Paramount Pictures’ upcoming video game sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will introduce the fan-favorite, spikey-gloved character, Knuckles, to proceedings, with the red echidna teaming up with Jim Carrey’s mad scientist, Doctor Robotnik, in order to once again bring all manner of madness down on Sonic and the small town of Green Hills. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 director Jeff Fowler has teased Knuckles’ role in the follow-up, comparing the character to no less than the likes of unstoppable villains The Terminator and Marvel’s The Winter Soldier.

“I always have kind of joked he’s like the Terminator or the Winter Soldier coming into our movie world where he’s spent his life training to be a warrior. The echidnas are all about honor. Everything about him is a total contrast to Sonic. Sonic has no training. Sonic sort of flies by the seat of his pants, he has no discipline, and Knuckles is all disciplined. So it was always about, sort of from a storytelling standpoint, all of the great contrasts we could create between these two characters, and just put them on a collision course in a really great way, and just see that Sonic’s got a lot to learn.”

According to Fowler, Knuckles will act as the antithesis to the titular video game icon, whose laid-back, upbeat attitude runs opposite to the deep sense of honor and duty instilled within Knuckles and the rest of the echidnas. The first Sonic the Hedgehog outing saw the superfast mammal embrace his power, but it sounds like the emergence of Knuckles will seriously put his newfound identity as the hero of Green Hills to the test.

“I think of it as like Sonic’s been in one fight, really. He beat Robotnik at the end of the first movie. But he’s got a lot of learning to do before he can become sort of the true hero. And that’s what’s great about bringing in Knuckles, is it’s going to test Sonic in all these great ways. And I think fans are just going to love seeing how they go at it, and just what that does for Sonic’s sort of hero arc.”

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will pick up with the SEGA icon following the events of the first Sonic the Hedgehog venture and finds Sonic living with his new friends, Tom and Maddie Wachowski. Sonic has become something of a superhero, using his unique abilities to keep his new home safe, but desires to further explore the world. After some initial trepidation, Sonic is left alone in Green Hills while Tom and Maddie go on vacation. When Doctor Eggman, played by a delightfully unhinged Jim Carrey, returns to find the Master Emerald with the help of Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic and his new friend Miles "Tails" Prower set out to stop him.

Directed by Jeff Fowler from a script written by Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington, and based on the story created by Casey and Miller, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 stars James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore, Jim Carrey, and Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles. The highly anticipated sequel is scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on April 8, 2022. This comes to us from Collider.