The very end of the radical animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem featured the classic villain Shredder stepping into the story. While he wasn’t a main villain in the first film, the sequel is said to be a “villain-forward” movie that will focus on Shredder.
Director Jeff Rowe recently talked to Collider about the sequel and said that Shredder will play a major role in the upcoming movie:
“Shredder is just a great character. He’s an iconic, classic, loved character. He’s like the Joker. You know who he is, even if you’re not a fan of the source material. I think we definitely wanna do a villain-forward film. We’re currently trying to make decisions about that, but those decisions for us as filmmakers are always going to come from the place of what tells the best story, specifically about our main characters, the Turtles.”
The filmmaker’s reference to the world of Batman isn’t the first time he compared Shredder to it. The director previously teased Shredder’s involvement, saying: “We’ll Dark Knight it.” He went on to say that he’d 100% love to develop a sequel and shared: “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.”
Batman is obviously a heavy influence in this TMNT film franchise. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, 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.
When previously talking about the tone of the film, Rowe revealed the vibe they were going for, saying: “We wanted it to be like Stand By Me and Lady Bird. But, you know, with Ninja Turtles.” They nailed it, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how they handle Shredder in the sequel!
