Leo, Mikey, Raph and Donnie will be facing-off against a lot of bad guys in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem animated movie, but the team's most iconic and recognizable villain will not be among them.
The Shredder, aka Oroku Saki, wasn't actually supposed to emerge as the Turtles' main antagonist in the original comics (he was actually killed off at the end of the first issue), but the popularity of the '80s animated series led to the character being brought back, and he's been the Heroes in a Half-Shells' nemesis ever since.
While speaking to SFX Magazine (via Games Radar), Mutant Mayhem co-director Jeff Rowe said he'd be "100%" down to introduce Shredder in a potential sequel.
"We'll Dark Knight it," he said, referring to the big Joker tease at the end of Batman Begins. "When you've grown and you've become confident as a teenager, to then go up against a foe that is three times scarier than anything you've ever seen before, that's interesting and dramatic."
Of course, the first movie has to perform well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, but early word has been very positive, and we'd say a more teen-friendly take on the TMNT has a pretty good chance of being a sure-fire hit.
Do you plan on seeing Mutant Mayhem in theaters when it releases on Auguest 4?
“After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.”
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon will voice the roles of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, respectively. The cast also includes Jackie Chan as Splinter, Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.