Sonic 2’s Movie Prequel Continues the Legacy of Disrespecting Tails

Warning: spoilers ahead for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – The Official Movie Pre-Quill!

IDW Publishing’s comic prequel to the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film continues a long trend of treating Tails as a worthless sidekick instead of a worthy ally of the Blue Blur.

One of the five short stories in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – The Official Movie Pre-Quill, “Two for the Road” follows Tails the twin-tailed fox as he jumps from zone to zone looking for the Blue Blur with some type of tracking device. But someone’s on his “tails,” as depicted by writer Kiel Phegley, artist Evan Stanley, colorist Heather Breckel and letterer Shawn Lee. However, rather than face them head on, Tails tries to lose his stalker by utilizing some tricky spin dashes that would be difficult for others to emulate.

Although this short depiction of Tails is much truer to his character than the movie’s rendition of Knuckles the Echidna, it’s unfortunate that writers incorporated one of his worst qualities by portraying the twin-tailed fox as more of a bumbling tag-along than a valuable teammate. This is ironic because, as the official movie trailers have made quite clear and as this short story hints, Sonic and Tails have yet to even meet each other. So, this comic essentially demotes Tails to a sidekick before he’s even teamed up with the hero. Tails’ mission might be to find Sonic for some currently undisclosed reason, but it would have been refreshing to see the fox use his unique gifts to deal with a tricky situation. After all, if Tails isn’t interesting on his own, why should fans look forward to seeing him on the big screen?

Archie Comics’ version of the character trolled fans for years by hinting Tails was more special than he actually was. At random intervals, Knuckles’ ancestors would drop clues suggesting that Tails was the Chosen One, and it was quite some time until they revealed that he was specifically chosen to defeat a secondary enemy known as Mammoth Mogul before continuing to be worthless against other villains for countless issues. And when Tails finally had his chance to fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One, his great moment was demoted to a secondary story that captured his victory in the most absurd way: he absorbed all the other Tails’ from different universes to become a giant fox. In what only further ridiculed what was already a complete joke, Tails didn’t truly beat Mogul Mammoth, either. The villain would return later, and Tails would have nothing to do with his final defeat.

In IDW’s main continuity, writers have perpetuated this unfortunate trend by continually writing off Tails as nothing more than a worthless sidekick. And, ironically, the success of Tails’ best moment – during which time his inventions were used to help defeat a group of powerful demons known as the Deadly Six – was wholly contingent on Sonic’s flawless fighting prowess.

Thankfully, the prequel comic to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 does acknowledge Tails’ one defining useful characteristic: he’s a technological genius capable of creating impossible gadgets. While fans may live for the day that the fox hero actually gets to save the day with this skill set, perhaps his inclusion as a new hero in the movie universe will see this happen where the prequel comic and his other graphic novel appearances fall short. Hopefully, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be a chance for Tails to grow into something more than just a completely dependent sidekick who acts as Sonic’s tech support and unofficial chauffeur.

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