Mothra

Mothra appeared in 1961 movie of the same name. Mothra is a titanic moth-like creature which shares a telepathic link with the small fairy-like humanoids known as the Shobijin or Cosmos, and protects the native inhabitants of her home Infant Island, who worship her as a goddess.

Her natural life cycle resembles that of lepidopterans, only in daikaiju proportions. Born from a huge egg, blue and yellow-striped; the grub-like larva can move as well in the ocean as on land, and quickly attains an impressive 180 meters length (larger than its adult stage), storing reserves for her metamorphosis. Only a few days after hatching, the larva produces enough silk to conceal itself within a self-made cocoon and morphs into the winged adult Mothra, which reproduces asexually (probably by parthenogenesis) and lays only a single egg in her lifetime, although sometimes from one egg will come out twin larvae. The adult Mothra has a body covered in fur, colorful-patterned wings, large blue eyes and a pair of short hairy antennae, typical of moths.

The movement of Mothra's wings creates winds powerful enough to blow away structures and vehicles, and even other kaiju. She can also generate toxic powder from her wings to attack, although a desperate and suicidal measure for it renders Mothra unable to fly again and thus extremely vulnerable. The larva form frequently attacks opponents by shooting silk sprays at them. In some movies (particularly in the Heisei era) Mothra has shown the ability to produce and/or control electrical discharges from her wings and shoot energy beams from her antennae. She can also survive in space vacuum for indeterminate amounts of time.

Unlike the majority of kaiju, Mothra is an intelligent and benevolent entity, which goes to attack only to protect the Shobijin, the people of Infant Island, or humanity in general.

As for Mothra's origins, little is known, although it is clear that her kind has existed since ancient times. According to the Shobijin, Mothra was the active guardian of Earth more than 12 thousand years ago, when the planet was inhabited by a very advanced civilization. However these people offended the Earth (here depicted as a sentient lifeform similar to the most extreme interpretations of Lovelock's Gaia Theory) by attempting to use technology to fully control the weather; and the Earth punished them by giving rise to Mothra's antithesis Battra. After devastating battles between the two monsters, Mothra emerged victorious and Battra was trapped somewhere below the Northern Sea, supposed to not rise again until 1999 when he was due to save Earth from a deadly asteroid impact. As another (much smaller) asteroid fell in the Pacific ocean in 1992, waking Battra before time, the creature battled with both Mothra and Godzilla, until Mothra and Battra became allies against that common foe. When Battra was killed, Mothra promised to save Earth from the asteroid herself and flied straight into space to alter the rock's course, presumably sacrificing herself in the process, but saving Earth.

In a rare case among daikaiju; several individual Mothras have been observed throughout the years, although two adults are never seen at the same time. The original movie's Mothra was subsequently killed in a battle against Godzilla in the 1964 classic Mothra Vs. Godzilla, after which her twin offspring hatched and managed to defeat the King of Monster, although only one survived to become the second adult Mothra, which fought against King Ghidorah in another movie of the same year and made an appearance in 1966's Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster. Her larva, the third generation Mothra, was featured in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters.

Afterwards Mothra starred in the Heisei era's 1992 classic Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (or simply Godzilla Vs. Mothra) at the end of which she flies on to space to save the Earth from an asteroid impact, and made an appearance (still in space, heading for the asteroid) two years later in Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla.

Other Mothras would later show up in the non-canon "Mothra series" of films unconnected with the larger Toho mythology; and in some of the Milennium era productions, which appear to follow different continuities.