Glen Powell is having the kind of career moment that makes other actors burn their vision boards. Top Gun: Maverick made him a movie star. Hit Man proved he could carry a film. And now he's joining the Nintendo Cinematic Universe as the voice of Fox McCloud in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Yes, you read that correctly. Nintendo Cinematic Universe. Because if Marvel can turn comic books into a multi-billion dollar franchise machine, why can't Nintendo do the same with video game IP that's been beloved for decades?
The Super Mario Bros. Movie earned $1.36 billion worldwide in 2023, proving that audiences will absolutely show up for animated video game adaptations - if they're done well, respect the source material, and don't star Bob Hoskins in a deeply questionable 1993 version we're all trying to forget.
Now Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment are making the smart move: expanding the universe. Fox McCloud, the ace pilot protagonist of the Star Fox franchise, is a natural fit for the Mario universe's more cosmic setting in Galaxy. And casting Glen Powell - who literally just played a fighter pilot in one of the biggest movies of the decade - is the kind of on-the-nose perfection that actually works.
This is Marvel-style universe building, but with better source material and fewer creative committee decisions. Nintendo has spent 40 years developing beloved characters with actual personalities and relationships. Mario can meet Fox McCloud without it feeling like a desperate IP collision - it feels like natural expansion of a universe where cartoon physics and talking animals have always made perfect sense.
The real question is: what's next? in a sci-fi thriller? in an epic fantasy? A family comedy? has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to characters who've been waiting decades for proper theatrical treatment.
