Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most well known good guys in pop culture, having starred in video games, comic books, cartoons and, this week, a live-action movie. Despite that, he bears a striking resemblance in some ways to one of Marvel's biggest villains: Thanos, the Mad Titan.
While it might seem odd to compare Sonic to such an irredeemable evildoer, their mutual quest for certain sets of all-powerful stones highlights how one could be seen as an inverse of the other. Here are the obvious similarities between the Infinity Stones and the Chaos Emeralds, as well as the startling parallels between Sonic and Thanos.
Infinite Chaos
Like the Infinity Stones, the Chaos Emeralds grant their users immense power and strength. Additionally, Sonic and others like him can combine the power of the emeralds to gain a Super form, enabling them to fly, travel faster and become far stronger and more resistant to damage in general.
Much like the Time Stone, which allows its user to see and even travel throughout time, the Chaos Emeralds have allowed individuals, such as Shadow the Hedgehog, to slow or stop the flow of time for those around him. Tampering with the Emerald's power has been known to rip the fabric of space and time between worlds, as seen in Sonic Advance 3 and the animated series Sonic X.
Technology has been used to take advantages of these items' powers in both franchises. For instance, Tony Stark builds the Nano Gauntlet in Avengers: Endgame for those besides Thanos to use the stones, while Dr. Eggman's robotic creation G-merl (and sometimes Metal Sonic) can use the Chaos Emeralds to gain their own Super forms. The Infinity Stones have also been shown to have the ability to animate artificial life, as is the case with the android, Vision.
Obtaining any of these powerful gems can also involve a great challenge or sacrifice. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos had to sacrifice Gamora for the Soul Stone and fight the Avengers for some of the other stones. This is comparable to how the Chaos Emeralds can only be obtained in the Sonic games by finding or winning them in the extra difficult Special Stages.
I am Inevitablur
The most obvious similarity between Sonic and Thanos would be their pursuit a set of powerful gems in order to free their respective worlds from particular threats. In the case of Sonic, he searches for the Chaos Emeralds to either undo or keep at bay the machinations of the evil Dr. Eggman, who plans on using the gems for his own nefarious deeds. Meanwhile, the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Thanos seeks the Infinity Stones to not only bring proverbial balance to the universe, but also to prevent the overpopulation and resource strain that led to his planet's fall from happening anywhere else.
This parallel essentially makes Sonic a heroic version of Thanos, especially in regards to making the world a better place. Classic Sonic games featured Eggman using animals and other natural elements to power his robots, and whenever Sonic destroyed the robots, a freed woodland creature or flower would appear in its place. This concept was taken to its fullest fruition in Sonic CD, where Sonic would have to destroy a machine in the past variant of every level to ensure that its future was not overrun with Eggman's technology. Said game also swapped the usual Chaos Emeralds for Time Stones.
The verdant, antediluvian world that Sonic seeks to keep from being roboticized is like the one Thanos retires to at end of Infinity War. Plus, the fact that the Mad Titan is undone by a scientist and technological innovator makes Tony Stark an inverse of the mad scientist Sonic fights, Doctor Robotnik.
It's possible that these similarities may have been intentional. Sonic's creators have said that they looked to Western franchises for guidance when conceiving the character and his universe, specifically citing Marvel as one of their influences. The mythology of the Infinity Stones could have been a huge inspiration. It's also likely, especially given Super Sonic's appearance, that the influence of Dragon Ball Z held more sway upon the franchise's early ideas. Still, the comparable aims of one of pop culture's greatest villains and one of its greatest heroes is hard ignore.
Thankfully for Sonic's universe, the Blue Blur only wants to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds for good; the Marvel Universe isn't so lucky.
Opening Friday nationwide, director Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, with James Marsden, Neal McDonald, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally and Natasha Rothwell.