Battra (バトラ Batora?) is a dark divine moth kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1992 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Mothra as its primary antagonist. He is the counterpart of Mothra. Embodying the destructive side of nature, he often clashes with his divine counterpart to maintain the balance of the world.
Name[]
Battra's name most likely comes from the common Japanese practice of shortening two words to make one; in this case the combination of the Japanese spelling of Battle Mothra (バトルモスラ Batoru Mosura?), as described in the Super Godzilla video game manual. Battra is also referred to as the "Black Mothra" (黒いモスラ Kuroi Mosura?) at one point by the Cosmos in Godzilla vs. Mothra.
Design[]
Development[]
Battra was originally meant to be an evil twin of Mothra called "Gigamoth" whose abilities somewhat resemble Hedorah's in the scrapped film Godzilla vs. Gigamoth.
Appearance[]
Like Mothra, Battra has both larva and imago forms. Battra's imago form has a predominately black body with very large wings that have patterns of red, black and yellow. He also has yellow horns on his head, six legs, and red eyes which glow purple when firing his beam, as well as a red line which runs down his body's sides. His larval form is mostly black but with a lot of yellow and a dark red underside. He also has a large horn, similar to Destoroyah's, which is yellow and glows when he uses his beam attacks, and two tusks on each cheek. Battra's larval form also has bigger, more powerful legs than Mothra's larval form, which are yellow and horn-like. Much like his imago form, his eyes are red. Battra's larval form is also, physically, much larger than Mothra's, being almost as large as Godzilla himself.
Roar[]
Battra's roar is a very slightly edited Rodan roar.
Personality[]
Battra is solely concerned with the defense of the Earth, and will do whatever he can to protect it. Unlike Mothra, Battra sees humanity as a blight on the Earth that must be destroyed if the planet is to survive. Battra has made it his mission to eradicate the human race, which puts him into conflict with Mothra.
Origins[]
According to the Cosmos, Battra was created by the Earth itself twelve thousand years ago, when an ancient civilization created a climate-controlling device, which greatly angered the Earth. Battra's purpose was to destroy the device, but he went well beyond his purpose and eradicated the entire civilization, intending to wipe out all of the human race as well. Mothra challenged Battra and defeated him, sealing him in the North Sea.
History[]
Godzilla vs. Mothra[]
Battra Larva in Godzilla vs. Mothra
Thousands of years after being sealed in the North Sea by Mothra, Battra was awakened by a meteorite in Siberia. Battra swam to the coast of Japan and burrowed, reappearing and attacking Nagoya. The J.S.D.F. fought Battra but were no match, and Battra left a wrecked city behind as he burrowed again. Battra appeared in the waters off the archipelago of the Philippines, where Godzilla and Mothra were battling. Battra engaged Godzilla, who was the bigger threat. The two monsters battled down to the sea floor in the Philippine Trench, where a volcanic eruption supposedly killed them. But Battra and Godzilla lived on, appearing near Mount Fuji, with Godzilla exiting the erupting volcano and Battra emerging from the ocean's depths. Upon metamorphosing from his larval form, he flew to Yokohama to exact his revenge on Mothra. The sinister moth seemed to have an upper hand against his less violent counterpart, but soon, in the heat of the battle, Godzilla appeared, and began to relentlessly attack Mothra, nearly killing her several times. Noticing this, Battra intervened, and rescued his counterpart. After a brief conversation between the two moths, Mothra and Battra teamed up to combat Godzilla together in defense of both Earth and humankind. Once Godzilla was defeated, Battra and Mothra carried him out to sea. However, Godzilla, still conscious, killed Battra by tearing out his throat, then attacking him with an atomic ray at point-blank range while he was being transported. Godzilla and Battra dropped into the ocean below. Mothra then flew in a circle and placed a seal over the final resting place of Battra, honoring his sacrifice. It was later discovered that an asteroid was travelling towards Earth. Battra would have traveled into space to destroy the asteroid, but because he was killed by Godzilla, Mothra had to make the journey instead, and departed Earth's atmosphere to begin the vital mission to save the Earth.
Abilities[]
Flight speed[]
In his imago form, Battra had lost the ability to burrow or swim, but attained flight speed at Mach 3 (2,301.81 mph) with its new wings, allowing for an easier and more efficient form travel for further destruction.
Force Field[]
Only seen in Godzilla Unleashed, Battra is able to encase himself in a force field that protects him from energy attacks.
Larval horn[]
In this form, he wielded a massive, yellow horn which could be put to use as a battering ram or bludgeoning weapon. From the horn, he was also capable of firing off furious, electrical blasts of an orange-yellow color. The titanic larva could also create energy pulses from his massive horn as another form of attack. In the manga adaptation of Godzilla vs. Mothra, the dark imago can unleash damaging energy spheres from his horn, discharge energy through the stinger-like attachment on his tail, and instantly form his cocoon which also acts as a defensive shield.
Physical strength[]
He also had developed three pairs of legs and would utilize them for grasping objects. While in his imago form, Battra sports yet more enhanced strength, being able to grab and throw large objects such as the Cosmo Clock 21 with ease when working together with Mothra. The imago form of Battra could also release an "energy shock" from its feet in order to subdue foes while in close combat.
Prism Beams[]
The once-prominent horn had disappeared and had been replaced with three, smaller horns. These horns were incapable of releasing energy beams, anymore, but Battra had developed more powerful optic beams, known as "Prism Beams", which were very powerful and able to create large explosions on contact as well as pierce through structures. Unlike the beams used in his larval form, the adult Battra had complete control over the Prism Beams, which also are far more powerful in this form.
Purple energy blasts[]
He could fire similar, electrical blasts of a purple color from his crimson eyes. However, these beams would often fly wildly about, Battra not appearing to have any precise control over their direction.
Video games[]
Godzilla: Unleashed[]
In Godzilla: Unleashed, Battra is a model-swap of Mothra, and has the same attacks in his imago form, with his prism beams substituted for Mothra's antenna beams. However, in larva form, Battra can fire beams from his Eyes. Like Mothra larva, Battra larva's energy can only be replenished if he hits a yellow crystal, but he regenerates energy normally in imago form.
Godzilla (2014 video game)[]
12,000 years ago, Battra was a god of destruction who laid waste to an ancient civilization attempting to change the earth's environment. At that time, it was sealed up in the North Sea by Mothra, but it was later reawakened in the 20th century to help the Earth evade collision with a giant meteor. Among the ruins on Infant Island, there is a wall painting that portrays Battra and Mothra as being family born from the same egg. While Battra shares the same biology as Mothra in that it can morph from a larva to an imago, its personality is much more aggressive.
While Battra is an insect monster like Mothra, the production team felt that there wouldn't be enough variety in the action scenes if they were both controlled by wires, so it was decided to give Battra a full-body larva costume instead. Two types of imagoes with wingspans of 1 meter and 3.5 meters respectively, both with radio-controlled movement built in.Battra appears exclusively in the PlayStation 4 version of the 2014 Godzilla video game as a playable monster, in both his larva and imago forms.
.png "Battra Larva (PS4).png (169 KB)")
.png "Battra Imago (PS4).png (146 KB)")
Godzilla: Kaiju Collection[]
Battra appeared within the mobile title Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.
Godzilla Battle Line[]
Battra's evolved apperance
Battra's larvae
Battra appears as a selectable character in Godzilla Battle Line. He's a 4 star evolution unit that boost the attack of all units he spawns around. As a larvae, he fires off a high damage laser from his horn. When he evolves, he takes flight and fires prism beams from his eyes and keeps his damage boosting abilities. As a leader, his special move fires of an incredibly low damage prism beam across the map.
Comics[]
Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths[]
Battra appears in the miniseries Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths as one of the monsters on Monster Island that later attacks Tokyo. At the end of issue #5, Battra returns to Monster Island peacefully along with the other monsters after the Elias are rescued.
Godzilla: The Half-Century War[]
Battra appears in issue #3 of Godzilla: The Half-Century War as one of the many monsters battling in Ghana in 1975.
Godzilla: Oblivion[]
Battra reappeared in issue five of Godzilla: Oblivion where he was briefly seen emerging from the ocean in his imago form.
In other languages[]
- Russian: Батра
Trivia[]
- Within Godzilla vs. Mothra, there is a continuity discrepancy involving Battra's origins. In the film the Cosmos explain Battra's origins and his defeat at the hands of Mothra. They state that Battra's body was deposited in the Northern Sea. Thousands of years later, in 1993, Battra emerges, in his larval form, from his Siberian ice prison and departs the Northern Sea, heading for Japan. However, the cave painting on Infant Island clearly depicts an imago Battra in combat with Mothra. This raises several questions about the nature of Battra himself, including a possibility of the Battra from 12,000 years ago being a different Battra altogether, and the 1993 Battra being a second creature created by Earth's life force, probably from the remains of the original Battra. If they are, in fact, the same creature, then the fact that it emerges 12,000 years after his defeat, once again in his larval form is a contradiction. It is possible that Battra can revert back to larva form at will.
- Battra is the only new monster Godzilla fought in the Heisei series whose origin is not at all influenced by or related to Godzilla at all, instead being connected to Mothra.
- In Super Godzilla, when the first Battra is defeated and Godzilla arrives to deal with the second Battra, Battra is said to be in an cocoon state, but the cocoon resembles a Battra larva.
- Battra is also the name of a bird-like charabom in Bomberman Jetters.
List of appearances[]
Films[]
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (First appearance)
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (Stock Footage)
Video games[]
- Godzilla (Arcade)
- Super Godzilla
- Godzilla: Battle Legends
- Godzilla: Great Monster Battle
- Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!
- Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
- Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
- Godzilla Generations
- Godzilla: Save the Earth
- Godzilla: Unleashed (PlayStation 2 version only)
- Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
- Godzilla (2014 video game)
- Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
