Unlike several other Toho monsters, Mothra is a largely heroic character, having been variously portrayed as a protector of her own island culture,[2] the Earth[3] and Japan.

The character is often depicted hatching offspring (in some cases, twins) when approaching death, a nod to the Saṃsāra doctrine of numerous Indian religions.

The "ra" suffix follows the precedent set by Godzilla (Gojira),[9] which in turn is derived from kujira (鯨, "whale"), which serves to indicate the character's enormous size.

[13] The larval Mothra featured in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster remained largely unchanged from its previous appearance, though the color of its eyes was changed from blue to red.

[15] During the early Heisei era of Godzilla films, which ignored the continuity established in pre-1984 movies, several attempts were made to develop a Mothra standalone feature.

[16] With the success of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Toho sought to continue the series' newfound profitability by reintroducing familiar monsters rather than inventing new ones.

During the character's transformation from larva to adult, it was initially planned to have Mothra's unfolding wings rendered through CGI, though this was scrapped on account of it not looking "sensitive" enough.

[17] Criticism was also leveled at Mothra's altered origin story, which portrayed her as an extraterrestrial, thus dampening the character's motivation for protecting Earth.

[22] Mothra is usually accompanied by tiny twin female fairies, which Shinichi Sekizawa termed Shobijin (小美人), meaning "little beauties".

The original draft for Mothra called for four fairies, though Sekizawa reduced the number to two, as twins were comparatively rare in Japan, thus adding to the characters' mystique.

This casting move was criticized by Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle, who lamented the fact that the two actresses were not identical and that their singing voices were "paper thin.

Their people are the Houtua (フツア, Futsua), descendants of humans that evolved through Mothra's influence with both telepathy and an immunity to the assimilative properties of nanometal.

The Chens are part of a family which appears to consist almost entirely of pairs of identical twin sisters, two of whom are shown visiting Infant Island (Mothra's traditional home) in 1961.

[31] The film's director and co-screenwriter, Michael Dougherty, confirmed the twins to be an updated version of the fairies, explaining, "It was important to me to find ways to modernize the ideas that [Mothra] has followers.

[35] In the Showa continuity, Mothra is depicted as a mystical being that is worshiped by a primitive human culture native to Infant Island.

The remaining larva attempts to convince Godzilla and Rodan to join forces with her in order to fight King Ghidorah, but the two monsters reject her proposal.

Along with the other monsters, Mothra is briefly enslaved by the evil Kilaaks, who force her to attack Beijing and later join Godzilla in the destruction of Tokyo.

Battra dies in the attempt and Mothra pledges to fulfill her fallen comrade's role in preventing a meteorite from devastating the Earth in 1999.

has the Mothra from the original 1961 film send her priestesses to demand that Japan dismantle the anti-Godzilla weapon Kiryu or face destruction, as she considers the cyborg to be against the natural order, having been created using the bones of the first Godzilla.

Two larvae hatch on Infant Island and reach Tokyo in order to fight Godzilla, whom they encase in a cocoon, which is then transported into the ocean by Kiryu.

[42] Godzilla: Final Wars, which ignores the continuity of the previous film, establishes that Mothra protected the Earth 10,000 years ago from the cyborg Gigan.

[44] In the post-credits scene at the end of the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island, Mothra appears in a series of cave paintings depicting other monsters that are known to exist that are shown in the footage to James Conrad and Mason Weaver, along with Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidorah.

[46] Viral marketing for the movie showed that Mothra retained her status as a creature who is deified as an angelic-like goddess, referred to as the Queen of the Monsters.

Monarch Sciences, the film's promotional website, identifies the Yunnan rainforest as Mothra's location (however, Infant Island was referenced within the film, and the name "Mosura" is said to be derived from a small Indonesian island) and states in its adult form to be capable of emitting beta-wave bioluminescence that can be projected through the intricate patterns on its wings and weaponized into destructive and blinding ‘god rays’.

Within the film, she is shown to have a symbiotic relationship with Godzilla, and temporarily paralyzes Rodan by stabbing him through the chest with a hidden abdominal stinger.

Mothra first appears hatching from her egg in her larval state and is calmed by Dr. Emma Russell using the ORCA bio-acoustics device, becoming docile.

Her power is transferred to Godzilla as a result via her ashes, preventing him from suffering a nuclear meltdown and allowing him to defeat Ghidorah by achieving his burning form.