Why Rocksteady From TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Sounds So Familiar To Peacemaker Fans

"YOU CAN'T SEE ME, MY TIME IS NOW!"

If "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" has canned trumpets and Tha Trademarc echoing in your brain every time you hear the voice of Rocksteady, you're likely not alone. Lending his voice to the mutated Rhino and appearing in his third summer blockbuster for this year alone is none other than actor and WWE legend John Cena. This performance (opposite writer-producer Seth Rogen's Bebop) comes just two weeks after Cena's surprising turn as a muscle-bound, mermaid member of Ken's (Ryan Gosling) ill-fated patriarchy in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie." His biggest role of the summer, however, was that of Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) brother, Jakob, in the rowdy "Fast X."

Of course, his most famous character — and arguably the one that finally drugs him across the threshold from wrestler-turned-movie-star to genuinely impressive actor — was that of Christopher Smith, AKA Peacemaker, in James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad." The COVID-era superhero popcorn flick eventually led to a surprisingly complex HBO series focusing entirely on his character, in which Cena has stretched himself to the limits of his craft.

Before all this, however, Cena was actually a consistent voice actor, with credits from a number of TV shows, films, and even a previous "TMNT" project. Here's where you made have heard Cena before.

Long before starring in James Gunn's DC Comics projects, John Cena would graze the edges of his work in 2014 when he starred opposite Matthew Lillard in "Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery." It was one of many direct-to-DVD "Scooby-Doo!" animated films released by Warner Bros.

Cena, apparently a long-time fan of the Hanna-Barbera "Scooby-Doo!" series as a kid, took note of how the biggest stars of an era would typically appear on the cartoon as fictional versions of themselves, as was the case with Dick Van Dyke, the Three Stooges, Sonny & Cher, Don Knotts, and Davy Jones. "I remember back when I used to watch the 'Scooby-Doo!' cartoon as a child they would have recurring guests on there," the WWE star said in a behind-the-scenes interview. "And It was almost like, when you get animated in 'Scooby-Doo!,' it's the: 'Alright, you've made it."

The fact that Cena was not only animated in the film, but leading it as the almost defacto representative of the WWE brand was likely a huge moment for his career on several levels. "It's a very 'feel good' thing," he shared. "For both myself and the WWE."

Back in 2017, the now-defunct Blue Sky Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox's animation division) produced an animated movie titled "Ferdinand," which starred John Cena as the titular bull. "Ferdinand" was the final film released by Blue Sky before the Walt Disney Company acquired Fox. Though they managed to eke out one more project from within the House of Mouse — 2019's Will Smith-Tom Holland feature "Spies in Disguise" — the COVID-19 pandemic would ultimately lead Disney to shutter the studio in 2021 after two decades and 13 films.

Ferdinand, the notoriously conflict-averse Spanish bull, was one of Cena's first major roles. "The story is great and it's a fun ride," he told ScreenSlam at the time. "I see a lot of myself in Ferdinand. I think Ferdinand is not ashamed to be who he is, even when it can be misconstrued as... not cool. I'm certainly well past being cool or trying to be cool."

After receiving some lukewarm praise from critics, "Ferdinand" underperformed at the domestic box office. Cena's performance was generally agreed to be the highlight of the film, with critics calling him "excellent," "convincing," and "lovely."

After the 3D-animated, semi-serialized 2012 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series came to an end after five seasons on Nickelodeon, it took the company less than a year to announce their next re-imagining of the classic comic book franchise. Titled "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," this iteration would take the characters back to 2D animation and lean into a lighter, more youthful tone. Longtime "Turtles" voice actor Rob Paulsen served as director for the series' voice cast, which included Sonic the Hedgehog himself Ben Schwartz as Leonardo. This continuity wrapped up in 2022, with a well-received Netflix animated film.

For the first season, John Cena played the overarching antagonist, Baron Draxum, who was one of the many new villains created for "Rise of the TMNT." Draxum was the despotic, brawlish ruler of the mysterious Hidden City, with dreams of mutant world domination not dissimilar from those of "Mutant Mayhem's" Superfly (Ice Cube). In total Cena's character appeared in eight episodes of the series.

In an interview promoting the series, Cena discussed his connection with the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise and why he was excited to join the show. "I was right at the age to enjoy the first fascination with 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,'" Cena told E! News in 2018. "I've been saying this consistently because I think it's awesome, but usually the older you get the farther away you drift from that connection with youth... It's really, really fun selfishly to be part of that because I grew up with it."

After leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe with "Avengers: Endgame," Robert Downey Jr.'s first project was 2020's "Dolittle." The film was another take on the classic story of the doctor who can talk to animals. John Cena was one of many big-name actors in the voice cast (including Octavia Spencer, Rami Malek, and Tom Holland), playing the dog-like polar bear, Yoshi. "[He's] a polar bear who's always too cold," Downey said in a featurette. "Believe it or not, it's hard to find a comfy sweater in his size."

"Yoshi fits into the 'Dolittle' story because Yoshi has an ailment — a very unique ailment," Cena shared in an interview. "And in the height of the doctor's quest to reach out to animals, he found Yoshi... One would say Yoshi is a polar bear who's [too] cold. I like to say Yoshi is a polar bear seeking warmth."

Despite the considerable star power behind it, "Dolittle" was a pre-pandemic box office bomb, with some estimating the film lost distributor Universal as much as $100 million. It faired just as poorly in terms of critical reception, garnering a meager 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.