Regardless of whatever you ultimately thought of it, The Super Mario Bros. Movie made bank at the box office when it came out in 2023. Which probably means there’s some kind of rule: when your movie makes one billion dollars, you’re allowed to say to Nintendo, “Can we put Star Fox in the next one for no reason at all?” and they’re apparently going to say yes.
After some eagle-eyed fans managed to start speculating wildly thanks to a tiny snippet in a TV spot recently, today Illumination confirmed that Fox McCloud, legendary hero of the Star Fox game series, will be making an appearance, Arwing in tow, in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. They even gave him a poster and everything!
Let’s rock and roll! Fox McCloud joins The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, only in theaters April 1. Get tickets now. pic.twitter.com/13pRQ2yEah
— The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (@supermariomovie) March 26, 2026
Now, on the one hand, this does make some sense. Galaxy is, of course, leaning big into sci-fi space adventure in its adaptation of the legendary Mario Wii games, Star Fox is already all about sci-fi space adventure; why not have it exist in some capacity in the Mario universe? Plus, we already know from trailers and other promotional material that the movie isn’t just sticking to Mario to mine for nostalgia and easter eggs—R.O.B. the robot, the NES accessory turned Smash Bros. star, will have a minor role in the film, and we’ve even seen glimpses of the Pikmin making a potential cameo. They might be giving Fox a poster, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s got a huge part to play in Galaxy‘s story, and his presence could be just as minor.
On the other, it’s still kind of wild, even in our era of the shared-universe-crossover-multiversal cultural zeitgeist, that it’s Star Fox of all things getting the push the moment Illumination and Nintendo have realized that they’re on to something with these movies. There’s a lot of nostalgia for Star Fox, sure, and that’s been maintained through Fox and Falco’s enduring appearances in the Smash Bros. games, but it’s also a series that Nintendo has tried, many times in the past couple decades, to try and make happen over and over again, and it’s never really been able to quite break through into the kind of love people maintained for the likes of Star Fox 64 or Star Fox Adventures.
Maybe a cinematic push is the best bet Fox McCloud and his buddies can get these days, rather than another video game any time soon. But hey, if Galaxy is as big as the first film or even bigger, no matter how big or small Fox’s role ends up being, it’s probably going to put more eyeballs on something from Star Fox than anything the series itself has managed in quite a while.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie—Featuring Fox from the Star Fox Series—hits theaters April 1.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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