Death Egg

The Death Egg is a colossal space station that has appeared numerous times throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, this flying fortress was supposed to be Dr. Eggman's ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

Overview[]

The Death Egg has gone through a number of redesigns throughout its history, though its original design has been the most prevalent. It is spherical in shape and resembles the face of Dr. Eggman, sporting a pair of concave eye-sockets, a sharp nose, and a mustache rendered in kilometers of vacuum-hardened plasma-steel. The northern hemisphere of the station also has markings resembling Eggman's mouth, although it has varied between depicted as a smile or a frown. Along the equatorial trench, is a row of cyan-coloured hangar entrances, and on the southern hemisphere is a series of yellow-orange holes that can be assumed to be boosters or exhaust ports with more hanger entrances between each booster.

From this battle station, Eggman could rule the world through terror, with any resistance to his reign being annihilated by the Death Egg's tremendous weapons array. Within the Death Egg are various facilities for Dr. Eggman to utilize, such as a laboratory and robotics workshop. The Death Egg is armed to the teeth with laser and missile weapons (and probably others) and can even fire devastating energy beams from its 'eyes' that can destroy cities or small landmasses. Thousands of robots can be deployed from its hangar, as well as various vehicles and mecha. The original Death Egg even carried a climate disruptor weapon that could allow Eggman to manipulate the weather if he so wished.

Game History[]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2[]

Eggman had constructed the first iteration of the Death Egg by abducting the animal denizens of Westside Island and turning them into Badniks, putting them to work on building the station. Eggman had intended to power the fortress with the Chaos Emeralds, but Sonic collected them before he could. After defeating Eggman on his Wing Fortress, Sonic hitched a ride on the doctor's Egg Jet and pursued him to the Death Egg. There, he fought the Mecha Sonic robot and Eggman himself in his Death Egg Robot. Once Sonic defeated the mecha, the Death Egg seemed to suffer some kind of system failure and began to explode. Sonic got off the station before being engulfed in the flames.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles[]

The Death Egg was not completely destroyed and had crash-landed on the airborne Angel Island, home of Knuckles the Echidna. Eggman set about building a Launch Base to repair the Death Egg and get it active again, also tricking Knuckles into thinking that Sonic the Hedgehog was a villain who wanted to steal the Master Emerald that kept the island floating in the sky. While Eggman busied himself with repairing his battle station, Knuckles and his Badnik army would keep Sonic occupied. Eggman almost managed a relaunch of the Death Egg, but was interrupted by Sonic during takeoff and fought the hero using his Big Arm machine. The doctor was defeated again and the Death Egg suffered damage to its thrusters during Sonic's and Eggman's fight, resulting in the satellite crash-landing atop Angel Island's volcano.

Eggman once again managed to repair the space fortress and managed to keep Knuckles and Sonic distracted long enough to steal the Master Emerald, which would provide the Death Egg with an everlasting power source. The Death Egg was launched and released a squadron of Eggrobos to attack Sonic and Knuckles on the Sky Sanctuary. Sonic battled his way through the Badniks and boarded the Death Egg, where he proceeded to cause significant damage. After destroying the Great Eggman Robo, the Death Egg was doomed and both Sonic and Eggman made their escape before it exploded.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II[]

Following the destruction of the original Death Egg, Eggman would go on to build a new version of his terrifying battle station. The Death Egg Mk. II would be built around Little Planet, utilizing the celestial body as a power source. Vast windows took up most of the station's southern hemisphere, revealing Little Planet inside.

The Death Egg Mk. II was constructed following Metal Sonic's return to Earth. Due to the heroic efforts of Sonic and Tails however, the station was shut down after a climatic battle with Dr. Eggman, leaving it to be dragged into space by Little Planet's natural orbit. The Death Egg Mk. II's ultimate fate remains unknown.

Sonic Battle[]

Mapdeathegg — The Death Egg's control centre in *Sonic Battle*

In Sonic Battle, after his plans to retake Emerl had been foiled by Sonic and his friends, Dr. Eggman rebuilt the Death Egg and equipped his old space station with the Final Egg Blaster. With this powerful weapon, the doctor proclaimed that he was ready to take over the world using the power of his creation. His true plan, however, was to lure Emerl to the Death Egg; knowing that the robot's programming would make him swear loyalty to those that demonstrated great power, the scientist planned to show his Final Egg Blaster to him and take control of him.

When Emerl came to the Death Egg to stop Dr. Eggman, the two engaged in a battle that ended with the latter begging for mercy upon his defeat. When the heroic robot prepared to leave, however, the villain used the Final Egg Blaster to destroy some stars. While Emerl did react to the demonstration as Eggman had intended, the huge display of power caused him to go haywire. Knocking out Eggman, Emerl took control of the Death Egg and prepared to fire the Final Egg Blaster at Earth. Sonic soon arrived onboard the space station to stop the robot with the Master Emerald, but when Emerl smashed the giant gem, the hedgehog was left with no choice but to destroy him.

This particular version of the Death Egg was never shown in significant detail, only appearing as a small, distant image. Its shape was similar to a Bernal sphere, consisting only one half of a sphere with the spire of the Final Egg Blaster extending from the flat side. The rim of the satellite was also surrounded by a series of red running lights.

Sonic Forces[]

During the War to Take Back the Planet, Dr. Eggman had once more rebuilt the Death Egg. For his subsequent agendas, however, the station did not act out its original purpose as a superweapon, but was instead a huge prison facility, mostly for civilians and members of the Resistance who stood against him and refused to surrender to the Eggman Empire. It also acted as the primary power source for Eggman's newest weapon: the Phantom Ruby.

Following his defeat at the hands of Eggman's new henchman Infinite, Sonic was imprisoned on-board the Death Egg. There, he was kept for the next six months while the Eggman Empire conquered most of the planet. Over the months, civilians and other captured members of the Resistance were locked up aboard the Death Egg as well. While most of the Death Egg's prisoners were seemingly executed, Sonic was kept alive so Eggman could have him see his empire upon its completion, before banishing him into space to ensure his friends would finally surrender.

Upon hearing that Eggman had moved Sonic's banishment ahead of schedule after learning they were planning a rescue attempt, the Resistance wasted no time and invaded the Death Egg. Once on-board, the Rookie ended up on the best route to the internment facility where Sonic was, whereas the other Resistance members got caught up in fighting the Badnik forces stationed on-board the Death Egg. When a Zavok Phantom Copy then arrived to banish Sonic, the ruckus caused by the Rookie allowed Sonic to escape his confines and defeat the Zavok Phantom and the Death Queen. Searching the Death Egg for way back home, Sonic ended up in the shuttle bay where he saved the Rookie from some Egg Pawns that had cornered them. After that, the two of them returned to Earth in a shuttle.

When the Resistance sought to stop Eggman's Phantom Ruby, the group planned to destroy the Death Egg after Tails learned of how it powered the aforementioned Ruby. By distracting Eggman's forces, Sonic was able to hack into the Death Egg using the Chemical Plant computer and shut its weapon systems down, thereby giving Classic Sonic the opportunity to sneak aboard the station. Although the Death Egg got its weapon systems back online by switching to auxiliary power, Classic Sonic still managed to cause enough of a ruckus to make the Death Egg explode. However, it was later revealed that Eggman had secretly constructed a backup generator underneath Metropolis, having anticipated that the Resistance forces would try to target the Death Egg.

Comic History[]

Scrapnik Island[]

In IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island mini-series, it is revealed that the original Death Egg had crashed upon an island following its second fall from orbit and had been left to rust, along with many other of Dr. Eggman's robots and machines. Over time, several other discarded Badniks had made their way to what would become known as Scrapnik Island, establishing their very own civilization there.

At some point following the Eggman War, Sonic and Tails were flying the Tornado over the ocean in the midst of a storm when they discovered the rusting carcass of the Death Egg. The dilapidated battle station itself had been generating the storm with its climate disruptor system, which the Scrapniks had not been able to repair or decommission. The storm caused the Tornado to crash upon the island and Sonic to be injured. E-117 Sigma tended to his injury while he was unconscious, though Sonic was left unattended when he woke up and started exploring the ruined station, leading to a frightful encounter with some Scrapniks. Fortunately, Tails appeared along with Sigma and they assured Sonic that he was in no danger.

Badniks[]

Below is a list of various Badnik models that have operated aboard the Death Egg at one time or another.

Vehicles[]

The following is a list of vehicles and mechs that have previously been stationed aboard the Death Egg.

Egg Mobile
Egg Jet
Death Egg Robot
Beam Rocket
Big Arm
Great Eggman Robo
Final Weapon
Egg Heart
Egg Carrier (Scrambled)

Appearances in other media[]

Sonic the Comic[]

Main article: Death Egg (Sonic the Comic)

Two Death Eggs had appeared in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic series. The first of these satellites had been launched during Dr. Robotnik's early campaign to conquer Mobius and had remained in orbit after supposedly being destroyed by Sonic. The station's orbit eventually decayed and would have crashed into the Emerald Hill Zone had Sonic and Tails not managed to redirect it towards the ocean.

The Death Egg II was built during Robotnik's rule over Mobius, though it fell from orbit shortly after takeoff. Robotnik spent a great deal of time trying to repair the station whilst also trying to manage his empire and destroy Sonic and his band of Freedom Fighters. While Robotnik did eventually relaunch the Death Egg, it was soon after destroyed thanks to the combined efforts of Sonic and Knuckles.

Archie Comics[]

Main articles: Death Egg (Archie) and Death Egg Mk. II (Archie)

Two Death Egg battle-stations featured prominently during Archie Comics' long-running Sonic the Hedgehog serial. The first Death Egg was built by the original Dr. Robotnik after Robotropolis had been devastated by an earthquake. It would have been capable of roboticizing the entire planet of Mobius if Robotnik had acquired the Chaos Emerald needed to bring it to full power, but Sonic the Hedgehog was able to destroy it before that could happen.

The second Death Egg was built by an alternate version of Robotnik during the Second Robotnik War. Not only was this vessel armed with a World Roboticizer, but it carried a system that allowed Eggman to rewrite reality itself. It was this Genesis System that created a link between Mobius and Mega Man's world, allowing Eggman and Dr. Wily to join forces to conquer their respective worlds.

After reality was altered following the Super Genesis Wave, Dr. Eggman continued to terrorize his world with the Death Egg, which served as his mobile headquarters while he tried to resolve the Shattered World Crisis.

Sonic Underground[]

In the episode "Flying Fortress", Dr. Robotnik had launched a spherical flying fortress known as the Fortress of Altitude. This was clearly meant to be a reference to the Death Egg from the Sonic video games.

The Fortress of Altitude was a heavily armed skyborne vessel equipped with all sorts of deadly weapons. It was also powered by a Chaos Emerald and included a security system that flooded its corridors with a wave of Chaos energy that would instantly vaporize all intruders. Robotnik intended to use the Fortress to bombard several locations on Mobius known for harbouring Freedom Fighters, but was betrayed by his underlings Sleet and Dingo when they became tired of their boss' abuse. The two mercenaries stole the Chaos Emerald from the reactor, causing the Fortress to drop out of the sky and plunge into the ocean.

Trivia[]

The Death Egg is a blatant parody of the Death Star, a planet-killing battle station used by the Galactic Empire in Star Wars.