The Entire Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Timeline Explained

It might have taken a few decades, but the 2020s finally saw video game movies start to become legitimately good. "Sonic the Hedgehog" helped lead that charge, subsequently becoming one of the highest-grossing video game movies of all time and also managing the impressive feat of having an equally-good — and even more financially successful — sequel. One of the reasons why the "Sonic" movies have scored so well with audiences is that they tell actual stories with complex characters and follow a well-structured lore that is simple enough for the younger demographics but not too dumbed-down for adult viewers.

While it's fairly easy to follow along with the major story beats of the "Sonic" films, there is definitely a lot going on. Sonic has a rich lore and history not only across his many game releases, but also in the extremely popular Sonic comic books that have existed almost as long as the games — and in fact, that universe is so well-developed that there are fans who primarily read the comics and barely play the games at all. Given that the Sonic movies draw from all of that, it can be a little overwhelming for those who haven't been playing Sonic games and/or reading Sonic comics for 30 years. 

So here is a handy reference guide that follows the major plot events of "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," and will be updated accordingly with the arrival of "Sonic the Hedgehog 3."  

After the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" opens with what we find out is a flash-forward nearly to the end of the film's events, things are then taken back to Sonic's (voiced by Ben Schwartz) beginnings as a character — and therefore, the de facto beginning of the relevant events for the "Sonic" movie universe. We see Sonic as a very young child, zooming through his home planet of Mobius. He seems to be living a pretty easygoing life until his caretaker — an owl named Longclaw (Donna J. Fulks) — informs him that the echidnas are closing in and are looking to kidnap him. 

At that point, Longclaw uses a magic ring to open a portal, giving Sonic a bag full of other such rings to use and telling him he must go through to ensure his safety. Sonic is hesitant, but reluctantly passes through the portal just in time to look back and see what he assumes to be Longclaw's demise. As it turns out, the portal has taken Sonic to Earth, and he spends the next 10 years hiding out and building a life in proximity to — but not directly intermingling with — the human residents of a small Montana town called Green Hills. Longtime fans, of course, recognized that as a callback to the games, as Green Hill Zone is famously the first world of the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" video game and would remain an important location across various Sonic media. 

After many years of living vicariously through the people of Green Hills but never actually interacting with any of them, Sonic gets very lonely. One night, while playing a game of baseball by himself — which he is able to do as his speed allows him to play every position on both teams nearly simultaneously — his isolated lifestyle starts to get to him and he begins to frustratingly run around the bases as quickly as possible. He eventually goes so fast, in fact, that he accidentally causes a massive energy spike that is picked by the United States government.

The government enlists the help of a scientist named Dr. Ivor Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Robotnik's methods are often questionable and he can be very difficult and unpredictable to work with, but he's an unparalleled genius who is also willing to be discreet — making him perfect for the job of locating the source of the energy spike and determining its cause without creating a stir among the general public. Robotnik traces the energy signature to Green Hills and the home of local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), in whose garage Sonic hides after his underground home is discovered. 

Before Robotnik arrives at the Wachowski house, Tom goes to the garage to investigate some weird noises that he assumes are raccoons. Instead, he is shocked to find an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog standing in front of him — one that thankfully got a design overhaul following backlash after people saw the hideous original version in the movie's first trailer. The two of them are equally shocked to be face to face. Tom shoots Sonic with a tranquilizer dart, causing Sonic to nearly fall into the portal to San Francisco that he'd opened in all the chaos and accidentally drop his remaining rings onto the roof of a skyscraper. 

Once everything calm downs, and Sonic shows Tom that he is able to speak, Sonic pleads with Tom to not only keep him safe from Robotnik but also to take him to San Francisco where he dropped his rings. Tom is obviously reluctant, not knowing anything about this mysterious creature, but something tells him that the right thing to do would be to help Sonic and get away from Robotnik. Thus the duo's adventure together finally begins.

When Robotnik recovers from the punch that Tom delivers to him back at the house, he is quickly hot on the trail of the sheriff and Sonic. It's not long before he catches up to them in one of his powered-up vehicles and begins to attack Tom's car. With the pair seemingly outgunned, it seems a foregone conclusion that Robotnik is going to take Tom and Sonic out — that is, until Sonic suddenly finds himself powering up and launching at Robotnik's vehicle with a super-powered spindash. 

It's one of the character's most iconic moves, but this is the first time that it happens in the movie. It's also the first indication Sonic gets that he's got a lot more in the way of abilities than just his speed, and that the shockwave he set off back on that baseball field was something he could actually harness and control if he worked on it a little. Unfortunately, this revelation is a double-edged sword because it also ends up demonstrating the potential of Sonic's power — and how much of it is packed into Sonic's quills — to Robotnik, making his mission to capture Sonic suddenly much more personal as he dreams up ways that he too could harness the hedgehog's immense power.  

Tom — along with his wife, Maddie (Tika Sumpter), whom he and Sonic met up with in San Francisco — finally brings Sonic to the building where Sonic had dropped his rings. Naturally, Robotnik shows up to ensure that their happy ending doesn't happen just yet. Robotnik attacks the three of them, and in the ensuing battle, Sonic realizes that Robotnik can now move almost as quickly as he can. It turns out that Robotnik can, in fact, use Sonic's quills to make his gadgets both faster and much more powerful.

After Sonic gets Tom and Maddie to safety by sending them back to Green Hills via one of his ring portals, Robotnik begins to chase Sonic through the streets of San Francisco as glimpsed in the opening moments of the movie. The battle is eventually brought back to Green Hills, and Sonic triumphs by not only voluntarily powering himself up for the first time but also by sending Robotnik through a portal to a distant planet overrun by mushrooms. 

Despite what many people assumed, the mushroom planet is not a reference to or jab at "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which blew everyone away at the box office. It's actually a nod to another world from the games — this time, Mushroom Hill Zone from "Sonic & Knuckles." And there might be a very specific reason why a world from that particular game was chosen.

This brings us to the events of the second movie, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." The mid-credits teaser from the first movie made it clear that a certain sidekick was going to make his debut in the sequel, but we'll get to him in a bit. The other major character debut in "Sonic 2" is Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, who guaranteed one thing about his portrayal of the character — that he wouldn't make Knuckles sound sexy, as it were. But Knuckles arrives in the Sonic movie universe and, just like his character arc in the games, starts out as a villain.

Robotnik is finally about to make his escape from the mushroom planet, thanks to the Sonic quill he still has in his possession, when Knuckles suddenly appears before him. Knuckles asks Robotnik how he got that quill, and Robotnik says he's on his way to find Sonic — and offers to team up with Knuckles so they can go after Sonic together. Knuckles is an echidna which, as you'll recall, is the same animal species that was pursuing Sonic back on Mobius. Robotnik and Knuckles, now a deadly duo, set off to Green Hills. 

Back at the Wachowski house, Sonic has been left alone to watch the family dog while Tom and Maddie are in Hawai'i to attend the wedding of Maddie's sister, Rachel (Natasha Rothwell). This leaves him defenseless against the surprise return of Robotnik, and the introduction of Knuckles — who Sonic quickly discovers is very strong, seemingly much more so than him. The battle between the two of them is one-sided to say the least, and it soon becomes apparent that escape is Sonic's only option.

Luckily, an unexpected ally shows up to take out Knuckles with a car, incapacitating him just long enough to give Sonic a chance to get away. That ally is Tails (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey), Sonic's main sidekick since the character's debut in, coincidentally enough, the "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" video game. Tails explains that he has been sent to warn Sonic about Knuckles, and inform Sonic what it is that Knuckles wants from him. 

Knuckles mentions that he's looking for something called the Master Emerald, which Sonic initially dismisses as the stuff of legends and bedtime stories. But when Sonic looks again at the map that Longclaw had given him, a map he hadn't previously been able to make sense of, the map now reveals itself to house a holographic messages from Longclaw herself. Longclaw tells Sonic that, not only is the Master Emerald real, but Earth was chosen to be where it is stored for safekeeping. Furthermore, Sonic being sent to Earth all those years ago wasn't random chance — he was specifically sent there as the protector of the Master Emerald.

Sonic and Tails then use the map to find the location of the special compass that opens the way to the temple that houses the Master Emerald. That compass is located somewhere in Siberia. Naturally, just as they arrive to retrieve the compass, Robotnik and Knuckles show up to take it instead. Knuckles has told Robotnik about the Master Emerald, so Robotnik agrees to help Knuckles retrieve it. If that seems uncharacteristically altruistic of Robotnik, there's a good reason for it. But off Robotnik and Knuckles go, compass in hand.  

At a loss for what to do, Sonic and Tails go to Hawai'i to find Tom and Maddie at Rachel's wedding. But the trip soon ends up being a lot more than the two of them bargained for. As it turns out, the entire wedding is actually a ruse called "Operation: Catfish," orchestrated by a government agency called the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.) specifically to capture Sonic and Tails. This means that Rachel's fiancé, Randall (Shemar Moore), is actually a G.U.N. agent who has been lying to her the whole time.

Sonic and Tails are captured — as is Tom when he tries to interfere and help the two — and held in the hotel near the beach. Maddie and Rachel go vigilante and eventually break the three of them out, just in time for Sonic to see a huge beam of green light off in the distance. It's the Master Emerald, and if it's emitting that pillar of light, that means that its location has been revealed and that Robotnik and Knuckles are about to get it. So Sonic and Tails take off in the direction of the light to stop that from happening. 

At the temple housing the Master Emerald, a huge battle ensues — primarily between Sonic and Knuckles. As the two are fighting it out, Robotnik takes it upon himself to nab the Master Emerald. This is where it becomes obvious that he never had any intention of helping Knuckles get the emerald, and instead, has wanted it for himself. Knuckles is shocked that the only person he has chosen to trust in all of this has double-crossed him.

Fortunately, Sonic is able to convince Knuckles that the two of them should join forces, with both agreeing that Robotnik should definitely not be the one to have the Master Emerald. Again mirroring his character arc in the games and in most Sonic media, Knuckles' time as Sonic's rival has come to an end and the two — along with Tails — are finally the team that they will presumably remain going forward. 

It doesn't take long before it's revealed what Robotnik has chosen to do with the Master Emerald — he is using it to power a giant Eggman robot. In one of the Easter eggs you missed in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," the robot looks very similar to the types of Eggman bosses that have appeared throughout the Sonic video games — more specifically, the ones who have served as endgame bosses. Even with the combined power and cunning of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, it's clear that Robotnik and his Eggman robot have them at a severe disadvantage. 

That is, until the trio are able to locate the Master Emerald itself. While trying to reclaim it, the Master Emerald ends up breaking, splitting into seven smaller Chaos Emeralds. Sonic discovers that he is able to absorb the Chaos Emeralds and — in a moment that longtime Sonic fans had been waiting two entire movies for — finally transforms into the very Super Saiyan-esque Super Sonic, which allows him to topple the Eggman robot with ease. It certainly seems like Robotnik falls to his death in the ensuing destruction of the robot, but of course we haven't seen the last of him. 

Continuing the tradition of end credit scenes that tease a character reveal for the next film, the one in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" sees Agent Stone (Lee Madjoub) — Robotnik's faithful sidekick from both films — being shown to have survived the destruction of the Eggman robot. He is dressed as a G.U.N. agent in order to move freely among the other G.U.N. agents who are investigating the wreckage. It is at this point that he overhears talk of a top secret research facility that has been working on something called "Project Shadow."

Sonic fans already know exactly what that means, but just to make sure there's no confusion, we then get a brief glimpse at the big screen debut of Shadow the Hedgehog. This will bring one of Sonic's oldest and most powerful antagonists (voiced by Keanu Reeves) to the Sonic movie universe at long last to wreak havoc on Earth (and possibly beyond). The "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" trailer showcases Shadow's immense power, making it clear that he's the next movie's big bad.