Knuckles and Master Chief share the screen in Super Bowl commercial
Super Bowl LVIII will kick off on February 11, 2024, in Las Vegas with the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers facing off against each other in a rematch of Super Bowl LIV – as usual the hype has already begun well ahead of game time, though. Viewers will be able to follow this edition of the prestigious match via CBS on TV as well as via Paramount+ online, which is why the streaming service put out an almost two minutes long commercial with an all-star line-up to advertise the programming.
From a video game perspective, this commercial contains an unexpected first in history, as this is the first ever time – at least to my knowledge – that Sonic’s Knuckle and Halo’s Master Chief share the screen together. The two iconic characters haven’t really met otherwise in crossovers or the like, as not even Fortnite – the king of all crossovers – sports skins for both of them.
Knuckles the Echidna is Sonic’s rival turned friend and debuted in 1994’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as an antagonist, becoming playable in Sonic & Knuckles that same year. A Paramount+ series featuring live-action Knuckles and named after the character is scheduled to premiere in 2024. Idris Elba has been cast to portray the protagonist.
Master Chief, of course, is the iconic face – or faceplate, rather – of the Halo franchise, which mainly consists of shooters based in a sci-fi setting that sees humanity fight for survival against an alien onslaught. He’s the principal protagonist in the Halo series available on Paramount+ that debuted its first season in 2022 and will start its second season on February 8, 2024 – so this Super Bowl commercial conveniently gets some additional eyes on that one as well.
It’s a bit strange that Knuckles and Master Chief’s first meeting is happening in an advertisement, but we live in interesting times when it comes to video game properties expanding everywhere.
They aren’t the only figures bringing starpower to the commercial: Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, Jeff Probst, Tua Tagovailoa, and others add to its glamor.
You can check out everything releasing on Paramount+ in February 2024 on Men’s Journal.
