Do you like surprises? Well, too bad, baby, because the marketing team for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t care about letting people discover anything on their own and has spoiled, via a new poster, a big ol’ cameo from a non-Mario character. Y’all ready to do a barrel roll?
On March 26, as shared by the official social media account for the impending movie, Nintendo and Universal released a new character poster featuring Fox McCloud, the ace pilot and hero from the Star Fox franchise. The reaction to the new poster has mostly been a mix of people going “This is weird!” and “Why did Universal spoil this cameo before the movie hit theaters?” Here’s the new poster:
Let’s rock and roll! Fox McCloud joins The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, only in theaters April 1. Get tickets now. pic.twitter.com/13pRQ2yEah
— The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (@supermariomovie) March 26, 2026
While this news might be surprising for some, for others, this just confirms a theory that’s been out there for a bit. Fans who have been closely watching every teaser and trailer released for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel noticed someone who looked like Fox McCloud in a small video ad from last month. For just a few frames, you can spot someone in a green shirt with a white vest carrying a blaster. When fans spotted Pikmin creatures in another teaser released in March, this seemed to be more evidence that Nintendo was willing to let other, non-Mario characters show up in this movie. Today’s poster just confirms what many had theorized about Star Fox’s ace pilot.
Smash Bros. Assemble
So why is Mr. Star Fox even in this movie? My guess is that Nintendo and Universal have plans to one day do a full-on Smash Bros. film that will be sort of an Avengers-like experience.
Sticking Fox in this movie (and maybe some other non-Mario characters) helps lay the groundwork for that, especially as it seems very unlikely that we’ll ever get a Star Fox movie in the future. Instead, shove him in the space-themed Mario sequel, see if he pops with the audience and kids, and if he does, he can return in a sequel or spin-offs and help you build up a larger Nintendo Cinematic Universe. Is that exciting? Not to me, as it just seems like yet another example of pop culture slowly devouring itself as we move toward a grey goo universe where everything is in everything, and nothing is unique. But hey, he’ll probably do a barrel roll joke. So that’s…something.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters on April 1. I hope it’s better than the last one!
