Bowser (The Super Mario Bros. Movie) (2024)

"This guy's a lunatic; a psycho. He will eat you for breakfast. He won't even notice it probably—'cause you're very, very small."

—Peach talking about Bowser, to Mario

Unlike his video game counterpart, who is a card-carrying villain though still with morality, this version of Bowser is more anger-fueled and impatient. He also seems to be insecure and masks it with intimidation, oppression and aggression. He is an absurdly bad boss who mistreats his armies to dangerous extremes (unlike his video game counterpart, who cares about his armies and supports them even if they fail him), at one point even burning one Koopa to bones for daring to question him if Peach says "No". Gone from Bowser is his genuine affection for Peach in the video games; here, his feelings for her are portrayed in a far pettier light, almost to the point of Gaston's affections for Belle in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast, and he ultimately attempts to kill her when he is rejected by her. He is also a malignant narcissist and is unsympathetic to the lives of others, believing that Peach would enjoy seeing Luigi and Bowser's other prisoners being executed Mortal Kombat-style in a large volcanic fire pit. Bowser's the kind of character who won't give up on his goals easily; no matter how much disgust and contempt Peach has for him or however hard the humiliation he receives, he is determined to make her his wife and queen. His persistence is such that he will go to great lengths and sink so low to ensure he wins.

He hates interruption as well; he is interrupted three times throughout the course of the film (once by Kamek, another by the Koopa General and finally by a Toad guard who demands silence from him during his imprisonment in Peach's castle).

However, his arrogance makes him underestimate his opponent and revealed his cowardly side, once he realizes his life is on the line, he may have to rely on desperate measures to survive.

Biography[]

In the opening scene, Bowser and his Army are shown arriving at the Penguin Kingdom where the Koopas are deployed from the airship before Kamek announces the arrival of Bowser. Storming out of the airship, Bowser demands that they open the gates or be killed. The Penguins do so, only to attempt to fight the Koopas by barraging them with snowballs. However, their size results in the snowballs barely affecting Bowser or his troops. After the king asks if he will give up, Bowser declines and signals Kamek to use his sorcery to move them aside. Bowser then uses his fire breath to destroy the icy kingdom, and Kamek uses his magic to levitate some debris for him to use as a staircase.

Eventually, Bowser activates a Question Mark Block amongst the destroyed castle and reveals the Power Star that he searched for years. Confident that no one will stand a chance against him now, Bowser boasts over his victory. Following this, he and his army celebrate by listening to heavy metal music and partying. After getting their attention, Bowser reveals his plan; to use the Power Star to force Princess Peach into marrying him. This leaves his minions perplexed, as Peach heavily dislikes him for his cruelty. When one Koopa asks what will happen if she declines, an enraged Bowser burns him alive with his fire breath, rendering him as a Dry-Bones, before explaining that if Peach does reject him, he will use said star to destroy the kingdom she rules; The Mushroom Kingdom.

Later on, Bowser can be seen playing his piano while passionately singing about Peach before Kamek interrupts him, much to his fury. He lets him know that the princess has been training a "mustachioed human" to stop him. Paranoid that this person could be a supposed suitor for Peach, Bowser invites Kamek to play the piano with him. Once he asks Kamek if he believes that Peach could be interested in the human, to which he says that he has nothing to worry about, an irritated Bowser slams the piano case down on his fingers, much to the wizard's pain. Bowser then storms off while refusing to let Kamek free himself, commenting that "pain is the best teacher".

A group of Shy Guys would later come to Bowser, bringing him a man in a green shirt with overalls who ended up in the Darklands. As Kamek holds him in place with his magic, they learn that the man's name is Luigi. Noticing his mustache, Bowser realizes the resemblance he has with the other human Kamek told him about. He then proceeds to tell Luigi that he plans to marry Peach and rule the world, before asking about his connection with the other human. When he initially refuses to tell him anything, Bowser starts pulling at his mustache hair as means of torturing him for information. Eventually, Luigi cracks and tells the Koopa that the human is his brother and he goes by the name of Mario. Bowser ends up ripping off a descent chunk of his mustache regardless before ordering the Shy Guys to imprison him, announcing that he plans to kill Luigi simply to spite Mario.

Bowser later can be seen practicing his proposal for Peach with Kamek dressed like the latter when the Koopa General informs him that her and Mario have recruited the Kong army and are on their way to ambush him. However, Bowser is only concerned over the fact that Peach was impressed by him. As means of a countermeasure, he ambushes them first while they were driving on Rainbow Road. The attack results in the Koopa General committing suicide to send Mario and Donkey Kong down into the water below, presumably to their deaths. Meanwhile, the rest of the Kongs such as Cranky Kong are imprisoned and Peach and Toad are forced to retreat back to the Mushroom Kingdom to evacuate the citizens and prepare for Bowser's inevitable arrival.

Bowser and his army soon arrive in Mushroom Kingdom, where he tries to propose to Peach, asking her if she would like to marry him and rule the world as his queen. Peach harshly rejects him, but is forced to change her mind after Kamek starts torturing Toad with his magic by the King's demand. At the wedding, Bowser tries to ritually sacrifice his prisoners by dropping them into lava before Peach reveals that she never intended on marrying him, as she uses an Ice Flower Toad smuggled in to freeze Bowser and take down his army. Shortly after Mario and Donkey Kong arrive and help free the prisoners, the former is able to reunite with Peach and his brother. Seeing this, Bowser (overwhelmed by his sense of jealousy of Mario) flies into a bizarre rage and is able to break his head free of the ice before ordering a Bomber Bill to obliterate the Mushroom Kingdom. Luckily Mario was able to rush out and stop it by sending it into the warp zone.

However following the detonation of said Bomber Bill, the resulting shockwave causes Bowser's castle and everyone in its vicinity to get transported into Brooklyn. Upon recovering, Bowser spots Mario running for the Power Star. Still infuriated over the plumber ruining his plans, Bowser cuts him off and proceeds to ruthlessly pummel him out of rage, ranting about how Peach was his one chance at happiness which he ruined. As Mario attempts to escape, Bowser whacks him with his tail and he flies into a pizzeria, forcing him to take cover. Sensing his fear, Bowser sad*stically belittles him before being attacked by Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong, all of whom he then turns his attention towards but quickly overpowers them, proven to be too strong for Donkey Kong or anyone else on the team. Bowser then attempts to kill Donkey Kong via gutting him with his claws before a battered Mario intervenes, standing up to him while showing no fear, much to the koopa's anger as he complains over how he supposedly never gives up no matter what happens. Mario simply laughs as a response, commenting how he's "been told that before".

Peach then proceeds to use a nearby Koopa shell to knock the Power Star away from Bowser and encourages Mario to use it. Frantic, Bowser attempts to stop the plumber by burning him alive with his fire breath, but Luigi saves him at the last second using a sewer lid to block the flames. Together, the duo makes a dash for the Power Star and it initially seems like they weren't able to touch it before being scorched, much to Bowser's satisfaction. It's immediately revealed afterward that they absorbed the star's power to become invincible, making Bowser shocked as he drops his pathetic smile and with it they punch Bowser a far distance away.

Bowser foolishly refuses to back down despite the circ*mstances and knowledge of the Power Star, he orders his minions to rip them apart. However, Mario and Luigi take down all of his troops before beating Bowser himself, who continuously attempts to resist Mario and Luigi as they violently bash him through the head of his castle, destroying it and finally defeating him. As Bowser is finally too injured to continue fighting he fearfully and pathetically begs Peach to give him a chance, she justifiably refuses and forcibly makes him eat a Mini Mushroom to shrink him into small portions, which allows Toad to put him in a jar and later a bird cage inside of Peach's castle as punishment for his multiple crimes. Meanwhile, Mario jokingly claims that he got her the pet turtle he promised her while back on Rainbow Road, amusing Peach.

In the mid-credits scene, Bowser is singing his song "Peaches" in his cage (while vowing revenge on Mario), but he is be interrupted by a Toad guard who tells him to be silenced and calling him a "little guy" like Bowser did to Mario earlier. He begins ranting only for them to shut the door on him mid-sentence, leaving him in complete darkness, much to his irritation.

Weaknesses[]

• Delusion: Despite his intellect, unlike his video game counterpart he's ultimately very foolish to believe Peach would ever be in love with him no matter how many times she tries to get that through his head and blindly believes Mario purposely tried to win her heart from him (when he clearly had no intention of doing so in the first place) as his only goals at the time were to save Luigi and stop Bowser. In addition, Bowser keeps his focus on Mario while he wasn't the only one trying to stop him as his friends were the main threat to him as well, and when Mario and Luigi became invincible by the Super Star, Bowser refused to admit defeat and kept on the attack, only to be beaten up until he's finally too injured to continue fighting, thus getting defeated in the end.

Behind the scenes[]

Creation and development[]

Shigeru Miyamoto showed the team how to draw Bowser's nose describing that he has a nose of a tiger.^[1]

Real-world influences[]

In pop culture[]

After the first movie trailer released, many Super Mario fans gave a lot of praise to Jack Black's portrayal of Bowser as opposed to Chris Pratt's role.^[2]

Quotes[]

To view Bowser (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)'s quotes click here.

Gallery[]

To view Bowser (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)'s image gallery, click here.

References[]

Trivia[]

• Bowser's eyes glow red whenever he is infuriated.
• The scene in which Mario and Luigi throw Bowser up into the air by grabbing his tail is a reference to his defeat in Super Mario 64, in which Mario grabs Bowser by the tail and throws him onto a bomb before he's launched back into the arena defeated.
  • Him being shrunken when Peach force fed him a blue mushroom is a reference to his defeat in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Him then being imprisoned inside of a jar by Toad is a reference to him being stuck in a jar during the end credits of Super Mario 3D World.
• In a twist of irony, Bowser attempting to kill Mario to get him away from Peach only ended up deepening their bond. Furthermore, Mario doesn't (intentionally) try to woo Peach and she simply likes him for the nice person that he is, while Bowser is very upfront about his obsession with her and she is repulsed by it and his horrific actions.
• His wedding tuxedo is based off the same outfit he wore in Super Mario Odyssey.
  • Funnily enough, Bowser's goal in that game was to marry Peach as well, even though he's had a crush on her since Paper Mario.
• Jack Black, released a live-action performance version of his Bowser's Peaches Song released on the Lyrical Lemonade Youtube Channel
• Bowser's song, "Peaches", has become somewhat of an Internet meme in the Mario fanbase, as him singing peaches sounds like he's saying "b-tches" when heard repeatedly.
• Bowser acts as a foil to the following characters:
  • Mario: Both are motivated by love in their respective goals; For Mario it's rescuing Luigi, whereas for Bowser it's Peach's hand in marriage. Both of them also have feelings for the princess. However, Mario was initially more focused on saving Luigi than he was winning her heart, only growing feelings for her as they got to know each other more. Additionally, he treats Peach as a person and not an object. Meanwhile, Bowser views her as nothing more than a trophy to be possessed and doesn't care about what she wants, as he genuinely thought that Peach would like hundreds of people being ritualistically sacrificed in a pool of burning lava for their wedding despite that obviously not being the case.
  • Peach: Both are rulers of their kingdom and are both (possibly) orphans. While Peach is a kind monarch and wants to protect her subjects, Bowser has no problems abusing his minions and is a cruel tyrant. If Peach had grew up to be cruel to her Toads and became a tyrant, she would've ended up like Bowser.
  • Donkey Kong: Both are large anthropomorphic animals who think so highly of themselves and get involved in conflict with Mario. Both also want the approval of someone else; Peach in Bowser's case, and Cranky Kong in DK's case. While Bowser insists on Peach loving him despite his multiple atrocities which leads to her rejecting him, Donkey Kong recognizes and eventually overcomes his flaws, which wins his father's approval. Additionally, Bowser's conflict with Mario is violently antagonistic, whereas DK's conflict with Mario is more akin to that of friendly teasing.
• Despite being Mario's archenemy, Bowser doesn't directly interact with him until the climax of the film where he tries to kill him in Brooklyn. However, he does spend a majority of the movie being heavily wary of him impressing Peach and hating him for it.
• Bowser is known to have several voice lines removed that were in the TV Spots and trailers, such as him saying, "I'm so stoked right now" and "Let's end this."
  • Additionally in the teaser trailer when he obtains the Super Star, Bowser says "I've finally found it. Now who's gonna stop me?!". In the movie, however, it was changed to "and now no one can stop me!".
• Bowser being a bad boss in this movie is rather ironic as his mainstream counterpart is quite the opposite.
• Bowser's pose in his render is based off his pose in his official artwork for Mario Tennis Aces.
• Finally at the end of the movie, Bowser tries to give Peach one more chance and she refuses who ends up attacking him and shrinking him by feeding him a Mini Mushroom; although he gets trapped in a jar by Toad.
  • In Peach's Castle, a Toad guard tells Bowser to be quiet that is why Peach decided to attack Bowser in the first place by shrinking him with a Mini Mushroom, it is why Bowser tells the guard who he is.
    • Although Bowser is gigantic in the first film, At the end of the film, he is tiny due to Peach feeding him a Mini Mushroom, whilst Donkey Kong will continue to be gigantic.

See also[]

• Bowser