Last year's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot from director Jonathan Liebesman and producer Michael Bay earned plenty of money at the box office. Despite its financial success, however, the fourth live-action movie about the heroes in the half shell received mostly negative to (as Mad Max: Fury Road's Immortan Joe would say) mediocre reactions from many critics and fans. Now, Dave Green (Earth to Echo) is directing the sequel, and so far it's packed with fan-favorite characters from the franchise. Not only will the follow up, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, have a new approach to Shredder and Karai, but it'll also mark the live-action debut of Bebop and Rocksteady.
Actor Stephen Amell (Arrow) landed the role of Casey Jones - a New York vigilante who loves to use sporting equipment as weapons - and the first look at the character revealed a more militaristic approach to his signature hockey mask. Photos and videos have been taken of the actor on the movie's set, but now he's offering fans a first look at Casey Jones' car.
Sharing the image via his own Facebook page, Amell revealed Jones drives a black Dodge Challenger. While fans haven't seen much of this new take on the Ninja Turtles' classic ally, Amell states the vehicle "should handily convince you that Casey Jones is going to be a bad ass." In the comments, one fan expressed concern over the design for the new Casey Jones, pointing out the popular TMNT character often has long hair. Amell replied to the fan's concerns, saying the change in look "makes sense" and fans should "try and be patient" because they've yet to see a trailer or even read a synopsis.
Someone gets super serious on set.By the way, this car should handily convince you that Casey Jones is going to be a bad ass.Posted by Stephen Amell on Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Concern over the character's design is understandable. For fans of Arrow, it's difficult not to see the set photos and videos and immediately think it's simply Oliver Queen taking on a new heroic identity over in the Big Apple. However, Amell's response is perfectly valid: fans are only getting a glimpse of the character. We've yet to see what his personality is like or whether or not he'll even have a New York accent. Given his response, it seems likely there may be a nod to the character's history of having long hair - perhaps a joke about how he had hair like that when he was younger or possibly even Megan Fox's April O'Neil saying something like he'd look more badass with long hair.
Casey Jones often has a physical encounter with the turtles before becoming their friend. In the classic 1987 series, he attacked them in the sewers, and in the original comics, the 2003 and the 2012 TV shows, he got into a brawl with Raphael. Given the new turtles' size and strength, it's tough to imagine he can give them much trouble, but set photos do imply there will be some kind of tension between him and the Ninja Turtles - at least at first.
Meanwhile, ComicBook.com has shared several videos of the Ninja Turtles being escorted by police. As the mutants exit a police command center, officers hold up riot shields to conceal them. This may be to hide their identity from the public - in a pretty inefficient way considering how large they are - or perhaps the public knows about them and there are protesters, who might throw things at Leonardo and his brothers. Either way, the secret about the turtles is out and that's something Master Splinter likely won't be happy about; he's often preached about how they need to remain in the shadows and go unseen in their war against crime. But if an alliance with the NYPD will aid them in bringing down the Foot Clan, it's possible Splinter won't be upset about the development for too long.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 opens June 3, 2016.
Source: Stephen Amell, ComicBook.com