Warning: spoilers for Sonic The Hedgehog’s big movie, in particular the ending and mid-credits scenes, are in play. If you’re interested in seeing the film unspoiled, you’ve gotta go fast; preferably to another point of our Sonic The Hedgehog coverage.
As it’s the first film in what could be a string of epic adaptations of the Sonic The Hedgehog storyline seen in Sega’s classic video game, the ending to the movie seems to flash some big arrows towards what a potential Sonic The Hedgehog 2 could be about.
Part of those flashing arrows is the two mid-credits stingers that accompany the resolution of the story proper in Sonic The Hedgehog, and the implications of both of those moments send the realm of possibility into an even greater scope of action. Not to mention, there’s a new character introduced that’ll have audiences cheering in surprised delight.
There’s a lot to talk about, and we’re going to get into it all shortly. So if you want to avoid spoilers for this exciting Sonic The Hedgehog movie, this is your last chance to leave before we take off in a blue blur of spoilers.
What Happens At The End Of Sonic The Hedgehog?
At the end of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) have a fast and furious chase around the world. From San Francisco to China, and eventually back to Green Hills, Montana, the bad doctor follows our furry friend through his ringed portals of transport with a flying machine that’s powered by one of Sonic’s electrified quills.
Winding up back in the small town that he’s secretly been living in for about a decade prior to the events of Sonic The Hedgehog, the existence of Sonic is confirmed to the townspeople; especially hedgehog theorist “Crazy Carl.” Ready to take out his small nemesis, Dr. Robotnik urges the town to stand aside and let things play out as they may.
But Sonic’s new friend, Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden,) stands in the way of the passed-out hedgehog and his would-be assassin. When asked why he’d do such a thing, Tom states it’s because he and Sonic are friends. Awoken from his wounded state, and super charged for a fight, Sonic rises up and tosses one of his rings behind Dr. Robotnik’s aircraft.
In true Sonic The Hedgehog fashion, our hero curls up into his trademark spinball formation and collides with Dr. Robotnik’s malicious flying machine. The force of Sonic’s impact not only smashes the vehicle apart, it knocks this evil villain into the dimension that Sonic was originally going to escape to: a planet full of mushrooms, presumed to be the Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles.
Sonic The Hedgehog’s Existence Is An Open Secret
With the final battle in Sonic The Hedgehog now concluded, the sleepy town of Green Hills, Montana now officially knows that Sonic does indeed exist. So in a potential Sonic The Hedgehog 2, we just might see our Sega mascot friend walking more openly in the streets of the town he saved.
Of course, this isn’t a totally clean getaway, as we see at the very end of Sonic The Hedgehog that the United States Government is still looking for Sonic. With the hopes of trying to lure him in for a “very casual” brunch type meeting, an official bribe is made to Tom and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) Wachowski, via one $50 gift card to The Olive Garden.
Graciously accepting this gift card as payment for a job well done, we learn that while the Wachowskis state that they don’t know where Sonic is, he’s actually closer than some would think. Living in a replica of his hidden cave from the beginning of the film, Sonic The Hedgehog is a resident in The Wachowski’s attic, along with some added touches of home. Sounds like a happy, completely closed ending, right? Well, there’s two pretty big reveals in the mid-credits sequences that would say otherwise.
Robotnik Is Currently In Exile On Another World
While we saw Dr. Robotnik sailing into another dimension in Sonic The Hedgehog, that’s obviously not the end of his story. It’ll take more than a mere crash landing and busted ship to stop a 300 IQ genius from getting home, and he’s pretty determined to make it back before Christmas.
Found shaving his head to look more like the traditional Robotnik/Eggman we know from the Sonic The Hedgehog games, he salvages the one thing he needs from his fallen ship: the charged hedgehog quill he obtained during an earlier encounter at Tom Wachowski’s house. Still powered up, the mad genius talks to himself as he slides down his goggles, and does an exaggerated robot walk away as we pan out and return to the credits.
Introducing Miles “Tails” Prower – Sonic’s Best Friend
An even bigger surprise comes from the second mid-credits sequence for Sonic The Hedgehog, as we shift focus to a random point in the woods. Presumably not too far from Green Hills, Montana, a portal opens and we see a slightly obscured view of a gold furred creature with some sort of tracker/power meter in its hands.
That creature is revealed to be Miles “Tails” Prower, a two tailed fox that serves as Sonic The Hedgehog’s chief sidekick/best friend that accompanies Sonic on his adventures starting in Sonic The Hedgehog 2. With a leap off of the cliff he’s perched on, and his twin tails whirling like a helicopter’s rotor, Tails flies away, ready to find his friend in our dimension.
What Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Could Do With These Story Threads
Should Sonic The Hedgehog 2 be given the greenlight after this weekend’s big debut, there’s a lot of places this potential sequel could head. Starting out with Tails and Sonic’s big reunion, we’ll more than likely see a flashback to their time on another world, as well as their continued adventures on the planet Earth.
Even more exciting is the fact that Dr. Robotnik is going to need something pretty powerful to get back to Earth. And knowing the Sonic The Hedgehog lore, there’s seven objects that could very well be used, individually or collectively, to zap Robotnik back to Earth: the Chaos Emeralds!
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 could finally introduce these vital plot devices to the Sonic franchise overall, triggering an adventure across the many worlds that Sonic’s had marked down on the map given to him by his former caretaker, Longbeak. Last, but not least, the opening flashback to Sonic The Hedgehog did a little bit of world-building by introducing, but not naming, the Echidna tribe that exists in the Sonic canon.
While the folks behind the Sonic The Hedgehog movie may wait until Sonic The Hedgehog 3 to dig deeper on that particular front, it’s hard not to argue that one of the masked assailants that tried to attack Baby Sonic and Longbeak in the beginning was none other than Knuckles, a frenemy Sonic would encounter in his third video game outing.
While Sonic The Hedgehog is a bit of an understated road comedy between two buddies, the building blocks for a great big adventure across dimensions are waiting to be built upon in the future. This weekend’s performance of Sonic The Hedgehog will be crucial to those plans, so if you’re eager to see Tails, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik back on the big screen again, make sure to see the film again (or for the first time) with friends and family, as it’s in theaters now!
