Do you ever look into the eyes of a Super Mario Bros. Super Mushroom power-up and wonder... is it looking back? Long have Mario, his bro Luigi, Princess Peach, and even Toads themselves munched down on these power-up fungi, gaining super size to be able to break bricks apart with their toughened heads. But wait, where do Super Mushrooms come from? I know what you're thinking... From Question Blocks, of course! But where are they sourced from before they get to the box? Dare we say... What's in the booooox? I have a theory, and I want you to follow me on this mystery grapevine. It begins with a question: Are Super Mushrooms actually the heads of Toads?
Let's observe the evidence for and against.
Reasons Super Mushrooms might be Toad heads
The eyes, oh god, the eyes
Let's hit the most obvious bit of evidence first. Super Mushrooms have eyes. Cold. Dead. Eyes. Ever staring forward, gaze ever piercing your very soul. The eyes are stoic, cold, blank. You can't help but wonder, are they eyes that say, "please, don't devour my final sense of being. Don't absorb the last bit of me that makes me me."? Or perhaps they are saying, "embrace me. Take me into yourself. Let me become part of you. Mash me up, absorb my essence, make my power yours. Give me life beyond this bodiless existence as your newfound power." One thing is for sure. They are definitely eyes - I think I've even seen them blink before - and despite that, all residents of the Mushroom Kingdom seem to eat the the whole Super Mushroom upon touching it, and that likely includes chewing on the eyes. Yuck!
The cap pattern is usually the same, but reversed
This is aesthetic if anything, but still well worth mentioning. The pattern on modern Super Mushroom caps and the pattern on Toad Mushroom head caps is the exact same in style, but simply reversed in color. Where your garden variety Toad nowadays has a white cap with red spots on it, the Super Mushroom's cap is red with white spots on it. Nonetheless, it's also worth mentioning that Toads have proven to come in a variety of colors, including yellow, blue, pink... Who's to say that there couldn't be a variety of Toad with a red cap and white spots on it? In fact, even in the past, as far back as Super Mario Bros. 3, the Super Mushroom had a yellowish cap with red spots, but it was still eerily familiar to the Toad's cap back then.
Perhaps aged? I don't know, but the pattern feels... far too close to be just a coincidence. All I ask is this, in a Mushroom Kingdom chockfull of different colored Toad caps, how come the only we've never seen one with red cap and white spots walking around going about their business, hmmmmmm???
Sometimes the Super Mushroom has a mouth
This is maybe the creepiest asthetic of all about the Super Mushroom, and it comes from the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. 3. Simply put, the Super Mushroom in the match-up minigame (in which you stop the three spinning parts to make a power-up) has a mouth.
But TJ what if that's just a Toad's actual smiling face? I hear you argue.
Au contraire mon frère. As I established in the previous bit of evidence, this apparent face has the coloration of the Super Mushroom in Super Mario Bros. 3, which is yellowish cap with red spots. Not the Super Mario Bros. 3 Toad head coloration of white cap with red spots. By this rhetoric we can likely establish that it is indeed meant to be a Super Mushroom just like the rest of the power-ups with the same coloration. Unless of course... you could use my evidence of various colored Toads against me and prove to me that a Toad with a yellowish cap and red spots exist.
But think carefully then... whose point are you proving?
Reasons Super Mushrooms might not be Toad heads
Sometimes Super Mushrooms are literally just mushrooms
It's been awhile, but there are definitely instances in which Super Mushrooms are truly innocent. In fact, there's actually a childrens book (Super Mario Bros: Trapped in the Perilous Pit) in which Mario finds Super Mushrooms in the sewers of the Mushroom Kingdom and they have zero facial features on them. They're just regular-looking mushrooms and Mario grows big from eating them.
Now, nevermind the fact that Mario is literally chewing on mushrooms he found growing in literal running poopy doody water, the original Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2 games also back up this logic. The first Super Mario Bros. game's mushroom also has no facial features. Neither does Super Mario Bros. 2's mushroom. But TJ, Super Mario Bros. 2 was actaully a Doki Doki Panic reskin! And yes, that's true, but also, Birdo, Shy Guys, and other such nonsense exist in future Mario games so I'm gonna count it. It seems, sometimes, Super Mushrooms are just honest to goodness mushrooms.
The eyes could be natural camouflage
I will submit this. It's possible that the eyes we think we see on the Super Mushroom are just an optical illusion playing tricks on us, much like how a cat turns sideways and arches to look bigger and more menacing, how a butterfly's wings may look like a scary face, or how I growl in my sleep when touched to give off the impression that there is a bear under the blankets rather than a regular, old Me.
That said, I'd argue that the Super Mushroom's natural camouflage may work in the opposite direction. It's almost enticing. There's a slight googly shimmer in the mushroom's possible eye camouflage. It almost demands you pick it up and keep it warm and safe... in your stomach. There is camouflage meant to entice after all, such as the diddly lantern on an angler fish. That doesn't explain the one-time smile on the Super Mushroom though...
Where would they keep the bodies???
Let's be honest, Mario and friends eat a lot of Super Mushrooms. A lot of Super Mushrooms, and even Toads seem to enjoy them. That many Toads don't just up and disappear, and if it's just the head, there's gotta be a body somewhere right? This is a tough nut to crack. For as many Super Mushrooms in circulation as there are all the time, surely Mario or Luigi would stumble across a Toad or two sans the old noggin if this was the case. Magic does exist in the Mushroom Kingdom, but I think even Kamek would have trouble with that disappearing act. Maybe if Kamek and an intrepid digger with access to a lot of deep caves like Captain Toad joined forces... No, I don't think they'd pal around like that.
There's reason to believe Toads can take their caps off
This is a matter confined to only a single occurence, but its existence means I cannot deny the possibility. There's episodes of Super Mario Super Show in which Toad reveals that he can take his cap off and is just kind of bald underneath. It seems to signify that the mushroom isn't actually a part of a Toad. So it gives us the possibilty that Toads are just wearing Super Mushrooms. Still, that is the only occurence of this behavior I'm aware of and I can't be sure if the Super Mario Super Show is entirely canon, no matter how much I desperately want it to be. RIP in peace, Captain Lou Albano.
My verdict
This is a tough one. Not just because the evidence feels a bit more balanced, but because of the implications of one of the answers. If Toad heads are Super Mushrooms, it's the conspiracy of the century in the Mushroom Kingdom, the grandest and most ghastly cover-up of all time. To think that Toads might be watching Mario and company eat their heads with those calm, unblinking eyes and smiles is just... ah, I just had me a big shudder. For the sake of being able to eat well and sleep at night, I'm just going to do my best to try not to think about it.
At the same time... when you look those eyes... how can you not? Bon appetit.
