I really wouldn't say that fly Baxter is iconic because he's in all the video games. I really think people in the mainstream could digest the mad scientist with knowledge of robotics a lot more easily than the fly premise.
I must say I'm just as impressed with this Shredder. He still instills fear to me. The thought that somehow, even in a race of peaceful aliens, an evil so hatful could be bred is frightening. Not only that he takes the mantle of something that inspires fear in humans as well. I gagged at first at the whole alien thing, but it really started to grow on me after awhile. The Shredder always had an air of the supernatural about him, this being that seemed unstoppable, and then to find out that stripped of his armor he's even more vulnerable than your average being is chilling. Over a period of a thousand years what was little more than a lump of walking grey matter had evolved into what probably was the most powerful being on the planet, and what's more, few people even knew. That whole dual nature thing was appealing to me. It's only his reputation that was indestructible, the being itself was quite vulnerable, something that has been inherent in the character in all interpretations. So I think the authenticity is still there.
As for characters that changed in other comic movies. I liked Burton's Batmans, but Jack Nicholson's Joker is just dull compared to the comics and of course Mark Hamill. I mean so dull. I couldn't feel the menace or the insanity. He could've been a guy wearing makeup who liked to rob banks, but the Joker he wasn't. As for the Penguin, he was a lot of fun, but I always got the vibe that he was weird just for the sake of being weird. And he probably was being that Tim Burton admitted he'd rather die than ever read a comic book. But that's all I'm going to say on that matter.
I really don't see a need for Bebop and Rocksteady. I mean why not just bring everyone back from the 87 series while we're at it. It seems like they're taking dash of the old Laird/Eastman series, a heaping helping of the films, a pinch of 87 series, a sprinkling of the 03, and maybe a spoonful of the Archie run to make this series. I don't want to see it get too bogged down trying to interpret one iteration of the characters. Though like I said, I'd still like to see them follow their continuity and leave Shredder out, at least until a third movie.
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