New movie fan art imagines what a live-action Knuckles the Echidna could look like in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Known for his spiked hands (which allow him to climb walls) and serious attitude, Knuckles made his video game debut in 1994’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as a villain who’s tricked into working for Dr. Robotnik (aka. Doctor Eggman). Upon learning the truth, however, he teamed up with Sonic and his trusty sidekick Tails instead and became a playable character, beginning in Sonic & Knuckles. He’s since evolved into a core part of the franchise, appearing in most of the Sonic games, comics, and shows released over the last 25 years.

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Although he doesn’t show up in the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, the film very much sets the stage for Knuckle to play a role in the sequel. Paramount is expected to officially green-light Sonic the Hedgehog 2 any day now, following the video game movie’s record-breaking opening at the U.S. box office last week. As such, fans have already taken to social media to post fan-art imagining what Knuckles could look live as a CGI character in a live-action world.

Rafael Grassetti, who currently serves as the Art Director at Sony Santa Monica, has posted unofficial artwork of a live-action Knuckles to his social media accounts, along with related images of Sonic and Tails. Take a look, below.

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💫 Knuckles I think that’s it from Sonic for now i think. I had a great time with my son this past week with the release of the new movie so these are for him. I’ll do everything I can to help support this movie as I do want to see more game adaptations in the future. 🙌🏻 Hope you guys like them. Expect some more dark comic stuff next. I’ve got some ideas I wanted to do for a long time that I feel that I’ll get to them now. 🤘🏼 Thanks for all the love, always appreciate it. These are really quick and fun 🙏🏻 . #sonic @sonicmovie #tails #sega #nintendo @nintendomag

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Odds are, the live-action (or, if you would prefer, photo-realistic CGI) Knuckles will probably end up looking pretty close to Grassetti’s artwork. The first Sonic the Hedgehog was infamously delayed from its original November release date last year, following the negative response to Sonic’s live-action design in the film’s first trailer. He was subsequently reworked to look more like his animated counterpart in the second trailer and final movie, both of which received a far warmer reception. No doubt, Paramount has learned its lesson from that debacle and will give the live-action Knuckles an equally cartoonish appearance whenever they decide to bring him to the big screen, be that in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or not.

In addition to Knuckles’ potential introduction, the first Sonic movie’s ending and after-credits teaser have also paved the way for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to be far more video game-accurate than its predecessor. That should certainly come as welcome news to Sonic fans who enjoyed the film, but agree its story (which follows Sonic and small-town Sheriff Tom Wachowski on a road trip) is pretty generic and could readily be improved upon in the sequel. Fortunately, the way things are shaping up, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will not only be closer in spirit and style to the Sonic games, but also feature everyone’s favorite echidna in some capacity.

Source: Rafael Grassetti/Instagram

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