First Sonic 3 footage teases a Sonic and Robotnik team-up to take down Shadow

The first footage of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 may have debuted behind closed doors at CinemaCon 2024, but reports from the convention floor have already teased what to expect from the Blue Blur’s upcoming threequel.

According to IGN, the footage kicks off with Jim Carrey’s Doctor Robotnik lamenting his defeat at the end of the last movie. He apparently has ballooned to a weight not too dissimilar to his egg-shaped game counterpart. 

"[I had] the ultimate power in the palm of my hands and now I sit here binging on carbohydrates," Robotnik says. A quick word from Agent Stone – seemingly a discovery of Shadow – helps perk up the good doctor, however.

The rest of the footage purportedly shows Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles up against Shadow. The teaser also apparently sets up Robotnik and Sonic combining forces to take down the mysterious new hedgehog.

Unfortunately, still no news yet on who will be voicing Shadow. The character, who first debuted in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2, is a fan favorite who was teased during the Sonic 2 post-credits scene. 

Executive producer Toby Ascher recently told Paste that the upcoming Knuckles TV series will complement the "Avengers-level" events of Sonic 3.

"We knew that, with Shadow coming into Sonic 3 and some of the bigger things that we want to do, the Sonic franchise on the movie side is going to be these Avengers-level events. They’re going to be these big, exciting stories that have a lot of different characters," Ascher said.

"And so what television did for us is it gave us time to go into some of the more supporting characters in depth and really build them out in cool ways."

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 speeds into cinemas on December 20. The Knuckles series, starring Idris Elba as the prickly echidna, hits Paramount Plus on April 26. For more, check out the upcoming movies and new TV shows heading your way.