by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is shaping up to be the Batman and Robin of its franchise. It’s already chock full of new characters like Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), Rocksteady (WWE wrestler Sheamus), Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). And it seems the studio isn’t stopping there.

In a profile piece from Rolling Stone covering Michael Bay, the magazine followed the director around as he did whatever it is that he does. One of those things was checking out concept art for the next TMNT film that involves another character being added:

They start with Ninja Turtles animation. Pablo Helman, a visual-effects supervisor who worked on the Star Wars prequels, appears onscreen and shows Bay the latest version of Krang, a new-to-the-movies villain who is, essentially, a disembodied brain inside a giant robot. “So we’ve eliminated the tentacles,” Helman explains. “Is it too monster-ish?”

“He could have some tentacles,” says Bay. “I just don’t want them coming out of the side. He looks like a stupid octopus.”

So now the film will have Krang as well. It makes sense as during the trailer it looked like a portal to somewhere (Dimension X, perhaps?) was being opened and large pieces of metal (the Technodrome) were flying all over the place.

I’m not too sure I like this. It seems crammed full of new characters as is. And don’t get me wrong – I’m a huuuuge TMNT fanboy. It started with the cartoon, went into the movies and (when I grew up and my pop culture palate became a bit more refined) eventually made it’s way to the original Eastman and Laird comics. But this just seems like it’s overflowing with characters who won’t get enough screen time.

They could let the big, bad brain come in at the end and set up the third movie. I’d prefer that overseeing Krang become some shoe-horned, third-act reveal as the “man behind the curtain,” so to speak.

I’ll still check it out. I’m a sucker for anything Stephen Amell does at this point in time. But I’m definitely going into it with lowered expectations…like Paul Feig Ghostbusters low.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows will hit theaters on June 3 this year.