Who is Gerald Robotnik in ‘Sonic 3’ and what does he have to do with Shadow? Explained

Sonic fans, it’s finally time to start getting excited! The trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has dropped at long last, and boy is there a lot to unpack.

Obviously we all anticipated seeing Shadow the Hedgehog make an appearance, but there are a few other details teased in the trailer that have die hard fans of the franchise super pumped. For example, right at the end of the trailer we watch Dr. Eggman, played by Jim Carrey, encounter a man who looks pretty much exactly like him, but older. Who is this guy, and what does this all mean in the context of the videogame lore?

It may not seem like it, but Sonic the Hedgehog has a very deep and intricate lore, with tons of side characters who play important roles. Although it’s not mentioned in the trailer itself, the man, (who if you couldn’t tell is also played by Carrey) is actually Gerald Robotnik. The character is related to Dr. Eggman, which is presumably why Jim is playing both characters. However, he also has an important role to play in Shadow’s backstory, so it really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to see him make an appearance in this film.

Who is Gerald Robotnik?

So who exactly is this guy? And where does he fit in with regards to the wider story?. The third movie seems to be taking a lot of plot elements from the video game, Sonic Adventure 2, which happens to be Gerald’s first appearance in the series. In the game, it’s revealed that Gerald was the scientist who created Shadow. He is also the grandfather of Dr. Eggman as well Eggman’s cousin, Maria.

50 years prior to the events of the game, Gerald was contracted by the United Federation to work on something known as “Project Shadow,” the goal of which was to achieve immortality as well as create the ultimate lifeform. His reason for working on the project was to find a cure for the fatal illness afflicting his granddaughter, Maria. The project led to the creation of two lifeforms, the first being the biolizard, which is the final boss of Sonic Adventure 2. The second creation was Shadow the Hedgehog of course.

Ultimately the project is deemed to be too dangerous, and the United Federation decides to shut the whole thing down and destroy Gerald’s research. The scientist is apprehended, but in the meantime, Maria is killed by the military as she tries to help Shadow escape. Upon learning this, Gerald loses his mind, vowing to get revenge on humanity before being killed by firing squad.

So that’s the story

It’s a pretty dark and depressing storyline for a kid’s game about a bright blue hedgehog running around at the speed of sound. It’s difficult to tell exactly how much of this backstory will be featured in the movie when it releases in December, but Sonic fans are pretty passionate about accuracy to the games, which is something Paramount found out the hard way back in 2019, remember ugly Sonic? Of course, Gerald is already long dead during the plot of Sonic Adventure 2, whereas he appears to be alive and well in the movie, so we’ll just have to wait and see what the film does with the character.