There are a few elements that make the Sonic the Hedgehog movies stand out. Chief among them is the casting: Ben Schwartz deserves all the flowers for his performance as Sonic, while Idris Elba and Keanu Reeves bring fan-favorite characters like Knuckles the Echinda and Shadow the Hedgehog to life. But the biggest draw has to be Jim Carrey as Sonic’s nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
Carrey’s been a major part of all three Sonic the Hedgehog films, even cutting his planned retirement short to star in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Robotnik ends up joining forces with Sonic to try and stop Shadow’s rampage, but then learns that his grandfather Gerald (also played by Carrey) is alive. Eventually, the two Robotniks join forces to launch the massive Eclipse Cannon. Robotnik once again turns on his grandfather when he learns that Gerald wants to use the cannon to blow up the Earth, and sacrifices his own life to stop it. If the Sonic movies want to keep going, they should honor this death.
Having Dr. Robotnik Cheat Death for a Second Time Would Cheapen the Stakes of the Sonic Movies

Image via Paramount

This isn’t the first time Robotnik has seemingly been presumed dead. In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, he taps into the power of the Chaos Emeralds to try and take over the world, but then Sonic ends up using the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and destroy Robotnik’s latest machine, seeing him seemingly topple to his death. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 reveals that Robotnik survived, hiding under the ocean in one of his drones.

But, it also sets up a situation that Robotnik wouldn’t be able to survive: he helps Shadow move the Eclipse Cannon out of the Earth’s range when its core starts to melt down, and is still aboard when it explodes. Surviving a fall from a massive robot on Earth is one thing, but surviving the explosion of a massively weaponized space station in space would be pushing things, even for a franchise like Sonic the Hedgehog. It would also cheapen Robotnik’s big hero moment. Going out saving the world isn’t just a great way to close out his story, but it also gives the final battle some much-needed dramatic weight.
Dr. Robotnik’s Legacy Lives on in Other Sonic Characters

Even if Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the last time Dr. Robotnik’s seen on screen, he will still have an impact. Through all the Sonic movies, there’s been one person who’s been close to Robotnik: Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub). Stone and Robotnik’s dynamic led to one of Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s best scenes, where Robotnik announces that Stone was “the only person who cared about him” and called him a “syco-friend” instead of a “sycophant.” Bringing back Robotnik for future movies would damage that moment, but that doesn’t mean that Stone couldn’t return. Apart from Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter), Stone is one of the few human characters in the Sonic movies that’s worth following. Future Sonic movies could also build on the brief rapport that Stone and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessy) had, especially since it was one of the more surprising pairings in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

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The mid-credits sequence in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also teases that Robotnik’s legacy will continue from beyond the grave. Sonic is attacked by a legion of Metal Sonics, and, in the Sonic games, Metal Sonic tends to be one of Robotnik’s more dangerous creations as he’s built to match the Blue Blur’s speed, and then eventually kill him. Having Metal Sonic be the antagonist of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4 would be a great way to showcase Robotnik’s skill as a mad scientist without having him around, and further cement the rivalry between himself and Sonic. Screenwriters Josh Casey and Pat Miller have also been upfront about wanting to take the Sonic franchise in a more intergalactic direction, with concept art backing them up. Sonic and his friends have faced cosmic threats before, so this would be a good way to continue the franchise and not be reliant on one villain. If the Sonic filmmakers want to make an omelette (or, in this case, a movie franchise based on a video game), they’ll have to break an Eggman.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Release Date

December 20, 2024

Runtime

110 minutes

Director

Jeff Fowler

Writers

Josh Miller, Patrick Casey, John Whittington

Producers

Neal H. Moritz, Tim Miller, Toru Nakahara, Tommy Gormley, Toby Ascher, Haruki Satomi, Hitoshi Okuno, Yukio Sugino