The Super Mario Bros. Movie Teaser Poster Is Incredibly Revealing

The poster depicts Mario taking in the Mushroom Kingdom. Surrounding him are the many shades of Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) as they bustle through the lively streets of their homeland. Prominent among the visible Toads is someone who seems to be Captain Toad, the titular traveler of the “Captain Toad” spinoff games, complete with his cluttered backpack. It looks like Captain Toad is showing off the place to Mario, with his arms outspread to showcase the kingdom’s grandeur. 

The street is lined with mushroom-capped shops, one of which features an 8-bit sign for “ANTIQUES” which references Mario’s trusty hammer from the old arcade game where Donkey Kong threw barrels at him (the barrel’s there, too, dangling from the wooden post). Beneath the “ANTIQUES” awning is a shelf of the bouncy music note blocks and the world-altering P switches. And, yes, that is a Yoshi egg hiding in the shadow. 

As the eye pans skyward, Mushroom Castle, the ancestral home of Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) is seen, towering above the common folk on a mountain of warp pipes. It’s the spitting image of Peach’s domain in “Super Mario 64.” Even higher, it looks as though a series of floating isles are hovering just out of reach. The isles might be a reference to either “Super Mario Odyssey” or the “Super Mario Galaxy” games, both of which heavily feature tiny worlds for Mario to explore.  

And somehow there’s still more — the Cheep Cheep in the bag, the Fruit Stand, and the waddling Biddy Buds, just to name a few. The only thing this poster leaves us wondering is why Mario’s face is hidden. Did he shave his mustache? Or might he even look like Chris Pratt?