Sonic the Hedgehog 3 doesn’t shy away from the tragedy of Shadow’s story and his fury over Maria – but if you played the games, you may have noticed two key differences.
It’s easy to see why some Sonic fans wrote Shadow off as a wilfully edgy counterpart (even though he was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid); he uses guns, he says words like “damn”, and he’s morally murky, at best.
However, beneath his badass exterior (and Keanu Reeves’ excellent performance in Sonic 3), there’s a heartbreaking backstory fueling his anger, and it involves a young girl called Maria.
As Sonic is told, “Shadow’s story began a lot like yours Sonic. But where you found family and friends, Shadow found only pain and loss.” However, there are two notable changes in the threequel.
What happens to Shadow and Maria in the games?
In short, Shadow is created by Gerald Robotnik in his pursuit of the “ultimate” immortal lifeform and a cure for his granddaughter Maria, who’s shot and killed by G.U.N. agents aboard the Space Colony ARK as they try to escape.
There’s a lot of lore with Shadow and Maria, so I’ll keep this simple. In the games, Gerald begins a confidential government project called Project Shadow – however, it didn’t start with Shadow. Gerald started with the Biolizard, a giant reptile with regenerative powers that became too unruly with the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
So, Gerald made Shadow instead (using the blood of an alien arms dealer). Shadow eventually befriended Maria, who had to stay on the Space Colony ARK because of her incurable condition, ‘NIDS’ (Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
However, when G.U.N. learned about Gerald’s dealings with an alien race, its troops raided the ARK. Maria convinced Shadow to get in an escape pod, asking him to give hope to humanity… and at that moment, G.U.N. officers entered the lab and shot and killed her. This drove Gerald insane, and he manipulated Shadow’s memories so he’d help him get revenge for her death. Bleak.
Sonic 3 changes Shadow’s origins
Unlike in the games, Shadow wasn’t created by Gerald Robotnik: he arrived on Earth in a meteor.
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He was discovered by G.U.N. shortly after crashing down, who locked him away inside a secure facility in a government black site. Gerald believed his power (Chaos Energy) could change the world, and he wanted to use it for the good of mankind – until a mysterious incident left several people dead, and Gerald was blamed.
However, we should take this with a pinch of salt. As I’ll get to in a minute, Commander Walters explains Shadow’s origins to Sonic early in the movie – but he omits certain details and gets others wrong, so Shadow’s backstory may be closer to the games than the film indicates.
Sonic 3 changes Maria’s death
Maria isn’t shot and killed in Sonic 3. Instead, she dies in an explosion caused by a gunshot, with Shadow and Gerald left holding her corpse in the rubble.
Maria’s story is notably pared back in Sonic 3. As far as the movie explains, she doesn’t have NIDS, nor does she live aboard a space station. She does live in the government base, rollerskating along the corridors while one G.U.N. agent looks after her, a bit like a fun uncle.
When she finds Shadow, she instantly tries to be his friend, despite him seeming incredibly standoffish and angry. Eventually, they’re inseparable, even sitting under the stars and holding hands.
Alas, it still goes wrong: G.U.N. raids the base to capture Shadow, so Gerald grabs them both and tries to escape. Soldiers see them running away and try to shoot them, but one of the agents (the same guy who looked after Maria) pushes the weapon out of the way, causing the bullet to hit a gas canister and create an enormous explosion.
Lots of people die, including Maria, leaving Shadow and Gerald alone and furious. Shadow is captured thereafter and held in underground stasis for 50 years.
In the meantime, find out more about the Sonic 3 Build-A-Bear collab. You can also check out our list of the best video game movies and the best movies of 2024.
