The Commander Brutus Story ▸ The Robot That Defeated Sonic

This is the eight in a series of Sonic character profiles. Let me know in the comments who you want me to talk about next!
"The Commander Brutus Story ▸ The Robot That Defeated Sonic"
In this video we'll be taking a look at Commander Brutus, an incredibly powerful robot created by Dr. Robotnik to be his second in command (and an original created created by the team behind Fleetway's British Sonic the Comic in the 1990s). I'll be explaining the origins of this character, his complicated relationship with his creator Dr. Robotnik and his ultimate demise. Finally, I'll be assessing Commander Brutus's legacy from the wider perspective of the Sonic fandom by having a brief look at some of the Commander's post-Fleetway appearances.
Music used in this episode :-
Metropolis Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Dr. Doom's Theme from Marvel Super Heroes
Death Egg Zone Act 1 from Sonic & Knuckles
Death Egg Zone Act 2 from Sonic & Knuckles
Please consider giving the video a like if you enjoyed and subscribing for more video game, movie and internet history videos in the future.
Find me on Twitter: / thejohnnyvector

[@welchrebooted4739]

Commander Brutus, while he definetly doesn't look like a sonic character, doesn't matter to me in the slightest since his design is just so badass.

[@welchrebooted4739]

actually now that I think about it, the sonic series never tried another character that served the role as the general of eggman's army.

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah true. Brutus has a lot more menace than, for example, Egg-Robo or something

[@tjfreeland4257]

Well in the 30th anniversary comic for the sonic speed reading the robot known as heavy king is known as general or second in command

[@NOTAlpharius1999]

@@tjfreeland4257 While I do think that’s true, I personally feel like Brutus was not only stronger than Heavy King but also felt EVEN MORE RUTHLESS and murderous than Heavy king. Hell, at least Heavy actually doesn’t disobey robotnik and respects him meanwhile Brutus has nearly foiled Eggman’s plans and empire before finally being destroyed, TWICE

[@redacculous]

​@@NOTAlpharius1999 What about the fight in Egg Reverie where he and Eggman keep trying to get the Phantom Ruby?

[@erugurara8235]

I belive the final apearance of Brutus really show how smart is Sonic in this comics world, using the capabilites of the villains he know, dont waster to use them one agasint the others.

[@JohnnyVector]

That's a great point to be fair

[@supersonicguts9268]

It would be cool to see you cover some of the Newgrounds sonic flash animations, like their history and impact on the series and the fandom

[@JohnnyVector]

Good idea. I think the character Nazo, in particular, got a massive boost in popularity thanks to Newgrounds. Do you have any specific videos/series your remember fondly?

[@supersonicguts9268]

​@@JohnnyVector Before Nazo Unleashed came out, there were a few versions of it that were missing scenes and were more amateurly produced, they had different names as well. It would be interesting to see a video on those, or a video on Super Mario Bros Z would be awesome as well

[@austinreed7343]

@@supersonicguts9268 Plus also the Sonic Paradox stuff.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

*I LOVED THOSE!*

[@ProjectRedfoot]

I just loved the fan stories that went way off the rails. (Does anyone remember S.O.A.H.? I don't think it was on NewGrounds, but it was a sprite-based fan comic that made fun of Scooby-Doo...) I don't remember what S.O.A.H. stood for... sorry haha

[@arthurpprado]

It's interesting to see that Sonic Heroes wasn't the first time one of Robotnik's creations decided to backstab him and try to take over the world for themselves. It's just too bad that Metal Sonic was instantly rebooted into a loyal minion after that game, even though it makes sense for Eggman to go through with that. I would have loved to see a competent third party rise from Eggman's army in the main series

[@randomguyontheinternet7940]

Metal Sonic mostly feels like a commodity now. I mean, he's there, and he's cool. But damn he used to mean so much more, I think there's a lot of missed potential in not using some of Sonic's other robot clones.

[@bilal_Hadjlaoui907]

This commander design is remind me to the old villans designs in the ps1-2 games

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha good call, I kinda see what you mean

[@TheShadowedMephiles]

I love all this attention you're bringing to the characters from the Fleetway Sonic the Comic stories! Commander Brutus and Dr Zachary were among my favourite villains but there is another I would love to see you make a video on...Vermin the Cybernik! The stories with Shortfuse were always awesome but when they brought in Vermin, I thought that was amazing

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks, Vermin and Shortfuse would be a great combo to cover. I'll consider them for a future Fleetway video.

[@charleschamp9826]

Robotnik's armor reminds me more of Lex Luthor's various armors he uses to fight Superman, they certainly share a color scheme.

[@mestar_otaku9365]

8:06 Brutus looks like Ultron, they're both robots, they're both smart copies of the two smartest people in their world, and they both turn against their creators.

[@TheSliferSlacker]

The Dr. Doom influence is very clear, but there also seems to be heavy inspiration for the original comic versions of Ultron and the Vision as well. A robot created using the brainwaves of its genius creator and then turning on him seems ripped from from Ultron's origin story. The whole idea of him potentially turning good from scanning a hero is also a part of the Vision's story in the books. Robotnik's armor near the end there also seems to be very much directly inspired by Lex Luthor's classic battle armor, right down to the dome and the green/purple colour scheme.

[@supersonicfan7514]

Just so you know, the trooper robots from the Archie comic series were called Swat-bots.

[@bigmacsama]

That was great! Might I suggest do one with Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Flying Squirrel?

[@McMurchie]

What made Brutus so terrifying was he had the intelligence of Robotnik, super armor of Shortfuse and unlike Robotnik Brutus was out for blood.

[@awesomeocelot7475]

I wanna see you cover Grimer from the Fleetway comics as well. I’ve never read them but he seems really interesting.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Grimer the Anti-Snively. Loyal to Dr Robotnik and the real creator of Metal Sonic according to the Fleetway Canon.

[@awesomeocelot7475]

@@rayvenkman2087 oh interesting. I hope he covers him.

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the suggestion. Grimer is a bit of an underappreciated character so I think he'd be quite an interesting one to cover.

[@awesomeocelot7475]

@@JohnnyVector your welcome! He’s one of any Eggman’s non robot sidekicks. The only other one I can think of is Agent stone from the movie universe

[@TroyVillanueva-f9h]

Brutus meeting belle and sage be like: Sage:so your the oldest out of us and father give you the ability to think like him, Brutus: that is correct but robotnik didn’t allow us to call him father the two of you are lucky he’s not like my former master he was much more ruthless and cruel then u can imagine

[@Theodore-s8q]

?: I surpassed you in every way Brutus! Brutus: Just who are you? ?: My name is Neo Metal Sonic Brutus: Well Mr “Neo Metal Sonic” how bout we fight. I bet you can’t kill me! Neo Metal: I can’t. I’LL CRUSH YOU!

[@deusdamnit]

In fairness to the trope of villains returning: The return of these villains is usually late in the narrative, often after the protagonist has had multiple degrees of power-up. Goku is a great example; if Goku's power increase is exponential, then his enemies having the same base power at each subsequent stage makes sense, but returning villains being suddenly at the level of that hero would be strange. However, by the same token, I agree in some ways. It's unfortunate how often the sudden return of those villains is made out to be this massive and impending threat, where the heroes themselves often spend a lot of exposition on describing just how much of a threat they are before being handily defeated. I think this is where you actually see a problem. The resurgence of the Sinister Six in Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) was an excellent handling; it showcased that the villains were a threat as a team, and even individually, but Peter had also become much stronger and more capable as a hero. They didn't feel like they were a throwaway gag that served as a cheap plot device, but as true villains.

[@supersonicfan7514]

I already knew about Brutus. I’m an expert on all parts of the Sonic franchise, even the obscure parts like the Fleetway comic series.

[@mr.midnight1997]

keep this fleetway videos coming! More people need to know about the fleetway sonic comic!

[@zephon6745]

Yeah more people need to become Boomers. Boomers are what people that read STC were called by the Humes that think their in charge and Megadroid.

[@HiperPivociarz]

10:14 This could be a reference to Doctor Who. During the 80s era of the show the Cybermen, especially the Cyberleader had a tendency to exclaim "Excellent...". The actor portraying the Cybermen at the time was David Banks, and his performance is beloved by Doctor Who fans. He's become quite a meme.

[@Theodore-s8q]

Anyone think it would be cool to see Brutus fight with Neo Metal Sonic?

[@psbpaladin]

I'm going to need to reread the fleetway comics at some point. I was very young when they came out and I only have vague memories of it. Would love to see a vid on Shortfuse or Tekno the Canary.

[@JohnnyVector]

I hope you enjoy re-reading them! Shortfuse or Tekno are both great suggestions. Probably the two most substantial Fleetway OCs.

[@mammamiawhygod2091]

Brutus feels more like Ultron from the comics in concept more then Dr. Doom to be honest. But I do see the similarities with the designs.

[@slimeslime4235]

Some really good music choices in this video

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks!

[@alexknj1]

His design remainds me of Death's Head, a marvel character they smuggled out of thr Transformers book.

[@superericmoura2293]

Nice video! I never even heard about Brutus seeing the video!! ^^ I would love to see a video about Grimer and maybe one about Snively!! Strangely there’s not much discussion about any of the two…

[@chrismaystar3014]

Brutus sounds a lot like Starline, though there are plenty of differences. He's a former assistant to Dr. Eggman who was nearly successful in incapacitating Sonic, had his independence become a hindrance to Eggman, then had his army fight Eggman and Sonic all before Eggman smacks the crap out of his supposed-successor.

[@stigfan35]

I would love to know more about Ebony the Cat and Pyjamas the sheepdog But I will most likely watch whatever ya' post next. I've never read any of the sonic comics (fleetway or archie) So I'm discovering AND learning about them through youtube (Well I had partial knowledge of fleetway's super sonic...but learnt more on KZbin)

[@saltygamer1019]

You should do a video about metamorphia from the same fleet way comics, she's definitely my favourite character and is so criminaly underused!!

[@DusBeforeDawn2008]

He makes me think of Ultron more than doctor doom. A robot that turns on its master, perceiving them as inferior and raises his own robot army

[@ProjectRedfoot]

I am not fully comfortable admitting that this channel is addictive lol

[@BradynNewcomer]

12:06 That dude is doing the Two Soyjaks Pointing meme.

[@FigbyTheWolf]

Watching these always makes me want to make a new Sonic OC, haha!

[@SkyStrife2690]

MY OC DONT STEAL

[@FigbyTheWolf]

And that was the day the OC WAR began 😂

[@SkyStrife2690]

@@FigbyTheWolf If you copy my oc without permission I'm afraid I might have to send you to minecraft ...

[@FigbyTheWolf]

@@SkyStrife2690 Ohno, anything but that!

[@seant1326]

The robots in Archie were called "Swatbots", not "Troopers", and they were mainly derived from the SatAM cartoon.

[@activity_abnormal]

EYYY he’s noticed the exe mod! great video by the way!

[@gracekim1998]

It feels crazy knowing I’ve only been subscribed for a month (since November)😅

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the support!

[@gracekim1998]

@@JohnnyVector you’re welcome 😎

[@GreenDiablo]

I ran through some voices reading Brutus's dialog. Ive landed on Keith David, and i like it. Tom Kenny could fit too, he's got a good voice for villains

[@Reddudetheog1219]

I love Brutus he kinda reminds me of dr doom but buffed with steroids

[@zephon6745]

Are you going to do cover Shorty The Squirrel. From before he was incased in the Cybernik Armour till he was free in the second to last storyline.

[@GodyN64]

In fangames Super Sonic was in Sonic Speed Fighters 2 and yes you are right ! Brutus is not very popular (even me ! idk much about him before !) but yes Brutus is a very cool character (nice video by the way) and i don't heard much about Sonic Brutus i have to play it !

[@hoseinbmr3449]

14:34 that was when I realized this is the most badass version of Eggman I guess now it's a good time for a Johnny lightfoot or porker lewes or shortfuse video

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha yeah Eggman was in no mood for messing around

[@JohnnyVector]

And thanks for the suggestions. I think Shortfuse is a great idea.

[@ikagura]

Porker Lewis? He never loses.

[@supersonicfan7514]

I like Brutus. He looks cool.

[@paperprince2953]

I want to see someone make a What-If Timeline where Brutus won the War and became the Ruler of Mobius

[@AdamAddictL]

I am convinced that the robot E.V.E. would have DESTROYED Sonic had Sonic not managed to sneakily convince it otherwise

[@SonicZuki]

Be cool to see the history of Mighty & Ray

[@NinjaKingAce]

I know the Archie comics aren't you're forte, but I would love to see you do videos on Scourge the Hedgehog and Fiona Fox

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the suggestion. I might do a Surge & Scourge combination episode as a follow-up to Ashura.

[@masterofpasta95]

In a way Brutus is kind of like the earliest version of Heavy King lol

[@ikagura]

So it's like Metal Sonic betraying Robotnik but before. Also the "old villain returning but quickly defeated" trope is mostly to show how strong a character has become (like how Goku defeated Pillaf and his two sbires in one strike).

[@zephon6745]

Yeah, when this first story happens the Metal Sonics/Metallixes have already betrayed Robotnik but are believed destroyed on the Miracle Planet.

[@PureMaddnessOne]

He reminds me of Marvel's Death Head though, at least lookwise.

[@zephon6745]

Commander Brutus, Knuckles Metallix, and Plasma some of the few villains Sonic couldn't beat.

[@pgj1997]

2:43 nice

[@gracekim1998]

Ooo he looks cool

[@thevenomspino]

We want to see you talk about the prototype Metals aka Silver Sonic from 8-bit Sonic 2, Silver/Mecha/Robo Sonic from the 16 bit Sonic 2, and Mecha Sonic from S3k, and maybe the unknown robot from SA or Silver Sonic Mark 2

[@JohnnyVector]

Interesting idea. A rundown of all the iterations of Metal Sonic might be quite interesting.

[@thevenomspino]

@@JohnnyVector especially with the headache of the 16 bit sonic 2 one due to it never having a official name at least in the west

[@yorick-fe5vp]

Could you please do a video about a pitched idea for a mario comic that actually pitched by Richard Elson himself, to Fleetway and Nintendo but get rejected ( sorry for bad english ).

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the suggestion. I remember reading about this. I think it'd make for a great video. I could tie the Marxio Bros into the same video.

[@keldeostudies149]

Makes me think that brutus was the inspiration for mecha sonic in smbz They both betrayed eggman/robotnik and are extremely powerful though mecha sonic in smbz is clearly a bit more powerful I would love a team up or battle between smbz version of mecha sonic and brutus, that would be awesome to see

[@JohnnyVector]

I think you're onto something. Also Metallix from 2015 SMBZ was named after a Fleetway character so there's a little more evidence that Fleetway inspired SMBZ a little.

[@keldeostudies149]

@@JohnnyVector well smbz was inspired by largely dragon ball was well like the Z in the name like how super sonic was inspired by goku Another thing i realized was that mecha sonic and brutus both had managed to beat sonic in some shape or form, brutus captured sonic for a bit while mecha destroyed sonic home world One other thing is that in a animated mini series called one minute battles might have taken place within a version of the smbz universe as there was a episode of mecha sonic hoing against bowser jr then bowser (i believe there was a bowser vs eggman fight too) mecha won against the fight with bowser junior but was defeated by bowser The key reason why that i mentioned one minute battle is bowser airship from smbz appears, even though it may not be cannon i like to believe that this takes place within a AU (alternative universe) of the orignal smbz

[@psyxypher3881]

I don't think that Brutus's final appearance was bad or anything. Though I have to say Sonic the Comic Reviews does a great job at placing music. That, and Sonic managed to beat Brutus by making him collide with plasma. Which is pretty consistent with Fleetway Sonic using his head. It's worth noting that Brutus was one of two villains to ever escape Super Sonic's wrath. The other being Robotnik during a Summer of Sonic special. And honestly that's quite a mean feat, considering that Super Sonic took down Metallix MKII and Chaos like they were nothing.

[@samueldixon9028]

Also, Sonic seems pretty unimpressed by most of those returning villains, (he suggests that Robotnik is “scraping the bottom of the barrel”,) but when Brutus shows up he actually seems genuinely afraid.

[@Jaylobeans]

My favorite thing about fleetway is that it stayed in the classic era

[@zephon6745]

Except for the final arc that was in the Sonic Adventure era.

[@Yuudaddy]

No one touches Doom and anyone who slaps Sonic into submission deserves kudos.

[@TheBLUEM64]

Short fuss I really like his design

[@ikagura]

Maybe the Heavy King from Mania was loosely inspired by him.

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah that might be true. Part of the Metal Sonic fight has been confirmed to be a nod to Emperor Metallix after all.

[@ikagura]

@@JohnnyVector You mean the one like Metal Sonic Kai? I'm wondering why they didn't make it red like for the Emperor and Kai.

[@MorganBell-h6n]

I watched a bunch of these videos and was wondering if you could make a who is finitevous or scourge?

[@gdkey8025]

did you ever have the ladybird books? wheres sonic, Invisible robotnik, Robotniks oil etc?

[@electricarmadillo8505]

Could you cover shortfuse the cybernik please?

[@Deviously_Cooking]

this looks like that one boss from sonic time twisted

[@AverageFreak13]

Update on the bean the duck or woodpecker SEGA confirmed in the Encyclo-speededia Sega said This *WOODPECKER* so he’s a woodpecker

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks! Someone sent me that confirmation on Twitter. I'm glad we can finally put the debate to rest, haha.

[@grahamfagan1885]

Please cover shortfuse the cybernik mk 3

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've covered Shortfuse here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3uYhYOpeK95h9U

[@djtm6627]

can you pls talk about Seelkadoom the Hedgehog or Neon the Hedgehog i know i'm new but pls do one or sai some thing to me

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been considering doing a video where I compile a bunch of fan characters together to talk about. They might fit into that one.

[@Shmorpicle]

My only experience with sonic comics was a UK sonic generations promotional comic that came with an issue of pokemon world

[@JohnnyVector]

I'll have to try and find that somewhere, I've not heard of that one before

[@zacharykenniston748]

I think you actually fight Brutus in time twisted.

[@agentblackbird9435]

13:56 Come to think of it this is like Sonic Prime Amy

[@bewearstar9462]

Extra life sonic should be covered

[@DaReelSlimN80]

I thought this guy was a Warhammer expy villain

[@JohnnyVector]

He does have a bit of a 40k kinda look

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

The Thanos of the Sonic universe what?

[@tcaponeoone1937]

To bad sega never recognizes any of the original characters from the fleetway comics

[@rayvenkman2087]

They barely recognise half their own characters as it is.

[@gracekim1998]

It is too bad😅 so much potential also might be a copyright thing

[@JohnnyVector]

I think they're most likely to acknowledge Fleetway Super Sonic because of how far and wide he's been memed. Even that would be amazing to see.

[@rayvenkman2087]

@@JohnnyVector Plus he’s a derivative of Sega’s Super Sonic. If they make the Chaos Emeralds relevant again or they decide to actually explain their narrative absence, Fleetway Super Sonic would be a handy character to bring in for it.

[@hoseinbmr3449]

Yes , I'm Archie fan but I agree that poor Fleetway characters are not even known

[@prestigeblue]

WE GOT CYBORG AMY BACK FOR PRIME

[@supersonicfan7514]

How is Grimer eagle-like?

[@JohnnyVector]

Igor-like. Like from some old Frankenstein movies

[@zephon6745]

@@JohnnyVector He isn't like the Igor in the STC Decap Attack stories.

[@internet_person]

Ha he debut in issue

[@DennyDoober01]

Who is breeze

[@almir-chan9570]

Do a grimer video

[@RealmsCrossMyths]

*Who is Ray the Flying Squirrel?* *Who is Mighty the Armadillo?* *Who are G.U.N.?* and *Who is [Sonic O.C.]?* (Sonic Forces) are character dive videos I'd like to see.

[@yorick-fe5vp]

Or marxio bros.

[@gordonfranco9689]

no supersonic is a rip-off of the Legendary Super Saiyan

[@sylasexd]

Not it Sonic The Comic.

[@gordonfranco9689]

@@sylasexd kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4ikiZyqisiMfsU

[@BluShiGuy]

Hmmmmmmmm

[@jellythomasdrury4586]

Rsdkv4?

[@gonzaloelcarrion716]

SONIC.exe