How fast is Sonic the Hedgehog? Powers explained ahead of the sequel premiere

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sees the return of the world's most beloved blue hedgehog for a new adventure. The film will be released on April 8, 2022, and Sonic will be eager to demonstrate that he has what it takes to be a true hero after settling down in Green Hills.

With the sequel rapidly approaching its release date and a third film officially confirmed, Sega video game enthusiasts are prepared to go. With Knuckles (Idris Elba) in a battle against Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in the trailer, people are wondering how fast Sonic actually is.

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How fast is Sonic the Hedgehog in the movies?

Since his first appearance in Sega's original Sonic the Hedgehog video game in 1991, Sonic has been racing faster than the speed of sound. Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) leads a lonely existence on Earth, undiscovered by the residents of Green Hills, Montana, while hiding from a tribe of echidnas who desire to harness his strength.

Tom Wachowski (voiced by James Marsden), a bored small-town sheriff, fantasizes about joining the San Francisco Police Department until he encounters Sonic and decides to assist the speeding blue space hog in escaping the hands of the nefarious scientist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey).

While super-speed has always been Sonic's most distinguishing feature, the newest film provides a fresh frame of reference for analyzing precisely how fast the hedgehog can go. Sonic, whose name means "related to the nature of sound", can run at a speed of sound of around 767 mph.

However, in the previous live-action picture, Sonic is depicted traveling at a significantly slower velocity early on in the film. When Tom is seated in his police car on the highway, he uses a radar gun to measure Sonic's speed, which is approximately 300 mph. While this appears to be fairly slow for the speed demon, there is a more difficult way to calculate Sonic's speed in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic's speed may be calculated by counting the painted broken lines in the middle of the road, with each yellow line measuring 10 feet and the spaces between them measuring 30 feet, in the scene where he is running down the highway.

Sonic moves at a velocity of 1,680 feet per second, or 1,145 miles per hour, in a scene with a total of 24 frames. While that speed is more in line with the Sonic name, it still pales in contrast to the character's alleged speed in the video games. The hedgehog's top speed is estimated to be at 2,889 mph in the Sega video game Sonic Unleashed.

As Paramount opts to press through with Sonic The Hedgehog 2, the iteration of Sonic portrayed in the film began at a low speed of 300 mph and increased to higher speeds as the film went on. In the movie, Sonic has now surpassed his predecessor's greatest speed.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be released in theaters on Friday, April 8, 2022.