Mothra (1961)

Mothra; Mosura; Mosla; The Thing;
First Generation Mothra

180 meters (590 feet; Larva); 80 meters (262 feet; Imago)

250 meters (820 feet; Imago)

15,000 metric tons (16,535 short tons; Larva); 20,000 metric tons (22,000 short tons; Imago)

• Able to fly at Mach 3 and produce gusts of wind at 500 miles per hour (Imago only)
• Extreme physical strength and durability; totally immune and impervious to damage from conventional weapons
• Can spit an extremely durable silk (Larva only)
• Poisonous powder is secreted through wings (Imago only)
• Amphibiousness (Larva only)
• Virtual immortality through asexual reproduction; Mothra's offspring carry all of their predecessors' memories up to their deaths

• Mothra gradually grows weaker as she ages; by the time of her battle with Godzilla in 1964, she had already shrunk in size and despite her combat prowess, was slain by the King of the Monsters

Despite having wrought destruction worthy of any other kaiju, Mothra is a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction only when acting as protector to her worshipers on Infant Island or to her egg. Mothra is accompanied by two tiny priestesses or fairies called the Shobijin (Japanese for "small beauties") who also speak for her.

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 then flew back to Infant Island with the Shobijin to live peacefully.

Mothra's egg washed up on the shores of Japan when a typhoon carried it away from the shores of Infant Island. Kumayama, the owner of the company Happy Enterprises, bought the egg from the citizens of the area where the egg was found and planned to turn it into the main attraction of his upcoming amusement park. The Shobijin came to Japan to request the egg's return, only for Kumayama and his financier Jiro Torahata to try and capture them as well. The Shobijin escaped and met with a group of sympathetic humans, warning that when the egg hatched the larva would cause much destruction and death while searching for food and attempting to return to Infant Island on its own. When the Shobijin's allies met with Kumayama and Torahata, they refused to return the egg and wanted to buy the Shobijin instead. The Shobijin then returned to Infant Island with Mothra.

When Godzilla emerged in Japan and began heading for the incubator holding Mothra's egg, the three humans who helped the Shobijin traveled to Infant Island, which had been devastated by nuclear bomb tests. They asked the Shobijin for Mothra's help in defeating Godzilla, but they refused. However, Mothra herself, who was living out the last of her days on a sacred rock, agreed to help and flew to Japan, knowing she would never return.

Mothra arrived in Japan just as Godzilla reached Mothra's egg and attacked him. Mothra used the gusts of wind from her wings to knock Godzilla of his feet and tried to slash him with her claws, but she was too feeble to injure him. Mothra released poison powder from her wings against Godzilla, but Godzilla simply blasted her with his atomic breath, causing her to fall on top of her egg and die. Though this Mothra was dead, two Mothra larvae would hatch from the egg and continue the battle, as well as their mother's legacy.

Mothra is 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 pale brown, segmented caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing eyes. 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.