We were all too distracted by Keanu Reeves in this Sonic 3 video to notice it spoiled a major Shadow character reveal

A new Sonic 3 video may have just let slip a major Shadow spoiler – but we were all too distracted by Keanu Reeves to realize it.

Possible spoilers for Sonic 3 follow. You have been warned.

At the 45-second mark of a Keanu Reeves-centric featurette (which you can see for yourself in full below), a quick flash of a scene in outer space is shown.

The space setting is nothing new – and was previously revealed via the press pack for a movie tie-in SEGA Genesis game cartridge. What is new, however, is the detail of two yellow flickering lights hurtling towards the space station at mach speed.

Sonic fans happily jumped to conclusions, suggesting that what we're looking at is the transformation of Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and Shadow (Keanu Reeves) into Super Sonic and Super Shadow respectively.

Super Sonic – the Super Saiyan-like ability that activates once Sonic has all seven Chaos Emeralds – has been seen previously in Eggman's defeat during the final act of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Shadow's latent powers haven't yet been revealed, however – but it's a surefire indication that Sonic 3 is closely following several story beats in Sonic Adventure 2.

In that 2001 Dreamcast game, the game ends with both Super Sonic and Super Shadow speeding through space in similar fashion to what's shown in the Sonic 3 featurette. There, the foe was the Biolizard – though it remains to be seen what Sonic and Shadow are rushing to save the day from this time.

Sonic 3 stars Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Krysten Ritter, Tika Sumpter, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. It's set to hit cinemas on December 20 in the US and December 21 in the UK.

For more, check out the upcoming video game movies racing your way very soon, plus our previous interview with Sonic 3 producer Toby Ascher on how Sonic Adventure 2 will influence the threequel.