Morton Koopa Jr.

Morton Koopa Jr. is the boss of the 2nd world in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World respectively. Morton is depicted as the ’average’ Koopaling, usually possessing no noteworthy special abilities or quirks. He is the second youngest of the Koopalings, which might be hard to belive due his incredible girth. Something noteworthy about Morton is that he is a junior, which has raised questions as to whether or not Bowser’s real name is Morton, or whom in his family he is named after. Apparently, there is no official reason for the name, aside from matching his real-world namesake, one-time talk show host/singer Morton Downey, Jr..

In the cartoons he was named Big Mouth Koopa, ostensibly because he was more talk than action, and as an homage to Downey, whose entire theme was his admittedly big mouth. His show’s logo was a large open mouth, which Morton/Big Mouth Koopa’s design even resembled. Aptly, in the Super Mario World cartoon, he occasionally served as an announcer (until an annoyed sibling or Koopa would stop him when he talked way too much). There are a few physical differences between Morton and Big Mouth: Morton’s shell is gray (or black in New Super Mario Bros. Wii) and Big Mouth’s is purple; Big Mouth has much larger eyes and purple eyelids; and the star-shaped birthmark (a possible reference to Paul Stanley from the band KISS) on Morton’s face is darker around the cheek, while it’s just one solid color on Big Mouth. Morton Jr. is also much larger than Big Mouth. In the Super Mario World cartoon, Big Mouth’s shell became the same color as in the artwork shown above.

Morton is the only Koopaling to sport a gray shell. Roy and Wendy’s shells are pink and the others all have green shells (in the unused Super Princess Peach sprites Wendy was the only Koopaling without a green shell). Morton has a black shell in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.