Rodan vs Mothra (Godzilla and Toho Series)

Greetings and welcome to a new edition of my Who would win series and it is going to be a kaiju battle between Rodan and Mothra, both from the Godzilla franchise.


For this match up, I will go into the background for both Rodan and Mothra, go into base stats, their abilities, Fire Rodan and Mothra's larva and Adult form and finally, who I personally believe will win in this battle of epic proportions



So, without further ado, let's begin



Rodan

Rodan is a gigantic, ancient pteranodon that was mutated by radiation while living underneath Japan's surface. It is a massive kaiju, measuring 100 meters in height and weighed 30 000 metric tons. Rodan also had a wingspan of 200 meters. Such a sight would have been a terrifying experience to the people of Japan and the world. 

Another backstory for Rodan. In Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2, it was revealed that Rodan was exposed to radiation on Adonoa Island that was dumped by Nuclear chemicals from the Russians. Also, Rodan's lifetime has always resulted in him facing Godzilla and even teaming up with Godzilla to take down kaiju that threaten Earth.


That is a brief backstory of Rodan, now let's see what he can do


Strength
Being a massive Pteranodon, it would come to no surprise that Rodan is immensely strong. Infact, Rodan is one of the strongest flying kaiju in existence. Here are some of Rodan's best feats for strength.

•    Lifted Godzilla into the air and dropped him ontop of a power pylon, mind you, this was during the time when Rodan and Godzilla fought for 24 hours straight
• Lifted a boulder and eventually threw it at King Ghidorah, stunning him for a moment
• Slashed Godzilla's knee, this resulted in Godzilla falling down
• Rammed into King Ghidorah while flying, this also resulted in Rodan getting stunned in the process 

Speed/Sonic booms
Rodan's speed is amazing. Rodan is one of the fastest Kaiju in existence. Another notable asset for Rodan's speed is his sonic booms. Here are some of Rodan's best feats for speed and his sonic booms

• Regularly reaches Mach 1 and Mach 3 speeds depending on which version of Rodan is used. Still, those calculations put Rodan at hypersonic speeds.
• Rodan can emit Sonic booms while flying. These result in jet's being destroyed, entire cities being leveled, destroyed a steel bridge and Kaiju getting knocked down
• Rodan dodged an atomic ray by Godzilla and still created sonic booms that created huge explosions in the water in the process
• Destroyed New York city with a sonic boom 
• 
  Dodges Kaiju attacks, sometimes Kaiju like Godzilla, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla had trouble tagging Rodan with their energy blasts
• Has traveled around Japan for hours without stopping.
• Flew from New York City to Mount Fuji without any form of tiring

Durability
Rodan is also a very tough kaiju to take down. He has withstood heavy amounts of punishment and always has a strong willpower to try and take down his opponents. Here are some of his best durability feats
  

• Virtually unphased by military weaponry. Even artillery shots tickle Rodan
• Tanked energy blasts from Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, and King Ghidorah
• Took a tail swipe from Godzilla, Rodan shrugged it off
• Was getting strangled by Godzilla, which resulted in Rodan coughing out blood. In the same encounter, Rodan took a atomic blast from Godzilla and still kept flying.
• Took a massive bump by Angurius, who was swung by Godzilla's tail swipe, knocking both Angurius and Rodan to the ground, neither Rodan or Angurius died, though they did lose the fight against Godzilla.

Abilities
Like alot of Kaiju, Rodan is armed with devastating abilities. These abilities include:

• Wind Blasts: Rodan creates gale force winds by flapping his massive wings, these result in devastating power to everything in his vicinity including cities. Rodan can also exhale winds to create a sonic ray.
• Pecks: Rodan's signature ability, he pecks his opponents with his beak as his melee attack. It is powerful enough to destroy boulders with very little effort and even hold down Godzilla for a bit.
• Wing Slash: Rodan can use his wings to slash at his opponents. He used this ability to knock down Godzilla for a moment
• Chest Spikes: Rodan's chest is armed with spikes that are used for scratching his opponents while flying.
  

Fire Rodan

  













After Rodan was defeated by Godzilla, he was eventually revived due to more radiation and eventually became Fire Rodan. This form of Rodan vastly increases his power level and grants new abilities. These include

•  Uranium Heat Ray: Fire Rodan, Rodan emits a powerful heat ray that is capable of harming Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. It can also destroy buildings with very little effort 
• Life Absorption: Fire Rodan absorbs the life of smaller animals such as birds, fish, mammals and other creatures to heal himself.

Weaknesses

 












Despite Rodan's amazing stats and his versatile abilities, he is far from invincible. Infact, Rodan's encounters with  Godzilla and Mechagodzilla have resulted in Rodan taking massive amounts of damage, eventually mortally wounding and even killing Rodan in the process. Infact, Rodan's encounter with Ghidorah usually relied on help by Godzilla and Mothra to take Ghidorah down.Also of note, Rodan speed, while very fast by kaiju standards, can still be caught up by kaiju that are just as fast or even faster than Rodan himself.

Still, despite his flaws, Rodan is, and remains to this day, as one of the coolest kaiju in existence. Really, a giant Pterosaur that can destroy anything in it's path? I absolutely love that!!!!!





Mothra

Mothra is a Goddess worshiped by the natives of Infant Island as their god and their protector. For thousands of years, Mothra has protected Infant Island from dangerous threats, eventually sparking a rivalry with Battra, who is Mothra's arch nemesis until her encounter with Godzilla.

Mothra, despite having a length of 135 meters, weighing 15 000 tons and a wingspan of 250 meters, Mothra is by all means...... a very peaceful kaiju. Infact, aside from her first appearance in 1961, Mothra is always portrayed as the Good monster in the Godzilla films. Often times, she saves the innocent lives of people who are attacked by Godzilla and other monsters in the process. 


That's a brief summary of Mothra's backstory and personality, now, let's see what this giant moth can do.


Strength
Deceiving to some, Mothra is an extraordinarily powerful kaiju. Despite her delicate appearance, Mothra packs a punch to her enemies. Here are some of Mothra's best strength feats

• Scales to Battra, who can knock down Godzilla multiple times by simply ramming into him. Mothra herself has infact rammed Godzilla multiple times without getting stunned in the process
• Grabbed onto Godzilla's tail and dragged him away from her own egg. 
• Has dragged Godzilla across Tokyo for a moment. 
• While flying around cities, Mothra's wings do massive damage without Mothra even flapping them with more power. With very little effort, her wings can destroy districts and even send military vehicles flying.
• Mothra's wings have knocked down Godzilla.

 

















Speed
Mothra's speed is amazing. Infact, while she is quite slow at times, at her full speed, Mothra is very fast. Here are some of her best speed feats.

•   Mothra's speed ranges from Mach 1 to Mach 5
• Dodges beam attacks from Godzilla, Battra, King Ghidorah, Gigan and Destroyah
• Scales to Megagurius. Who is so fast that she disappears into a blur and surprises her opponents by appearing out of nowhere. Mothra herself has actually speed blitzed Megagurius
• Flew around galaxies with her twin fairies/priestesses. This puts Mothra at FTL speeds.
• Matched Battra's speed, who is hypersonic.
• Has dodged military fire casually.

Durability
One of Mothra's best stats is her durability. Despite Moths being very fragile in the real world, Mothra herself has tanked massive damage over the course of her fictional lifetime. Here are some of her best feats for durability.

• Has tanked Godzilla's atomic rays. Sometimes, they just hurt Mothra a little bit yet they don't stop her from continuing fighting.
• Has a very high resistance to military firepower.
• Shrugged off a tail slam by Godzilla and dodged his atomic breath afterwards. 
• Had her wings clipped by Godzilla's atomic breath yet Mothra continued fighting
• Took Godzilla's attacks on a regular basis without alot of damage.
• Took another hole in her wing and eventually tanked a Red Spiral ray from Godzilla......... Mothra still continued fighting and proceeded to take on Destroyah. This is odd considering that Godzilla at the time was fighting Mothra yet Mothra was helping Godzilla defeat Destroyah.
• Tanked energy blasts from other Kaiju.

Life Cycle
Mothra is a moth. And like all moth's, she undergoes a life cycle. These include:


Larva: For starters, Mothra is born a larva. As a Larva, she is 53-180 meters long and weighs 12000-15000 tons.  During her larva stage, Mothra can destroy cities by simply sliding through them and can tank military firepower with little to no damage. She is also capable of taking down other Kaiju.

Cocoon: After a period of time, Mothra eventually forms a cocoon around her body. While in this stage, she is completely defenseless and is susceptible to kaiju attacks.  





Adult: After hatching from her cocoon, Mothra eventually grows into a beautiful Moth.......A giant moth that is hahahah. This stage is her main form for attacks and will be used exclusively for this fight. 






Abilities
Mothra is practically a swiss army knife in terms of abilities. Infact, she is one of the most versatile kaiju in the Godzilla universe. Her abilities include:

• Webbing: Mothra's signature ability, this ability allows Mothra to coat her opponents with extremely strong silk that immobilizes Mothra's opponents . This ability has made Godzilla eventually fall to the depths of the ocean.    

• Beam Attack: Mothra emits a beam from her antennae. It is powerful enough to damage Battra, Godzilla and even Destroyah. The beam attack also packs the firepower to knock down Godzilla for a moment

• Wing Blasts: Mothra becomes stationary and uses her wings to create hurricane level winds that destroy cities and even hold back kaiju. Godzilla himself always had trouble against Mothra whenever she uses this ability.
  
  
   

• Melee Attacks: Mothra can also use her body to ram into her opponents and even use her wings for a slash attack. Also, Mothra's limbs are used as a melee attack. She can also grapple her opponents.

• Paralysis Spores: Mothra sheds her scales to emit paralysis to her opponent. While the ability is powerful, this always results in Mothra dying in the long run due to amount of scales being shed from her wings. 

• Reflective Mirror: Without a doubt, Mothra's most powerful ability. This ability allows Mothra to create a field around herself and her opponent. Should her opponent use a beam attack, the field will redirect it back at her opponent. Mothra used this against Godzilla, and Godzilla's atomic ray packed the firepower to destroy Kaiju in a single hit. Mothra literally no sold the attack and the field redirected the atomic ray back at Godzilla, dealing massive damage to Godzilla himself.

• Stingers: Mothra can launch a barrage of stingers from her abdomen

• Kamikaze Attack: Mothra, after being set on fire, charges at her opponent and explodes, destroying herself and the enemy instantly.

• Mystical glyph: Mothra circles around the sky, creating a mystical glyph that seals her opponents in place.

• Immortality: While Mothra is not invincible, her essence lives on and is reincarnated into a new born larva. Thus, Mothra herself is immortal

Weaknesses
 
 Despite her legendary status as one of the most powerful Kaiju in existence, Mothra is far from invincible. Infact, her encounters with Godzilla, while most of them resulted in her winning the war, Mothra herself has only defeated Godzilla with the help of others. Mothra herself has never defeated Godzilla on her own (Unless you count the fact she did save a group of survivors from Godzilla in Godzilla vs the Sea Monster) so her claim for having the most victories against Godzilla is sketchy at best. 

Also, it is worth noting that Mothra is weak against energy based attacks and even fire. Should her body take too much heat, she will eventually lose her ability to fly and become very vulnerable to a killing blow. 

Another major flaw for Mothra is that she dies alot.... I mean... alot. Mothra herself was killed by Godzilla and even died while destroying Gigan in the process. Also, Mothra has also died in Rebirth of Mothra by saving her new born larva from Desghidorah.



Still, despite Mothra's weaknesses. She is simply one of the most majestic, mythical, powerful and beloved kaiju in existence. Truly, Mothra has held a special place in my heart as one of my all time favorite characters ever.





Summary



Rodan

  










Advantages

• More melee capabilities
• His sheer size is bigger than Mothra's
• Fire Rodan grants him self healing.
• Has a more badass roar than Mothra
• Cooler than Mothra
• Is a Giant Pterosaur, I love Pterosaurs

Disadvantages

• In the stat trinity, Rodan is slightly edged out by Mothra.
• Less abilities than Mothra
• Less feats than Mothra
• While Rodan himself has fought Godzilla, unlike Mothra, he hasn't fought other kaiju on a regular basis. This makes Rodan less experienced than Mothra in terms of combat.
• Will be destroyed if he uses his Uranium Heat Ray against Mothra's Reflective Mirror.
• Not as beautiful as Mothra
• Not as Adorable as Mothra

• Seems to aim for Godzilla's crotch when he dropped him ontop of the electrical pylon.... Dirty Rodan XD!!

 Mothra

 












Advantages

• Slightly edges out in terms of the stat trinity.
• More abilities
• More Hax
• Mothra's Reflective Mirror will destroy Rodan
• More feats 
• Has fought Godzilla more than Rodan did. And Mothra herself has faced other kaiju in the past, giving her more experience in combat than Rodan
• Is more adorable
• Is more beautiful
• Has the cutest roar of all kaiju

Disadvantages

• Less melee options
• Doesn't heal herself like Fire Rodan
• Isn't as big as Rodan
• Not as cool as Rodan
• Her roar, while adorable, doesn't sound as badass as Rodan.

Conclusion

 

Rodan vs Mothra, this is without a doubt my favorite Kaiju match up. I love both Rodan and Mothra evenly and while the entire match up is very exciting to behold, this is also a very personal fight due to the fact that both Rodan and Mothra are cornerstones of my childhood.


Anyways, back into the serious stuff. In terms of the fight, this is very close. What is interesting here is that both Mothra and Rodan have accomplished amazing feats in the past. And both have taken on Godzilla, and even fought other Kaiju in the process. However, one side has the edge in terms of experience and that goes to Mothra.


Mothra has the experience to make her more intimidating than Rodan. Infact, Mothra herself has demonstrated that she can take on some of the most powerful kaiju around on her own. While she does have mixed results, she still edges out Rodan in terms of experience.

However, Rodan himself does have the size advantage in this fight. Rodan is 100 meters and 30 000 metric tons with a wing span of 200 meters where as Mothra is 135 meters, weighs 15 000 tons and has a wingspan of 250 meters. So Mothra may seem larger in terms of length and width but Rodan weighs heavier than Mothra (Your not fat Rodan hahaha). So the size advantage does go to Rodan.

That said, we now look at the most important part of the fight. Stats and Abilities.

In terms of stats, both Rodan and Mothra are very, very close. But, Mothra slightly edges out Rodan thanks to having more feats and even more impressive feats to back up a claim for her to edge out Rodan. Infact, Mothra's FTL speed while flying in space puts her above Rodan by a landslide. That said, Rodan's Speed is capable of producing sonic booms with his mere presence alone so that does help him against Mothra here. However, in terms of strength, while Rodan lifting Godzilla in the air is extraordinarily impressive, I personally believe Mothra is stronger than Rodan thanks to her feats knocking down Godzilla, Ghidorah and Destroyah. And the last stat that needs to be mentioned is durability. Both Rodan and Mothra are very tough kaiju. However, with alot of hesitation, Mothra edges out Rodan in terms of durability thank's to her defensive abilities and her feats with tanking more energy beams than what Rodan experienced. Infact, Mothra has withstood a Red Spiral ray from Godzilla, which would have one shotted most Kaiju. So that puts Mothra in a slight edge over Rodan in terms of Durability.


Finally we go into abilities. While Rodan does possess some devastating abilities, Mothra is way more versatile than Rodan. Rodan will need to be in Fire Rodan form in order to use his more powerful abilities. While Fire Rodan can heal himself with Life Absorption, and even use a Uranium Heat Ray, Mothra has a beam attack, stingers, webbing and a Reflective Mirror field.

Now, the question is, who will most likely come out on top after careful consideration?

Well, in my opinion, I believe, after a very, very intense kaiju battle..... Mothra will win.

The reason why Mothra wins is because she edged out Rodan in terms of stats and abilities. It also helps Mothra that her abilities are more powerful than Rodan's and the fact she could just counter Fire Rodan's uranium heat ray with her reflective mirror seals the deal for Mothra. Once that ability is used, Fire Rodan is basically crushed. Therefore, thanks to Mothra's experience,  abilities and stats, I believe that Mothra will win in this epic match up.



Rodan, you will always be the coolest flying monster ever. However, Mothra is still the cutest, most beautiful monster... But the fact is, Mothra is just too powerful for Rodan to handle.




 The Winner is Mothra