Metal Sonic (Archie)


 * For the version of this character before the Super Genesis Wave, see Metal Sonic v3.0.

Metal Sonic is a character who appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. It is a robotic doppelganger of Sonic the Hedgehog and the most famous creation of Dr. Eggman, having been created to match and surpass Sonic's abilities. It has been a formidable foe to the New Freedom Fighters since its inception and has at various points even betrayed Eggman to pursue its own obsessive goals.

Appearance
Metal Sonic was created in the image of Sonic the Hedgehog, and is thus mostly built of blue metal. He has a yellow circular depression in his chest with a black center, mirroring the peach skin on Sonic's chest. His head has metal fins resembling Sonic's quills, and a pair of triangular "ears." Metal Sonic has a muzzle, shoulder plates, and upper arms, legs, and fingers made out of silvery metal. His palms are black, while the backs of his hands are square yellow plates. His forearms and lower legs are blue metal like his head and torso, and he has red feet with white stripes designed to resemble Sonic's shoes. He has optic sensors with black sclera and red irises.

Early life
Metal was created at some point after Dr. Eggman began his campaign for world domination. The robot was first used during Eggmans plot to find the Time Stones on the Little Planet. During this time, Metal Sonic kidnapped a young Amy Rose and held her hostage. After traversing the miniature planet, Sonic tracked Metal down and raced the doppelganger, resulting in Metal being heavily damaged in the chase, allowing Sonic to rescue Amy. When the Little Planet returned, Dr. Eggman recovered and repaired Metal Sonic, who absorbed a powerful energy source before confronting Sonic and Tails yet again. However, despite his improvements, Metal Sonic was once again defeated.

This incarnation of Metal later reappeared in the White Space created by the Time Eater, where it once again challenged Sonic to race and lost to the hedgehog, who went on to defeat the Time Eater. On another occasion, Metal Sonic was deployed against Knuckles the Echidna, the Chaotix, and their ally Mighty the Armadillo. Once again he was defeated by the heroes, though his defeat was preceded by the arrival of-or perhaps his transformation into-Titan Metal Sonic.

Much later, Metal Sonic returned, with a completely self-upgraded AI, complete with an independent personality. The robotic hedgehog devised a plan to copy the lifeform data of Sonic and his friends, a task he accomplished by kidnapping his former master Eggman and using metallic copies of him to fool the heroes. During this time, he contacted Breezie the Hedgehog, building Casino Park for her as part of her new financial empire under his Eggman disguise. Breezie recognized Metal as an imposter due to his actions, as Eggman would not be so generous. When Metal threatened to harm her should she warn Sonic, she brushed it off and the two apparently shared something of a relationship. Metal's plan was later discovered, but by then it was ready to use the gathered data to transform into Metal Overlord. Super Sonic, along with a super-charged Tails and Knuckles, were able to defeat the robot, returning him to his original powered down form. Metal Sonic, disguised as another Eggman robot, later ended up briefly joining Team Dark to take part in an Extreme Gear race, though his identity was eventually revealed.

Worlds Collide

 * Due to Eggman and Wily rewriting history, Metal Sonic's history and memories were changed to be identical to that of his game counterpart's.

After the planet had once again been reset by the Genesis Wave, Metal Sonic was paired with Bass, the newest assistant of Eggman's new partner, Dr. Wily, and sent to kidnap Tails. The two henchmen swiftly overwhelmed the two-tailed fox and took his unconscious body back to the Doctors. Following this, Metal Sonic went to Mega City to attack Mega Man. He struck the blue bomber from behind and then fled through a warp ring to Sonic's world, where the real Sonic was chasing Mega Man's double, Copy Robot, in Green Hill Zone. Following instructions from the Doctors, the two evil doubles lured their counterparts to each other's location as part of a ploy to trick the two blue heroes into fighting each other, which was successful. His objective complete, Metal Sonic sped off to await further orders.

When the battle between Sonic and Mega Man unexpectedly moved to Mega City in Mega Man's world, Wily guessed that it was the work of Dr. Light, Mega Man's creator. Worried that Light would be a threat to their plans, the two doctors sent Metal Sonic and Bass to deal with him. The pair subsequently kidnapped Dr. Light despite interference from Proto Man, and took him back to the Wily Egg in the Skull Egg Zone. When Rouge the Bat began sabotaging the flying fortress, Metal Sonic and Bass pursued her and cornered her in one of the laboratories, and managed to capture her despite her release of the Chaos Devil. The pair then took her to be Roboticized into Rouge Woman, who joined the army of Robot Masters sent against Sonic and Mega Man's team of allies. During the battle, Eggman had Metal Sonic accompany him to Dr. Light's cell, and had Metal Sonic drag the doctor to a large hatch on the fortress. Having determined that Light was too great a threat to keep around, Eggman had Metal Sonic throw him off the ship.

Metal Sonic, Bass, and Treble were then deployed to intercept Mega Man and Sonic, who had boarded the Wily Egg, and engaged the pair in battle. The villainous robots proved a formidable challenge to the heroes, and Metal Sonic proved just as dangerous an opponent to Mega Man as to Sonic. Employing several of his new weapons, Metal Sonic attempted to destroy Mega Man even after Bass was taken out of the fight, but proved no match for Sonic and Mega Man's combined power, especially with Mega Man's Roboticized Master weapons. The damaged trio eventually managed to pick themselves up, only to encounter a fleeing Knuckles, Proto Man, and Dr. Light and be caught up in the effects of the Super Genesis Wave. Due to Super Sonic's efforts, this wave's effects-as well as those of the preceding one-were undone on Sonic's world, but Eggman's interference had a dangerous impact on the world.

The Shattered World Crisis: Act 1

 * Note: From the readers point of view, this picks up from where Metal Sonic's original timeline ended.

Metal Sonic was sent by Dr. Eggman to hunt down and kill Sally Acorn after she sneaked inside the Death Egg and stole files from the Egg Network. He successfully tracked down Sally at Mobotropolis where he fought against her Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese. However, even the four and the Honor Guard could not subdue him until Sonic showed up and gloated him into a race. The two raced outside of Mobotropolis, only for Miles "Tails" Prower shot down the robot with missiles from the Tornado. However, Metal Sonic was not completely destroyed, but his lower body was ripped apart. Still functioning, Metal Sonic vowed revenge and flew off.

During the Shattered World Crisis, Metal Sonic was later rebuilt and was sent to Apotos to find the local Gaia Temple. Thus, he harassed Gregorios on the location of the temple, only for Eggman to interrupt, commanding Metal Sonic to head to an undisclosed location. With the coordinates, Metal Sonic left Apotos. Thanks to the Hooligans taking down the defenses, he was able to penetrate the facility with relative ease, but disrupted an attempt by Nack the Weasel to get revenge on Sonic and Knuckles. He was then thwarted by the combined efforts of Team Fighters, Knuckles, Espio, and Honey the Cat, and ordered by Eggman to withdraw.

Shortly afterward, Metal turned his attention to the G.U.N. troops stationed within the Crystal Desert Zone; the troops having just discovered the seventh Chaos Emerald. The New Freedom Fighters converged in the area just in time to be caught up in Metal's attack. Acquiring the Emerald, Metal attempted its getaway with Sonic, Tails and Bunnie giving chase, when a Genesis Portal suddenly appeared. Sonic and Metal Sonic both disappeared into the Burning Ruin Zone where Metal managed to escape. With the help of Silver the Hedgehog however, Sonic caught up with his robo-doppleganger and after a battle with the hedgehogs, Metal lost the emerald to Sonic and was sent hurtling through another Genesis Portal to the Distant Abyss Zone. Following another alliance with Wily, Eggman volunteered to call Metal Sonic and have him retrieve the last Chaos Emerald so that it could be used to stop Sigma.

Worlds Unite
Following another alliance with Dr. Wily, Eggman called Metal Sonic and have him retrieve the last Chaos Emerald to above the Unified World so that it could be used to stop Sigma. Metal arrived just in time to save the skeleton crew of the Sky Patrol from Sigma, and then took part in the final assault on the monstrous villain. These events were later erased by the actions of Xander Payne, thus returning Metal Sonic to his extradimensional exile.

The Shattered World Crisis: Act 2
Back in the Distant Abyss Zone, Metal Sonic sent out a distress signal. As Metal Sonic was running low on power though, Eggman through his Genesis Portal-Maker to rescue him but was caught by a dimensional beast. Receiving his master's transmission, Metal Sonic used the last of his power to save Eggman, who then took him back to the Death Egg to have him recharged. During Eggman's investigation of who had taken over his Eggmanland refinery, Metal Sonic was brought with him as back-up. There, they found several Egg Fighters crystalized, indicating the Naugus Twins' presence. Soon after, the Witchcarters appeared, whom Metal Sonic fought upon Eggman's order. After a fiery fight with Bearenger, Metal Sonic blocked a surprise attack on Eggman from Wendy Naugus, leaving him encased in crystal. Bearenger tried to finish off Metal Sonic but Wendy's brother Walter had other plans for the crystallized robot.

After Eggman and his assembled Egg Bosses sabotage Eggmanland's defences in order to reclaim the facility, Wendy sent the crystallized Metal Sonic, which she dubbed "Crystal Sonic", to attack them.

Personality
Metal Sonic's single desire is to surpass and defeat Sonic the Hedgehog, and at one point went to incredible lengths to destroy its "loathsome copy" by betraying Eggman and transforming into the monstrous Metal Overlord. After its betrayal, it appears that Eggman placed some form of safeguard on it to ensure that Metal Sonic remains obedient to him. Despite this safeguard, Metal Sonic still retains its single minded desire to surpass Sonic.

Powers and abilities
Having been created to destroy Sonic, Metal Sonic possesses incredible speed that can match up with the likes of Sonic's, incredible strength that lets him bruise even Sonic with a single punch, and rocket-powered flight. He also has sharp claws that allows him to scratch even the sharpest of metal (such as Eggman's escape pods).

Metal Sonic has an array of weapons and abilities at its disposal that is capable of manifesting energy in different ways, such his defensive Black Shield or offensive Burst Shield. Unlike many of Eggman's other creations, Metal Sonic has also demonstrated the ability to exceed his original design and take on incredible powers.

Neo Metal Sonic
Under unspecified circumstances, Metal Sonic was once able to assume the form of Neo Metal Sonic. In this form he could morph his form into silvery metal and take on the appearance of others, most notably Dr. Eggman.

Metal Overlord
When Metal Sonic went rogue, he was able to assume the form of Metal Overlord using the data of Sonic and his allies.

Trivia

 * As SEGA's mandate claims that there should only be one Metal Sonic in the new universe, it is possible that there has only been built one Metal Sonic model in this timeline, as opposed to his previous incarnation. However, Captain Metal (a previous Metal Sonic model) still continues to exist with his nature as a Metal Sonic.
 * In the video games, Metal Sonic has little to no speaking role and the only games that give him speech are in Sonic Heroes and Sonic Generations, Sonic Heroes being the only one where he is actually given a voice.