Knuckles is of course everyone’s favorite short-beaked echidna—not least of all because they likely have never seen an actual photo of those spiky Australian mammals that lay eggs (no really, look it up!). First appearing in 1994 with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Sega Genesis, the red dude with even more attitude was essentially created to be a cooler and tougher version of the blue hedgehog. Ever since then he’s been cutting a path of badassery through the Sega library. It is, in fact, hard to imagine many older millennials who wouldn’t say Knuckles is the coolest character in the Sonic library. While he appeared as a non-playable antagonist in Sonic 3, the following year saw Knuckles co-star with Sonic in the aptly titled Sonic and Knuckles, also for the Sega Genesis. That game featured the rather nifty trick of coming with a port that allowed gamers to insert Knuckles into previous, older Sega games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3. With his red appearance and devil-may-care attitude, Knuckles initially stood out because he could run almost as fast as Sonic and also had the ability to glide over long distances and climb walls with his spiky, titular knuckles. The character has somewhat lulled in popularity over the last 25 years as the Sonic cast of characters has grown to comically large heights. The character also got a revamp when he was turned into the stoic guardian of the Master Crystal on the floating Angel Island in Sonic Adventure (1998). But by casting someone like Elba as the voice of the tough guy rodent, Paramount Pictures and director Jeff Fowley know which CGI critter should appear as the coolest of them all. Knuckles is likely an easygoing role for the esteemed actor, but there’s little doubt Elba won’t bring his signature brooding stoicism, and ability to make a colorful threat, to the sequel of a movie which previously saw Jim Carrey in a bald cap playing Dr. Robotnik. So why not?
