The first looks at Dave Green's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows have already hit the Internet to varying degrees of reception. We got a glimpse of new footage that revealed the film's version of the fan-favorite villains Bebop and Rocksteady, followed quickly by the first full trailer that puts the Turtles up against a mysterious menace alongside a new ally. And while the cast is aware that the first film had shortcomings that they hope to address in the sequel, fans will likely believe that when they see it.

However you feel about the first film and this early look at the sequel, it's clear from the footage that TMNT2 is at least folding in some more of the characters and lore from the franchise. In addition to the return of the Turtles themselves and their human partner April O'Neil (Megan Fox), we get to see Stephen Amell as vigilante Casey Jones, the mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), and the aforementioned mutated warthog and rhino antagonists. We even get a great action sequence featuring the Turtles in their manhole cover-launching Party Wagon! But what if I told you that the alien mobile battle fortress The Technodrome is in the movie, and it's already right in front of your eyes?


In the trailer, we get a good solid look at a massive electrical storm brewing over New York City. All of the attention is focused on this dangerous event, which clearly isn't just your ordinary storm. Blue lightning crackles within the swirling clouds, and the eye of the storm seems to hollow and deepen, perhaps concealing a gateway hidden away within the maelstrom.

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Image via Paramount Pictures
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Image via Paramount Pictures

We then see a few brief glimpses of what look to be asymmetric pieces of machinery flying all over the city, occasionally smashing into buildings and sending debris falling to the street below. Some of these pieces, which resemble Tetris blocks, appear to be interacting with each other through purplish electricity, perhaps snapping together to form larger constructs.

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Image via Paramount Pictures

Later in the trailer, but presumably in the same big action scene, the Turtles are seen hopping from one floating Tetris block to another. All the blocks are more or less lined up and flying in the same direction, perhaps toward the same destination, and the Turtles are along for the ride.

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Image via Paramount Pictures

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Image via Paramount Pictures

So here's where a little more speculation and imagination come in. It hasn't been confirmed just yet, but there's a strong possibility that the alien world of Dimension X will make an appearance in the sequel. The producers previously expressed an interest in exploring that side of the story, so it would certainly make sense to do so now that the bigger-than-life title characters have been introduced. I'm theorizing that the massive storm is actually an inter-dimensional portal between Earth and Dimension X, and that the floating Tetris blocks are actually ... wait for it ... segments of a mobile battle fortress that will snap together to form the unstoppable Technodrome!


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Image via Mirage Studios

And where there's the Technodrome, there's Krang, a warlord from Dimension X that resembles an out-of-body brain with tentacles. Unnamed sources have strongly suggested that Krang will be featured in the sequel, and this trailer at least seems to back up the possibility. As a fan of TMNT - and a childhood owner of the fantastic plastic Technodrome - this inclusion of some of the more out-there facets of the franchise would be a huge draw for me. None of this is confirmed at this point, but it certainly is fun to think about.

What do you think? Will the Technodrome assemble on Earth to dominate the citizens of New York City, unless the Turtles can put a stop to it? Will Krang make his shouting, slobbering appearance on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below!


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Image via Shoot For The Edit.