It's okay everyone; We're federal agents.Walters revealing himself at Rachel and Randall's wedding
My god, Project Shadow.Commander Walters when discovering Shadow at the Post-Credit of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Sonic... Take this. (...) A key, to the most powerful weapon G.U.N. has ever built. You're the only I trust to keep it safe.Commander Walters' last words to Team Sonic before he died.
Commander Walters is a major character in the Sonic Cinematic Universe.
He is the Commander of the Guardian Units of Nations and the live-action adaptation of the Commander Abraham Tower from the video game franchise. Originally acting as an antagonist, he saw Sonic the Hedgehog as a potential threat to Earth but soon teams up with him, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna to stop the rogue government scientist Dr. Robotnik from enslaving humanity. He is first seen serving as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking members of the United States Armed Forces serving as part of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) at their headquarters, the Pentagon.
He is portrayed by Tom Butler who also portrayed Dr. Campbell in Freddy vs Jason. In the flashbacks in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a younger version of him is played by James Wolk.
Personality
Commander Walters is a serious and no nonsense military leader who takes any and all threats to the United States seriously. He can also be very paranoid, having tried to arrest Sonic, fearing that his power and unpredictably could be a potential danger. Commander Walters also is very cunning and intelligent, having operated a complex sting operation to capture Sonic. He is also very honorable and respectful, having rewarded Tom and Maddie for their efforts, albeit by giving theme a meager gift card, and thanks Sonic for saving the world and eventually stops hunting him, having begun to trust him. He also cares about his agents, comforting Randel Handel when he feels guilty for betraying Rachel. He is shown to be daring and noble, confronting Dr. Robotnik and standing up to him, determined to stop his plans, but when he realizes he is outclassed he runs away in fear. Commander Walters also has a love for Italian food, a running gag being his love for Olive Garden.
History
Early Life
Since he was a young man, Walters has been serving active duty in the military. In, 1974, he eventually rose to the ranks of a captain and knew of the origins of Shadow the Hedgehog and how he crashed landed on Earth. He was tasked with providing security for Project Shadow when it was under development by Professor Gerald Robotnik. One day, he met Gerald’s granddaughter Maria and kindly showed her the direction to her room but advised her not to wear her roller skates in the facility. Later on, the government wanted to take Shadow away from Gerald and Maria. Although the three tried to escape, soldiers attempted to thwart them and were ordered to shoot to kill. However, Walters was against killing them as he viewed Shadow and Maria as children and tried to stop them. Sadly, he accidentally caused one of the soldiers to shoot a glass container, which was filled with explosive material, possibly harvested chaos energy from Shadow. An explosion occurred in which Maria sadly perished, killed instantly by the blast.
Gerald was blamed for the incident and locked up while Shadow was deemed too dangerous by the government and put into stasis indefinitely, but as he was put into his hibernation, the last thing he saw was Walters looking back at him with a look of remorse for indirectly causing Maria's death while trying to protect them. However this only caused Shadow's heart to fill with anger and revenge in that moment as his eyes narrowed in fury before disappearing from view. Sometime afterwards, the government offered Gerald freedom in exchange for making them the ultimate weapon: The Eclipse Cannon, which had the power to shoot a massive laserbeam, to destroy any _target in the world. The cannon was given two keys in order to be able to activate it, similar to the two-man and two-key rule to the USA's nuclear arsenal, and Walters was given one of them to guard.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Commander Walters first appears in a meeting with the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon in Arlington after Sonic the Hedgehog accidentally knocks out power in the Pacific Northwest. He initially thought it was a E.M.P. according to the Navy Chief of Staff, and when the Air Force Chief of Staff and Secretary of Homeland Security also reveal that NASA and the Department of Energy have ruled out other potential conclusions, such as a power plant malfunction, he soon concludes it is something beyond their understanding. Much to the chagrin of his colleagues, he decides to employ their top government scientist Dr. Robotnik to investigate the anomaly despite everyone protesting as Dr. Robotnik is infamous for his egomania and questionable sanity. However, Commander Walters has confidence his genius will help protect the country. However, Dr. Robotnik would ultimately go rouge and betray the government in an attempt to use Sonic's power to take over the world.
Later, after Sonic and the Wachowskis defeated Dr. Robotnik and saved the world, he stopped by their house to personally thank them for their efforts and claims that they erased Dr. Robotnik's name off their database. Commander Walters then gave them a $50 gift card to Olive Garden and suggests they try their endless breadsticks. Commander Walters also asks if they had seen Sonic as he and the President would like to talk with him over brunch to thank him for his heroics, however, the Wachowskis falsely claim they have not seen him, fearing they might try to capture him. They then shut the door on Commander Walters and the latter leaves.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
8 months after Dr. Robotnik's defeat, Commander Walters and the government forms the Guardian Units of Nations, codename G.U.N., to combat alien threats. He also realizes that the Wachowskis have been harboring Sonic in their home and because Sonic has no intention of joining the Army, they label him as an uncontrolled extraterrestrial that needed to be detained to avoid a potential threat to humanity. He then conducts Operation Catfish, ordering one of his Agents, Randall Handel, to seduce Sonic's adoptive aunt Rachel into marrying him so they can lure Sonic out to capture him. They succeed in their plan and also capture Sonic's new friend Tails and Tom Wachowski for attacking them, but Rachel's sister Maddie informs Commander Walters that Dr. Robotnik is back on Earth and by capturing Sonic and Tails, he has taken away the only people who can stop him. Commander Walters then informs his agents to start looking for Dr. Robotnik in case Maddie is telling the truth. And he tells his secretary to cancel his dinner plans at Olive Garden.
Eventually both Maddie and Rachel manage to detain Commander Walters and free Sonic and tie up Commander Walters. Suddenly a beam of light emerges from the coast indicating Dr. Robotnik has found the ultimate source of power, the Master Emerald. Commander Walters then fully believes the Wachowskis. While Sonic takes off to stop Dr. Robotnik on his own. Commander Walters, Tom, and Maddie fly to Green Hills on a helicopter to arrest Dr. Robotnik. Commander Walters then faces Dr. Robotnik and tells him that they took all his resources: his lab, his robots, and his funding from the U.S. government, and without his robots he is nothing. However, Dr. Robotnik surprises Commander Walters by using the power of the Master Emerald to summon a giant mech called the Death Egg Robot and attacks the G.U.N forces. Commander Walters then falls back and leaves defeating Dr. Robotnik to Sonic and his team. Sonic is able to defeat Dr. Robotnik and save the world a second time, thus, Commander Walters stops hunting Sonic and recognizes him as a hero. G.U.N. then searches the wreckage of Dr. Robotnik's mech to find him, but he is nowhere to be seen, but Commander Walters presumes him dead stating that no one could have survived that crash. However, one of his agents informs him that when they were wiping Dr. Robotnik off their database, they found something, a file linked to the Dr. Robotnik name that dates back over 50 years. On said file, there are coordinates to a secret black ops research facility. Commander Walters then soon realizes to his fear and dread that the facility houses none other than Project Shadow.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
As G.U.N. is guarding Shadow’s containment tank on Prison Island, someone hacks into the system and ends up freeing him from his stasis, allowing him to escape. He later goes on a rampage in Tokyo and attacks the G.U.N forces and Tokyo police, the Keishichō, when they try to apprehend him. Commander Walters then meets with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in a Chao Garden restaurant to explain the situation about Project Shadow, explaining that, in 1974, G.U.N. had discovered Shadow in a meteorite and adapted his power for several experiments. However, something went wrong, and the head of the project, Dr. Gerald Robotnik, was arrested while Shadow was put in stasis. Before Walters can explain further, the restaurant is attacked by Dr. Eggman's Badnik drones, and Walters is critically injured, despite Sonic's efforts to protect him. Realizing his wounds are mortal, he gives Sonic a digital keycard and tells him to keep it safe before he succumbs to his wounds and falls unconscious. When G.U.N. reinforcements and the Keishichō arrive later, Director Rockwell finds Walters' body and a photo of Team Sonic, along with finding the keycard missing. Deducing Team Sonic took it to find answers, and due to her own belief that Team Sonic were untrustworthy, while Walters is taken away on a stretcher to be given medical attention if he was still alive, she vows to find Team Sonic and get the keycard back at all costs. It is later revealed that the drones were actually sent by a still-living Gerald Robotnik to acquire the keycard Walters entrusted to Sonic, which was one of the two needed to access the Eclipse Cannon.
Despite his fate, Walters' appearance is used by Tom to convince Director Rockwell to hand the other keycard over to him during both the Robotniks' and Team Sonic's infiltration of G.U.N. headquarters in London. However, when Shadow finds Tom, Tom was still in his disguise as Walters, and due to how Shadow held a grudge against Walters for the death of Gerald's granddaughter, Maria, as it was Walters who caused a G.U.N. soldier to accidentally fire on some canisters containing explosive chaos energy material and set them off, leading to Maria's death, Shadow attacks and severely wounds Tom, while securing the other keycard.
The Commander's death would later be avenged when Dr. Robotnik leads Gerald towards his death to stop his schemes of destroying humanity, then works with Shadow to move the Eclipse Cannon out of range before its core went critical and the Eclipse Cannon exploded.
Trivia
- Like in the games, Commander Walters seems all too familiar with Shadow the Hedgehog, which could imply they share common history. This is further enforced when it's revealed Walters knew of Shadow's tragic past even comparing it to that of Sonic's. It was confirmed in the third film when it's revealed that Walters was present during Project Shadow, and was indirectly responsible for the death of Maria.
- Commander Walters is similar to Abraham Tower. They both knew about Project Shadow, and they both became the leaders of G.U.N.
- Ironically, even if Commander Walters still lived, albeit wounded, he could’ve convinced Director Rockwell to stand down and not hunt Sonic.
- It's unknown if Commander Walters found out that Dr. Robotnik was still alive. But since he didn't mention him in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it's possible that he didn't.
- In fact, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the only film where Walters doesn't mention or interact with Dr. Robotnik.
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