Soon the city will bow to its new master - Killer Moth!'
- ―Killer Moth[src]
Killer Moth is a supervillain and an enemy of the Teen Titans
Character history
Killer Moth first clashed with the Titans as he intended to execute his plan to conquer Jump City with an army of giant mutant moths. His plans were slightly altered, however, as his daughter Kitten, who had just been dumped by her boyfriend Fang, was unwilling to go to her Junior Prom alone and therefore decided to blackmail Robin into accompanying her in order to drive Fang jealous. While attending the ball (with an increasingly jealous Starfire in tow), Robin sent out Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy, who discovered Killer Moth's secret laboratory in the basement of his house and were attacked by him, though eventually he, Kitten and Fang were taken down and the mutant moths rendered harmless.
Killer Moth later somehow escaped from jail and fled to a desolate rocky island. Starfire was later forced to abandon a grossly mutated Silkie on this very island, where he was instantly seized by Killer Moth and turned into a giant monster moth, with which Moth proceeded to attack Jump City. Starfire, unwilling to harm Silkie, attempted to persuade him to return to her, and Killer Moth did the same; the stress over two conflicting loyalties caused Silkie to burst, shedding his adult form, and he was retrieved alive by Starfire and became the Titans' official pet. Killer Moth and Johnny Rancid, who had happened to be on the scene, were taken to jail once more.
Killer Moth and Kitten later joined the Brotherhood of Evil in their plan to eliminate young superheroes all around the world. When the Brain executed his plans, Killer Moth and Kitten, along with a swarm of new mutant moths - all of them similarly enlarged as Silkie had been - ambushed Starfire as she attempted to help Argent. Starfire, however, managed to escape, and when the renmants of the Titans assaulted the Brotherhood's base in Paris, Killer Moth and most of the assembled villains ended up as the Titans' flash-frozen prisoners.
Powers and abilities
Chiefly, Killer Moth is a scientist specialist in biogenetics and bioengineering who is capable of breeding, cloning and mutating insects according to his desires. Perhaps as the result of an experiment performed on himself, he too possesses various moth-related powers, including enhanced strength, wall-clinging abilities, and winged flight. Killer Moth is also a fair hand-to-hand combatant, and occasionally uses a plasma whip as a weapon and control device for his creations.
Character Facts
- Originally, Killer Moth was a D-list supervillain who used a cocoon gun in his crimes, but who later sold his soul to a demon called Neron for greater power. The end result was his current state.
- Killer Moth is the only Batman villain in the series who never actually fought Batman, who also never appeared in the series himself.
- Two of his quotes in Can I Keep Him? parody Darth Vader of Star Wars (specifically The Empire Strikes Back), along with his electronically distorted voice, when he tries to make Silkie join his side, saying "Larva M3-19, I am your father" and "Join me and together we shall ...go on a picnic...of some sort..."
- Appears in LEGO Batman as a playable character.