Anna Daniels
CS Soapbox: How Sonic’s Mid-Credits Scene Sets Up Sonic 2
The time has finally come for the big screen debut of Sega’s lovable blue speedster Sonic the Hedgehog and critics and audiences were happily surprised with the end result, praising the tone and Sonic’s visual design, along with Jim Carrey’s performance harking back to his early career hits and racing to a $57 million opening, setting the record for the biggest opening weekend of a video game film. While not many talks of a follow-up have been discussed leading up to the film, the filmmakers surprised fans with a mid-credits sequence setting up a potentially exciting sequel, so let’s discuss the road a second installment can travel.
*Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead for Sonic the Hedgehog*
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The end of the film sees Sonic and Dr. Ivo Robotnik engage in a globe-trotting fight, going from The Great Wall in China to the pyramids of Egypt before ending up back at Green Hills, Montana. After gaining his strength back, Sonic is able to use one of his rings, which create portals to wherever the holder pictures, to send Robotnik to a planet inhabited only by mushrooms, seemingly trapping him there forever, with the US government erasing records of everything and Sonic living with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) happily ever after.
However, before the credits roll, we see that Robotnik, aka Eggman, has shaved his head and grown his mustache out in the vein of the source material design and still has a quill from Sonic’s body, which he plans on using to try and get back to Earth to get revenge on Sonic. But as the credits begin rolling, audiences get the biggest tease yet as we see a ring portal emerge in some unknown part of Earth and a certain double-tailed fox named Miles “Tails” Prower emerge in search of the blue speedster, who he doesn’t seem to actually know just yet.
In the games, Sonic has been friends with Tails for a long time, helping him overcome his anxieties about his double-tails, as he was picked on for them when he was younger, and the two have fought Dr. Eggman many times. With Tails seeming to not know who Sonic is just yet, looking for him to help solve a crisis on their home world, a sequel could see this friendship begin to build as the two team up to solve whatever the crisis is that is happening on their home planet. What could this crisis be?
Well, the start of the film saw Sonic come to our world to escape a tribe of echidnas who sought to use his powers for their own means. In the games, the most notable echidna was Knuckles, who is the only living descendant of a tribe of echidnas on Angel Island who protect the iconic gemstone known as the Master Emerald, which can control the powerful Chaos Emeralds. For those unfamiliar with the games, the Chaos Emeralds are essentially the Sonic equivalent of the Infinity Stones, which when put together can be used for dangerous means and Eggman has attempted to use to conquer the world numerous times.
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With Sonic’s world in the film appearing to be on an island and Robotnik learning inklings of the power Sonic has by himself, it would be very easy for a sequel to set up the existence of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. Knuckles’ first appearance in the games saw him team up with Robotnik after being tricked into thinking that Sonic is trying to steal the Master Emerald, and though that explanation wouldn’t work in an immediate sequel, given Knuckles’ tribe is after Sonic and his powers, it would be just as easy for the echidna to travel to the mushroom planet in search of Sonic and find Eggman with Sonic’s quill.
The two could then team up to track down Sonic, with Knuckles introducing Eggman to the concept of the Master Emerald and, with proper franchise pacing, could lead to a third installment in which the doctor has stolen the gem and the echidna realizes he was on the wrong side and must team up with the blue hedgehog and Tails to hunt down the other Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik can get his hands on them all.
While some may have viewed the first film as not very narratively faithful to the games themselves, the filmmakers have headed down a path that have given them the opportunity to not only set up a more faithful story for longtime fans of the franchise, but also to help introduce general audiences to the more exotic and mystical nature of the source material.
What would you like to see in a Sonic the Hedgehog sequel? Did you like the first film? Let us know below!
Written by: CS
