Am I the Only Person Who Realizes Just How Dark Sonic the Hedgehog’s Lore Is?

As a major Sonic the Hedgehog fan, I truly don’t think the average person knows how dark the Blue Blur’s lore can get. The subject is on my mind because of the recent release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. While the movie does retcon Shadow’s origin story in some ways, I was surprised that it didn’t try to rewrite the death of Maria, the young granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik. As a rare human death in the movie adaptation of Sonic lore, fans are rightly celebrating Sonic 3 for keeping this dark but significant moment… but it still doesn’t scratch the surface of how messed-up Sonic‘s story has gotten elsewhere.

Sonic‘s darkest stories have always come from the comics, with two main continuities in the Archie Comics and IDW eras. Archie’s Sonic is undoubtedly the darker of the two, which makes sense, since it was inspired by the highly dystopian Sonic the Hedgehog TV show. Archie had an unprecedented amount of free rein at the time and could push the boundaries of the franchise, leading to some surprisingly dark twists.

Fans who are only familiar with the games and Paramount’s movie franchise will undoubtedly be shocked by what the comics did to Sonic and his friends. Indeed, even though IDW’s run is much lighter in tone, it’s worth noting that the contents of those comics are still darker than anything Sonic 3 attempted.

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Robotnik and Sonic Both Commit Murder in Archie’s Continuity

Maria Might Have Been Killed Accidently in Sonic 3, But That’s Nothing

Sonic 3’s depiction of Shadow’s origin adopts the lore from the Sonic Adventure 2 game. But while Sonic Adventure 2 might have introduced Maria just to tragically kill her off, Archie lore created a whole Robotnik family tree just to chop it down. In Sonic the Hedgehog #105 (Karl Bollers, Mike Gallagher, Ron Lim and Nelson Ribeiro), Dr. Eggman (a robotic copy of Robotnik with his memories and personality) kills the House of Ivo’s Lady Agnes Hopkins in front of her granddaughter. Having threatened to kill Agnes in order to manipulate Hope Hopkins, Eggman gets what he wants and then carries out the execution anyway, leaving Agnes’ robotocized body as a statue to intimidate his enemies (the statue is later destroyed by a nuclear explosion.)

However, murder isn’t confined to Sonic the Hedgehog‘s villain. In Archie continuity, Sonic is the one who kills Robotnik. In Sonic the Hedgehog #50, Robotnik has finally learned the secret location of Sonic’s home. Robotnik is about to destroy it with his aptly named Ultimate Annihilator when Sonic hits him so hard that he careens into the weapon, causing it to explode and kill him. Of course, Sonic’s defenders will say he wasn’t explicitly trying to kill Robotnik, but sorry – it was absolutely murder. Enraged by the attack on his home, Sonic wasn’t exactly being careful about what happened to the villain.

It’s worth noting that – after the original Robotnik was replaced by his robotic copy, Dr. Eggman – the villain absolutely did attack Sonic’s home. Knothole Village was burned to the ground, with Sonic’s allies being kidnapped to convert into fuel. A badly beaten Sonic had no way to defeat Eggman’s latest robot suit, but the villain left him alive just so he could truly suffer the loss of his home and friends.

Robotnik was not afraid to mess with Sonic’s mind in Archie continuity – for example framing him for his girlfriend Sally Acorn’s murder in Sonic the Hedgehog #47, from Ken Penders and Art Mawhinney.

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Archie’s Sonic Explores Fates Worse Than Death

If You Like Tails, Maybe Skip This Section…

So Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog has plenty of death, but it also includes some fates that are far, far worse. In issue #200 (Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley), Sonic once again defeats his nemesis after another one of Robotnik’s plans fails, but after sustaining so many losses, Robotnik suffers a breakdown. His mental break is so disturbing that even Sonic is at a loss for words and can only stand there helplessly as he watches Eggman scream. In fact, the event is so scarring for Sonic that it haunts him for many issues afterward.

Eggman wasn’t the only villain to experience a special kind of torture. In a character-defining flashback, fans learned that the wizard Ixis Naughus was “born” from the collision of spells that were cast by four wizards fighting for supremacy. Somehow, this also trapped them inside his mind. Eventually, they regain consciousness and begin mocking Ixis. This constant abuse from within his own mind takes a mental and physical toll on him, pushing the villain to beg Sonic and his allies for help.

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Even heroes have experienced fates worse than death in Sonic lore. When Tails is captured by Mammoth Mogul, the villain creates a fake version of the young hero so Sonic won’t suspect his absence. Fans only find this out in Sonic the Hedgehog #114 (Karl Bollers, Ken Penders, Ron Lim, Dawn Best and Jeff Axer), revealing that Tails has been tortured for months so that Mammoth Mogul can siphon his power. Far, far worse, the fake Tails realizes he isn’t ‘real’ shortly before vanishing from existence. In my pick for the darkest Sonic moment ever, Sonic is left with the knowledge that a copy of his friend realized his entire life was a lie before dying in his arms. Here’s your reminder that in the comics, Tails is eleven years old.

Paramount’s Sonic 3 Isn’t Even Darker Than IDW’s Lighter Continuity

If IDW’s Sonic Is Darker Than You, Then You’re Not Dark

Even the much more light-hearted IDW Sonic continuity is darker than Paramount’s Sonic 3 movie. Surprisingly, I feel like there’s one instance where IDW’s Eggman exhibits much more twisted tendencies than his Archie counterpart did. The chilling moment comes from the Metal Virus Saga. At one point, there’s a scene where Eggman is gleefully experimenting on live animals who are cowering in terror – a twisted moment that hints how the Metal Virus Saga intends to go on.

The Metal Virus Saga was essentially Sonic‘s spin on the zombie genre, with Robotnik’s virus spreading from person to person. In a moment I never expected from IDW, Vector the Crocodile has to make the brutal choice of sacrificing an infected friend for the safety of everyone else. Again, a much more purposeful moment than Maria’s movie death. While IDW isn’t as prone to carrying through its dark fates as Archie, there’s also a notable moment in Daniel Barnes and Jack Lawrence’s Scrapnik Island where Sonic is strapped to an operating table and threatened with what’s essentially a digital lobotomy.

While it’s impressive that Paramount let Sonic the Hedgehog 3 get a little dark by adapting Maria’s death from Sonic Adventure 2, anyone who was surprised by that moment will be shocked to discover just how dark Sonic the Hedgehog lore gets in the comics, with murder, torture and beloved children’s characters suffering fates worse than death.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Movie(s)

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1996), Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

First Film

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1996)