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| Species: | Dark divine moth |
| Height: | Larva: 90 Meters Moth: 180 Meters |
| Length: | Larva: 90 Meters Moth: 73 Meters |
| Weight: | Larva: 20,000 Metric Tons Moth: 30,000 Metric Tons |
| Weight: | Wingspan: 180 Meters |
| Appearances: | Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1998) |
Summary
Battra (Batora) is a dark divine moth kaiju who first appeared in the 1992 Toho Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Mothra.
A dark counterpart of Mothra, Battra was created by the Earth itself 12,000 years ago after an ancient civilization created a climate-controlling device. Battra served his purpose and destroyed the device, but came to see all of humanity as a blight on the planet and sought to exterminate the human race. Mothra took issue with this and fought Battra in a battle that caused the utter destruction of the ancient world, finally defeating and sealing him in the North Sea. In 1993, a meteor impacted the Earth and reawakened Battra, who continued his ancient crusade against mankind. Battra attacked Nagoya and eventually challenged Godzilla himself to battle, only to vanish after falling into a volcanic fault. However, Battra soon resurfaced in his imago form and traveled to Yokohama for a final clash with Mothra. When Godzilla arrived as well, Mothra and Battra decided to put aside their differences to fight against their common foe. Mothra and Battra successfully defeated Godzilla, but at the cost of Battra's life. Battra's only film appearance to date came in 1992's Godzilla vs. Mothra, though he has made appearances in official non-film media such as video games and comic books.
Name
Battra's name 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 (Batoru Mosura), as described in the Super Godzilla video game manual. Battra is also referred to as the Black Mothra (Kuroi Mosura) at one point by the Cosmos in Godzilla vs. Mothra, a nickname which is also listed as the monster's subtitle in some publications.
Design
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 giant 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.
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. However, despite his typical personality, he has occasionally shown heroic traits, as seen when he decided to help Mothra after Godzilla nearly killed her.
Origin
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
Heisei Era
Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1998)
Thousands of years after being sealed in the North Sea by Mothra, Battra was awakened when a meteorite struck the Earth. Battra swam to the coast of Japan and burrowed, reappearing and attacking Nagoya. The JSDF 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 knocked Mothra aside and engaged Godzilla, whom he deemed to be the bigger threat. The two monsters battled down to the sea floor in the Philippine Trench, where a volcanic fault opened up and swallowed them both, leading the JSDF to declare them both dead. But Battra and Godzilla lived on, as Battra appeared from the ocean depths and Godzilla rose from the crater of Mount Fuji. Upon metamorphosing from his larval form into his imago form, Battra 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 reappeared, and began to relentlessly attack them both. As Mothra battled with Godzilla, Battra intervened and rescued his counterpart. After a brief conversation between the two moths in which the two determined Godzilla to be the greater threat, Mothra and Battra teamed up to combat Godzilla together in defense of both Earth and humankind. Once Godzilla was defeated by their combined efforts, Battra and Mothra carried him out to sea. However, Godzilla, still conscious, killed Battra by biting into his throat, then attacking him with an atomic ray at point-blank range while he was being transported. Unable to carry both Godzilla and Battra's dead weight, Mothra was forced to let go, sending Battra's lifeless body and Godzilla tumbling 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.
Trivia
- Within Godzilla vs. Mothra, there is a possible continuity discrepancy involving Battra. In the film, the Cosmos explain Battra's origins and his defeat at the hands of Mothra. They state that Battra's body (either lifeless or still barely alive) 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 Battra emerges 12,000 years after his defeat, once again in his larval form is a potential contradiction. It is possible that Battra can revert back to larva form at will, or that he is reincarnated somehow similar to Mothra, since she is depicted in her imago form on the mural as well only to hatch from an egg in her larval form in the present day.
- Battra is the only new monster fought by Godzilla in the Heisei series whose origin is not 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 a cocoon state, but the cocoon resembles a Battra larva.
- Battra's skull makes a brief appearance in Pacific Rim Uprising, during the scene where Hermann Gottlieb examines PPDC records in search of a match for the image Mako Mori transmitted.
