The introduction of two spoilery new characters at the end of the Sonic 3 movie may have spoiled where the mega-movie franchise will go with its story in Sonic 4.
Following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it did not take long for Paramount to announce it would be dipping its toe into the world of SEGA's beloved fleet-footed mascot with a fourth film in its ever-expanding on-screen universe.
The fourth film was announced mere days after Sonic 3 premiered and is set to race into theaters in the spring of 2027. While plot details are being kept under wraps, Sonic 4's exact story could be sitting right there under fans' noses already.
Sonic 3 Potentially Gave Away Sonic 4 Spoilers
Fans wanting to know what will happen in the Sonic 4 movie may be able to get a head start on the film by looking closely at the post-credits scenes in Sonic 3.
After battling and eventually allying himself with Keanu Reeves' Shadow the Hedgehog (who is seemingly alive by the end of the movie), Sonic 3 came to a close, with Sonic himself lost in the forests of New York.
Having missed the finish line from the race he, Knuckles, and Tails were partaking in, Sonic 3's post-credits scene sees Ben Schwartz's Blue Blur cross paths with a metallic facsimile of himself known as Metal Sonic.
As he attempts to defeat the single Sonic Bot standing in his way, several others power on in the forest surrounding him.
With nowhere left to turn and hope of escape dwindling, a giant hammer comes swinging across the sky, smashing all the Metal Sonics surrounding the movie's hero, revealing yet another beloved Sonic game character, Amy Rose (confirming fan theories that she would be in the movie).
While to some, this may seem like a simple tease of two new characters set to make a mark on Sonic the Hedgehog 4, fans of the Sonic games will know this could mean Sonic 4 is about to go off-the-walls with its plot.
Both Amy and Metal Sonic happened to debut in the same game in SEGA's long-running series of super-speed platformers, arriving in the 1993 SEGA CD classic, Sonic CD.
While a direct adaptation of Sonic CD has not been confirmed for Sonic 4, Sonic 3 very much adapted much of the story of Sonic Adventure 2 (aka Shadow The Hedgehog's debut game) after introducing Shadow in the post-credits scene of the movie prior (read more Sonic 3 movie spoilers here).
So, if Sonic 4 were to continue that trend with the debut of Amy and Metal Sonic at the end of Sonic 3, then Sonic CD feels like the most natural place for the movie franchise to go.
In that game, Sonic is forced to travel across time and space to stop the evil Dr. Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey in the movies) from acquiring the mysterious Time Stones in a plan to control the flow of time.
On his adventures, Sonic travels to seven different colorful locales, tackling a past, present, and future version of each one. Along the way, he encounters Metal Sonic, a Robotnik creation who is used to bait the Blue Blur into facing the evil doctor by kidnapping his self-proclaimed girlfriend, Amy Rose.
Amy's damsel in distress storyline may be a little outdated for the Sonic 4 movie, especially as the character has been given more agency as the years have gone on, but Sonic CD's time-traveling, planet-hopping milieu feels like the perfect place for the movie franchise to go with its next epic adventure.
Why Sonic CD Could Be Perfect for the Sonic Movies?
As the Sonic movie series has gone on, it has slowly done away with the original-to-the-movies Earth/human-based stories and started to lean more into the established lore of the Sonic games.
What better way to dive into the deep end of that Sonic canon than a colorful adventure through time and space, doing away with the modern-day human story entirely and going all-out with established locations/worlds from the Sonic games?
This could then potentially open the door to Sonic's even more off-the-wall characters like Big the Cat, Silver, or Cream the Rabbit (who previously appeared in Sonic 3 merch) to join in on the big-screen fun.
While nothing concrete has been revealed about Sonic the Hedgehog 4, it feels as though the franchise has been priming itself for this moment since the very beginning. And if the Amy Rose and Metal Sonic inclusions at the end of Sonic 3 were any indication, then a full-on Sonic CD adaptation may be in order.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now playing in theaters worldwide.
