u/Due-Veterinarian5733

What makes Surge so compelling as a rival/antagonist/anti-hero, is she directly challenges Sonic’s world view, his principles, and the flawed faults of his logic of “eveyone can change if you give them the chance to try”. Where Shadow holds Sonic accountable all the time, she directly calls Sonic out. “I, am your fault”! Which, she has a good point, despite echoing Starline’s view of Sonic and Eggman’s “cycle”, what she sees as a petty, pointless, rivalry of madness, she’s right. She says “Look at me, I’m the result of when your principles fail, your flawed logic, when you let your villans kill again. How many more lives will have to die/be ruined until you kill the bastards”?! Sonic agues: “Everyone can change and deserves the freedom to choose. And can change if they try”. Where Shadow and maybe Surge argues “Freedom does not mean freedom of responsibility”! Shadow would kill Sonic’s whole rogues gallery given the opportunity, he’s not willing to let evil roam free and endanger the world.

Surge is just Shadow and his argument, but less restrained. More rage, wrath, and anger, especially towards Sonic for perpetuating this cycle, and being responsible given Eggman and Starline’s actions were motivated by Sonic, making him responsible for her and Kit’s creation by proxy. Surge is the Shadow we see at the beginning of SA2, and in Shadow The Hedgehog (2005). Lost, angry, enraged, looking for something/someone to blame and target his wrath on. In short, she’s him before he “Lived and Learned”.

However, the one crucial difference between her and Shadow is this: Shadow had/has Gearld and Maria, his first family, and the promise he’d made, as his moral compass; and his past, however dark and traumatic, to tether him, and keep him grounded. Surge had all that taken from her and erased. She’s the Shadow in Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) if he’d never remembered and chose wrath.

Shadow would argue to her: “I will give you ONE chance. You can be the monster he made you to be, and the villian they see you as. Or, you can be more. If you are willing, I can help you”.
Surge: “Or”?
Shadow: “Or I bury you where you stand”.

Up till now, Surge and Kit’s fights have been very conditional. Of course, it depends on the writer, but if it takes one of many brutal “reality checks” for Surge (and maybe Kit) to learn “freedom doesn’t mean freedom of responsibility” it’d be Sage and Metal getting payback on Surge and Kit. Arguably, Sage seems nerfed or more vulnerable on Eggman’s Eggnet vs when she was connected to Cyberspace, and Metal, like any machine, is weak to electrical currents and water. Many seem to forget, her being a child, Sage can be as ruthless and dangerous as Eggman, maybe more if she was pushed to evolve further to a worse threat than Metal or her father. Considering they have the means and motive, given feats and abilities, it begs the question: would Sage and Metal crush Surge and Kit? Given Metal was jumped and out numbered 2 to 1? Would it be a stalemate/tie? There’s also the consideration Sage could just throw around Surge and Kit like ragdolls by hacking their cybernetics and the more stable metal virus in their systems. While Starline would’ve made it so Eggman can’t hack Surge or Kit, we don’t know if he knew of Sage’s existence during the metal virus arc. If not, chances are he didn’t account for her. If the two need the lesson: “just because you’ve suffered tragedy doesn’t mean the world owes you a damn” Sage and Metal would be the messengers.

TLDR: Considering Sage and Metal would have the method, means (their abilities that can counter Sonic and Tails just as they’d counter Surge and Kit), and motive (for Sage, they tried to kill Eggman and thrashed Metal, for Metal the honor of killing Sonic before Surge/personal pride/revenge), could they actually beat Surge and Kit? Depends on the writer, but the two could fight extra hard, knowing Eggman’s plans for them would be worse than what Starline put them through.

With the latest Sonic IDW issue coming up being the sequel 6 part arc of Sonic and co crossover with DC/tge Justice League again, we see some panels that suggest a little banter between Bat-Shadow, Batman, and Damian Wayne. While I can see him relating to the anger, weapon/assassin bread Robin, I feel Cain matches Shadow a little in more in the one of the big aspects of his character: his dark past, more specifically, being made into a living weapon for others’ purposes. Cassandra is just as, if not more dark, than Damian, but I feel she reaches the “living weapon” trait a litter higher than Damian. As we see by her social skills and mentality JUST how deeply her training affected her. Where Damian was breed to be a leader and assail, the Court of Owls’ Talons’ were monsters, Cassandra was MADE to be a weapon. Her mind storing more information on how to kill, she never fully learned social skills. All she knew was: analyze a target, and kill it by any/all means. Whereas a Shadow knew was rage, a purpose as a cure, and for a short time, kill all of humanity and all who stand in his way. Cassandra’s introverted, quiet demeanor as a result of her upbringing, even matches Shadow’s attitude as well!

Where Batman parallels Shadow’s loss, and Damian his creation for some purpose or destiny chosen for him, Cassandra Caine parallels Shadow’s dark past as a living weapon.

It’s no longer a moral debate/delimma why you “shouldn’t kill Eggman”. The looming apocalyptic threat and crash out of Sage as consequence of Eggman’s death/murder presents a threat akin to “Judgment Day”. If you value living or the world as we know it, you CAN’T kill him.

Perhaps the death/murder of Eggman is what creates Silver’s bad future ruled by Neo Sage? Even a kid like Sage wouldn’t take watching her father die very well. She very well has the potential to be a greater threat than Eggman or Metal. With enough time to evolve, and a motivation to reach it.

Despite the more recent issue conveying clearly that Sage is seemingly weaker and has less influence on Eggman’s Eggnet, vs when she was on the Starfall Islands connected to Cyberspace, I feel, give her capabilities, and that GUN’s tech gets trumped by Eggman’s typically, it wouldn’t take much for Sage to shut down their security, defenses, or bypass all their firewalls to obtain sensitive information. I doubt they’d even notice her, since she’d be literally snooping in their servers. It’d be a great way to showcase how deadly, ruthless, and intelligent she can be. As many forget she could be a Skynet, AM, SHODAN, or GLaDOS type threat if she wanted to be. And could evolve to become a worse threat than her dad or Metal. So besides the darker moments, like her threatening to kill staff and soldiers in a facility with poison gas, or turn their defenses on them and engage a lockdown, on the funny or darker side, how do you think Sage would interact with GUN? Troll them? Threaten them with cold, ruthless, violence? Leave a silly “Sage was here” after hacking their network, before timing a base to self destruct?

My personal speculation? Kit and Surge will have a falling out and become enemies. We see Surge beginning to want to do the right thing, albeit not because it’s the right thing to do, she seems to actually be changing somewhat and diverging from her programming. Whereas Kit appears to be spiraling further. His jeopardizing lives, and Surge’s efforts to go straight could clash, reach a boiling point, and we’d see just how broken Kit’s become. To the point he will be Surge’s greatest enemy, in his own twisted logic, so she becomes a greater hero than Sonic. Why would this occur? The two are inverse, opposite, to Sonic and Tails. Where Sonic is cocky but selfless, Surge is arrogant and selfish. Where Tails is independent and courageous, Kit is dependent and bleak. One inspires hope and safety, the other fear and chaos.

Things would really come to a head, when Kit’s latest manufactured crisis gravely injures, maybe even kills people off-panel. Disagreement would turn to fighting, events would play out where the two become more divided as choices and ideals clash, and eventually, Surge realizes she and Kit can’t keep blaming everyone else forever, as the deaths and destruction they’ve caused is beaten into her by Shadow or others, she stops and takes in the reality that freedom doesn’t mean freedom of responsibility, and truly begins to atone. Whereas Kit spirals further into madness, becoming a worse villian for the new heroine, as the world is his enemy in his eyes. Where Kit will do ANYTHING to make Surge a great hero.

How did Dr Starline survive his fall into the sinkhole followed by collapsing debris? The same way Surge did: he’d used a sample of his stable metal virus strain on himself before he went to fight Eggman, or before he’d hit the bottom of the pit. How does this relate to Infinite? They both rose, fell, suffered at the hands of heroes and double crossing associates, all for their own ideals. Their own world. I feel, if what’s been hinted in recent content, is an alliance between the two, they won’t try to “wipe everyone off the chessboard” right away. Starline tried to do that, and so did Infinite, it went badly. Thus, I see them aiming to take out heroes and rivals at their own level. Taking out Sonic failed badly. Trying to match Eggman backfired. It’s like too rookies taking on a veteran in a fist fight-you’ll lose, badly. What sets Eggman and Sonic apart, is they know how to cover their weaknesses and learn from setbacks/mistakes. They have allies to fall back on, and they don’t crack under pressure.

What better teacher for a couple of deformed upstarts, than nearly dying? Hate does wonders for the will to live.

We all know what happens to those that try to kill, cross, or even insult Eggman. We know what happens to those that’d dare try to kill his daughter. But if someone, like Surge or Shadow, killed Eggman? Nukes filled with a new metal virus, super weapons striking Earth’s major cities, militaries, governments, GUN, and in a sense, “judgement day”. The latest issue shows Sage seemingly is much more vulnerable on Eggman’s limited Eggnet, versus her power and influence while connected to the Ancient’s Cyberspace. However, Eggman’s “ever evolving, learning AI” has me thinking, with enough time, especially if something like Eggman’s death/murder pushed her to it, she could become a greater threat than anything Sonic, or future heroes like Silver, have ever faced. Eggman’s said he can end Sonic and the rest of them in minutes if he wanted to. For the love of the game. An older, cold and calculating Sage after the truama of watching her father die? She may be intelligent and deadly, but she’s still a child. One dead Eggman, and she’d probably snap in a grief stricken revenge. And she’d have no reservations for mercy. The few left could be Shadow, Silver, Surge, Kit, and any future heroes or decedents. If she’d evolve enough, she’d be unstoppable, unkillable, hard to keep locked up, and being essentially immortal? She’d have all the time to outlive, or outwit you to death.

It’s no longer a moral dilemma or debate about why you shouldn’t kill Eggman. Considering Sage’s looming shadow, you CAN’T kill him.

We’ve learned in the latest issue that it’s very likely Starline himself has returned. Maybe back from the dead as a type of zombie/cyborg as some concept art depicts him. My going theory is that he’d survived the same way Surge did when she fell down a large pit after fighting Sonic: the stable metal virus. If this is the case, he may be a worse menace for everyone. Especially Eggman, Sonic, and Surge & Kit. With a more unhinged agenda hellbent on “wiping them all off the board”. As they’d all be out for his head. This introduces a certain turning point I feel the duo would have to contend with: mortality and consequences. Starline always made contingencies. Who’s to say there isn’t some that involve an anti-virus, weapon, or cure that makes the duo vulnerable again to death and injuries. (Semi) immortality tends to remove consequences and morals, so such a nerf for Surge and Kit, I feel would be the “turning point” for them, or at least Surge, to turn over a new leaf. As at some point, they’d need to start taking responsibility, as blaming Eggman, Sonic, or Starline would stop becoming an excuse certain characters wouldn’t accept anymore. The two are willing to make the effort, although in the wrong way, but haven’t become genuine and willing to atone, even if they were manipulated, they’d still endangered many, and almost killed some.

Which is when, if willing, Shadow would step in, as he’s the only one that could truly relate to them. Though, considering this is IDW, and not Archie Shadow, it’s hard to say if he’d be inclined to help them. As Shadow is not as forgiving or merciful as Sonic. Though I can see Shadow giving the two some leeway, given the circumstances. Whereas Eggman is a repeat offender.