Sonic Movie 3: What to Hope for, and What to Expect

Last year, I put out a post about what to expect from Sonic Movie 3. But... that was also last year. A lot has changed, and now there's a lot more info in about Sonic 3. But if one thing is certain about Sonic 3, it's that Shadow will be gritty. Sonic will have a tougher time facing his enemies than he did in Sonic 2. And Maria WILL DIE.

While I've heard some argue that Sonic 3 won't stick to the letter of SA2 ("Sonic Adventure 2"), I'm hopeful that it does... to a point, of course. SA2 could easily make a great movie in itself. And while Sonic Movie 1 was exactly like NO Sonic game (I think the video game movies of circa 2020 all had very similar "trying to be original and make it like a realistic movie, not a video game" vibes), Sonic 2 had much more distinct callbacks to all of the very first Sonic games and SA1. Given that they got the most famous early games taken care of in that movie, what's to stop them from making several callbacks to SA2 in Sonic 3?

Photos leaked a while back (and I'm sure more have leaked since then) of GUN trucks outside an important-looking building at night. For anyone familiar with SA2's plot, this is most certainly a scene that will feature the building (a bank) being robbed by a hedgehog, and GUN soldiers arrest who they believe is the thief.

If we're pretty much promised this scene, as well as the ending of Sonic 2 that showed Shadow's chamber, as well as the announced cast of Sonic 3 featuring an actress who will OBVIOUSLY play Maria, it's safe to say some memorable parts of SA2 will be critical to the plot of Sonic Movie 3.

As for the famous "faker" dialogue? Well, all we can do is hope....

Other things we can hope for is the appearance of more starring characters than just Shadow. For a while, people (including myself) have hoped Shadow would end up being joined by Rouge and possibly Amy. It'd make sense, right? They played pretty big roles in SA2. However, rumor has it Sonic 3 will feature neither of them. This might prove false, of course, but if neither of them are in it, that has the potential to shred the idea that Sonic 3 will stick to SA2's plot. Without Rouge to accompany Shadow or Eggman (who is returning), her "lackey" role might fall on Agent Stone, who was last seen in the Sonic Cinematic Universe blending in among GUN soldiers. As for Amy--honestly, it's up in the air if she belongs in the SCU yet or not. While her appearance would be a fun treat and could be helpful to whatever story Sonic 3 will tell, it's likelier her appearance will also be unnecessary, and therefore she'll probably be left out of the SCU until a fourth Sonic movie.

As for what really to expect from Sonic 3--well, as I said before, Shadow will be gritty. And Maria will die.

With the release of the rebooted Sonic Generations, now combined with Shadow's own version of the game (thus, Sonic X Shadow Generations), there has been a lot of callback to Shadow's own game back in the 2000s--the game that laid down his backstory, as well as a darker version of Shadow many of us came to both accept and ignore: a grieving, ruthless hedgehog who totes a gun, rides a motorcycle, and curses.

Anyone else except me remember the cursing?

Shadow Generations has promised plenty of references to the "Shadow the Hedgehog" game, even showing off Doom's Eye in a trailer at one point. And with Shadow so famously remembered to have that gun and motorcycle, and with plenty of hype being placed around his connection to and forced separation from Maria, it's likelier than not that the movie will feature this famously gritty Shadow. (Not to mention, rumor has it the European countries have already rated Sonic 3 with their equivalent of the US's PG-13. Of course, said rating could be due to only a couple dark moments rather than the movie as a whole.)

About the aforementioned "couple dark moments," one such moment could very easily be Maria's death. Shadow's story has long been opened with Maria shoving him to safety while she takes a fatal bullet. Given the past Sonic movies' prologue-esque openings (Sonic 1: Longclaw hurrying baby Sonic to safety; Sonic 2: Eggman plotting his escape from the Mushroom Planet and meeting Knuckles), Sonic 3 will almost certainly open with the infamous scene of Maria's sacrifice. And given Maria's age (she's more or less 12), regardless if she's killed on or offscreen, a 12-year-old being murdered by a ruthless GUN soldier while Shadow watches in horror will certainly a frightening scene for younger or sensitive viewers. I'm not sure how it will be portrayed, but one thing to expect: it will be emotional. And dark. After all, that murder is what sets Shadow on the path everyone knows him to be on... and frankly loves him for.

One thing we can't really expect yet is the human involvement. The "Knuckles" TV series was promised to be a sweet, funny, classically Sonic story about a tribal echidna warrior finding his place in our strange world. At least, the trailer said as much. And the first two episodes delivered... but the last four revolved heavily around Wade, and all other humans (except for the GUN agents and Wade's father) were not very compelling characters. In essence, we got a lame comedy series branded as a Sonic action series. So what does that say about Sonic Movie 3?

For one, if Paramount received plenty of negative feedback over Knuckles, hopefully they'll cut any predominantly human-related scenes from Sonic 3. I'm pretty sure filming has been completed, so one can hope they'll remove as many human scenes as they can. (They were wise to do this with some Sonic 2 scenes, though the scenes that remained were largely disliked by diehard Sonic fans. I found them funny, actually.) However, I don't believe many of the actors announced have voiceover roles for animal characters, so who's to say where they'll go with the ever-present human subplot.

I can understand so many humans are given important roles in the SCU, though. I've noticed people who aren't fans of Sonic seemed to enjoy human scenes MORE. In that sense, the human scenes are there for a reason: if you like Sonic, but your brother or sister doesn't, and you want to watch a movie together, Sonic is still there for both of you. Even if you don't like the human scenes, your sibling might. And you can bond over Sonic regardless.

Okay, so if you do have a Sonic-hating sibling, maybe that was too mushy of a visual. But you get the idea.

With all that said, Sonic Movie 3 will hopefully be the film Sonic fans have been excited for... and the film we need after Knuckles blew 2024's wink to "Sonic 3 and Knuckles."