It’s safe to say the trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has been received a lot more positively than the one for the first movie. Sonic’s bizarre and offputting original design resulted in a flood of mockery, eventually causing the release date to be put back while they completely reworked how he looked.
But Paramount has obviously learned its lesson, with the sequel’s trailer impressing fans in all the right ways. We get to see Sonic and Tails’ first team-up, Robotnik’s killer mustache, and the badass debut of Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna.
Sonic fans are a notoriously excitable bunch and have reacted to Knuckles with sheer joy on Twitter. Here’s a sampling of their reactions.
It appears that the movie will loosely follow the plot of classic Genesis games Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. These saw Robotnik out to steal the Chaos Emeralds, with his plan involving convincing Knuckles that Sonic is the real threat. Since those games, the pair have been friends (though still have a hint of rivalry), so expect there to be a big team-up in the sequel’s finale.
But I can’t disagree with anything the fans have said here. Knuckles looks great, sounds incredible, and what we’ve seen of him in action more than does him justice. If the fight scene shown in the trailer maintains that level of quality we’re in for a truly wild ride next year.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 spindashes into theaters on April 8, 2022.