Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Boom)

"No. Justice must be had by any means necessary"

- Shadow the Hedgehog

"Why don't you come here and face me?""

- Shadow talking to Lyric

""Hmm. Looks like you and your friends got the job done. Not bad.""

- Shadow after seeing Team Sonic having beaten Lyric

""Enough! How's a guy supposed to destroy his foes with dolts like you wandering around? We'll fight again soon, Sonic, but next time, on my terms.""

- Shadow's final piece to Sonic and Eggman, "It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog"

Shadow the Hedgehog is a tertiary antagonist that appears in the Sonic Boom series. He is an anthropomorphic hedgehog born as the "Ultimate Life Form," and the arch-rival of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Appearance
Shadow's appearance is mostly the same as his main series counterpart, except for a few physical and clothing differences.

He is slimmer and has longer arms and legs, and more pronounced shoulders, giving him a taller appearance, and he has cowlick-like spikes that sticks out from his top side quills.

His attire includes white gloves with red backs which have long red and black cuffs with fasteners. His shoes look much like the Hover Shoes except his has large red tongues and longer red and black cuffs. Around his wrists and ankles he has golden ring bands.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
In Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Shadow silently watched Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic from a distance at Lyric's Tomb, which Team Sonic had gotten themselves locked within, before leaving.

He soon after confronted Sonic and Tails at the Abandoned Research Facility where both of them had opened a portal to travel to the past which Shadow refused to let them go through.

Taunting Sonic for being weak due to his loyalty to his friends, Shadow engaged them in a fight across time. On the verge of defeat, Shadow was kicked into a portal by Sonic that sent him to the near future, after Team Sonic had defeated Lyric the Last Ancient.

Although prepared to fight again, Shadow instead gave the team him approval when he saw the beaten Lyric before walking away, chuckling.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
Finding Lyric excavating an area, Shadow confronted the villain, but did not object to Lyric's dark sense of justice when he sought to seize the Lost Crystal of Power.

Grimly, Shadow declined as Lyric took an interest in making him his slave, only for Lyric to plant a Mind Control Device on him.

Under Lyric's control, Shadow confronted Team Sonic, but was beaten by Sonic in a race who knocked him unconscious. When he awoke, Shadow had been freed from Lyric's device.

As Shadow had Tails analyzed his former Mind Control Device, a hologram of Lyric appeared to warn the group not to cross him. Shadow threatened Lyric to come and face him, but the villain declined, so Shadow left on his own to hunt down Lyric and get his payback.

Shadow finally found Lyric when he was about to destroy Team Sonic with a cannon, whom Shadow saved by disabling Lyric's weapon. He then kicked Lyric away as Sonic opened a trapdoor, sending Lyric falling to his defeat.

While everyone agreed their teamwork made the difference, Shadow called them out for being pathetic and left on the notice that he was Sonic's superior.

TV series
Receiving invitations from Dr. Eggman, Shadow came to Eggman's lair where he joined Eggman's league of villains in their mission to defeat Sonic.

However, Shadow quickly grew tired of their foolishness and disputes and left the group. He soon showed up again to destroy Sonic himself after Team Eggman proved incapable of if.

After an intense battle, Shadow got the upper hand, only to be distracted by a geeking Eggman, allowing Sonic to take him down. Fed up with Eggman, Shadow warned Sonic that they would soon fight again, but on his terms, and teleported away.

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom
In Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, Shadow became a playable character following a new actualization. When Shadow rolls, he releases a Chaos Blast projectile that destroys enemies and mines on the ground. Using this ability to detonate mines will cause a chain reaction that destroys nearby enemies.

Personality
Shadow is a cold and edgy character. He comes off as blunt, arrogant and uncaring and does not take kindly to outside interference, swiftly disposing of whoever gets in his way.

Extremely aggressive and lacking in inhibitions, he is perfectly willing to eliminate a foe rather than merely subduing them, unlike Sonic, and believes that justice must be had by any means necessary.

Despite his unscrupulous tendencies, his motivations to fight are related purely to his pride.

Because of this, he is often very destructive and even brutal in battle. Still, he usually maintains a calm, if not aloof and indifferent, attitude, and shows a general interest in nothing.

Shadow has a strong sense of purpose and sticks to his goals with grim determination and intense focus, not resting until it is fulfilled. He is also not one to run away from a confrontation.

Shadow is fiercely independent and a lone wolf, believing friendship to be a sign of weakness and refuses to serve anyone but himself.

Even when joining forces with others, he has no intend in collaborating and only participates if it serves to further his goals.

He is likewise very serious and has little patience for silly behavior, having no issues criticizing others harshly or speaking out his low opinions for others.

He despises weakness and people he deems weak, but is willing to at least give compliments when deserved.

Shadow is also vengeful and is not one to let go of grudges easily; once free from Lyric's control, he spent most of his time hunting down Lyric to make him pay for enslaving him.

Powers and abilities
Shadow is a very powerful individual, being able to match Sonic's speed and abilities. He can move at high speeds that rivals Sonic's speed and has extreme combat skills that enables him to fight against both Sonic and Tails at the same time.

He is also able to manipulate red energies for a variety of purposes: he can envelope himself in a red aura to empower his attacks and to teleport, throw bolts of Chaos Spears to attack his enemies, unleash the Chaos Blast which is an explosion of energy, and can teleport himself instantly over different distances. Shadow is also capable of performing the Spin Attack.

In terms of physical abilities, Shadow is exceptionally strong. He can equal Sonic's Spin Attack in terms of power and kick even Sonic with such force that he can create an impact crater in the ground. Even after taking a direct hit from Sonic's Spin Attack, Shadow instantly got back up, hinting a high level of durability.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is Shadow's tense arch rival and his equal in both speed, abilities and dashing looks.

Despite their similarities, they are polar opposites in every way, with Shadow disagreeing with nearly everything Sonic stands for.

While Sonic is joyful, free-spirited and adventurous, Shadow is brooding, serious and violently aggressive. Whereas Sonic draws strength from his friends and believes in teamwork, Shadow is a loner who only relies on himself.

Shadow shares a bitter arch-rivalry with Sonic which go way back, and is determined to defeat him at all costs due to his pride.

He finds Sonic extensively annoying and criticizes him for being weak and a disgrace to hedgehog-kind. Shadow also firmly thinks of himself as Sonic's superior and whenever they meet, they usually end up arguing.

While willing to ignore Sonic, Shadow will just as easily pick a fight with him, and will go out of his way to defeat or even kill Sonic to prove how pathetic he is which Shadow justifies on the grounds that Sonic deserves it for being such a disgrace.

In fact, fighting Sonic is one of the few things Shadow ever shows an interest in. For all his animosity towards Sonic, Shadow seems to have a degree of respect for his enemy, willingly complimenting Sonic and letting him go after he beat Lyric.

Dr. Eggman
In spite of their shared animosity for Sonic, Shadow thinks little of Dr. Eggman. While the doctor idolizes him, Shadow thinks of Eggman as a pathetic fool and buffoon who is only a waste of his time, an opinion which Shadow openly tells Eggman.

Regardless, Shadow was once willing to join forces with Eggman to plan Sonic's demise, although he left once he got fed up with him.

In the heat of battle, Shadow will no hesitate to brush the doctor away, but at the same time finds him such an annoyance that he was willing to drop a fight with Sonic.

Trivia

 * According to Alan Denton, it was initially decided during the writing process of the first season of the Sonic Boom television series that Shadow was not going to be used in the series. The reason was that if they had to, it would have to be in a way that did not make fun of him or made him look stupid or goofy. After a lot of work though, the writers found a way to include him in "It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog".


 * In the Japanese version of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, it is revealed that Shadow is controlled by Lyric through a mind control chip on his head. His Japanese voice is given a mechanical filter to sound more robotic, giving the impression that Shadow was an android. This aspect was not included in the game in other versions, for unknown reasons.


 * Shadow's appearance in the Sonic Boom franchise was first officially hinted to the public as one of two "fan-favorite" characters, along with Metal Sonic, to appear in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.


 * Unlike his main series counterpart, whenever Shadow curls up into a spinball form, he gives off a fully-red color instead of his black color with small shades of red. The trail that follows him is also red as opposed to yellowish-orange.