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'Smallville' Star Alan Ritchson is Raphael in the New 'Ninja Turtles'

by Ben Pearson
March 22, 2013

Producer Michael Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman have been fighting an uphill battle against hardcore fans with their new take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ever since it was discovered that the heroes in a half shell were being converted from mutants to aliens and the title was officially just Ninja Turtles. The movie has encountered a few budget issues, and despite Bay's assertion that fans should just calm down, the backlash continued when Megan Fox was cast as April O'Neil last month. Now Deadline reports that Paramount and Platinum Dunes have cast "Smallville" actor Alan Ritchson as Raphael. Wait, who is that?

Ritchson played Arthur Curry aka Aquaman on the long-running CW series, and he just wrapped shooting the highly-anticipated sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in which he'll play a knife-wielding tribute from District One named Gloss. In Ninja Turtles, the cast members playing the iconic heroes will trade out the rubber suits from the original for a modern motion capture suit (much like Avatar). While Deadline calls this a "good role" for Ritchson, his part in the film won't be all that great if the script isn't worth a damn, and with the supposedly leaked screenplay and damage controlled bad buzz already surrounding this movie, it looks like we have reason to worry, not to mention the underwhelming Liebesman at the helm.

I know a lot of fans don't like it, but I'm cool with Megan Fox as April O'Neil, and I'm sure Ritchson will make a fine Raphael. We won't write this movie off completely without seeing a trailer, but Bay and Liebesman have a lot of work to do if they want to win over fans before this film hits theaters. Ninja Turtles still has a May 16th, 2014 release date in place, up against Gareth Edwards' Godzilla remake. Thoughts?

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