Next we see shots of both Sonic and Robotnik’s teams, but there’s something a little fishy about one of them. While Sonic, Knuckles, and jetpack-wearing Tails all look fine running through the forests of Green Hill, it’s the line-up of both Robotniks, Shadow, and Agent Stone that’s odd. There’s a noticeable gap between Stone and Robotnik that looks strange from a shot composition standpoint. If Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, there’s one major player who appears absent from the film: Rouge the Bat.
The treasure-hunting double-agent acts as Knuckles’ rival in the Dreamcast game, and it’s a bummer that she doesn’t appear to be in the movie that adapts her debut alongside Shadow. Unless this is a Spider-Man: No Way Home situation in which she, or some other Sonic character, is meant to be standing in that empty space but has been edited out to surprise fans when the movie premieres. There’s also a possibility this could be Metal Sonic, as fans have been theorizing since the first trailer that the synthetic hedgehog could be making his debut in either this film or the next one.
If Robotnik is turning coat in this movie, it would make some sense for him to build the robohog. But I worry the film could feel pretty bloated if Paramount smooshed another Sonic storyline into an Adventure 2 adaptation, and we already have one villainous hedgehog. God, let it be Rouge.