Bebop and Rocksteady are finally making their big screen debut. The newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is about to hit theaters, and the two toughest members of Shredder’s minions are going to bigger and badder than ever. Not only are we going to see the brain alien Kraang invade from Dimension X, we’ll finally get to see mad scientist Baxter Stockman and the real mutagen ooze in action.
Professional wrestling star Sheamus and actor Gary Anthony Williams, best known for his role as Uncle Ruckus on The Boondocks, will play the two mutated henchmen as they get turned from street thugs into the giant warthog and rhino. Bebop and Rocksteady have been around almost as long as the turtles, and they have gone through just as many changes as our heroes in a half-shell.
Cartoons
Originally, Bebop and Rocksteady were introduced in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon that began airing in 1987. The two were a couple of simple-minded gang members working for Shredder. After the turtles defeated them, they were mutated with a hog and a rhino. Both became more powerful and earned additional abilities that made them more of a threat to the turtles and New York City.
The punk rock Bebop and military styled Rocksteady grew in popularity and became just as pivotal to the turtles story as Shredder, despite the fact that they were always messing things up. Both characters show up in the 2012 series and play a major role in the Nickelodeon version. No matter what incarnation of TMNT they appear in, they are always just as much of a handful for Shredder as they are the turtles.
Comics
In the Archie Comics series TMNT Adventures, the two goons play an even greater role than in the cartoons. They may have been the first of Earth’s inhabitants to get sucked into oblivion in the 2012 show, and it can be argued that Bebop may have saved the whole of existence in the TV movie Turtles Forever, but in this comic run they actually get their own wildlife planet called Eden World to inhabit.
The IDW version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the two mutants are more capable and deadly than in any other incarnation. Both are very intelligent and skilled fighters and when Shredder orders Donatello to be killed, Rocksteady splits his shell open and leaves him bloody and broken. It’s a dark and disturbing moment in the Turtles franchise that still makes fans reel over its brutality.
Games
When Bebop and Rocksteady appear in video games, they are almost always bosses. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showed up in arcades in 1989 and became one of the most successful games of the era. Kids all over the world loved the beat ‘em up gameplay and the graphics that looked lifted straight out of the cartoon. The difficulty level of the game was moderate, but Rocksteady and Bebop were extra tough to fight and defeat.
The deadly duo have also shown up in games ported for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Super NES, 3DS and multiple other classic consoles. What’s interesting about their roles in the arguably best game produced from the property Turtles in Time, is that characters Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze were replaced by Bebop and Rocksteady for the SNES version.
Fans are happy to know that these two will finally be on screen facing off against the Ninja Turtles this summer. In 1991, audiences were left confused when both were replaced due to the comic creators wanting them to have no part of Secret of the Ooze. It took 25 years for Bebop and Rocksteady to make it to the big screen, and we can’t wait to see them battle the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this Friday.
