The first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dropped this past week, revealing our first look at Knuckles, as voiced by Idris Elba. And fans immediately went crazy for him. Though he was kept under wraps for most of the trailer, he appeared in its final clip, which saw Jim Carrey’s returning Dr. Robotnik siccing him on Ben Schwartz’s Sonic and his new pal Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey). The resulting battle looks to be pretty one-sided.
Sonic initially stood strong and told Knuckles that he wouldn’t take his power. “Do I look like I need your power?” the empowered echidna growled and blasted Sonic with a bolt of energy. It was the perfect way to introduce Knuckles into the movie franchise as it’s really hyped folks up to meet him properly when the full film gets here. For instance, Reddit user u/ImRetar was so inspired by the trailer he created this jaw-dropping fan art:
Though this is only the second movie, Sonic 2 looks to be closely drawing its depiction of Knuckles from his origins in the third video game in the Sega saga. In that one, Knuckles was established as the guardian of the Master Emerald, which controls all the chaos emeralds, and was manipulated into fighting with Sonic and Tails by Eggman, who sought the Emerald for himself. The trailer promises that things are going to go much the same way in live-action.
But though he might be destined to eventually end up on the side of the good guys, it looks like Knuckles is going to give Sonic a heck of a beating first. Also starring James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Adam Pally, reprising their roles from the hit 2020 film, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is on schedule to race into theaters on April 8, 2022.