When the seal that had bound the creature was removed from the area, Moll and Lora fought Belvera for control of the artifact. Belvera prevailed and managed to release Desghidorah from its rocky tomb, in order to exact her warped plans for destruction. Mothra was summoned to halt the demonic dragon, which was absorbing the life out of the environment. She fought a long and difficult battle to repel her ancient adversary, and in response to her declining strength, her young larva, Mothra Leo, prematurely hatched in order to assist his mother. Though his energized silk seemed to turn the tide of battle in the favor of the protectors, Desghidorah sank its teeth deep into Mothra Leo, and Mothra became desperate. She quickly airlifted Mothra Leo to safety, and in order to keep Desghidorah at bay, she lured Desghidorah into a dam. With Desghidorah distracted by a wall of raging water, Mothra carried her offspring to safety. Unfortunately, Mothra's wounds, age, and exhaustion were ultimately too much. Her strength failed, and she plummeted into the sea below. Mothra Leo attempted to save his beloved mother, to no avail. Angered, Mothra Leo created a cocoon and began to change into his imago stage. Desghidorah had to be defeated, his mother's death couldn't be in vain.

Recommend! Godzilland
Both imago and larval Mothra appear in the 1994 and 1996 educational Recommend! Godzilland OVAs. In these OVAs, Mothra is one of the more mature and caring residents of Monster Island, and raises her two twin larvae there. Mothra is viewed as a motherly figure by the other, and is addressed by them as "Mosura-San," being the only adult. In the hiragana episode, Mothra finishes watering her garden, and decides to invite the other residents of Monster Island to a picnic. Godzilla and Anguirus both arrive late, and reveal that they couldn't read Mothra's invitation, so Mothra decides to teach them about the hiragana alphabet. Mothra presents the with various objects and animals, and teaches them to sound out their names with hiragana characters.

In the addition episode, Mothra helps Godzilla, Gojirin, and Baragon rescue Anguirus from MechaGodzilla, who has kidnapped him to force him to be his friend. Gojirin reveals that she is hungry and the kaiju decide to eat before traveling to the volcano where MechaGodzilla brought Anguirus. Mothra and Rodan help the kaiju add the number of items of food they have, allowing them to learn addition. On the way to the volcano, the monsters are stopped by a large group of ants, who angrily stab Godzilla with spears when he attempts to scare them away. Mothra talks to the ants, and learns that the kaiju were walking over a field of flowers, and the ants were trying to stop them. The kaiju then proceed to the volcano, where MechaGodzilla forces them to take part in a game show where they solve addition problems in order to rescue Anguirus. After the kaiju complete the game, MechaGodzilla begins to cry, and Mothra comforts him. Mothra convinces the other kaiju to let MechaGodzilla be their friend, and they all then take part in a song about addition.

Godzilla Island
In the series Godzilla Island, Mothra is a resident of Godzilla Island along with Earth's other monsters. She has two children, a son named Mothra Leo and a daughter named Baby Mothra. Following Mothra's death, Leo grew into his imago form and watched over Baby Mothra, protecting her from enemy monsters like Battra.



Millennium Series
Mothra was brought back in three of the Millennium series films, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla: Final Wars. In GMK, Mothra was one of the three Guardian Monsters that defended Japan from a possessed Godzilla.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Mothra appeared as one of the three guardian monsters, the goddess of water, in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack. She awakened from her slumber in her larval form after a group of teenagers disturbed her shrine, and began to travel across Japan before eventually cocooning herself.

Mothra 最珠羅 (Mosura) hatched from her cocoon and flew to Yokohama to battle Godzilla. She fought as hard as she could, while aiding Ghidorah. She was quickly killed by Godzilla's atomic blast, but her life energy was transferred to Ghidorah who used her power to become a more powerful version: King Ghidorah. Later, after King Ghidorah was killed, she, King Ghidorah and Baragon, spiritually entered Godzilla's body when he was at sea. This stunned Godzilla long enough to allow General Tachibana to burrow his way out of Godzilla after firing a D-03 missile, an explosive drill, inside of the monster. This eventually destroyed Godzilla when he tried to use his atomic beam again. The beam burst out of the inflicted hole in his shoulder and caused Godzilla to vaporize himself from within.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
Mothra was first seen flying over Japan when she was attacked by the military. The Shobijin warned the Japanese Government that Mothra would destroy Japan if the bones of the original Godzilla were not returned to the sea, and that Mothra would defend Japan from Godzilla if the bones were returned. Japan ignored this warning, and Godzilla soon surfaced in Tokyo. Using several desks to form the Mothra symbol, a young boy managed to summon Mothra to Tokyo to fight Godzilla, but she was defeated quickly. On Infant Island, Mothra's egg hatched into two larvae, who went to Japan to finish the fight with Godzilla. Kiryu was deployed, and it saved Mothra from destruction. The larvae arrived to save their mother, but she sacrificed herself to save her children. The larvae fought Godzilla and managed to encase him in silk, trapping him long enough for Kiryu to bring him out to sea. The larvae returned to Infant Island, with the souls of the dead now at peace.

Godzilla: Final Wars
Mothra appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars, where she helped defeat Gigan. She first battled him thousands of years ago, and managed to defeat him by trapping him underground. She was called again to help Godzilla in his battle with Monster X. The Xiliens sent Gigan to destroy her, and she was momentarily defeated by him. She fought again when she saved Godzilla from Gigan and Monster X, once again attracting the attention of Gigan. Gigan shot her with blades from his chest, and blasted her with his laser. Thinking she was dead, Gigan lowered his guard. However, the two blades he shot at Mothra flew back at him and cut his head off. Mothra then took this opportunity to attack Gigan, ramming him while she was on fire, destroying Gigan's body. During the end credits, Mothra was seen flying back to Infant Island.

Godzilla 2
Mothra was confirmed to be appearing in Godzilla 2, along with Rodan and King Ghidorah, on July 26, 2014.

Abilities
Mothra has proven to be a formidable adversary in combat: In larva form she may use her silken spray to wrap and immobilize an opponent, and has a knack for biting and clinging to foes' tails. In imago form her powers vary widely from film to film, including very animalistic scratching and dragging, incorporating several bolt and beam weapons in the Heisei era, and often concluding with a poisonous yellow powder (or "scales")—her last defense.

Mothra is one of the most powerful psychics in the Toho universe. She use this power benevolently, to communicate with humans, or defensively, to destroy her enemies. As suggested earlier, Mothra is assumed to be divine and draws many parallels to the Phoenix, which makes her one of the more powerful kaiju of the Toho universe.

As a larva, Mothra sprays her opponents with a stream of silk as a ranged attack (to entrap or disorient an enemy). She is also able to use her mandibles to inflict a painful bite, which is strong enough to allow her to hold onto opponents for some time. As an adult, her wings can (and generally do) create gales which tear apart buildings and send other kaiju flying. Her great bulk of a body is commonly used to her advantage in battle to slam into opponents (both in larva and adult form), and her surprising levels of strength can help her to drag and even lift monsters like Godzilla. Her final strategy is to emit "scales," a yellow poisonous powder that can usually asphyxiate an enemy. However she only uses that attack when she knows she is going to die, this is speculated, because the extreme loss of scales will cause her to lose flight.

The Heisei version of Mothra had some differences. She could now fire a beam of energy from her antennae, and fire arcs of lightning from her wings, or keep it in her body to release to another through touch. Her powder now had a different effect, and now acted as a cloud of mirror-like scales, which would allow beam weapons to repeatedly rebound before striking the target, effectively making them impossible to miss. Battra easily took advantage of this condition to attack Godzilla by repeatedly firing his Prism Beams, allowing them to strike Godzilla over and over again, with the rebound effect negating any chance of the prism beams not hitting their target. Ironically, Godzilla's Nuclear Pulse wasn't reflected by her mirror and she was thrown back, possibly because her mirror can't reflect energy attacks if it is able to pass around her mirror. In the Heisei era, Mothra is also able to use her scales multiple times without any loss of her ability to fly.

In GMK, Mothra was able to shoot poison darts from her abdomen, but she lacked both her hurricane force winds and her poison powder. In both Tokyo SOS and Final Wars, Mothra's powder was able to redirect both energy and physical projectiles back to their original senders, but some individuals believe that the powder of the Final Wars incarnation of Mothra instead has the ability to cause a short-circuit in electronics. As seen in Final Wars, Mothra has the ability to counter enemy beams not only by reflecting them, she can also use them to attack via her kamikaze attack with which she kills Gigan and survived.

Mothra's Fairies: Shobijin, Cosmos, and Elias
Mothra is usually accompanied by two tiny priestesses or fairies (often called Shobijin, Japanese for "small beauties") who also speak for her. For Mothra's first three film appearances these twin fairies were played by the Peanuts. In Mothra they demonstrate telepathic abilities, within speaking range with people and over great distances with Mothra. They explain that while they call to Mothra in prayer and in song, they and Mothra are also connected on some deeper level beyond their control, and it is this connection that impels Mothra to find them no matter where they are. These qualities are part of the continuity of all subsequent Mothra appearances. In Mothra vs. Godzilla the Shobijin also demonstrate teleportation, when trying to escape from Kumayama and Torahata. In Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster the girls translate not only Mothra's chirps but an entire conversation among three daikaiju. Decades later, in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., two other Shobijin (portrayed by Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Ôtsuka) demonstrate telekenesis as well.

In the Godzilla films of the 1990s, Mothra's priestesses (played by Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) identify themselves as Earth's Cosmos, who claim to have been created by the very life force of Earth, along with Mothra and Battra. The Cosmos speak not only for Battra and Mothra, but for the living Earth as well. The Cosmos say that Battra was first created by the Earth to balance the ecosystem, which was disrupted by the climate-altering device of an advanced civilization, 12,000 years ago. However, Battra proved to be a little too enthusiastic about its task, and not only destroyed the things of man, but of the natural order as well. The first Mothra was then created to restore the true balance, and stop Battra's rampage. The Cosmos revere both Mothra and Battra as two different divine forces of nature. They act concerned when Battra is injured, and are pleased when Mothra finds a nonviolent method of stopping Battra, "making friends," as they say in the film. They know when Battra has awoken, and what his tasks and motivations are, but Battra does not appear motivated to seek them out, unlike Mothra, who seems compelled to protect them, and talks to them directly.

In the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, Mothra's priestesses were the Elias; the Elias differ from earlier incarnations in that they are not mind-linked twins but individual persons, Moll and Lora. They are also seen to have an older sister, a dark Elias called Belvera. In addition to accompanying Mothra, the Elias would also ride smaller offspring called Fairy Mothras. Mothra would reprise the role of ancient guardian, though with only a passing homage to the Cosmos, in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Filmography

 * Mothra
 * Mothra vs. Godzilla
 * Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
 * Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
 * Destroy All Monsters
 * Godzilla vs. Gigan (Stock Footage, erroneous)
 * Bye-Bye Jupiter (Stock Footage)
 * Adventure! Godzilland
 * Godzilla vs. Mothra
 * Recommend! Godzilland
 * Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
 * Rebirth of Mothra
 * Godzilla Island
 * Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
 * Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (Stock Footage)
 * Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
 * Godzilla: Final Wars
 * Godzilla 2

Video Game Appearances
Mothra appeared as a summonable monster in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. A Mothra-shaped icon, when picked up, calls in a "Mothra Airstrike," where she flies around the arena firing her antennae beams at all monsters besides the one who retrieved the item. She does little damage with each attack, but can add up. Mothra can be chased off if hit with a beam weapon, but this is difficult to do. Mothra is playable in the game's Gameboy Advance counterpart, Godzilla: Domination!, and was also playable in Godzilla: Monster of Monsters. She was also a boss in Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact.
 * Monster's Fair
 * Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
 * Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
 * Godzilla, King of the Monsters (Gameboy)
 * Godzilla: Domination!
 * Godzilla: Kaiju Daikessen
 * Godzilla (Arcade)
 * Godzilla: Giant Monster March
 * Godzilla: Archipelago Shock
 * Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!
 * Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
 * Godzilla: Trading Battle
 * Godzilla Generations
 * Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact
 * Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
 * Godzilla: Save the Earth
 * CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle
 * Godzilla: Unleashed (Wii and PlayStation 2)
 * Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
 * Godzilla: Pachislot Wars
 * CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God
 * Godzilla On Monster Island
 * Godzilla: The Game
 * Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
 * Ace Combat Infinity (Tokyo Martial Law online mission)

Mothra became playable once again in Godzilla: Save the Earth. Players start as a larval Mothra, who is slow and has a high defense and a moderate attack. Larva Mothra can use her Silk Shot to immobilize foes, and can spear with her tail and roll around the arena to attack. Pressing R2 and L2 at the same time causes her to metamorph into adult Mothra. Trading speed for defense and attack for weapons, Mothra relies on long-range assaults and a good strategy. She can reflect most beam weapons away from her, and stun opponents when getting up or with a greenish mist. Mothra is unique in that she does not enter Rage Mode, instead she treats the Rage power-up as Health and Energy Recover.

Mothra is also playable in Godzilla: Unleashed, and played similarly to Save the Earth, but to morph into adult form, the player must press A, B, C, and Z at the same time instead of R2 and L2. Mothra appears in Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters. In early missions she is an enemy, but in later missions will appear as a friendly unit if her egg is found (being near the egg heals her). Both her adult and larva forms appear in the game.

Godzilla: Unleashed
Height: 20 meters Weight: 28,000 tons

"Mothra is a guardian of the earth, and only exists to defend the earth from pollution, corruption and devastation. Mothra begins life as a giant larvae, with a barbed tail and a web-spinning snout. Once danger threatens, however, Mothra cocoons herself and transforms into her flying adult form. As an adult, Mothra creates powerful gusts of wind from her wings and create clouds from her scales to reflect energy attacks. Although her wings appear frail, Mothra is a very capable melee opponent, using her superior mobility to strike her opponents quickly and then retreat. Mothra is devoted to rooting out the crystal corruption, and abhors monsters who absorb their energies for personal advancement."

Godzilla: The Game
Mothra appears in both larva and imago form as a boss in Godzilla: The Game for the PlayStation 3 and 4. Mothra can be randomly encountered by the player in either form. She possesses the powers and appearance of her Heisei incarnation. In larva form, Mothra is very small and attacks by jumping at Godzilla and biting him and spitting silk at him. In imago form, Mothra can ram Godzilla, smack him with her wings, or use her antenna beams or reflective scales. Mothra is one of the easier opponents faced in the game, and for this reason is one of the first opponents faced in King of the Monsters Mode.

Larva

 * Square
 * One tap: Bite
 * Two taps: Headbutt Rush
 * Triangle
 * Tap: Tail Blow
 * Up + Tap: Jump Bite
 * X
 * Tap: Quick Dash
 * Circle
 * Tap: Thread
 * Roar + Tap: Thread Barrage
 * R1
 * Tap: Tumble Frenzy
 * L1 + L1/R1 + R1: Left Right Roll Dodge

Adult

 * Square
 * One tap: Rotating Feather Attack
 * Two taps: Charge
 * Triangle
 * Tap: Gliding Ram
 * Roar + Tap: Powder Emission
 * X
 * Tap: Climbing Revolution
 * Circle
 * Tap: Ultrasound Beam
 * Roar + Tap: Ultrasound Beam Combo
 * R2
 * Tap: Wing Rotation Attack
 * L1 + L1/R1 + R1: Left Right Dodge

Kaiju Guide
Mothra, the Giant Moth Monster A giant moth and the guardian deity of Infant Island in the Pacific Ocean. Starting from an egg, it grew into a larva, cocooned, and became an imago before ultimately maturing into its current colossal state. It flew to Japan to rescue the small, beautiful maidens who were kidnapped by a party of explorers. Later, it flew over again to retrieve its eggs, which had washed up on Japan's shores due to a large-scale typhoon. It was there that it engaged in a desperate battle with Godzilla, who was after its eggs.

The Heisei series Mothra in "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth" (1992) was the guardian deity of the Cosmos, an indigenous people only 18 centimeters tall. In this version, Mothra hatched from an egg excavated by a Japanese firm that was doing construction and development on Infant Island.

Each of Mothra's appearances in the Millennium series had different backgrounds. In "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" (2001), it was "Mothra, Guardian of the Sea", one of the three guardian monsters that protect Japan. In "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." (2003), it was a descendant of the original Mothra. In "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004), it was the guardian deity of Infant Island.

Mothra is a quintessential physical-effects monster, appearing more often than any other guest character in the Godzilla series. In addition to the miniature from the original film "Mothra" (1961), a new model was created specifically for appearance in the Godzilla movies. In contrast to the more elliptical eyes of the original model, the new version featured nearly round eyes.

There were two types of props made for the new model: a self-propelled model and a hand-operated model. The mechanics of the self-propelled model later became widely used in TV special-effects miniatures.

■ Specifications ● Showa Series Length: 135 meters Weight: 15,000 tons Wingspan: 250 meters Larval Length: 180 meters Abilities: Shockwave Poisonous scale poweder Appearances: "Mothra vs. Godzilla" "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" "Destroy All Monsters"

● Heisei Series Wingspan: 175 meters Weight: 20,000 tons Larval Length: 120 meters Larval Weight: 15,000 tons Abilities: Ultrasonic beam Poisonous scale powder Appearances: "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth" "Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla"

● "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" Wingspan: 75 meters Larval Length: 30 meters Larval Weight: 10,000 tons Abilities: Venomous stinger Appearances: "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack"

● "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." Length: 36 meters Wingspan: 108 meters Weight: 12,000 tons Larval Length: 43 meters Larval Weight: 9,000 tons Abilities: Poisonous scale powder Appearances: "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S."

● "Godzilla: Final Wars" Length: 72 meters Wingspan: 216 meters Weight: 25,000 tons Abilities: Bomber Lariat Poisonous scale powder Fire attack Appearances: "Godzilla: Final Wars"

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters
Mothra does not actually appear in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, however she is teased in issue #3, where the Shobijin appear watching Battra on a television screen and express their concern over recent events.

Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths
Mothra has a major role in the miniseries Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths. She appears on Monster Island in the first issue, where she saves human protagonist Detective Makato Sato from being killed by Godzilla. In the later issues, Mothra arrives in Tokyo along with several other monsters from Monster Island to retrieve the Elias, who have been brought there by Sato as part of his plan to end the criminal operations of the Takahashi crime syndicate. Once the Elias are saved, Mothra and the other return to Monster Island peacefully.

Godzilla: Ongoing
Mothra first appears in Godzilla: Ongoing #6, where she saves a family from Godzilla in California and convinces the monster king to leave the area. The Shobijin then appear at a conference with the United Nations to warn of an impending invasion by the space monsters Gigan, Hedorah, SpaceGodzilla, and Monster X. In issue #9, Mothra battles Monster X in New York, but is defeated.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War
Mothra appears in The Half Century War #3 as one of the many monsters battling in Ghana in 1975.

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Mothra first appeared in Rulers of Earth #1 in a panel when Dr. Kenji Ando was explaining Megazoology in a convention in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In Rulers of Earth #4, Mothra fought Destoroyah with Godzilla by her side. She was gravely injured and had to be assisted by her twin larvae. After the fight with Destoroyah, Godzilla bids farewell to Mothra and she is carried back to Infant Island by her twin larvae. Mothra is then seen in Rulers of Earth #9, resting on Infant Island with her twin larvae. The Shobijin remark that Mothra may never recover from the injuries she sustained in her battle with Destoroyah.

In Rulers of Earth #19, the Shobijin arrived at the Monster Islands with Mothra's larvae and explained that Infant Island was recently attacked by Battra, who was under the control of Minette and Mallory. They told Steven Woods that Mothra was killed in the battle and the entire island was destroyed, with only them and the larvae escaping. Shortly after, Battra arrived at the islands with Minette and Mallory, intent on finishing the job. However, before Battra could kill Mothra's larvae, the Trilopods arrived, attacking Battra and the other monsters on the islands. The larvae escaped capture by the Trilopods and remained on the islands. After the Trilopods and the Cryogs were defeated by the other Earth monsters in Los Angeles, Mothra's larvae were seen cocooning themselves on a security monitor on the Monster Islands.

Godzilla: Cataclysm
Mothra is initially seen in a flashback by Arata's grandfather, showing her as part of a massive battle in Tokyo between Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Manda, and Anguirus. The grandfather later recalls that some of the people in his village pray to Mothra to bring them good fortune. Later, Mothra herself actually appears and joins the battle between Godzilla and Biollante. After Godzilla incinerates Biollante, he blasts Mothra in the wing with his atomic breath, forcing her to retreat.

Later, Arata's grandfather hypothesizes that Mothra was protecting Biollante so that she could restore the Earth, while Godzilla wanted to destroy her to prevent humanity from ever being able to hurt him again. While Biollante regenerates, she attracts Megaguirus and her swarm of Meganula. The giant dragonflies try to feed on Biollante, but Mothra arrives to battle them. Mothra and Megaguirus clash in the skies, and the Meganula swarm onto Mothra. Mothra knocks the Meganula aside with her wings and prepares to attack Megaguirus again, but a sudden blast of Godzilla's atomic breath separates the two monsters. Mothra and Godzilla do battle, but Mothra is badly wounded by repeated blasts from Godzilla's atomic breath, shredding her wings. Mothra fights bravely but is defeated when Godzilla blasts her with his hyper spiral ray.

Following the emergence of Destoroyah, Mothra flies back into battle to assist Godzilla against the demonic creature. Destoroyah vaporizes Mothra with his micro-oxygen beam, but is subsequently destroyed by the combined efforts of Godzilla and the regenerating Biollante. Though Mothra gave her life in the battle, Godzilla returns to the sea to leave mankind alone, while Biollante begins the process of restoring the greenness of the Earth. Meanwhile, a larval Mothra hatches from a colorful egg, with another identical egg next to it beginning to hatch, showing that Mothra will be reborn along with the rest of the world.

Godzilla: Oblivion
Two Mothra larvae appeared in the first issue of Godzilla: Oblivion, where they fought two small Rodans in an alternate dimension.

Sightings

 * In episode 40 of the Kimagure Orange Road anime TV series, the cast are making an amateur movie referencing certain elements from Mothra. They use the Kasuga family cat to play the part of a giant monster heading towards Tokyo with a final confrontation at Tokyo Tower and the Kasuga Twins playing the part of lost princesses that the monster is seeking. The twins even sing to the monster in order to calm it down and they ride on the monster back to their island paradise.
 * In the Rumiko Takahashi series, Urusei Yatsura, Mothra, along with other co-stars, make multiple background cameos.
 * In the Love Hina anime, Motoko has a dream where Mutsumi Otohime appears as two tiny versions of herself who sing to summon a giant version of Tama-chan in a similar fashion to how Mothra is summoned by her fairies.
 * Mothra has a brief appearance in an episode of The Simpsons where Godzilla is attacking the plane the family is on along with Gamera and Rodan.
 * A song by We Are Scientists, released on their 2002 LP Safety, Fun, and Learning (in that Order) is titled "Mothra Versus We Are Scientists."
 * In Class of 3000 Mothra and Godzilla made a few appearances.
 * Mothra is the name of a track on the Nosferatu album by The Stranglers' lead-singer and guitarist Hugh Cornwell and Captain Beefheart percussionist Robert Williams.
 * The Toe Jammers wrote a song about Mothra, in which Godzilla sings Mothra a letter he wrote that begs for her forgiveness.
 * During the events entailed in Silent Hill 1, the lead protagonist, Harry Mason encounters a large larva that he must fight. Later on, it is shown to have evolved into a very Mothra-like giant moth, who seeks revenge.
 * A common enemy in the Legend of Zelda series is a giant poisonous moth known as Mothula, an apparent play on Mothra's name.
 * In the Pokémon anime, Giratina has Mothra's chirps and screeches.
 * Mothra looks strikingly similar to the Generation III Pokémon Beautifly, even having an almost identical color scheme.
 * The Pokémon anime makes a direct reference to Mothra through Caterpie. In an episode a giant Caterpie attacks a city similar to Tokyo and it evolves into Metapod while on a tower similar to Tokyo Tower.
 * In the Generation V Pokémon video games, Volcarona (a giant, fire-controlling moth Pokémon) is likely to have been influenced by Mothra.
 * At the end of the Mad Cartoon Sketch: "Linkong", the Shobijin from 1961's Mothra (plus their various appearances in several Godzilla films) appear, narrating the epilogue and summoning Mothra Washington. Mothra flies on-screen, with authentic chirps.
 * In the Sonic X anime, the giant moth Mothmacin is a reference to Mothra.
 * In the Kirby series, a parody is seen in the anime. A monster named Mosugaba and the small twin girls were known as the Twin Nuts.
 * Mothra is part of a miniskit in the comedy show Saturday Night Live.
 * Mothra makes a pseudo-cameo in Legendary Pictures' Godzilla. When Joe and Ford Brody are searching through the ruins of the quarantine zone, the word "Mothra" can be seen printed below a glass terrarium. Also, in Ford's classroom, there is a diagram featuring several moths and butterflies, the largest of which has Mothra's coloration.
 * In August of 2014, the 1998 film was mocked by RiffTrax Live, which was created by and shares many of the former members of Mystery Science Theater 3000. During the riffing, they made witty references to King Ghidorah and Mothra.

Roar
Mothra's chirps are actually Anguirus's roars sped up. This is most evident during a scene in Godzilla vs. Mothra where Mothra is hit by artillery and moans in pain, emitting a sound that is almost identical to Anguirus' roar.

In Other Languages
Mothra's name remains the same across many languages employing the Latin alphabet.
 * Bulgarian: Мотра
 * Chinese: 魔斯拉 (Mó sī lā)
 * Serbian and Russian: Мотхра
 * Yiddish: מאָטהראַ

Trivia

 * Mothra was the first Toho opponent Godzilla faced that did not debut in the Godzilla series but was instead absorbed by it, becoming one of the series' recurring characters.
 * Likewise, Mothra is also the first and so far only Toho monster to have a series of films dedicated to her and her kind after being featured in the Godzilla series.
 * Mothra has become one of Godzilla's most challenging opponents, having achieved the greatest success rate in battle. She has once overcome Godzilla in imago form, and twice Godzilla has fought her to her death only later to be bested by her newborn larvae. It should be mentioned that Mothra has never beaten Godzilla alone (in her Imago Form). The only victory by an insect over Godzilla were the Mothra twin-larvae in Mothra vs. Godzilla in the Showa series, Imago Mothra and Imago Battra in Godzilla vs. Mothra, in the Heisei series and the twin-larvae and Kiryu in the Millennium series.
 * Mothra is widely considered to be Toho's second most popular kaiju behind Godzilla, due to her numerous film appearances both in and outside of the Godzilla franchise. Toho has even given Mothra the title "Queen of (the) Monsters," a counterpart to Godzilla's "King of the Monsters."
 * 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 among women, an observation which inspired Toho to again revise its plans, abandoning a proposed 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  to lead its own films after its incorporation into the Godzilla franchise.
 * 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.
 * Mothra is one of the few monsters that has appeared in all three Godzilla eras, and is slated to appear in Legendary's series of Godzilla films as well.
 * Mothra was the first bug in the Godzilla series.
 * In most of her movie appearance, Mothra was killed either by Godzilla or a Ghidorah.
 * Despite being a frequent Godzilla ally, Mothra, in most movies, was Godzilla's foe. She became Godzilla's ally in two Godzilla movies in the Showa series, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and Destroy All Monsters, and was Godzilla's only ally in Godzilla: Final Wars.
 * In Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Godzilla only fought Mothra because his role in the movie was originally meant for King Kong, as the creature never met Mothra before.
 * Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. all took place in different timelines. Coincidentally, these films have Godzilla as the main antagonist, just like Mothra vs. Godzilla.
 * In Godzilla vs. Gigan, Mothra makes an extremely brief appearance when Godzilla stomps towards Gigan. This is due to an erroneous use of stock footage which reused a scene from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.
 * Though Mothra is in general a female kaiju, there have been male members of her kind. In Rebirth of Mothra, Mothra has a son named Mothra Leo, who goes on to star in the next two films of the trilogy. Mothra Leo reappears as Mothra's son in Godzilla Island, where he has a sister named Baby Mothra. Sometimes, Mothra's twin larvae possess different genders. In the Godzilland merchandise line released in 1984, one of Mothra's larvae is depicted as a boy and the other as a girl. Merchandise for Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. differentiates the two larvae from the film as male and female, with the male having darker colored skin than the female. The American dub of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster refers to the larval Mothra as male, however this only applies to the dub and all other official translations refer to it as a female.

Poll
Do you like Mothra? Yes! No. Kind of.