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| “ | Mushroom Kingdom, here we come! | „ |
| ~ Mario in the first trailer |
| “ | I'm not afraid. I'll do anything for my brother. | „ |
| ~ Mario in the third and final trailer |
| “ | Let's-a-Go. | „ |
| ~ Mario's most famous quote |
Mario is the titular main protagonist of Illumination's 13th feature film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, based on the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, and will return in some capacity of its upcoming 2026 film sequel The Super Mario Bros Movie 2,
He is a plumber from Brooklyn who gets transported to the Mushroom Kingdom, where its ruler Princess Peach helps him rescue his younger twin brother Luigi from Bowser.
He is voiced by Chris Pratt in English, who also portrayed Star-Lord in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Owen Grady in the Jurassic World trilogy and voiced Barley Lightfoot in Onward, Cooper Daniels in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie, and Garfield in The Garfield Movie, and Mamoru Miyano in Japanese, who also voiced Osamu Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs, Ignis Stupeo Scientia in Final Fantasy XV series, Setsuna F. Seiei in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and Ultraman Zero in the Ultra series.
Personality[]
Throughout the film, Mario was shown to be confident and at times hasty. As such, his eagerness to prove himself to Princess Peach results in him getting himself brutally hurt, like when he tries to complete her obstacle course.
His confidence, however, allows him to never give up, no matter how bad the situation is. However, he has moments of weakness. Often being underestimated due to his height and ambitions, Mario tends to feel small at times, but mainly keeps to himself - those who truly seen his vulnerable side are Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, and Donkey Kong. After receiving a brutal beating by Bowser (enraged that Mario ruined his wedding), Mario nearly gave up - it wasn't until he saw the commercial he and Luigi made, that it re-sparked his determination.
Mario is shown to be kindhearted, and polite, as proven when he gave a coin to a random Toad, and greeting everyone around him, despite feeling uncomfortable with their stares.
Mario loves his brother Luigi dearly and tends to be very protective of his younger twin. He will get irritated when people insult or treat him badly such as Spike.
Appearance[]
Mario's physical appearance resembles the video game version of himself, but in a different style of 3D animation. Mario is a short man who wears blue overalls with gold buttons, a long-sleeved red shirt with a collar, a red cap that has "M" on it, and white gloves. He also has a blue eyes, brown hair, and sports a brown mustache.
Biography[]
Background[]
Mario was raised in an Italian-American household with his twin brother Luigi in Brooklyn, New York City. With Luigi being the more timid of the two, Mario would always be standing up for him whenever he got bullied. When they grew up, the two brothers become construction workers under the antagonistic Foreman Spike, but eventually grew tired of his "spikey" behavior and quit to start their own plumbing business, much to the chagrin of Spike, who belittles and bullies them for deciding to strike out on their own, and their father, who doubts that they will find success chasing a dream and would have been better off in stable employment.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie[]
The film begins with Mario and Luigi at Punch-Out Pizzeria, watching the commercial they created for their plumbing business, with Luigi remarking that it was a good expenditure of all his life savings. However, Spike, who's eating in the same restaurant, mocks the brothers for not getting a single call since then. Mario attempts to stand up for Luigi but is harassed by Spike, who remarks that he will always be a joke. Suddenly, Luigi receives a call on his phone asking for the brothers' plumbing services, so they rush off to the job site. Arriving at a lavish house, they eagerly look forward to fixing this simple problem but on the way, Luigi accidentally breaks the bone belonging to the house's aggressive dog Francis, angering him. The two brothers quickly fix the leak but the dog enters the bathroom, out for revenge. Chaos ensues in which most of the bathroom is wrecked, causing the brothers to be sacked by their employers.
Afterwards, Mario and Luigi return home to their family where their father remarks on Mario’s failure and goes as far as to comment on how Mario drags Luigi down with him, causing Mario to storm off, greatly hurt by these words. When Luigi arrives to comfort him, the two see an urgent broadcast on TV, stating that a major water pipe had burst in Brooklyn and that the surrounding area was flooding. Eager to be seen as heroes, Mario and Luigi rush over to the site where they see chaos ensuing. The two plunge down a manhole where Mario discovers the problem: a faulty pressure valve. However, before he can turn it off the pipes exceed their limits and break, sending Mario and Luigi hurtling through a brick wall. Coming to their senses, the duo explore the mysterious sewer complex, with Mario noting that the place seems to have been abandoned for many years. They arrive at the bottom floor where after some investigation, Mario finds that Luigi is missing. Noticing a strange green pipe, he is sucked in by a mysterious force and transported to a place called the Warp Zone.
As he hurtles through the clouds, Mario notices Luigi flying past. He attempts to reunite with his brother, but Luigi is just as quickly swept into a menacing, flaming black pipe while Mario is sucked into a green one. Launched out of the pipe, Mario finds himself in a bizarre forest of giant mushrooms. Toad suddenly emerges from the flora warning him not to touch a particular poisonous mushroom, but quickly calms down when he realizes the mushroom Mario was touching was safe. After Toad introduces himself, Mario tells him of his origins and asks if he could help to find Luigi. Hearing of how Luigi was sucked into a black pipe, Toad informs Mario that his brother had been transported to the Dark Lands, a terrible region ruled by Bowser and that only the ruler of this kingdom, Princess Peach, could help him. The two race through the Mushroom Kingdom to Peach's castle, where Toad distracts the guards at the palace entrance with a meal. However, other guards spot Mario as he explores the castle and give chase. Mid-pursuit, Mario spots Princess Peach and calls out to her but is dogpiled by the guards. Princess Peach is shocked by the presence of another human and commands her guards to stop. Mario explains his plight to Princess Peach and she agrees to help him on the condition that he can prove himself worthy.
Arriving at a floating obstacle course, Princess Peach informs Mario of his trial: to finish the course and capture the flag using power-ups which unfortunately, come in the form of mushrooms which he hates. While he struggles to complete the course initially, Mario steels himself and reattempts the course over and over again, forcing down mushroom after mushroom until finally, he almost completes the course before a robotic Piranha Plant bites him, ending the attempt. While upset that he didn't complete the course, Princess Peach decides to help Mario anyways and consoles him, telling him that she herself took many attempts to complete the course, though she later admits that having grown up in the Mushroom Kingdom, she finished it on her first try and is just trying to make Mario feel better since Mario already knew that she was lying.
Princess Peach reveals that she and her subjects have discovered that Bowser is planning to assault the Mushroom Kingdom and that she plans to take Mario along to seek the alliance of the Kongs, a race of sapient apes whose army is known for its strength. With Toad tagging along for the journey, they venture across many different landscapes. While resting in a field of Fire Flowers, Princess Peach reveals that she's not a native of this world, having arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom as a toddler from a Warp Pipe and being raised as one of the Toads before being crowned their princess. When Mario remarks that Princess Peach could've originated from his world, she simply remarks that there are many galaxies out there so they can't be certain.
After the long journey had ended, Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad arrived at the Kong Kingdom, where they were taken to Cranky Kong. Cranky Kong dismisses the group, so Mario challenges Cranky Kong to a fight, Cranky Kong accepts, but Mario would have to fight his son, Donkey Kong. If they won, Cranky Kong would have to help them.
Mario was then taken to Kong Arena, where he met his opponent, Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong started showboating while the crowd cheered him on. Mario then charged at Donkey Kong, but was slammed to the ground and beaten repeatedly. Mario then grabbed a mushroom from a ? Block, but instead of growing, he shrunk, because he ate a Mini Mushroom. He was then flicked away by Donkey Kong. Mario tried to power up with a Fire Flower, but Donkey Kong blew it out. Mario then was beaten senselessly by Donkey Kong, but refused to give up, and was punched into the air. While in the air, Mario got the Cat Suit, and was able to fight back against Donkey Kong. He then smashed him to the bottom of the arena, and Donkey Kong collapsed, so Mario won.
Princess Peach was impressed by Mario’s victory and how he didn’t give up. Donkey Kong stated that he “let” Mario win. True to his word, Cranky Kong let Princess Peach and Mario use his army in their fight against Bowser. He then let them make their own karts, and Mario and the Kongs all raced on Rainbow Road to the Mushroom Kingdom. But Bowser was aware of their shortcut, and had his army attack them. Mario took out a few troops, but was almost crushed by the Koopa General. Before he was killed, he was saved by Donkey Kong, and then the General's kart blew up. But he survived, and then he went into his blue shell, and destroyed parts Rainbow Road, causing Mario and Donkey Kong to fall into the ocean, while Cranky Kong and the other Kongs were captured.
After falling in, Donkey Kong was knocked unconscious, but Mario saved him. Then, they were eaten by a Maw-Ray. Inside, Mario and Donkey Kong have an argument over how their fathers view them as failures before using a rocket from Donkey Kong's kart to escape the eel. As they make it back to the Mushroom Kingdom, they fight Bowser's troops and make it to his castle, where Mario saves Luigi before he falls into the lava with a Tanooki Suit. Just as Mario reunites with Princess Peach, Bowser calls for a Bomber Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario flies into action and distracts the Bomber Bill by sending it into the Warp Pipe he came from, but this causes him and everyone else to be sent to Brooklyn.
There, Bowser spots Mario and furiously beats him up in a blind, pure rage, blaming him for ruining everything from marrying Princess Peach and7 world domination, claiming he was finally gonna be happy and whacks Mario with his tail, takes cover in the same pizzeria from the beginning of the film, where Bowser then taunts him when he starts to think he’s scared to fight him, but then he gets his attention towards Princess Peach and Donkey Kong as they come to Mario’s rescue, violently punching him in the face as Bowser is too strong, even for Donkey Kong and the team. As Mario looks bruised and weakened thinking Bowser is right, about to accept being defeated. But upon seeing his commercial and the line "Save Brooklyn" is played repeatedly, Mario drops his fear, gets back up and stops Bowser from killing Donkey Kong, standing up to Bowser and proving him wrong, much to Bowser's anger, who tells him that he doesn't know when to quit. After Princess Peach knocks the Super Star away and tells Mario to use it, Bowser attempts to incinerate him, but Luigi saves him by using a sewer grate to block the flame. The two of them then grab the Super Star together, which makes them invincible, after which they proceed to easily defeat the entire Koopa army, then Bowser himself with a rider kick, as they overpower Bowser and violently pummel him until he can’t get back up as they destroy his castle in the process. After this, Princess Peach uses a Mini Mushroom to shrink Bowser and trap him in a bottle as punishment for all his crimes, and the brothers are hailed as heroes by everyone in Brooklyn, including their parents and Spike.
Later on, the brothers are shown to have moved into a house in the Mushroom Kingdom where they now work as plumbers. They then head down the pipe to see there family.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Normal Form: Without the use of any Power-Ups, Mario possesses the physical attributes and capabilities of the average human, apart from his athletic skills and inhuman durability.
- Peak Human Athleticism: Mario is shown numerous times throughout the film to be very athletic, showing feats of agility and mobility comparable to that of a very skilled athlete.
- Superhuman Durability: Despite being a human, Mario is abnormally durable, as he is seen being able to take devastating hits from the likes of both Donkey Kong and Bowser that would've normally severely injured or even killed a normal human.
- Adaptability/Observation: Despite being new to the power ups, Mario is able to use them well, thanks to Peach's training. When he first uses the cat suit and tanooki leaf, he wasn't sure what to make of it. Once he understood the movements, Mario was able to adapt easily with the power ups.
- Super Mushroom: By eating a Super Mushroom, Mario's strength and durability are increased to higher levels than before, not to mention his size increases upon consumption. Though unfortunately it takes only one hit to loose this Power-Up, a flaw shared by every other Power-Up minus the Super Star.
- Superhuman Strength: With the Super Mushrooms power, Mario's strength is increased greatly, allowing him to punch through brick blocks with ease and perform much higher jumps than before, being able to stomp on enemies with greater force afterwards.
- Ground Pound: With his increased strength, he can perform a Ground Pound attack strong enough to smash through brick blocks and even knock over a small group of enemies if he initiates the attack from high up in the air.
- Super Bell: By touching a Super Bell, Mario dons a yellow and white catsuit. With this Power-Up, Mario gains cat-like reflexes as well as sharp claws as seen in his fight against Donkey Kong.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Mario is granted much faster reflexes with the power of the Super Bell, which gave him the edge he needed when he battled Donkey Kong, being able to dodge his attacks and quickly maneuver around the arena with ease.
- Retractable Claws: Along with heightened reflexes, Mario possessed sharp claws he could retract that allowed him to cling onto surfaces and attack Donkey Kong with scratch attacks.
- Pounce Attack: Mario could perform pounce attacks which he used against Donkey Kong during their fight, taking him out with a pounce attack powerful enough to break a chunk of a metal girder off.
- Super Leaf: By touching a Super Leaf, Mario dons the Tanooki Suit, which grants him high-speed flight and the ability to attack enemies with his tail.
- Flight: With the Tanooki Suit, Mario can achieve flight at high speeds by spinning his tail very fast, which he used to outrun, or rather, outfly the angered Bomber Bill giving chase to him.
- Tail Spin Attack: Mario could use the Tanooki Suit's tail to attack his enemies by spinning and smacking them with it. He used this attack against the Bomber Bill to stop it from destroying the Mushroom Kingdom by hitting it in its eye.
- Super Star: When Mario obtained the Super Stars power along with Luigi, his physical capabilities were not only drastically increased, but he became completely invulnerable to any and all attacks.
- Invincibility: With the Super Stars power, Mario became completely impervious to any attacks thrown his way, as seen when he shattered a Sledge Bros' Hammer by simply running into it at high speeds, and also seen when he and Luigi withstood Bowsers attacks without even flinching.
- Superhuman Strength: Mario's strength was increased to far greater levels than before, easily surpassing the strength enhancing properties of the Super Mushroom by a large margin as seen when he and Luigi sent Bowser flying with a single punch from both brothers and then also seen when he hurled a Sledge Bro into a horde of enemies effortlessly. Mario is even capable of performing a kind of super jump using his extreme strength.
- Superhuman Speed: His speed has also been drastically increased to much higher levels, being able to easily ram through and shatter the metal head of a Sledge Bros' Hammer as mentioned above, and even plow through Bowsers army effortlessly along with Luigi.
Trivia[]
- Similar to the TV cartoon and live-action versions of his video game counterpart, Mario isn't voiced by Charles Martinet. Instead, he was voiced by Chris Pratt in an imitation of the late Lou Albano's voice from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
- According to some websites online, Chris Pratt was getting some negative comments of his role as Mario (including criticism about his lack of effort in the Italian language accent from other celebrities). Despite this, Charles Martinet was given minor roles such as Mario's dad and Giuseppe, who shares the same voice as Mario in the games.
- That being said, the reception to Pratt's impression warmed up overtime as people got to hear more of it, with many netizens remarking on how his impression began to take on different accents, albeit slowly.
- According to some websites online, Chris Pratt was getting some negative comments of his role as Mario (including criticism about his lack of effort in the Italian language accent from other celebrities). Despite this, Charles Martinet was given minor roles such as Mario's dad and Giuseppe, who shares the same voice as Mario in the games.
- A running gag throughout the first film consists of Mario having a distaste for mushrooms. This is ironic, considering that mushrooms are the most frequent power-ups/items that he uses in the games.
- Funnily enough, Mushrooms are the only power-up that have to be eaten to gain the power as opposed to other power-ups, such as Fire Flowers and Tanooki Leaves, where simply touching them grants the user its abilities.
- Mario states that the reason why he and Luigi wear white gloves despite plumbing is because it's dirty work. His uncle, Tony, makes fun of him for it because he thinks that it's a trademark, and that it'll help them stand out.
- The construction site that he parkours through at the beginning of the first movie bears a resemblance to World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros from 1985, which is the very first official Mario game in the series.
- According the film's producers, Mario's grandfather was a boxer at one point.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, both in which Chris Pratt starred in, came out in 2023.
- The movie has two unused scenes that involved Mario. One was an extended version of the campfire scene in which Mario would have suggested Princess Peach visit his world sometime. The second one was an alternate take of after Mario and Luigi in the sewers, with Mario being more dejected about fixing Brooklyn's sewer leak than determined.
- Unlike in the games where Mario knew Bowser since they were babies, In the movie Mario and Bowser don't meet till they are adults.
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 Heroes
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Live-Action Television See Also | ||
 Heroes
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Animated Features Live-Action Features See Also | ||
 Heroes
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Mushroom Kingdom Yoshi's Island Gadd Science, Inc. Comet Observatory Other Kingdoms Kong Family Animal Buddies Diamond City Citizens Baby versions Rabbids Other Movies See Also | ||