Avengers: Endgame, eat your heart out. The best pop culture crossover of the 21st Century is finally here – and it features Sir Patrick Stewart, Master Chief, Knuckles, and Peppa Pig (for some reason).
Yes, this is the Paramount Plus Super Bowl ad that you may have seen doing the rounds on social media.
It collects together several of Paramount’s big on-screen properties (Star Trek, Halo, Sonic the Hedgehog) for an absolutely unhinged extravaganza that feels like the weirdest improv class ever, laced with the sort of mushrooms your weird relative would probably grow in his garden.
Knuckles appears in the new Paramount+ Super Bowl commercial. pic.twitter.com/tuD7G4GfXzFebruary 1, 2024
Set on Paramount Mountain (naturally), the assembled cast of Master Chief, Knuckles, Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, Dora the Explorer, Reno 911’s Thomas Lennon, and Arnold from Hey Arnold watch on as Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa attempts to scale the rock-face.
When Tagovailoa suggests he could do it with climbing gear shaped like a football, Patrick Stewart turns to Arnold and asks, "What about a football-shaped head?"
It only gets weirder from here, as Patrick Stewart strips off to reveal an old-timey football uniform. Backed by a performance of ‘Higher’ by Creed – a staple of 2000s YouTube compilations – Stewart launches Arnold into the stratosphere, only to see the Nickelodeon character land into the side of the mountain with an almighty thud.
Then, the punchline: "Now, if there were only someone made of pigskin," Stewart asks. The camera then cuts to Peppa Pig – who doesn’t seem too enamored with the possibility of being yeeted into orbit by the Picard actor.
Next up on Paramount Plus is Halo season 2, airing from February 8. For more on what’s coming this year, be sure to check out our guide to new TV shows.
