Maria's Death (Sonic the Hedgehog)

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About

Maria's Death refers to the death of the character Maria Robotnik in several pieces of Sonic the Hedgehog media, including the video games Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog and the anime series Sonic X. In each iteration, Maria is shot dead while trying to help Shadow, whom she has a close friendship with, escape from Space Colony ARK. Maria's death has inspired memes, fan art and other fan content throughout the 2000s. In February 2024, it was speculated that Alyla Browne would portray Maria in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, resulting in an increase in memes about her death. Throughout the year, memes about people cheering when Maria dies in Sonic 3 and other Sonic media became increasingly popular.

Origin

Maria Robotnik is a human, female character that first appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game Sonic Adventure 2, released on June 19th, 2001, and later appears in the anime series Sonic X and the Shadow the Hedgehog game on the Nintendo GameCube. Maria is related to the Robotniks and has an illness that doesn't allow her to go to Earth or leave Space Colony ARK. Gerald Robotnik, her grandfather, starts Project Shadow to try and find a cure for her illness, creating Shadow the Hedgehog in the process, who Maria bonds with. Maria is killed by a G.U.N. soldier while helping Shadow escape the colony.^[1]

A video compiling her deaths from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic X was posted by YouTuber^[2] xxxsonicmusicxxx on December 12th, 2009, garnering over a million views in 15 years (shown below).

One of the earliest pieces of fan content related to Maria's death was posted prior to this video by Deviant Art^[3] user shadowxneji on September 19th, 2009. It is a redraw of a scene from Sonic X showing her smiling on the floor just before dying.

Spread

Fan art and memes referencing Maria's death and its pivotal role in Shadow's lore became increasingly popular throughout the 2020s. On June 20th, 2021, X^[4] artist @Clarissa_Arts posted a This Is Where I Watched My Parents Die meme referencing the death that gained over 45,000 likes in three years (shown below, left). On May 12th, 2022, X^[5] artist @HopelessPeachYT posted a meme referencing the death that gained over 14,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

On January 8th, 2023, YouTuber^[6] Jehtt posted an Epic Rap Battles of History parody about Maria's death, garnering over 500,000 views in a year (shown below).

On February 2nd, 2024, it was announced that actress Alyla Browne would appear in the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie. IGN^[7] and Kotaku^[8] published articles speculating that she would play Maria, although this is unconfirmed. That day, X^[9] user @HollywoodHandle posted, "Alyla Browne is likely playing Sonic Adventure 2's Maria in ‘SONIC 3,'" garnering over 10,000 likes in three days and inspiring memes about fans seeing her die during the movie in the quote-reposts (examples shown below).^[10]^[11]

On February 4th, X^[12] user @VAMcKnight posted a meme in which a group of people at a bar cheer after watching Maria's death scene, garnering over 20,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Cheering When Maria Dies In Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Cheering When Maria Dies In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 refers to a series of memes about cheering at Maria's death scene when it presumably appears in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as well as when it appears in the Sonic franchise in general. The earliest known meme about cheering for Maria's death was posted to X in late 2023 after the trailer for the film premiered. The memes became increasingly frequent as the December 2024 release of the film neared, as some people both encouraged and discouraged people from cheering at the theater after Maria's death scene.