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| Species: | Prehistoric parasite |
| Height: | Male: 200 Meters Female: 300 Meters |
| Weight: | Male: ~15,000 Metric Tons Female: ~60,000 Metric Tons |
| Appearances: | Godzilla (2014 film) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 film) |
Summary
The MUTOs (Mūtō) are parasitic Titans who first appeared in the 2014 Legendary Pictures film, Godzilla.
Prehistoric parasites that thrived at the same time as Godzilla's species, the MUTOs survived by attacking and killing members of Godzilla's species and laying their eggs in their radioactive carcasses. Two MUTO spores left in the carcass of a Godzilla survived for millions of years buried deep underground in the Philippines, only to be uncovered by a mining operation in 1999. A male MUTO emerged from its spore and began feeding on a nuclear reactor located in Janjira, while the female emerged from a nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada years later in 2014. The MUTOs met in San Francisco and began building a nest, but Godzilla arrived in the city to stop them from reproducing. After a long battle, Godzilla successfully killed both MUTOs, while the military destroyed the creatures' nest, successfully preventing the MUTOs from repopulating. As Godzilla's foes in the first entry of the MonsterVerse, the MUTOs were the first opponent faced by Godzilla in a film since Monster X ten years earlier. A second female dubbed the Queen MUTO[3] made a brief appearance in the film's sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as part of the Titan army rampaging around the world.
Name
MOGUERA's Japanese name comes from that of the original Moguera, which itself is derived from the Japanese word mogura (lit. dirt dragon), meaning "mole." Unlike the original, however, MOGUERA's name is often spelled in Latin characters as MOGERA or M・O・G・E・R・A, though pronounced the same. The MOGUERA acronym stands for "Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type," though the "Universal" portion is omitted from the Japanese acronym, due to MOGUERA's name not having a U. The book Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla Super Complete Works instead expands the acronym as "Mobile Operation G-Expert Robot Aero-type," while the Japanese trailer for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla writes the Aero-type portion as "A-type." After being repaired and upgraded following its first battle with SpaceGodzilla, it is designated MOGUERA II-SRF (MOGERA-SRF Mogera Tsū Esuāruefu). MOGUERA's name is sometimes abbreviated as MGR, such as on the helmets of its pilots.
While this version of the character's name is usually spelled as an acronym in both English and Japanese media, it is still sometimes spelled in English as Moguera.
Design
MPC visual effects supervisor Guillaume Rocheron was quoted in Godzilla: The Art of Destruction as saying that he "would classify [the MUTOs] as mammals because they have flesh and bone and muscles." He stated that the MUTOs aren't literally giant insects, despite their designs being inspired by arthropods such as beetles and spiders, but admitted that their silhouettes "definitely look like insects."
The MUTOs' bodies are predominately grayish-black, with the male sporting predominant light markings. Their head is shaped similarly to Gyaos: long and triangular with the tops of their heads flat. They possess triangular jaws with seemingly degenerated rows of sharp teeth. The MUTOs have sort of "mandibles" in their lower jaws capable of separating slightly, similar to Shin Godzilla. The female MUTO has two pairs of forelimbs and a smaller pair on her chest, being just smaller than Godzilla. The smaller male MUTO is nearly identical in its physique except that one of the two forelimb pairs is modified into his wings. Both MUTOs have red eyes and two hind legs. In the novelization, their skin is described as a "chitinous exoskeleton."
The Queen MUTO in Godzilla: King of the Monsters has a "crown" of dorsal ridges on her back meant to express her age, in contrast to the single ridge of the female MUTO in Godzilla. Her body is also covered in scars "from past battles...or mating rituals."
Personality
As prehistoric parasites, the MUTOs' sole goals revolve around consuming radiation and reproduction. The male actively seeks out radiation on which to feed after emerging from his chrysalis. When he encounters Godzilla for the first time, he reacts with hostility and becomes defensive, attacking him whenever an opportunity becomes available and evading when possible.
The female, once the male had matured enough, awakened from her dormancy and traversed through Las Vegas and other environments to meet with the male, who brought with him a nuclear warhead as a sign of courtship for their eggs to feed upon. She seemed to exhibit pain when laying her eggs in her nest in San Francisco, and became hostile and defensive when Godzilla appeared and fought with him alongside the male MUTO to defend their nest. Meanwhile, the male attacked Godzilla whenever the female MUTO was overpowered, indicating a protectiveness for her and holding Godzilla off until the female recovered.
As a team, the MUTOs are powerful and able to best Godzilla with their combined strength. If nothing had distracted them from fighting Godzilla in San Francisco, they may have killed him. After noticing her eggs were destroyed in an explosion, the female MUTO displayed visible grief over the loss of her young, and when she seemed to identify Ford Brody as the one responsible this was quickly replaced with rage.
In Godzilla: Aftershock, Monarch's Dr. Emma Russell further speculates on the nature of the MUTOs, suggesting that after their young were successfully born the female could very well have killed and eaten the male much like a praying mantis. She also proposes that a newly-born brood of MUTOs will act as an invasive species, adapting the environment to their will and wiping out almost everything else within it. Once their food supply is exhausted, she hypothesizes, the brood will turn on each other until there is only one individual left, which matures into the next MUTO Prime.
The Queen MUTO from Godzilla: King of the Monsters submits to Godzilla alongside the other Titans, apparently acknowledging the unlikelihood she could defeat him in battle.
Origin
The MUTOs are ancient parasites that come from the same era and ecosystem as Godzilla. Much like him, the MUTOs feed off of radiation. However, unlike the surviving Godzilla, who adapted to live at the bottom of the ocean and feed off the planet's natural radiation, the MUTOs are actively drawn to sources of man-made radiation such as nuclear warheads and energy plants.
As revealed in Godzilla: Aftershock, the official graphic novel prequel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the MUTOs are the offspring of a Titan dubbed MUTO Prime. MUTO Prime infected a member of Godzilla's species, known to the ancients as Dagon and designated Species 5146_Adam by Monarch, with its parasitic eggs which implanted into its stomach lining and broke down the hemoglobin in its blood to feed on the nuclear radiation. After the host died due to being unable to replenish its nuclear energy, the spores continued to grow within its carcass, which was eventually buried deep within an underground cavern in the Philippines. When a mining company unwittingly unearthed the skeleton in 1999, the male's spore hatched and it burrowed to Janjira in its larval state in search of nuclear energy, while the female's spore remained dormant until the male matured. This means that in addition to being mates, the two MUTOs are also brother and sister.
History
Monsterverse Era
The MUTOs were discovered in the Philippines in 1999 after a mining operation drilled into a cave containing a gigantic skeleton with two parasitic spores attached to it, one of which had already hatched. The larval male MUTO, who had hatched after being disturbed by the cave collapsing, burrowed his way to the Janjira nuclear power plant in Japan, where he caused the plant to collapse from underneath, killing Sandra Brody and several other workers, and causing the entire area to be evacuated because of radiation leaking from the plant. Despite the destruction of the plant, the MUTO attached himself to the reactor and entered a cocoon-like state, absorbing all the radiation from the surrounding area. The second pod containing the female MUTO was taken by the Americans to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada.
For the next 15 years, the organization Monarch maintained a research base in the ruins of the Janjira plant, where they observed and studied the MUTO while it fed on the reactor. As the reactor was depleted and the MUTO matured, it began giving off electromagnetic pulses which interfered with Monarch's equipment. Ishiro Serizawa, who was in charge of the operation, regretfully gave the order to kill the MUTO before it could destroy their base. The cocoon was destroyed with electrical currents released from cables surrounding it. A group of armed operatives approached the remains of the cocoon to confirm the MUTO was destroyed, but the creature was still alive and attacked them. The MUTO laid waste to the power plant once again before sprouting his wings and taking off. The United States Navy, under the command of Admiral William Stenz, began to pursue the MUTO as it crossed the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, the male MUTO arrived in Hawaii, where it had dragged a Russian nuclear sub ashore and was feeding on its torpedoes. A group of soldiers were sent to investigate, but were attacked by the MUTO Fighter jets were sent in to try and stop the creature, but the MUTO released an EMP, causing the jets to fall out of the sky and crash. The MUTO proceeded to terrorize the Honolulu International Airport but was confronted by Godzilla, who had come ashore to hunt it. The two monsters briefly battled until the MUTO retreated back over the ocean, with Godzilla in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Serizawa and his assistant Vivienne Graham concluded that the male MUTO was using echolocation to signal to the female MUTO that he was mature and ready to mate. Serizawa worried that the spore containing the female was not actually dormant, and the military sent a team to the waste depository to investigate. When the soldiers arrived, the facility was destroyed and the female MUTO had already broken out. The female MUTO terrorized the city of Las Vegas and began to head west to California. The military formed a plan to lure both MUTOs and Godzilla out to sea with a nuclear warhead, then detonate it in an attempt to kill all three. Two warheads were transported via a train, but the female MUTO intercepted it in the California wilderness, killing all the personnel except for Ford Brody and eating one of the warheads. The other warhead was recovered and airlifted to San Francisco Bay, where it was armed, but it was stolen by the male MUTO, who presented it to the female in downtown San Francisco.
After acquiring the warhead, the female MUTO created a nest and attached her eggs to the warhead, nourishing them with the radiation. The male meanwhile attempted to distract Godzilla, who had broken through the Golden Gate Bridge and come ashore. Eventually, Godzilla reached the nest and took on both MUTOs at once, while an extraction team led by Ford Brody arrived to recover the armed warhead. The bomb was removed from the nest, and Ford ignited a gas explosion to destroy the MUTOs' eggs. The explosion attracted the attention of the MUTOs, who had overpowered Godzilla, and they went to investigate. The female MUTO was stricken with grief after seeing her young killed but became enraged when she saw Ford, the man responsible. Before the MUTO could kill Ford, Godzilla emerged from behind her and pummeled her mercilessly with his atomic breath. The male MUTO attacked Godzilla from behind, allowing the female to pursue Ford and his team as they attempted to take the bomb out to sea. When the male MUTO attempted to strike Godzilla from behind once again, Godzilla anticipated it and smacked the MUTO with his tail, impaling him on a building and killing him.
Ford's team arrived at the docks with the bomb but were all slaughtered by the female MUTO, leaving Ford the only one left. Ford grabbed the bomb and placed it on a boat. Unable to defuse it, he started the boat in an attempt to take it out over the bay before it could detonate. However, the female MUTO's EMP field disabled the boat, leaving her face-to-face with Ford. Ford drew his pistol and aimed it at the MUTO, but knew he stood no chance and closed his eyes as she prepared to kill him. Suddenly, the female MUTO was pulled back by Godzilla, who pried open her jaws and fired his atomic breath down her throat, severing her head from her body and killing her.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Following the Battle of San Francisco, Monarch transported the female MUTO's severed head to its underwater base in Bermuda, Castle Bravo.
King Ghidorah's call awakened the Queen MUTO, who had been dormant underneath a strip mall in Hoboken, New Jersey.[21] She began to rampage along with the other Titans he summoned. After Godzilla killed Ghidorah, she assembled in Boston with Scylla, Behemoth, Methuselah, and Rodan. Each of the Titans progressively submitted to Godzilla, who roared triumphantly.
Trivia
- The MUTOs are the first American-made kaiju to be specifically created for a Godzilla film, not counting the Gryphon from the unmade 1994 American Godzilla film, and the TriStar Godzilla from the 1998 American film, who was later re-trademarked with the name "Zilla" and appeared as a separate monster in subsequent Godzilla-related media.
- The MUTOs' role in Legendary Pictures' Godzilla as Godzilla's enemies somewhat mirrors that of the Gryphon from the scrapped 1994 American Godzilla film. In both stories, the military initially considers Godzilla to be a threat but is ultimately forced to allow him to fight his enemy in a major American city after its own efforts prove futile. Godzilla kills both the female MUTO and the Gryphon through decapitation, though the exact manner in which they are decapitated differs.
- The MUTOs are Godzilla's first completely original opponent since Titanosaurus in Terror of Mechagodzilla. Every other enemy Godzilla has fought since then are either enemies he has fought before, clones of him, or are derived from or based on an existing monster.
- A MUTO 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.
- The monitor broadcasting the Queen MUTO suddenly ceasing her rampage upon the ORCA being activated by Madison at Fenway Park was a reutilized shot of a devastated city viewed through a bisected skyscraper, seen in the 2012 Comic-Con teaser trailer and the official teaser trailer for the 2014 film.
