Bowser's "Now Who's Gonna Stop Me!"

About

Bowser's "Now Who's Gonna Stop Me!" is a catchphrase taken from a moment in the October 2022 teaser trailer for the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie in which Bowser (voiced by Jack Black) shouts "Now, who's gonna stop me!" after infiltrating the penguins' ice castle and before stealing their Super Star. The clip was captioned and re-edited on Twitter, YouTube and TikTok by creators who replaced Bowser's scream with other, meme sound effects, such as The One Piece Is Real, or added a secondary clip to its end, proposing an opponent to Bowser who could stop him.

Origin

On October 6th, 2022, the YouTube channel of Illumination Studios uploaded the official teaser trailer for the Super Mario Bros. Movie, gaining roughly 3.4 million views and 112,000 likes in less than 24 hours. At the 1:28-minute mark of the video, Bowser uses his fire breath to destroy the ice castle and approaches the Super Star, stating, "I've finally found it. Now, who's gonna stop me!" (shown below).

The teaser trailer immediately generated discussion and memes across social media. Some early examples of the meme were posted within the first hour of the trailer. For instance, at around 4:24 p.m. EST on October 8th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user 9x_Squared posted a re-edited version of the clip, currently being the first known to do so. 9x_Squared added in Ke$ha's song "TiK ToK" after Bowser said the catchphrase and as Mario entered the frame. In less than a day, the video received roughly 504,800 views and 34,900 likes (shown below).

THIS SUMMER pic.twitter.com/qI147waQAt

— 9x (@9x_Squared) October 6, 2022

Spread

At around 6 p.m. EST on October 6th, 2022, Twitter^[2] user ildrewvenire replaced Bowser's audio with the creepy Bowser laugh^[8] from Hotel Mario, gaining roughly 15,400 views and 1,100 likes in less than a day (shown below).

obligatory bowser laugh joke.mp4 pic.twitter.com/7btuuC09vw

— Drew.jpg (@ildrewvenire) October 6, 2022

Also around 6 p.m. EST, YouTuber PixelsByNight posted their own version, humorously answering Bowser's question with the theme song of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! gaining over 260 views in less than a day (shown below, left). Other YouTubers added to the trend, gaining more engagement going into the next day. For instance, roughly three hours later on October 6th, 2022, YouTuber Mario4z uploaded an iteration that inserted a scene from The LEGO Movie, gaining roughly 7,700 views in less than a day (shown below, right).

Multiple video creators across platforms exploited the video in their own ways. For instance, TikToker^[3] elijahtanimator was one of the first to exploit the video on TikTok, posting an iteration on October 6th that presented the character Wander from the cartoon Wander Over Yonder as an opponent to Bowser, gaining roughly 83,60 plays and 16,900 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). At the same time, TikToker^[4] barnacle310 posted a video that labeled Kratos from God of War as opposition, gaining roughly 7,600 likes in the same time period (shown below, right).

Bowser Shouting "The One Piece Is Real"

At around 4:51 p.m. EST on October 6th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user Squeekzanim posted their own exploited version of the clip, replacing Bowser's voice with, "The One Piece is Real!" in reference to "the meme of the same name":":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-one-piece-is-real. In less than a day, the video received roughly 1.2 million views and 69,200 likes (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/njuAr1LywA

— 🎃SHRIEKS_ANIM🎃 (@Squeekzanim) October 6, 2022

The aforementioned clip was reposted to TikTok later on by TikToker^[6] bisexualnamor, gaining roughly 227,900 plays and 34,700 likes in less than a day (shown below, left), however, the "Extended Cut" bisexualnamor posted was originally created by YouTuber^[7] Haihatu, who received roughly 10,300 views in the same time period (shown below).

Related Memes

King Penguin's 'Do You Yield?'

King Penguin's "Do You Yield?" is a catchphrase spoken by King Penguin (voiced by Khary Payton) to Bowser (Jack Black) from the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser trailer. In October 2022, image macros using the scene started to spread online, especially on Reddit. One of the most common image macros has two panels, one with the penguin asking, "Do you yield?" followed by Bowser saying, "I do not," and is typically used with jokes about not giving up. The phrase was also attached to fan art and redraws of King Penguin.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References