Pictures via WB and Paramount. Remix by Danny Peterson.
Fans of speedsters in pop culture are having a great time these days now that the flash And sonic the hedgehog have both seen film adaptations. But which of these fantastic heroes is the fastest?
Really, there is no definitive answer to this question since the two characters are from different universes with different rules. For example, Barry Allen receives his powers from something called Speed Force, a concept absent from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
Ultimately, it’s just a subjective argument who would win in a race, but we can still break down each of their abilities to see what’s what.
Abilities and Limits
Sonic and Barry Allen can move so fast the world around them seems to be moving in slow motion, with the movies Zack Snyder’s Justice League and 2020s sonic the hedgehog both featuring scenes of this nature.
In the larger Sonic mythos, the Hedgehog is able to exceed the speed of sound and, at times, run at or very close to the speed of light. It’s even been hinted that he may have the ability to exceed the speed of light, according to the Sonic the Hedgehog Wiki. Barry is also known to run at the speed of light.
Sonic even used his speed to overcome the gravitational pull of a black hole, as in Sonic colorsand to restore a corrupted timeline, at the Sound Generations. Both of these incidents suggest that his abilities could possibly manipulate the fabric of spacetime, but this ability has not been overtly established.
Who would win in a race?
When it comes to Barry Allen, however, it’s been established that he can actually reverse time completely. In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Barry enters the Speed Force and reverses time in order to undo the destruction of Earth. And Allen’s time-traveling abilities are further explored in the Ezra Miller-starring feature film, the flash. Additionally, Barry is also known for his ability to travel to different dimensions, another on Sonic.
As I said, this debate comes down to my own subjective view. That said, Flash’s ability to reverse time itself is an indicator, to me, that his speed is probably faster than Sonic’s. That’s just my point of view, but it’s been teased that we may not have seen Sonic’s full speed potential in games yet, which means he could possibly hold his own against the Flash, if things were going wrong. After all, Sonic is often called “the fastest thing in the world”, so I feel like if there was really an epic race between the blue blur and Flash, it would be a neck and neck competition, for sure.