We've seen quite a bit of concept art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem over the past couple of weeks, and Justin Runfola has now shared a first look at his early designs for a character who didn't actually appear in the animated reboot... at least, not until the very end!
Spoilers follow.
The Heroes in a Half-Shell's nemesis has always been the Shredder, and the villain was originally going to feature in the movie before the decision was made to focus on a newly-created character (Superfly) and save Oroku Saki for the sequel.
In Mutant Mayhem's post-credits scene, Cynthia Utrom decides to call in Shredder's services to help her take down the Turtles, and we get a quick glimpse of his signature purple cape and spiked armor as he looks over the New York skyline.
As you can see, there were a few pretty out-there idea for this new take on Shredder, with some paying homage to his previous appearances in the various animated shows and comic books, and others... not so much!
Will one of these designs inform Saki's look in the planned sequel?
“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.