I don’t want him to be dead but it would objectively be incredibly hilarious if his last words were “see you later, haters!!” Like imagine saying that and then immediately fucking dying. It’s like that Dril tweet.
Going into the movie, I knew that the end credits scene here would add in either Metal Sonic or Shadow. I predicted the former would get added; they made a big deal of Robotnik using one of Sonic’s quills to empower his machines in the first movie, so I figured that plot point would reach its natural conclusion with Metal Sonic being built. I also feared that, because of that, Shadow would likely end up becoming a literal Sonic clone and more or less taking Metal Sonic’s role if he was chosen as the end credits character instead, stripping him of all the traits that make him unique.
As the movie progressed, I slowly but surely realized that Shadow would end up being the end credits character over Metal Sonic. Not only was the quill’s plot relevance almost completely dropped very early on, but Robotnik never displayed any desire to build any new robots (or at least not something like Metal Sonic), instead relying on his pre-existing stash. The final nail in the coffin was the utterly baffling and unnecessary wedding scene that only was in the plot in order to establish that G.U.N. exists in this universe, an organization that Shadow has heavyties to.
But fellas. I am SOglad I was wrong in my prediction and SOexcited to see what they do with Shadow going forward. Like I said, my biggest fear was that he’d be a clone of Sonic made by Robotnik and completely scrap his original backstory and arc for being too dark and too weird for a Hollywood kid’s movie. So hearing the very quick rundown they give on his situation (even if it felt a little forced) made me incredibly happy. Edgy the Hedgy is here, babyyyy! I don’t expect a one-to-one adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, but I do know that they’ve done their homework and will at least capture the same tone and emotional beats, just like they did with Knuckles.
I also wonder if they’ll mention anything about the Black Arms, even if just in passing. The way these movies are set up means that they would fit in surprisingly well, now that I think about it. Sega has been verypicky about referencing the Black Arms in recent years, though, so they might just ignore that aspect of Shadow’s backstory. I also wonder how they’ll explain Shadow being an anthro hedgehog while supposedly being from Earth. Sonic X also had to deal with this problem and their solution was to just not mention it, but I feel like Paramount will at least try to provide some kind of explanation for it.
