Titanus Muto

The **MUTO**s (Titanus Jinshin-Mushi) (ムートー *Mūtō*?) are giant parasitic daikaiju created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2014 film, *Godzilla*, as the primary antagonists. A third MUTO appears in the sequel *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, as a minor Titan that obeys Ghidorah and later Godzilla.

## Design

The MUTO's bodies are covered in an iridescent, metallic grayish-black exoskeleton. They have orangey-red, narrowly shaped eyes. The shape of their head is reminiscent of Gyaos, and they have triangular jaws resembling a hooked beak.

As a species, the MUTOs are sexually dimorphic, as there are several notable differences between males and females. The female MUTO has two main pairs of forelimbs and a smaller pair on her abdomen, and is much bigger than the male MUTO, standing nearly twice the height of the male and being almost as tall as Godzilla. She also has a pouch-like structure on her lower abdomen, which while gravid visibly contains the glowing eggs. The male MUTO is similar in appearance, except that he is much smaller with a more nimble build, and his front forelimb pair has been naturally repurposed to form his wings, which are long, pointed and membranous, similar to those of a pterosaur. Both males and females possess long, slender, somewhat deer-like hind limbs, with flat, broad feet ending in two hoof-like toes. The forelimbs all end in a pseudo claw form, being curved like a sickle. When walking the MUTOs use the front "knuckle" of their claws, giving it a hook-like appearance.

MUTO 3, referred to as the Queen MUTO, looks slightly different in appearance to MUTO 2, the other female MUTO. This new MUTO has numerous spike-like protrusions running down her back that indicate older age, as well as leg joints that all end in a noticeable point. Unlike her deceased kin, the Queen MUTO's exoskeleton is more of a gray color instead of black. Her body is covered in scars from past battles and mating rituals.

## Personality

As individuals, the MUTOs aren't given much character development. Although they exhibit intelligence like the other Titans, their sole goals revolve around survival, radiation consumption, and reproduction.

The two MUTOs that were awakened in 2014 are usually very indifferent to humans and manmade structures around them, and they almost completely shrugged off blasts and projectiles when the military attempted to engage them, similarly to their rival Godzilla. But compared to Godzilla, who is likely to navigate around larger manmade structures in his way and otherwise avoid causing significant damage if he can, the MUTOs are almost completely indifferent: they will go straight through large manmade obstacles in their way without any apparent notice nor regard for the humans their actions harm or inconvenience - good examples of this include the destruction the male MUTO caused whilst escaping at the Janjira nuclear plant site, the destruction the male carelessly causes in San Francisco before mating, and the female MUTO travelling straight through Las Vegas in a continued straight line (brushing through skyscrapers and other landmarks) instead of navigating around it. However, the male MUTO displayed some curiosity at Honolulu, when lights on a train track reactivating drew its attention, and it bit down on a train passing along the track. The male also appeared to deliberately utilize its EMP blast against a group of fighter jets approaching its position, unlike the female who ignored such attacks at Las Vegas.

When the 2014 MUTOs met up to mate, the male provided the female a nuclear warhead it had promptly seized as a sign of courtship, and they appeared to display affection by pressing their heads together once the female accepted the courtship sign. Afterwards, the male MUTO seemingly acts as a sentry guarding the San Francisco area they've claimed as their nest against Godzilla whilst the female reproduces, although the female immediately afterward didn't hesitate to charge into a fight with Godzilla herself when the latter got past the male to her nest. The male and female MUTOs display teamwork in their fight against Godzilla, particularly when they gain an upper-hand and begin beating him down. The male also appears to display protectiveness of the female based on its attacks against Godzilla, such as dragging Godzilla off of the female. The male takes advantage of its streamlined build and flight, favouring surprise strikes and evasion where possible when engaging Godzilla.

When the MUTOs' nest was destroyed, the female immediately noticed and charged in a panic to the site, displaying strong maternal instinct; whilst the male seemed to only notice when the female reacted, but promptly abandoned its fight with Godzilla to follow her. The female MUTO immediately dug and salvaged through the explosion site for any of her eggs and notably mourned when she found they'd all perished. After her young's death, the female MUTO promptly went berserk with rage, abandoning the fight with Godzilla and charging after the halo team, notably going out of her way to slaughter them with her jaws and arms whilst seemingly focusing on the boat holding the nuclear warhead they'd stolen. Whether the female targeted the team because she'd worked out they'd caused the explosion that destroyed her nest or because she was directing her rage at the first thing she saw after her young's death (Ford Brody had notably caught her attention right after her nest's destruction) is unknown.

Despite the actions and hostility of the 2014 MUTO pair, the Queen MUTO that was awakened in 2019 apparently conforms to the Titans' hierarchy to some extent, and is consequently mutually tolerant of Godzilla upon bowing to him as the new Alpha after he defeats Ghidorah.

## Origins

The MUTOs are ancient parasitic Titans that evolved during the Permian period of Earth's history. The MUTOs reproduced by killing members of the Titanus Gojira species, as well as other species of Titans, and laying their eggs inside their prey's radioactive bodies. Like Godzilla, they feed off of the Earth's natural radiation but can adapt and feed off of man-made radiation, such as warheads and nuclear reactors. In *Godzilla: Aftershock*, Dr. Emma Russell explains that, like all invasive species, the MUTOs have evolved to destroy, dominate, and reshape entire ecosystems to their own needs. Once all the resources have been consumed, she theorizes that the MUTOs would then turn on each other, with only the strongest individuals surviving.

In *Aftershock*, several male MUTOs could be seen terrorizing an ancient human civilization, showing that the Titans were still around by the time of early humans. Geological dating on MUTO egg chambers corresponds with several mass extinctions in Earth's history, heavily implying that the MUTOs were responsible. The graphic novel also introduces the MUTO Prime, a matriarch-like MUTO that specializes in luring out and overpowering members of Godzilla's species before infecting them via tendril-like ovipositors. At some point, the majority of the MUTOs died off, save for two eggs that were injected by a MUTO Prime into the body of Dagon, a member of Godzilla's species, in 1100 BCE. The two eggs fed off of Dagon's nuclear-rich blood, which eventually killed him. Afterwards, the eggs remained alive, intact and dormant inside Dagon's body for the next 3100 years.