The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a smash hit with audiences, earning $377M, a new record, in a single weekend. While other critics were mixed on it (Of course, I friggin’ loved it!), those kinds of numbers demand a sequel. And Jack Black, who voiced Bowser and sang that incredible “Peaches” power ballad, knows who he wants to join the cast as another iconic Mario villain.
Speaking with Gamespot, Black said that he wants The Mandalorian and The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal to voice Wario in the next film.
“It’s not a given that Bowser will return,” Black said. “You know, I did a few “Kung Fu Panda” movies, and it was a different villain every movie. They may do the same thing.
Black continued, “You know, what if there is a more powerful, more evil villain? Then I may need to be turned to help Mario and the rest to defend our universe against some other unseen force of evil. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wario. Pedro Pascal is Wario.”
“Wario. Pedro Pascal is Wario.”
So who is Wario? Basically, he’s like the Bizarro Mario, with purple-and-yellow gear, a fiendish mustache, and greed that equals Mario’s selflessness. Once a childhood friend, Wario came to believe that Mario was a bully rather than a buddy. His jealousy has led him to be a thorn in Mario’s side in many games, although Wario has sort of become an antihero over the years and the protagonist of his own games.
And yes, there is a Waluigi, too.
Black’s fan-casting of Pascal is timely, as the actor recently starred in a gritty Mario Bros/The Last of Us mash-up on SNL.
