Now Kevin Eastman Is Comparing Michael Bay's 'Ninja Turtles' To 'The Avengers'

Now Kevin Eastman Is Comparing Michael Bay’s ‘Ninja Turtles’ To ‘The Avengers’

We won’t actually see theMichael Bay-producedNinja Turtlesuntil2014 or so, but in the meantimeTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesco-creatorKevin Eastmanis keeping the hype machine rolling by naming all sorts of other movies thatNinja Turtleswill be like. Among the titles he’s previouslyname-checkedareThe Raid: Redemption,Fist of Legend, andRise of the Planet of the Apes.

Now he’s also likeningNinja TurtlestoThe Avengers, in terms of “scope and roots origin.” Lord knows there’s a world of difference between emulatingThe Avengersand actually being as good asThe Avengers, but at least they’re aiming high, I guess? Continue reading after the jump.

In a recent interview withNBC 5 Chicago(viaComic Book Movie), Eastman spoke highly of directorJonathan Liebesman’s vision:

Jonathan Liebesman is going to make a great film. From what I’ve seen of the script, it’s fantastic. Michael Bay has made some great and intense movies. We’re talking about being inspired by movies like ‘The Avengers’ for scope and roots origin and ‘The Raid: Redemption’ for fight scenes and ‘Rise for the Apes’ as far as computer-quality style.

Eastman also referencedThe Avengersin a separate conversation withThe Examiner:

I like to answer this by basically telling the fans first and foremost not to worry, this will be a great TMNT film. Much like many thirty year old concepts, the TMNT’s have been re-invented a number of times, some were stronger than others, but if you look at what Viacom/Nickelodeon has done/allowed to happen with the new TMNT animated TV series, and the new IDW comic series, each has a slightly new and refreshed take on the “core concept,” the new film with be the same, a film “well placed” in the TMNT lore the fans will enjoy. If we learned nothing else from one of my favorite comic book based films, The Avengers, that there’s a lot to be said about never forgetting that core concept and core fan-base.

It’s no wonder Eastman hopesNinja Turtleslives up to the standards set byThe Avengers, which raked in $1.5 billion by pleasing established fans and attracting new ones. But the choice to cut out the “teenage” and “mutant” parts of the Ninja Turtle backstory already has lots of TMNT lovers sore, and the negative buzz surroundingJosh AppelbaumandAndre Nemec’s script doesn’t bode well either. I’m sure fans will come around if the film turns out to be a good one, but so far the project is off to a shaky start.