History Characters / MonsterVerseMUTO

* {{EMP}}: They can emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as a sign they're nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, exemplified when Hokmuto's EMP twice causes fighter jets that were sent specifically to watch out for the [=MUTOs=] to suddenly shut down mid-flight and helplessly crash.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the movie, because the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Femuto is constantly producing an EMP sphere of influence around herself, whilst Hokmuto gives off EMP blasts, and he furthermore [[ItCanThink seems to have learned how to weaponize the blast against humans' aircraft]] by the time he uses it on Oahu. In the novelization, the actual purpose of the EMP is to disrupt Godzilla's ability to use his atomic breath, which makes sense given that the two species are natural enemies (this has seemingly been retconned by ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', which portrays Godzilla's nuclear powers as being derived from the HollowEarth energy source).

* HeadbuttOfLove: Between the male and female [=MUTOs=] when they meet up. It's surprisingly adorable.
* HellIsThatNoise: [[http://youtu.be/Sr_OKLbfRQc Have a listen.]] In context, that's what the female sounds like while building her nest [[spoiler:in San Francisco]].
* HitAndRunTactics: The male [=MUTO=] uses this kind of strategy when fighting Godzilla.

* HostileTerraforming: It's theorized in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' that once the [=MUTOs=] successfully reproduce, they reshape (or straight-up eradicate) entire ecosystems to suit them whilst carving out a niche for themselves. Emma notes that the creatures would cause potentially massive environmental and tectonic upheaval during this process, and there's evidence to suggest that the [=MUTO=] species caused at least two of Earth's past mass extinctions whilst doing this.
* HumansAreInsects: They are mostly indifferent to humans, although they will brush them away if they start stinging them with gunfire [[spoiler:or roast a nest full of [=MUTO=] eggs.]]
** [[spoiler:HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The [=MUTOs=] quickly change their opinions on humans to this once they destroyed their eggs and this opinion is further cemented when the male [=MUTO=] is killed.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:The male [=MUTO=]'s fate. Godzilla hits the male [=MUTO=] with a TailSlap, smashing him into a building and impaling him on the structure.]]
* InformedSpecies: They're described by the MPC visual effects supervisor in ''Godzilla: The Art of Destruction'' as probably being mammals based on the fact they possess skin, bones, and muscle, but he also admitted that they do look more insectoid than mammalian. To say nothing of the [=MUTOs'=] reproductive cycle, which in light of this information makes the platypus look like nothing to gawk about.

* ItCanThink:
** They hint at it, such as when the female figures out that Brody is what killed her eggs.
** The female [=MUTO=] seems to actively ''wait'' for [[spoiler:the train carrying the nuclear weapons]] and ambush them, making use of her natural camouflage.
** By the point of the San Francisco fight, the [=MUTOs=] have learned to weaponize their EMP abilities (before primarily using the shockwave accompanying it to throw soldiers).
* {{Kaiju}}: Two of them.
* LastOfItsKind: {{Subverted}}. The male and the female [=MUTO=] in the 2014 film are described as the last of a species that lived when the Earth's surface was still being heavily bombarded by radiation, but the [=MUTO=] Prime in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' and the Queen [=MUTO=] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' have since emerged. The latter is currently the only known living specimen of the species.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: When the Monarch team discovers [[spoiler:that the two [=MUTOs=] have been communicating with each other, Serizawa explains that the female [=MUTO=]'s egg is currently located at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository -- which is not only filled with radioactive waste (which the [=MUTOs=] feed on) but also happens to be located ''right outside Las Vegas''.]]
* ExtremeOmnivore: Crossed with MetalMuncher, as they consume radioactive material. Even a nuclear bomb is little more than a metallic pastry to them.
* EyeLightsOut: When the male [=MUTO=] dies, we get a close-up of his eyes to emphasize with this trope that he is dead.
* FeedItABomb: Aside from them ''literally'' eating nuclear bombs, [[spoiler:Godzilla kills the female [=MUTO=] by blasting his Atomic Breath straight down her throat]]. The military's plan for killing the [=MUTOs=] is a variation on this: they know the [=MUTOs=] will be attracted to (and can feed on) the radiation of a nuke, but the pure concussive force of the explosion will (hopefully) kill them, rendering their ability to eat radiation irrelevant.
* FragileSpeedster: The male [=MUTO=], thanks to flight and his relatively small size, can employ HitAndRunTactics with Godzilla but goes down instantly when Godzilla manages to get a direct hit in. This complements the [=MUTOs=]' separate fighting styles, allowing the two to work together well enough to gain the advantage against Godzilla: While the male distracts Godzilla, it allows the much bigger and stronger female to attack Godzilla from behind. When Godzilla reacts to this and begins to overpower the female, the male flies around and attacks Godzilla again from behind, distracting him and repeating the cycle.
* FunWithAcronyms: Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms. Once it's discovered that there's more than one individual, it's turned into a name for their species.
* GasLeakCoverup: The Janjira incident was caused [[spoiler:by the male [=MUTO=] burrowing into the plant's core and feeding off the radiation until he grew to maturity. The surrounding area wasn't evacuated due to radiation but to hide the existence of the [=MUTO=]'s cocoon]].
* GiantEqualsInvincible: They [[ImmuneToBullets shrug off all bullets,]] tank rounds, and sea-to-ground missiles, though massed rifle fire successfully distracts them more than once.
* GiantFlyer: The male [=MUTO=] has a pair of enormous wings in place of one set of legs.
* GlassCannon: Thanks to his pair of wings, Hokmuto is able to be swift, elusive, and insanely difficult for Godzilla to intercept. While he may not be as powerful as his larger mate, he was surprisingly able to draw a fresh splash of blood from Godzilla's durable scales. Although, whenever Godzilla actually attacks him, he's highly prone to distancing himself away from the alpha predator to escape from any physical contact to stay clear, unlike the female who can tank many blows from Godzilla's strength due to being almost as large as he is as well as being too tough to be critically injured. [[spoiler:The moment when Godzilla brings him down with a brutal and well-timed TailSlap, the poor male couldn't withstand the impact from the blow, was heavily impaled into the beam, and perished.]]
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: They have red glowing slits for eyes, which lack any kind of pupils. They may be heat sensors or compound eyes.
* GoingCritical: The male [=MUTO=] played a major role in the Janjira disaster. [[spoiler:A possible subversion in this case, because the story of the Janjira reactor going critical was all part of the coverup to hide their existence.]]

* TheCameo: In [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the sequel]], the female's head is being held at Castle Bravo, Monarch's Godzilla monitoring station.
* CanonForeigner: Although Creator/{{Toho}}'s ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise features plenty of giant mutant insectoid monsters, the makers of this film decided to introduce the [=MUTOs=] as an original set of this sort of creature for Godzilla to fight.
* CombatPragmatist: They're not averse to double-teaming Godzilla, whether by continuously biting or stabbing him.
* ConceiveAndKill: {{Discussed}} in ''Godzilla: Aftershock''. Emma Russell postulates that if the [=MUTOs=] had been victorious, the female would've eventually killed the male, like a mating praying mantis, although she seems doubtful after confirming the [=MUTO=] Prime's relation to the creatures.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The male [=MUTO=] [[spoiler:gets impaled on a broken building]], while the larger female [[spoiler:dies when Godzilla forces her mouth open and fires his atomic breath down her throat, which causes her to be beheaded]].
* CryCute: The female [=MUTO=] lets out an anguished scream when [[spoiler:her eggs are destroyed]].
* DarkActionGirl: The female [=MUTO=] is a fierce, villainous MamaBear and puts up a good fight against Godzilla.
* DaylightHorror: Whenever the male appears, and throughout the pair's stay in San Francisco, it's either nighttime or completely overcast. But when the female is first seen rampaging in Nevada, she's in broad daylight.

* {{Determinator}}: Angry mama [=MUTO=] after realizing [[spoiler:Ford destroyed her eggs.]]
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Their deaths in the 2014 film's novelization are somewhat different from in the film. Godzilla cripples the male by ripping off part of his wing with his jaws, then he crushes the disoriented male to death specifically by ramming him into a building with his full body. When killing the female, he first disorients her by blasting her point-blank with his Atomic Breath, then decapitates her with but a swipe of his claws (you can probably see why the film does it differently since you'd have to wonder why Godzilla didn't inflict the novel's killing blow on the female sooner).

* DugTooDeep: They were awakened after thousands of years when a mining operation unwittingly dug into the cavern where their eggs were lying dormant. Notably, contact with the outside world's air seemingly catalyzed the male's hatching.
* EdibleAmmunition: They feed on radiation and radioactive materials, so to them, a nuke is more of a tasty snack than a legitimate threat.
* ElementalPunch: The male [=MUTO=] has an ability where he is seen storing glowing energy in his segmented forearm and slamming it into the ground to produce a burst of energy.
* {{EMP}}: They can emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as an indirect sign that they are nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, as evidenced by the scene where a bunch of fighter jets sent to take one out suddenly shut down and crash into San Francisco Bay.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the film as the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Of note, at first, it seems they use this accidentally (as it seems more them trying to use the shockwave that accompanies them setting it off), but by the time of the San Francisco, the male [=MUTO=] has seemed to learn to use it offensively. According to the novelization, the actual purpose of the EMP is to disrupt Godzilla's ability to use his atomic breath, which makes sense given that the two species are natural enemies.
* EnergyAbsorption: Of the nuclear kind, with the [=MUTOs=] seeing nukes as more of a pastry than a weapon of mass destruction. [[spoiler:This becomes a problem later when the [=MUTOs=] snag a live and ticking nuke under everyone's noses to feed their young.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Both the male and the female [=MUTOs=] are genuinely affectionate and protective towards each other. [[spoiler:Then there's the [[MamaBear mother]]'s [[UnstoppableRage reaction]] to the deaths of all her unborn young.]]

* SealedEvilInACan: They were dormant spores attached to Adam's fossil before a mining company stumbled upon them.

In 2019, [[spoiler:it is revealed that there is an adult female [=MUTO=] hibernating deep beneath a strip mall in Hoboken, New Jersey.]]

* ActionDad: The male [=MUTO=] is prepared to fight anything to protect his unborn offspring, even Godzilla himself.
* ActionMom: The female [=MUTO=] is prepared to fight anything to protect her unborn offspring, even Godzilla himself.
* AdaptationalJerkass: {{Downplayed}} with the male [=MUTO=], but in the film's {{novelization}}, he doesn't follow the female at all when they notice [[spoiler:their nest blowing up]].
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for the [=MUTOs=] when the mother is mourning the death of her babies, especially when we see them meet and the father presents a nuke to the mother and they nuzzle a bit before making the nest. The mother's anguished vocalizations manage to convey the message perfectly.]]

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Right when Godzilla used his tail to kill the male [=MUTO=], one shot displays parts of his front legs falling off, which is likely because of the smaller spikes on Godzilla's tail.]]
* AlternateAnimalAffection: They nuzzle each other and touch noses, making beeping noises as their eyes flash towards each other.
* AntagonistInMourning: The female [=MUTO=] cries at the destruction of her offspring... [[MamaBear and then sees Ford close by.]]
* AntiVillain: Not exactly apparent until near the end of the film. Their goal is merely to reunite with one another, have offspring, and ensue the resurgence of their species. Even with the amount of destruction they cause, they are at least sympathetic in this regard. In addition, they usually only cause destruction solely because they're so large and throughout the film, they act like actual animals.

* ArtifactTitle: As the giant monsters are referred to as "Titans" as of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', the term [=MUTO=] seems to no longer be a catch-all for all monsters in general, and now seems to be specific to this particular species.
* BattleCouple: In a sense, for they are a mated pair and manage to put up a real fight against Godzilla. One-on-one, they are severely outmatched, although the male one had the advantage of being able to fly. According to the creator's commentary, this was an integral part of their design process when making them.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' reveals it's likely that the species' reproductive cycle and HostileTerraforming have previously caused [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs at least two of the planet's recorded past extinction events]] and that the species also caused the Greek Dark Ages.
* BehindTheBlack: A couple of particularly egregious instances occur with them. First when the male is eating a submarine and the squad on the ground doesn't see it's there for several moments, and then when the ''300-foot female'' broke out of a mountain and marched towards Vegas, going unnoticed by the military at the mountain.

* BigBadDuumvirate: They are more or less this, though the female is arguably the bigger threat (and literally the bigger monster) as she carries with her thousands of baby monsters and is the most protective of them.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: They resemble large insects.

* BioluminescenceIsCool: They are black with glowing red markings.
* BizarreAlienBiology: The [=MUTOs=] are stated to be mammalian, though they are [[BigCreepyCrawlies insectoid]] in morphology and many of their features resemble those of reptiles and dinosaurs, making their overall look a strange mixture of vertebrate, arthropod, and even biomechanical traits. The most bizarre part has to be them being ''terrestrial'' organisms, as they resemble no other creature on earth.
* BizarreAlienLimbs: They have a total of eight limbs. In the male, he has one pair of front legs, one pair of wings, a pair of smaller arms in his abdominal region, and a pair of digitigrade hind legs. The female [=MUTO=] has a similar arrangement, though instead of wings she has a second pair of forelegs.
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Downplayed. The male has wings and much smaller manipulator arms but is relatively small in size compared to Godzilla, while the female is nearly Godzilla's size, has large manipulator arms, and cannot fly. Otherwise, the two are pretty much identical in appearance. This exists in some real-life animals, like spiders.
* BrotherSisterIncest: ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' confirms that the mated [=MUTO=] pair in the 2014 film were brother and sister, their eggs implanted by [=MUTO=] Prime in Adam / Dagon's corpse.
* BugWar: PlayedWith. The military's efforts to contain them and the HALO team's part in the FinalBattle notably have shades of this due to the [=MUTOs'=] giant-insectoid appearance. The [=MUTOs=], although very alien-looking and amoral, are not portrayed as unsympathetic, however; and their strength lies not in numbers at all ([[spoiler:although there's a threat of them reproducing when they lay literally hundreds of eggs]]), but in the [=MUTOs'=] massive size and EMP capabilities. Indeed, the military proves pretty much helpless when facing the [=MUTOs=] directly and can only try to remove the other threat to the city from under the creatures' noses and hope that Godzilla will deal with the threat.

[[folder:[=MUTO=] (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism)]]

!!!'''Appear In:''' ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' | ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' (tie-in comic) | ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''

The [=MUTOs=] are parasitic creatures that remained dormant within the fossilized corpse of a Titanus Gojira buried within the earth's crust until being accidentally awakened in 1999. There are two of them: a terrestrial female [=MUTO=], and a smaller, winged male [=MUTO=]. They feed off of nuclear radiation and upon reaching full maturity in 2014, they intend to unite and build a nest to rebuild their species. The organization [[CovertGroup Monarch]] is responsible for their discovery and has been studying the two creatures.

* TheCameo: In [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the sequel]], the female's head is being held at Castle Bravo, Monarch's Godzilla monitoring station. A very much alive grey female with more exaggerated head crests (somewhere between the black female and the [=MUTO=] Prime) is one of the Titans awoken by Ghidorah [[spoiler:and later bows to Godzilla once he is recognized as the Alpha Titan.]]

* CrownOfHorns: The Queen [=MUTO=] that appeared near the end of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' has a similar appearance to her female kin, but her form is more distinct by having multiple spiky crests sprouting out of her back just like [=MUTO=] Prime. Michael Dougherty stated that her crowned protrusions emphasize the "royal status" of her species.

* GoodLipsEvilJaws: In contrast to their natural enemy Godzilla's expressive lipped mouth, the [=MUTOs=] have beaked, lipless mouths which occasionally drool and contain sharp teeth, and they're decidedly the real threat to humanity in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. Averted with the Queen [=MUTO=] in ''King of the Monsters'' once she [[spoiler:submits to Godzilla as the reigning Alpha Titan after Ghidorah's death]].

* ReusedCharacterDesign: Visually downplayed for the [=MUTO=] Queen. While she looks and sounds identical to the female, the queen has a darker gray color scheme and has rows of spikes on her backside.

* TokenHeroicOrc: [[spoiler:While the last 2 [=MUTOs=] (as well as [=MUTO=] Prime) opposed Godzilla because of their predatory rivalry with his kind, the new (female) [=MUTO=] showed no aggression towards him and bowed, along with the other Titans as an act of acceptance to her new dominant ruler. Similarly, the fact this female even still exists and was woken by hibernation implies Godzilla never saw reason to attack her.]]

* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:A mature female slightly larger than the ones in the 2014 film, submits to Ghidorah, and later Godzilla, as her Alpha.]]

[[folder:[=MUTO=] Prime/Jinshin-Mushi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mutoprime001.jpg]]
!!!'''Appears In''': ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' (tie-in comic)

The monster that serves as the antagonist of the ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' graphic novel prequel to ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''. Known in myth as the "Earthquake Beetle" or "Dragon Beetle", it is the "queen" of all [=MUTOs=], attacking Titans and laying eggs in their bodies, which emerge as a smaller subspecies that in turn will reproduce on their own.

* ManBitesMan: They both use their jaws occasionally in their fight with Godzilla. The female, in particular, managed to severely wound him once and toss him to the ground by biting him.

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoilers: Right when Godzilla used his tail to kill the male [=MUTO=], one shot displays parts of his front legs falling off, which is likely because of the smaller spikes on Godzilla's tail.]]

* AntiVillain: Not exactly apparent until near the end of the film. Their goal is merely to reunite with one another, have offspring, and ensue the resurgence of their species. Even with the amount of destruction they cause, they are at least sympathetic in this regard. In addition, they usually only cause destruction solely because they're so large and through the movie, they act like actual animals.

* BattleCouple: In a sense, as they are a mated pair and manage to put up a real fight against Godzilla. One-on-one, they are severely outmatched, although the male one had the advantage of being able to fly. According to the creator commentary, this was an integral part of their design process when making them.

* BizarreAlienLimbs: They have a total of eight limbs. In the male, he has one pair of front legs, one pair of wings, a pair of smaller arms on his abdominal region, and a pair of digitigrade hind legs. The female [=MUTO=] has a similar arrangement, though instead of wings she has a second pair of forelegs.

* BugWar: PlayedWith. The military's efforts to contain them and the HALO team's part in the FinalBattle notably have shades of this due to the [=MUTOs'=] giant-insectoid appearance. The [=MUTOs=], although very alien-looking and amoral, are not portrayed as unsympathetic, however; and their strength lies not in numbers at all ([[spoiler:although there's a threat of them reproducing when they lay literally hundreds of eggs]]), but in the [=MUTOs'=] massive size and EMP capabilities. Indeed, the military prove pretty much helpless when facing the [=MUTOs=] directly and can only try to remove the other threat to the city from under the creatures' noses and hope that Godzilla will deal with the threat.

* CrownOfHorns: The Queen [=MUTO=] that appeared near the end of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' has a similar appearance to her female kin, but her form is more distinct by having multiple spiky crests sprouting out of her back just like [=MUTO=] Prime. Michael Dougherty stated that her crowned protrusions emphasize her as the "royal status" of her species.

* {{EMP}}: They can emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as an indirect sign that they are nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, as evidenced by the scene where a bunch of fighter jets sent to take one out suddenly shut down and crash into San Francisco Bay.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the movie as the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Of note, at first, it seems they use this accidentally (as it seems more them trying to use the shockwave that accompanies them setting it off), but by the time of the San Francisco, the male [=MUTO=] has seemed to learn to use it offensively. According to the novelization, the actual purpose of the EMP is to disrupt Godzilla's ability to use his atomic breath, which makes sense given that the two species are natural enemies.

* FunWithAcronyms: Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms. Once it's discovered there's more than one, it's turned into a name for their species.

* NonMaliciousMonster: They aren't really evil, most of the destruction they cause is just due to them being so large, and through the movie, they act like real animals. There are even sympathetic moments with them, such as the loving moment the couple has sharing a nuke, and the mother crying at the destruction of her nest.

* XenomorphXerox: They're a more insectoid Kaiju take on the concept. Sleek, black arthropoid creatures from prehistoric times, the first glimpse we get of them is of two eggs that had been gestating in the ribcage of a long-dead Godzilla to absorb radiation (we later find out that they can absorb radiation from any source, but the gut of another radioactive monster happened to be a good one). They're also {{Explosive Breeder}}s, and the second half of the movie involves [[BugWar the military]] helping Godzilla to destroy them and their massive nest to keep them from overwhelming human civilization.

* GlassCannon: Thanks to his pair of wings, Hokmuto is able to be swift, elusive, and insanely difficult for Godzilla to intercept. While he may not be as powerful as his larger mate, he's surprisingly able to draw a fresh splash of blood from Godzilla's durable scales. Although, whenever Godzilla actually attacks him, he's highly prone to distancing himself away from the alpha predator to escape from any physical contact to stay clear, unlike the female who can tank many blows from Godzilla's strength due to being almost as large as he is as well as being too tough to be injured. [[spoiler:The moment when Godzilla brings him down with a brutal and well-timed TailSlap, the poor male couldn't withstand the impact from the blow, was heavily impaled into the beam, and perished.]]

* GlassCannon: Thanks to his pair of wings, Hokmuto is able to be swift, elusive, and insanely difficult for Godzilla to intercept. While he may not be as powerful as his larger mate, he's surprisingly able to draw a fresh splash of blood from Godzilla's durable scales. Although, whenever Godzilla actually attacks him, he's highly prone to distancing himself away from the alpha predator to escape from any physical contact to stay clear, unlike the female who can tank many blows from Godzilla's strength due to being almost as large as he is as well as being too tough to be injured. [[spoiler:The moment when Godzilla brings him down with a brutal and well-timed TailSlap, the poor male couldn't withstand the impact from the blow, was heavily impaled into the beam, and perished]]

* GlassCannon: Thanks to his pair of wings, Hokmuto is able to be swift, elusive, and insanely difficult for Godzilla to intercept. While he may not be as powerful as his larger mate, he's surprisingly able to draw a fresh splash of blood from Godzilla's durable scales. Although, whenever Godzilla actually attacks him, he's highly prone to distancing himself away from the alpha predator to escape from any physical contact to stay clear, unlike the female who can tank many blows from Godzilla's strength due to being almost as large as he is as well as being too tough to be injured. [[spoiler:The moment when Godzilla brings him down with a brutal TailSlap, the poor male couldn't withstand the impact from the blow, was heavily impaled into the beam, and perished]]

* GlassCannon: Thanks to his pair of wings, Hokmuto is able to be swift, elusive, and insanely difficult for Godzilla to intercept. While he may not be as powerful as his larger mate, he's surprisingly able to draw a fresh splash of blood from Godzilla's durable scales. Although, whenever Godzilla actually attacks him, he's highly prone to distancing himself away from the alpha predator to escape from any physical contact to stay clear unlike the female who can tank many blows from Godzilla's strength due to being almost as large as he is as well as being too tough to be injured. [[spoiler: The moment when Godzilla brings him down with a brutal TailSlap, the poor male couldn't withstand the impact from the blow, was heavily impaled into the beam, and perished]]

* LastOfItsKind: {{Subverted}}. The [=MUTO=] pair in the 2014 film are described as the last of a species that lived when the Earth's surface was still being heavily bombarded by radiation, but the [=MUTO=] Prime in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' and the Queen [=MUTO=] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' have since emerged. The latter is currently the only known living specimen of the species.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler:Godzilla kills the [=MUTO=] Prime some time after he killed both of its offspring.]]

* RadiationImmuneMutants: Technically {{averted}}. They are immune to radiation (and feed on it!) but they are actually natural creatures, originally from a time when radiation levels on earth were much higher. I.e. They're not "mutants".

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Killed Dagon and at least one other member of Godzilla's species in the past]].

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler:Both of its offspring were killed by Godzilla before the latter killed it as well.]]

* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:Godzilla eventually kills it by brutally stomping its head in]].

!![=MUTO=] (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/male_and_female_mutos_9.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[=MUTO=]: Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. It is, however, no longer terrestrial; it is airborne."'']]

!!Tropes:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:[=MUTO=] (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism)]]

* LastOfItsKind: {{Subverted}}. The [=MUTO=] pair in the 2014 film are described as the last of a species that lived when the Earth's surface was still being heavily bombarded by radiation, but Jinshin-Mushi in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' and the Queen [=MUTO=] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' have since emerged. The latter is currently the only known living specimen of the species.

* DeathFromAbove: The male [=MUTO=] employs a hit and run strategy using its wings, and dive-bombs [[spoiler:the boat carrying the nuclear bomb the military intended to use to kill him, the female, and Godzilla.]]

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Their deaths in the 2014 film's novelization are somewhat different from in the film. Godzilla cripples the male by ripping off part of his wing with his jaws, then he crushes the disoriented male to death specifically by ramming it into a building with his full body. When killing the female, he first disorients her by blasting her point-blank with his Atomic Breath, then decapitates her with but a swipe of his claws (you can probably see why the film does it differently since you'd have to wonder why Godzilla didn't inflict the novel's killing blow on the female sooner).

* ElementalPunch: One of the [=MUTOs=] has an ability where it is seen storing glowing energy in its segmented forearm and slamming it into the ground to produce a burst of energy.

* FragileSpeedster: The male [=MUTO=], thanks to flight and its relatively small size, can employ HitAndRunTactics with Godzilla but goes down instantly when Godzilla manages to get a direct hit in. This complements the [=MUTOs=]' separate fighting styles, allowing the two to work together well enough to gain the advantage against Godzilla: While the male distracts Godzilla, it allows the much bigger and stronger female to attack Godzilla from behind. When Godzilla reacts to this and begins to overpower the female, the male flies around and attacks Godzilla again from behind, distracting him and repeating the cycle.

* GasLeakCoverup: The Janjira incident was caused [[spoiler:by the male [=MUTO=] burrowing into the plant's core and feeding off the radiation until it grew to maturity. The surrounding area wasn't evacuated due to radiation but to hide the existence of the [=MUTO=]'s cocoon]].

* GoodLipsEvilJaws: In contrast to their natural enemy Godzilla's expressive lipped mouth, the [=MUTOs=] have beaked, lipless mouths which occasionally drool and contain sharp teeth, and they're decidedly the real threat to humanity in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. Averted with the Queen [=MUTO=] in ''King of the Monsters'' once it [[spoiler:submits to Godzilla as the reigning Alpha Titan after Ghidorah's death]].

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:The male [=MUTO=]'s fate. Godzilla hits the male [=MUTO=] with a TailSlap, smashing it into a building and impaling it on the structure.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The male [=MUTO=], by feeding on the nuclear radiation sources it plunders as soon as it gets its claws on them (the Janjira power plant's core, the stolen Akula submarine's nuclear arsenal), actually saves many humans in the vicinity from having to worry about radiation poisoning and contamination among the many other problems the [=MUTOs=] cause them. This is explicitly pointed out in the novelization.

* NotQuiteDead: Twice. The female [=MUTO=] was discovered dormant and thought to be dead after being dissected by the military, and the male [=MUTO=] was electrocuted after Dr. Serizawa deemed its EMP-pulses making it too dangerous to be kept alive. However, neither of them is dead at either time.

* ProportionatelyPonderousParasites: Their life cycle apparently involves multiple larvae infesting a Titanus Gojira and pupating inside its body, similar to a Tarantula Hawk and related kinds of wasp. This gives them and Godzilla a pretty good justification for fighting beyond the fact that beating each other senseless while knocking over skyscrapers is just what kaijus do.

* StealthyColossus: Particularly egregious in at least two instances, once when eating the submarine and once when it left a ''hole in the side of a mountain and was marching on Vegas in broad daylight'' and no one noticed until looking from the inside of the mountain.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Relatively speaking. The male [=MUTO=] is perhaps 25% the size of the female it mates with. A case of ShownTheirWork, given that many arthropods, arachnids, and insects display [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_dimorphism#Species_with_larger_females_than_males sexual dimorphism in favor of the female]] (read: the female of the species is normally larger than the male.)

* WormSign: The male [=MUTO=] leaves a large trail of destroyed earth that clearly indicates its path from the cavern that held its egg to the sea after it escapes.

* AdaptationalJerkass: {{Downplayed}} with the male MUTO, but in the film's {{novelization}}, he doesn't follow the female at all when they notice [[spoiler:their nest blowing up]].

* AntiVillain: Not really apparent until near the end of the film. Their goal is merely to reunite with one another, have offspring, and ensue the resurgence of their species. Even with the amount of destruction they cause, they are at least sympathetic in this regard. In addition, they usually only cause destruction solely because they're so large and through the movie, they act like actual animals.

* ArtifactTitle: As the giant monsters are referred to as "Titans" as of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', the term MUTO seems to no longer be a catch-all for all monsters in general, and now seems to be specific to this particular species.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' reveals it's likely that the species' reproductive cycle and HostileTerraforming has previously caused [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs at least two of the planet's recorded past extinction events]] and that the species also caused the Greek Dark Ages.

* BizarreAlienLimbs: They have a total of eight limbs. In the male, he has one pair of front legs, one pair of wings, a pair of smaller arms on his abdominal region, and a pair of digitigrade hind legs. The female MUTO has a similar arrangement, though instead of wings she has a second pair of forelegs.

* CombatPragmatist: They're not averse to double-teaming Godzilla or biting him and latching on.
* ConceiveAndKill: {{Discussed}} in ''Godzilla: Aftershock''. Emma Russell postulates that if the [=MUTOs=] had been victorious, the female would've eventually killed the male, like a mating praying mantis, although she seems doubtful after confirming the MUTO Prime's relation to the creatures.
* CrownOfHorns: The Queen [=MUTO=] that appeared near the end of ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' has a similar appearance to her female kin, but her form is more distinct by having multiple spiky crests sprouting out of her back just like [=MUTO=] Prime. Michael Dougherty stated that her crowned protrusions emphasize her as the "royal status" of her species.

* {{EMP}}: They have the ability to emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as an indirect sign that they are nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, as evidenced by the scene where a bunch of fighter jets sent to take one out suddenly shut down and crash into San Francisco Bay.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the movie as the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Of note, at first, it seems they use this accidentally (as it seems more them trying to use the shockwave that accompanies them setting it off), but by the time of the San Francisco, the male [=MUTO=] has seemed to learn to use it offensively. According to the novelization, the actual purpose of the EMP is to disrupt Godzilla's ability to use his atomic breath, which makes sense given that the two species are natural enemies.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Both the Male and Female [=MUTOs=] are genuinely affectionate and protective towards each other. [[spoiler:Then there's the [[MamaBear mother]]'s [[UnstoppableRage reaction]] to the deaths of all her unborn young.]]

* FragileSpeedster: The male [=MUTO=], thanks to flight and its relatively small size, is able to employ HitAndRunTactics with Godzilla but goes down instantly when Godzilla manages to get a direct hit in. This complements the [=MUTOs=]' separate fighting styles, allowing the two to work together well enough to gain the advantage against Godzilla: While the male distracts Godzilla, it allows the much bigger and stronger female to attack Godzilla from behind. When Godzilla reacts to this and begins to overpower the female, the male flies around and attacks Godzilla again from behind, distracting him and repeating the cycle.

* GoodLipsEvilJaws: In contrast to their natural enemy Godzilla's expressive lipped mouth, the [=MUTOs=] have beaked, lipless mouths which occasionally drool and contain sharp teeth, and they're decidedly the real threat to humanity in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. Averted with the Queen MUTO in ''King of the Monsters'' once it [[spoiler:submits to Godzilla as the reigning Alpha Titan after Ghidorah's death]].
* GroundPunch / ShockwaveStomp: The male MUTO activates his {{EMP}} blasts by slamming his forelimb into the ground, although he at one point lets loose a blast while he's airborne.

* HitAndRunTactics: The male MUTO uses this kind of strategy when fighting Godzilla.
* HookHand: PlayedWith. The male and female both have forelimbs ending in curved, meat hook-like appendanges.

* HostileTerraforming: It's theorized in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' that once the [=MUTOs=] successfully reproduce, they reshape (or straight-up eradicate) entire ecosystems to suit them whilst carving out a niche for themselves. Emma notes that the creatures would cause potentially massive environmental and tectonic upheaval during this process, and there's evidence to suggest that the MUTO species caused at least two of Earth's past mass extinctions whilst doing this.

* LastOfItsKind: {{Subverted}}. The [=MUTO=] pair in the 2014 film are described as the last of a species that lived when the Earth's surface was still being heavily bombarded by radiation, but Jinshin-Mushi in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' and the Queen MUTO in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' have since emerged. The latter is currently the only known living specimen of the species.
* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: {{Inverted}}. The male is an agile GiantFlyer, while the female is larger, land-based, and relatively slower-moving. In fact, this is TruthInTelevision for many insect species that inspired these creatures.

* MetamorphosisMonster: The female [=MUTO=] is stated in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' to be capable of metamorphosing into a [=MUTO=] Prime provided she lives long enough and consumes enough radiation. [[spoiler:The Queen MUTO seen in ''King of the Monsters'' is implied to be an intermediary form.]]
* MightyGlacier: The female, who is terrestrial, is quite slow but is almost as strong as Godzilla himself. This complements the [=MUTO=] separate fighting styles, allowing the two to work together well enough to gain the advantage against Godzilla: While the male was distracting Godzilla, it allowed the much bigger and stronger female to attack Godzilla from behind. When Godzilla reacts to this and begins to overpower the female, the male flies around and attacks Godzilla again from behind, distracting him and repeating the cycle.

* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Averted for the most part, as the two are portrayed as equally dangerous, in different ways. While the female is larger and more powerful, the male can fly and is far more agile, and it takes the two of them working together to challenge Godzilla.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Both [=MUTOs=] possess eight limbs total: the female has four forelegs, two hind legs, and a set of smaller arms, while the male MUTO has two forelegs, two hind legs, a pair of enormous wings, and a set of smaller arms.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The male MUTO, by feeding on the nuclear radiation sources it plunders as soon as it gets its claws on them (the Janjira power plant's core, the stolen Akula submarine's nuclear arsenal), actually saves many humans in the vicinity from having to worry about radiation poisoning and contamination among the many other problems the [=MUTOs=] cause them. This is explicitly pointed out in the novelization.

* NothingIsScarier: We never see what their larval form looks like at all, but the presence of the male MUTO in his larval form is still felt through the giant WormSign his escape from the cavern leading to the sea has left, and of course through the consistent vibrations the Janjira plant detects and the larva's subsequent attack on the plant's reactor.
* NotQuiteDead: Twice. The female [=MUTO=] was discovered dormant and thought to be dead after being dissected by the military, and the male [=MUTO=] was electrocuted after Dr. Serizawa deemed its EMP-pulses making it be too dangerous to be kept alive. However, neither of them is dead at either time.

* ShockAndAwe: To an extent. The [=MUTOs=] are able to emit [=EMPs=] thanks to their absorption of radiation. It doesn't directly harm organic creatures, but the force of their footsteps still creates a powerful shockwave of its own that can send humans flying.

* SlayingMantis: They're somewhat mantis-like prehistoric parasitoids that are a natural enemy of Godzilla's species. They have a pair of large hooked forelimbs which to snag Godzilla's vulnerable gills with, a smaller pair of manipulator arms, and the female is twice the male's size but lacks wings.
* SpaghettiKiss: While performing their mating ritual the male MUTO passes a nuclear warhead to her with his mouth.

* ThatsNoMoon: A FreezeFrameBonus blink-and-you'll-miss-it example, but in one shot before the female MUTO makes her presence known in the train attack scene, you can see a mountain behind Ford and Morales start moving, revealing that it's actually the female MUTO hiding in plain sight.

** In ''Godzilla: Aftershock'', Monarch's research on the [=MUTO=] pair -- their egg chamber, their bio-acoustics -- contributes a long way to their understanding of the [=MUTO=] Prime and gives Emma the idea to use sonic pulses against the latter creature in order to save Godzilla's life.
* WalkingTechbane: They make their presence known with an [=EMP=] field they emit, causing all electronic devices to fail within their radius. In the novelization, it also causes guidance system errors which make it impossible for electronic targeting systems to lock onto them even before being fried.

* WormSign: The male MUTO leaves a large trail of destroyed earth clearly indicating its path from the cavern that held its egg to the sea after it escapes.

* EarthquakesCauseFissures: The tremors caused when it first surfaces in Guam open a gigantic sinkhole from which it afterwards emerges.

* GreaterScopeVillain: It's responsible for implanting the eggs of the MUTO pair, making it indirectly responsible for the events of the entire 2014 film.

* MeaningfulName: Jinshin-Mushi mean "Earthquake Beetle" and most of MUTO Prime's abilities rely on this ability
* MoleMonster: Compared to the MUTO pair, MUTO Prime is shown to mainly travel by digging and burrowing underground, emerging to feed, fight and/or reproduce.
* MultipleChoicePast: Emma Russell is not sure where exactly Jinshin-Mushi fits into the [=MUTO=] life cycle. She theorizes that this is either the form the Female [=MUTO=] matures into after the birth of its offspring, or that the last survivor of the prior generation of [=MUTOs=] morphs into this after turning on each-other until only the strongest is left.
* RedBaron: The Phoenician tablets refer to Jingshin-Mushi as the Abomination and "progeny of the Unclean Thing That Lurks in the Shadows Beyond the Light of Creation". The people of Ancient Japan, who gave it the name Jingshin-Mushi, also called it the Earthquake Beetle or the Dragon Beetle.

* SpikesOfVillainy: Where Hokmuto and Femuto have spiked tips at the top of their legs, MUTO Prime has several spiked crests behind her back to have her stand out from the rest of her kin.

* XenomorphXerox: Apart from the points listed under the [=MUTOs'=] general folder above; it's revealed in ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' that the MUTO Prime will forcibly beat down and subdue a Titan, implant its eggs in them while they're done, then it will retreat and leave the impregnated host alive and seemingly none the wiser until the eggs feeding on their uranium-rich blood eventually kill them. It's also theorized that this creature's origin is it's the next stage of a regular [=MUTO's=] life cycle beyond what we see in the 2014 film. With this trope in mind, one could even argue that Emma Russell ends up filling a Ripley-esque role as the Monarch operative most concerned with aiding Godzilla in defeating the MUTO Prime before it can impregnate him and ultimately cause an extinction event.

The [=MUTOs=] are parasitic creatures that remained dormant within the fossilized corpse of a Titanus Gojira buried within the earth's crust until being accidentally awakened in 1999. There are two of them: a terrestrial female [=MUTO=], and a smaller, winged male [=MUTO=]. They feed off of nuclear radiation and upon regaining strength intend to unite and build a nest to rebuild their species. The organization [[CovertGroup Monarch]] is responsible for their discovery and has been studying the two creatures.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/male_and_female_mutos_9.jpg]]

->''"[=MUTO=]: Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. It is, however, no longer terrestrial; it is airborne."''
-->--'''Admiral William Stenz'''

[[/folder]]