The 1961 movie Mothra from Toho Studios was part of the company’s initiative to expand its universe of giant monsters, which had up to that point introduced Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, and Varan. The director was Ishiro Honda, who made the original Gojira seven years earlier and directed many of Toho’s best-known kaiju films, while the screenplay was by first-timer Shinichi Sekizawa, who went on to write a number of Godzilla movies for Honda and Toho. Mothra took a breather for 14 years after the strenuous events of Destroy All Monsters, before surfacing twice in the second series (the Heisei period) of Godzilla films. The first was 1992’s Godzilla vs. Mothra, part of a deliberate attempt by Toho to revive some of the most popular monsters from the Showa era after the box office failure of 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante. With Mothra one of the most popular kaiju — especially among women — she was a clear candidate for a revival.

That was 15 years ago, and while Mothra — like the other kaiju — has also appeared in books, comics, video games and short-lived animated series, Godzilla: King of the Monsters will mark the big screen return of this popular, dedicated and godlike protector of both humanity and fairies. As one can see from just the trailers, the new Mothra is ethereal, elegant and luminous, reminding us that nature can work in mysterious ways and that every monster is not automatically monstrous. Long live the Queen. Mothra returned for Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), warning humans (through the Shobijin) that their creation of an enormous cyborg called Kiryu (basically a souped-up Mechagodzilla) using genetic material from the original Godzilla is an affront to nature that she cannot tolerate. Mothra dies in battle against Godzilla in this one, but not before producing an egg that hatches two new Mothra larvae into the world who help Kiryu defeat Godzilla. She’s been called the Queen of the Monsters, and she is perhaps the most beautiful and mystical of the classic Toho kaiju. While colleagues like Godzilla and Rodan have been ambivalent about their relationship with humanity over the years — if not outright hostile on a number of occasions — Mothra has almost always seen it as her duty to protect those little creatures running around on the surface of the Earth, even if they often did not accord her the proper respect and understanding. Her defense of the planet and its people continues in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, her first Hollywood movie. Mothra was the first of the kaiju to receive title billing alongside Godzilla, in 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla. She was the first of the major kaiju to share the screen with the king of the monsters, who had previously only fought the relatively lesser monster Anguirus in 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again and the American-created King Kong in 1962’s 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla. She ultimately became second only to Godzilla in terms of total screen appearances, while also becoming the only kaiju of the Toho universe to get her own spin-off series.

Mothra showed up again in 1964’s Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, still one of the most popular and beloved of Toho Studios’ first wave of kaiju movies. Only Mothra is initially determined to stop Ghidorah as he arrives from space and levels city after city, but when she bravely goes it alone against the beast, her courage convinces Godzilla and Rodan — previously foes — to join the battle with her. The film marks the first time that some of Earth’s most fearsome and gigantic monsters would team up to defend the planet against a common enemy, with Mothra acting as a sort of conscience for them.