The Super Mario Bros. movie is not fondly remembered as a good adaptation, but it's also hard to forget the first video game movie after seeing it. The film resembled the games in name only, featuring tons of great actors like Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo. The colorful Mushroom Kingdom was transformed into a dinosaur-populated, cyberpunk dystopia.
The film, unsurprisingly, didn't fare well enough with audiences or critics to merit a sequel. Therefore, its cliffhanger ending -- where Princess Daisy charges in with a bunch of weapons asking for the Mario Brothers' help on a new mission -- went unfulfilled. However, one fan webcomic attempted to continue the story. Though it went unfinished, Super Mario Bros. 2: The Movie Sequel Comic attempts to continue the cyberpunk-inspired original world's story by introducing a new antagonist: Wart.
The Comic's Plot
The story starts with Daisy in a cave. Her crystal reacts as a portal opens, revealing several soldiers from another reality. Daisy and Toad end up recruiting the Mario brothers to help stop this new invasive threat. It turns out this new invasive force is Wart, who apparently was King Koopa's ally in the human world who was attempting to help bridge the worlds in a mutually beneficial manner. However, now with Koopa out of the way, Wart's original plans are foiled and he wants revenge. Or something.
It makes sense to position Wart as the next big bad, since he was the antagonist from Super Mario Bros. 2 the game. While the webcomic doesn't give a sense of Wart's full motivation or military capabilities, it seems safe to assume that, had the webcomic continued, Birdo would have been adapted as well. This would have been especially interesting, given that Birdo is a canonically trans character, which would have made her the first trans character in a video game adaptation.
The comic spends most of its time focusing on how life has changed in the aftermath of the Super Mario Bros. movie. King Reznor, now restored from his fungal form, tries to become a better father and Daisy attempts to bring life to her bleak world.
How It Adapts the Games
Many elements of the game are reimagined in this webcomic in ways that brings it more in-line with the comics. Mouser is reimagined as a scientist studying plant life, most notably the carnivorous Piranha Plants. Wart, the main antagonist, goes from a massive obese toad to a massive obese man, strangely resembling the Baron Harkonnen from Dune.
At the same time, however, the comic also makes efforts to better align the movie continuity with that of the games. Toad wears a turban and gas-mask, which makes him look more aligned with his mushroom-headed game counterpart. The Piranha Plant looks almost identical to the original game. There are multiple soldiers riding dinosaurs that resemble Yoshi.
Who Made This?
Super Mario Bros. 2: The Movie Sequel Comic was written by Steven Applebaum and Ryan Hoss, with art by Eryk Donovan, colors by Brett Michael Cook and letters by Jaymes Reed. The comic is available both in English and Portuguese, thanks to Lucas Costa's translation. The forward explains Applebaum and Hoss started the webcomic after they had a discussion with Parker Bennett, one of the 10 writers for the original Super Mario Bros. film, about what he was thinking with that cliffhanger ending.
The comic ran from 2013 to 2015 before abruptly stopping right before Mario and Luigi went out to fight Wart. While the comic is unfinished, it is available either through the original link or through the WayBack Machine. This comic is as official as a sequel can be to the original movie, recreating the iconic visuals from the film while still continuing the narrative. It's a fascinating view into what could have been.