There have been a few times within the current continuity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when Donatello had a chance to gaze into the future and see possible outcomes. In one such instance, he sees a reality where two of the TMNT’s best ‘90s villains aren’t villains at all, and instead actually live up to their original namesakes: Bebop and Rocksteady.
Bebop and Rocksteady are easily two of the most iconic villains of the ‘90s. Not just in the TMNT franchise, but the entirety of the era. These guys were hulking, dim-witted, and dressed to the nines in painfully ‘90s attire. In short, they were glorious, which is why practically nothing about them has changed to this day. While their looks and attitudes are a big reason as to why that is, the two were set up for success with their names alone. Both Bebop and Rocksteady were derived from popular music genres of the decade. Bebop is a style of jazz while rocksteady is a Jamaican music style. While this is their names’ meta-origin, it’s never really been addressed in their characters before. It’s not like Bebop and Rocksteady are professional musicians, they’re just two big mutant dimwits who have arguably hindered more of Shredder’s plans than they’ve helped. At least, that’s how they are in the main TMNT timeline, though Donatello reveals that there is another where Bebop and Rocksteady are actually more suited to have their iconic monikers.
Bebop and Rocksteady are Famous Rock Stars in a Possible TMNT Future
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series – Donatello by Paul Allor and Brahm Revel, Donatello is trying to create a device that is basically a probability engine. He wants to peer into potential futures by assessing the most probable outcome of any conceivable situation. Essentially, he’s trying to make a precognition machine, and with the help of Metalhead, he’s actually successful. Donatello looks into a number of potential futures, and while most of them are filled with violence and bloodshed, one of them is much more lighthearted: Bebop and Rocksteady are rock stars.
The moment is brief, and Donatello moves past this alternate reality as quickly as it first appeared to him, but the panel showing it is absolutely perfect. Finally, their names actually make sense, and this possible path for their lives proves that they do have some musical talents and interests. Sure, they always liked music as much as the next beat box-holding-hoodlum of the ‘90s, and they can each hold their own in a casual jam session, but that doesn’t really warrant being named after entire genres of music. Now, with the evidence shown in this issue, those names have been earned, and Bebop and Rocksteady can properly align themselves more definitively with music culture.
While it is nice to see that Bebop and Rocksteady actually have the potential to live up to their namesakes and be rock stars, this issue is more of a meta-tribute to the names themselves than an in-world plot point. By showing the two best ‘90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villains as famous musicians in Donatello’s alternate future, this issue gives readers a subtle nod to the real-world origin of their names–and it’s absolutely perfect.
