Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Will Feature These Three Fan Favorite Characters
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Whether you’re a fan of last summer’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or not, it doesn’t matter, because there’s already a sequel on the way. Hell, it got the green light from Paramount and Nickelodeon before the film had even been out a week. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 recently got a new director thrown into the mix, and we’re hearing reports that we can expect to see three fan favorite characters from the franchise appear in the next film.
Building up to the first movie, there was a lot of hope that fans might see characters like Rocksteady, Bebop, and Casey Jones make and appearance, but that never panned out. There was concept art for the first two actually commissioned, but they didn’t show up in the finished product, unless you count that Easter Egg hidden in the background. But, it does sound like all three of these familiar faces will be in TMNT 2, at least at this stage of the game.
Talking to Omelete (translated by Collider), producer Andrew Form said, “We can say that Bebop and Rocksteady are in the film, and Casey Jones is a character that we love and we’re trying to fit him in as well.”
While Rocksteady and Bebop are definitely in, Casey Jones might not make ultimately make the cut, and we’ll just add him in pencil for the time being. And to be honest, as much as I like the hockey mask wearing vigilante, I’d much rather see the two mutants on screen again first.
Unlike the Turtles, who have their origins on the pages of Eastman and Laird’s comic books, Rocksteady and Bebop first appeared in the cartoon series, and were then integrated into the larger mythology. They began life as members of a New York street gang working for Shredder, but were mutated intentionally to combat the Turtles. Rocksteady is the unholy mixture of man and rhino, while Bebop is what happens when you combine a human with a warthog. Casey Jones was originally intended as a parody of other comic book vigilantes, and uses various sports equipment, like baseball bats, golf clubs, and even a cricket whatever-you-call-it to battle crime on the streets.
Just last week the studio tapped David Green to helm Turtles 2, even though he only has one feature under his belt, the found footage kid flick Earth to Echo. I didn’t dislike the first TMNT as much as a lot of people, but one of my biggest complaints is director Jonathan Liebesman constantly swooping in and out with the camera, it’s distracting and jumbles much of the action, so I’m fine with going a different direction. And with his child-friendly experience, Green may be just what this film franchise is looking for.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 is already scheduled for release on June 2, 2016. Are you excited to see Rocksteady and Bebop, and maybe Casey Jones, on movie screens again, or did the first film not do it for you?
