Sonic character Shadow the Hedgehog was originally created to cure a video game version of AIDS

The original backstory of Shadow the Hedgehog involved eradicating a fictional disease that mirrored the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Yes, really.

The artificially created Ultimate Lifeform is set to feature in Paramount Picture’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie.

The character’s Sonic 3 movie rendition appears to be loosely based on the video game character’s origins, although the film’s official trailer has left many elements vague and mysterious, including the fate of Shadow’s best friend, Maria.

Shadow, who will be voiced by My Own Private Idaho star Keanu Reeves on screen, first appeared in Dreamcast’s Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001, in which his creation was a pivotal part of the game’s plot.

It is revealed over several levels that Shadow was created 50 years before the events of the game, in an outer-space research centre known as Space Colony ARK, under the nefarious “Project Shadow.”

There, researchers, including Dr Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, worked to find a cure for all known illnesses by creating an immortal lifeform. However, the scientists met a gruesome end after government officials grew concerned by the project’s success and potential consequences.

It was revealed in the Japanese edition of the Sonic Adventure 2 strategy guide that Gerald had his own motives fro being involved in the work. His granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, was diagnosed with neuro-immune deficiency syndrome, or NIDS, which motivated him to reluctantly join the project.

The fictional disease is described in the guide as fatal and which renders its victims physically weak, a symptom that worsens until eventual death.

It didn’t take much for fans at the time to notice the comparison between the fictional disease and the HIV/AIDS crisis, which was of international concern during the development of Sonic Adventure 2 in the early to late 90s.

Not only does NIDS feature several similar symptoms of HIV/AIDS, but the acronym is, of course, just one letter from being the same. Others in the fandom described it as a “soap-opera disease”, a non-disfiguring illness which serves a thematic purpose within a plot.

While HIV is still very much an issue in the today – with at least 39.9 million people worldwide estimated to be living with the virus in 2023 – medicinal developments mean that it is no longer the death sentence it once was.

In the UK, the legacy of Thatcher’s homophobic reaction to those living with HIV was still prevalent at the time of Sonic Adventure 2‘s release.

In 2002, the UK government scrapped funding for HIV prevention work even as numbers continued to rise. Progress was still being made, however, with antiretroviral therapy mitigating AIDS-related deaths by 80 per cent by 1996.

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