Morton Koopa Jr.

**Morton Koopa Jr.** (known as **Big Mouth Koopa** in the cartoons) is one of the Koopalings, a clan of seven siblings[1] that act as leaders of the Koopa Troop under Bowser (originally considered his children). Morton stands out because of his primarily darker skin coloration and his white head until *New Super Mario Bros. Wii*,
 in which his pale gray shell was also a point of interest due to the
Koopalings now having unique shell colors. Morton is named after famed
talk show host and singer-songwriter Morton Downey, Jr.
 This is the reason for the "Jr." at the end of his name, which was a
point of confusion when he was first introduced as one of Bowser's
children. No in-universe explanation of his name was provided at the
time, though the editors of the magazine Nintendo Power once claimed that when they asked Bowser why Morton Koopa was called "Jr.", he denied having any sons, then pelted them with Bob-ombs until they left.[2]

Role in the series

## Personality

Like all the other Koopalings, Morton's personality and traits have
been shrouded in mystery, even more so than compared to the other
Koopalings. Morton seems to prefer brawn over brains, similarly to Roy.
The *Super Mario Bros. 3* manual implies that he is astute enough
to realize whether there are any possible setbacks regarding defeating
Mario and can likewise report the information to Bowser, but the English
 translation toned down his thoughtful wording and made him seem angry.
This is also true according to the Nintendo Player's Guide for *Super Mario Advance 4*, in which Morton is said to be a grouch with a cantankerous personality. The former characterization also was hinted at in *Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam*,
 where, when Iggy and Lemmy were eager to fight the Mario Bros., Morton
reminds them that they had just wiped out Wendy, Larry, Ludwig, and Roy
beforehand. He also seemed to be very protective of his siblings in the
same game, as when Iggy and Lemmy are left disabled due to their attacks
 on the Mario Bros. backfiring, Morton declares his intention of
avenging them. Morton may have an interest in construction, as in *Mario Kart 8*, there are advertisements for "Morton's Construction" with Morton's face on it. Curiously, in *Ice Ice Outpost* many containers and machines present the *Morton* or *Morton Construction* logo on them, suggesting that his company is collaborating with the Toads of the *Toad Polar Expedition 2014-2015*.
 Along with construction, one of his stunts include him flexing his
muscles, which may indicate that he likes anything that takes on
strength. The fourth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series states
that he is proudly more brawn than brains. In *Paper Mario: Color Splash*, he was depicted as speaking in an unintelligent, loud and simple manner, such as saying *"MORTON STRONG! MORTON MORE TONS!"*.

In *The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3*, all the
Koopalings were given names to match the personalities they were given
and such was the case with Morton, whose name was changed to Big Mouth
Koopa. Big Mouth was extremely talkative, to the point of never seeming
to know when to stop talking, which continuously forced Roy to interrupt him. According to the bio on the DVD set for *The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3*,
 he was also extremely arrogant in regards to his intelligence, as well
as exceptionally ignorant regarding the actual facts of the world, and
he never accepts responsibility for being wrong, preferring to blame
others instead. In addition, he was also known to make cutting remarks,
which were severe enough to even make his father cry if directed at him.
 Very few actual *Mario* games ever gave Morton lines, although unused lines for *Mario is Missing!*, which would have been used for a planned boss battle against Morton, implied that he was largely sarcastic and wise-cracking.