Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 274


 * Previous Issue: Sonic the Hedgehog #273 (Worlds Unite - Part 3) ←—
 * —→ Next Issue: Sonic the Hedgehog #275 (Worlds Unite - Part 11)

Sonic the Hedgehog #274 is the two hundred and seventy-fourth issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series by Archie Comics, released in July 2015. It contains the seventh part of the Worlds Unite crossover.

Publisher's Summary
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #274 ''The heroes of the SONIC/MEGA MAN crossover event: AT WAR?! "Worlds Unite" Part Seven: The unified army is not so unified anymore! What has driven Mega Man, X and their robot companions to attack Sonic and the Freedom Fighters? Drs. Eggman and Wily may have the answer! Or a weapon. Could a weapon be the answer? Or is it more trademark treachery? Meanwhile, Sigma grows in power, preparing for the next phase of his master plan! And speaking of masters, this issue features cover art from master-artist Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante, a CG-SLUGFEST Variant cover from Rafa Knight and part 7 of the epic 12-part connecting variant cover series by artist Ben Bates!''

Story

 * Previous Part: Worlds Unite - Part 6 (Sonic Boom #9) ←—
 * —→ Next Part: Worlds Unite - Part 8 (Mega Man #51)

Worlds Unite - Part Seven: Gears and Wills
Picking up where the previous issue left off aboard the Sky Patrol, Sonic the Hedgehog is fleeing from the turncoat robots' fire, with Sonic yelling that Mega Man and Mega Man X cut it out. The two apologize, their clearly being unwilling to attack Sonic. Zavok then informs Sonic that, as half of his friends are machines, their powers granted by their armor allows them to control them like puppets. Sonic then tries to tell the Robots to fight their control, but Mega Man tells him that they're trying to fight their control, but the Deadly Six's powers are overriding his thoughts. Axl, while unwillingly shooting at Amy Rose, is horrified at his Maverick-like behavior. Zero tells Axl to keep it together as they aren't Mavericks, and to do his best to pull his punches while blade-locked with Antoine D'Coolette. Sonic then realizes that they need to stop the Deadly Six first while caught in Flash Man's Time Stopper, with the latter also telling the Freedom Fighters to coordinate and take down the Deadly Six members controlling them. Big the Cat then, while apologizing to Flash Man for having to do so, grabs him from behind and throws him into Hard Man and Wood Man. Snake Man then apologizes to Captain Rotor for having to use Search Snake on him, though Rotor is wondering why he's smiling during the attack, with Snake Man guessing that the Deadly Six are trying to influence his behavior.

Meanwhile, onboard the Sky Patrol's bridge, Sally Acorn, knowing full well her friends are outnumbered two-to-one, decides to go out and aid them, with Roll being horrified at what her brother is forced to do. Sally Acorn then orders for Cream to stay put, despite the latter wanting to help, because the situation is too dangerous, and tells Roll the same since she realizes she's just as vulnerable to being taken over by the Deadly Six, with Roll agreeing. She then tells NICOLE that she has command of the bridge and that she should keep the ship in the air, and also notify Doctors Wily and Eggman that they need their help now as they've ran out of time. Meanwhile, Eggman and Wily are making preparations to a weapon. Sally Acorn then steps out of the ship only to see Bunnie Rabbot struggling with herself (being a cyborg, she also was affected by the Deadly Six's machinations, although to a far lesser degree than the robots) and doing her best to keep herself out of the fight. Gemerl then flies over and, while apologizing to Sally and acknowledging that he's embarrassed by his actions, punches her, although Knuckles manages to punch him away. Sally then proceeds to thank Knuckles and orders for the Freedom Fighters to retreat to the lower decks for now.

In the lower decks, the Freedom Fighters attempt to use the Sky Patrols' weapons to attack the Six, but Zeena swiftly disables them. The Deadly Six then ponder if they should just ram the Sky Patrol into the Lost Hex to finish them off, but Zavoc disagrees since it would kill them too. Eggman and Wily arrive with the weapon they were building: an ion ray to disable the robots without harming them. It works, even taking out the Deadly Six's armor that was controlling them. The Zeti are eager to keep fighting, but their earlier beating takes their toll and they collapse out of exhaustion. Cream and Roll arrive to provide recovery, while Eggman complains about not getting any credit for a being a good guy for once. Wily sympathizes.

Back in the Street Fighter universe, Chun-Li has, inbetween ramblings of a conspiracy behind pasta sauce, pulled enough information from Sticks about what's going on to recap the plot of the crossover so far. Deciding this is worth looking into, she calls for back-up.

At the Sky Patrol, the heroes ponder if they should recover first or press the attack. The point becomes moot as Sigma just finished gathering enough planetary energy for his next evolutionary phase. The gathered heroes watch horrified as Sigma suddenly bursts from the Lost Hex base, enlarged to the size of a mountain and aided by every Maverick commander he ever had or will have fully under his control.

Off Panel
Sonic, Mega Man and Comedy Chimp face the Deadly Six.

Mega Man

 * Mega Man
 * Roll
 * Rush


 * Break Man


 * Quake Woman


 * Air Man
 * Bubble Man
 * Flash Man
 * Wood Man
 * Hard Man
 * Snake Man
 * Spark Man
 * Shadow Man


 * Doctor Wily

Sonic the Hedgehog

 * Freedom Fighters
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Sally Acorn
 * Rotor the Walrus
 * Antoine D'Coolette
 * Bunnie Rabbot
 * NICOLE
 * Big the Cat
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese the Chao


 * Knuckles the Echidna


 * Gemerl


 * Doctor Eggman


 * Deadly Six
 * Zazz
 * Zeena
 * Zomom
 * Zavok
 * Zor
 * Master Zik

Mega Man X

 * Maverick Hunters
 * X
 * Zero
 * Axl


 * Mavericks
 * Sigma-1
 * Sigma-2
 * Chill Penguin
 * Armored Armadillo
 * Boomer(ang) Kuwanger
 * Spark Mandrill
 * Storm Eagle (First appearance)
 * Sting Chameleon (First appearance)
 * Launch Octopus (First appearance)
 * Flame Mammoth (First appearance)
 * X-Hunters
 * Serges (First appearance)
 * Agile
 * Violen (First appearance)
 * Wire Sponge (First appearance)
 * Morph Moth (First appearance)
 * Flame Stag
 * Magna Centipede (First appearance)
 * Overdrive Ostrich (First appearance)
 * Bubble Crab (First appearance)
 * Wheel Gator (First appearance)
 * Crystal Snail (First appearance)
 * Middy (First appearance)
 * Techno (First appearance)
 * Zain (First appearance)
 * Geemel (First appearance)
 * Nightmare Police
 * Bit (First appearance)
 * Byte (First appearance)
 * Mac (First appearance)
 * Blast Hornet (Silhouette or only his left antenna is visible)
 * Gravity Beetle
 * Blizzard Buffalo (First appearance alive. His body appeared in Sonic Universe Issue 76)
 * Volt Catfish (First appearance)
 * Tunnel Rhino (First appearance)
 * Neon Tiger (First appearance)
 * Berkana (First appearance)
 * Gareth (First appearance)
 * Double
 * Slash Beast (First appearance)
 * Web Spider (First appearance)
 * Split Mushroom
 * Magma Dragoon (First appearance, only arms and left leg are visible)
 * Cyber Peacock (First appearance)
 * Frost Walrus (First appearance)
 * Storm Owl (First appearance)
 * Jet Stingray (First appearance)
 * Grizzly Slash (First appearance)
 * Duff McWhalen (First appearance)
 * Squid Adler (First appearance)
 * Izzy Glow (First appearance)
 * Dark Dizzy (First appearance)
 * The Skiver (First appearance)
 * Mattrex
 * Axle the Red (First appearance)
 * Nightmare Investigators
 * Gate (First appearance)
 * Commander Yammark (First appearance)
 * Ground Scaravich (First appearance)
 * Blaze Heatnix (First appearance)
 * Blizzard Wolfang (First appearance)
 * Rainy Turtloid (First appearance)
 * Metal Shark Player (First appearance)
 * Shield Sheldon (First appearance)
 * Infinity Mijinion (First appearance)
 * Red Alert
 * Soldier Stonekong (First appearance)
 * Tornado Tonion (First appearance)
 * Splash Warfly (First appearance)
 * Flame Hyenard (First appearance)
 * Ride Boarski
 * Snipe Anteator (First appearance)
 * Vanishing Gungaroo (First appearance, using his personal Ride Armor)
 * New Generation Reploids
 * Bamboo Pandamonium
 * Burn Rooster
 * Optic Sunflower (First appearance)
 * Dark Mantis (First appearance)
 * Earthrock Trilobyte (First appearance)
 * Gigabolt Man-O-War (First appearance)
 * Avalanche Yeti (First appearance)

Sonic Boom

 * Sticks the Badger

Street Fighter

 * Chun-Li (Silhouette)

Trivia

 * The first variant cover is a throwback to the cover of Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 248.
 * Despite the appearances on the main cover, neither Roll nor Sticks actually fight at all during the chaos caused by the Deadly Six, let alone with each other, as Roll was relegated to command room duty by Sally Acorn specifically to avoid the risk of the Deadly Six placing her under their control, and Sticks was in the world of Street Fighter via a Genesis Portal at the time this occurred.
 * The events of fight between Knuckles and Break Man are elaborated in "Knuckles vs. Break Man" story from Sonic: Worlds Unite Battles Issue 1.
 * Sigma-2's torso resembles Zavok's head.
 * The final double page with the Maverick Bosses Army resembles the double page, from Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 250, showing the Robot Masters Army assembled by Doctors Wily and Eggman during Worlds Collide event.
 * Spark Mandrill, Launch Octopus, Boomer(ang) Kuwanger, and Storm Eagle are sporting their original designs from the first Mega Man X game.