Sonic's Most Gruesome Injury Will Force Tails into the Spotlight

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Warning! Spoilers ahead for Sonic the Hedgehog #51!

Except for the time he almost became a robotic zombie, never before has Sonic the Hedgehog sustained as crippling an injury as he does in the latest issue of his comic series, and it's going to force Tails into the role of hero if nothing drastic prevents this from happening.

Much earlier in IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog series, Sonic got infected by Dr. Eggman's out-of-control Metal Virus that could turn living creatures into robotic zombies, or as the Blue Blur called them, Zombots. The virus might have made the hedgehog feel "nasty," but all Sonic had to do was keep moving at high speeds (or transform into Super Sonic) to keep himself from mutating into a Zombot. He could also still fight and was able to defeat both the virus and the Deadly Six even while infected, not to mention the fact that Sonic's affliction didn't put any extra pressure on Tails. Instead, victory was contingent on only Sonic and Silver the Hedgehog.

Related: Sonic the Hedgehog's New Characters Can Revolutionize His Canon

But Sonic's latest and worst injury will likely force much more upon his young sidekick, as revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog #51 by Ian Flynn, Adam Bryce Thomas, Mauro Fonseca, Rik Mack, Heather Breckel, and Shawn Lee. When Sonic, Tails and Belle the Tinkerer are trying to escape from Eggman's absurdly named Eggperial City in a hijacked shuttle, Metal Sonic bursts through its hull, causing the ship to crash-land. The resulting crash is so severe that Sonic not only hurts his leg, which is bent in an unnatural position, but the heroes have also not made it outside the city limits.

With Sonic unable to utilize his speed, the responsibility of not only getting out of the Eggperial City