Shredder Was Originally In TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, But He's Being Saved For A Sequel
Jeff Rowe's upcoming film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" — due in theaters on August 2, 2023 — may very well be the 30th time the Ninja Turtles have been re-upped or rebooted since the characters' inception in 1984. "Mutant Mayhem" will be the seventh feature film to star the reptiles, and will be the fourth distinct cinematic continuity. This is in addition to multiple comic book timelines, various animated shows, a live-action TV series, and God knows how many video games. I suppose if your main characters are teenagers, one can only spend so much time with them before they age out of their title.
In "Mutant Mayhem," the title turtles are teens through-and-through, and the actors playing them are age-appropriate. Micah Abbey (Donatello) is 15, Shamon Brown, Jr. (Michelangelo) is 18, Nicholas Cantu (Leonardo) is 19, and Brady Noon (Raphael) is 17. Judging by the trailer, "Mutant Mayhem" will not only look striking — the characters are exaggerated and painterly/cubist/graffiti-constructed at the same time — but will feature a plot that involves many, many mutants. There will be a mutant rhino, a mutant stingray, a mutant warthog, a mutant alligator, a mutant frog, a mutant gecko, and a mutant bat. It seems the film will certainly not be skimping on the mutant mayhem.
Something that will not be included is the non-mutant martial arts master the Shredder, a masked baddie emblazoned with knives who is the Ninja Turtles' arch-nemesis. The Shredder has appeared in most Ninja Turtles media, often serving as a final boss in video games, and was the primary antagonist in at least four movies. In a recent interview with SFX Magazine, director Rowe revealed that he's saving the Shredder for a potential sequel.
We need another mutant
The antagonist of "Mutant Mayhem" is, as the title indicates, yet another mutant. Superfly (Ice Cube), a human-sized fly, appears to have a plan to take over the world. That character was enough, Jeff Rowe said, to take up the whole movie. A character like the Shredder has too storied and extensive a background to include as well, so eventually the filmmaker elected merely to leave him out. He said:
"We had Shredder for a while. [...] He is such a special character in the lore. As a character, he takes up a lot of space in the story. And in this movie, it felt like we needed the villain to be another mutant, we needed it to be someone that could relate to the Turtles, and that the Turtles could also relate to and be somewhat tempted by. They needed to have more of a parallel story. And that's what Superfly gave us."
Indeed, the Shredder is an evil martial arts master hellbent on dominance and destruction. He offers no tantalizing conflicts for the Turtles other than someone to fight with. The Turtles, incidentally, are not the types of characters to tussle with villains who challenge them intellectually. They're teenagers who are largely defined by the weapons they carry. They may be skilled fighters, but it seems that the Shredder doesn't offer up much of a nuanced counterpoint. Superfly, at the very least, would stand as a fellow mutant the Turtles can disagree with.
Rowe knew that saving the Turtles' most famous archenemy for a sequel did indeed resemble a different recent superhero blockbuster.
'We'll Dark Knight it'
Jeff Rowe said that his restraint "saves Shredder for future movies" and would allow them to "'Dark Knight' it." He added, "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."
There are currently no plans to make a sequel to "Mutant Mayhem," although the Ninja Turtles have a long and varied history of commercial success and much hay has already been made of the new film's striking aesthetic. While not even hot properties are guaranteed success anymore (in 2023 alone, audiences have stayed away from films starring Marvel heroes, DC Comics heroes, and Indiana Jones), Rowe is clearly feeling optimistic. Should "Mutant Mayhem" enjoy the kind of success most of the Ninja Turtles movies have in the past, then there's every reason to believe audiences will see the Shredder in animated form someday. If, however, "Mayhem" goes the way of the 2016 live-action/CGI film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," then perhaps not. Regardless, Rowe would be happy to make one, should it be demanded.
Rowe previously co-wrote the acclaimed animated film "The Mitchells vs. the Machines," and worked extensively on quirky, odd comedy shows like "Gravity Falls" and the Matt Groening co-created fantasy series "Disenchantment." He has already won two Annies. Whether or not "Mutant Mayhem" is a hit, one can at least admire the craftsmanship and acting that went into its making.