No one expected it, but the Sonic the Hedgehog movie series has been a rousing success. The two films released so far have broken away from the typical video game movie curse and impressed fans and casual audiences alike. Neither Sonic the Hedgehog film is particularly incredible, but they are both competently-done interpretations of the loose Sonic story. Sandwiched in between the releases of two Nintendo movies, and also preceded by the Mortal Kombat reboot film, it feels like video game movies are finally starting to land en masse.
The Sonic films offer a unique interpretation of the Sonic storyline. Sonic the Hedgehog, played by Ben Schwartz, is stranded on a mundane Earth like in Sonic X, but Sonic and his fellow animal people are all aliens. Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey, is from Earth, but his intellect and government funding allows him to produce the same robots he does in the games. Sonic befriends a cop named Tom, played by James Marsden, and meets Tails and Knuckles in the second film. Both installments have ended with teasers of something that’s going to be relevant in another movie, and Sonic‘s success means there’s likely to be a third.
Discussing the returning element in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will involve spoilers for the movie.
A Familiar Face is Coming to the Third Sonic Movie
After covering the events of Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles in the first two films, it appears that the third movie is jumping all the way to Sonic Adventure 2. In a post-credits scene, agents of GUN discover files pointing towards Project Shadow, which was shut down 50 years prior. Shadow the Hedgehog himself is briefly seen, and Robotnik’s right-hand man Agent Stone overhears the GUN personnel talking. It appears that the third movie will involve the fully-formed Team Sonic fighting against Shadow, and possibly some equivalent to the original Team Dark.
Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2 as the latest rival to Sonic. Knuckles and various versions of Metal Sonic originally held that role, with Metal Sonic having reclaimed it in recent years. However, much like Vegeta’s original appearance in Dragon Ball Z, Shadow debuted as an especially charismatic antagonist that took the fandom by storm. Believing Maria and Gerald Robotnik’s final requests were both for vengeance, Shadow hijacked Eggman’s latest power grab and threatened to destroy humanity.
Despite being shown sacrificing himself at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, his popularity ensured that Eggman had him rescued and put into stasis. This fractured Shadow’s unstable memory even further, and he spent the next few games trying to recover it. Shadow is now an agent of GUN and one of Sonic’s most trusted allies, even if he only shows up for minor roles nowadays.
How Shadow Can Be Used in Sonic the Hedgehog 3
The most likely outcome of Shadow’s movie introduction is that he will continue his crusade against humanity from Sonic Adventure 2. Through a partial recollection of Maria Robotnik’s dying words, Shadow will wish to take revenge for her and Gerald Robotnik. Agent Stone could sway Shadow to his side by using their shared loyalty to the Robotnik name as leverage.
If the GUN-affiliated Rouge the Bat appears or another GUN agent pretends to defect to Stone’s side, then a rough approximation of Team Dark would form. Shadow would then frame Sonic while the other villains steal the Chaos Emeralds to activate some equivalent to the Eclipse Cannon. Team Sonic would be able to counter with some Sonic Heroes-esque team attacks, but even that may not be able to stop Shadow if he has all of his Chaos powers. Depending on how close Sonic 3 hews to Adventure 2, it may also be the first movie to bring Sonic’s battles to outer space.
After that it becomes a little harder to guess at the plot, especially considering that Shadow originally had alien heritage, but now may truly be the same species as Sonic. It’s not clear if this version of Shadow will be a creation of Gerald, or if he simply befriended Gerald and Maria like Sonic did with Tom. Shadow had a lot of Chaos energy powers in the games, but in the movies he’ll probably share whatever power source Sonic and Knuckles use. Gerald’s research may be brought up to finally explain what this is.
At any rate, Shadow will cleanly fit into the role of the main villain of the third Sonic movie, and there aren’t many more characters who need to be introduced to make him work. If the film goes something like that, then Sonic the Hedgehog 3 should end with the human cast helping Shadow remember Maria’s good intentions, motivating him to sacrifice himself just like in the games.
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