The Super Mario Bros. Movie: [SPOILERS] Absence Is A Bummer But They're Perfect For A Sequel
The following article contains spoilers for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" gets a ton of mileage out of video game lore. Of course, there are classic Nintendo characters, from the Kong family to King Boo. There are also numerous Easter eggs pretty much everywhere you look, like when Mario first arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom, and there's a Toad blowing into a video game cartridge, like how people would do for the N64 when it wouldn't work for some reason. However, at a brisk 90-minute runtime, there are some aspects of Mario that didn't make it into the movie, and perhaps nothing is as disappointing as the exclusion of Wario and Waluigi.
Granted, many characters have yet to make their big-screen animated debut, like Daisy and Bowser Jr. But Wario and Waluigi have an idiosyncratic appeal to them where people were no doubt wondering when they were going to show up, especially seeing how the two have an antagonistic relationship with Spike, their former workmate. He could've easily been Wario, and long-time Mario fans would've lost their minds. But they may still get their chance in the sun yet.
There are naturally many places the movie can go as far as sequels, and the post-credits scene hints that Yoshi will be involved in some capacity. Bowser is still around, albeit tiny and locked in a cage. But a sequel should explore other antagonists and other facets of this realm, and there would be no better villain for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2" than Wario and Waluigi.
They're-a gonna win
Despite similar appearances, Wario and Waluigi actually aren't related to Mario and Luigi at all. Instead, the relation appears to be that Wario is a childhood acquaintance of Mario, and as evidenced in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," the pair were picked on in their youth. Therefore, it's possible Wario could factor into being a childhood bully in some capacity. As for Waluigi, that's where things get ... weird.
Waluigi isn't related to Wario, and he doesn't really have as much of a backstory, usually only coming into the picture for "Mario" sports titles, like "Mario Tennis." He's a blank slate and the perfect foil to do anything the creatives want in a movie sequel. One possible storyline could see Wario and Waluigi feeling cheated that Mario and Luigi are the saviors of Brooklyn and venture to the Mushroom Kingdom to get back at their old chums. They could even be the ones responsible for letting Bowser out of his imprisonment, leading to a team-up while potentially exploring other lands or galaxies.
Making it so that Wario and Waluigi come from Brooklyn would also be an intriguing development by forcing Mario and Luigi to confront their roots. By the end of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," the brothers are living in the Mushroom Kingdom after finally earning the approval of their father. They appear to have finally found contentment in their lives, but their past could come back to haunt them in a big way. Plus, there would be ample opportunities for jokes about how Wario and Waluigi aren't related but still dress as inverses of Mario and Luigi. With decades of games, there's no shortage of inspiration to pull from, but for the sake of the memes, Wario and Waluigi better be involved to scream "Waaaaaah!"