Third Mario Brother

About

Third Mario Brother refers to memes and theories about the existence of a third Mario brother. One of the leading theories claims that Mario represents the red in the Italian flag and Luigi represents the green, meaning there must be a third Mario brother to represent the color white. Some claim that Dr. Mario is the third brother, rather than a representation of Mario as a doctor. Memes about a third Mario brother have spread online since as early as 2012, with an early example being the character Guiseppe in a video by Dorkly.

Origin

Canonically, in the Super Mario video games, there are only two known Mario brothers, Mario and Luigi. However, fans of the series have debated the existence of a third Mario brother online since the late 2000s, also making memes about the existence of a third Mario brother.

One of the earliest examples is an animation posted by YouTuber^[1] BlazeHedgehog on July 2nd, 2007, titled "The Third Mario Brother," garnering over 330,000 views in 17 years (shown below).

Spread

On May 12th, 2008, YouTuber^[2] thanubs posted a similar animation about a third Mario brother, garnering over 7,000 views in 16 years. On December 21st, 2010, Deviant Art^[3] user Doctor-Oysterhead posted concept art of "Alfredo," the third Mario brother (shown below). On December 11th, 2011, banned NeoGAF^[4] user BowieZ made a thread wondering if it's time for Nintendo to make a third brother, garnering around 90 replies in 13 years.

On October 3rd, 2012, the Dorkly YouTube^[5] channel published an animation titled "Regular Guiseppe, The Third Mario Brother" in which they portray the third Mario brother as being a regular, boring guy compared to his brothers Mario and Luigi. The video gained over 4.9 million views in 12 years (shown below).

Notably, in the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie, a man named Guiseppe, voiced by Charles Martinet, is shown briefly. It has been speculated that this is a reference to the Dorkly video, but this is unconfirmed.^[6] He is not related to the brothers in the film.

On January 21st, 2020, Redditor u/Exerus16 made a post to /r/gaming^[7] sharing an image of Mario and Luigi over the red and green on the Italian flag, writing, "THEY'RE ITALIAN AND THOSE ARE THEIR COLORS, am I just stupid because I realized it only now or did I uncover some eldritch truth," garnering over 1,700 upvotes in four years (shown below).

The post inspired discussions about the theory, including discussions of who the white on the flag might represent, with u/max360games^[8] writing, "Dr Mario is the third brother."

The Italian flag theory spread over the following years, inspiring further memes and discussions. On November 28th, 2022, Redditor u/FoxJDR posted a meme to /r/NintendoMemes^[9] placing Floppa in the white portion of the flag, garnering over 700 upvotes in two years. On April 10th, 2023, u/A__New__Redditor made a post to /r/vexillologycirclejerk^[10] sharing the theory, garnering over 3,000 upvotes in 11 months.

On March 1st, 2024, X^[11] artist @Nyazsche posted a webcomic in which a cat attempts to tell another cat about a third Mario brother, garnering over 23,000 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). On March 27th, X^[12] user @DynamoSuperX shared the flag theory, wondering who the white could represent, garnering over 61,000 likes and 2,200 reposts in two days (shown below, right).

That day, X^[13] user @FoursideKM responded to the post with an image suggesting Dr. Mario is the third brother, garnering over 9,500 likes in two days (shown below, left). X^[14] user @VivaDaRevo posted a graphic suggesting Wario is the third brother, however, purportedly in the games' canon, he is not related to the brothers.^[15]

Later that day, X^[16] user @lofiyeet posted a piece of artwork depicting Benito Mussolini as the third brother, garnering over 41,000 likes in two days (shown below, right). The art is a screenshot from the Newgrounds^[17] animation "Mario, Luigi, & Mussolini meet Hitler."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References