Actor Idris Elba is breaking down some of the motivations of his character, Knuckles, from the upcoming video game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in a new featurette.
Knuckles, along with Jim Carrey’s Dr. Ivo Robotnik, are some of the most praised aspects of the film, according to early reviews.
And it seems the character of the red echidna in the film is largely being drawn from the 1990s and early 2000s version of him, from video game titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure.
True to those early games, Knuckles started out as a Robotnik ally. However, he is more motivated to protect the Chaos Emerald by a fierce loyalty to his tribe, rather than an overt interest in helping Robotnik to achieve his mad scientist schemes.
“Knuckles’ sole purpose is to go after Sonic,” Elba explains. “He’s from a very powerful, proud tribe. Knuckles has this menacing presence, he means business.”
When asked whether Elba was familiar with original Sonic games from the Sega Genesis console, Elba said, “of course! Sonic was one of my first gaming heroes.”
Knuckles made his premiere in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994 on the Sega Genesis as a secondary antagonist to Sonic and Tails. However, Knuckles became a playable character in the separately released game, Sonic & Knuckles, where his abilities were arguably even more impressive than the franchise’s other main characters, including the ability to glide and destroy boulders with his spiked-glove punches. The two games were later released together via a “lock-on” adapter as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, making Knuckles a playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Tails and Sonic playable characters in Sonic & Knuckles.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hits theaters Friday.