Scourge the Hedgehog

Scourge the Hedgehog (formerly known as Anti Sonic or Evil Sonic) is the version of Sonic the Hedgehog from Moebius. Scourge is an exact opposite of Sonic in all aspects, especially in terms of personality. Scourge mistreats others, is selfish and greedy, and has a great desire for power. Originally, Scourge, like all other alternate versions of Sonic Prime, looked identical to him, differing only in personality and attire. All this changed when Scourge, in a failed attempt to steal the Master Emerald with Rouge the Bat, sampled the Emerald's power and was permanently changed. Though he has been allied with others in the past, in truth, Scourge is only out for his own gain. Initially remaining a small-time villain and renegade, Scourge became a far more serious threat when a discussion he had with Sonic during one of their fights forced him to realize the two weren't so different. Scourge returned to his home reality, resolving to distinguish and set apart everything from their Prime counterparts. Within a matter of days, Scourge took over the planet and control of his old gang, the Anti Freedom Fighters, renaming and reshaping them into the Suppression Squad, with Scourge and Fiona Fox as their leaders and King and Queen of the planet itself. Following the betrayal of his team, Scourge attempted a final stand against Sonic and his allies by becoming Super Scourge using the Anarchy Beryl in his throne, but was defeated once again and captured by Sonic. However, he later broke free from Sonic's custody, and after a failed attempt to destroy the No Zone, was captured by the Zone Cops and is currently imprisoned in the No Zone.

Early Life and Taking Over Anti Mobius
When Anti Sonic was only seven years old, his father contributed greatly to the Great Peace. Anti Jules seemingly made little time for his son, as Anti Sonic would later remark he was a man of "empty words". The Great Peace also diverted much of his father's attention, as during a ceremony, young Anti Sonic was largely ignored. (StH: #192)

Ten years after the start of the Great Peace, Anti Mobius fell into a state of decline and stagnation. When it reached "rock bottom" and Anti Sonic was ready to seize power, he presumably killed his own father. Following this, Evil Sonic along with Alicia threw Anti King Max into the their version of the Zone of Silence, taking control of their version of Mobotropolis and ruling it with an iron fist. Their only opposition was the kindly veterinarian Julian Kintobor whose units of SweepBots would clean up the litter left behind by the Anti Freedom Fighters. (StH: #192, SSS: #10)

Interactions with Alternate Zones
Anti Sonic first encountered Sonic the Hedgehog from the prime universe while the latter took a detour through the Cosmic Interstate. After getting lost along the way, Sonic wound up in the Anti Mobius universe. The two briefly fought one another until Anti Robotnik helped Sonic apprehend his evil self. Sonic then continued his trip along the Cosmic Interstate back to Mobius. (StH: #11)

Later on, he was summoned by Robo-Robotnik with the task of stopping all of his counterparts from guarding a giant hand which would activate the Giant Borg, a mission he gladly accepted, and accomplished, as Robo-Robotnik teleported the hand to his base while Evil Sonic distracted the other Sonics. (StH: #19)

Later still, Evil Sonic travelled to Mobius Prime, this time accompanied by Alicia, Miles, Boomer, and Patch, all dressed like their Mobius-Prime selves. While Sonic, Tails and Antoine were absent in the Negative Zone trying to get to the Zone of Silence to rescue King Max, and Sally was occupied training the Substitute Freedom Fighters, the gang's evil counterparts began terrorizing the locals. Sonic and the others eventually showed up and confronted their evil selves and eventually sent Evil Sonic and his gang back to Anti Mobius. Evil Sonic would afterwards return acting as Dr. Robotnik's ally, fooling Anti-Knuckles into helping him steal the Anarchy Beryls from the Floating Island on Mobius Prime. Though the plan seemed feasible at first, Anti-Knuckles' overall good nature and the aid of the Freedom Fighters enabled Knuckles to trounce Evil Sonic, leaving him in his counterpart's care. (StH: #24, #44)

After Robotnik Prime's demise, Robo-Robotnik recruited Evil Sonic to help him locate the fragments of the Giant Borg battlesuit, having called upon him once before to thwart an army of good alternate versions of Sonic in their quest to stop that same weapon. Defeated the first time, Evil Sonic proved somewhat more competent on the second try, successfully amassing all but one of the Giant Borg components. Unfortunately, he mistook yet another alternate Robotnik for his current employer, and was thus trapped in the Mobius of Sonic Underground. Freed from prison by Sonia the Hedgehog and Manic the Hedgehog, siblings to the Sonic from that dimension, Evil Sonic was caught yet again, this time by Zonic the Zone Cop, who imprisoned Evil in the No Zone and then revealed to him that his old gang had replaced him with Evil St. John. (SSS: #10)



Evil Sonic also appeared in the dimension of Litigopolis, a city ruled by a computerized version of Dr. Robotnik known as J.U.D.G.E.. As usual, Evil Sonic amused himself with random acts of vandalism, and J.U.D.G.E mistook him for Sonic Prime and thus took that Sonic prisoner to punish him for the crime. (SSS: #14)

Escaping and knocking out Zonic, Evil Sonic made his way to Mobius Prime once again, only to fall in battle against Antoine D'Coolette, who mistook him for a disguised Sonic trying to help him impress his father. He was then taken back to the No Zone again, only to escape and return to Anti-Mobius. (StH: #112)

Impersonation
Back on Anti-Mobius, Evil Sonic was confronted by Patch, the Anti-Freedom Fighter version of Antoine and his long-time rival. Handily defeating his nemesis, Evil Sonic hatched a scheme for revenge, knocking out Antoine Prime and bringing him back to Anti-Mobius while leaving Patch in his place to torment them both. Patch's quick adaptation and moves to seize power inspired Evil Sonic, who performed a similar switch with his own counterpart. While impersonating Sonic, Evil made advances on Bunnie Rabbot--who at the time was trying to inspire jealousy in Patch, not realizing that he was not the Antoine whom she loved--Amy Rose, and a number of other girls in Knothole. However, he soon focused his designs on the most attractive looking--in his superficial opinion--girl he had yet met on Mobius Prime: Rouge the Bat. (StH: #150)

Not as easily taken in as some of Evil Sonic's other targets, Rouge wanted his help in stealing the Master Emerald from Angel Island. Ready to do anything to satisfy his own desires, Evil Sonic agreed, sneaking in while Rouge distracted Locke, the current Guardian at the time. However, Sonic proved more resourceful than Evil Sonic had anticipated, and returned to Mobius Prime to engage his counterpart in battle. The two struggled briefly before Locke, realizing Rouge's deception, appeared and used the Master Emerald to teleport Evil Sonic away. Found by Rouge, the Hedgehog managed to appease her disappointment with a smaller gemstone, and their partnership continued. (StH: #151)

Becoming Scourge
Evil Sonic and Rouge's next plan to lay hands on the Master Emerald appeared as though it would be similarly disastrous. Both thieves, their interest in each other obviously surpassed by their greed, planned to have the other get caught by Locke, and in the end were both found by him on the Emerald Shrine. They ended up fighting him, with Rouge taking most of the heat from the angry Guardian. Instead of assisting her, however, Evil Sonic made for the emerald itself and attempted to go Super using its energy, declaring it a birthday gift for himself. Locke intervened, striking the hedgehog with a Chaos-infused punch. However, the hedgehog soon recovered and revealed himself as having attained some transformation; bearing twin marks from Locke's attack, his fur was now green and his strength was enhanced. (StH: #160)

Declaring himself a "real scourge" and claiming that the "evil-twin shtick" was over, he brutally beat Locke into submission. Rouge prevented him from doing more, saying that by her rules they wouldn't kill, so Scourge decided he should use his newfound power to get revenge on someone else: Sonic. Working by intuition, he invoked Chaos Control with the Master Emerald and transported both himself and Rouge to Knothole. Fueled with arrogance, he attacked both Sonic and later Shadow--after briefly helping them against the villainous Croctobot--but as the two teamed up on him be began to tire out, and he became overwhelmed when the other Freedom Fighters joined in. Taking Rouge by the arm, he fled the village with Shadow in hot pursuit. Rouge told him to teleport them back, but he replied that he couldn't without an emerald. They escaped Shadow's wrath when an unknown Warp Ring portal appeared and the two jumped through it. The Warp Ring had been sent by and led to Dr. Finitevus, who explained that he needed assistance in his coming plans. (StH: #161)

Working with Finitevus
Not long after Scourge had escaped Shadow's wrath along with Rouge, a warp ring supplied by Doctor Finitevus led the duo to an unknown location where Finitevus stood asking if they were interested in joining him in his goals. Scourge was quick to oblige so long as it involved harming Sonic in any way, shape or form. Scourge served as Finitevus' right hand man, teaming up with the Destructix on various occasions. His most scathing blow to Sonic and the others came when he revealed that he had become romantically involved with Fiona Fox, who then left with him after they briefly did battle with Sonic, Tails, and Amy Rose. (StH: #165, #172)

Scourge would remain on Finitevus' side despite Fiona's misgivings and his own doubts about Finitevus' plans. Fearing that Finitevus' plan might fail, he charged up his Warp Ring with energy from the Master Emerald, and was witness to Finitevus' tirade on how "corrupt" the world had become and his plan to "cleanse" (exterminate) all life in a wave of Emerald fire. (StH: #180, #183)

Scourge's fears reached their breaking point during the fight between Super Sonic and Enerjak. Scourge recognised that with Enerjak on the loose, nowhere on Mobius would be safe, so he convinced Fiona to leave Mobius altogether. Scourge admitted that ever since his battle with Sonic, he had been deeply considering Sonic's comments that he and Scourge weren't so different. Knowing he had changed since his transformation, Scourge resolved to find answers to who he was now, and left with Fiona through the enhanced Warp Ring, to the places he could find them. Scourge promised Fiona, however, that it would be fun. (StH: #183, #184)

The Suppression Squad
Scourge returned to Anti-Mobius, intent on distinguishing and separating everything from their Prime Mobius counterparts. Within a matter of days, Scourge took control of the entire planet, crowning himself King and making Fiona his Queen, and took back control of the Anti-Freedom Fighters, renaming and reshaping them into the Suppression Squad. Upon stealing a pair of Globe Posts, Scourge plotted, with Fiona's aid, to launch an assault and invade Freedom HQ. When the Posts were repaired and reactivated, Scourge sent the Squad ahead, who found the base's defenders surprised and unprepared. A pitched battle ensued, until Sonic returned from his duties with the Chaotix in New Megaopolis to turn the tide, only for Scourge to make his grand entrance and appear before them. Scourge then proceeded to battle Sonic, and in the midst of the battle, it was hinted he holds some unknown incentive that keeps the Squad loyal to him. Eventually the pitched battle between the two groups led the base dangerously close to collapse, forcing the Freedom Fighters to retreat, leaving Scourge victorious, though his taunting towards Sonic enraged him to the point he vowed to return for revenge. (StH: #188, #189, #190)

Time in Mobius and the Suppression Squad's Betrayal
A couple of days later, Metal Sonic, under the direct control of Dr. Eggman, arrived and told Miles he was here to see Sonic. Miles, instead, summoned Scourge to inform him Metal Sonic had arrived on the scene. Instead of leaving, Eggman had Metal Sonic attack Scourge, saying "Why pass up one uppity hedgehog for another?" As they battled, Sonic himself arrived, intent on battling Scourge and re-taking Freedom HQ on his own, as the Republic of Acorn opted to focus their attacks on New Megaopolis and they doubted Scourge would make his gains on Mobius as easily as on "Moebius". Scourge was manipulated by Miles into ordering the Suppression Squad to allow himself to battle Metal Sonic, but soon found himself out-matched. Sonic saved him at the last second, and offered another temporary truce. Scourge told Sonic to save his sympathy, as he was happy to bust two Sonic heads. Metal Sonic felt the same way, and Sonic found himself battling both. During the fight, Scourge offered Sonic the chance to conquer Mobius himself, and then, together, take over the Multiverse. Sonic barely stuttered in response. Soon, Eggman dispatched reinforcements to deal with both hedgehogs in the form of Metal Scourge. (StH: #191)

The battle started up again, with the robotic duplicates quickly holding their own. Sonic asked Scourge to reconsider a truce, but instead Scourge pointed out Sonic hadn't answered his question about conquering Mobius and then the Multiverse. Sonic didn't refuse, as such, instead insisting he was too preoccupied with the present right now. Grinning evilly, Scourge took that as a "yes". As the battle amplified, Scourge's temper began to flare, refusing to give the robotic duplicates any ground when the battle began damaging Freedom HQ. Scourge also insisted to Fiona that he could handle them, when she asked if she and the Squad should step in. In the end, however, he broke down and asked the Squad for help, leading to Metal Sonic and Metal Scourge's destruction. Later that night, Scourge entered Sonic's home intent on doing him harm, only to be halted by Jules Hedgehog. After a bitter exchange of words between the two, Scourge left without causing any trouble. (StH: #192)

Not long after, Scourge sent Miles to bomb New Mobotropolis. But when Miles returned, apparently being chased by the Freedom Fighters, he and the rest of the squad, except Fiona, revealed their planned betrayal. Angry at Scourge for constantly abusing them, they attacked him alongside the Freedom Fighters. At first, Scourge and Fiona were getting the upper hand against both teams, but Sonic returned from his trip to Moebius and attacked Scourge. However, Boomer then blasted both hedgehogs and Miles threw them into the portal leading back to Moebius before it was closed. Scourge, now trapped on Moebius with Sonic and Amy, promised to get revenge on his team, but then looked in fear at his old stalker, Rosy the Rascal, who told Scourge how she had an "extra-special smash" for him. (StH: #193, #194)

Super Transformation and Defeat
The fight was interrupted when Shadow arrived by using Chaos Control. Though he was actually looking for the Special Zone, Sonic asked if he wanted to help him beat up Scourge, to which Shadow replied "sure". Metal Sonic arrived later, followed by Silver the Hedgehog and Rob as well as Amy and Rosy. A confused Silver was unable to determine which one was Sonic, and attempted to ask the others as they fought. Because they ignored him, he got angry and impatient and captured them all with his psychic powers. Silver stated that he had come from the future to destroy Sonic, and then attacked Sonic. Rob O' threatened Silver for a explanation, and Silver stated that during this point in time one of the legendary Freedom Fighters betrays and destroys them, dooming the future. He then stated that only Sonic was remembered to have had that kind of power. However, Scourge jumped in and attacked both of them, claiming that Silver should use his powers to give himself "a less-stupid haircut". Shortly afterwards, Sonic made a proposal to everyone to stop attacking each other and strictly finish off Scourge. But Scourge didn't give up. He rushed to the throne room, followed by Sonic and Shadow. Scourge turned the tables on everyone, claiming he placed Anarchy Beryl in his throne. This managed to turn Scourge into a stronger form: Super Scourge. (StH: #195)

Despite their efforts, the numerous hedgehogs were no match for Super Scourge, who defeated all of them. Super Scourge then proceeded to defeat the combined might of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad (minus Rotor and Fiona), who had returned to Anti-Mobius expecting Scourge to be defeated. While he seemed to be unbeatable, Sonic eventually realized the Anarchy Beryl would have a different (and negative) effect on Scourge to contrast the positive effect the Chaos Emeralds had on him once the transformation ended. Luring Super Scourge away from the others, Sonic managed to stall for time until Super Scourge reverted to his normal form. As Sonic speculated, the Anarchy Beryl drained him of what energy he had left in his normal form, leaving him vulnerable. Sonic subsequently defeated Scourge and captured him. (StH: #196)

Attack on No Zone
While Sonic was taking Scourge to the Zone Cops via the Cosmic Highway, Scourge broke loose and tried to escape, but he and Sonic were then arrested by Zone Cops Zector and Zespio for going through zones during a zone lockdown. The cops then took Sonic and Scourge to see Zonic via a Warp Ring. They arrive in a ruined No Zone and Scourge managed to escape by kicking the others out of the way and attempted to fully destroy the No Zone before moving on to Sonic's world. Sonic and the Zone Cops then met up with Zonic and battled Scourge. They quickly captured him thanks to Sonic's skills and Zonic's special Control Collar. Because of Scourge's mutation, he became a wild card in the "cosmic scheme of things" which was why he had not been arrested for his prolonged zone violations earlier. Scourge then said that he was "Sonic the Hedgehog at his full potential." before being taken to jail. (StH: #197)

Personality
Scourge is at his core similar to Sonic, but often these shared traits are twisted and amplified. Scourge shares his counterpart's ego, but lacks any sense of humbleness or modesty, making him extremely arrogant and conceited. He is also void of compassion and conscience. He's relatively easy-going but also petty and cruel, often taking satisfaction and amusement at the expense of others. Often loud and obnoxious, he's shallow in terms of relationships, often playing with the affections of any number of girls, and his companions only stick together out of self-benefit or fear. After his transformation, his arrogance only increased. Misinterpreting Sonic's words, he eventually became fixated on becoming more than just an "Evil Sonic," becoming aware of his own incredible potential but deciding to apply it in negative, self-serving ways. He believes greatly in his own power and often brags or takes any opportunity to prove himself better than others, which in his mind means "stronger." Because he is also rash and impatient, he occasionally gets in over his head, his ego leading him to poor decisions. He hates the idea of having to rely on others and prefers to control and dominate through fear and intimidation. He is easily provoked and highly violent, especially when his ability is called into question.

Abilities
Scourge is a version of Sonic from an alternate universe and so his abilities are essentially the same as Sonic's. The hedgehogs can achieve the same speed and both can perform feats such as spin dashes.

Following his transformation, Scourge seems to have acquired even greater speed and stamina than he had previously, as seen in #161, where he single-handedly defeats Sonic and Shadow at the same time. Scourge can also teleport using Chaos Control, though he requires an emerald to do so. Scourge is also capable of transforming into a Super form like Sonic's, but Scourge's changes in appearance are, predictably, the Anti-equivalent of Super Sonic's: his fur becomes a dark purple, the whites of his eyes become black, and his irises become red. His clothes take on a similar color reversal, with his sunglasses becoming clear with blue frames, his shoes becoming purple and black, and the flames on his jacket becoming blue and white. (StH: #196)

Romance
Where Sonic is polite and respectful towards women (most of the time), Evil Sonic/Scourge is the complete opposite. He is the very definition of a womanizer, much in the opposite of Sonic's gentlemanly disposition. Unfortunately for him, Anti-Mobius was too harsh a world for such behavior; Anti-Sally broke up with him after he suffered multiple defeats, while Anti-Bunnie actually joined the Anti-Freedom Fighters out of vengeance, having been dating Scourge only to discover that he was also dating several other women at the same time (among them Anti-Penelope Platypus).

Evil Sonic found things easier during his brief switch of identities with Sonic Prime. On Mobius Prime, he once again had multiple relationships at the same time, using his identical appearance with Sonic to take advantage of nearly every female character in the cast. Unfortunately, he found easy prey in the form of Sonic's crushing fangirl Amy Rose and the emotionally distraught Bunnie Rabbot, who was still upset over her apparent breakup with Antoine (engineered by Evil Sonic himself). Scourge also appears to have begun a relationship with Fiona Fox, who appears to have known all along that he was an imposter; unfortunately, she ended up falling for Scourge, and became more and more sinister as a result.

Unlearned lessons repeated themselves, and Sonic's return prompted Scourge's exposure, forcing him to flee. His actions while impersonating Sonic left something of a mixup between his heroic counterpart and the women he flirted with, though Sonic appears to have resolved this. Forced to flee, Evil Sonic was quickly drawn by Rouge the Bat, who not only had similar designs on the Master Emerald to his own, but who was also physically appealing to him. Rouge also appears to have flirted with him, though likely only to gain his help. Whatever relationship might have been between them was reduced to strictly business after he transformed into Scourge and she broke up their partnership.

Fiona later revealed that she liked Scourge all along, rather than Sonic. It's rather unlike Scourge to actually like someone, but it seems he is interested in Fiona for more than just the purpose of messing with Sonic. He has stated that, unlike the girls from his home zone who are "dark from the get-go", Fiona chooses to be evil- and Scourge thinks that is 'hot'. Later on when the Suppression Squad riots against him, Fiona flees for an unknown reason. It is unknown how their relationship is right now.

Background information

 * On the cover of StH #161 the word SEGA can be seen on Scourge's sunglasses. The same occurred in the backstory of StH #192.
 * It is possible that Scourge's current green design, along with his crown, could be based off the Ashura glitch in the videogame Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Appearance
Scourge, when simply known as Evil Sonic, was essentially a doppelganger and so was identical to Sonic save for his attire, which consisted of a black leather jacket, boots and dark sunglasses. He occasionally passed himself off as Sonic by stealing and wearing the heroic hedgehog's shoes.

The character, however, was heavily reinvented so as to become more distinct; artist Patrick Spaziante provided the visual design. While Sonic is blue with green eyes, Scourge is the opposite. His leather jacket gained flame designs on the arms and his shoes are green, gold and black. He now sports red sunglasses and two large scars on his abdomen that Locke scarred him with. He also gained an exaggerated pointy-toothed grin. His fur varies somewhat between colourists, going from a bright green to a darker pine shade. The character has sometimes been depicted with fingerless gloves, but the standard white gloves are more common.

For a time, Scourge wore a crown of sorts; a three-spiked, grooved dark piece that rested on his forehead. While a Data-File initially mentioned a potential "golden" Super form, artist Tracy Yardley and writer Ian Flynn came up with multiple alternate design concepts; the final included an unusual Super form with purple fur, red eyes on black, and partially inverted colours on his clothing (purple shoes, blue sunglasses and blue flames on the jacket).