Fans of the Super Mario Bros. games learned of a disturbing theory this week involving 1-Up Mushrooms. According to a Super Mario manga from decades ago, it’s been suggested that 1-Up Mushrooms ...

The idea for the creation of 1-Up Mushrooms was vividly conveyed in an illustration from the manga. In the picture, a deceased Mario was seen buried underground.

Mario’s corpse. The same Mario you let fall off a ledge or miss a tough jump with. He’s dead now, but in his death comes new life, apparently. Fans reacted with mock horror and disgust.

As noted by the Twitter account Super Mario Broth, a page from the Super Mario 64 manga all the way back in 1996 suggested that Mario was trapped in a grim cycle of eco-friendly life and death.

In fact, in the Super Mario Manga, Dr. Mario is actually separate from Mario. Dr. Mario has his own Mario franchise where he lines up Megavitamins to defeat viruses.