Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Unleashes First Look At Shadow
While they didn’t have the cultural impact of the recent Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Sonic the Hedgehog films have done an impressive job of bringing everyone’s favorite blue blur into the real world (quite literally) alongside human companion James Marsden.
The first two films were modest hits, and the sequel film introduced us to fan-favorite Sonic frenemy Knuckles the Echidna. Now, it looks like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will continue the trend: a recent image reveals that the film will feature the relatively notorious character Shadow the Hedgehog.
First Look At Shadow
If you’re a Shadow superfan, you may be disappointed by how little of the character we can actually see. The image merely reveals the character from the torso down, and aside from his prominent gloves and shoes, most of his body is obscured by (fittingly enough) shadows.
That means that fans will have to wait a bit longer to see whether his design in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be true to the game design like in the teaser or if (like we saw with Sonic’s much hated original film design), the animation team decided to do something different.
Long Wait For Sonic 3
Fans hoping to learn more about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 have certainly had to wait a very long time. Perhaps sensing that they had a hit franchise in their gloved hands, Paramount Pictures went ahead and gave the green light to the third film months before Sonic the Hedgehog 2 premiered.
Of course, that faith seems to have paid off: before Mario knocked his longtime rival from the top spot with his own movie, the second Sonic film had the honor of being North America’s highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time.
What Is Sonic the Hedgehog 3 About?
But what is Sonic the Hedgehog 3 actually going to be about? The film is currently slated for a December 2024 release, and at this time, we know very little about what the plot is going to be.
A mid-credits scene in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 teased the arrival of Shadow the Hedgehog, and fans understandably assumed that he would be the primary antagonist of the third film.
Shadow’s Role?
This latest image gives us our first real look at Shadow, but we still don’t know what role he will play or whether he will be joined by other characters such as his longtime video game companion Rouge the Bat.
Certainly, gamers are curious about whether Shadow’s portrayal in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be relatively faithful to the character’s introduction in the video game Sonic Adventure 2.
That game portrayed Shadow as an artificial hedgehog created by Dr. Robotnik’s grandfather. His dark heritage and some mixed-up memories meant that Shadow was destined to become a gun-toting antihero.
And it will be fascinating to see if Paramount wants to bring such a prickly (no pun intended) character to their kid-friendly franchise without softening his sharper edges.
More Of The Same From The Franchise?
At the very least, fans of the film franchise can breathe a sigh of relief that Jeff Fowler will be directing Sonic the Hedgehog 3. He directed the first two hit films, and we have every reason to believe that he can strike lightning a third time with this successful franchise.
We don’t yet know which cast members are returning, but it’s a safe bet we’ll see more of James Marsden and Jim Carrey, both of whom are perfect in their very different roles.
Sonic And Knuckles
Similarly, we’re guaranteed to get more of Ben Schwartz as Sonic and more of Idris Elba as Knuckles, especially with the character’s TV spinoff around the corner.
As long as this third film keeps Ken Penders away from the production (if you know, you know), we’re confident that third third cinematic Sonic adventure will be the best one yet.
If not, well, it’s not too late to campaign for a reboot of the SatAM cartoon, is it?
