The Internet Is Convinced Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Will Kill A Child Character, And Fans Had A Surprising Reaction

With just a few months to go until the threequel’s arrival on the 2024 movies schedule, the first Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer dropped yesterday, giving viewers their first taste of Keanu Reeves voicing Shadow following the character’s silent cameo at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. As the preview showed off, Shadow will be such a grave threat that Sonic, Tails and Knuckles will be forced to team up with Dr. Ivo Robotnik to defeat him. As if the stakes weren’t already high enough, now there are some who are convinced that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will kill a child character, which is leaving many fans thrilled.

For those confused about why a kid dying in an upcoming family-friendly movie would sound appealing to Sonic the Hedgehog fans, you first need to take note of both the above still from the trailer, as well as the below still of Shadow and a human male kneeling next what appears to be a dead body.

Following the preview’s release, it was revealed that the girl, played by Alyla Browne, is named Maria, and in the Sonic mythology, there’s a character named Maria Robotnik, the granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik and Ivo Robotnik’s cousin. Originally featured in the games Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria bonded with Shadow after he was created, but she was killed when the government organization G.U.N. raided the ARK complex. Before she died, Maria put Shadow in an escape pod and urged him to protect humanity. That incident left Shadow traumatized and nearly led to him destroying Earth in Sonic Adventures 2, but heeding Maria’s final words to him, he turned to the light and has allied himself with Sonic and the gang,

While it remains to be seen if Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s Maria will be part of the Robotnik family, those moments from the trailer are leading fans to think the girl will be killed, and they’re jazzed about it… because it honors the source material, not because they actively wish for a child to die. Actually, going off the posts being shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), it does actually seem to be what they crave. Case in point, look what @roCkPip21 said:

@HysterianYT shared their enthusiasm for Maria potentially biting the dust using a clip from the 2012 Aardman-animated movie The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!:

@BoosterNew shared their hope that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has the guts to do what Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom didn’t, referencing how although Arthur Curry’s infant son was killed in the comics, that didn’t happen in the DC Extended Universe:

Here we have @Fazbear4Smash6 using a classic SpongeBob Squarepants moment to note how the Sonic the Hedgehog and Five Nights at Freddy’s fandoms both take perverse joy in the same thing:

Finally, @Dxego_9 used a screenshot of Thanos from Avengers: Endgame to illustrate the kind of face they imagine the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 team members are making upon learning how many fans what a little girl to be killed:

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits theaters on December 20, so in a little under three months, we’ll learn if Alyla Browne’s Maria will follow in the footsteps of her video game counterpart or make it out of this movie unscathed. Pass a little time before then by streaming the first two Sonic the Hedgehog movies with your Paramount+ subscription.