The Super Mario Bros. Movie's Nihilistic Lumalee Could Lead To Bigger Adventures

This article contains spoilers for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

There's plenty of characters who arguably steal the show in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." From Seth Rogen's subversive take on an arrogant yet heroic Donkey Kong to Jack Black's turn as a one-minute-goofy-next-minute-terrifying Bowser, the cast oozes with colorful personalities. However, few can match the sheer memorability of Lumalee, the cutesy blue Luma imprisoned by Bowser who sports a surprising dark side. This adorable little creature has a penchant for saying some messed up stuff, frequently tormenting its fellow prisoners with ruminations on hopelessness and the sweet release of death. 

Lumalee certainly makes for some of the better comedic moments in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," but as any "Mario" lore expert might tell you, the character is also important for a very different reason. As a species, Lumas first originated in the 2007 game "Super Mario Galaxy," along with their guardian: the fan-favorite Princess Rosalina. Despite fans hoping that Rosalina would appear in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," she's nowhere to be found in the film. However, Lumalee's appearance suggests that this narrative strand of the Mario game does exist in the adaptation's world. Considering the character's popularity, Lumalee seems like a shoe-in for a role in a sequel, and could very well be a gateway for introducing Mario and friends to a more galactic adventure.

While Lumalee's role in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" stands as an overt suggestion that a sequel could deal with a "Super Mario Galaxy"-styled adventure, it's not the only way that the film points to such an idea. Of course, there's Peach's line about there being a big universe out there "with a lot of galaxies" (nudge, nudge), which was first heard in pre-release materials. However, perhaps the greatest tease at an interstellar "Mario" movie sequel has more to do with why Peach says this line in the first place.

As Mario learns during his adventure with the princess, Peach actually doesn't know how she came to be in the Mushroom Kingdom — or, really, anything else about her origin. Mario suggests that she could be from his world, but there's no confirmation of that idea, and the movie ends without a resolution for this dangling plot thread. As such, it seems ripe for exploration in a potential sequel, with Mario and Peach trekking across the universe to discover just where exactly the latter hails from.

This is all just one possible idea, but such a narrative focus would certainly take a sequel in a bigger, bolder, more "Super Mario Galaxy"-style direction. Of course, fans first have to wait for a sequel to "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" to actually get confirmed.