Krang


Krang is a fictional supervillain appearing in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-related media, most frequently in the 1987 animated series and its associated merchandise, such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book and most of the classic TMNT video games.
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.
The character made his first live action appearance in the 2016 sequel, , with his voice provided by Brad Garrett.
Krang was created by David Wise, with inspirations from the Utroms, to supply the Shredder with extraterrestrial technology.

Fictional character biography

In the 1987–1996 animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series 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 for himself, and then banished Drakus 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.
In the Archie Comics series, Krang was depicted as far more evil and wicked than in the animated series. 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.

Abilities

Krang uses a powerful android body with a cockpit located in the torso. The primary purpose of this suit is for mobility and protection as Krang is vulnerable outside of the suit. Its abilities include hands which can shape-shift into a variety of weapons and communications devices. In later episodes, the suit seems to be modular as Krang is seen changing the suit's arms from a collection of items aboard the Technodrome; the suit has also been seen with jet wings in place of arms.
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 a transparent 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 Toys. There were also two toys of Krang and his android body, one a large-scale figure and the other similar in size to 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 animated 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.

Relating to the Utroms

Krang's physical appearance was inspired by the Utroms from the original TMNT comic book and in the 2003 animated series there is an Utrom named Krang. However, in the 1987 animated series, Krang is not stated to be an Utrom. There are several important differences:
In the 1987 animated series, Krang's natural physical shape may or may not be brain-like:
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 animated series, 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.

IDW Comics

In the IDW Comics Krang is both an Utrom and a denizen of Dimension X. He is the heir of Quanin, the former Prime Minister of the Utroms' ruling council who appointed himself Emperor and aggressively expanded the Utrom domain into an empire. However, his megalomanic expansion drive both deprived his home planet of its most essential natural rescource, the Ooze, and incited rebellion among the subjugated people of Dimension X, eventually leading to the destruction of Utrominon. Krang, who was as brutal as his father but opposed his uncautious politics, fled with a few survivors of his people through an interdimensional portal to Burnow Island on Earth, where he established a base from which he intended to terraform this world into a new home for his people.
In order to augment his troops, Krang, initially disguised as a despotic human warlord, forms a business relationship with Baxter Stockman, head of the genetics research institute Stock Gen, and supplies him with Ooze, which could be used as a natural mutagen on Earth's organisms. It is through Stockman's experiments that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter evolve into intelligent, humanoid mutants. When the Turtles learn of Krang's genocidal plans with the aid of their human friend April O'Neil, a former intern at Stock Gen, they, their ally the Fugitoid, and the Foot Clan stop Krang from destroying the Earth, and the Utrom warlord is surrendered to the Neutrinos for trial for his numerous war crimes.
While imprisoned on Neutrino, Kraang hires the bounty hunter Hakk-R to eliminate several material witnesses in order to get the trial cancelled, but Hakk-R fails thanks to the efforts of the Turtles. Eventually, Krang is found guilty and sentenced to permanent exile from Dimension X on Earth. However, Leatherhead, one of his former victims and a key witness in the trial, refuses to accept the mild verdict and kills Krang by devouring him. However, as the Fugitoid belatedly realizes, the Utroms possess a natural parasitic physiology, enabling Krang to regenerate himself and take possession of Leatherhead's body.

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 all walking to the transmat to go back 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 appears 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. 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 as the secondary 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", before the events of the show, they were once all the peaceful race known as the Utroms, until one of them, a female scientist named Kraang, discovered the mutagen, which is milked from giant native worms called Kraathatrogons, and used it to enlarge herself while gaining psychic powers. Becoming deranged, she renamed herself Kraang Prime and used her power to subjugate most of her species by copying her mind into theirs. These affected Utrom came to be known as the Kraang as they and Kraang Sub-Prime, 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 a small group of them caught the then-human Hamato Yoshi spying on them as they were doing business in an alleyway, and attacked him while he was holding the not-yet-mutated Turtles, then his recently-bought pets. Fighting the group to get away, he and the turtles were all mutated by exposure to the mutagen when one of the Kraang upon defeat 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 attempting to kidnap April O'Neil and saved 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 its 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-Showdown", 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 Conspiracy," with information from a private investigator, Jack J. Kurtzman, who had been investigating the disappearances of Kirby O'Neil and the other scientists who the Kraang had kidnapped, April and the Turtles would discover this is because the Kraang have been preparing to terraform Earth for centuries: a major step of their plan involved altering human DNA until they could create a perfect human-Kraang mutant hybrid, that is revealed to be 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 mental telepathic 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 become focused on a new Kraang plot that involved the Kraang bringing 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 animated series. There, the rampaging creature came under attack by the 1987 version of the Turtles before Tiger Claw ripped his way out of it, and after fighting against them eventually made it back to the 2012 universe.
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 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 the 2012 and the 1987 Turtles temporarily defeat him by sending him to 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. Although the Kraang never made another major appearance for the rest of the series, so they were most likely deceased once again.

Video games

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