Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the main protagonists in Super Smash Bros. Crossover. Out of all the protagonists, Shadow remains the most complex due to his involvement in the events of the past.

History

Development Cycle and Second Cycle

Shadow the Hedgehog was created onboard the Space Colony ARK by the combined efforts of Professor Gerald Robotnik and Black Doom as part of Project: Shadow, a project to create an immortal life-form that would cure Maria Robotnik of her terminal illness. During his creation, Shadow was sabotaged by Midna, who put a device that would induce paralysis when she activated it. Shadow was also contacted by Gray Fox, who told Shadow about The Creator's Triune and that he was one of the Triune, and was to unite the Creator's Triune to save the world. Shadow would later be analyzed by Kabuto Yakushi, who had followed Midna to the ARK, although Kabuto didn't tell Shadow about the device as he couldn't find anything wrong with Shadow, and Shadow would continue to live a happy life on the ARK with Maria, who became Shadow's closest friend. Sadly, the ARK was raided by GUN due to sabotage on Yami Bakura's part, which ended in Maria being killed in front of Shadow's eyes. Before her death, Maria begged Shadow to give humanity a chance to be happy and to let them live their dreams. Maria then sent Shadow to Earth in an escape capsule, asking him to watch over her cousin, Ivo Robotnik. However, Shadow was sealed away by GUN sometime after this until he was released by Dr. Eggman. Shadow would eventually become an Assist Trophy in the Smash World until he was released by Princess Peach in the Second Cycle during Link's attack on her, Bowser, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Lucario. Initiating the mission he was given, Shadow gave Lucario some Metal Sonic stickers to help him unlock Ascent Mode and brought the group to an area resembling the Fountain of Dreams, where he gave Princess Peach a Star Rod and unlocked her Ascent Mode, and informed the group that their fates were intertwined before bringing them back home and leaving. Shadow's subsequent activities until the present remain unknown, although he was no longer bound by the laws of the Assist Trophy due to his prolonged time in the Smash World.

In Season 36, it is revealed that Shadow was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Heroes of Legend and the birth of Princess Peach, as he was the one who saved Nazo from being killed by Mephiles' reset of the Smash World. It is later revealed that Shadow is essentially the true Creator of the Smash World, as the Light of Good (Master Hand's father) used Shadow's DNA code to create all of the Smash World, and was partially involved in sealing the Darkness of Evil, the Light of Good's evil twin, away along with Naruto Uzumaki. These events, however, would contribute to Shadow's mental breakdown later on.

Present Day

In Season 17, Shadow and Sonic are teleported to Mobius for the final showdown with Infinity Mecha Sonic. Even though Sonic left midway through the fight, Shadow was able to defeat Mecha Sonic. During Season 20, Shadow learns that Yami Bakura had infiltrated Project: Shadow and was responsible for Maria's death. During the Time Eater Arc, Shadow chases Mewtwo after he kidnaps Princess Peach and Baby Peach. Shadow then battles Mewtwo to learn why he is doing this and wins, but his anger nearly causes him to vaporize Mewtwo before Mewtwo states that he's just like Vegeta, blinded by his rage. Shadow then has a brief fight with Vegeta before Fabia Sheen, Patient Zero, and Yami Bakura show up. Shadow then watches the fight, but soon jumps in again, determined to kill Yami Bakura permanently. Shadow manages to emerge victorious against Yami Bakura. In Season 22, Shadow unlocks his Ascent Mode after witnessing the deaths of Rouge and Omega at the hands of Meta Knight. In Season 23, Shadow learns that the Heroes of Legend and The Offspring of Zorc are spiritually related, which causes Shadow to start having a mental breakdown after the defeat of Wiseman. Later, Master Hand and Crazy Hand use Shadow's negative aura to make him Wiseman's new vessel in their combined quest for universal genocide. Shadow's spirit is later ejected from his former body and is swallowed by Fabia. Shadow is restored after Wiseman is defeated. Later, after the Dark Heroes of Legend are released from the Pecking Order's grasp and left on the brink of death, Shadow gives up his life force to revive them. However, Shadow is reborn in a Shadow Android, as he had instructed Omega to go with Dr. Eggman and insert a microchip that contains all his memories, except those of Maria, into one of the Shadow Androids. Following the alterations made by the Heroes of Legend, the original Shadow is revived. After Mechtavius Destroyer is erased from existence, Shadow is happily reunited with Maria. At the end of Season 25, Shadow becomes a Hero of Legend after the destruction of Mechtavius Destroyer. In Season 32, Shadow ascends to the status of Creator along with the other Heroes of Legend, and is among the first to learn that the heroes have been infiltrated by the Skrulls. Later, after Sonic and several of the Heroes of Legend quit, Shadow rallies the remaining Heroes of Legend to continue fighting. Shadow then begins to mercilessly beat up Master Hand, stating that the Heroes of Legend will fix the world he has created, and that the heroes have evolved beyond his intentions. Declaring that he is going to purge the Earth of the evil Master Hand has created with Master Hand's power, Shadow then ruthlessly kills Master Hand without hesitation. Later, Shadow foils Fawful's plan by showing Rosalina that he would endanger the Lumas for his selfish goals, and liberates the hypnotized Lumas with the Beam Sword, forcing Fawful to flee. Shadow later fights alongside the other heroes and villains against Master Hand's forces until they fade away as a result of Master Hand's death at Sonic's hands. After teleporting the others back to Smash City, Shadow and the other Heroes of Legend forgive Rosalina for her recent acts and leave on the Comet Observatory. Before getting on the Comet Observatory, Shadow says goodbye to Sonic, even though he isn't there, and hopes that they will cross paths again one day. In Season 33, Shadow learns from Bass that Phaaze has been blocked off since Master Hand's death, and that Sonic hasn't returned yet. Upon learning that Bass heard a voice in his head on his way to the Heroes of Legend, Shadow decides to look into the matter and has Mario, Luigi, and Samus Aran monitor him. When Bass later goes beserk due to Phazon infection, Shadow and the other Heroes of Legend arrive, and Shadow ultimately removes the Phazon from Bass. When Goku suggests that Sonic might've been controlling the Phazon that infected Bass, Shadow angrily grabs Goku by the collar and demands him to lock on to Sonic, but lets him go because his anger got the better of him. Shadow then reveals that he views Sonic as a friend who is keeping Maria's dream alive, and refuses to let him go down a dark path. When Goku somehow locates Sonic, Shadow tells him to teleport the Heroes of Legend to Phaaze, but Bowser shoots that down and says that Shadow should go alone as it might be a trap and Shadow should go due to his view of Sonic. Shadow is then teleported to Phaaze by Goku in order to find Sonic. However, Shadow does not immediately arrive in Phaaze, instead he is teleported to the Brinstar Escape Shaft, and is confronted by the same voice that Bass heard. The mysterious voice tells Shadow to come and get him, prompting Shadow to go through the Escape Shaft and Race to the Finish before arriving at Phaaze. Upon arrival, Shadow comments how Phaaze looks like Subspace before he hears the voice again. Shadow is then forced to battle clones of the Heroes of Legend, with the reward being that the voice will reveal who it is. Although the fights get harder as Shadow comes close to victory, Shadow's iron will and determination to find Sonic gives him the strength to prevail. The mysterious entity appears before Shadow upon his victory, and Shadow demands that he reveals who he is, only to be horrified to learn that the entity is none other than Sonic himself. In Season 36, Shadow learns of the truth behind Ganondorf's rebellion and his own role in Sonic.exe's dark plans, and becomes determined to stop Sonic.exe once and for all. In Season 37, following the deaths of the Heroes of the World and their subsequent recreation, Shadow renews his morals to be a more dependable ally. Unfortunately, after E-123 Omega betrays Shadow's trust and the Justice Lords threaten to eliminate the Heroes of the World, Shadow has a mental breakdown due to everything that has happened, and comes to the conclusion that the only way to make humanity truly happy is to completely annihilate them, thus putting their souls at rest, and heads to the Space Colony ARK to exact vengeance on humanity for persecuting the Heroes of the World, especially Rouge, and fufill his promise to Maria in a twisted way with the Eclipse Cannon. Luckily, Shadow's plans are thwarted by the Heroes of Legend, who convince Shadow that if anyone is to blame for what has happened, it is the Heroes of Legend themselves. Shadow then contributes to the reset of the Smash World and rejoins the Heroes of Legend while putting the past behind him for good.

Personality

Shadow's personality is a mix of his personalities in the Sonic games and Super Mario Bros. Z. He is also determined to keep his promise to Maria by trying to prevent the death of others.

After learning how Maria died, Shadow developed deep hatred towards Yami Bakura for causing her death. This hatred, along with Shadow's desire to avenge Maria, starts turning into an obsession, and Shadow begins acting recklessly in battle, as he nearly vaporized Mewtwo because he lost his temper. This hatred later goes towards Meta Knight as well after the death of Rouge and Omega, though he forgives Meta Knight after his redemption.

After Wiseman's defeat, Shadow starts to show signs of mental instability due to learning that the Heroes of Legend and the Offspring of Zorc are spiritually related, as he trusted the Heroes of Legend and is shocked to learn that they are connected to Maria's murderer. Shadow also contemplates destroying everything connected to Zorc, as he feels that Maria will be truly avenged but knows it is morally wrong as that would mean commiting mass genocide by also killing the Heroes of Legend, the zombies, Infinity Titanium Mecha Sonic, and Sephiroth, who are his friends. Shadow also becomes more distant as he refuses help from Rouge, Omega, Venus, Leon the Yoshi, Shade, Blaze, and Flare, who he would normally trust with his life.

Before his death, Shadow revealed he can lock his own memories, as he didn't include his memories of Maria in the microchip that would be put in his successor.

Following Shadow's rebirth as a Shadow Android, he is still serious but not as aggressive as he used to be, as the original Shadow purposely left out his memories of Maria so his successor would not be driven insane like he was.

Shadow is very observant of what people say and how his friends act, as when he found "Captain America" and "Invisible Woman" on the ground after Piccolo beat them up, he knew they were Skrulls since Piccolo would only attack someone if he had a reason to and the Skrulls didn't explain how Reed Richards was unconscious, which gave them away as Skrulls. Shadow's observation skills were proven again when he realized Fawful wanted to put the Heroes of Legend into a situation where they would have to either kill the Lumas or Rosalina and got around it by freeing the Lumas.

Following the Heroes of Legend's fallout, Shadow becomes more agressive, and even states he will not hesitate to use brute force to restore the Earth to normal. Shadow also becomes more ruthless with achieving his goals, as he killed Master Hand with no remorse. Shadow returns to his usual self after witnessing Sonic's determination against Mechtavius Destroyer.

In Season 33, Shadow reveals that he considers Sonic as a friend that is keeping Maria's dream alive, and becomes angered when Goku suggests that Sonic was controlling the Phazon infection that Bass had. Later, Shadow is horrified to learn that the voice was really Sonic, unable to comprehend why Sonic would betray his friends after everything that has happened.

Overall, Shadow fights for peace, but will use any means neccessary to achieve it, even if it involves killing others. Despite this, Shadow is aware of his faults, and believes that revenge never solves anyone's problems due to his own personal experience. However, after the events of Season 36, Shadow suffers a mental breakdown and goes insane, with his views of good and evil becoming diluted, as he now intends to eradicate humanity as an act of revenge for Rouge's death and make humanity happy at the same time like Maria wanted by putting their souls to rest. Due to his involvement in the origins of the Smash World, Shadow acquires a god complex with his insanity, as he believes that since he created the Smash World, he also has the right to destroy it. Shadow later returns to his composed state after the Heroes of Legend convince him not to blame humanity for what happened to the Heroes of the World, although Shadow has now put the past behind him to avoid repeating his mistake.

Appearance

Shadow's appearance is based off his modern day appearances in the games. When Shadow uses his Extreme Gear, he wears sunglasses with lens shaped like a Chaos Emerald.

Trivia

Like Vegeta, Shadow has trained in intense gravity. However, Shadow has only trained in 10 billion times Earth's gravity whereas Vegeta has trained in 300 billion times Earth's gravity.
Shadow isn't as obsessed with surpassing Sonic like Vegeta is with Goku.
Shadow's appearance has been copied by Zenet.
Shadow is the second character to unlock his Ascent Mode onscreen.
Shadow is the second character to be reincarnated, the first being Yami Zelda. However, unlike Yami Zelda, Shadow remained the same way he was before dying.
Shadow confirmed he went insane because of his desire to avenge Maria. This makes Shadow the only insane character that has never been a villain.
Shadow is the first character to use an Extreme Gear.
Shadow is the first character to defeat all the Heroes of Legend by himself, although the ones he fought were clones.