I went from dubious to cautiously optimistic about the Sonic the Hedgehog movie when I heard it had cast Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik/Eggman , and I feel even more safe in that attitude reversal now that we have this first leaked image of the film's take on the cute-animal-imprisoning villain. According to SEGAbits, the Sega enthusiast site that first shared the picture, the image of Carrey in costume was pulled from a trailer that's set to debut tomorrow.

Rumor: First look at Robotnik in the #SonicMovie, trailer releases tomorrow pic.twitter.com/IMf4pjQX6UApril 29, 2019

The image shows Carrey at the seat of a futuristic vehicle, with a lovely moustache and some goggles perched on his forehead. He has an overabundance of hair and far too svelte of a figure to be a direct Robotnik conversion, but the perfectly smug look on Carrey's face makes it all work. Spoiler alert for an unreleased film, but apparently he'll end up quite a bit closer to the egg-shaped villain we all know and love at the end of the movie. Yes, we live in a world where we're getting sequel hooks for movies that don't even have trailers yet.

Prior leaks have stated that Robotnik gets stranded in Sonic’s world at the end and a post credits scene shows him with no hair, a big stache and a big bellyApril 29, 2019

In case you're worried that this is merely a well-executed photo manipulation, an entertainment news writer who has seen footage of the film confirmed that it's legit.

Can confirm that's real. We saw two trailers at CinemaCon, one which was entirely focused on Carrey as Robotnik. He's playing the character in what I would describe as "late 90's Jim Carrey mode". https://t.co/t0HHJzy43sApril 29, 2019

After the mixed reactions to the design of Sonic the Hedgehog himself , I am unequivocally down for the return of Liar Liar-era Jim Carrey as this live-action Robotnik. If we can't have connected eyes on Sonic, at least we can have Robotnik screaming and blustering all over the scenery.