Sonic The Hedgehog (comics) - Dark Sonic Comic

Sonic the Hedgehog is an ongoing American comic book series published by Archie Comics, based on Sega's video game franchise of the same name, Sonic the Hedgehog. The comic debuted in the US as a four part mini-series, published between November 1992 and February 1993. The ongoing series began in May 1993. In 2008, Guinness World Records formally recognized it as the longest running comic series based on a video game.

The series features a cast of hundreds of characters, drawn from both the games and original creations, and focuses on a crime-fighting organization called the Freedom Fighters (initially consisting of Sonic, Tails, Sally Acorn, Rotor Walrus, Antoine D'Coolette, and Bunnie Rabbot) facing off against villains such as Doctor Eggman (with his assistant Snively) and alternate-world versions of the protagonists. It has encompassed both original storylines and ones based on games such as Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed. The series was shaken by a 2013 lawsuit by former writer Ken Penders against the comics' staff, which led to the entire world of the book being rebooted and altered with hundreds of characters cut.

Spin-off publications from the comic include Sonic Universe, an ongoing series featuring stories centered on different side-characters, reaching its 75th issue as of April 2015; Knuckles the Echidna, featuring Knuckles as the main protagonist with help from his friends the Chaotix, which ran for 32 issues; and Sonic X, a comic based on the Japanese anime of the same name, which lasted 40 issues. The American comic book series of Sonic can switch from lighthearted to serious in a manner very different from the Japanese game series of the same name. The series has also had two crossovers with Archie's Mega Man comic series, based on the Mega Man video games from Capcom.

Synopsis

Premise

The main focus of the comic storyline is the title character and hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is endowed with super speed, super strength, agile skills, and a love of freedom and justice, which puts him at odds with other evil individuals, including the primary antagonist, Dr. Robotnik. Sonic is depicted as having important ties with his family and comrades, and a deep sense of duty and responsibility as a Freedom Fighter of a government system as opposed to his Japanese counterpart who is portrayed as a vigilante hero. He holds a personal hatred against the Doctor and anybody who hurts the innocent, as he understands his ability as a hero to protect the world from menace and evil.

Sonic is affiliated with the Freedom Fighters, a rebellion group of heroic soldiers that was formed to counter the tyranny of Dr. Ivo Robotnik (later also referred to as "Eggman") and his legion of unquestioning, warlike robots. The basis of the original issues was designed to closely mirror the American animated television series, as well as the names and likenesses of Sonic's comrades in the Freedom Fighters. Since then, the series has integrated many elements from the video games series, which has led to ongoing story arcs involving Shadow the Hedgehog and others.

In addition, many completely new characters and locations were created exclusively for the comic series, to the point that original characters outnumbered those originating in other versions of the franchise. However, following a lawsuit by Ken Penders, a former writer of the comic series, most comic-exclusive characters and elements predating the tenure of current lead writer Ian Flynn were removed, first from appearing in new issues and later from continuity altogether by Sonic's failed attempt to restore his home reality to its original state.

Issues #1â€"50

The first forty issues of the series consisted mostly of isolated stories rarely with any continuity between issues. The early issues mainly featured simple, one-issue "Sonic versus Robotnik" plots, in which Sonic would constantly foil Robotnik’s plans whether it be to tear down a forest or find the hidden location of Knothole Village. These early issues tended to be more like the lighthearted American slapstick cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in story tone than the Saturday Morning cartoon that otherwise formed the basis of its world. The first sign of a major victory for the heroes was when Sonic's beloved Uncle Chuck was able to free himself from Robotnik's roboticization-induced mind control, and joined the team as a robot spy. Eventually though, the issues started to gain a sense of an ongoing story, most notably with the addition of the Mecha Sonic storyline in issue #39, in which Sonic is roboticized and does as Robotnik commands. This would later be concluded in a Sonic Special issue where Knuckles gets roboticized himself in order to defeat Mecha Sonic. Following the defeat of Mecha Sonic, the Freedom Fighters come together in issue #46 to discuss ways to attack and defeat Robotnik once and for all. The loyalty of many of the Freedom Fighters comes into question, particularly notable in a feud between Sonic and Geoffrey St. John, member of the Acorn Secret Service. This continues into the End Game saga which takes place over a four issue span, #47 through #50.

The saga begins with a mission by the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack, led by Lupe, to attack Robotnik’s base. Princess Sally reveals thoughts of her father, King Acorn, telling her that it would soon become apparent that Sonic is a traitor. The mission proceeds and Sally is in need of help or she may fall to her death. The Freedom Fighters look on in despair when they think they see Sonic and assume that he will rescue the princess. Much to their surprise, Sonic aids Sally in falling to her death. The mission is called to retreat, and the Freedom Fighters move back to Knothole Village. Meanwhile, Sonic is seen battling Robotnik inside the base (when he apparently left Sally for dead). Robotnik escapes and Sonic leaves the base, wondering where the rest of his companions have gone. Sonic returns to Knothole, only to be arrested and spared the death penalty in light of all his services, so instead he is sentenced to life in prison. While Sonic is being transported, Swatbots attack the vessel and it crash lands. Sonic escapes, and King Acorn demands the recapture of Sonic by St. John. Bunnie and Antoine discover that Drago (a member of the Wolf Pack) has been working with Robotnik in order to frame Sonic. Drago tricked his lover, Hershey Cat, into cutting the rope while disguised as Sonic, making her believe that it was really Robotnik's treacherous nephew, Snively, who was dangling from it. This is followed by King Acorn issuing Robotnik as his new Warlord. Robotnik reveals his duplicate of the king by making it self-destruct and the true plan has become evident to all. All this would lead up to Sonic's return to Knothole in issue #50, where Sonic clears his name heads to a final showdown with Robotnik. Sonic is uncharacteristically devoid of humor as he approaches Robotnik, even going so far as to address him as "Julian". In the battle, Robotnik’s Ultimate Annihilator crashes and the room is destined for destruction, but Robotnik and Sonic remain to fight. In the end, Sonic emerges victorious and Robotnik is wiped out. It is revealed by Doctor Quack that the Ultimate Ahnihilator was reprogrammed by Snively to only affect Robotnik's bio-signature, therefore only Robotnik was killed when it exploded. Sonic later revives Sally with a kiss, though, as the doctor later reveals, she never actually died.

Issues #51â€"100

Storylines continue to follow after the EndGame saga. With the main antagonist seemingly defeated, Sonic gets bored with calm, daily life, and the reconstruction efforts, and takes off to travel the world with Tails. In this, Ixis Naugus makes his first appearance in issue #53. Although temporarily defeated, he would later return in issues #64 through #66, along with the appearance of Nate Morgan, former advisor of King Acorn, and Naugus would be defeated this time by Ultra Sonic, one of Sonic's transformations. After returning home to Knothole, Issue #71 has Sonic combine his speed with the power of a Super Emerald to stop a time beam that could destroy Mobius. He succeeds, but a side-effect of the Chaos Energy alters his body slightly, giving him green eyes and gold buckles on his shoes.

Issue #75 reveals that a robotized version of Robotnik from another dimension, that Sonic and friends faced in issue #19, known as Robo-Robotnik, survived the last encounter and killed his dimension's version of Sonic, and after learning about the death of the Robotnik Prime in issue #50, decided to fill out the void for both his and Sonic Prime's life by taking Robotnik Prime's place. Sonic and the Freedom Fighters head to space to battle Robo-Robotnik, and although they defeat him, they only destroyed his robot body. It is then revealed that he had many back-up bodies on standby with which to download himself into. Robo-Robotnik went into one shaped differently from the original Robotnik, and became who is now Sonic's familiar arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman (until being transformed back into an organic lifeform by the Bem in issue #118).

Sonic Adventure is readily adapted into the series with the appearance of Chaos, beginning in issue #79. The saga ends with Sonic successfully defeating Perfect Chaos, the final form of Chaos after absorbing all of the Chaos Emeralds, by transforming into Super Sonic in issue #84. Sonic does not actually destroy Chaos, as Chaos returns to his ancient beginnings to live in peace. Sonic Adventure 2 comes into adaptation for one issue featuring Shadow the Hedgehog.

Issues #101â€"200

Issue #108 heralded the return of the original Dr. Robotnik, who was revived by Eggman in order to steal his memories, and also team up with him to eliminate the Freedom Fighters. Fortunately, Robotnik Prime was too unstable to remain alive for long, and the machine that revived him was destroyed so that he would never return again.

In issue #125, Sonic battles an alien race known as the Xorda, leaves him stranded in space after saving Mobius from these aliens' secret weapon known as the Quantum Dial, a device that would create a black hole that would destroy Mobius. Back on Mobius, he is assumed to be dead. Sonic journeys through space discovers that Tails' parents are still alive on a far off planet. Sonic returns in issue #130 where he reveals to everyone that he is indeed alive and well. Sonic and Sally are approved for marriage by King and Queen Acorn, but when Sonic refuses to rule by Sally's side while her parents are touring Mobius in favor of continuing to fight in the war, their relationship comes to an abrupt end.

Back in the main storyline, issue #145 features the return of Shadow, who then proceeds to take an active role in the story, frequently battling Sonic in issues #157 through #161.

Sonic was switched with Anti-Sonic (an evil version of himself from a parallel universe first encountered in issue #11) temporarily and got back to find Anti-Sonic ruining his reputation around Knothole by making romantic advances toward his female friends. Sally was about to marry Patch (the evil version of Antoine from the same parallel universe, masquerading as his doppelganger), whose plan was to kill King Acorn upon the end of the ceremony, effectively making him king of the Acorn Kingdom. Although Patch is ultimately successful in marrying Sally, her brother Elias asserts his right to the throne in order to protect his father. Sonic is able to discover Patch's scheme, defeats him, sends him back to Anti-Mobius, and rescues the real Antoine. Elias then annuls Sally's and Patch's marriage. Realizing that it would take a long time before he and Sally could have a healthy relationship, Sonic began dating Fiona Fox (also doing so in order to end Tails' unreasonable infatuation with her).

Issues #160 and #161 feature the creation of Scourge the Hedgehog, Anti-Sonic's green form that resulted from his mutation via the Master Emerald. It is later revealed that Fiona's affections belonged to Scourge rather than Sonic, and she subsequently left the Freedom Fighters to be with him, and later returns with the other "Anti-Freedom Fighters," who have since become the "Suppression Squad". After this revelation, Antoine finally proposes to Bunnie, and the two are wed with all of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix (sans Espio) as witnesses. The reason that Espio was not present was because he had infiltrated Eggman's base to discover what he was plotting next. Upon learning said plot, he panics and attempts to retreat and warn the other Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, but is ultimately captured.

In issues #175-#177, Eggman initiates the operation that Espio had failed to prevent. Snively catches the Freedom Fighters off guard and vaporizes all of them except Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sonic. Sonic races off to save everyone else in Knothole while Knuckles, Tails, and Amy are trapped in the ruins of the base. Sonic finds Knothole in ruins as the Egg Fleet burns it too the ground. Sonic, in panic, rushes to Castle Acorn to save Elias and the castles inhabitants, when Eggman, in a new battle armor, destroys the castle before Sonic's eyes. Eggman reveals that Snively did not actually kill Sonic's friends, but rather teleported them to Eggman's Egg Grapes in order to convert their life-force into energy to power his Eggman Empire. Eggman and Sonic battle, but Eggman easily defeats Sonic using his Egg Beater, robotic armor specifically designed to outclass Sonic in every possible way. Eggman leaves Sonic broken and defeated, believing that his pride is too shattered to ever again raise a hand against him, and returns to his Egg Grapes. Sonic returns to his friends and they discover that NICOLE the supercomputer has survived the attack with a plan to defeat Eggman. They break all the citizens of Knothole out of the Egg Grapes and Nicole reprograms Eggman's computer as Eggman and Snively run to their armor. As all the escapees flee the Egg Vineyard, Eggman tries to teleport everyone into his reserve Egg Grapes, but the reprogrammed armor, instead, sends them all to New Mobotropolis, a city created entirely out of Nanites by NICOLE.

After the Freedom Fighters defeat the Egg Beater, Sonic faces new hardships. Eventually, the Suppression Squad invades Mobius and forces the Freedom Fighters out of their old hideout. After Sonic disobeys the Council of Acorn in an attempt to retake it, he is sent on a mission to counter-invade "Moebius", the Anti-Mobius, as punishment. It is then that the Suppression Squad betrays Scourge and leaves him and Sonic stranded on Moebius. Their fight is interrupted by a psychic hedgehog named Silver, who came from Mobius' future to stop a "traitor" to the Freedom Fighters who would doom the world, believing it to be Sonic. Sonic manages to convince Silver to help him defeat Scourge first, so Scourge uses his stash of "Anarchy Beryl", Moebius' equivalent to Chaos Emeralds, to transform into Super Scourge, and easily defeats them. Sonic is eventually able to defeat Super Scourge by manipulating his ego, and Silver decides to return to the future to get more evidence about who the traitor is. After Sonic sends Scourge to Zone Jail, he decides that it's time to end the war with the Eggman Empire once and for all.

In Issues #198 and #199, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix proceed to storm Eggman's Egg Dome. In #200, Sonic once again beats Eggman, who unexpectedly goes completely insane as a result from his previous defeats, leaving Sonic at a total loss. Snively and the Dark Egg Legion, meanwhile, have been planning to have Eggman defeated so they can have a new ruler of the Eggman Empire; namely, Snively's lover, the Iron Queen.

Issues #201â€"247

After witnessing Eggman have a mental breakdown in front of him, Sonic becomes depressed and blames himself for his foe's current pitiful state, but is cheered up by Sally in order to enjoy the celebration of finally defeating Eggman. However, the party is crashed when Monkey Khan appears in a rage. He reveals that the Egg Empire has a new ruler; with Eggman incapacitated, Snively has given control to the Iron Queen, who controls the four ninja clans of the Dragon Kingdom. Meanwhile, Eggman escapes his cell in Robotropolis only to be taken prisoner in New Mobotropolis.

While frustrated with Eggman’s escape and inability to capture New Mobotropolis, Snively realizes and theorizes that the Iron Queen’s technomagic can control Nicole and the nanites that the city is composed of. Using this information, the duo take over Nicole and use her to take control of the city and trap the inhabitants, however Sonic, Tails, Sally and Khan manage to escape. Outside, Sonic and Sally manage to break the Queen's hold on Nicole, but Nicole warns them about the alliance of the four clans in the Dragon Kingdom and the danger it poses. The four head to the Dragon Kingdom while Nicole keeps an eye on the city and one by one they break the Queen's alliance with the ninja clans. With her forces now depleted, they defeat and capture the Iron Queen. In the process, Snively escapes with Eggman, who has regained his sanity.

After the confusion, Sonic, Sally, and Big work with the Wolf Pack to reclaim an ancient onyx and help forge a peace treaty between the Wolf Pack Nation and the Felidae. Back in New Mobotropolis, Rotor and Penelope are reorganizing the city's constitution until Hamlin barges in and informs Rotor that his family is being mind-controlled by the Dark Egg Legion. When he returns, Sonic hears the news and urges Rotor to go, but Rotor insists on staying with the council. Sonic heads to the Northern Tundra alone and teams up with the Arctic Freedom Fighters.

Back at New Mobotropolis, Rotor works in secret on a suit design when NICOLE appears next to him. He asks her to build the suit for him and she recycles some nearby nanites to instantly build the suit. Rotor then flies off to aid Sonic in his mission behind the council’s back. Rotor is ambushed by Silver who believes that Rotor is the traitor. Silver nearly finishes off Rotor, when Rotor manages to express the importance of his mission, and Silver agrees to help him. They head to the base where Sonic and the Arctic Freedom Fighters are fighting the walrus herd and the Dark Egg Legion. Taking advantage of the mind control device, Silver cripples the Dark Egg Legion, removes the mind control and permanently sets the walrus's minds so that they will never be mind-controlled again while Rotor sets the base to self-destruct. Later in Icebourogh, Sonic hears about and is highly amused by Silver’s erroneous theory, which was the confusion over Rotor’s real name and his nickname, Boomer. Thoroughly embarrassed by the ordeal, Silver returns to his future after the failed mission to speak with his master, revealed to be Mammoth Mogul.

When Sonic returns to New Mobotropolis, he is given a new mission: to rendezvous with the Freedom Fighter group in Sand Blast City. Bunnie D'Coolette accompanies Sonic on the mission, but is shot by a metal detecting cannon made by the Sand Blast Freedom Fighters. Sonic attempts to rescue her, but is stopped by the Sand Blaster Freedom Fighters, who tell him about the oil rig Eggman had built. When Bunnie wakes up, she finds herself in Dark Egg Legion territory and is reunited with her uncle (nicknamed "The Baron") who initially believed she was part of the Dark Egg Legion due to her bionics. She discovers that he is part of the misunderstood group known as the "Del" and that the Sand Blasters are attempting to take the oil rig that the “Del” is guarding. The Freedom Fighters attempt to ambush the "Del", but Bunnie stops them in order to protect The Baron, causing Sonic to misunderstand her intentions and forcing the two to fight. While fighting and yelling at each other about what they know, the two realize that if THEY destroy the oil rig, no one could blame the Sand Blasters or the “Del” for the destruction, thus fulfilling their intentions to keep the rig out of both sides’ hands and protect the “Del”. After Bunnie sets things right with The Baron, Sonic and Bunnie head back to Mobotropolis.

In issue #219, Sonic and Geoffrey St. John go to the Special Zone to retrieve one of the seven Chaos Emeralds from the god, Feist. Sonic found the emerald, but Geoffrey betrays Sonic by stunning Sonic and sneaks off to give the emerald to Mammoth Mogul. Mogul is not fazed until St. John mentioned the revival of the true king, who according to him is Ixis Naugus. Geffory uses the emerald to restore Naugus's sanity (which he had lost after being sent to Eggman's Egg Grapes). Naugus then makes plans to seize the throne of Acorn with Geoffrey's help, who is revealed to have been Naugus's apprentice the entire time.

Naugus uses his magic to cause the people to become increasingly paranoid of NICOLE's power. Sonic and Sally go on a date at a free concert when Ixis Naugus and Geoffrey attack. The Freedom Fighters (minus Sonic) are overwhelmed by Geoffrey, who is revealed to be an Ixis Wizard (though he only has some limited control over wind magic), so they instead convince him to stop fighting them and let justice take its course. Naugus, who claims the kingdom was sworn to him by Max Acorn long ago, fights with Sonic in the council's room, but the latter is forced to stop when the wizard's magic affects the council and turns most of them against Sonic. Eggman, however, has been rebuilding the Death Egg (now known as the Death Egg Mark II) and finally obtains a Chaos Emerald to power it. The Death Egg Mark II is launched, forcing Naugus and Sonic to start a truce. Sonic and Sally break into the new Death Egg, but Sonic is distracted by a rebuilt Silver Sonic. Frustrated, Sally proceeds alone to find Eggman, but is seemingly killed by a turret. Hearing the shots and seeing Sally's broken goggles lying on the ground, a distressed Sonic tries to reach Sally. Eggman then activates "Operation: Clean Sweep" and the entire world goes white.

The universe is "reset" to an alternate world more similar to the Sega video games, the effects known as "Genesis", where nobody remembers the events that occurred in the comic series. Eggman and Snively still have the Death Egg in orbit and plan to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to power their "world roboticizer." Meanwhile, Sonic re-meets some of the current Freedom Fighters (Sally, Antoine, and Rotor are re-met, but Sonic already knows Tails), and together they shut down Eggman's facilities. After a series of mysterious earthquakes occurs, Snively starts to realize that the universe seems to be trying to turn itself back to normal and Sonic and Sally slowly start to remember parts of their previous lives. Sonic eventually decides to go face-to-face with Eggman himself instead of just shutting down more of Eggman's facilities. Tails joins with him and they invade the Metropolis Zone while Sally, Rotor, and Antoine shut down the last of Eggman's plants. After Metropolis loses power, Eggman escapes to the Death Egg, and Sonic follows him with help from Tails and the Tornado. Sonic boards the Death Egg and fights Eggman one-on-one, but is overpowered. Seeing victory near at hand, Eggman gloats about how the Death Egg is powered by the seven Chaos Emeralds and that he will make the reset permanent through his “world roboticizer”. Hearing this, Sonic takes a nearby cable broken during the fight and uses the energy to become Super Sonic, promptly defeating Eggman.

Sonic grabs more broken cables to get enough energy and uses Chaos Control to dispel the effects of the "Genesis Wave." He also rewinds time by ten seconds which allows Sonic to save Sally from being killed, though the Death Egg and the "world roboticizer" are still intact. While Sonic fights Eggman, Silver Sonic, and the latest version of Metal Sonic, Sally is able to sneak under the floor and uses NICOLE to hack into the "world roboticizer". Snively activates the machine, unaware that Sally had changed the area of effect to be a small radius around NICOLE, causing NICOLE’s original body, Silver Sonic, Metal Sonic, and part of the Death Egg to explode. However, Sally is roboticized in the process much to Eggman’s glee, but horrifies Sonic. Unwilling to attack Mecha Sally, Sonic is thrown out of the Death Egg and Eggman decides to launch two other attacks as a distraction. He launches Titan Metal Sonic and “Deadly Cuddles,” also known as Tails Doll.

Prior to the attack and directly after the Genesis Wave, Ixis Naugus wakes up on the ground only to discover that the three ghosts of the original mages that created his body had awoken. Naugus becomes highly distressed, but when he sees the city under attack, he rushes to protect it, despite the ghosts’ taunts about how he is ruling a shell. Partially driven mad, Naugus is able to use his magic to crystallize Titan Metal Sonic and control him with his powers. Bunnie, who originally decided to fight the robot, is hit by Naugus' blast also, crystallizing her robotic parts. Cream is able to rescue Bunnie and Vanilla and Big rush Bunnie to Dr. Quack. While Cream looks for Bunnie's crystallized hat, she finds the Tails Doll among the wreck of the city and takes it with her. The citizens eventually praise Naugus as king after he successfully defends the city from two attacks from the Death Egg Mark II, though Naugus is still haunted by the spirits who are disgusted by him for ruling a ‘fake’. In a publicity stunt, Naugus uses his magic to reverse the crystallization on Bunnie in the hospital, and, by accident, he turns Bunnie's robotic parts into flesh and blood again.

After the Babylon Rogues and the Battle Bird Armada are defeated by Sonic and the others, Geoffrey is arrested for treason by Antoine. Geoffrey is found guilty in his trial, but since Naugus is now king, he pardons Geoffrey and lets him go free. Elias seeks out Harvey Who, one of his father's old advisers, and begins plans for a group of Freedom Fighters that will work behind the King and council’s backs. Naugus contacts Eggman and tells him that the Freedom Fighters plan to evacuate former king Elias and his family from the city. The doctor attacks the Freedom Fighters with both a repaired Metal Sonic and a heavily-weaponized Mecha Sally. Due to the loss of Bunnie's robotic limbs and the group's overall reluctance to fight Sally, the Freedom Fighters are left at a severe disadvantage. Eventually, Metal Sonic self-destructs on Antoine, leaving him in a coma. With the remainder of their spirits crushed, the Freedom Fighters are left at Eggman's mercy, but are spared in order to prolong their suffering. Furious, Snively finally decides to usurp his uncle and rescue the Iron Queen, but is ultimately defeated and imprisoned by Eggman.

Bunnie, wracked with guilt over her husband's condition, states that she knows what she has to do to make everything right and leaves the Freedom Fighters. In the future, Silver finds evidence of his actions in the past and, after reading damaged sections of Antoine’s diary, decides that Antoine is the traitor. Silver presents the information to Mongul, and Mongul reluctantly gives Silver permission to go back in time on the condition that Silver leaves the Kronos Stone to prevent him from abusing it. After teleporting into Mobotropolis, Silver is found by a disgruntled Sonic, to who Silver eagerly tells the current theory. Enraged at the accusation, Sonic attacks Silver and drags him to Antoine's deathbed in the hospital. Realizing that he has once again jumped to conclusions, Silver seeks more solid evidence by joining Harvey Who's Secret Freedom Fighters.

With Sally roboticized, Antoine in a coma and Bunnie missing in action, the remnants of the Freedom Fighters decide to officially disbanded. Sonic ultimately refuses to give up and decides that they just need to come up with something even better. As a result, the remaining Freedom Fighters along with the re-instatement of Rotor and some newcomers, are instead split into two groups: Team Freedom, composed of Rotor as the leader, Big, Cream, and renegade Eggman robots Heavy and Bomb, who protect Mobotropolis from any danger that befalls it, and Team Fighters, consisting of Sonic as the leader, Tails and Amy, who follow the Death Egg Mark II and foil Eggman's worldwide conquest in order to spread hope amongst the people of Mobius, as well as eventually capture and de-roboticize Sally.

After narrowly succeeding in preventing a war between the Wolf Pack and the Felidae brought on by Mecha Sally's actions, Team Fighters continues to harass the weakening Death Egg. Eggman attempts to slow them down by having Mecha Sally attack her own brother, forcing Elias to flee with the newly formed Secret Freedom Fighters. Mecha Sally and a new Silver Sonic III are ultimately defeated and forced to retreat with the arrival of Team Fighters which instills courage in the people and causes an uprising.

With Team Fighters distracted, Eggman mounts a second attack on New Mobotropolis, using the Tails Doll to disable the force field surrounding the city. With some unseen help from the Secret Freedom Fighters, consisting of Silver, a repaired and reformed Metal Sonic (now dubbed "Shard"), Larry Lynx, Wolf Pack twins Lyco and Leeta, and former king Elias, Team Freedom succeeds in driving the Death Egg away from the city. At this point, Eggman is infuriated that he isn't winning as easily as initially thought, especially since Sonic wasn't even involved in the fight, and shows signs of madness once again. He is left no time to repair his destroyed robots, as Team Fighters is still hot on his tail. After discovering a sprig of the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra, a Badnik that very nearly killed Sonic not too long ago (ironically, Eggman himself destroyed the Hydra because he was determined to end Sonic's life on his own terms), he desperately launches an incomplete Titan Metal Sonic merged with the Hydra in an attempt to stall his pursuers. Although the Hydra was ultimately defeated by Team Fighters, it was able to delay them long enough for Eggman to achieve his goal of destroying Albion, much to Sonic’s horror.

After the battle, Naugus realizes he is losing his grip on the people of New Mobotropolis, especially after being saved by Team Freedom during Eggman's attack on the city when the constant bickering of Naugus' inner spirits causes him painful mutations. Because of recent failings of the nanites, the Council of Acorn motions to overturn NICOLE's exile from the city to help protect and rebuild the city. Realizing that his body is falling apart, Naugus desperately attempts to trick someone to enter into a magical contract with him so he can possess their body. However all of his attempts fail, and when Geoffrey tries to convince his master to abandon his evil intentions and ask for help with his condition, Naugus decides to possess Geoffrey. Naugus (in Geoffrey's body) then informs the council that the king is "dying" and enlists their help to save him, obviously hiding more sinister plans.

At Albion, Team Fighters is attacked by Metal Knuckles, and their plane crash lands into Albion. There they encounter the Dark Egg Legion, led by Lien-Da, who has captured Knuckles' mother. Knuckles hears the distress call and warps to Albion, only to find the Dark Egg Legion and all of the other echidnas nowhere in sight. After joining up with Team Fighters, Knuckles discovers that the echidnas, including Knuckle's mother and girlfriend, have all been transported away to lands unknown by Thrash the Devil, who has a vendetta against the echidnas for using his people in their experiments. Knuckles defeats Thrash, but ultimately fail to prevent him from escaping, and thus lost his chance to bring his people back. Meanwhile, the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra is revealed to have survived and takes control of the damaged Metal Knuckles to battle Team Fighters. Weakened from their early fights, Team Fighters and Knuckles are unable to fend off the Krudzu Hybrid. From the sidelines Shard (the original Metal Sonic who had been rebuilt and reformed and had joined the Secret Freedom Fighters to make amends to his past deeds) grew increasingly worried about the course of the battle and eventually intervened, despite his orders to follow and report on Team Fighters. Together with Thrash's herd of devil dogs, the Hydra is defeated and captured, with Shard taking the last sprig in hopes it can be modified to de-roboticize Sally.

Finally free from any more distractions, Team Fighters joins up with the Arctic Freedom Fighters in the Northern Tundra in order to capture Mecha Sally, but are interrupted by Silver. Silver reveals that the traitor he has been searching for is definitely Sally, but since she wasn't a traitor of her own free will as he initially believed, he decides to help save her rather than destroy her. As the team storms Eggman's base, they are ambushed and nearly killed by Mecha Sally herself. While this is happening, back in Mobotropolis, NICOLE has decided to save Naugus by working on a machine meant to reverse his condition. Cream also notices that the Tails Doll disappearances are connected to the nanites failing in the city. Team Freedom concludes that the Tails Doll has been sabotaging the city's defenses, but just as they confront it, it mutates into a hideous, formidable monster. Back in the Northern Tundra, Silver manages to deactivate Mecha Sally and thus prevent the team's death as was the case in his future, but before anything else can happen, Eggman releases his Genesis Wave once again, this time not only resetting Mobius, but another world as well...

Worlds Collide

After Sally sacrificed herself to destroy the World Roboticizer, the Chaos Emerald that Eggman was using to power the Death Egg Mark II mysteriously vanished. The gem was not destroyed in the explosion, but rather sent into an alternate universe where it was found by another evil scientist known as Dr. Wily. Wily has his own nemesis in the form of "Mega Man", a heroic blue robot boy created by Wily's benevolent former colleague, Dr. Light, who has forced Wily into hiding after his most recent defeat. Wily, in an attempt to analyze the emerald's power, accidentally came into contact with Eggman, and after a bit of arguing, the two realized that they had a great deal in common and decided to team up. Eggman explains the power of the Chaos Emeralds to Wily, and they use their combined geniuses to create a pocket dimension between their two worlds called the "Skull Egg Zone", where they are finally able to meet in person. The two then combine their forces to build a new, more powerful flying fortress, christened the "Wily Egg".

The duo release the Genesis Wave on both of their worlds, altering Eggman's world into a state more like its depiction in the video game series, and shifting Wily's world forward in time to after the events of Mega Man 10. After realizing that beings from one universe cannot travel to the other without being accompanied by a native of the other, they decide to make a new army by combining Eggman's roboticization process with Wily's robot designs. They send Metal Sonic, Wily's enforcer Bass, and Copy Robot (an evil duplicate of Mega Man) to kidnap and roboticize Sonic's friends, as well as steal the remaining Chaos Emeralds. When Copy Robot and Metal Sonic make themselves known to Sonic and Mega Man respectively, the duplicates trick the originals into fighting one another, leading to a fierce duel between Sonic and Mega Man that spans across both of their worlds. When the battle proves to be too evenly matched for either side to land a decisive blow, a roboticized Tails is sent in to finish them off. The two form a truce, and manage to turn Tails back to normal. They then realized that they had been duped by the doctors, and decide to team up to take them on.

They go back to Mega Man's house, where they witness Dr. Light being kidnapped by Metal Sonic and Bass. Joined by Mega Man's older brother Proto Man, the four manage to infiltrate the Skull Egg Zone, where they find and defeat Copy Robot. They are then attacked by the two evil scientists, who demonstrate the powers of their "Roboticized Masters", including Amy, Knuckles, the Chaotix, Shadow, Blaze and Silver. Meanwhile, Dr. Light is rescued by Rouge the Bat, who decided to help fight the doctors after they took Shadow. After a series of battle, the Roboticized Masters are all returned to normal, and they team up with Sonic and Mega Man to prepare an all-out assault on the Wily Egg. While Sonic's friends deal with all of Wily's previous "Robot Masters", Sonic and Mega Man storm the flying fortress, where they manage to defeat Metal Sonic and Bass. However, they are then captured by the mad doctors, who reveal that they plan to use their "Super Genesis Wave" to rewrite their universes entirely to their liking, including wiping the blue heroes from existence.

Fortunately, Knuckles and Proto Man arrive to save the duo and distract the doctors long enough for Sonic and Mega Man to escape and use the Chaos Emeralds to achieve their Super forms. Using Chaos Control, Super Mega Man is able to safely return his world to normal, but Super Sonic is not so lucky, having his own attempt interrupted by Eggman, who refuses to accept defeat, leading to disastrous results...

Issues #252 â€" #272

The Genesis Wave successfully returned Sonic his home planet (now unnamed, no longer being called Mobius), but significant changes had occurred to fabric of reality, changing many current and previous events, removing many individuals from existence and creating many new ones. Sonic battled the giant Tails Doll, which was attacking the city, but was hampered by distress from the conflicting memories he was experiencing. Naugus, who had lost his powers, regained his memories of the old world after touching NICOLE and subsequently fled the city. After he and Tails defeated the monster, he learned that all his friends were across the globe on different missions. Sonic, Nicole and Tails decide to find each of them and restore their memories, as it would also fix Nicole's corrupted data. They locate Rotor working on the new mobile base Sky Patrol (named for the game Tails' Skypatrol) and restore his memories, and leave him with Big the Cat to assist him. They then find Antoine protecting Uncle Chuck as the Hedgehog doctor is studying strange tremors, aided by his assistant Muttski-Sonic's dog before the Super Genesis Wave, now a Mobian. A tremor results in Sonic being exposed to a strange gas from deep below ground, and Antoine's memories are restored. During this time, Eggman-who also retains his memories of the old world-begins making his way back to the Death Egg, and determines that the planet has become dangerously unstable. Sonic and Tails find Bunnie and restore her memories as well, before returning to Mobotropolis to rendezvous with Amy, Cream the Rabbit, and Sally-the former pair returning from Blaze the Cat's world, the other restored to her organic form. Amy and Sally's memories are restored, and NICOLE and Eggman then discover that the planet is cracking and the multiverse collapsing in upon itself due to the massive energy of the Genesis Wave. Contrary to both sides believing there might be a way to stop the cataclysm, NICOLE and Eggman already deem it too late, just before it breaks into several fragments, beginning an adaptation of events from the game Sonic Unleashed.

A quest soon begins to restore the fractured world through collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds and bringing them to the Gaia Temples; along the way the Freedom Fighters run into new allies and enemies. The effects of Sonic's exposure to the gas eventually lead to him transforming into the monstrous Werehog at night, though he soon masters his new form. After a number of the Emeralds have been collected, Sonic and his allies are forced to take part in a fighting tournament-loosely modeled after Sonic the Fighters-organized by Breezie the Hedgehog. After a series of matches against such foes as the Hooligans-Sega characters Nack, Bark, and Bean-and Honey the Cat, the final round comes down to Sonic vs. Knuckles, with Metal Sonic flying to the tournament site on Dr. Eggman's orders. The heroes manage to secure the Emerald, and then learn of the Gaia Gate in Apotos and its ability to transport them to each temple through the use of the Gaia Keys. They also become aware of a strange phenomenon known as the Genesis Portals, which link various realities together and are a byproduct of the conclusion of Worlds Collide. Knuckles and Chip, the Light Gaia, join the group as well, though Knuckles is also on a quest to recover the fragments of the Master Emerald after being forced to shatter it during the Sonic Universe arc "Total Eclipse."

Worlds Unite

In October 2014 it was announced that a second crossover between the Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comics would take place, with the tagline "no universe will be safe." In addition to the casts of the main Sonic and Mega Man books, the crossover will also spotlight characters from the Sonic Boom and Mega Man X universes, as well as feature appearances from several other Capcom and Sega franchises such as Street Fighter, Nights into Dreams..., Viewtiful Joe, Panzer Dragoon, Okami, Golden Axe, Monster Hunter, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Breath of Fire Alex Kidd, Ghosts 'n Goblins, and Skies of Arcadia. The plot of the crossover revolves around the worlds of Sonic and Mega Man being fused together by an alliance of villains led by Sigma of the Mega Man X series. After forming an alliance with the Deadly Six the villains of Sonic Lost World and enslaving Dr. Wily and Eggman, Sigma has both Sonic and Mega Man captured and turned into villainous incarnations of themselves known as Sonic Man and M'egga Man. Each is then sent to the other's home world to terrorize its inhabitants despite the best efforts of Sonic's Freedom Fighter teammates and Mega Man's fellow heroic Robot Masters. However, the pair are eventually saved by an alliance of heroes that includes Mega Man X and his Maverick Hunters and Sticks the Badger of the Sonic Boom universe.

As Sigma's plan expands to encompass the conquest of various other Capcom and Sega-based universes, Sonic and Mega Man invite heroes from those worlds into their growing alliance against the villains. However, they are forced to deal with Sigma's Maverick and Mechaniloid forces, the Deadly Six, and other villains who unite under the villain's command, as well as a mysterious force that turns the heroic robots against their allies. Also caught up in these events is Mega Man's comics-exclusive nemesis Xander Payne, who joins forces with Wily and Eggman under the pretense of helping the heroes stop Sigma.

Issue #276-present

Following the events of "Worlds Unite," Sonic resumes the task of trying to restore his shattered planet to normal, seeking out the Gaia Keys that will enable access to the Gaia Temples. This lead to an early clash with Egg Army forces under Tundra the Walrus.

Spin-offs and other related series

The series was originally published as a four issue mini-series, with the first issue labeled as "issue 0". At the end of the fourth issue of the series, it was announced that Sonic would return in a regular series, and the next issue was published as "issue 1" of the regular series.

Alongside the main Sonic series, Archie Comics published various special issues. Longer than typical issues of the comic, these specials feature stories involving Sonic and other related characters. Several miniseries have also been published, featuring characters such as Sally, Tails and Knuckles.

Because of the popularity of the specials and Miniseries featuring Knuckles, in 1997, Knuckles the Echidna became an ongoing series. Knuckles' stories featured its own cast of characters, including the Chaotix. In 1999, the series was canceled, but the stories were continued in the pages of Sonic the Hedgehog until it was phased out completely by Sonic issue 125. In this form, a typical issue of Sonic included a Sonic story and a second, shorter Knuckles story afterwards, though eventually this phased out as well.

In order to allow for stories that focused more on side characters than primarily on Sonic-most notably the other characters featured in the Sega games-the Sonic Universe comic line was introduced. This series has included a wide range of characters previously introduced in other comic issues, as well as allowing for the introduction of additional characters to the comic cast. Typically, the series is broken up into four-issue long story arcs focusing on a select character or group of characters, though one-issue stories have also been released.

Archie has also produced two Sonic series based on other branches of the Sonic franchise, namely the Sonic X anime and the Sonic Boom cartoons. The Sonic X series ended after forty issues, the last of which featured a crossover story with the main Sonic the Hedgehog series that served as a prequel to the first Sonic Universe issue. The Sonic Boom line began following the Worlds Collide crossover with Archie's Mega Man series, and was later incorporated into Worlds Unite.

The Archie Sonic series has also produced several Free Comic Book Day issues, which typically feature either reprints of older issues or new stories that fit into the series continuity. Since 2013 these issues have served as a combination free comic special with the Mega Man series; a free Sonic issue serving as a prequel to Sonic: Lost World was also released in 2013 for Halloween Comic Fest. Various compilations have also been put together, such as the Sonic Saga Series, Sonic Archives and Knuckles Archives, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe and standalone graphic novels, Sonic Legacy, Best of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Super Digest and Sonic Super Special Magazine. Following Worlds Collide the latter two series and the Free Comic Book Day issues began featuring stories in a series entitled "Sonic Comic Origins", which detailed the histories of various characters in the post-reboot continuity.

A short, three panel comic strip similar to those found in a newspaper at the end of some issues called Off-Panel. It was originally found in the main series of comics, and was later continued in the spinoff series Sonic Universe. Earlier strips involved fictional version of staff interacting with comic characters, while later strips removed this element, it always retains elements of comical gags relating to the issues main story, often containing fourth wall breaking.

Adaptations

The Sonic the Hedgehog comic typically runs original storylines based around characters from various Sonic media, but it has also made a number of adaptations. For instance, it has adapted a couple episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as complete or partial adaptations of the following video games:

• Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (#6)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (#13)
• Sonic CD (#25)
• Sonic & Knuckles (Sonic & Knuckles Special) (also combined with Sonic 2 for the Sonic-Quest mini-series)
• Sonic Triple Trouble (Sonic Triple Trouble Special)
• Knuckles' Chaotix (Knuckles' Chaotix Special)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Combined with Sonic & Knuckles for the Sonic-Quest mini-series.)(#228â€"229)
• Sonic 3D Blast (Sonic Blast Special)
• SegaSonic the Hedgehog (Knuckles #26â€"28) (arcade game)
• Sonic Adventure (Super Special #13, and issues 79â€"84, originally planned to be 78â€"83, and Knuckles issues 33â€"34 before it was cancelled after issue 32)
• Sonic Shuffle (#92)
• Sonic Adventure 2 (#98, #124 & Sonic Universe #2)
• Shadow The Hedgehog (#157, #171) (Shadow's origins)
• Sonic Rush (#160 & #161)
• Sonic Riders (#163 & #164, Sonic Universe #33â€"35)
• Sonic Rush Adventure (#180, Sonic Universe #1)
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (free comic made for the game)*
• Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (#191)*
• Sonic Unleashed (#193, #253 & Sonic Universe #63-current)
• Sonic and the Black Knight (#197)*
• Tails Adventure (Sonic Universe #17â€"20)
• Sonic Colors (#219)*
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) (#226â€"227)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (#228-229)
• Sonic Generations (#230)*
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Sonic Universe #36)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (Sonic Super Special Magazine #3)*
• Sonic: Lost World (Sonic Halloween Comic Fest #1, Sonic Universe #76)
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Sonic Universe #45)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) and Sonic the Fighters (#268-271)

*denotes a self-contained comic story which directly adapts the video game and is not retrofitted into the unique ongoing continuity of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) Episodes:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (#38, starts with Sonic singing the theme song)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Super Special #8, Episode: "Ghost Busted")
• Sonic the Hedgehog (#113, Episode: "Cry of the Wolf")

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Episodes:

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (#2, Episode: "The Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad")
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (#9, Episode: "Pseudo-Sonic")
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (#268-271, Episode: "Lovesick Sonic")

Others:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) (Brief reality in #101)

Characters

See List of Sonic the Hedgehog characters for info on recurring video game characters who appear in the series, Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)#Characters for more info on characters carried over from that series.

Modifications to Sega Cast

Game Heroes

• Sonic the Hedgehog â€" just like the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series continuity, Sonic is part of a team of Freedom Fighters attempting to free their planet from evil and crime. Throughout most of the series he was also featured as a figure of legend destined to be a great hero not only in his home dimension, but throughout alternate realities. Later issues leading up to the series' reboot also indicated the possibility of Sonic being the living incarnation of the chaos factor, the unpredictable element in every scenario. In addition to his Super Sonic transformation (a form powered by Chaos Energy) and Werehog transformation (a form powered by dark energy) from the game series, Sonic was also capable of taking on the even more powerful form of Ultra Sonic, which had a few Classical element based variations. Following the reboot his history is virtually identical to that seen in the game series, with the notable exception of his still being a member of the Freedom Fighters.
• Miles "Tails" Prower the Fox â€" is also part of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. The original continuity featured Tails as the Chosen One, a being destined to bring about a prophesied "Great Harmony" involving the Chaos Emeralds. Tails supposedly fulfilled this prophecy several times, once by defeating the crime boss Mammoth Mogul by merging with other versions of himself from across different realities, and again by sending nearly every Chaos Emerald in his reality into an alternate dimension where they were reduced in form to seven Chaos Emeralds. Also possessed the ability to transform into the caped super form Turbo Tails, Hyper Tails (resembling his super form from Sonic 3 & Knuckles), and Titan Tails (a giant form resulting from the union of various incarnations of Tails from different realities). Tails was also notable in having romantic entanglements with comics exclusive character, the first being with a robotic duplicate of future villainess Fiona Fox. Tails' feelings for the robot were later projected onto Fiona, but his hopes were dashed by her involvement with Sonic and subsequent betrayal of the Freedom Fighters. He was also regarded fondly by Barby Koala, seemed to reciprocate an attraction displayed by another female Fox named Li Moon, and in an alternate future reality married and had two children with Mina Mongoose. However, following the reboot, his character has been brought into line with the game continuity.
• Knuckles the Echidna â€" in the original continuity, Knuckles was the latest in a long line of Echidnas who protect Angel Island from various threats of evil, the most usual one coming from a distant branch of his family who lead the evil Dark Legion. The Chaotix were also featured as his support team, acting in a similar capacity to the Freedom Fighters for Sonic. His unusual abilities of super strength, marital arts, and other powers are also attributed to Chaos Energy manipulation, resulting in him becoming a "living Chaos Emerald." In addition to his Hyper Knuckles super form (as seen in Sonic 3 & Knuckles) he possessed the ability to transform into a green version of himself with immense Chaos powers known as Chaos Knuckles. Following the reboot he is once again the last surviving Echidna on Mobius, and the Chaotix are occasional allies rather than his constant support team.
• Amy Rose â€" in this series, Amy was represented-prior to the reboot-as being part of the royal family of the comics-exclusive country of Mercia. The drastic change in appearance from the form she had in the early Sega games to her Sonic Adventure look is explained in the original continuity by her making a wish on a magic ring to become older. Post reboot she has the same history as her video game counterpart, albeit with some modifications to accommodate comics-exclusive storyline.
• The Chaotix â€" Knuckles' support team as seen in Knuckles' Chaotix, they retain this role throughout the original continuity of the comics instead of disappearing following that game and returning in Sonic Heroes minus Mighty the Armadillo. As with most of the Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog animated series casts to survive the reboot, they possess different origins in the two continuities.
  • In the original continuity, the origins of the characters were also delved into to varying degrees, though game characters Heavy and Bomb notably left the team to join the Acorn Secret Service and later became members of Team Freedom. They are replaced by Mighty's SegaSonic the Hedgehog costar Ray the Flying Squirrel, who was apparently an orphan who met Mighty and Sonic in one of Robotnik's prisons. Mighty was the son of a pair of thieves, and had a younger sister named Matilda from whom he was separated after he gained his super strength from the villain Mammoth Mogul. Vector the Crocodile was born on the continent of Downunda and raised alongside members of the future Freedom Fighters of that region, before relocating to Angel Island. Espio the Chameleon was revealed to be a member of the Shinobi Clan of ninja Chameleons, and was originally sent to Angel Island to spy on Knuckles. Charmy Bee was revealed to be a prince (similar to his incarnation in Fleetway Publications' Sonic the Comic) who left home seeking adventure but later returned, only to be forced to leave when his home was destroyed. Since Charmy's Knuckles' Chaotix bio labeled him as sixteen while the games from Heroes on have featured him as a crazy six-year-old, Charmy experienced severe memory loss following brief imprisonment by Dr. Eggman. The team also featured two comics-exclusive members, Knuckles and Charmy's girlfriends Julie-Su and Saffron (see "Freedom Fighters" section below).
  • Following the reboot, the Chaotix are old allies of Knuckles', but their membership has been reduced to the trio of Charmy (who has now always been six), Vector, and Espio, who are a trio of detectives as seen in the games since Heroes. Mighty and Ray are also old friends of the group and of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, but began adventuring by themselves, eventually studying under Moss the Sloth.
• Big the Cat â€" Big is featured as a member of a civilization of jungle Cats living on the comics-exclusive continent of Soumerca who is ostracized by his fellows due to his simple ways and friendliness towards outsiders. Became a member of Team Freedom prior to the reboot, and subsequently joined the Knothole Freedom Fighters along with Sonic Heroes teammates Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit in the new continuity. Interestingly, Team Rose has been formed in the comics, but in its first appearances included Blaze the Cat in place of Big.
• Tikal the Echidna and Chaos â€" in the original continuity, Tikal and Chaos were imprisoned in a Black Chaos Emerald, also known as the Ancient Onyx, rather than the Master Emerald. This is due to the Master Emerald being created during the comics' story as opposed to being an ancient artifact. In an alternate future storyline, the two were later merged into a single being known as Tikhaos; in the Worlds Collide crossover event, Chaos is merged with technology from the Mega Man series' Yellow Devil to create the Chaos Devil. Both have appeared since the reboot-their origins now matching those seen in the games-helping to alleviate the effects of the planet breaking apart.
• Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao â€" Cream hails from a comics-exclusive region known as the Southern Baronies, and relocates to Sonic's home city with her mother Vanilla after their home is destroyed. She joins an incarnation of Team Rose that includes Blaze the Cat, and later became a member of Team Freedom prior to the reboot. Since the reboot she has become a junior member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, with her mother living in the city of Mobotropolis with Cheese's brother Chocola and the robot Gemerl from Sonic Advance 3.
• Blaze the Cat â€" in the original continuity she came to Sonic's dimension after dreaming about his role in the quest for the Sol Emeralds rather than because Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega were already attempting to use their power. Only one of the Sol Emeralds is known to have ended up on Mobius, which prompted Blaze to join Team Rose alongside Amy and Cream. Later teamed up with Shadow to battle a Metal Sonic, who was later rebuilt as a new foe for Blaze named Captain Metal. As in the games, her allies from her own world include Marine the Raccoon and the Koalas of the Coconut Crew.
• Silver the Hedgehog â€" prior to the reboot, Silver hailed from a future that had been destroyed as the result of actions taken by a member of the original Knothole Freedom Fighters. Having been mentored by a former nemesis of Sonic, and a descendant of Knuckles', he made multiple trips throughout time and space, most of them in an effort to take out the supposed "traitor" to the Freedom Fighters in order to save his timeline. Eventually, it was discovered that the individual in question, Sally Acorn, had committed these catastrophic acts while Roboticized, and thus not of her own volition. Following the reboot his history follows that of the games, though he now has an ally in Professor Von Schlemmer.
• Light Gaia/Chip â€" a major supporting character from Sonic Unleashed. In the Archie comics he is known by Knuckles to be Light Gaia from the beginning, and was discovered by him and the Chaotix rather than by Sonic. Additionally, he received his nickname of "Chip" from Charmy Bee, rather than by Sonic as in the game continuity.
• Civilian Allies
  • Professor Pickle - another Sonic Unleashed who in the comics is the somewhat absent-minded colleague of Uncle Chuck.
  • Gregorios - a priest from Apotos who contacts Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to give them information regarding the Gaia Gate and the Gaia Keys, which combined will allow them to access the Gaia Temples. He also provides the team with a list of the families entrusted with safeguarding the keys.
• Honey the Cat - a scrapped character from the original Sonic the Fighters game, later playable in the HD rerelease. Honey is featured in the comics as a fashion designer, mirroring her human counterpart from the game Fighting Vipers. Though something of a trickster, she understands that Sonic and his teammates are trying to save the world, while such individuals as Breezie the Hedgehog may have more sinister motives.

Game Villains

• Dr. Robotnik/Eggman â€" was a power-hungry madman who fled from his own people and found sanctuary amongst Sonic's, leading him to his ambitions to conquer the entire universe. His original incarnation, which was based on his Sonic the Hedgehog animated series character, was later killed off and replaced by an alternate incarnation in order to explain the change in design to the "Dr. Eggman" appearance that was present in the games beginning with Sonic Adventure. Following the reboot his history matches that of his game counterpart, though with the addition of actions similar to those taken by his animated series incarnation.
• Robots
  • Badniks - Robotnik's mass-produced robot armies that come in a variety of forms. In the early comics each Badnik was an individual with its own personality; later they became emotionless automatons dedicated to serving Dr. Eggman. The Genesis Wave and reboot realities have featured the Badniks as they are in the games: robots powered by captive animals that are freed upon the destruction of their shells.
  • Metal Sonic â€" Metal Sonic in this series is actually multiple robots, the first being built by the original Dr. Robotnik and engaging Sonic and his allies in multiple battles before becoming the heroic Shard the Metal Sonic. Dr. Eggman's Metal Sonic is actually a series of robots, with a new one being built whenever the previous model is destroyed. One of these models was later rebuilt in Blaze the Cat's home dimension as Captain Metal. The series also featured the Silver Sonic robots, which were similar machines derived from other Sonic robots in the games, and Pseudo Sonic, a Sonic doppelganger based on a piloted robot from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
  • E-100 Series â€" group is expanded upon to include more than just the units seen in Sonic Adventure and subsequent video games. In the pre-reboot continuity, E-102 Gamma didn't perish at the end of the events of Sonic Adventure-the events of his demise having been left out of the comics' adaptation-and instead hunted down his various "brethren" across the planet Mobius while aiding resistance forces. E-123 Omega, instead of being discovered by Rouge the Bat, is awakened from storage by Dr. Eggman and sent to destroy the renegade Gamma. The resulting confrontation resulted in Gamma's destruction and Omega gaining free will, which prompted him to join forces with Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat. Following the reboot, the history of the comics universe has played out to match the games. Comics-exclusive members of the E-100 series who have been featured in actual issues are as follows: pile-driving E-106 Eta, E-107 Theta (mentioned only in an alternate future timeline story), bird-like E-108 Iota, drill-equipped E-109 Kappa, bomb-toting E-110 Lambda, and the tiger-like E-113 Xi.
• Nack the Weasel â€" is depicted as a mercenary hired multiple times by Robotnik/Eggman for missions against Sonic, Knuckles, and their allies. Before the reboot, Nack also had a family introduced in the form of sister Nicolette "Nic" the Weasel, their combined names being a pun on a line from This Old Man. Briefly led a gang of fellow Weasels, whom he later poisoned to prevent them from seeking revenge on him for their capture. Post reboot he is not known to have any family.
• Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite Duck â€" these characters are expanded upon to become mercenaries who first appear in the employ of Dr. Eggman to attack Sonic. Bark is depicted as the super strong silent partner while Bean is an insane chatterbox capable of conjuring up bombs from thin air, and a former member of the Battlebird Armada seen in Tails Adventure. The two are also shown to have worked in the original continuity with Nack the Weasel's sister Nic and Fiona Fox, before teaming up with Nack to form a group known alternatively as Team Hooligan (following the naming convention of Sonic Heroes) or the Hooligans.
• Ifrit - apparently survived the events of Sonic Rivals 2.
• The Deadly Six - are featured initially as unwilling allies of Eggman who are freed from his control by Sigma of the Mega Man X series during Worlds Unite. Initially professing loyalty to Sigma, they are outfitted with special armor that augments their abilities, and then turn their enhanced powers against their "benefactor." However, Sigma had planned on such a betrayal, and had Eggman and Dr. Albert W. Wily fit the armor with mind control devices to force the Deadly Six to serve him.

Game Anti-Heroes

• Shadow the Hedgehog â€" in the pre-reboot continuity, rather than being discovered in a stasis capsule by Rouge as in Sonic Heroes, Shadow is saved from his apparent demise in Sonic Adventure 2 by an alien race and manages to return to the planet's surface. After spending some time as a wanderer, he briefly joins Dr. Eggman's forces in order to learn the secrets of his past, but his morality and innate good nature leads him to turn against the doctor and join G.U.N. in order to battle against evil. The reboot changed his history to match the games, with the events of Shadow the Hedgehog seeing him briefly working with the invading Black Arms before helping to destroy them.
• Rouge the Bat â€" Rouge's criminal background is lightly touched upon and connected with other criminals such as Fiona Fox, Nic the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. It is also explained that she works for G.U.N. in order to pay off her debt to society incurred by her criminal deeds.
• Babylon Rogues â€" like Bean the Dynamite, they are depicted as renegades from the Battlebird Armada, and their membership at one time included comics-exclusive character Predator Hawk in addition to Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross.

Game Organizations/Races

• Battle Bird Armada â€" a group of villains first featured in the game Tails Adventure. In the comics they share a common origin with the Babylon Rogues, being descended from the ancient Babylonians who came to Mobius on the Babylon Garden spacecraft. They were loosely aligned with the Eggman Empire, but received information so slowly that they mistook Bunnie Rabbot for a member of Eggman's cyborg army. They later attacked Sonic's home city of New Mobotropolis, which had been built atop the burial site of Babylon Garden. Prominent members included the super-strong Battle Lord, his son Speedy (who developed a rivalry with Tails), and the armada's head technician, Dr. Fukurokov. The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia also listed Bin and Pin of the game Dynamite Düx (who served as the inspiration for Bean the Dynamite) as possible members.
• Black Arms- the warlike alien race featured in the game Shadow the Hedgehog saw some slight modifications in the original continuity, the main one being that their return to the planet Mobius was delayed by a war with another alien race known as the Xorda with their own goals for the planet. The reality of the reboot apparently followed the events of the game more precisely, with the evil alien leader Black Doom meeting his defeat by Shadow. However, another group of Black Arms was revealed to be living inside a second Black Comet. Amongst these new Black Arms, Black Death replaced Black Doom as the hive mind leader of the Black Arms, while Eclipse the Darkling was created specifically to destroy Shadow for his betrayal against the Black Arms by removing his connection to the Chaos Force and assuming a powerful, monstrous form in order to defeat Shadow in combat. However, Eclipse gained a desire to reclaim his wayward "brother", and proposed the creation of the Dark Arms-a mix between the Black Arms and the Wisps of Sonic Colors. The inevitable conflict aboard the New Black Comet led to the demise of Black Death and all the Black Arms except for Eclipse, while only four Dark Arms survived his crash landing on Angel Island. He then set out to strengthen his new charges-Blurk, Cyzer, Cregal, and Rhygenta-by stealing the Master Emerald, but ran into opposition from Team Dark and Knuckles the Echidna.
• Eggman Nega â€" is depicted as a villain out to conquer multiple realities, putting him at odds with the Zone Cop Police Force. His predations are greatest on Blaze's homeworld, as his actions have resulted in the scattering of her Sol Emeralds.
• Echidnas - Knuckles' people, of whom he is the most prominent member in either continuity. Both the pre- and post reboot continuities also feature Sonic Adventure's Knuckles Clan, a group of Knuckles' ancestors that included Tikal. However, the race's history differs between the two:
  • In the original continuity, the Echidnas maintained a hidden island civilization known as Albion, who kept largely aloof from other Mobian races, with the rare exceptions of conflicts such as the Forgotten War with Mammoth Mogul's Order of Ixis. During this conflict a group of Echidnas traveled to Downunda and mutated the resident Tasmanian Devils, leading to their regression into a mostly bestial race. Another group of Echidnas later made their way there, stopping briefly on the continent of Soumerca where they clashed with the local Felidae. As a result, the group broke into three factions, with the Knuckles Clan under Pachacamac and the Nocturnus Clan under Pir'Oth Ix (the latter group hailing from Sonic Chronicles) remaining behind to continue fighting the Felidae while the rest continued on to Downunda. The Knuckles Clan was subsequently wiped out by Chaos, the Nocturnus were trapped in the alternate reality of the Twilight Cage, and the Downunda group eventually created Angel Island. Knuckles descended from this latter group, which saw constant conflict and division after arriving in Downunda: one group left to return to Albion and became known as the Lost Tribe, which Knuckles later helped complete their journey. The Dark Legion was also formed by a division between the Echidnas who stayed on Angel Island, and the Brotherhood of Guardians emerged to combat them. The Angel Island Echidnas not part of the Dark Legion were later relocated to another dimension to save them from a nuclear attack, and a young Knuckles was left with the impression that he was the last of his kind until they returned. The Echidnas were decimated by Dr. Eggman's assaults on their homelands, with 90% of the population perishing; the survivors, with the exception of Knuckles and a handful of others, were banished to an unknown location by Thrash the Tasmanian Devil.
  • In the new reality the history of the Echidna race more closely matches that of the games, with the notable exception of the Nocturnus Clan being left unidentified (this is due to legal issues between SEGA and former writer Ken Penders). As a result, Knuckles is the last living Echidna known to exist.
• G.U.N. (Guardian Unit of Nations) â€" As in the games, G.U.N. is a human military organization that occasionally works with Sonic and his allies, with Team Dark serving as their agents. The group is led by Commander Abraham Tower, a character introduced-without being named-in the game Shadow the Hedgehog.
  • In the original continuity, its members also included Commander Hugo Brass, Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha-2, and Hope Kintobor,, Robotnik's estranged niece and the half-sister of Snively.
  • The rebooted continuity also featured Commander Tower but added Captain Amanda Tower, Spider Troop (whose members are named for Archie Comics characters such as Archie Andrews) and the new reality's Snively. The new reality also featured G.U.N.'s C.L.I.P. Division, whose members include Agent Madonna Garnet, a character inspired by a scrapped human love interest of Sonic's from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Comics-Exclusive Heroes

Freedom Fighters

• Before and After the Reboot
  • Knothole Freedom Fighters-Sonic's team of Freedom Fighters, introduced in the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series. In addition to Sonic, the group includes Tails, Princess Sally Acorn (a Chipmunk), Antoine D'Coolette (a Coyote), Bunnie Rabbot (a Rabbit), Rotor Walrus, Sally's handheld computer NICOLE, Dulcy the Dragon, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat. In both continuities of the series, Bunnie and Antoine became romantically involved and eventually married. The group is given two different histories:
    • In the original continuity, the group are of mixed origins: Sonic, Sally, and Tails and their families were from Mobotropolis, Antoine and Amy hailed from the continent of Mercia, Bunnie hails from the Southern Baronies (a region seemingly inspired by the Deep South in the United States), and Rotor hails from the Northern Tundra. Sonic, Sally, Antoine, and Rotor were childhood friends who formed a club that became the core membership of the team. Tails became a junior member of the team and was eventually accepted as a full Freedom Fighter, with Amy later following suit. Bunnie, who left home due to a disagreement with her uncle over the fate of her parents, was recruited into the team after her partial Roboticization, and adopted the nickname Rabbot (pronounced RAH-bot) as a nod to her cyborg nature and a play on her maiden name, Rabbot (pronounced ra-boh). Dulcy joined the group out of a desire to help the Freedom Fighters fight Robotnik, staying despite the disapproval of her fellow dragons. NICOLE was a most unusual addition to the team, having been created by an alternate future version of Rotor and sent back in time, and eventually acquiring free will and adopting a holographic form based on a female Mobian Lynx. The group were based in the hidden village of Knothole, which became their home after Dr. Robotnik took over the city of Mobotropolis. After fighting various foes for a number of years, the team fell apart due to several losses, though some of its members reformed as Team Freedom and Team Fighters, with the respective missions of defending New Mobotropolis and pursuing Robotnik's Death Egg across the planet.
    • Following the events of the Worlds Collide crossover, a new reality was created and with it a new origin for the Freedom Fighters. As in the previous reality, Sally is part of the latest generation of the House of Acorn, the ruling family of Mobotropolis, which in this reality was built on Westside Island from the games. Bunnie also grew up in the city, while Antoine and Rotor came there from other homelands. NICOLE retains her handheld computer and holographic Lynx forms, with an origin tied to one Dr. Ellidy. In this reality the Freedom Fighters were inspired by Sonic's efforts against Robotnik, and formed their team to aid in the fight, eventually being joined by Sonic himself, Tails, and the members of Team Rose from Sonic Heroes. After successfully reclaiming Mobotropolis, the group built a new mobile base known as the Sky Patrol to help them fight against Dr. Robotnik. With the exception of Cream and Big, all the members of the Knothole Freedom Fighters are among the few beings who had their memories of the original reality restored. Given the size of the team, it is common for it to be split into two groups-Teams Freedom and Fighters-for missions, with each team taking on a different task or one serving as a backup to the other. They would later take part in the Worlds Unite crossover, joining Sonic, Mega Man, and other heroes in battling the evil Sigma and his villainous alliance.
  • Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters-an almost all Wolf group; though introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, only this group's leader, Lupe, was introduced by name.
    • The comic's Endgame storyline featured a traitorous member of the Wolf Pack named Drago, who sold out the Freedom Fighters to Dr. Robotnik. He would go on to become a member of the villainous Destructix team, before pledging his allegiance to Dr. Eggman as part of the Dark Egg Legion. Other members of the early Wolf Pack included Leeta and Lyco, a pair of twins distinguished from each other by their green (Leeta) and blue (Lyco) clothing; Reynard and Diablo, two older Wolves who often bicker with each other; and Canus, the team's largest member and chef. Later the group would be joined by Aerial and Athena, two Overlander (human variant) orphaned girls and Lupe's husband and children: Lobo, Marcos, and Maria. Eventually the Wolf Pack resettled on the fictional continent of Soumerca as part of the Wolf Pack Nation. This would lead to occasional conflict with the Felidae, a neighboring race of barbaric jungle Cats led by Queen Hathor, and with a Dark Egg Legion chapter led by Drago and the disgraced Felidae warrior Razorklaw.
    • Following the reboot, Lupe was revealed to still exist, but the rest of the group are presumed to be gone due to being conceived of by former writer Ken Penders.
• Before the Reboot Only
  • Arctic Freedom Fighters-a group of Freedom Fighters based on animals from colder climates: Guntiver the Arctic Wolf, Flip the Penguin, Erma the Ermine, Sealia the Seal, and Augustus the Polar Bear. After making their debut helping the Knothole Freedom Fighters do battle with a plot by Dr. Robotnik to freeze them, the group made several more appearances in their homeland, usually helping the Freedom Fighters in their efforts to rescue Rotor the Walrus' people from Robotnik's predations. In later stories they battled the villainous Orca Dark Egg Legion led by Ahklut.
  • Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters-a Freedom Fighter team composed entirely of marine animals who aided Tails during his solo miniseries. Consisting of Ray the Manta, Bivalve the Clam, Bottlenose the Dolphin, P.B. Jellyfish, and Fluke the Blue Whale, this group opposed Robotnik's undersea enforcer Octobot, the aquatic gangster Eel Capone, and a group of villainous robots led by an early Sonic-based robot, Pseudo-Sonic. Unlike many of the characters, the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters were anthropomorphic mainly in facial features and speaking ability, otherwise resembling the real animals they were based on; following the reboot many aquatic animals on Mobius became humanoid.
  • Downunda Freedom Fighters-Freedom Fighters based in Downunda, a fictional continent based on Australia. Its initial membership included Walt Wallaby, Barby Koala, Duck "Bill" Platypus, Guru Emu, and Wombat Stu, who joined forces to counter Robotnik's robot underling Crocbot. After a number of clashes with Crocbot-including their capture and Bill's temporary brainwashing-alongside the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the group lost Wombat Stu to the Royal Secret Service during an adventure involving the mythical Bunyip. Stu later returned after Bill apparently defected and took over a Platypus chapter of the Dark Egg Legion, and the group was joined temporarily by Thrash the Tasmanian Devil. It would later be discovered that Bill was in fact a double agent sabotaging the Legion from the inside, and that he and Barby shared a common history with Vector the Crocodile. Thrash later left the group in order to pursue a vendetta against the Echidna people of Mobius.
  • Royal Secret Service-a group of elite operatives formed by King Maximillian Acorn and initially tasked with locating his missing wife and son. Led by Geoffrey St. John (a Skunk), the group consisted of Hershey the Cat, Wombat Stu of the Downunda Freedom Fighters, Knuckles Chaotix robots Heavy & Bomb, and Espio the Chameleon's mentor Valdez. This team went on a number of missions together, temporarily replacing the Freedom Fighters. However, Heavy and Bomb were later reprogrammed by Dr. Eggman to attack the royal family, and after being destroyed were rebuilt and sent after them again before being rebuilt as heroes by Rotor the Walrus. The group lost Valdez to Dr. Eggman, who subjected him to Roboticization and reprogrammed him to attack his fellow Chameleons, leading to a fatal showdown with his old pupil Espio. Stu later left the team to rejoin his former group of Freedom Fighters, while Geoffrey and Hershey fell in love and eventually married. However, Hershey later disappeared while on a deep cover mission and was presumed dead, leading Geoffrey to rejoin his former mentor, the dark wizard Ixis Naugus.
  • Mercia Freedom Fighters-a group of Freedom Fighters based in the fictional country of Mercia and inspired by Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Led by Rob O'The Hedge, the deposed king of Mercia, the group were Roboticized by the High Sheriff, who was later revealed to be Freedom Fighter Antoine's Roboticized father. Rob later met and married an Echidna woman named Mari-An (a nod to Maid Marian) and the pair had a son named Jon (inspired by Little John). Other members included Friar Buck (a Deer based on Friar Tuck), Munch the Rat, and Alan Quail (named for Alan A'Dale). Later, Rob and his family would depart (a change forced by the Archie v. Ken Penders legal dispute) and newcomers Bow Sparrow and Thorn the Lop would join the fight against the Dark Egg Legion led by Mordred Hood.
  • Substitute Freedom Fighters-a group of Freedom Fighters formed as a precaution against the Knothole Freedom Fighters being incapacitated. Its membership included four recruits trained by Princess Sally-Arlo Armadillo, Penelope Platypus, Hamlin Pig, and Dylan Porcupine-and two friends made by Sonic during his adventures-Larry Lynx and Cyril the Eagle. However, the team saw little action after its formation, and later disbanded with Arlo and Cyril retiring due to injuries and age, respectively. Larry would become a member of the Secret Freedom Fighters, while the remaining three members of the team would become part of the Council of Acorn, an elected body that would rule over New Mobotropolis alongside Kings Elias Acorn and Ixis Naugus. The Council also included as members Sonic's Uncle Chuck, Tails' mother Rosemary, Rotor (who resigned shortly after Naugus became king), and Isabella Mongoose, mother of singing sensation and former would-be Freedom Fighter Mina Mongoose.
  • Julie-Su the Echidna and Saffron Bee-two members of the Chaotix team featured exclusively in the Archie Comics, and girlfriends of Knuckles and Charmy Bee respectively. Julie-Su was born to Dark Legion Grandmaster Luger and his second wife, and was thus hated by her half-siblings Kragok and Lien-Da. After being entrusted to an elderly couple by her father, Julie-Su's memories of her family were erased by her siblings, who also murdered her parents. She later met Knuckles, whom she recognized as an ideal mate through an Echidna sixth sense known as the Soultouch, and over time fell in love with him and became one of his most trusted allies. Saffron lived in Charmy's homeland of Golden Hive Colony, which Charmy ran away from in his youth. After he returned their to accept his duties as heir to the throne, he and Saffron began dating and were later engaged; however, their home was attacked by Dr. Eggman and their people either lost or scattered. Saffron and Charmy subsequently joined up with the Chaotix, working along with them until both Julie-Su and Saffron were exiled to an unknown location by Thrash the Tasmanian Devil. Their removal is due to both characters being created by Ken Penders.
  • Monkey Khan-a cyborg Monkey, real name Ken Khan, whose body was modified by the original Dr. Robotnik in an effort to create obedient super soldiers. Gifted with electricity based powers (with both these and his design being inspired by Journey to the West), he initially clashed with Sonic before becoming the defender of the Dragon Kingdom, where many believed him to be a prophesied king. However, he ran afoul of the local ninja clans and the Iron King and Queen, the latter of whom could manipulate his cyborg body with her magic. Despite this, he continued to fight for the kingdom, and even followed the Iron Dominion to Sonic's homeland when they briefly took control of the Eggman Empire. He briefly became romantically involved with Sally, but she chose to break off their relationship; they remained friends afterwards.
  • Original Freedom Fighters-the first group of Freedom Fighters to fight against Dr. Robotnik, led by retired officer Colonel Tig Stripe (a White tiger). With additional members Sir Peckers (a Woodpecker), Spot Long the Giraffe, MP Bull Bones (a Bulldog), and Trey Scales the Cobra, the Original Freedom Fighters launched many a daring raid against Robotnik. However, Trey later betrayed the group to Robotnik, only to share their fate of Roboticization and exile to an alternate dimension. Colonel Stripe left behind a widow, and he and his teammates left behind a legacy that would be taken up by future generations, particularly Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally Acorn's team.
  • Secret Freedom Fighters-a group of Freedom Fighters formed by Elias Acorn and Harvey Who, an Owl who was the former head of King Acorn's Intelligence Office. Its membership included Elias, veteran Freedom Fighters Larry Lynx, Leeta and Lyco the Wolves, and two rather unlikely additions: Silver the Hedgehog and Shard the Metal Sonic. Silver had traveled back in time to undo the horrific future from which he hailed, and hoped that Harvey Who would be able to help him identify the individual responsible. Shard had started out as the original Dr. Robotnik's Metal Sonic, but grew into a self-aware being wishing for a life of his own. The group helped defend New Mobotropolis from an invasion by Dr. Eggman before setting out to thwart the designs of Ixis Naugus and his apprentice Geoffrey St. John. However, half the members were created by Ken Penders and thus became unusable, and only Silver is known to exist following the reboot.
  • Future Freedom Fighters-several storylines in the comic featured Freedom Fighter teams that hailed from possible future version of Mobius. Several of these included alternate versions of Knuckles' and Julie-Su's potential daughter Lara-Su the Echidna, who in one universe went by the name Jani-Ca. These teams were as follows:
    • Light Mobius Freedom Fighters-a group formed by a possible future incarnation of Sonic and Lara-Su in response to attempts to reinstate the evil King Shadow the Hedgehog, who in this timeline had become a villainous despot. Aside from Sonic and Lara-Su, the group included other children of various heroes: Melody and Skye Prower, the super-speedy Mongoose daughter and flying Fox son of Tails and Mina Mongoose; cyborgs Jacques and Belle D'Coolette, the Coyote son and Rabbit daughter of Antoine and Bunnie; Manik and Sonia Acorn, the super fast Hedgehog son and Chipmunk daughter of Sonic and Sally Acorn (named for Sonic's siblings in Sonic Underground); and Argyle the Crocodile, tech-expert son of Vector and Lara-Su's love interest. Alternate versions of this team-minus Sonic-are also known to have existed in one version of Silver's future, with a possible descendant of Lara-Su and Argyle's named Edmund appearing as one of Silver's mentors.
    • Dark Mobius Freedom Fighters-a team led by Jani-Ca, a version of Lara-Su who previously traveled back in time to prevent the death of her father Knuckles, only to end up on Mobius Prime by mistake. She later learned that her father had actually become the villainous Enerjak, and became the leader of the last resistance force against him. Her teammates consisted of possible future versions of former Freedom Fighters and mercenaries: Dagger Walrus (Rotor), Payback Fox (Fiona), Scarlette Rabbot (Bunnie), her boyfriend Demo Duck (Bean), Cutlass Depardieu (Antoine), and Blockbuster Polar Bear (Bark). With the aid of Silver the Hedgehog, they eventually defeated Enerjak, and Jani-Ca took on his mantle using a magical sword to drain his powers. With the exception of Jani-Ca, who was created by former writer Ken Penders, all the members of the Dark Freedom Fighters were based on characters from a fan work by Ian Flynn.
• After the Reboot Only
  • Avalon Freedom Fighters-a group of Freedom Fighters led by the new reality's Bow Sparrow and opposed to Mordred Hood's Egg Army Unit.

Relatives

• House of Acorn-the Squirrel/Chipmunk royal family of Knothole and the region surrounding Mobotropolis, which is home to Sonic and his team of Freedom Fighters. Princess Sally Acorn and her father were carry-overs from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, while all other members of the family were exclusive to the comics.
  • Prior to the reboot, this included an extensive line of kings who founded the kingdom and carried it through a number of centuries up until the time of Sally's father. The comic also introduced Sally's mother Alicia Acorn and older brother Elias Acorn, both of whom were thought to have perished during a war between the kingdom and Dr. Robotnik's people. Upon being discovered alive, Elias was prepared to assume the throne as firstborn son, but later rejected the responsibility as he felt unqualified. He later married a woman named Megan and became stepfather to her daughter Alexis, and eventually claimed the throne after his father became unable to perform his duties due to a poisoning plot. Elias would continue in this office for some time until he reluctantly abdicated the throne to Ixis Naugus, but prepared to retake it with the aid of the Secret Freedom Fighters.
  • Following the reboot Sally's father was once again established as king, and Nicole's name is known to have been taken from a queen of the line; all the previous Archie exclusive characters are presumed to have been removed due to legal issues.
• Brotherhood of Guardians-Knuckles the Echidna's ancestors and protectors of the Echidna people of Angel Island. Consisting of seventeen generations-including Knuckles himself-this group existed in opposition to the evil Dark Legion, the two groups being descended from a pair of Echidna brothers named Edmund and Dimitri. The most prominent Guardians in the series during Knuckles' lifetime were Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk, Athair (who was adapted into a story arc for Sonic Underground, making him the only comics character to appear in other Sonic media), Sabre, and Locke (Knuckles' father). By the end of their time in the series-being cut out to a legal dispute between Archie Comics and their creator Ken Penders-Athair had left the Brotherhood and joined a group known as the Neo Walkers, Locke had died saving Knuckles from possession by an evil spirit, and the remaining four had been exiled to another dimension. Aside from the previous Guardians, Knuckles' family also consisted of his mother Lara-Le, who divorced his father Locke over differences of opinion on how Knuckles should be raised. She and her second husband, Wynmacher, later had a son named Kneecaps.
• Hedgehog Family-in addition to his Uncle Chuck (featured in the animated series), Sonic had a father and mother in the comics, Jules and Bernadette "Bernie" Hedgehog, who were among the first victims of the Roboticizer as employed by Dr. Robotnik. Chuck kept their continued existence secret from Sonic for some time, fearing that he would give up the fight if it put them in danger. Additionally, Chuck (as in the animated series) was featured as the creator of the Roboticizer, and was himself eventually Roboticized. Bernie and Chuck would later be restored to normal, but Jules' Roboticization was prompted by fatal injuries that would kill him were the process reversed. The Hedgehog family continued to live together and support Sonic, with Uncle Chuck-an honorary uncle to the other Freedom Fighters-eventually serving on the Council of Acorn and aiding the Secret Freedom Fighters against Ixis Naugus. Sonic also had a dog named Muttski (another carry-over from Sonic the Hedgehog) who was also Roboticized; in the post Worlds Collide reality he became a Mobian and assistant to Chuck, who appeared as a professor.
• Prower Family-Tails' family consisted of his parents Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, a soldier and writer who had Tails shortly before Robotnik's takeover as well as his wizardly uncle Merlin Prower. Amadeus was Roboticized by Robotnik, but he and Rosemary would be taken across the galaxy by an alien race known as the Bem, who created a machine that could reverse the process. This machine would later be used to restore all living Roboticized Mobians but Jules Hedgehog back to normal, but it would be some time before Amadeus and Rosemary would be rescued from the Bem homeworld by their brother/brother-in-law and son. Merlin, an acolyte of the Ancient Walkers, spent many years in exile, though he assisted Knuckles and Tails anonymously before returning to reunite with his nephew. With Merlin's help, Tails and his friends traveled to the Bem homeworld and were able to bring Amadeus and Rosemary home. Shortly after their return the two instigated an attempted coup, believing the monarchy to be an outdated institution that had failed to deal with threats to their country; however, Sally was able to convince them and her brother Elias to instead work out a compromise. This resulted in the formation of the Council of Acorn, which Rosemary became a member of while Amadeus continued to serve as a soldier. Shortly after this, Merlin-having been chosen as one of the Neo Walkers-left to continue his studies of the power of Chaos, with Knuckles' great-grandfather Athair serving as his mentor.
• Walrus Family-Rotor's family consisted of his father Sherman, who died during Robotnik's initial takeover, his mother Georgette, and his younger brother Skeeter. Georgette and Skeeter were three times the victims of mind control by Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Eggman, aided by the Orcas under Akhlut, but were freed by the efforts of the Freedom Fighters. The new reality would introduce a new father for Rotor who disapproved of his son's love of technology.
• D'Coolette Family-Antoine D'Coolette (Depardieu in the animated series) had a father named Armand and mother named Marie, both Coyotes from the continent of Mercia who spoke French. His father disappeared in action, leaving his old uniform and sword to his son, and his mother died shortly thereafter thinking her husband dead; in reality he had been Roboticized. As the High Sheriff, he would serve as a foe to Rob O' the Hedge of the Mercian Freedom Fighters for some time before having his free will restored. He would subsequently be De-Roboticized, only to be fatally poisoned by Antoine's evil counterpart Patch, but giving his blessing to Antoine and Bunnie's marriage. The new continuity found Antoine taking his father's sword to Mobotropolis to serve Sally's father as part of an exchange program, with both of his parents later perishing under unknown circumstances.

Other Heroes

• Pre-Reboot
  • Ancient and Neo Walkers-two sets of powerful beings versed in manipulation of the Chaos Force, the mystical energy that fuels the Chaos Emeralds and Rings of Sonic's world. The Ancient Walkers were a trio of anthropomorphic dinosaurs who protected Mobius from various threats down through the ages. After selecting Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to fulfill a grand destiny, they were mortally wounded by the villainous Mammoth Mogul, and chose the Neo Walkers-their pupil Aurora, Knuckles' great-grandfather Athair, and Tails' uncle Merlin Prower-to replace them. Shortly thereafter, the Ancient Walkers perished, leaving the Neo Walkers to carry on their legacy.
  • Zone Cops-an interdimensional police force from a reality that is on a 90 degree turn from all others. The most prominent Zone Cop is Zonic, who happens to be Sonic's counterpart from the No Zone. The Zone Cops are responsible for maintaining order throughout the multiverse, and often call upon Sonic to help them deal with crises in other realities. They also imprison various criminals/villains whose activities threaten worlds other than their own. All No Zone natives have the names of their Mobius counterparts but with a Z at the beginning, such as Zector the Crocodile, Zespio the Chameleon, Warden Zobotnik, Major Znively, and Zouge the Bat.
  • Nate Morgan-an Overlander scientist responsible (in the original comic continuity) for inventing the magic rings that dot the planet Mobius. His initial experiments were sabotaged by his student, Dr. Robotnik, and he was forced into exile, eventually taking up residence in the Kingdom of Acorn where he taught Sonic's uncle Chuck and others. Eventually choosing exile again after being framed for an enemy attack, he eventually settled at the south pole with his new friend Eddy the Yeti, who he saved from near death and upgraded with cybernetics. After helping Sonic and Tails win a battle with his old foe Ixis Naugus that cost Eddy his life, Nate returned to Mobotropolis, and lived there until he was Roboticized by Dr. Eggman after remaining behind to insure that the Freedom Fighters escaped; he subsequently perished when the city of Robotropolis was destroyed.
  • Mina the Mongoose and the Forget-Me-Knots-a super speedy Mongoose singer and her traveling band. Mina was born to Arthur and Isabella Mongoose, her father dying during her youth. The villain Mammoth Mogul granted her super-speed and erased her memory of their encounter Dr. Robotnik's reign of terror, and after meeting Sonic Mina fell madly in love with him. However, his affections belonged to Princess Sally, and Mina eventually turned her attention towards Ash Mongoose. Ash and Sonic clashed for a time, as Ash believed that Mina cared more about Sonic than him, but their relationship was eventually cemented. The Forget-Me-Knots also included Sharps the Chicken, Max the Monkey, and Mach the Rabbit, who were scrapped characters from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Following Mammoth Mogul taking control of her, Mighty the Armadillo, and Tails to force Sonic to help him escape prison, Mina and her band turned their music towards taking action against NICOLE, whom they had come to fear due to her falling under the control of the Iron Queen. However, they later realized that NICOLE was an innocent party and supported the effort to have her brought back into the city after she was exiled.
  • Tommy Turtle-a friend of Sonic's and one of the most-disliked characters exclusive to the comics. Tommy was depicted as having met Sonic in a scenario obviously based on Aesop's fable The Tortoise and the Hare, with Sonic replacing the hare and being defeated in a race by Tommy after falling asleep due to overconfidence. Sonic later learned that Tommy was being held captive the Destructix and attempted to free him, only for him to seemingly perish. He was later discovered to be alive and rescued, and became a friend and ally to the Freedom Fighters. Unfortunately, after his shell was fused with nanites created by Dr. Robotnik, his body was taken over by the computer virus A.D.A.M. and used in a scheme to claim all the Chaos Emeralds in the universe. Tommy managed to regain enough control to open himself to a barrage of fire from Robotnik's forces, destroying A.D.A.M. and himself; the hospital of the city of New Mobotropolis was later named in his honor.
• Post-Reboot
  • Meropis-an underwater city introduced in the post-reboot continuity, ruled by King Puff the Pufferfish and Queen Angelica the Angler, who are known to have a daughter. Other notable residents of the city include the Meropis City Guard, whose officers include Captain Striker the Mantis Shrimp and a Dolphin named Echo (a likely nod to the Ecco the Dolphin game series). The city is protected by an energy shield maintained by a mystical shrine near the city that is home to a number of the mystical Chao who inhabit Sonic's world, which is maintained by the ancient Chaos Aquarius, a priestess named Coral the Beta, her apprentice Pearly the Manta, and their protector Razor the Shark and his pet Chao Crusher.
  • Relic the Pika and Fixit-an archaeologist and her robotic assistant who took up residence on Angel Island following the events of Sonic Adventure in the reboot continuity. Relic is fascinated by ancient culture, especially that of the lost Echidnas, but is no expert in either ancient or modern technology. Fixit resembles the Gizoids of the game series, but moves about by hovering-as he lacks legs-and comes equipped with a storage module on his back. Both remained on Angel Island by Knuckles' allowance, and various characters have suggested or suspected that Knuckles and Relic are a couple, though both deny it. Relic and Fixit kept watch over Angel Island while Knuckles left to search for Light Gaia during the Shattered World Crisis, aided Team Dark when they came in search of Eclipse the Darkling, and remained on the island after Knuckles was forced to shatter the Master Emerald to keep it out of unwanted hands.
  • Moss the Sloth-a tutor to Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel in the post-reboot continuity. After his Werehog form began to take control of him, Sonic turned to Moss for help in learning to control it. Moss helped Sonic to realize that the Werehog was a part of himself that he had to accept rather than try to command. He also agreed with Sonic's assessment of Mighty's ability to be a leader, and suggested that the Armadillo might form a Freedom Fighter group composed of other former students of his.
  • Dr. Ellidy-a Lynx scientist responsible for creating Nicole during an attempt to save the life of his ailing daughter Nikki. A colleague of Chuck's, Ellidy attempted to digitize Nikki's mind into a handheld computer, but was unable to do so. However, his efforts resulted in the creation of an advanced A.I., whom he later gifted to Princess Sally. Ellidy subsequently took up residence on Isolated Island from Knuckles' Chaotix, where he remained a reclusive hermit for some time with only occasional contact with the outside world. He would alter be forced to confront his evolved creation and the painful memory of his daughter's loss when the Freedom Fighters came to help him deal with a villainous virus known as Phage.
  • Professor Von Schlemmer-a comics-version of a character who originally appeared in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. He is a scientist who appears to be a red-haired human with greenish-gray skin and circuitry running under some of his skin who speaks with a German accent. Living in the same future from which Silver the Hedgehog originates, he discovers the Genesis Portals and asks Silver to travel back in time and close them using his psychic powers.

Comics-Exclusive Villains

• Before and After the Reboot
  • Snively-a diminutive Overlander/human character from the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series who appears as a villain in the comics as well. He is a technological genius rivaling Dr. Robotnik, with whom his relationship varies depending between the original and reboot continuities:
    • In the original continuity, Snively-born Colin Kintobor Jr.-was Dr. Robotnik's nephew and the son of Robotnik's hated brother Colin. Rejected by his own father, Snively chose to join his uncle in the city of Mobotropolis and helped him formulate his coup against King Acorn. He served as Robotnik's underling for some time, though his mistreatment led to a hatred of his uncle and a number of attempts at betrayal, culminating in his sabotage of the original Robotnik's master plan, which resulted in Robotnik's demise. For a time Snively operated independently, first attempting to claim Robotnik's empire for himself and then ending up as the unlikely leader of the Destructix mercenary team. However, he would soon be recruited by Dr. Eggman, an alternate version of his uncle from another dimension, who briefly won his favor by helping him take revenge on his father. However, the old cycle of mistreatment and treachery soon began again, going so far as Snively briefly joining the Freedom Fighters. Eventually, he found a partner in his efforts and in romance: Regina Ferrum, the Iron Queen, whom he appointed as Empress of the Eggman Empire following his uncle's descent into temporary lunacy. Following Eggman's return to his usual level of sanity, Snively continued to endure his mistreatment until he decided he'd taken enough, and left Eggman with an eye at reuniting with his half-sister Hope and the imprisoned Regina. Hope rejected his offer, and Eggman defeated him and Regina, imprisoning him while sending an android duplicate to serve Regina in the Dark Egg Legion.
    • The reboot reality saw Julian Snively as a former minion of Dr. Eggman's who apparently defected from him to work with G.U.N., though he retained villainous ambitions. Early in the reboot it became known that he had a plot in motion involving a network of satellites, Space Colony ARK, and the Master Emerald, which he hoped to secure when Team Dark traveled to Angel Island in search of Eclipse the Darkling. His hopes were dashed when Knuckles shattered the Emerald to keep it out of enemy hands, and Knuckles recognized him as a former invader.
  • Naugus-an evil wizard (carried over from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon) who formerly served Sally's father as royal wizard. A hideous, misshapen being with a variety of magical abilities, Naugus-like many of the characters from the cartoon-has different characteristics in the comic's two different continuities:
    • In the original comic continuity, Ixis Naugus' monstrous appearance was influenced by his origin as three separate beings: Agunus Rhino, Nusgau Bat, and Suguna Lobster, all of them mages trained in the black arts of the evil Order of Ixis following that Order's destruction in the Forgotten Wars. Each had mastered a classical element-Earth, Wind, and Water-and instructed the others in its nuances as well before turning their attention to the one element still outside their control: Fire. The competition between the three resulted in all of them being drawn into the sun, which fused the trio into Naugus. Unaware of his past, this new being pledged his services to the House of Acorn, and eventually sought to claim their kingdom for himself. After helping instigate a war between the Kingdom of Acorn and the neighboring Overlanders-an offshoot of the human race-Naugus entered the mystical dimension known as the Zone of Silence to await the outcome. While there he won the allegiance of Feist, Warlord Kodos, Uma Arachnis, and the banished King Acorn, with Feist being overcome by his magic while the other three relied on it to survive in the harsh environment of the zone. He also gained an apprentice in the form of Geoffrey St. John, who believed Naugus to be a benevolent figure and the rightful king due to King Acorn pledging his loyalty to him. Thanks to Geoffrey's efforts, Naugus escaped the Zone of Silence following Robotnik's defeat, only to be banished there again by the Overlander Nate Morgan after fighting a vicious battle with Sonic and Tails for control of Mobius' magical Power Rings. He briefly escaped again, and upon a third escape joined forces with Mammoth Mogul, the ancient founder of the Order of Ixis. However, a brief time spent as a mindless minion due to Mogul using him as a shield from Eggman's machinations saw the end of their association after Geoffrey St. John restored his mind. Naugus soon managed to lay claim the throne he believed to be rightfully his, but another attack by Eggman resulted in the reawakening of his ancient personas and the affliction of his body by hideous mutations. Opposed by his old enemies, the citizens he attempted to rule over, and a new team of Secret Freedom Fighters, Naugus was on his last legs-possessing Geoffrey's body in a desperate attempt to stay alive-when the second Genesis Wave changed Mobius forever.
    • In the reality created following the Worlds Collide crossover, Naugus and King Acorn had both been banished into the Special Zone by Dr. Eggman after he began his rise to power. The two eventually escaped, and Naugus sought to claim the kingdom for himself, only to lose his powers as a result of Eggman's machinations. Seeking to restore them, he stole technology from Eggman and imprisoned the king in order to force hologram Freedom Fighter NICOLE to create a means by which he could restore his magic. However, she ended up restoring his memories of the original reality instead, which caused him to flee Mobotropolis in terror, allowing Sonic and Tails to rescue NICOLE and the king. In this reality his grotesque form, not recognizable as any one animal species, has apparently been identified as a Troll.
• Pre-Reboot
  • Enerjak-an ancient and evil Echidna entity first introduced in the form of Knuckles' great-uncle Dimitri, who became Enerjak after absorbing a massive amount of Chaos energy. After being buried for centuries, Enerjak emerged and attempted to take over Mobius, but was thwarted by Knuckles and the Brotherhood of Guardians. He was later brought back to Mobius and took over the Dark Legion, a group formed and led by his descendants, only to have his powers drained by Mammoth Mogul. Later, Knuckles himself would be possessed by the spirit of Enerjak, going on a brief rampage before being freed by the power of Super Sonic and the sacrifice of his father Locke. The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia, a companion to the comic series, would reveal that the original Enerjak had been the husband of Neo Walker Aurora who was corrupted by the power he gained using Chaos energy and scattered throughout the Chaos Force. He would later begin his trend of assuming control of other Echidnas by possessing an unknown Echidna during an ancient war. A dark possible future version of Mobius also introduced another Enerjak-possessed Knuckles who took over most of the planet, only to have his powers-and the Enerjak mantle-stolen by his daughter Jani-Ca.
  • Mammoth Mogul-an ancient woolly mammoth who appears to have been inspired by such comic book villains as Vandal Savage and the Kingpin. Mogul was a primitive hunter who had a Chaos Emerald (which at one point in the series existed in numbers far greater than seven) embedded in his chest that granted him immortality and mystical abilities. He briefly conquered part of Mobius but was overthrown, and formed the evil Order of Ixis after learning to harness his magical energies. This group attempted to conquer the planet as well only to be defeated in a war with an ancient group of Echidnas, leaving only a handful of survivors besides Mogul; eventually this would produce Ixis Naugus. Mogul fell into obscurity over the centuries, all the while planning for future conquests. Towards the present day he began making plans, including imbuing his Fearsome Foursome and Mighty the Armadillo with enhanced physical abilities. He attempted to take over the planet by stealing the powers of the mighty Enerjak using the magical Sword of Acorns, but was defeated by the combined efforts of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, the Ancient Walkers, and the Brotherhood of Guardians. This led to him being imprisoned in the newly created Master Emerald, from which he reached out and granted super-speed to a young girl named Mina Mongoose after determining that she would become someone whom Sonic would care about. He eventually escaped due to Dr. Eggman's machinations, and captured Tails to drain his power and launch an attack that fatally wounded the Ancient Walkers. A confrontation between him and Knuckles led to Knuckles' death and Mogul's theft of his Chaos powers, which he began using to destroy the multiverse before being thwarted by Tails, who reversed the damage he had done. He later escaped and reclaimed the Sword of Acorns and its magical twin, the Crown of Acorns, as well as being joined by Ixis Naugus. Once again defeated and trapped, he was stripped of his Chaos Emerald and captured by the Freedom Fighters before managing to claim one of the newly created seven Chaos Emeralds by using mind control on Mighty, Mina, and Tails and forcing Sonic to give him the Emerald as ransom. His task accomplished, Mogul decided that his multiple defeats at Sonic's hands left him only one option: to wait for the hero to die so he could take over. In Silver the Hedgehog's time, however, an aged Mammoth Mogul appeared to lament his former evil path, and mentored the young time traveler in his efforts to undo their horrific future.
  • Crocbot and Octobot-two robotic villains, in the shape of a Mobian crocodile and octopus, respectively, who served as foes to Tails. Octobot first encountered the young Fox during an early solo adventure of Tails', and later menaced him again only to be defeated by the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters. His future efforts to conquer the seas for Robotnik proved ineffective, and he was later ousted by the undersea gangster Eel Capone. Crocbot was Robotnik's chief underling on the continent of Downunda, and a long-time opponent of the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Crocbot secretly planned to betray Robotnik and claim Mobius for himself, but met with crushing defeat when Tails joined the Downunda Freedom Fighters in battling him. Surviving, he established a prison and captured his former enemies, but once again met with defeat when they joined forces with other rebels, this time Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot. Broken and defeated, Crocbot nevertheless continued to pose a threat, notably brainwashing Bill Platypus of the Downunda Freedom Fighters into aiding in his reconstruction. This plan was thwarted, but the Platypi who followed the brainwashed Bill later formed a Dark Egg Legion chapter, and Crocbot's remains were later recovered by Eggman and combined with Octobot to create the loyal Croctobot. This misshapen machine was deployed against Sonic the Hedgehog, but he found the fused villains amusing and later destroyed them by teaming up with fellow Hedgehogs Shadow and Scourge.
  • Feist-a Giant Panda-like titan who inhabited the same dimension to which King Maximillian Acorn was banished by Dr. Robotnik. Along with Kodos Lion, Uma Arachnis, and King Acorn himself, he was forced into the service of Ixis Naugus. However, after Naugus left the realm, the Chaos Emeralds collected from across space by A.D.A.M. were sent here, and Feist fused them into seven gems, using their power to reshape the dimension into the Special Zone. He granted one of these gems to Sonic and Tails due to their role in granting him his new powers, but forced them and all other future visitors to his realm to pass obstacle courses in order to obtain further gems.
  • E.V.E., A.D.A.M., and Mecha-a trio of robotic "children" created by Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Eggman. E.V.E., the Exceptionally Versatile Evolvanoid, was created using DNA from Sonic and Robotnik in the hopes of creating a being with his capacity for evil and Sonic's ingenuity. She was gifted with the ability to learn from her defeats and evolve through various forms, eventually becoming a large tentacled being with a crystalline brain. However, she eventually surpassed Robotnik's programming and betrayed him, and after talking with Sonic decided to seek a new destiny amongst the stars. However, she found herself feared, and set out on a quest to "liberate" other artificial intelligences by absorbing them into herself. After destroying a number of worlds, she was confronted by a space-traveling Sonic, who convinced her of the error of her ways, leading to her self-destruction. A.D.A.M., the Autonomous Digital Assault Microbe, and Mecha, also known as M, were created by Dr. Eggman during Sonic's time in space: A.D.A.M. was a computer virus who gained sentience, while Mecha was a robot designed to look like human female in the prime of her life. A.D.A.M. developed a complex about earning his "father's" love, which led him to orchestrate various schemes under the alias of Anonymous. He eventually framed Mecha for her crimes, and Eggman ordered her to self-destruct. However, Eggman later learned the truth and attempted to delete A.D.A.M., only for him to escape by taking over a swarm of nanites fused with Sonic's friend Tommy the Turtle. This led to an attempt to collect all the Chaos Emeralds from across reality, which were later fused into seven Chaos Emeralds; A.D.A.M. perished after Tommy managed to reclaim control of his body and exposed himself to an attack by Eggman's Egg Fleet.
  • Fiona Fox-a female Fox who was captured by Dr. Robotnik in her youth and shared her captivity with Sonic, Mighty, and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Fiona was used as the basis for an Auto-Automaton robot, and regrettably left behind when Sonic and Mighty made their escape. Eventually breaking out of the prison herself, she became a hardened mercenary alongside the likes of Nic the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. She eventually crossed paths Mighty and Sonic again, and ended up joining the Knothole Freedom Fighters upon recognizing Sonic's heroism and that he had not intended to leave her behind. Unfortunately, incidents of her criminal past-including dealings with Rouge the Bat-continued to plague her, and she found herself attracted to Sonic's evil doppelganger Scourge, who was impersonating Sonic at the time. Fiona attempted for a time to establish a relationship with the real Sonic-much to the dismay of Tails, who had fallen in love with her robotic clone-but found herself drawn to the darker and more dangerous Scourge. She eventually defected from the Freedom Fighters, joining the Destructix alongside Scourge and later taking over the Suppression Squad alongside. After being betrayed by Scourge's original teammates, Fiona recruited the leaderless Destructix, and later brought Scourge back into the group after helping him escape from prison.
  • Dr. Finitevus-an Echidna scientist who gained corrupted Chaos powers after attempting to remove Knuckles' Chaos powers. As a result he took on a drastically altered appearance: white furred with yellow eyes and black sclera. Driven to purify the "corrupt" Mobius, he joined the Dark Legion in order to learn more about Chaos power by studying the Brotherhood of Guardians, Moritiori Rex, and Dimitri. He set out to create a new Enerjak, and examined Lien-Da and former Constable Remington as candidates before settling on Knuckles, and recruited such villains as Scourge the Hedgehog, Fiona Fox, and the Destructix to aid him in his plans. After tricking Knuckles' father Locke into entrusting him with the protection of Angel Island and the Master Emerald, he managed to brainwash Knuckles and turn him into a new Enerjak. After Knuckles was returned to normal, Finitevus forged an alliance with the Downunda Dark Egg Legion in an effort to seize the Master Emerald once again, but was defeated by the combined efforts of the Chaotix and the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Finitevus also created the magically charged Warp Rings that became a means of rapid travel for many of the characters, which inadvertently allowed Thrash the Devil to exact his revenge on the Echidnas.
  • Thrash the Devil-the last sentient Tasmanian Devil remaining on the planet Mobius after his species was altered in ancient times by a group of renegade Echidnas, resulting in the other Tasmanians becoming savage Devil Dogs (resembling Taz from Looney Tunes). Having grown up with stories of the crimes committed against his people, Thrash set out to exact revenge, though he briefly fought alongside the Downunda Freedom Fighters and Chaotix. He eventually obtained a Warp Ring and learned how to super charge it, and attacked the Master Emerald Shrine to do so. As a result, he was able to send Julie-Su, Saffron, and almost every Echidna remaining on Mobius to an unknown location. He and his Tasmanian Devil Dog pack engaged Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, and Amy in battle, and he and Knuckles ended up battling across Mobius before Thrash managed to escape.
• Post Reboot Only
  • Phage-a malevolent, amorphous being with a feline face known to inhabit the Digital World. A computer virus created by Dr. Eggman, she infected various systems and grew more powerful and intelligent with each new conquest. Eventually she would attack the systems of Nicole's creator Dr. Ellidy in an attempt to seize his research and a Chaos Emerald that had ended up near his home, leading to a confrontation between her and the Freedom Fighters. Her attempt to redeem herself in her master's eyes was thwarted by Nicole, who underwent a transformation and gained the power to exile Phage from Ellidy's systems.

Teams

• Before and After the Reboot
  • Army Robots-both Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Eggman employ extensive armies of mass-produced robotic soldiers in the comics. The first of these were known as the SWATbots (taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon), and came in a number of variants. While they towered over Sonic and most of his allies and possessed weaponry, these SWATbots were usually defeated easily, and in earlier stories often served in comedy relief roles. Robotnik also employed camouflaged Combots, more intelligent units with greater armament and capabilities. Eggman utilized more menacing SWATbots, some known as Shadowbots due to their black armor, as well as employing the Egg Pawns of the video games. These were later replaced by the Egg SWATS, robots that combined elements from the SWATbots and Egg Pawns. The Egg SWATs would survive following the events of Worlds Collide, with the Egg Pawns also serving a lesser role as Eggman's forces.
  • The Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad (6S)-a group originating from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, consisting of robotic chicken Scratch, tread and drill-equipped automaton Grounder, and the mechanical monkey Coconuts. The trio were introduced as early foes of Sonic during the comic's early comedic period, but were dropped for an extended period as the storylines grew more serious. However, they were later reintroduced alongside other "Badniks"-Dr. Robotnik's older style robots-in the employ of villain Mammoth Mogul. Following the reboot, the trio were established as a team yet again, but ended up in the employ of Breezie the Hedgehog (another character adapted from Adventures). Breezie and the 6S previously lured Sonic into a trap, and ended up running an entertainment network spanning all of Mobius thanks in part to the sponsorship of Neo Metal Sonic during the events of Sonic Heroes.
• Before the Reboot
  • Auto-Automatons/Infiltrators-robots designed to look like living beings and utilized by both Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Eggman. Originally intended to infiltrate the Freedom Fighters, Robotnik's early models proved to have a fatal flaw: exposure to water caused them to rust rapidly and become useless. Despite this, Robotnik nearly ensnared Tails with one modeled after a young Fiona Fox, and later replaced King Acorn with one in a scheme that nearly proved the undoing of the Freedom Fighters. After Robotnik's demise, Eggman employed improved models that suffered from other flaws that limited their use.
  • Roboticized Masters â€" villains exclusive to the Worlds Collide story arc. The Roboticized Masters are allies of Sonic's subjected to the Roboticization process to take on Robot Master-like qualities such as special weapons. These units are designated Tails Man, Knuckles Man, Rose Woman, Shadow Man (the subject of some jokes playing on the existence of a Robot Master named Shadow Man), Silver Man, Blaze Woman, Vector Man (whose name coincidentally is a near match for another Sega video game, Vectorman), Charmy Man, Espio Man, and Rouge Woman. It was eventually discovered that the combined energies of Sonic's Spin-Dash attack and Mega Man's Mega-Buster could return these beings to their organic selves, allowing Mega Man to claim their special weapons. Yet another Roboticized Master would be created during the Worlds Unite crossover, which saw Sonic's capture and transformation into Sonic Man while Mega Man was reprogrammed into M'egga Man, both of them changed on the orders of the villain Sigma.
  • Anti-Freedom Fighters/Suppression Squad-counterparts of the Knothole Freedom Fighters from an alternate dimension known as Anti-Mobius or Moebius. Whereas the Freedom Fighters stood to restore order and freedom, the Anti-Freedom Fighters wrought anarchy upon their home, including deposing King Maxx Acorn. This group appeared to impersonate and pester the Freedom Fighters on several occasions after Sonic first visited their home dimension, and Antoine's counterpart impersonated him for an extended period of time that led to the poisoning of King Acorn and the poisoning and death of Antoine's father Armand. After absorbing energy from the Master Emerald and gaining a new appearance, the former Evil Sonic rechristened himself Scourge the Hedgehog and joined the evil Destructix. Having previously dated several of the women from his world, he found a permanent love interest in Mobius Prime's Fiona Fox, whose unfortunate life experiences led her to embrace the dark path offered by Scourge. After serving in the Destructix under Dr. Finitevus, the pair returned to Moebius, where Scourge made himself king and forced his former teammates to undergo drastic changes. Now known as the Suppression Squad, their membership included Princess Alicia (Anti-Sally), Miles (Anti-Tails), Boomer (Anti-Rotor), and Patch (Anti-Antoine). Former members of the group also included Jeffrey St. John, who later ended up in the No Zone Jail with Maxx, and Buns Rabbot, Bunnie Rabbot's fully organic counterpart who dated Scourge before developing a disease that led to her expulsion from the group. Enemies of the Suppression Squad included O'Nux, the Anti-Knuckles and his Orderix associates; Dr. Kintobor, a kindly version of Dr. Robotnik; and Rosy the Rascal, a deranged counterpart to Amy Rose. The Suppression Squad later teamed up with the Freedom Fighters to defeat Scourge, putting an end to his and Fiona's membership in the team.
  • Destructix-a group of criminals whose membership has fluctuated over the years. The core members of the group were formerly Mammoth Mogul's Fearsome Foursome: Sergeant Simian, Lightning Lynx, Predator Hawk, and Flying Frog. All four were outcasts of one type or another: Simian had embraced warlike ways before the rest of his people; Lightning Lynx had been banished from his ninja clan for loving its leader and losing to her in battle; Predator Hawk had deserted the Battle Bird Armada (of Tails Adventure) with the Babylon Rogues (of Sonic Riders) after attacking one of its higher-ranking members; and Flying Frog was exiled from Mercia for his sadistic habits. After being captured in service to Mogul, the Foursome were sent to prison, and upon breaking out were joined by a number of other criminals: Wolf Pack traitor Drago, Intelligence double agent Sleuth Dawg the Hound Dog (name undoubtedly inspired by Snoop Dogg), bounty hunter Nack the Weasel, and two former minions of Ixis Naugus: former Kingdom of Acorn warlord Kodos the Lion and Spider ninja Uma Arachnis. For a time these criminals served under Robotnik's nephew Snively, but after his apparent demise Kodos, Uma, and Nack left the group, with Kodos and Uma later perishing. The remaining half dozen eventually took the name Destructix, and remained cohesive as a team for some time, undergoing Roboticization together, serving Mammoth Mogul alongside Ixis Naugus and Uma's children after being returned to normal, and then being employed by the Echidna villain Dr. Finitevus. Under this last employer, the Destructix were briefly joined by Scourge the Hedgehog and Fiona Fox, who later left the group after their employment with Finitevus was terminated. Drago subsequently left the group to join up with Dr. Eggman, while Lightning briefly left to rejoin his ninja clan and a retiring Sleuth passed leadership to a returning Fiona. The team worked together with several Freedom Fighters to retrieve Lightning, and the five criminals then broke into Zone Jail to rescue Scourge before traveling to Moebius.
  • Sand-Blasters-a renegade group of Freedom Fighters who initially worshiped Sonic as a hero but decided to hold him hostage in their city. He subsequently escaped, leaving them exposed to an attacking horde of Roboticized Mobians, whom they eventually captured and attempted to unleash on Sonic's teammate Bunnie Rabbot. Later the Roboticized Mobians were returned to normal, and the Sand-Blasters briefly took them into their midst, but proved suspicious of their new neighbors. This led them to drive the former robots out of their city, where they ended up becoming the Great Desert Dark Egg Legion. The Sand-Blasters are led by Jack Rabbit, and their membership consists of Shift the Wolf, Jolt the Roadrunner, Tex the Lizard, and Avery the Bear. The members of the Sand-Blasters are inspired to various degrees by Looney Tunes: Jack resembles Bugs Bunny, Shift and Jolt are similar to Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, and the remaining two are named for Tex Avery.

Organizations

• Before the Reboot
  • Dark Legion/Dark Egg Legion-initially a society of cyborg Echidnas who broke away from the rest of the Angel Island population under the leadership of Menniker, who was the son of third Enerjak Dimitri. Dedicated to their people's advanced technology, the Legion went so far as to replace parts of their bodies with cybernetics, and declared war on their fellow Echidnas. They were banished to an alternate dimension by the Guardian Steppenwolf, and found that time flowed more slowly for them than for their brethren. Menniker was succeeded by his son Moritori Rex, who later enacted a diabolical scheme in which he replaced and impersonated Guardian Tobor for decades. His son Luger proved less hostile, and was eventually murdered by his children Kragok and Lien-Da, who also cast out and erased the memories of their sister Julie-Su. Kragok also had a son named Remington, whose mother fled the Legion out of fear for his life; Remington would become a Constable among the Echidnas and even oppose Kragok and the rest of the Legion, though a period of enforced amnesia would allow Dr. Finitevus to remake him in Kragok's image until he was returned to normal. When Dimitri returned-first as Enerjak and then after his powers were drained-he took over the Legion from Kragok, who eventually died in battle. Moritori rejoined the Legion after his deception was discovered, but was banished back to the Legion's dimension of exile by Dr. Finitevus along with the surviving members of the Brotherhood of Guardians. Lien-Da later took over the Legion due to Dimitri's failing health, and fought a civil war with Remington until the Legion was stripped of its cybernetics and resources by the fourth Enerjak. The group-once again under Dimitri's leadership-later joined the Eggman Empire as a chapter of the Dark Egg Legion, with the rest of the organization adopting its Grandmaster and Kommissar offices and in many cases the black robes of its members. Lien-Da would later become Grandmaster after betraying Dimitri under the leadership of the Iron Dominion, and continued to serve Dr. Eggman until almost all the Echidnas on Mobius were exiled by Thrash the Tasmanian Devil. Other chapters of the Dark Egg Legion are as follows:
    • Downunda D.E.L.-a group consisting of Platypi and led by Bill Platypus, who was secretly a double agent for the Downunda Freedom Fighters, which served as the primary opposition to this group.
    • Soumerca D.E.L.-a group led by Drago Wolf and Razorklaw, a disgraced warrior of the Felidae culture composed of Big cats native to Soumerca. Opposed by the Wolf Pack Nation and the Felidae; this group's membership included missing/exiled members from both societies.
    • Orca D.E.L.-a group of cyborg Orcas led by Ahklut out to dominate the Northern Tundra and enslave the Walrus Herd; opposed by the Arctic Freedom Fighters.
    • Great Desert D.E.L.-a group of mixed race Mobians who joined the Eggman Empire out of desperation due to being persecuted by the Sand-Blasters, a renegade group of Freedom Fighters. Its membership Baron Beauregard Rabbot, Bunnie's estranged Rabbit uncle, as leader and Matilda the Armadillo, Mighty's long-lost sister, as one of his loyal underlings.
    • Mercia D.E.L.-mixed Mobians led by Mordred Hood, a Cobra with hypnotic powers who fights against the Mercia Freedom Fighters.
    • Nerb D.E.L.-a chapter consisting of Nerbs, a subterranean race exclusive to the comics. Its leader was the Foreman, a Nerb inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon's Dr. Robotnik, and it was opposed by the Nerb Freedom Fighters, Nerb parodies of the Knothole Freedom Fighters.
    • Efrika D.E.L.-a chapter consisting of the Bear Pack, who opposed Knuckles on one adventure, and the Nasty Hyenas (a group introduced in the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series). Led by Diesel the Bear and equipped with hover-motorcycles.
    • Eurish D.E.L.-a chapter consisting of humans, primarily brainwashed agents of G.U.N. (Guardian Units of the Nation, an organization from the SEGA games). Formerly led by brainwashed G.U.N. Commander Hugo Brass, leadership later taken over by Regina Ferrum, the former Iron Queen.
  • Dingo Regime-the Dingos were ancestral enemies to the Echidnas of Angel Island, launching multiple attacks against them over time. In the present day they came under the leadership of General Helmut von Stryker, who led a takeover attempt of the Echidnas' capital city that was thwarted by Knuckles. His son Kage later struck an alliance with Dr. Eggman, who supplied the Dingos with weaponry that allowed them to take over the island and oppress the Echidnas in Nazi-esque fashion. However, the fourth Enerjak-a possessed Knuckles-later stripped the Dingos of their weaponry and sent most of them to join the exiled Helmut in Angel Island's desert region, while Kage and the Dingo city were atomized by his powers. The most notable Dingo besides the Strykers was Harry, a former soldier who became a cab driver after the Dingos took up residence in the Echidna city prior to Kage's alliance with Eggman. He was later forced back into the army under Kage but acted as a double agent, but was severely punished for his disloyalty to Kage.
  • Iron Dominion-a group that attempted to take over the Dragon Kingdom and thus opposed Monkey Khan. It was led by the Iron Queen Regina Ferrum, a human woman, and the Iron King Jun Kun, a male Ox. Regina commanded magical energies that allowed her to control technology, while the Iron King possessed powers similar to those of Marvel Comics' Juggernaut. The two were sponsored by Dr. Robotnik as his regional enforcers in the Dragon Kingdom and later served the same function under Dr. Eggman, despite an early defeat at the hands of Khan, Sonic, and Tails. They eventually succeeded in coercing the four ninja clans of the region into serving as their army, and added the Echidna Dark Egg Legion to their force after taking over for a temporarily deranged Dr. Eggman. After a number of encounters, they managed to claim the city of New Mobotropolis through Reinga temporarily taking control of NICOLE and the nanites that composed the city. However, Khan and his allies convinced the clans to break their ties with the Iron King and Queen, and the Legion turned against them and eventually returned to Eggman's service. Regina was imprisoned in the Dragon Kingdom and eventually freed by her boyfriend, Eggman's nephew Snively, and instated as Grandmaster of the Eurish Dark Egg Legion. The Iron King was defeated by the heroes using the magical Fan of Fen Xing, which had been employed by Sonic and Tails previously to defeat him. The four clans were as follows:
    • Yagyu Clan-a group of ninja Bat thieves who preyed upon the inhabitants of the Dragon Kingdom. The Iron King murdered their leader, the Bride of Rich Nights, but allowed the Iron Queen to claim credit for it so that the Yagyu would pledge their allegiance to her, an act that led the other clans to do the same. However, one of the Yagyu Lords was convinced to abandon the clan system for the ancient ways of Yagyu as assassins, and the Yagyu severed their ties with the Iron Dominion.
    • Gossamer Clan-a group of spider ninjas whose membership included Uma Arachnis. Led by the Bride of Endless Reach, they took guidance from the ancient Web of Fate, a web that supposedly held all the possible paths that the future might take. Khan and the Freedom Fighters managed to convince this clan to break ties with the Iron Dominion and pursue a course of peace after informing them of the fate of Uma and her children, the Arachne, all of whom perished in their efforts to save Mobius from a greater evil.
    • Raiju Clan-Lynx ninjas whose membership previously included Lightning Lynx, who was exiled for loving the Bride of Conquering Storm who led the clan in the present day. The Bride eventually invited Lightning back after learning that he had been living in the territory of their new Freedom Fighter enemies, but banished him yet again after he lost a battle to Sonic the Hedgehog that would determine whether or not the Raiju remained aligned with the Iron Dominion. In their quest for power, however, the Raiju joined Eggman's Dark Egg Legion, though they were slow to submit to the process of receiving cyborg implants.
    • Shinobi Clan-a group of Chameleons whose membership included Espio, his mentor Valdez, and childhood friend Liza. Several of the Shinobi relocated to Angel Island at an unknown point in time, with one of them always being assigned to monitor the current Echidna Guardian. Espio was the most recent Chameleon to undertake this task, but violated his orders to help Knuckles fight Dr. Robotnik and other threats. The Shinobi had long maintained a policy of trying to police the Dragon Kingdom and the rest of the planet by acquiring information, but gave up peace-keeping efforts due to diminished numbers. The group was led by Espio's mother, the Bride of Constant Vigil, who joined the clan with the Iron Dominion but later broke their alliance after the other clans had been convinced to do likewise. She also allowed Espio, who had rejoined the clan, to return to the Chaotix and act as he saw fit.
• After the Reboot
  • Egg Army-after the Worlds Collide special event, the Dark Egg Legion was replaced by the Egg Army, a group of cyborgs who wore uniforms inspired by Eggman's attire rather than black cloaks. This group's leadership includes a pair of pronghorn sisters named Cassia and Clove.
    • Efrika Egg Army-a group replacing Diesel's Bear and Hyena Legion, led by Axel the Water Buffalo and utilizing Extreme Gear and land vehicles instead of the air motorcycles of the Legion.
    • Avalon Egg Army-a revamped version of the Mercia Dark Egg Legion, relocated to the new region of Avalon but still led by Mordred Hood.
    • Metropolis Egg Army-a unit based in the Metropolis Zone featured from the game Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
    • Artika Egg Army-a unit based in the northern pole region of Mobius, led by Tundra the Walrus.
    • Orca Egg Army-Akhlut's Orca Legion relocated to Mobius' oceans, also known as the Great Blue Realm.
    • Soumerca Egg Army-a force replacing Drago and Razorklaw's Legion, led by Thunderbolt the Chinchilla.

Series and reissues

Development

Reception

Destructoid praised the comic series, especially the earlier issues during the 1990s, for adding more backstory and character interaction than was presented in the Sonic video games for the Sega Genesis. Escapist Magazine praised it as well, calling it good and "...Not Watchmen or KtE, but good.", citing this due to Sega Of America keeping a close watch on the series without including too much plot from the poorly received video game plots.

See also

• Knuckles the Echidna (comics)
• Sonic the Comic
• Sonic Universe
• Sonic X (comics)
• Archie Comics
• Mega Man (Archie Comics)
• Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante

References

External links

• Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog homepage
• SEGA's official page for the Sonic comics
• Interview: Daryl Edelman On His Comic Book Journeys & More! Interview with Editor for Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, Daryl Edelman, by Nicholas Yanes