With the recent release of Sonic the Hedgehog's very first live-action movie, the character is beginning to reach the very peak of his popularity. He's always been one of the most popular video game characters, but now Sonic is reaching all kinds of new audiences.
As he becomes more mainstream, it becomes more fun to begin comparing him to other fictional characters with super speed. Here are five comic book speedsters that are faster than Sonic the Hedgehog and five who couldn't keep up.
10 Slower: Speed Demon
Speed Demon is a character from Marvel comics that most fans probably haven't heard of. That's because he is utterly unremarkable. A member of the alternate-universe team known as the Squadron Supreme, Speed Demon is the team's resident speedster. Originally, the Squadron was meant as an allegory for the Justice League, with Speed Demon playing the role of the Flash.
He doesn't live up to that comparison whatsoever. Sonic the Hedgehog would be able to run circles around this clown. Sonic's speed can exceed the speed of sound. Speed Demon's maximum velocity doesn't get close to his small, furry, would-be competitor.
9 Faster: Speed
Speed is a member of the Young Avengers in the comic book world that Marvel has created. The white-haired teenager serves as the resident speedster of the team. Marvel isn't exactly known for its speedsters, with Quicksilver pretty much being the only one of note in the whole universe.
That being said, Speed is an incredibly fast character that would no doubt be able to outrun Sonic the Hedgehog in any race that they might go on.
8 Slower: Inertia
A clone of Bart Allen, Inertia ended up wanting to inherit the legacy of Eobard Thawne rather than Barry Allen. Becoming an enemy of Bart Allan, this clone would go on to be a serious thorn in the side of every member of the Flash family.
That all being said, Inertia was one of the slowest speedsters related to the Flash. If he ever found himself in a race with Sonic the Hedgehog, he would certainly have a very hard time keeping up.
7 Faster: Superman
Faster than a speeding bullet. Also, faster than a blue-haired hedgehog. There is no doubt that the greatest superhero of all time is faster than the fan-favorite video game character. Clark Kent is simply too good to beat. His name is Superman, after all.
Superman has been known to keep up with characters such as the Flash, who we know is way faster than Sonic. While our favorite video game hedgehog might put on a great show, he's simply not in Superman's league.
6 Slower: Trajectory
One of the saddest stories of a speedster in the DC universe would be that of Trajectory. The female hero used a drug to help her run fast and fight crime. Eventually, she became dependent on this drug and started using it more and more, until it ultimately led to her untimely demise.
Trajectory had a hard time keeping up with other speedsters. That's why she used the super-powered drug that continued to enhance her speed. If she ever happened to find herself in a race with Sonic, she would continue to lose until she started taking her speed-drug in excess, after which she would overdose -- just as she did in the comics.
5 Faster: Reverse-Flash
The Flash's greatest enemy in DC comics is none other than Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. Reverse Flash has a long and storied history of using his speed to accomplish many incredible, seemingly impossible feats. Among those feats was his ability to use his speed to manipulate time.
Sonic the Hedgehog can't run fast enough to manipulate time. In fact, he doesn't even get close to doing that. Eobard would run circles around the small hedgehog, as Reverse-Flash does with most of his adversaries.
4 Slower: Whizzer
Coming from the beginning days of Marvel Comics, the Whizzer was one of the very first heroes to ever be created by the now-famous comic book company. While Whizzer was certainly a popular hero at the time, his levels of speed weren't a drop in the bucket compared to the many modern-day speedsters in comic books.
Whizzer has been clocked at about 100 miles per hour in the comics. Sonic the Hedgehog, on the other hand, got his name because he can run so fast he can actually break the sound barrier. He could quite simply run laps around this classic Marvel character.
3 Faster: Quicksilver
The most prominent speedster of the Marvel universe is undoubtedly Quicksilver. A former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Quicksilver is the only speedster in all of Marvel that's made any sort of a name for himself.
Quicksilver has reached speeds that are unimaginable and incomprehensible to the average person. Sonic the Hedgehog is very fast, there's no arguing against that. Compared to this mutant hero, however, he couldn't seem any slower.
2 Slower: 3-D Man
In all likelihood, 3-D Man is the lamest superhero to ever join Marvel's Avengers. His powers are complex and convoluted, but essentially he had three times the physical abilities of any normal man.
So, one of his most utilized superpowers is 3-D Man's ability to run at three times the speed of a normal man. While this may be fast for a normal person, it is nowhere fast enough to keep up with the super-powered hedgehog Sonic.
1 Faster: Flash
Anyone that knows anything about comic books could have guessed that the Flash would top this list. Flash's connection to the Speed Force makes him one of the fastest beings we have ever seen in comic books. At times, it simply doesn't seem fair how fast he can run.
If Flash and Sonic ever found themselves in a race, it wouldn't even be close. Sure, maybe Sonic could keep up for a time. As soon as Flash would decide to kick it into the next gear, however, Sonic would get left in the dust. Pretty much any speedster in comics, or any other medium, would be outrun by the Scarlet Speedster.