Illumination Entertainment may have hidden hints to two classic Nintendo villains in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie trailer. The upcoming Super Mario Movie sequel will take things cosmic, sending the iconic video game plumber on an adventure across the stars to take on a new threat in the pint-sized powerhouse Bowser Jr. The most recent trailer for the film showcased plenty of exciting tidbits, including the introduction of Yoshi.
While Bowser Jr. may be getting all the spotlight in the lead-up to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's release, the movie's most recent batch of footage has some thinking that Wario and Waluigi could also play a role in the upcoming film. During the new "Yoshi First Look" trailer, Mario and friends can be seen doing battle in what seems to be a casino-like environment.
There, they clash with the egg-spouting Birdo, as she makes her Mario Movie debut, but a few eagle-eyed fans are convinced this casino could be the first hint at Nintendo's anti-Mario Bros. making their debut big-screen appearance.
To date, there has been no real precedent for a casino world in the Mario game franchise; however, there are some characters closely associated with gambling and the debauchery that stems from it. Wario and Waluigi are known for their money-loving schemes, so if a pair of casino owners were to exist in the Mushroom Kingdom, it would almost surely be them.
The casino environment also closely resembles the Waluigi-focused Mario Kart DS track Waluigi’s Pinball, with its purple-forward aesthetic, neon lights, and geometric lines of slot machines that echo the course's casino-like feel.
This is on top of the already conspicuous Colosseum environment teased in a recent Mario Galaxy Movie poster, which has some making connections to the Wario Colosseum track from Mario Kart: Double Dash.
Wario and Waluigi have served as foils to the Mario brothers in video game form since the mid-'90s. Wario was first introduced in 1992's Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the game's portly big bad. He became a staple of the Mario franchise, even getting several of his own games developed by Nintendo.
Waluigi came a few years later, created to serve as Luigi's bitter rival in Nintendo's Mario Tennis franchise. The lanky lout has since appeared across the Mario canon, primarily starring in spin-offs of the mainline Mario platformers like Mario Party, Kart, and the various Mario sports titles.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens in theaters on April 1. Once again starring Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black, the upcoming animated sequel will welcome newcomers to the franchise, Brie Larson and Benny Safdie as Princess Rosalina and Bowser Jr., respectively, on a star-faring adventure based on Nintendo's classic Mario video game franchise.
Could Wario & Waluigi Appear in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie?
Just because Wario and Waluigi have not been announced to appear in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie yet does not mean the pair of iconic video game characters will not be in the upcoming sequel.
Thus far, the only villain characters we know of pulling the strings in the new animated adventure are Bowser Jr., the magic-wielding Kamek, and (likely) Bowser. That leaves plenty of room for the despicable duo to make their big-screen debut.
Chris Pratt himself teased that there are more characters in the new movie yet to be announced. In a recent interview with GamesRadar, the Mario voice actor divulged that "there's even a couple more [characters] that are not in the trailer that people should be excited to see:"
"Oh, yes, there are. I'm not allowed to say what they are, but yes, there are some really incredible… Well, I think some of them have been released in the trailer – Rosalina, Bowser Jr. – and then there's even a couple more that are not in the trailer that people should be excited to see."
What is holding Wario and Waluigi from being two of those secret characters Pratt is talking about? They are some of the most in-demand members of the Mario canon still yet to appear in the Mario Movie franchise (read more about the characters we want to see in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie here). If they do not play a pivotal role in the Galaxy Movie, then perhaps they will be the film's post-credits tease, setting up their first proper appearance in a potential third film.
