Much of the early discussion of the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has been mired in a murky, sticky ooze—an ooze that serves no purpose now, given that Bay's ninja turtles hail from the more logical origin of an alien planet. But while people such as TMNT voice actor Robbie Rist and even co-creator Peter Laird have all offered their responses to Bay's unimpeachable reason, in terms ranging from withering sarcasm to accusations of rape, no one needs to worry about any complaints now, because Laird's estranged former partner, Kevin Eastman, says that the new Ninja Turtles will be a lot like The Avengers.
Eastman was retained earlier this year as a "creative consultant" on the film, a job that has so far mostly entailed gazing slackjawed at Bay's "AWESOME" vision for the film, then telling everyone how AWESOME it is that this vision is changing his and Laird's original creation, and allowing him to "consult" by offering his enthusiastic approval of that. He continued that creative consultation during a recent interview with NBC 5, consulting his approved talking points about how AWESOME the new Ninja Turtles will be, and then creatively coming up with some new ways in which to convey that. "We're talking about being inspired by movies like The Avengers for scope and roots origin, The Raid: Redemption for fight scenes and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes as far as computer-quality style," Eastman said by way of naming other successful movies that you can go ahead and mentally link to Ninja Turtles.
Eastman later deepened that comparison by telling the Examiner, "If we learned nothing else from one of my favorite comic book based films, The Avengers, it's that there's a lot to be said about never forgetting that core concept and core fan-base"—referring to the way The Avengers stayed true to its core concept and fan-base by completely jettisoning their origin stories and bringing in some stuff about aliens.
Anyway, for skeptical fans who are not yet assuaged by knowing that the film will comprise all the best parts of The Avengers, The Raid, and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Eastman is no doubt also working on some reasons why Ninja Turtles will also have the romance of Twilight, the quiet dignity of Lincoln, and the alien ninja turtles of The Dark Knight. [via Coming Soon]
And now, the obligatory "Ninja Rap" video, which is just like The Avengers.