Shadow the hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog film series produced by Paramount Pictures. He is an anthropomorphic alien hedgehog who fell to Earth in a meteor and became part of a secret government experiment called Project Shadow led by Professor Gerald Robotnik. Upon his arrival, Shadow befriended Gerald's granddaughter, Maria. However, the Guardian Units of Nations, believing Shadow to be a threat, invaded Gerald's laboratory, causing an explosion that killed Maria while Shadow was placed in a state of suspended animation.

Fifty years later, Shadow was awakened from his suspended animation on Prison Island by Gerald to carry out his revenge plot against humanity for Maria's death with the help of Gerald's grandson, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, coming into conflict with Team Sonic. By managing to infiltrate the G.U.N. HQ, Shadow and Team Robotnik managed to deploy the Eclipse Cannon with the intention of destroying Earth. In his decisive duel against his newfound arch-rival, Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow was able to come to terms with his past and decided to help Sonic and his friends save the planet to honor Maria. Using the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Shadow worked together to stop the cannon, with Shadow and Ivo sacrificing themselves to destroy the weapon. However, Shadow survived and returned to Earth.

Shadow is a black-furred anthropomorphic alien hedgehog. He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle and small, triangular ears with tan canals. He has seven quills on the back of his head, four curving upwards and three downwards, and a short, pointy tail. Some red stripes adorn the tops of each quill, the edges of his eyes and extend down the sides of all four limbs from the elbows and knees.

For attire, Shadow wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues; red, white and black shoes, which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues. He wears also golden rings, one on each of his wrists and ankles

In 1974, a strange meteorite of unknown origin crashed landed one night in a quiet corner of rural Oklahoma, United States. U.S. military personnel arrived at the scene and confiscated the meteorite, eventually finding within it an alien being, Shadow.

In an experiment dubbed "Project Shadow", scientists began experimenting with the hedgehog's Chaos energy power, believing it would usher in a new era of humanity. Shadow eventually formed a close friendship with project leader Gerald Robotnik's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik.

However, Shadow was eventually deemed to be a threat to humanity and the project was cancelled, with soldiers from the government's shadow ops program being sent to capture him. As Gerald attempted to escape his lab with Shadow and Maria, a stray shot from the soldiers hit one of the tanks of Chaos energy, causing an explosion that killed Maria. With Gerald blamed for the disaster and sent to prison, Shadow, deemed too dangerous to roam free but also too valuable to kill, was eventually put into stasis indefinitely and hidden away in a black site research facility on Prison Island by Captain Walters. Before Maria's death, Shadow had a very stern and serious demeanor, having a grim scowl on his face much of the time. He kept this facade up most of the time to hide his worries, although he sometimes relaxed and even smiled around Maria. Beneath his serious demeanor, Shadow was actually confused about himself, not knowing anything about his own nature or where he came from and just went along with the tests given by the scientists who found him. Due to his alien nature, Shadow was not knowledgeable of Earth's culture, not understanding dancing or music. Meeting Maria changed Shadow's life. From Maria, Shadow learned to enjoy simpler aspects in life like learning how to dance, listening to her playing guitar, and playing with her like children her age. However, his friendship with Maria also made Shadow start questioning his identity as he noticed most people around him feared him for his power, and as a result, Shadow was unsure about his place in the world. It was only through Maria's assurance that Shadow felt at ease. During his early life, Shadow was innocent and docile, and his early life was compared to Sonic's early life by Commander Walters.

After Maria's death, Shadow's heart was filled with nothing but pain, rage, and grief over her death. He was left deeply traumatized by the loss of the only person who had seen past his cold exterior to the confused and conflicted being within himself. He was intensely resentful of G.U.N for killing Maria and imprisoning him for fifty years. Though angry and resentful, Shadow's rage was yet to reach a murderous level. He only wished to be left alone to mourn, fighting back simply because he got attacked first.

Shadow is not entirely ruthless, and he does have some mercy. He gives his enemies the chance to walk away from fighting him, and Shadow backed down after it was clear that Team Sonic was too weak to fight anymore. This demeanor is shown when he warned Team Sonic to walk away and handcuffed Sonic when they first fought instead of further hurting or even killing the blue hedgehog. Additionally, Shadow initially showed some hesitation at destroying the world, and he went so far as to ask Gerald whether vengeance was what Maria would have wanted. After being reminded of the pain of Maria's death, Shadow once again became enraged at what G.U.N. had done to her. Driven by his desire for revenge, Shadow did not hesitate to get rid of whoever got in his way, believing he was giving Maria the justice she deserved.

Ruthless and brutal, when Shadow makes a threat, he has every intention of carrying it out. If anything, Shadow is arguably one of the most dangerous characters in the movie series. He even went as far as using the Mini Black Hole to try and kill Team Sonic, though it is unknown if he knew that this was wrong or not. Due to Gerald Robotnik manipulating him, he is intensely loyal to Gerald and believes everything of which is said by the latter up until Shadow realizes the error of his ways.

Shadow started to have doubts in his quest for revenge after witnessing Sonic's concern for Tom, and eventually realized he was going against what Maria would've wanted after he and Sonic shared their respective pain of losing their loved ones. At heart, Shadow was simply at loss of what to do with the anger and pain that had been built up in him, and decided to exact revenge only because he thought there was no other way to come to terms with it. When Shadow realized his mistake, he decided to save Earth together with Sonic, fulfilling what Maria would've wished for him to do.

Shadow is capable of harnessing Chaos energy, enabling him to generate and control golden-orange electrical energy, as evidenced by his eyes flashing with bright lightning. This energy was the subject of many tests and experiments held by G.U.N., most notably being used to power the Eclipse Cannon. Compared to both Sonic and Knuckles, Shadow is shown to be more adept at using his Chaos energy, as he infused it into his motorcycle to not only drastically increase its speed, but also enable it to scale up vertical surfaces.

Shadow has the ability to teleport using Chaos Control and is shown to be much stronger than Sonic by breaking Knuckles' wrist with ease. His ability to teleport can apparently be jarring to those unprepared, as Sonic commented that he felt nauseous when the two teleported to the Skytree. He is also shown to be a very skilled and fearsome fighter, as he hit Knuckles in midair several times while using Chaos Control. He also easily defeated an unprepared Team Sonic. He also has the ability to breathe in the vacuum of space.

Shadow wears a pair of specialized shoes called Air Shoes. These footwear are the primary source of Shadow's speed, producing small jet streams that let him hover-skate and fly at immense speeds, while also giving him more control, as he showed no problems skating over the ocean while Sonic had numerous problems during the Master Emerald event. Shadow also wears four Limiter Rings, one on each of his wrists and ankles