Krang

Krang (also spelled Kraang) is a supervillain appearing in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-related media, most frequently in the 1987 cartoon and its associated merchandise, such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book and most of the classic TMNT video games.^[1]

Krang's first comics appearance was in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures vol. 1, #1, published by Archie Comics in August 1988. In the 1987 TV series, Krang was voiced by Pat Fraley. He is still one of the primary antagonists to the Ninja Turtles, appearing as General Krang in the 2012 IDW comic publication.^[2]

The character made his first live action appearance in the 2016 sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, with his voice provided by Brad Garrett.

Fictional character biography

In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon background story, Krang was originally a warlord from Dimension X who commanded an army of Rock Soldiers under the leadership of General Traag and Lieutenant Granitor. He took the completed Technodrome (a powerful mobile battle fortress) for himself, and then banished Drakus (who helped Krang build it) to Earth. Eventually, Krang would be banished from Dimension X as well, but not before being stripped of his body and reduced to a brain like-form. In the episode "Invasion of the Krangazoids" Krang clones himself, and his clones later evolved developing their own, reptiloid-like bodies.

While on Earth, Krang allied himself with the Shredder who, along with his robotic Foot Soldier army, moved into the Technodrome. In exchange, the Shredder had to build a new body for Krang, a human-shaped exo-suit which the latter had designed. Shredder lived up to his part of the bargain in the season 1 episode "Shredder and Splintered," in no small part because he was unable to deal with the Turtles himself and needed Krang's help. In the season 3 episode "Shredderville", the Turtles have a dream of a parallel world in which they never existed, and Shredder had no problem taking over the world; in the same dream, Shredder abandoned Krang after his conquest was complete, leaving him with no body and a heavily-damaged Technodrome.

Krang's ultimate goal is to rule all dimensions, including Earth. Every plan Krang conceives is either aimed at this goal, or towards the short-term objective of powering-up the Technodrome. He does not, however, share Shredder's obsessive hatred of the Turtles and Splinter. Instead, he seems to regard them as mere annoyances to be destroyed whenever they interfere with his plans. In earlier seasons, Krang's relationship with Shredder primarily consisted of resentment, distrust, and constant bickering about tactics, but from season eight onwards, they are much more cooperative with one another. There were many times that Shredder could have just left Krang at the mercy of the Turtles or Lord Dregg, but he always rescued him, and went as far as to donate his life energy to save him.

Krang spends the first seven seasons in the Technodrome, either somewhere on Earth or in Dimension X, scheming to power up his battle fortress and take over the Earth. At the end of season 7, the Turtles banish the Technodrome back to Dimension X without Krang or Shredder, forcing them to work out of an old science building until they can build a new portal into Dimension X and reclaim it, which they eventually do. However, the Turtles follow them into Dimension X and destroy the main engines of the Technodrome, trapping it and its inhabitants in Dimension X forever and putting an end to Krang's plans.

Krang spent the next two years in Dimension X until he was contacted by Dregg, who arranged for him and Shredder to come back to Earth to help him fight the Turtles. Together, they capture their enemies, but they betray Dregg and attempt to drain both him and the Turtles of their life energy. Dregg manages to escape, however, and captures Shredder and Krang with the help of his microbots. He then tries to drain the life energy of the Turtles, Krang, and Shredder all at once, making them weaker while Dregg becomes stronger. Shredder alone escapes the trap and restores Krang, but Dregg eventually captures them again. Finally, the Turtles spoil Dregg's plans and transport Shredder and Krang back to Dimension X, and they are not seen again for the rest of the series.

In the series finale, "Divide and Conquer", the Turtles return to the ruins of the Technodrome and take Krang's android body, which they need to fight Dregg. Krang is nowhere to be seen, but it is assumed that he is still somewhere in Dimension X.

In the Archie Comics series, Krang was depicted as far more evil and wicked than in the cartoon. He was said to have the blood of whole races on his hands, like Wingnut and Screwloose's home planet Huanu.

In the 2009 film Turtles Forever, the later 2003 Turtles also encounter Krang, who eventually aids the turtles in defeating Utrom Shredder. The 2012 Turtles would face Krang themselves when he teamed up with the Kraang who served as their antagonists.

The 2012 IDW comic series show an even darker depiction of Krang. In issue 7 of the current ongoing, General Krang is shown invading the Neutrino planet alongside Traag and his Stone Soldiers. He is working with Baxter Stockman on Earth to create Mutagen in order to have more mutant soldiers.^[3]

Abilities

Krang used a large, bulky, powerful mechanical body. Krang rested inside a cockpit within the torso. Originally, the suit had a microchip installed that allowed both Krang and the robot to change his size to near Godzilla-like proportions. This chip was subsequently destroyed in the first episode the suit debuted, though it was apparently repaired in a later episode in which the suit is brought to life by a computer chip from a videogame being played by Bebop and Rocksteady, only for the robot's entire body to be destroyed by a powerful explosive developed by an at the time amnesiac Shredder after Michelangelo managed to take control of the machine via his own copy of the same game, though he obviously found a way to somehow repair it in Turtles Forever, as he again uses its ability to increase in size. The Utrom Shredder Ch'Rell co-opted this technology and quickly defeated Krang in direct hand-to-hand combat in a matter of seconds.

Even without the microchip, the exosuit had many capabilities. The hands could shapeshift into various weapons (axes, maces, pincers) and even a communication device. In later episodes, however, Krang could be seen changing his arms from a collection of different types he had in his personal quarters aboard the Technodrome. Krang's suit also could "grow" jet wings in place of his arms, which he used to manage a quick escape with Shredder in its first appearance.

Krang also occasionally employed a machine he referred to as a 'bubble walker' or just 'walker'. This device was primarily a set of mechanical legs attached to a platform with either glass or some form of transparent but protective covering through which Krang could see, and holes for him to extend his tentacles through so that he could manipulate objects. This particular mode of transport was the version used for the first toy of Krang produced by the toy company Playmates. There were also two toys of Krang and his android body, one a large-scale figure and the other in scale with the regular-sized figures. Both came with removable Krang figures.

In the Archie Comics version of TMNT, Krang was shown to have the ability to completely attach his own body to the heads of other living things while they are unconscious and have full control of that being's body while attached, as seen when he attached himself to Shredder's unconscious body after a new ally of Krang's knocked Shredder out.

In the final season of the 1987 cartoon series, Krang showed signs of psychic powers when he hypnotized one of Lord Dregg's soldiers into obeying his and Shredder's commands, saying it would only work on weak willed people.

Utroms

Krang's physical appearance was inspired by the Utroms from the original TMNT comic book^[4] and in the 2003 animated series there is an Utrom named Krang. However, in the 1987 cartoon, Krang is not stated to be an Utrom. There are several important differences:

• The Utroms are stated to come from another planet in the Milky Way galaxy, while in the 1987 cartoon Krang comes from Dimension X.
• The Utroms are naturally brain-like aliens, while in the first animated series Krang claims to be an alien who has been stripped of his body and left with only his brain. It is never stated what kind of body he had until the episode "Invasion of the Krangazoids", which depict his clones developing large bipedal reptilian bodies, indicating that this is what Krang originally looked like in terms of physical shape. Though it is unknown what color scheme the body would have had, as each clone had a differently colored body.
• Krang never refers to himself as an Utrom, nor does anyone else, in the 1987 cartoon.

In the 1987 animated series, Krang's natural physical shape may or may not be brain-like:

• On the one hand, when he cloned himself in "Invasion of the Krangazoids", his clones, though initially brain-creatures like himself, continued developing until they had complete bodies, leading to the thought that Krang's true form is a large reptilian creature
• On the other hand, in an earlier episode "Four Musketurtles", members of Krang's species appeared in a flashback looking just like him without the body, using bubble-walkers like his own to move.

The Dan Berger run on the TMNT comic strip in the mid-1990s indicated that Krang was an Utrom criminal.

While the Utrom race was not in any way featured in the 1987 cartoon, other than Krang having a similar design, they would appear in the 2003 TMNT series. Krang of the 1987 universe comes face to face with the Utrom Shredder during Turtles Forever and was initially pleased with his resemblance to the Shredder's Utrom form.

Krang is an Utrom in the IDW comic series.

2003 series

While he did not appear as a villain or major character in the 2003 series, there was an homage to Krang in the episode "Secret Origins Part 3". As the Utroms are walking to the transmat to go home one of them complains, "I hate walking on my tentacles". Then, another Utrom replies "Oh, shut up, Krang!". This Krang was voiced by Wayne Grayson.

Krang also appeares in the 2009 crossover film, Turtles Forever, in which he, Shredder and the turtles from the 1987 show end up in the 2003 universe. Although Shredder was able to find his 2003 counterpart, he was unable to find Krang's, even though he exists in this universe (albeit as a regular, non-evil Utrom). Krang is voiced here by Bradford Cameron.

2012 series

An alien species based on both Krang and the Utroms appear in the 2012 Nickelodeon show, named The Kraang^[5] as the main antagonists of seasons 1 and 2. Not unlike the Utroms in the Mirage comics and 2003 TV Series, they are portrayed as a race of brain-shaped aliens from Dimension X that pilot robotic bodies who were responsible for bringing the mutagen that was responsible for the Turtle's mutations to Earth. Most of them are voiced by Nolan North.

As revealed in "The War for Dimension X", the Utrom were a peaceful race, until Kraang (voiced by Roseanne Barr in seasons 1 and 2, Rachel Butera in season 3), an Utrom scientist, discovered the mutagen, which is milked from giant native worms called Kraathatrogons, and used it to mutate himself into a larger version of himself with psychic powers. Kraang, referring to himself as Kraang Prime, used his power to subjugate most of his species by copying his mind into theirs. The affected Utrom come to be known as the Kraang as they and Kraang Sub-Prime (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried), an Utrom who willingly swore loyalty to Kraang Prime, work to infiltrate and mutate other worlds. Among their targeted worlds is the Earth, setting up TCRI and World Wide Genome Project as fronts to collect the DNA of every animal and plant species on Earth. The Kraangs' history became intertwined with the Turtles when they caught the then-human Splinter spying on them and fought him while he was holding the not-yet-mutated Turtles, causing them to mutate when one of the Kraang accidentally dropped a mutagen canister, breaking it and spilling the mutagen on them.

When the mutated turtles went to the surface world 15 years later in "Rise of the Turtles," they came face-to-face again with the Kraang when they were attempt to kidnap April O'Neil and save her while her psychologist father Kirby O'Neil was taken captive. In the "Gauntlet," managing to defuse a mutagen bomb placed on the roof of the Wolf Hotel, the turtles learn from Kirby that the Kraang are using various scientists to stabilize the mutagen to their use of it on Earth. But as revealed in "It Came from the Depths," the power cell needed for the Kraang's portal between Dimension X and Earth was stolen by Leatherhead six months prior before they eventually reclaimed it in "The Pulverizer". In "TCRI," destroying the portal with Leatherhead's help, the turtles learn the Kraang's plans for terraforming Earth and that they are also after April.

In the aftermath of "Enemy of My Enemy," one of the Kraang ended up in Foot custody as Shredder interrogated it in "Karai's Vendetta" to why it's kind are after the Turtles. When a plan to steal mutagen from TCRI goes array in "The Pulverizer Returns," Shredder decides to form an alliance with the Kraang. In "Operation: Break Out" and "Booyaka-Showndown", placing a mind-control chip on Kirby, Kraang engineered his "escape" with the aid of the Turtles to have him deliver April to Shredder so he can use her to lure Splinter out. Once that phase is complete, Shredder hands April to the Kraang, who proceed to use the repaired portal to bring one of their Technodrones to Earth, though the Turtles subsequently succeeded in destroying the TCRI building. Kraang Prime proceeds to drain April's unique mental energy to aid the terraforming process. However, the Turtles interfered in this plan, and the Technodrone was subsequently brought down off the coast of New York City, though it was revealed to be intact and partially active.

The Kraang continued to pose a threat throughout the second season, briefly maintaining an alliance with the Foot in which they provide them with robotic ninja soldiers and attempt to provide them with mutagen so that they can create mutants to destroy the Turtles. However, their partnership was dissolved after a number of incidents, including the Turtles intercepting a load of mutagen, which was subsequently scattered over the city and their robot creation Chrome Dome defying Karai's orders to kill April, as the Kraang still wished to capture her.

In "The Kraang Conspiacy," it was subsequently revealed by a private investigator, Jack Kurtzman, who had been investigating the disappearances of Kirby O'Neil and the other scientists who the Kraang had kidnapped, that this is because the Kraang have been preparing to terraform Earth for centuries, altering human DNA until they could create a perfect human-Kraang hybrid: April. In their efforts to utilize her, the Kraang create a number of clones of April, including a misshapen failure dubbed "April Derp" by Mikey; all of these clones were subsequently destroyed by April and the Turtles, with the "April Derp" destroyed when April released a physic blast.

In "Metalhead Rewired," the Kraang initiate a plot to capture the various mutants inhabiting New York and enslave them with special control devices. They succeeded in rounding up a number of mutants and imprisoning them in a facility in a pocket dimension, but the location was discovered by Metalhead and the Turtles. They briefly used Snakeweed and Spider Bytez against the Turtles, but Metalhead freed them and the other mutants, who escaped back to New York along with the Turtles.

In "The Manhattan Project," the Turtles are focused on a Kraang plot in which the Kraang brought some Kraathatrogons to New York. When the Turtles attempt to thwart their plans, they and the Kraang end up battling beneath New York and in the Kraang's interdimensional portal network. In the end, the Turtles are able to send the Kraathatrogons back into the portal network, with one of them that ate Shredder's new right hand Tiger Claw ending up in the universe of the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon before Tiger Claw ripped his way out of it.

In "Into Dimension X," the Kraang have finally perfected the mutagen, but the Turtles were secretly warned about this success by Leatherhead through a Kraang Communication Orb. After finding their way into Dimension X and traveling to the Kraang's home fortress, which was being guarded by Traag and Granitor, the Turtles rescued Leatherhead and helped him stop the Kraang from dumping the perfected mutagen into Earth's dimension through multiple portals.

In "The Invasion," the Foot Clan finally made a full alliance with the Kraang to draw out and destroy the Turtles in exchange in helping them invade the city, which the Kraang did through various spies; the character Irma Langenstein is discovered to be the robotic housing of one such spy, Kraang Sub-Prime, who was eventually defeated by Splinter. Having perfected the mutagen in a previous episode, they began using it to "Kraang-form" New York, turning humans and their environs into creatures and structures reminiscent of Dimension X. The Turtles, Leatherhead, Splinter, April, and Casey briefly attempted to fight them off, but despite the aid of the new Turtle-Mech created by Donatello they were forced to retreat after a battle with Kraang Prime. Kraang Prime also claimed that the Kraang were responsible for the existence of humanity, who supposedly developed after the Kraang exposed monkeys to mutagen.

In "Buried Secrets," the Turtles discovered a Kraang ship beneath April's family farmhouse, where her great-grandfather supposedly discovered it and the Kraang inside, leading to generations of experimentation on the deceased relatives on April's mother's side of the O'Neil family until culminating in experiments they performed on her mother. They also discovered a clone of April's mother who was sealed in the ship due to being unstable, and managed to defeat her.

In "Return to New York," the Turtles returned to find the city under the control of the Kraang, with all but a handful of humans-including the Earth Protection Force-being either mutated or fitted with mind control devices. The Kraang are shown to control New York's streets, with any humans caught out in the open being captured and mutated. They also placed a security drone in the Turtles' lair to prevent them from occupying it again. These security measures force the Turtles to act with caution throughout much of the following arc, and in "Serpent Hunt" prompt Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko to seek to make a deal with the Shredder to get themselves out of the city. Their attempt to do so through capturing Shredder's adopted daughter Karai and holding her for ransom lead to their mutation into Bebop and Rocksteady after Karai escapes due to the Turtles' interference.

In "Battle for New York," the Turtles's confrontation with the Kraang for the city occurred when they are unexpectedly joined by the Mighty Mutanimals, a rebel team of mutants. The two teams manage to thwart a Kraang plot to launch a mutagen missile, and then launch an attack on the Kraang portal so that the Turtles can infiltrate Dimension X and cure and free the mutated humans. This leads them to another confrontation with Kraang Sub-Prime, who follows the Turtles to Dimension X while the Mutanimals fight to capture and hold the portal. After battling Kraang forces on both sides of the gateway, the two groups of mutants succeed in teleporting the cured humans back to Earth while sending the Kraang back to Dimension X, putting a halt to the invasion for the time being.

"The Fourfold Trap" involves a mind-controlled Karai using the idea of the Kraang having returned to Earth as a trap to lure in and capture several of the Turtles. The Kraang would later return in truth during "Dinosaurs Seen in Sewers!" attempting to open another portal and bring a fleet of Technodromes to Earth. Their various operations were decimated when Zog, an advance scout for the Triceratons-sworn enemies of the Kraang-attacked them, causing considerable havoc despite being nitrogen-poisoned and lacking his equipment. After encountering Zog, the Turtles joined in his efforts, unaware that he planned to alert the Triceraton armada of Earth's location so that they could destroy it and wipe out the Kraang. The Kraang's plans to open a portal were thwarted, and the signal reached the other Triceratons without difficulty.

In "Annihilation Earth" the Turtles learn of the existence of the Utrom Tribe, a splinter group of the Kraang, from a member who goes by the name of Bishop, who is responsible for the design of the Kraangdroid bodies. He informs them that the Triceratons are approaching Earth, and also that the first Technodrome the Kraang brought to Earth has nearly been fully repaired. The Turtles and their allies launch an all-out assault on the Technodrome in an effort to bring it down that leads to several of them being captured and being brought before Kraang Prime and Sub-Prime, both of whom are present on the ship. Unfortunately, right as the rest of the team arrives to liberate their comrades, the Triceratons arrive in Earth's orbit and attack. The Kraang deploy stealth ships to engage the attacking Triceraton fighters, but they are easily shot down. The Triceratons then destroy the Technodrome with Kraangs Prime and Sub-Prime aboard with no apparent time or means with which to escape. After being captured by the Triceratons, Mikey then reveals knowledge of all the Kraang hiding places in Dimension X; however, in "Beyond the Known Universe" the Turtles travel back in time to six months earlier in an effort to prevent the Triceratons from attacking Earth using the Black Hole Generator, which the Kraang previously used to destroy the Triceraton homeworld.

In "The War for Dimension X", the turtles learn the origins of the Kraang as they meet the Utrom council that consists of Bishop, Pawn, Queen, and Rook; Kraang Sub-Prime was once the group's Knight and the greatest Utrom hero until he betrayed them to join the Kraang. In this altered past, Kraang Sub-Prime captures the Salamandrians after they approach the Kraang about forming an alliance against the Triceratons, having learned that they are friends of the Turtles. He then tracks the arriving Turtles to the Utrom base, where he captures Queen and takes her back to his Sub-Command Center. The Utrom then declare war on Kraang Sub-Prime's facility and are joined by the Turtles, Professor Honeycutt, and the Salamandrians. Despite possessing a Dracodroid, Kraang Sub-Prime's forces are defeated and he loses a duel to Bishop, before having the damaged cyborg dragon crash into him and explode.

In "Trans-Dimensional Turtles," the 1987 version of Krang (or else an alternate version thereof) is revealed to be a Kraang who was banished from Dimension X because he was the least intelligent member according to Kraang Sub-Prime. When Sub-Prime learns that Krang was planning to wipe out the 2012, 1987, and Mirage Comics universes rather than enslave and mutate the inhabitants, he knocks Krang back to the 1987 universe before briefly ending up in the Mirage comics universe.

In "Earth's Last Stand" it was revealed that Kraang Sub-Prime purchased the Black Hole Generator from Professor Honeycutt, who later came to regret his decision after he learned what the Kraang intended to do with it. The events previously seen in "Annihilation Earth" later played out in virtually identical fashion up until the future Turtles and their allies arrived to stop the Triceratons. As such, it can be presumed that the Technodrome was once again destroyed, though the fate of Kraang Sub-Prime and Kraang Prime is uncertain.

Video games

Krang frequently appears in TMNT games as either a final boss or the penultimate boss, as the final boss before fighting Shredder.

• In the first arcade game (and the version ported to the NES), he is one of the bosses of the final Technodrome stage. He is the penultimate boss of the game.
• In Fall of the Foot Clan, he is the final boss, rather than Shredder.
• In III: The Manhattan Project, he is once again the penultimate boss.
• In II: Back from the Sewers, he has two boss battles. The first is at the end of the third level, where he fights the Turtles in his walker. He is also the final boss, and fights the Turtles in his exosuit.
• In Turtles in Time, Krang initially makes an appearance in the opening, using his giant-sized exosuit to steal the Statue of Liberty. The exosuit appears once again in its giant form on the opening stage, "Big Apple: 3 AM", and near the end of the game he has two boss battles. The Turtles face him first at the end of "Neon Night Riders", and destroy his exosuit. The Turtles face him again in "Starbase: Where No Turtle Has Gone Before", where with his exosuit destroyed, Krang instead flies an archetypal flying saucer. In the 2009 Turtles in Time: Reshelled remake, Krang is voiced by Wayne Grayson.
• In The Hyperstone Heist, he is the mid-level boss of the final stage, featuring the exosuit.
• In the Mega Drive/Genesis version of Tournament Fighters, Krang appears as a non-playable boss with his exosuit.
• General Krang appears in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan voiced by Steven Blum.

Film

• Brad Garrett voices Krang in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, where it was the first official live-action appearance of the character.^[6][7][8] Fred Armisen was originally going to voice the character, but scheduling conflicts bowed Armisen unavailable.^[9] After Shredder escapes captivity in the beginning of the film, Krang teleported him to his dimension to tell Shredder about his plans for Earth. In particular, his transport device the Arc Capacitor was splintered, and its parts scattered across the Earth which had the capability to make a black hole connecting his dimension to Earth once reassembled. Krang requested that Shredder gather them so that he would be able to invade Earth and rule the world. He also gave Shredder a purple ooze capable of mutating humans. Once Baxter Stockman assembled the Arc Capacitor, Krang immediately began assembling the Technodrome however, Krang had no second thoughts about betraying Shredder, freezing him and locking him away with his collection of other defeated foes. But the Turtles were able to intervene, fighting Krang and his android body in the process while the humans helped reverse the Technodrome's components to return to Krang's dimension. Defeated and buried under his android, Krang swore that he would eventually return, stronger than before.
• Krang appears in the independent film Casey Jones.

References

External links

• Kranag's profile at the Nickelodeon website (English)
• Krang's Android Body on X-Entertainment. (English)
• Krang - A Tribute on The Rubber Chicken. (English)