Sonic the Hedgehog3comes to the screen with the promise of a stellar new character. Just asSonic 2launched with Knuckles as its primary selling point,Sonic 3puts Shadow the Hedgehog front and center. Shadow has been around for over two decades now, but he often changes regularly between portrayals. Unlike a lot of Sonic characters, Shadow got to star in a game. That title,Shadow the Hedgehog, bizarrely armed Shadow with a selection of realistic and fictional firearms. CouldSonic the Hedgehog 3follow that example?
TheSonicmovies are in the upperechelon of video game adaptations. They’re not mind-blowing accomplishments, but they are well-crafted children’s films that brought the beloved characters to an excited new generation while also pleasing longtime fans. Their quality supports the idea that video game movies have moved toward a point of normalcy. The genre can exist alongside every other kind of movie with some good entries and some bad ones. Given some luck and a lot of hard work,Sonic 3might even stand among the best of the best.
Release Date
June 05, 2025
As allSonicfans know,Shadow the Hedgehogstarredthe titular ultimate life form in a follow-up to his debut inSonic Adventure 2. While it maintained many of the mechanics of that title, it also added third-person shooting gameplay that was more-or-less completely new to the franchise. Tails and Eggmans' levels inSonic Adventure 2arguably had gunplay elements, but they were far less explicit with their use.Shadow the Hedgehogwas Sega’s attempt to make aSonicgame for a more adult audience. They aimed to earn a T for Teen rating from the ESRB rather than the series' typical E for Everyone. The 2005 game featured human enemies that Shadow could violently murder, light swears, and an evil narrative path that would allow players to become the villain. The most striking visual element, established in the game’s opening cutscene and beyond, is that Shadow wields several realistic firearms in his quest.The talking hedgehog armed himselfwith real-world pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, and even a minigun.
TheSonicmovies feature firearms
Though they’re never prominent, the two existingSonic the Hedgehogmovieshave a few guns lying around. A PG rating has no specific restriction on characters carrying or wielding guns, allowing the franchise to use them as occasional props. Wade Whipple, the comic relief deputy sheriff of Green Hills, wears a SIG-Sauer P226 pistol on his hip while he’s on the job in the first entry. He brandished the weapon in a scene near the end of the film, giving the audience a more detailed look. The soldiers who respond to Sonic’s appearance walk around with standard-issue M4A1 carbines. Guns are less common in the sequel. Wade still has a holstered pistol (though it’s a different brand), but the G.U.N. soldiers ironically dispense with the weapon their name refers to. They mostly use Tasers with a few mysterious futuristic-looking laser weapons in wide shots. The film does feature a few mounted heavy machine guns and atleast one M1 Abrams tankwith its usual armaments. These weapons are almost never fired, but they are set dressing in various scenes.
TheSonicmovies love to make references
While theSonicmovies aren’t direct adaptations of the games, they are full of callbacks and references. Letting Shadow wield a gun would be a straightforward nodtoShadow the Hedgehog. That could be reason enough to allow Shadow to snatch Wade’s Glock 17 out of his holster and attempt to wield it against Tails. Of course, this is a kid’s movie, so he probably won’t do that. It’s far more likely that the film will, at some point, reference Shadow’s history with guns in a more comedic manor. It was always pretty funny to see the animated woodland creature pump an MP5 like a shotgun with the moon at his back inShadow the Hedgehog’s opening cutscene. He’s always been the poster hog for trying too hard. Using guns also creates a slight logical flaw. Shadow is capable of running much faster than a bullet can fly and dealing more damage than a rocket-propelled grenade. That’s all before considering his absurd supernatural powers, which leave him somewhere in the realm ofaDragon Ball Zcharacter. There’s no reason for him to use a gun. Lampshading the very funny visual by addressing the logical fallacy might be the ideal way to play with this element of Shadow’s history.
Giving a cartoon character a gun has always been a shortcut to comedy. It’s funny when Shadow, a hedgehog who unironically celebrates taking candy from babies in his debut appearance, picks up a M1911A1 and peels out on a custom motorcycle. Shadow doesn’t need a gun for anyreason other than comedy. If it comes up at all, it’ll likely be quick, silly, and good for a laugh. In that way, the question of Shadow’s gun ownership is a microcosm of theSonicmovie franchise as a whole.
