Unveiling the Business Strategy Behind Fox McCloud's Appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Film
By Published Apr 12, 2026, 10:16 AM EDT
An avid comic book fan since she first read "Stan Lee's Soapbox," Allison Hambrick is your friendly neighborhood generalist writer. Journalism, editing, media production, copywriting—she does it all. From her very first blog post about Smallville as a primary schooler, Allison developed a passion for superheroes and the entertainment industry at large.
Majoring in writing and film at SCAD, Allison put her skills to work writing, editing, podcasting, and more. Currently, she moonlights as an editor at the ASHRAE Journal by day and Screen Rant by night. Allison also previously worked for Warner Bros. Entertainment and for Disney.
Through her writing, she hopes to inspire, to entertain, and to empower others to be the best versions of themselves, and her mission in life is to make Stan proud. In her free time, she enjoys reading, video game design, traveling, and spending time outside with her dogs, Loki and Elphaba. Allison is fluent in movie quotes, and her favorite film is Superman II.
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A Nintendo insider has suggested that the inclusion of Fox McCloud in was more out of business savvy than creativity.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie features the returning voice talents of Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black, with Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, and . In a major Nintendo crossover, the latter played Fox from 1993's Star Fox, which was also created by Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
While , one former Nintendo employee suspects there is more to his role in the film than fan service. On his channel, Kit Ellis, a former director of social media marketing at Nintendo of America, revealed his "extremely cynical theory." Because the idea to include Fox originally came from Illumination, Ellis suspects there was more to the animation studio seeking to include more Nintendo characters.
"We know that this was Illumination's original idea and then Miyamoto took it back to the team and was like, 'I don't think they're gonna go for this' and then they did," Ellis explained. "I feel like Illumination is doing IP land grabs because [the studio is] like, 'Oh, a studio got Zelda? We need to claim as much IP that might appear in a movie as possible… Maybe we'll do a movie with him later or not, but he's ours now."
He noted that Illumination is likely trying not to "let this Zelda business happen again." Currently, under Columbia Pictures, meaning Illumination does not have the rights to one of Nintendo's most-beloved franchises. As a result, Ellis alleges that Fox was only included to lock down the rights to his franchise.
Interestingly, Powell reportedly pitched himself to play Fox without knowing Illumination was eyeing the character for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. , the Top Gun: Maverick star expressed "incredible conviction and passion about being involved with Nintendo."
"He explained that we had to understand how deeply he loved the character of Fox McCloud," the executive continued. "His dream was one day to be part of a ‘Star Fox’ movie. I’m listening to this going, ‘He has no idea that Miyamoto-san and I are talking about Star Fox being in this new movie,’ and Glen is expressing this passion for this."
Notably, Miyamoto himself lobbied to make the use of Fox in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie possible. Despite its prominent Super Smash Bros. franchise, the legendary game designer explained that Nintendo is historically reluctant to blend its intellectual properties. Regardless, the motive for Illumination securing the rights to Star Fox is unclear, though this could lead to or the long-rumored Super Smash Bros. adaptation.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is currently in theaters.
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