The nostalgic storyline of the animated Super Mario Bros. films has been somewhat bizarre until now. The 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie, while certainly based on the 1985 NES game Super Mario Bros., featured characters and music modeled after their GameCube-era counterparts, circa 2001. The film also incorporated elements from the entire Mario video game series, borrowing elements and villains from Mario's extensive history.
For an old-school Nintendo fan like me, this seems odd. My limited imagination dictated that the first film, Super Mario Bros. The Movie, would only feature elements from the early Mario games. After that, the sequel could jump ahead a bit, including characters from Mario games released between 1991 and 2001. It seems logical to me to follow nostalgia in a straight line. Instead, Mario movies are scattered all over the place. Even the 2026 sequel, Super Mario Galaxy Movie, jumps straight from 1985 to 2007, borrowing its title and storyline from the Nintendo Wii game of the same name.
I admit, nitpicking the chronology is just a way of expressing my disappointment that both films didn't feature Wario, a character who is essentially Mario's evil counterpart. Wario first appeared in the 1992 video game Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, so it would be logical to assume he'd appear in the second Mario film, right? However, we've missed Wario's "rebirth" so far.
But maybe I'll get mine yet. In an interview with Gamespot, Jack Black, who voices Bowser in the animated Super Mario films, said he believes Wario should appear in the virtually guaranteed sequel hinted at by the post-credits scenes of Super Mario Galaxy. Furthermore, Black believes Wario should be voiced by Oberyn Martell himself, Game of Thrones veteran Pedro Pascal.
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Jack Black believes Pedro Pascal should voice Wario in future Super Mario films.
Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell on the street in Game of Thrones - HBO
From the early 1990s until 2023, Charles Martinet voiced both Mario and various versions of Wario in video games. Chris Pratt then controversially took over the role of Mario in the animated Super Mario films.
However, in an interview with Gamespot, Jack Black noted that there's no guarantee that the fire-breathing Bowser will be the main antagonist in the next Super Mario movie, especially given what happens to the character in Super Mario Galaxy (which I won't spoil here). Instead, he suggested that Mario's "evil doppelganger," Wario, would be a more fitting villain for the inevitable third installment of the animated Super Mario franchise. (By the way: in Super Mario video game mythology, Wario isn't actually Mario's brother. They just look like they could be related.)
Quoting Black on this matter:
«"You know, what if there's a more powerful, more evil villain out there? Then I might have to become his werewolf to help Mario and the others protect our universe from some other invisible evil force. Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?" […] Wario. Pedro Pascal - This Wario.
Of course, Pedro Pascal has extensive experience working on major blockbusters: he starred in the series "The Mandalorian" and "Grogu," "Fantastic Four: First Steps," and "Gladiator II." He also has experience voicing animated characters, for example, he voiced the talking fox in the animated film "Wild Robot." Therefore, there's a very real possibility that the actor—currently at the peak of his popularity—could even voice Wario in the future. Stay tuned to /Film for more updates on this topic.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.