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For any avid Sonic fan out there, it helps to know just which Sonic villains are the strongest across all of the games. Moreover, some Sonic villains remain iconic enough to come back game after game and pose an ever-present threat to blue blur and his friends. These are the strongest Sonic villains from the franchise.
Updated July 8, 2022 by Rhenn Taguiam: With Sonic 2 introducing Sonic the Hedgehog’s best friend Tails and rival Knuckles into the world of real-life action, it makes sense for Sonic fans to feel ecstatic as to which other Sonic characters might make it to the big screen.
While Eggman makes a dominating presence as a villain to the Blue Blur, a lot more villains exist in the franchise that might be worthy adversaries in a real-life adventure. These include an alternate version of Sonic, the manifestations of a godly being, and even the very first guardian of the Chaos Emeralds.
14 Scourge The Hedgehog
Despite his green color, Scourge the Hedgehog is by all intents and purposes Sonic the Hedgehog. Unlike the blue speedster, however, Scourge hails from the world called Moebius, or Anti-Mobius, which is the counterpart of the original world of Sonic called Mobius. Not only that, but he also ruled Moebius as well.
Originally simply a rival to Sonic, Scourge attempted to steal the Master Emerald to empower himself to surpass Sonic. However, when he was knocked out while absorbing Chaos Energy, the residual energy merged with him and caused his green hue. Perhaps an extremely dangerous foe when filled with evil intentions, Scourge possesses the exact same abilities as Sonic, but this time without remorse. He even possesses a similar Super Scourge form, which is notably a darker-hued version of Sonic’s.
13 Iblis
Although resembling more of a lava monster than anything else, Iblis is simply more than a powerful villain. In fact, Iblis is the manifestation of the power held by the sun god Solaris. In turn, Iblis isn’t exactly destructible, but rather an energy-based being who will stop at nothing until it destroys everything in existence.
Due to its enormous size, Iblis can make quick work of armies due to its seemingly never-ending access to the power that Solaris contains. While not necessarily as intelligent or cunning, the raw power Iblis possesses is incredibly strong, rivaling the likes of other god-level or cosmic-level foes in the universe.
12 Mephiles The Dark
Contrary to Iblis is Mephiles the Dark, essentially the will and mind of the sun god Solaris. Alongside Iblis, Mephiles was created when the Solaris Project caused the sun god to split into two parts. Shadow the Hedgehog managed to trap Mephiles the Dark inside the Scepter of Darkness but was subsequently freed.
What makes Mephiles such a dangerous villain isn’t his power level, but rather penchant for destruction. Unlike other villains driven by revenge or power, Mephiles simply wants to destroy everything. It doesn’t help that Mephiles isn’t just calm about his desires, but can be methodical about achieving them as well. Due to his nature as a manifestation of a god’s will, Mephiles’s abilities aren’t about raw power but rather the manipulation of things around him. He can travel in time and manipulate energy to different degrees.
11 Chaos
While Knuckles and his clan guarded the Chaos Emeralds, it’s Chaos that served as its very first guardian. Unlike other beings in the Sonic universe, Chaos is a being composed of nothing but pure energy. Its powers evolve with each Chaos Emerald it possesses, making its power potential seemingly infinite.
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Originally possessing a warm heart, negative emotions from thousands of years corrupted Chaos into becoming a creature of evil. This makes it extremely dangerous, as Chaos can now use its abilities to create and control water on planetary levels.
10 Doctor Eggman
Despite what some modern Sonic fans might think about him, Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik will always remain one of the most iconic - and one of the most powerful - villains of Sonic the Hedgehog. Possessing an IQ of 300 and seemingly limitless resources, he consistently uses his talent for engineering to create a wide variety of robots with the sole purpose of finally crushing Sonic and conquering the world.
While his arrogance almost always gets the best of him, especially against Sonic and his friends, it’s Eggman’s consistent defeat that also makes him the most knowledgeable of Sonic’s full range of abilities. It’s thanks to his genius that he’s created the likes of Metal Sonic and E-123 Omega, both of which can match or even out-muscle Sonic in terms of power.
9 E-123 Omega
Doctor Eggman’s E-Series of robots served as his finest creations, with each one serving as a means of trying to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog once and for all. And among this E-Series of robots, only E-123 Omega has come close to fulfilling the Doctor’s desires. Although he is the most powerful of the E-Series, E-123 Omega was tasked to guard Shadow the Hedgehog during his stay in suspended animation. Feeling his powers are put to waste, E-123 Omega went rogue and swore vengeance against Robotnik.
However, his concerns did make sense, as E-123 Omega is designed as a combat robot with immense fighting capabilities. With his body built to become a weapon, he has a slate of various armaments such as gatling guns, flame throwers, missile launchers, and even lasers. Being a Power Type, E-123 Omega can use his brute force to contend with the likes of Knuckles the Echidna.
8 Metal Sonic
Perhaps the finest of Doctor Eggman’s creations, Metal Sonic is a Badnik version of Sonic the Hedgehog that finally achieved the high-performance metrics the Doctor wanted. Not only is Metal Sonic persistent when facing Sonic and his friends, but his programming allows him to not just copy Sonic’s moves but even mimic - and sometimes surpass - his speeds.
What’s perhaps most terrifying about Metal Sonic is his sheer intelligence as a machine, coupled with his aggressive goal of destroying Sonic no matter what. While Sonic always somehow prevails against Metal Sonic, the latter’s nature of constant evolution makes him much stronger every time Sonic bests him in combat.
7 Infinite
Although simply an ordinary jackal, Infinite served as the former captain of the fearsome Jackal Squad until he got his hands on the Phantom Ruby. After using its powers for himself, he became Infinite, one of the fiercest lieutenants of Doctor Eggman’s army.
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Even without the Phantom Ruby, Infinite possesses incredible skills as a mercenary. Although not as strong as Shadow in base form, Infinite still earned the title “ultimate mercenary.” When using the Phantom Ruby, Infinite has obtained power even greater than the Master Emerald’s. By the time his Phantom Ruby becomes perfect, Infinite’s fused form allows him to manipulate, destroy, and create virtual realities, assuming control of anyone trapped inside.
6 Black Doom
Shadow the Hedgehog’s first mission after his awakening was taking down the Black Arms, and its leader Black Doom. At its core, the Black Arms is actually a hive mind of sorts, with each member a spawn of Black Doom himself that is controlled by his hive mind. At his core, he simply wants to enslave humans and use them as a food source for his army. If it wasn’t for Shadow the Hedgehog, Black Doom would’ve easily succeeded.
While not necessarily a god, his range of mystical abilities would certainly put him extremely close to one. His most dangerous ability is Chaos Energy control, which allows him to control all seven Chaos Emeralds. This gives him access to a wide range of abilities, such as calling forth the dangerous Black Comet from space. As well as Chaos Control, Black Doom has powerful telepathic abilities such as mind control. He can also generate illusions, and even showcase various degrees of telekinesis.
5 Super Sonic
While most iterations of Super Sonic have served as Sonic’s powered-up form via the Chaos Emeralds, the Fleetway Editions “Sonic the Comic” series has a Super Sonic that is essentially Sonic in berserk mode. This iteration of the Super Sonic mode depicts this form as a demonic entity hidden deep inside Sonic’s psyche, only manifesting in times of extreme danger, stress, and exposure to too much Chaos energy.
While most of Super Sonic’s powers are similar to his game counterpart, they do differ in some essential areas. For instance, Super Sonic has strength levels that could obliterate the likes of Megatal, a Mobian metal that was supposedly indestructible. Thanks to the Chaos Emeralds, Super Sonic can fly extremely fast, fire extremely destructive energy blasts, absorb energy and create energy fields, and become nigh-indestructible.
4 Enerjak
One of the most fearsome entities in the Sonic franchise comes from the Archie Comics, namely Enerjak. This Chaos demigod initially had his essence split across the Chaos Force, with only those with enough hubris among the echidnas becoming powerful enough to serve as his vessels. Regardless of his choice of form, they transform into an echidna with special Enerjak armor, which consists of an ornate outfit that resembles that of an Egyptian pharaoh - complete with a menacing mask, a chest plate, a skirt, and adornments.
What makes Enerjak so fearsome is not his appearance though, but instead his range of abilities. When he gets a physical avatar, Enerjak derives his power from the Chaos Force, meaning he has nigh-unlimited energy. Anyone who becomes Enerjak’s avatar is technically omnipotent; capable of using Chaos Energy to manipulate reality as they see fit. It’s only the imagination and the hubris of the avatar that limits their full capabilities.
3 Dark Gaia
Perhaps nothing is more fearsome than the very embodiment of night, darkness, and destruction itself. Known only as Dark Gaia, this primordial energy organism is the second half of the Light Gaia and is the cosmic half responsible for forcing the destruction of the planet before its rebirth. While Sonic and Light Gaia eventually tame Dark Gaia, it didn’t come without an extremely tough challenge.
Being the embodiment of darkness and destruction itself, Dark Gaia is a “perfect” villain in that it possesses no consciousness with which to feel remorse or guilt for its actions. Moreover, as a primordial entity, Dark Gaia possesses near limitless energy, defeating the likes of Super Sonic with ease.
2 Solaris
The Principality of Soleanna, known also as the City of Water, worships Solaris as its sun god, but it’s no mere icon of myth. Solaris is, in fact, an actual primordial life form that originally took the form of living flames. It was only due to the Solaris Project of the Duke of Soleanna that Solaris was split into two, its raw power in the form of Iblis and its conscious mind in the form of Mephiles the Dark. Unfortunately, when both halves met and combined their powers, Solaris was reborn with a thirst to destroy time itself.
As a divine-level being, Solaris is capable of holding its own against Super Sonic, Super Silver, and Super Shadow all at once. Having control of time itself, Solaris could theoretically manipulate events in the fabric of space-time as it wished. Being a god, Solaris is virtually immortal except against Chaos-empowered individuals, hence eventually being defeated by the three aforementioned Supers.
1 Time Eater
In an attempt to erase his past failures against Sonic, Doctor Eggman attempted to use the mysterious Time Eater to manipulate the past. Such was the power of the Time Eater that a team of various Doctor Eggmen tried to use it to erase ever Sonic in existence, before it was ultimately defeated by them.
Prior to Doctor Eggman and Sonic’s interference, the Time Eater is essentially a being from another dimension that manipulates time and space. Even in its incomplete form, the Time Eater boasts incredible levels of super strength that match those of Supers. Through its immense powers, the Time Eater can project energy in the form of attacks, use telekinesis, and even manipulate space-time itself to modify, create, and destroy timelines.
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