I dunno, the whole point of Shadow is that he's an anti-Sonic. Differentiating his design kind of defeats the purpose of that. It'd be like redesigning Metal Sonic.
Its not like Knuckles, who does benefit from a burlier design as his character focus is generally being an opposite to Sonic.
At that point, you may as well just make a new character entirely.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Fair enough. I can see the logic at least given Shadow's existence steps on Metal's toes a bit since his design is so derivative.
That being said, that is who Shadow is for better or worse, so its probably not a good idea to drastically alter such an iconic design.
Though, given that, are you aware that they actually have a Tenrac rival character in IDW?
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.You know, I'd written Rouge off as a "never gonna happen," but if they're serious about a Knuckles series? I'll set it back to "possible, but I still have doubts."
Anyway, I see no reason why a movie version of Metal Sonic couldn't be made to justify Super Sonic. And as for Tails and Knuckles? You don't have to have them uninvolved, maybe they're just too slow.
Of course. They could also sneakily be putting Super Sonic in thus movie and Robotnik's plan in the next obe is in response to that. I don't actually think that's the case, but it's possible.
Also, even though I would expect Metal Sonic ahead of Shadow, I still like the idea someone else in the thread had of movie Shadow being a clone of Sonic and Knuckles together. I know, Robotnik's thing is... well, robots, but I could still see it if he was desperate enough for a way to beat them.
X9
Yeah, Surge has been a pleasant surprise in the comics, with a design that works and a backstory that can take her to some interesting places. Any rarely used animal that pops in fiction like a tenrec is something I'll always be happy about. As far as Shadow, I suspect there will be some quirks with his movie design, but he'll be as instantly recognizable as live action Tails & Knuckles have been.
I don't think they'll introduce Shadow in the third film, simply because if you introduce him too early he massively steps on Knuckle's toes as Sonic's rival. You've got to have Knuckles established in a new role before Shadow turns up.
I definatly expect shadow for the fourth film. Also dang his film backstory is probably going to be vastly different to the convoluted game backstory.
His backstory isn't that convoluted if you cut out the Black Arms(and then coming back from the dead), just Robotnik's grandpa making the ultimate life form, and then the government killed everyone in the place the research was being done to cover it up.
Why is he a hedgehog? Because a hedgehog is the ultimate life form, as proven by Sonic.
How much does Shadow's resemblance to Sonic really matter? IIRC, the canon explanation for the resemblance is that it's just a wacky meaningless coincidence. He just happens to look like Sonic by purest of happenstance, which is relevant to like the first ten minutes of Sonic Adventure 2 (the misunderstanding that kicks off the plot) and then never, ever comes up again in the entire history of the franchise.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

On Metal Sonic: I expect a mid-credits stinger for him like with Tails from the last movie, maybe with Robotnik scrapping a blueprint for Silver Sonic in favor of one for his design.
Optional: Freeze-Frame Bonus of Tails Doll blueprints also being in the trash bin.