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Bebop and Rocksteady are a fictional duo of mutant warthog and rhinoceros that have made appearances in various media releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The t…
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Bebop and Rocksteady are a fictional duo of mutant warthog and rhinoceros that have made appearances in various media releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The two characters are henchmen who follow the orders of the franchise's chief antagonist, Shredder, the leader of the Foot Clan.
Bebop and Rocksteady are a fictional duo of mutant warthog and rhinoceros that have made appearances in various media releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The two characters are henchmen who follow the orders of the franchise's chief antagonist, Shredder, the leader of the Foot Clan. Their names are both derived from genres of music: Bebop is a style of jazz, while rocksteady is a Jamaican music style, a precursor to reggae.
The characters were designed by Peter Laird while negotiating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure deal with Playmates Toys, because they wanted more characters to release. They were added to the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series and given names, personalities, and an origin story by writer David Wise, based on instructions by Fred Wolf to "put more mutants in the series".
Bebop and Rocksteady were featured in the comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, with similar origins and dimwittedness. As told in the animated series, they were street gang members mutated by Shredder to help him defeat the turtles.
As the series progresses, Bebop and Rocksteady come to believe that they were once normal animals. When Shredder and his bunch are defeated by the TMNT in the 'Final Conflict' (issue #13), Cherubae teleports Rocksteady and Bebop to an Eden World, a planet in Dimension X where they can live peacefully.
In issues #23-#25, Krang, who was banished to the planet Morbus for exiled criminals, befriends two other criminals, Slash and Bellybomb. The group steals a spaceship and head to Earth, during which they stop on Eden World. Being bored of Paradise, Rocksteady and Bebop join Krang's group on the trip back to Earth. However, rather than battle the turtles, Bebop and Rocksteady leave Krang and the villains to fight the turtles and go off on their own in New York City. Just as the turtles managed to defeat Krang (who had taken over Shredder's body), Rocksteady and Bebop arrive with a group of freed zoo animals, intending to take them back to Eden World. The turtles surrender and let Bebop and Rocksteady escape in the spaceship with the animals. Leonardo asks them to take the defeated Krang and Bellybomb with them back to Morbus in Dimension X. Bebop and Rocksteady do as asked and return to Eden World.
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Bebop and Rocksteady are shown in their human forms in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro Series #1 (December 2011). They work alongside a mutant arctic fox mutant named Alopex and appear mutated in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 (August 2013). Their back story is told in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Villains Micro-Series #7 (October 2013). Bebop was originally a man named Genealdo and Rocksteady was originally a man named Maxence.
In this version, they fully understood the implications of their mutation, having successfully fought and defeated all other candidates for the right after being defeated by the Turtles as humans as Genealdo was mutated into a mutant warthog and Maxence was mutated into a mutant white rhinoceros. It is revealed in the micro-series that having been kicked out of gangs in the past owing to their incompetence, they are fanatically determined to remain in the Foot Clan.
They were ordered by Shredder to kill Donatello, which they carried out. Rocksteady smashed Donatello's shell with a sledgehammer, leaving the Turtle in a pool of blood. However, Donatello clung to life long enough for his consciousness to be temporarily transferred into the robot Metalhead while his turtle body was being restored. After Shredder's death in issue #50, Bebop and Rocksteady desert the Foot and, after inadvertently coming into contact with Savanti Romero and his stolen Time Scepter, wreak so much havoc across the multiverse that all reality is pushed to the brink of obliteration; the Turtles and Renet barely avert the catastrophe.
Bebop (voiced by Barry Gordon in most appearances, Greg Berg in some 1989 episodes) and Rocksteady (voiced by Cam Clarke) were introduced in the series as members of a human street gang in New York City that was employed by Shredder. Rocksteady, the gang's leader, was a short and stocky blond Caucasian man. Bebop, the second-in-command, is a taller African American man with a purple mohawk. With their fellow gang members Scrag, Grunt, Dopey, and Dumbo, they were sent out to stop reporter April O'Neil from doing a report about crime in the city. April flees into the sewers while being chased by the street gang and meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who defeat the gang in a fight.
After this humiliating setback, Shredder developed a plan to defeat the Turtles by mutating members of the street gang that Rocksteady and Bebop are a part of so that they would have abilities greater than the Turtles'. Rocksteady and Bebop both volunteer to undergo the procedure first with the promise that it would allow them to exact revenge on the Turtles. Although the transformation did make them larger and stronger, they remain incompetent.
Bebop and Rocksteady appear in the 2012 incarnation, voiced by J. B. Smoove and Fred Tatasciore respectively.
Rocksteady is introduced as Ivan Steranko, a Russian arms dealer, and artifact collector, an old friend and business partner of Shredder. He first appears in the episode "Enemy of My Enemy," where he meets with Shredder for a weapons deal. Shredder does not seem to trust him and has the cargo searched in case Steranko was pulling any tricks.
Bebop was later on introduced as Anton Zeck, an African American professional thief in a high-tech suit. He first appears in "The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto," where he was sent by Steranko to steal Shredder's helmet, the titular Kuro Kabuto. Following his theft, Zeck runs into the Turtles, who steal the kabuto from him.
In the episodes "Serpent Hunt" and "The Pig and the Rhino", Steranko and Zeck resolve to capture Karai in exchange for Shredder securing their safe departure from the city. Steranko and Zeck ar
