The trailer just dropped for the new Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie and it has some surprise additions. “John Wick” himself, Keanu Reeves has joined the cast of the latest Sonic the Hedgehog films as the voice of the new rival – Shadow the Hedgehog.
In the film, Team Sonic must go up against Shadow, a character that first appeared in the game Sonic Adventure 2 and was created as “The Ultimate Lifeform” using the DNA of Black Doom. It seems that in this new film, the team must team up with their arc nemesis Robotnik to defeat this new threat.
Returning cast includes Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey and Idris Elba as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles respectively as well as the amazing Jim Carrey as both Dr. Ivo Robotnik..
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” opens in cinemas on December 20th.
The newly released trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 follows up on the tantalizing post-credits scene from the last entry, showing off an intimidating new antagonist, Shadow (Keanu Reeves).
Beyond the live-action films, Sonic the Hedgehog lore is surprisingly elaborate; decades of games, a variety of new gimmicks, tons of tie-in comics and cartoons have created a dense narrative web that appears almost impenetrable to outsiders. The Sonic fandom is fiercely, almost inexplicably dedicated to the blue hedgehog, despite the franchise’s wildly inconsistent output. The fact that the first Sonic film planned to use the now-legendary “ugly Sonic” until the internet bullied the studio into changing the design highlights how the franchise has struggled to maintain a consistent vision.
But who is Sonic’s dark rival, and where did he come from?
First introduced in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2 as a dark mirror to Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog later starred in his own spin-off, aptly titled Shadow the Hedgehog.
Shadow’s game was viewed by many fans and critics as a cringy, somewhat desperate attempt to make the Sonic franchise edgier, and presumably, more appealing to teens. Amusingly, Shadow was even armed with pistols and swear words during this period, which added to the impression that he was nothing more than “edgy Sonic.” However, the character has a tragic backstory that expands the lore of Sonic’s universe.
Shadow was artificially created in a lab, in an attempt to create the “ultimate life form” and cure rare diseases. This being the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the ultimate life form is a hedgehog, but Shadow is also spliced with alien DNA, taken from an interstellar tyrant, the Black Doom, who leads an army of aliens known as the Black Arms.
Shadow stands as a powerful rival to Sonic, able to match his speed by using jet-boosted shoes, which allows him to run with a distinctive sliding motion, like an ice skater. The trailer depicts him as a formidable foe, able to easily take down Sonic and his friends. Shadow also has the ability to teleport, which is taken from the games, but usually only under certain conditions.
Shadow was created by Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr. Robotnik—both characters are played by Jim Carrey, with the actor delivering an energetic performance that echoes the mania of his old, iconic roles, such as The Mask. Gerald Robotnik was convinced to create Shadow in the hope of curing a deadly illness suffered by his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik. Normally, Gerald doesn’t live to see Shadow unleashed, but he is still alive in the film.
Both he and Shadow shared a close bond with Maria, but she was tragically killed by the military, who locked Shadow inside a secure facility after he was deemed a threat to humanity.
In the games, Shadow tends to suffer from amnesia, and is manipulated by unsavory characters, such as Doctor Eggman and Black Doom, to fulfill their own aims.
In the upcoming film, Shadow looks to have the same origin story with Maria and Gerald Robotnik, but his emergence appears to motivate an unlikely truce between Robotnik and Sonic.
Shadow tends to be depicted as an antihero, a character who takes time to find himself and figure out where he stands, but usually chooses to ally with Sonic and his friends in the face of greater threats.
It remains to be seen if the live-action films will flesh out Shadow’s alien backstory, but for Sonic fans, it’s surely a relief just to see a faithful depiction of Shadow on the big screen.
The trailer shows Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles begrudgingly teaming up with Doctor Robotnik to stop Shadow, who is shown terrorizing a city. The team remarks that he’s the most powerful foe they’ve ever faced, and we see him absolutely pulverize the trio. It’s unclear at this point if Shadow will team up with Robotnik (even temporarily) as he does in the games, or if the movie will start with him at odds with the doctor.
One of the big reveals is that Gerald Robotnik, the ol’ Egghead’s grandfather and the creator of Shadow, makes an appearance at the very end, seemingly also played by Robotnik actor Jim Carrey.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is set to debut in theaters on December 20. It jumps off the second film’s post-credits cliffhanger, which shows Shadow waking up in a secret facility, having been kept in cryostasis for over 50 years. That’s par for the course for the character and matches his backstory from his debut in Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic 3 isn’t a 1:1 adaptation of the Dreamcast game, but is clearly borrowing some elements from it. Alyla Browne (who played the young Furiosa in the early stretch of this year’s Fury Road prequel) plays Maria Robotnik, a key figure in Shadow’s origin and a major character in the events of Sonic Adventure 2, so it’s clear the movie is drawing heavy inspiration from the 2001 platformer.
Reeves and Browne are making their series debuts with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but returning cast members include Ben Schwartz as the titular speedy hedgehog, Colleen O’Shaughnessey reprising her role as Tails both from the previous two movies and the video games, and Idris Elba as Knuckles. Hopefully it’s better than the spin-off TV show the character got earlier this year from which he was conspicuously absent for half the show. Jim Carrey is also coming out of his brief retirement to play Doctor Robotnik again, though the character has notably put on weight this time around in keeping with how the mad scientist looks in the games. With the bald head and the long mustache, the transformation is now complete. Let’s just hope the whole movie isn’t just wall-to-wall fat jokes.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will wrap up the Year of Shadow, a year-long celebration of Sonic’s rival, which also includes a remaster of Sonic Generations with a new Shadow Generations game that revisits the character’s history, set to launch on October 25. It’s been a good year for Shadow fans who have not had much to look forward to since Sega started sidelining the hedgehog in 2006.
