Mother Longlegs
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FEAR THE FOREST
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„
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— Monarch reconnaissance video about the Mother Longlegs |
The Mother Longlegs (バンブー・スパイダー Banbū Supaidā, lit. "Bamboo Spider") is a giant arachnid superspecies that first appeared in the 2017 Legendary Pictures film Kong: Skull Island. Mother Longlegs have been a regular presence in subsequent Kong-centric Monsterverse media, and appeared in the TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Name
The Mother Longlegs' name comes from "Daddy longlegs," a common nickname for various types of insects and arachnids. The "Mother" part of the name comes from the fact that Mother Longlegs is an all-female species.[4]
The Mother Longlegs' cryptozoological classification is not consistent. Their superspecies profile from the Discover Skull Island website simultaneously dubs them Mater Crura (likely derived from an Anglicized spelling of the Latin word māter meaning "mother," and crura, a form of the Latin word crūs meaning "leg") and Arachnida Acidosasa (derived from arachnida, the name of a class of chelicerate arthropods, and acidosasa, the name of a genus of East Asian bamboo). The creatures' bio provided on the Kong: Skull Island "Monarch Files 2.0" bonus feature instead uses Arachnida Malum (again coming from arachnida, as well as the Latin word malum meaning "evil"), and this is echoed, albeit with the Malum part decapitalized, in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure.
Design
Mother Longlegs are gigantic spider-like creatures that stand around 20 feet tall. They possess incredibly long legs that resemble bamboo stalks, allowing them to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding forests, with their legs posing as plants and their upper bodies held high above the canopy. Mother Longlegs' faces resemble skulls, being a light beige in color with large red eyes. In addition to their eight legs, Mother Longlegs possess two additional limbs located closer to their heads, which are equipped with pincer-like claws. A queen Mother Longlegs appeared in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, significantly larger than the others and possessing a horned crest.[5]
Behavior
Mother Longlegs are carnivorous ambush predators[3] who use their environment to their advantage by being able to blend in with the bamboo forests of Skull Island when staying motionless. Their young live on their backs, subsiding on a diet of small parasites.[6] They are considered one of the most dangerous creatures on the island to humans, and consequently the bamboo forests where they hunt are little-explored.[6] They will seldom leave these forests unless forced out by a larger rival Mother Longlegs, as they are vulnerable to many of the island's other superspecies.[6] However, in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong they raided the Iwi village in broad daylight after Walter R. Riccio blasted an opening in the wall, and attacked the much larger King Kong.
Origins
Monarch's superspecies profile of the Mother Longlegs presents the theoretical possibility that the creatures are a supermutation of the Opiliones order of arachnids.[3] A flashback in the graphic novel Monsterverse Declassified instead shows the Titan Abaddon laying eggs on Skull Island which hatch into Mother Longlegs.
History
- Kong: Skull Island (2017)
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023-2024)
Monsterverse
Kong: Skull Island
While Lt. Col. Preston Packard and his troops were passing through a dense bamboo forest on Skull Island during Monarch's 1973 expedition, one of the soldiers was impaled through his mouth by the leg of a Mother Longlegs. The other soldiers looked up at the canopy and saw the colossal arachnid's body moving across the treetops. They immediately opened fire on the creature, which retaliated by trying to stab the men with her legs and using the tentacle-like structures in her mouth to try and eat Warrant Officer Glen Mills. Captain Earl Cole realized the monsters' legs were vulnerable. The soldiers sliced off the tips, causing her to lose her balance and giving Mills time to cut himself loose. After he fell to the ground, they concentrated fire on her cephalothorax, forcing her to the ground as well. Packard approached the fallen creature and fired several rounds into her head with his pistol until she died.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
"Aftermath"
During Monarch's ill-fated expedition to Skull Island in 1973, a Mother Longlegs chased Bill Randa out of the bamboo forest and to the edge of a small cliff overlooking the ocean. With nowhere to go and the monster approaching quickly, he decided to throw his bag in the water so it could be discovered after his demise. Before the giant spider could kill him, however, the Mantleclaw emerged from the ground and roared at the Mother Longlegs, prompting the two arthropod monsters to fight. The Mother Longlegs jabbed the Mantleclaw in the eye with one of her legs, only to lose the limb to the crab-like monster's claw. The Mother Longlegs retaliated by pushing it off the cliff and fell in after it, while Randa was narrowly able to avoid their clashing and survived.
Abilities
Camouflage
Mother Longlegs are perfectly adapted for camouflage in the dense forests of Skull Island. With their limbs resembling bamboo stalks and their bodies held high above the forest canopy, Mother Longlegs blend in seamlessly with the forest, allowing them to attack unaware prey that passes through their territory.[4]
Legs
The Mother Longlegs' legs are razor-sharp, and can be used as deadly spears. Once a Mother Longlegs uses her legs to immobilize her prey, she will use them to inject paralytic Mother's Milk Venom[6] into her victim's body and start to absorb nutrients from it.[4] They can also draw moisture from soil.[6]
Tendrils
The Mother Longlegs can release muscular tendrils from their underbelly to ensnare immobilized prey and drag them into their open stomach.[3] Any inedible matter on their victims is expelled by reopening the chamber.[6]
Reproduction
Due to being an all-female species, the Mother Longlegs are capable of asexual reproduction.[4] Their offspring are clones of themselves.[6]
Webbing
In Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization, the Mother Longlegs uses webbing instead of tendrils to lift up Warrant Officer Glen Mills. He was unable to escape from it on his own, although Captain Earl Cole cut him out after the Sky Devils shot the monster down.[7]
Weaknesses
Mother Longlegs are not particularly durable, as the Sky Devils were easily able to slice through the legs of the specimen they encountered with machetes. Once she was brought to the ground by gunfire, she was swiftly killed by Packard's pistol. Multiple Mother Longlegs were nowhere near a match for Kong, who easily killed all of them in a relatively short struggle.
Video games
- Evony: The King's Return (2016; added in 2022) - Android, iOS
- Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers (2024) - Android, iOS, and PC
Books
- Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization (2017)
- Kong and Me (2021)
- Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (2021) [mentioned]
Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization
Rather than the Mother Longlegs attacking the Sky Devils unprovoked, Packard accidentally sliced through one of her legs. The monster ensnared Mills with webbing instead of tendrils. He was unable to free himself, with Cole cutting him out of the web after the soldiers toppled and killed the Mother Longlegs. This scene is moved to later in the story, after Hank Marlow's reintroduction and Kong's battle with the Mire Squid.
Kong and Me
A Mother Longlegs blended in with the trees as Kong and Jia explored the forest.
Comics
- Skull Island: The Birth of Kong #4 (2017)
- Kingdom Kong (2021)
- Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted (2024) [taxidermy]
- Monsterverse Declassified (2024) ["Abaddon"]
Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
"Over the Rainbow"
Several Mother Longlegs entered the Iwi village in 1995 after Walter R. Riccio blew open the wall with explosives. The creatures killed several people, including Evgenij Medov, before Kong arrived to save the villagers. Kong easily killed all of the Mother Longlegs and the man responsible for bringing them into the village, then left after meeting Aaron Brooks face-to-face.
Kingdom Kong
In 2021, Monarch sent a team selected to explore the Hollow Earth into the forests of Skull Island to train. Shaken after a close encounter with a Death Jackal and flashing back to her battle against a Titan in 2019, Captain Audrey Burns spotted a Mother Longlegs walking overhead. With the rest of her team oblivious, she froze, then found the strength to open fire on it with her rifle, quickly killing it. As her team praised her, Burns threw up.
Tabletop games
- Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure (2023) [profile]
Gallery
- Main article: Mother Longlegs/Gallery.
Roar
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Videos
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Trivia
- The Mother Longlegs leg that nearly impales Joe Reles (Eugene Cordero) was a practical effect. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts came within "millimeters" of stabbing Cordero in the crotch while demonstrating how he wanted the shot to look.[8]
- The Mother Longlegs may be a reference to the crab-spiders from the cut "Spider Pit" sequence in the original King Kong.
- Along with the Leafwing, Death Jackal, and Skullcrawler, the Mother Longlegs is one of the few monsters originating in Kong-centric Monsterverse media to later appear in Godzilla-centric Monsterverse media.
- The Mother Longlegs was suggested to be a Titan by Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode director and executive producer Matt Shakman,[9] but merely designated as a superspecies in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure and Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus profiles published the same year.[10][11] Its vulnerability to small arms, as shown in Kong: Skull Island, would appear to disqualify it from Titan status, using the criteria in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure.[12]
References
This is a list of references for Mother Longlegs. 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]
Bibliography
- Trent, Sigfried; Bramnik, Michael; Flanagan, Ivis (2023). Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9865552-8-7.
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