‘Ninja Turtles’ Concept Art Reveals What Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang Would Have Looked Like
For most of us, the pain of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' has come and gone (though the movie opens this weekend in the UK), and it's probably best to put it behind us. But, maybe somewhere throughout the development process, maybe there was a good 'Ninja Turtles' movie in there somewhere before it was homogenized within an inch of its life. Case in point: this new concept art that reveals classic TMNT villains Bebop, Rockstead and Krang almost made their way into the film.
Posted online by The Aaron Sims Company (who previously worked on 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Green Lantern'), these designs show that at one point, these iconic villains were once part of the 'Ninja Turtles' story. We had heard rumors that, at least, Krang was going to make an appearance in the film (allegedly Krang was going to be the one working the Shredder armor), but maybe that was just too much craziness to include in the film.
Bebop and Rocksteady were two New York City gang members who were mutated by Shredder in hopes of creating henchman powerful enough to take down the turtles. While the mutagen made their bigger and stronger (and half-rhinoceros and -warthog), they remained morons and, like all good cartoon henchmen, a source of constant frustration and disappointment to their boss.
Unlike Bebop and Rocksteady (who were created for the TV cartoon to help sell more toys), Krang was a fixture from the comics. He was an anthropomorphic brain from the Dimension X who partnered with Shredder to take over Earth. (And, that goes down as one of the weirdest sentences we ever had to type.)
While most of us didn't love the movie, it did make over $65 million in its opening weekend and a 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2' was quickly greenlit by the studio. You can all but guarantee that some version of these characters below will make an appearance in the sequel. They're just too popular to be left out.
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2' opens in theaters on June 3, 2016.