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“ | Shadow: Professor, is this really what Maria would've wanted? Gerald: The question isn't what Maria would have wanted… it's what do they deserve. Remember what she meant to us… remember what they took from us. |
„ |
~ Gerald to Shadow before enacting his plot to destroy the Earth. |
“ | Oh, Ivo… you're no Maria. The moment I lost her, my family was gone forever! The only way to give Maria's life meaning is to destroy the world that took her from me. So I'm burning it all down! | „ |
~ Gerald revealing his true psychotic nature to Ivo and showing that he never cared about him. |
Professor Gerald Robotnik is the main antagonist of the 2024 action-adventure comedy film Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the third main installment of the Sonic Cinematic Universe.
Much like his game counterpart, he is a brilliant scientist and the grandfather of Dr. Ivo Robotnik and the late Maria Robotnik, who had worked for the Guardian Units of Nations fifty years ago as part of Project Shadow, hoping he would be a great achievement in the future. However, after G.U.N. issued a warrant for his arrest for his shady practices, Gerald tried to escape with Shadow and Maria, with the latter being killed in an explosion caused by a soldier firing at a tank filled with Shadow's chaos energy.
Filled with vengeance, Gerald escaped from his prison, freed Shadow from his stasis, and recruited him, Ivo, and the latter's right-hand man Agent Stone, intending to get his hands on the very weapon that he designed for G.U.N.; The Eclipse Cannon, which he will use to destroy humanity in a spiteful murder-suicide, consumed by the grief and rage of losing his granddaughter.
He was portrayed by Jim Carrey, who also played Count Olaf in the film adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- Despite still being sympathetic, Gerald's more honorable and scapegoat nature from the games is almost completely absent, with him instead being depicted more as a man whose grief twisted him into becoming perhaps the worst version of himself, turning into a selfish monster who intends on punishing all of humanity for taking his granddaughter away from him.
- While he does seem to genuinely care about his grandson Ivo at first, it ultimately ends up being nothing more than just a façade, with him letting it slip once that if Ivo weren't family, he'd probably "gut him", bringing him onto the Eclipse Cannon without telling him that it would self destruct once it fires, and outright admitting that he truly doesn't care about him in the slightest, claiming he's "no Maria".
- Although he did genuinely care for Shadow at one point, even risking his own life to protect him from G.U.N., he is shown to be rather emotionally manipulative of the hedgehog in the current day, using his grief for Maria as a tool to convince Shadow to help him in his cataclysmic scheme, and when Shadow began to question if he was doing the right thing, wondering if Maria truly would have wanted to see the world destroyed, Gerald further manipulated him by telling him that it didn't matter if it was what Maria wanted, only that humanity needed to pay for what they did to her. This shows that he doesn't respect what Maria would've wanted for humanity, instead plotting to kill them all because it's "what they deserve", and has no qualms using her death to manipulate Shadow into doing his bidding.
- He appears to have some misogynistic traits, as he expressed surprise over the fact that Director Rockwell, a woman, was in the military, though it is likely due to him being from a time when women had less rights and was in prison for 50 years with him being unaware of changes in society though it doesn't excuse it regardless.
- While he does still undeniably care about Maria, it becomes clear that Gerald's plan to "avenge" her warped into a selfish desire to get revenge on humanity over time, completely acknowledging that she probably would not have wanted to see the world destroyed, but saying it wouldn't matter anyway, meaning that Gerald genuinely wanted humanity to suffer regardless.
- While he has lots of comedic moments, such as licking Shadow's quill, the fourth wall break joke of Ivo and himself being played by the same actor, their family montage being in virtual reality, and also their dance in the lasers, a lot of it was to keep up the facade of being the grandfather Ivo always wished of having and Gerald sheds most of these qualities in the end after his true plans are revealed.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3[]
- While never flat out said, it is implied that Gerald's plans for Shadow were already sketchy in the first place, which was why G.U.N. had to shut down his practices and arrest him.
- After being arrested by G.U.N., as well as being consumed by grief and anger, he tricked them into making a deal with them by constructing the Eclipse Cannon in exchange for his freedom so that he could plan revenge against G.U.N and the rest of humanity for Maria's death.
- He hacked into the facility Shadow was located in and set him free, which would result in Shadow attacking the G.U.N. soldiers there and in Tokyo.
- He hacked into Ivo's Badniks and used them to kill Commander Walters so he could lure Ivo to him and take "revenge" upon him, despite him trying to prevent Maria's death.
- Even before he revealed his true plans to Ivo, Gerald made it clear that he planned on destroying the G.U.N. headquarters with the Eclipse Cannon, completely acknowledging that such destruction would result in the deaths of millions.
- After reuniting with Ivo, he left Team Sonic tied up at the abandoned G.U.N. factory, nearly killing them by creating a miniature black hole.
- Upon gaining access to the Eclipse Cannon, he revealed his true plan was to destroy the Earth, wanting to wipe out humanity as he blamed them for his misery of losing Maria, while also making it so that himself, Shadow, and Ivo were killed as well.
- This caused Ivo to turn against him, as he only wanted to rule humanity rather than destroying it.
- Once he realized that Shadow had joined Sonic's side, he had his Gun Hunters go after them to have them both killed, completely subverting any and all care he might've had for Shadow.
- He nearly killed Ivo by throwing him off the bridge of the Eclipse, allowing him to be sucked into the coldness of space.
- While being knocked into the Chaos Energy field and getting disintegrated on contact is indeed a horrible death, Gerald's fate is well-deserved for all his crimes, with everyone cheering after he dies.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- Much like his original counterpart, he has a genuinely tragic background, where G.U.N. issued a warrant for his arrest and he tried escaping with Shadow and Maria only for her to be killed after a G.U.N. soldier shot a chaos energy tank, causing an explosion that would lead to her instant death. The loss of his granddaughter left Gerald a genuinely broken man, to the point of suicidal intentions as shown with how he's willing to die with the rest of humanity.
- No matter how evil he eventually became, Gerald still genuinely loved his granddaughter Maria, as her death is his whole motive for turning evil and seeking to wipe out the entirety of humanity in a twisted attempt to avenge her. It was even stated by Commander Walters that he took Maria everywhere he went, proving his genuine love and care for her.
- While he is taken more seriously after the reveal of his true plans, Gerald's final battle with Ivo still has many comedic moments that detract from his villainy, such as him comically spanking Ivo with his nano-gauntlet, Ivo cutting off half of his mustache and causing Gerald to yell "that's elder abuse!", and his anti-climactic death of getting zapped into nothingness after Ivo shoves Sonic's super-powered quill up his butt to send him flying into the energy field of the Eclipse Cannon, complete with a fart-like sound effect and Gerald comically screaming right before he dies.
Trivia[]
- This is the first version of Gerald to ever be Near Pure Evil.
- Ironically, he and Ivo have opposite statuses to their mainstream counterparts - Gerald is normally the Villainous Benchmark and Eggman is normally Near Pure Evil in the games/IDW canon, but now is the other way around in the Sonic Cinematic Universe.
- Originally, Gerald would have been long dead as shown in early concept art for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 where his skeleton is shown. Had this been the case, Gerald likely wouldn't have qualified as Near Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Gerald Robotnik on the Villains Wiki
- Gerald Robotnik on The Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Gerald Robotnik on the Sonic Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Gerald Robotnik on the Sonic Wiki
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