So Many Galaxies to Explore

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Big Picture

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie features a compelling and straightforward story with references to games old and new.
• Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad embark on an adventure to defeat the supervillain Bowser and save the Mushroom Kingdom.
• The movie leaves some questions unanswered, such as where Peach really comes from and the potential exploration of different galaxies in future sequels.

We’ve waited a lifetime for this, and now The Super Mario Bros. Movie is finally among us, bringing everything we could ever hope for in a video game adaptation. It’s got references to games old and new, all the power-ups and musical themes, and, this time, it also has a compelling story – one that actually makes sense! – as brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) jump from galaxy to galaxy along with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) in an adventure to defeat supervillain Bowser (Jack Black). The whole thing is delightful and pretty straightforward, but still leaves us with a few questions, right?

What Happens in the End of The Super Mario Bros. Movie?

For context, let’s check back on the story, so beware of spoilers! It all begins as Bowser invades the icy kingdom of the Penguins, where he easily defeats the army led by Penguin King (Khary Payton) and gets his hands on the Super Star, making him the most powerful being in all the galaxies and, in his mind, the ideal candidate to court Princess Peach. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, the Mario brothers are setting up their new plumbing company and struggling with it. When an accident threatens to flood the whole neighborhood, they venture into the sewers and find a mysterious green pipe that sucks them into a nexus between many different galaxies, sending each of them to different ones. When Mario arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom, he’s greeted by Toad, who’d determined to help his new best friend rescue his brother from the Dark Lands.

Toad takes Mario to see Princess Peach, who’s worried about the news of Bowser’s conquest of the Super Star. The King of the Koopas now sets his eyes on the Mushroom Kingdom, thinking he’s the best-suited candidate to court the Princess, wrongly assuming she would want to marry him. When Mario arrives at her castle, first Peach wonders at the fact that he’s human, like her, and then, after training him a little, the duo set out to deal with the Kongs and get their help. She explains to our hero that there are many galaxies around, and that Bowser is a threat to all of them. She also reveals she doesn’t know where she comes from, just that she arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom as a toddler and was taken in by the Toads, who eventually made them their Princess and protector.

The group arrives at Cranky Kong’s (Fred Armisen) palace, who is only willing to offer his army if Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, in combat. The whole sequence is great, as Mario discovers the different types of power-ups, but eventually defeats his opponent and earns the Kongs’ help. They are now bound back to the Mushroom Kingdom to fight Bowser, and make the journey on new and super stylish karts. But they are ambushed by Bowser, who’s livid at the idea of losing Peach to Mario, and sends his minions to pursue the whole group while they ride along Rainbow Road, in an awesome sequence that ends with Mario and Donkey Kong in the belly of a sea monster, Peach and Toad kidnaped by Bowser, and the whole Kong army imprisoned where Luigi and the Penguins are being kept.

While Mario and Donkey Kong are figuring out how to leave the sea monster’s belly, Peach reluctantly agrees to marry Bowser once he threatens to torture Toad. The villain also reveals he’s going to sacrifice everybody who was captured in her honor. She still has a few power-ups up her sleeve, though, and manages to stop the whole ceremony and cease the sacrifice just in time for Mario and Donkey Kong to arrive and rescue everyone. Frustrated, Bowser sends a Bullet Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom, but Mario manages to divert it to the green pipe that led him there in the first place.

The result is a massive explosion that throws everyone back to Brooklyn and blows the portals between all the galaxies wide open. Now everyone’s in danger again, with Koopas threatening to roam around New York and Bullet Bills flying around. Mario is having trouble finding it in himself to keep fighting Bowser, though, but gathers his strength after the ad for his plumbing company with Luigi plays on a television nearby. The Mario brothers then join forces and catch the Super Star themselves, becoming invulnerable. They defeat Bowser, and Peach feeds the villain a power-up that makes him tiny. The movie ends with the Mario brothers going on another adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser imprisoned in a tiny cage and a mysterious egg hatching back in the New York sewers.

So, Where Is Peach From?

One of the biggest mysteries left unanswered is where Peach really comes from. Everyone who’s ever played the games has wondered at one point or another: how come the only human in the Mushroom Kingdom rules the Toads? Well, the answer The Super Mario Bros. Movie gives us may not necessarily apply to the games, but it’s indeed a good one.

Turns out Peach, like Mario, isn’t from the Mushroom Kingdom at all. She explains to Mario that she found herself there by accident when she was still a baby, and was taken in and crowned the Toads’ Princess. Later, when they are riding their karts with the Kongs, she asks him if turtles are evil where he comes from, implying she was young enough not to remember that they are, in fact, super cute and harmless. The answer was left for future sequels, but it’s safe to assume she could be from our – or Mario’s – world.

What Happens With the Portals to the Galaxies Open?

Great question. Lately, Super Mario games have been toying a lot with the idea of different kingdoms, planets, and galaxies coexisting, like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey. In fact, The movie’s version of New York is pretty similar to the latter game’s New Don City, and Peach mentioning the galaxies to Mario implies the theme will be further explored in sequels.

How that will be addressed, though? We can’t know yet, but it will likely have to do with Peach finding out where she really comes from, and our heroes will now have the help of Yoshi and, who knows? They may even travel to an island full of them, as we’ve seen in the sequence depicting their journey to the Kongs. Keep the green pipes unobstructed, though, as that will certainly be another delightful journey!

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix