Mothra
Sign in to saveis a giant divine moth-like monster, or daikaijū, which first appeared in the eponymous 1961 film, directed by Ishirō Honda and produced and distributed by Toho. Mothra has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films, often as a recurring monster in the Godzilla franchise. She is typically portrayed as a colossal sentient moth, accompanied by two miniature fairies speaking on her behalf. Unlike several other Toho monsters, Mothra is a largely heroic character, having been variously portrayed as a protector of her own island culture, the Earth and Japan. Mothra's design is influenced by silkworms,
Key facts
- Character.name
- Shobijin
- Character.series
- Mothra/Godzilla film series
- Character.image
- File:Mosura trailer - shobijin.png
- Character.first
- Mothra (1961)
- Character.species
- Divine moth
- Character.caption
- Mothra as featured in the original 1961 film
- Character.gender
- Female
- Character.last
- Chibi Godzilla Raids Again (2023)
- Character.portrayer
- Emi Itō and Yumi ItōYuko Okada and Yoko OkadaKeiko Imamura and Sayaka OsawaMegumi Kobayashi and Sayaka Yamaguchi/Misato TateMasami Nagasawa and Chihiro OtsukaZhang Ziyi
- Character.alias
- CosmosElias
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Mosura trailer - Mothra flying.png
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Mothra
via Wikidata · CC0
~28 min read
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Overview
- Name
- Development
- Mothra's fairies
- Character biography
- Shōwa (1961–1968)
- Heisei (1992–1998)
- Millennium (2001–2004)
- Reiwa era (2018–2021)
- MonsterVerse (2019–2024)
- Appearances
- Films
- Television
- Video games
- Literature
- Music
- Collectible card game
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
is a giant divine moth-like monster, or daikaijū, which first appeared in the eponymous 1961 film, directed by Ishirō Honda and produced and distributed by Toho. Mothra has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films, often as a recurring monster in the Godzilla franchise. She is typically portrayed as a colossal sentient moth, accompanied by two miniature fairies speaking on her behalf. Unlike several other Toho monsters, Mothra is a largely heroic character, having been variously portrayed as a protector of her own island culture, the Earth and Japan. Mothra's design is influenced by silkworms, their imagos, and those of giant silk moths in the family Saturniidae. The character is often depicted hatching offspring (in some cases, twins) when approaching death, a nod to the Saṃsāra doctrine of numerous Indian religions.
Outside of the Godzilla series, Mothra was the central figure of a trilogy of films starting with Rebirth of Mothra (1996). Mothra also appears in American studio Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse series, alongside other Toho monsters like Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah in the films, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024).