Sonic the Hedgehog: Rise of Metal Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog: Rise of Metal Sonic is a 2025 American animated adventure comedy direct-to-video film distributed by Paramount Animated and WildBrain Entertainment. It's a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1999), based on the video game franchise published by Sega and is based on the three animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground. It is the first prequel to the 2026 Sonic the Hedgehog: Endgame.

The film will be coming soon on Digitnal HD and released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 15, 2025.

Plot
Deep inside Robotropolis, Dr. Robotnik has finished his latest creation, Metal Sonic, in an attempt to kill Sonic the Hedgehog. However, according to Robotnik, the one thing he needs to complete Metal's AI is to infuse it with Sonic's life data.

On South Island, Sonic is relaxing on a beach chair and listening to radio outside the ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, which serves as his house. Tails comes out to test his new, jet-propelled body-board, asking Sonic to give it a try, but Sonic declines due to his dislike of water. While testing the body-board, Tails collides with Old Man Owl who is flying around the island in small aircraft. Being a blind owl, he does not notice his aircraft's engine is on fire. With Sonic being uncooperative, Tails, Rotor and Antoine, tries to help Old Man Owl on they're own. As both Tails, Rotor, Antoine and Old Man Owl are about to collide with a steep cliff, however, they are rescued by Sonic. Afterwards, Old Man Owl gives Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters (Sally, Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine), emergency news from the President, who wants to meet Sonic right away. Both Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters thus promptly fly to the presidential house located in the capital city of South Island.

As they arrive at the presidential house, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters encounter Dr. Robotnik, his nephew Snively, robot henchmen Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, and the robotic guards: the Swat-Bots and the Guard Robots who hold President LaTour and his daughter, Mindy, hostage. On the President's request, Sonic begrudgingly hears Robotnik out, who elaborates on how their planet, named Planet Freedom, is split into two dimensions: the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness. The doctor then explains that his capital city in the land of Darkness, Robotropolis, has been seized by Metal Robotnik and his demonic robots, who drove Robotnik and his guard robots out of the city. Robotnik also explains that Metal Robotnik has sabotaged Robotnik's Robot Generator by overloading it with energy, which according to Robotnik's calculations, would release enough excess electricity to create an explosion that would destroy Planet Freedom before sunrise tomorrow. Robotnik thus proposes that Sonic, being the fastest one around, goes into Robotropolis and shuts down the Robot Generator. While Sonic initially refuses, he accepts the proposal upon the President and Sara's insistence. To help them on their journey, Robotnik gives Rotor a Navigator that will lead them to the location of the Robot Generator. Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters then promptly head off for Robotropolis in the Tornado biplane. Meanwhile, Robotnik, Snively, Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts and his Swat-Bots and guard robots remain in the presidential house where they waste time playing video games with Mindy and President LaTour. Suddenly, however, a large mech crashes into the presidential house. With Mindy excited about it, she jumps into the mech's control room. Grounder, Scratch and Coconuts, however, having Robotnik's evil scheme in mind, attempts to keep Minsy from pressing any buttons, causing them to get stuck inside the mech before it takes off.

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters enter the Land of Darkness by flying through a large, storm eye-like entrance. After a rough landing that damages the Tornado, the duo proceed through the Land of Darkness on foot while encountering robots, such as a Crawlton and a swarm of Buzz Bombers. Eventually, they enter a warp zone which takes them to the ruins of an ancient abandoned city. There, they encounter Metal Robotnik. Having no time fight Metal Robotnik, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters try to escape it, only for the robot to chase after them.

Along the way, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters get attacked by Metal Robotnik's glue projectiles which get Tails stuck on a fence. Meanwhile, Sonic manages to direct one of Metal Robotnik's missiles back at him, damaging the robot. However, Sonic gets stuck on a piece of road covered in Metal Robotnik's glue as it slowly sides into the sea. Before Metal Robotnik can finish Sonic though, Knuckles enters the battle and frees Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters from the glue projectile before telling Tails and Rotor to go help Sonic. Knuckles then tries to fight Metal Robotnik, but is eventually grabbed by the robot. Fortunately, Tails and Rotor saves Sonic in time for him to use his Spin Attack to cut off Metal Robotnik's hand and free Knuckles. Being outnumbered, Metal Robotnik tries to retreat, but Sonic, with help of Tails, Sonia, Manic, the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles, manages to destroy Metal Robotnik completely, with its remains falling into the sea. After a little conversation with Knuckles, Sonic and Tails notice a large amusement city in the far distance which can only be Robotropolis. As Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters continue their journey towards the Robotropolis, Knuckles joins them on their quest.

Entering the core of the Robotropolis, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic, the Freedom Fighters, and Knuckles come under attack by Snail Blasters. With Knuckles handling the Sail Blasters, Sonic, Tails, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters locate the Robot Generator, which is about to explode. While Sonic manages to shut down the generator in the nick of time, he gets caught in a force-field that electrocutes him. The Robot Generator then crumbles into pieces, with Sonic getting saved from a bad fall by Knuckles. As the dust settles, an ominous figure comes to life inside a sphere in the center of the room. This figure turns out to be Metal Sonic much for Sonic's, Tails', Knuckles', Sonia's, Manic's, Sally's, Rotor's, Bunnie's, and Antoine's obfuscation. Metal Robotnik's husk then teleports into the room, only to crumble into pieces, revealing Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts, and Mindy in it. Knuckles falsely accuses Mindy of being behind the scheme, and in tears, Mindy replies that "the robot going haywire were all part of Robotnik's evil scheme", which Robotnik does not deny, proudly admitting the story about the Robot Generator was a trap. As Sonic tries to take down Robotnik once and for all though, Metal Sonic interrupts him. Robotnik proceeds to explain that the true purpose of the Robot Generator was to copy Sonic's DNA for his Metal Sonic, thereby creating the ultimate robot that would let the doctor kill Sonic and destroy the Land of the Sky.

Telling his friends to stand back, Sonic engages Metal in a fight. Metal, however, proves to be a formidable foe, easily keeping up with Sonic's speed while Sonic struggles to avoid Metal's attacks. As the battle proceeds to far above Robotropolis, Sonic and Metal end up on the top of a mountain. However, when Sonic loses sight of Metal, Metal appears out of nowhere and kicks Sonic off the mountain and down to the valley below. With that, Robotnik assumes that Sonic is now dead and heads for the Land of the Sky with Metal. Meanwhile, Tails and Knuckles decide to head back to the Land of the Sky. As morning dawns, Sonic wakes up in the forest where he gets a vision of Metal on a rampage, prompting him to set off to stop Metal.

Upon getting back home, Tails, Knuckles, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters find Old Man Owl in Sonic's favorite clothes. Old Man Owl states that he was forced to wear his clothes by Metal, who is now causing destruction around the Land of the Sky. Having the idea to modify Robotnik's Navigator to use against Metal since the Navigator and Metal are built from same mechanical parts, Rotor gets to work. Meanwhile, Tails explains to Knuckles that they do not have to worry about Metal and Sonic not being in the same place: since Metal was programmed with Sonic's data, the two of them share identical thought patterns, meaning they can predict each other's actions.

Back in the capital, President LaTour is receiving damage reports from around the Land of the Sky, many of which show a character rampaging through the cities. Mistakenly, President LaTour identifies the character as Sonic and sends his aide to contact him. His aide succeeds, but only manages to tick off Knuckles who is fixing the Tornado. After the President has been told everything that has happened, Knuckles reveals that if Metal wants to destroy the Land of the Sky for Robotnik, he has to blow up the glacial bridge at the north pole which keeps the Land of the Sky's continents connected. If Metal can make one of the local magma veins rush to the surface, it will melt all the ice, causing the continents to separate. The gravitational pull of the planet will then hurtle the continents into space, destroying all of civilization. Sonic then reveals himself in the same room as the President, having heard Knuckles' entire story. Immediately afterwards, the president gets a report of Metal progressing towards the north pole. Sonic quickly gets going, with Tails, Knuckles, Sonia, Manic and the Freedom Fighters going after him to stop Metal. Meanwhile, in the sky, Robotnik and Sara are riding Robotnik's hovercraft and watching Metal's rampage. Snively then gives a wedding dress to Mindy. Regardless, Robotnik takes both of them to the north pole through a warp zone.

On the north pole, Sonic arrives too late as Metal has already managed to make magma erupt precariously close to the glacier's ice bridge. He then encounters Metal, and the two have a long fight. As Robotnik and Mindy warp to the north pole in a haphazard way, Sonic and Metal crash into the Egg Mobile, with Sonic making a painful landing. As Robotnik tries to catch Sonic, Mindy falls off the Egg Mobile, but gets saved by Knuckles. Tails, piloting the Tornado, also arrives to help Sonic, but gets shot down by one of Robotnik's Egg Mobile missiles. After saving Mindy, Knuckles successfully redirects the flow of the magma away from the ice bridge by digging tunnels beneath it upon Sinia's flirtatious request. Meanwhile, Sonic and Metal continue to clash violently. Eventually, Sonic starts to get worn out, allowing Metal to gain the upper hand. However, Rotor is able to corrupt Metal's data with the modified Navigator, allowing Sonic to do serious damage to Metal with a rapid Spin Dash. The group then notices President LaTour and Old Man Owl arriving in an air ship which crashes into the ice bridge, leaving President LaTour and Old Man Owl trapped inside. As Sonic and Tails try to save President LaTour and Old Man Owl before the ship can explode, a heavily damaged Metal returns and attacks the duo. Rotor tries to use the Navigator against Metal again, but Robotnik manages to destroy it, leaving Sonic to fight Metal again. This time around, Metal has accumulated too much damage and Sonic is able to overpower him. However, Sonic is too late to save President LaTour and Old Man from their ship before it explodes. In a twist of fate, Metal saves both of them from the ashes of the aircraft, and Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with his personality and thoughts. However, Metal gets knocked into a subglacial volcano by debris, where Sonic tries to save him by lowering himself down and getting Metal to grab his hand to pull him out. However, Metal pushes Sonic's hand away and tells him that "there is only one Sonic" before he is destroyed by the rising magma, much to Sonic's dismay.

After the incident, the group watches the ice bridge which has been saved from destruction, although Sonic is distracted by Metal's death. As Tails, Sonia, Manic, Sally, Bunnie, and Mindy try to cheer Sonic up, Robotnik, Snively and the Badniks arrives, noting that he still has Sonic's data on a small compact disc, and reveals his plans to create an even stronger Metal Sonic. Unfortunately for Robotnik, one of his design-faulty missiles blows up the CD, thwarting his plans. After that, Antoine hits Sonic on the head as payback for stepping on his head during his fight with Metal, and the two chase each other. The whole cast is then seen following behind Sonic, before Sonic races off.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Princess Sally Acorn
 * Bunnie Rabbot
 * Sonia the Hedgehog
 * Manic the Hedgehog
 * Rotor Walrus
 * Antoine D'Coolette
 * Dr. Ivo Robotnik
 * Snively
 * Scratch
 * Grounder
 * Coconuts
 * Metal Sonic
 * Mindy LaTour
 * President LaTour
 * Old Man Owl
 * Metal Robotnik
 * Robotnik's guard robots
 * Swat-Bots
 * Crabmeat
 * Crawlton
 * Buzz Bombers
 * Snail Blaster
 * President's aide
 * Demonic robots

Trivia:

 * Rated G (General Audience).
 * This movie has a video game Sound Effects from the classic Genesis Sonic games aside from the main theme from Sonic 1 and 2.
 * Sonic has blue eyelids instead of peach eyelids.