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This Villainous Benchmark was Headlined on December 2024. | ||
| “ | If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have! | „ |
| ~ Shadow's famous line before defeating Mephiles |
| “ | I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, and I made a promise that I intend to keep. With the power of these emeralds, Black Doom and his army are finished! This is WHO I AM!! | „ |
| ~ Shadow to Black Doom. |
Shadow the Hedgehog is a major character in Sega‘s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
Although he is Sonic the Hedgehog's arch-rival, Shadow is not truly villainous, as he is mostly considered an anti-hero mostly due to how he still maintains something of a friendly rivalry with Sonic and has done some questionable things but at the same time from how he has done things such as sacrificed himself to save others multiple times and ultimately sets out to do good for humanity and protect the world in the end. However, at times, tragedies have occurred that have led him to commit villainous acts, either for revenge or to find his purpose.
Shadow was created as the Ultimate Life Form by the late Professor Gerald Robotnik, using the DNA of Black Doom, and is the final result of Project Shadow. His purpose was to provide ways of developing cures for deadly illnesses that had no cures, namely for NIDS (Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) a terminal disease Gerald's granddaughter Maria Robotnik, whom Shadow was very close to suffered from, but he was captured and put into stasis by the military when he was deemed a threat to humanity. Shadow's last moments with Maria are of her saying "sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog", and then being shot and killed immediately after.
50 years later, Shadow was released by Dr. Eggman to help him conquer the world. Initially, Shadow sought to destroy Earth to avenge his late friend Maria, who had been killed by the military, but was persuaded to help save it from Gerald's doomsday plans. In the process, Shadow lost his memories and he sought to uncover his past, which brought him into contact with the Black Arms. Ultimately, Shadow thwarted Black Doom and saved the world. From there, Shadow continued his mission to protect humanity by becoming a special agent of G.U.N. (Guardian United Nations).
In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Kōji Yusa.
In the English version, he has been voiced by David Humphrey (from 2001-2004), Jason Griffith (from 2005-2010 as well as in Sonic X), and Kirk Thornton (from 2010-present, as well as in Sonic Boom).
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- He manipulated Eggman to help him start the arc.
- He framed Sonic for his crimes, causing the blue hedgehog to get arrested.
- He tried to wipe out all of humanity in a misguided attempt at vengeance for Maria.
- He kills all of the Jackal Squad before excessively beating their leader to a pulp and taunting him over being "pathetic," ultimately causing the latter to become Infinite. Even if they had it coming since they were working for Eggman, this infamous moment makes him too lethal and ruthless.
- He and Rouge treated their teammates badly in Sonic Free Runners.
- He joined Black Doom at the start of his game.
Non-canon endings[]
- In the Pure Dark ending, he plans to destroy Earth with the power of Chaos Emeralds.
- In the Pure Dark: Hero ending, he betrays and defeats Black Doom but doesn't redeem himself, intending to conquer the universe instead.
- In the Semi-Dark ending, he joins Black Doom in ruling the planet.
- In Semi-Dark: Hero and both Neutral endings, after beating Eggman, he brutally kills him (Though he deserves it due to how vile he has become).
- In the Pure Hero: Dark ending, he turns on Sonic and beats him simply to prove his status as the ultimate hedgehog.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- He fails the high heinous standards as trying to destroy the world is nothing new for the series, with many villains attempting it such as Zavok, Gerald, Dr. Eggman, Infinite and Black Doom. Resources don’t help as he is one of the most powerful characters characters of the main cast.
- He is incredibly tragic, as he lost his best and only true friend Maria at the hands of G.U.N soldiers, and his crimes are motivated by her death. Even his nihilism is played for heavy sympathy in this regard.
- He has a sense of honor, as he has little to no trouble with forgiving others as long as they don’t do anything too horrible. He also vowed to keep his promise to Maria after witnessing her death in front of his own eyes.
- He's arguably in the grey zone, as it's often hard to judge what his morality truly is; whether he is doing things with truly altruistic intent or if he is simply doing it to keep his promise to Maria (or a bit of both).
- He has standards against Dr. Eggman’s evil actions, even opposing him along with the heroes on some occasions.
- Despite his dark, brooding, grim, serious and cynical attitude, he does have some comedic moments that detract from his villainy, as he almost always fails to darken the mood of the story.
- He started off as On & Off as he sometimes helps Sonic do heroic stuff, before ultimately redeeming himself and nullifying this status.
Trivia[]
- Shadow is one of two mainline Sonic characters to be Inconsistently Admirable and Villainous Benchmarks, the other character being Sage.
- Incidentally, both him and Sage are Magnificent Baddies.
External Links[]
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Villains Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Heroes Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Sonic Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Guile Heroes Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
[]
 Villainous Benchmarks
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Mainline/IDW Comics Team Dark Babylon Rogues Deadly Six Space Colony ARK Eggman Nega's Forces Bad Piggies Fang's Gang Clean Sweep Inc. Others Movies TV Shows Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) Sonic Underground Sonic X Sonic Boom Sonic Prime Knuckles the Echidna Comics Sonic the Comic Fanon | ||
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