Stephen Amell Talks New Casey Jones in TMNT 2

(Obligatory snide remark about the unavoidable relevance of a totally soulless, cash-cow Michael Bay-Produced, nerdy nostalgia property.)

Casey Jones, the hockey paddle wielding punk and vigilante ally of the Ninja Turtles is set to make his debut in the onscreen TMNT reboot sequel.

Stephen Amell, already famous as The CW’s Arrow will putting on the hockey mask. In an interview with IGN at SDCC 2015, Amell revealed that this Casey Jones will have a slightly different background and explanation for his turn to vigilantism.

“He is not the Casey Jones that a lot of comic fans have come to know and love. He is a guy with a job that lives in New York and loves hockey. When things go awry, [and] when he goes through the normal methods of what someone would do when they’re [a] law-abiding citizen and he’s met with laughter and scorn… he decides to take things into his own hands.”

So instead of turning felon to survive as a child after his father was killed, like in the comics, Casey will be a grown adult taking justice into his own hands after personal tragedy. I guess I could live with that.

TMNT 2 will also reportedly bring in Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams), and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) from the comics. We’ll see if the movie continues the watering down and interconnecting of backstories for the mutated characters again.

One bright spot of hope for this movie is that it’s being directed by Dave Green (Earth To Echo). That movie had a sense of genuine youthful wonder one might want to keep when adapting an 80s toy property. Also Stephen Amell has proven his crime fighting chops as Arrow. TMNT 2 will shellshock us all in theaters June 3rd, 2016.