Foreman Spike

About

Foreman Spike is a character in the Super Mario Bros. canon who appears as Mario and Luigi's boss at the construction site in the 1984 Nintendo game Wrecking Crew. He is an enemy in the game and has briefly appeared and been referenced in a number of games in the Mario Bros. series since. In August 2021, actor Sebastian Maniscalco revealed he was voicing "Spike" in the upcoming Illumination Mario Bros. film, specifically calling him "their boss" in an interview, causing many to believe Spike will appear in the film.

Origin

Foreman Spike first appeared in the 1984 Nintendo video game Wrecking Crew as the foreman of a construction yard and boss to the two protagonists, Mario and Luigi of the Super Mario series. Foreman Spike attempts to stop the player throughout the game, chasing after them to knock objects in the way (promotional art showing Foreman Spike below).

Spread

Foreman Spike has appeared in a number of Nintendo video games, including:

• Wrecking Crew
• Wrecking Crew '98 (shown below)
• Mobile Golf
• Super Mario Maker
• WarioWare Gold

Despite not appearing as a primary character in any recent Nintendo titles, Spike has remained a popular obscure Mario Bros. character, inspiring numerous works of fan art and memes about him over the course of the 2000s. On December 28th, 2015, Deviant Art^[5] user FlintofMother3 posted an original piece of art depicting Spike, Wario, and Waluigi cat calling Princess Daisy on a construction site, gaining over 95 favorites and 2,000 views in six years (shown below).

Illumination's Super Mario Bros. Movie

On August 5th, 2021, actor Sebastian Maniscalco appeared on comedian Bert Kreischer's podcast Bertcast. Around the 01:35 mark, Kreischer asks Maniscalco what he's doing after the show. He answers, saying he's recording lines for Spike in the upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. film, clarifying that he's the boss of the duo (shown below).^[1]

The reveal inspired excitement online due largely to the lack of details released about the film, as well as over the inclusion of Spike, seeing as he's one of the lesser-known and utilized characters in the Mario Bros. franchise. On August 9th, Twitter^[2] page @SMWikiOfficial made a post celebrating the announcement with a fact about Spike, saying he was created by the same man who created Wario (shown below).

The news also inspired a number of memes about Spike, with fans embracing the character (examples shown below, left and right).^[3][4]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References