MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SONIC 2
Before Sonic 2 was released in theaters, the CEO of SEGA CORPORATION, Haruki Satomi, announced a third film and a live-action series that would focus on Knuckles. While there weren’t any details of what either would be about, I decided to have a bit of fun and theorize what could happen, because never did I ever expect us to be getting a Sonic film trilogy, nor did I expect to be excited about a video game movie.
It’s amazing how much fun these movies have been (and how well they’re doing at the box office). Now that I’ve seen the film and screamed in a theater about its climax and post-credit scene, I’m even more excited for the third installment than I was when I first heard the announcement. So let’s do it to it, as a 90s blue blur would say, and look at what happened in Sonic 2 to piece together just how epic Sonic 3 could potentially be.
SPOILERS BEGIN NOW!
Sonic Heroes
Those who are familiar with the video games know that Knuckles, eventually, comes around to Sonic’s side once he realizes that Robotnik lied about his intentions. In the original Genesis game, Knuckles helped out briefly, because he’d been injured by Robotnik when the doctor stole the Master Emerald. This is why I was so happy to see him working with Sonic and Tails in the movie, riding in on the bi-plane with them, and even doing a couple of Sonic Heroes-esque team-up attacks.
When the dust settles, the three vow to protect the Master Emerald and are now a trio who will do what it takes to keep it, and the world, safe. However, we aren’t just working with the Master Emerald anymore.
Super Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds
During the climax of the film, Sonic (with the help of Tom and Maddie) gets a hold of the Master Emerald. The emerald shatters, and mixed with the shards are the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Now, I’m not ashamed to admit this, but when I saw the Chaos Emeralds I immediately started tapping my wife’s arm, bouncing in my seat, and whispering, “Oh my god he’s gonna turn into Super Sonic.”
And he does!
As Super Sonic, Sonic completely bodies the Death Egg Robot. Robotnik is assumed to be dead by the military (getting to them in a second), and Sonic releases the Chaos Emeralds so that they’re scattered across the world. Now that the film series has the Chaos Emeralds in play, I can only assume that our heroes are going to end up relying on their power again, especially considering what happens next.
Shadow and GUN
Before we even get to the post-credit scene we have a hint of Shadow making an appearance – granted, I wasn’t sure if his appearance would be in this movie or in a future film, as I originally felt that Shadow showing up might be too early. However, the film’s director, Jeff Fowler, did tell IGN that the films wouldn’t be going in order of the games. “It’s not always going to be a linear progression of like ‘Oh, this was in Sonic 2 so it’s going to be in the Sonic 2 film’. It’s going to be a little bit of a cherry-picking, a little bit of a melting pot.”
We find out that the military unit that disrupts Rachel’s wedding is actually an organization called the Guardian Units of Nations (or GUN). GUN was first introduced in Sonic Adventure 2, which is the same game that introduced Shadow. During the post-credit scene, we find out that GUN has uncovered a hidden facility from “50 years ago” which, frankly, made my theater erupt into a massive amount of cheering because it meant that we were, in fact, getting Shadow the Hedgehog in the next movie.
The third film could very much tap into Shadow’s story, which would involve his history with Robotnik’s grandfather, Gerald, and Gerald’s granddaughter, Maria. I expect we’ll also get Robotnik trying to get into the hidden facility to uncover its secrets, especially since Agent Stone is hiding among the GUN agents during the post-credit scene. What will really be interesting is the fact that the GUN general that Tom and Maddie have been dealing with has been acting like he was new to all of this, but with there being a 50-year-old facility AND Shadow, he clearly knows a lot more than he’s been letting on. Taking into account that Robotnik was called in by the military in the first movie (despite some having reservations about it), the dynamics between these characters will make for an engaging third film.
In the movies, Sonic and Knuckles have their own power without the emeralds, but I’m pretty damn sure that fighting Shadow is gonna require an extra boost from every emerald they can get their hands on. I’m expecting the third movie to be a race to gather all 7 Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik can, especially if he has Shadow by his side. Shadow can do a LOT of damage with just a singular Chaos Emerald, let alone all 7 of them.
I just want him to use “Chaos Control” once. Please?
While Robotnik had to manipulate Knuckles into helping him, Shadow starts out hating GUN from the start in the video games. That’s because, 50 years ago, Gerald Robotnik was tasked with leading a project (Project Shadow) in the hopes of discovering immortality, something he wanted to do in the hopes of finding a cure for his granddaughter’s illness. However, his methods were deemed too dangerous, and GUN ended up imprisoning him. Gerald had hoped that Maria and his creation, Shadow, were able to escape, but it turns out, Maria was killed by GUN.
Gerald decides to seek revenge against ALL of humanity, and his destructive desire for revenge was also implanted into Shadow. This means if Robotnik gets to Shadow first, he will easily have an ally – assuming he can handle Shadow.
Can anyone?
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
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