Warning! Spoilers ahead for Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome #3!
IDW Publishing is hinting that Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman will have no choice but to team up once again to defeat a common threat. This continues a troubling trend that proves the Blue Blur needs the dastardly villain more than Tails to defeat their most difficult enemies.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome miniseries, Eggman's number-one-fanboy-turned-temporary traitor Dr. Starline has created the cyborgs Surge the Tenrec and Kitsunami "Kit" the Fennec to replace Sonic and Tails, respectively. Starline's intent is to momentarily remove Dr. Eggman from the picture so that his creations can then destroy their living counterparts without Dr. Eggman ruining everything as per usual. But Surge and Kit, wanting to learn more about themselves, have recently delved into Starline's records. They now plan on betraying their master and then destroying everything, not just their living counterparts, as revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome #3 by writer Ian Flynn, artists Thomas Rothlisberger and Mauro Fonseca, colorist Valentina Pinto and letterer Shawn Lee.
It's not too much of a stretch to assume that once the two cyborgs turn traitor, disabling them will be nearly impossible, forcing Starline and Eggman to ally themselves with Sonic and Tails to take out this common threat. Another clue comes from the combined image that all three Imposter Syndrome covers are creating. The cover art for the first two installments shows Sonic and Tails battling Surge and Kit, respectively. And now the latest issue's cover depicts Dr. Eggman siccing Metal Sonic on Starline. Although this doesn't clearly portray any form of teaming up, it's obvious that Surge and Kit will fail to destroy Eggman before going after Sonic and Tails, opening the possibility for a temporary truce amid this pure pandemonium.
This isn't the first time that Sonic has had to ally himself with Eggman. During the Metal Virus saga in IDW's Sonic, not only does Eggman lose control of his eponymous virus that turns lifeforms into metallic zombies or Zombots, but the evil scientist's old nemeses - the Deadly Six - take advantage of the ensuing chaos to control the Zombots to dominate Sonic's world including Eggman. Although Tails is a supposed genius, it isn't Tails who comes up with the winning strategy to defeat the Deadly Six. In fact, Tails loses the antidote to cure the Zombots. It is Dr. Eggman who suggests they combine the power of Super Sonic with Dr. Starline's Warp Topaz and thus saves their world. Dr. Eggman originally makes this contribution in issue #25. It would be fitting if he does the same to defeat Surge and Kit 25 issues later in the upcoming 50th installment.
Sonic and Dr. Eggman haven't just teamed up in IDW, either. The two enemies were forced to work with each other numerous times in Archie Comics' now-discontinued Sonic the Hedgehog series. Probably the most fitting comparison between IDW's prospective upcoming team-up and one of the many in Archie Comics is when Sonic worked with Dr. Robotnik to defeat the mad scientist's son A.D.A.M. On the other hand, Tails hasn't been especially helpful to Sonic, especially in IDW. Ironically, the one time that Sonic's double-tailed friend is actually useful is when he creates inventions that would help defeat the Deadly Six, but even then, Tails' contributions are greatly minimized, especially when he needs Sonic to save him. When the world is in danger, Sonic the Hedgehog always teams up with Dr. Eggman, while Tails has yet to really prove himself worthy of being the Blue Blur's sidekick - and probably never will.