Animals swiftly react to environmental stimuli, with the involvement of the superior colliculus (SC). While the SC is playing a pivotal role in coordinating innate behaviors such as coordinating orientation and defense responses, its involvement in the somatosensory system remains relatively unexplored. Our recent research has unveiled the connectivity between mouse whisker-circuits and the SC, including pathways from the motor cortex (MC), barrel field of S1 (BC), and brainstem (Bs). Mapping the whisker-sensitive region of the SC in mice revealed a novel trans-collicular connectivity motif, with neurons from motor and somatosensory cortices converging onto SC output pathways with only one synapse in the SC. A significant proportion of cortically targeted neurons in the whisker SC are GABAergic, including a previously unknown population targeting thalamic nuclei and the zona incerta.Investigating the influence of top-down cortical pathways on SC-mediated behaviors revealed that MC inputs modulate defense behavior. Moreover, we provide evidence that the recruitment of GABAergic neurons in the SC by MC inputs suppresses defense behavior. These findings elucidate specific neural populations in the SC controlled by MC layer 5 inputs, providing insights into top-down modulation of innate defense behaviors.