Antra

Antra Subtitle(s) Empress of Entropy Species Giant ant monster Relations Giant ant drones (subjects) Enemies Mothra, Mothra Gemini, Megaguirus, Meganula, humans Designed by Matt Frank, Sophie Campbell First appearance Latest appearance Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #1 Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2 Roar(s)

Antra is a giant ant kaiju who appears in the 2025 IDW Publishing comic Mothra: Queen of the Monsters. She was responsible for the downfall of civilization by killing the Earth's guardian monster, Mothra.

Name

Antra's name was specifically chosen to follow the same naming convention as Mothra, who simply adds the suffixation of "-ra" to "moth"; as such, Antra merely adds "-ra" to "ant". Her name was first revealed in the series press release alongside concept art of the character.

Development

In an interview, Sophie Campbell revealed that preexisting Toho monsters were initially considered for the role of series antagonist, including Battra and King Ghidorah, both of whom served as archenemies of Mothra in previous films. However, the team opted for an original creation instead. Matt Frank stated in an interview with the official Godzilla website that he "tweaked her design during the concept phase to be akin to a suitmation monster, just to give her that little extra dash of true kaiju-ness."

Origins

Antra was created by the Earth to defend the natural balance from the eventual arrival of Megaguirus. But she deviated from her purpose out of fear, killing Mothra and as a result dooming the planet.

History

• Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #1-5 (2025) [mentioned in issue 3]

Mothra: Queen of the Monsters

Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #1

In the past, Antra and her giant ant drones engaged Mothra in a titanic battle. Antra slammed Mothra into the ground, choking her with one of her claws while setting her drones upon the divine moth. The dying Mothra desperately released a scale attack in a last-ditch attempt to repel the abominable ants, though her efforts were in vain as Antra mercilessly finished off the Queen of the Monsters in one fell swoop by driving her mandibles into Mothra's body.

With Earth's protector vanquished, kaiju rampaged freely without opposition as the planet died without Mothra, bringing upon the end of civilization. Fifteen years after the fall of Mothra, the Shobijin met with Mira, a survivor of Antra's original attack, alongside Mira's twin sister, Emi. They revealed that Antra was created by the Earth itself as a protector, but ran amok and defied her mission, dooming the planet as a result. At the direction of the Shobijin, the twins embarked on a quest to reverse the damage caused by Antra by traveling back in time.

Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2

After Emi and Mira successfully located a new Mothra egg in the past, they botched the ritual to bring them back to the present, accidentally causing the duo to return to the site of Mothra and Antra's original battle. However, they inadvertently allowed Megaguirus and her swarm of Meganula to follow them. As Mothra Gemini hatched from the egg, the Meganula proceeded to drain Mothra of her energy before Antra and her own ant drones arrived. Megaguirus rushed to confront Antra, but during the subsequent struggle, Antra grabbed Megaguirus by the tail and slammed her into the ground. Overwhelmed, Megaguirus fled, leaving behind a weakened Mothra left to deal with Antra's wrath. Because of this, Emi and Mira realized that they were responsible for Mothra's original demise and could only watch as Antra inevitably struck the killing blow against Mothra once more.

Enraged by Mothra's death, the newborn Mothra Gemini attempted to fight back, spraying Antra's feet with silk to prevent her from moving. Antra, however, noticed the tiny kaiju and grabbed her in her mandibles which were still drenched in the blood of Earth's original guardian. After Emi and Mira called Mothra Gemini away, the larva spat silk directly into Antra's eye, causing the ant monster to drop her so she could make her escape.

Abilities

Swarm

Similar to Megaguirus, Antra can command a swarm of giant ant drones.

Physical abilities

Antra possesses a large pair of mandibles which she drove into Mothra's body to kill her. She also sports large claws that she used to grab Megaguirus by the tail and slam her to the ground.

Gallery

Concept art

• 

  Antra concept art by Matt Frank

Panel art

• 

  Handrawn panel art by Matt Frank

• 
• 
• 

Mothra: Queen of the Monsters

Issue 1

• 
• 
• 
• 

Issue 2

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Trivia

• Antra is the first enemy kaiju to be created for a Mothra-led project since Dagahra from the 1997 film Rebirth of Mothra 2.
• Like fellow Mothra foe Battra, Antra is a black and red, yellow-eyed, insectoid creation of the Earth itself who strayed from her original mission.
  • The two kaiju were also meant to combat a future threat to the planet: Battra to destroy a meteorite heading towards Earth before he died, and Antra to battle Megaguirus before she went rogue.

References

This is a list of references for Antra. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Comments

Showing 51 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators. Loading comments...