Bowser (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)

**NOTE:** This article is about the Illumination counterpart, for the original counterpart, click here.

**King Bowser Koopa**, or simply known as Bowser, is the main antagonist of the 2023 Illumination/Nintendo animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie which based on the Mario franchise.

He, like his original counterpart, is the evil king of the koopas and the ruler of the Koopa Kingdom who plans to take over the world by stealing the Penguins Kingdom's power star as well as planning to kidnap Peach and marry her. He is also Mario's arch-nemesis.

He is voiced by Jack Black while his grunts and roars are provided by Kenny James who also voices his original counterpart.

## The Super Mario Bros. Movie

In the opening scene of the movie, Bowser and his army are shown arriving at the Penguin Kingdom in order to steal their star which is where the Koopas deployed from the airship before Kamek announces the arrival of Bowser. Storming out of his airship, Bowser demands the penguins to open the gates of their castle, or they're get killed, so the Penguins open the gates and started to attack Bowser with snowballs. Bowser is too strong to be defeated by the snowballs, so the Penguins' king asks Bowser if he yield in which Bowser responding that he does not. Bowser then orders Kamek to use his sorcery to move the army out of his way leading to the former to use his fire breath to destroy the icy kingdom, and Kamek uses his magic levitate some ice to allow Bowser to climb downstairs.

Eventually, Bowser activates a Question Mark Block and reveals the Power Star he searched for years in order to take over the world. Confident that no one will stop him (in which he was wrong), Bowser boast his victory. Following this, he and his army celebrate by listening to heavy music and partying. After getting their attention, Bowser reveals one of his plans; kidnap Peach in order to force her 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, Bowser burns him alive with his fire breath, rendering him as a Dry-Brones, before explaining that if Peach does reject him, he will use the power star to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom; the kingdom that Peach rules.

Later, Bowser can be seen playing Ludwig's piano while passionately signing about Peach before Kamek interrupts him, much to his fury. He lets him know that Peach is training Mario (in which he refers him as a "mustachioed human"). Paranoid that Mario could be a suitor for Peach, Bowser invites Kamek to play the piano with him. Once Bowser ask Kamek if he believes that Peach is interested in the human. Kamek says that he has nothing to worry about. Bowser then slams down the piano case down on Kamek's fingers, much to the wizard's pain. Bowser then storms off while refusing to let Kamek free himself given that he needs to find out more about Mario what are both Mario and Peach are planning, commenting that "pain is the best teacher".

As the Shy Guys come to Bowser, they inform him about Luigi ending up in his castle. As Kamek has Luigi taken captive, Bowser tells the latter that he is about to rule the world, explaining that Peach is with someone who resembles him, Luigi refuses to tell him anything, so Bowser started to rip off his mustache to torture him for information about Mario. Eventually, Luigi cracks, and tells Bowser more about Mario but however Bowser still rips off some of Luigi's mustache and orders his guards to imprison him in the dungeon where others, such as Lumalee and the penguins were also kidnapped by Bowser and his minions. As Bowser practices his proposal to Peach to Kamek, who is dressed like Peach, the Koopa General informs him that Mario, Peach and the Kongs are on their way to stop him. This ambush fails, as the Koopa General destroys part of the Rainbow Road leading Mario and Donkey Kong to fall of the road and get eaten by a Maw-Ray after using his blue shell while the other Kongs are captured by Bowser and his minions and Peach and Toad escaping back to the Mushroom Kingdom to tell everyone to evacuate in order to avoid getting captured by Bowser too.

Bowser and his army then go to the Mushroom Kingdom, where tries to propose Peach, asking her if she would like to marry him and take over the world with him. Peach harshly rejects him due to his horrible actions but is forced to change to her mind after Kamek starts torturing Toad with his magic by the king's demand. Because of that, Bowser kidnaps Peach and Toad and takes them to the wedding. At the wedding, Bowser attempts to kill his prisoners by dropping them into the lava as a gift to Peach which shocks the latter and reveals that she never intended on marrying him, as she uses an Ice Flower Toad smuggled in to freeze Bowser himself and take down his army. Peach then attempted to rescue the prisoners although the explosion of King Bomb Omb prevented this. Mario and Donkey Kong then arrives just in time and help the prisoners. After Mario is reunite with Luigi and Peach, Bowser gets enraged and is able break free of the ice before ordering a Banazi Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom. Luckily Mario was able to rush out and stop it by sending it into the warp zone (which is how Mario arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom).

However, following the detonation of the Banazi Bill, the resulting shockwave causes everyone in the kingdom to get transported into Brookyln. Upon recovering, Bowser spots Mario running towards the Power Star. Angered over the plumber ruining his plans, Bowser attempts to defeat Mario by ruthlessly pummel him out of rage, ranting that he is finally going to be happy. As Mario attempts to escape from Bowser, the latter whacks him with his tail and he flies into the Punch-Out pizzeria, forcing him to take cover. Sensing his fear, Bowser sadistically belittles him by making fun of his hiding place before getting attacked by Peach, Toad and Donkey Kong in which the three heroes were turn out to be less strong than Bowser. As Bowser attempts to kill Donkey Kong by using his claws, Mario intervenes standing up to him with no fear which makes Bowser more angry as he complains over how he supposedly never gives up no matter what happens. Mario simply laughs as a response, commenting that 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. Bowser attempts to get the star and stop Mario from using it by burning him alive with his fire breath, but Luigi saves him by using a sewer lid. Together, the duo makes a dash for the Power Star and it initially seems like they were defeated by Bowser. It's immediately revealed afterward that they absorbed the star's power to become more powerful than Bowser and they punch the latter a far distance away.

Bowser, still not being defeated orders his minions to rip Mario and Luigi apart but his minions however were taken down by the two brothers which is way before defeating Bowser himself by throwing him into the air and violently bash him into his airship which also finally defeats him. After that, Bowser tries to beg Peach to give him another chance, but Peach refuses and decides to make Bowser eat a Mini Mushroom to make him small, which allows Toad to put him in a jar as punishment for his multiple crimes.

In the mid-credit scene, Bowser sings his song Peaches again inside a bird cage which is treated like a prison cell, but he is interrupted by a Toad guard who tells him to be quiet and have the lights of the room out as well as even calling him a "little guy" like Bowser did to Mario earlier. Bowser begins ranting about way the Toad guard treats him although the latter ignores him and closes the door.

It's unknown what happened to Bowser after this, but it is likely that Bowser will escape from the bird cage and return to his normal size as well getting revenge on Mario for ruining his plans.

## Personality

Bowser is an extremely and sadistic cruel koopa who cares about no one expect himself. He goes to great measures when it comes to getting what he wants and doesn't hesitate anyone who gets in his way. He also went as far as attempting burn all of his prisoners (one of them, Lumalee, being a child) down in the lava for no legitimate reason other than being a gift to Peach.

A defining trait from Bowser is his extreme infatuation towards Peach. Most of his evil deeds throughout the film stem from him wanting her hand in marriage other than trying to take over the world and of course destroying the Mushroom Kingdom if Peach refuses to marry him. He even sang a song about her called "Peaches". However, this also makes him delusional since he is shown not caring if Peach wants to marry him or not given that he has more desperate measures to make Peach his wife such as having Kamek torturing Toad if Peach does not change her mind. Bowser is also not above hurting Peach if she pushes him far enough, given that he is shown trying to kill Peach along with Donkey Kong and Toad at Brookyln. Despite this, Bowser still loves Peach which shown in the mid-credits scene where he sings his song "Peaches" again which makes it of his few redeeming qualites.

Bowser is also deeply paranoid and insecure, since when Kamek tells him that he has nothing to worry about, he immediately felt threatened by Mario when learning that he is being trained by Peach, feeling that Peach might fall in love with him instead the former. His feeling for Mario gets more worse when he met Luigi given that he threatens to tell the latter all about Mario by ripping off his moustache. Overtime his dislike of Mario evolves into full-on animosity given that Mario stops his plans as well even attempting to kill Mario despite hardly knowing about him.

Unlike his video game counterpart, who also does heinous things, cares about the life of his minions. This version of Bowser is a terrible leader since he doesn't bother remembering some of his minions such as not remembering his Spinies, burns one of the Koopa Troopas after being asked about Peach might not wanting to marry him. The closest thing Bowser gets along with is Kamek given that he was shocked and angry when Peach knocked Kamek out during the wedding reception as well as letting Kamek to play with him for a while (although this is due to wanting more information about Mario). This however doesn't prevent Bowser from abusing Kamek since he slams his fingers inside a piano because he was annoyed by Mario as well even not helping him get off the piano.

## Appearance

Just like his video game counterpart, Bowser is a large, dragon/dinosaur-like Koopa, which is a race of turtle-like beings. He has large apricot lips with sharp teeth, yellow and green scales, lines on his stomach, and sharp claws. He also has his spiked shell, red mane, horns, and blacked spiked cuffs as well having his tail with two spikes which are his recognizable features. While his size has varied over the course of the games, Bowser in the movie stands at twice the height as Mario.

## Trivia

* Jack Black attended the premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie dressed as Bowser.
* Although this is a subtle detail, Bowser's eyes grow red whenever he gets infuriated.
* The scene where Mario and Luigi throws Bowser up into the air by grabbing his tail is a reference to his defeat in Super Mario 64, in which Mario has to grab Bowser by the tail and throw him at onto a spike bomb before he's launch back at the battle area defeated.
	+ Him being shrunken and kept in a jar is a reference to his defeat in Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's also a reference him being stuck in a jar during the end credits of Super Mario 3D World.

* If anyone looks at the piano that Bowser is playing during the time he is singing "Peaches". The piano has the words "Ludwig Von Koopa". This is the name of one of the Koopalings that were first introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3. Additionally, the scene where Bowser sings "Peaches" while playing at the piano is a scene reminiscent of Schroedor playing the piano in the Peanuts franchise.
	+ This also indicates that the piano belongs to Ludwig and the Koopalings do exist in the Illumination Mario universe (even though they are nowhere to be seen in the movie; although it's possible that they might appear if a sequel to the film is actually announced).

* His wedding tuxedo is based off the same outfit he used in Super Mario Odyseey.
	+ Funnily enough, his plan in that game was to marry Peach as well.

* Bowser's song "Peaches", has somewhat become an Internet meme in the Mario fanbase since him singing Peaches sounds like if he is saying "b-tches" when heard repeatedly.
* Bowser (even before the movie's release) received generally positive reception from audiences and fans alike for Jack Black's performance and his hilarious and meme-worthy dialogue, as well as his intimidating demeanor.
* Despite being Mario's archenemy just the like the original counterpart, Bowser doesn't interact with him until the climax of the film where he tries to kill him in Brookyln due to him ruining his plans of attempting to take over the world and marrying Peach. However, he does spend a majority of the movie being heavily wary of him impressing Peach and hating him for it.
* Bowser acts as a foil to three following characters:
	+ Mario: Both are motivated by love in their respective goals; For Mario, its rescuing Luigi whereas for Bowser, its kidnapping Peach and have her get married to him. Both of them also have feelings for the princess. However, Mario was initially more focused on rescuing Luigi rather than trying win Peach's heart, only growing feelings for her as they got to know each other more. Meanwhile, Bowser views her as an object rather a person (despite being in love with her) to be possessed and doesn't care about what she wants, as he thought Peach would like hundreds of people dying in the lava despite that not being the case. If Mario doesn't care about what Peach wants and focused on trying to win Peach's heart rather than trying to rescue his brother Luigi, he would've end up like Bowser.
	+ Peach: Both are rulers of their kingdoms and are both (possibly) orphans. While Peach is a kind monarch and wants to protect her subjects showing that she cares about them. Bowser has no problem abusing his minions showing that he doesn't care about them (expect Kamek since he was shocked and angry when Peach knocked him out). If Peach had grew up to be cruel to her Toads and become a tyrant, she would've end 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 an 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 the latter rejecting him. Donkey Kong recognizes and eventually his flaws, which wins his father's approval. If Donkey Kong never recognizes his flaws nor having a friendship with Mario and some heroic characters in the film, he would've end up like Bowser. Additionally, Bowser's conflict with Mario is violently antagonistic whereas DK's conflict with Mario is more akin to that of friendly teasing.

* Bowser is known to have several voices line removed that were in TV Spots and trailers, such as him saying "I'm so stoked right now."
	+ Coincidentally, in the film's teaser trailer when he obtains the Power Star, Bowser says "I finally found it. Now who's gonna stop me?!", in the film, it was changed to "and now no one can stop me".

* Jack Black (the voice of Bowser in the movie) worked with John Legumizo (who portrayed Luigi in the critically panned 1993 film Super Mario. Bros) and Tara Strong (who voices Hop Koopa in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World) in the first Ice Age movie.
	+ Coincidentally, Jack Black's character (Zeke) in Ice Age is also a villain.