10 Hyped Movie Villains Who Turned Out To Be Just Henchmen

9. Eric Sacks - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Eric Sacks TMNT 2014
Paramount Pictures

2014's reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had received a ton of bad press since it was first announced, thanks to the casting of Megan Fox as the lead, the decision to make the Turtles aliens (which was later revoked), and the involvement of Michael Bay, who - depending on who you ask - had already ruined Transformers.

All this in mind, the addition of a respected actor like Fichtner lent the movie a bit more prestige, giving people more reason to hope for the success of the project.

Before release, fans were unsure who Fichtner would be playing. Everyone from Shredder to Baxter Stockman was rumoured, with the actor eventually confirming that he was playing Shredder, before backtracking and saying he was playing Eric Sacks.

Because of Fichtner's stature, everyone assumed Sacks would be the main villain, but there was still a lot of confusion. Would Shredder make an appearance? If yes, how would he fit in, given that the movie already had a villain? There were a lot of questions, but all was made clear when the movie crept closer and finally released.

Fichtner's Sacks was essentially working for Shredder, with the two planning to cover the city of New York in a deadly toxin. Sacks became the secondary antagonist while Shredder faced off against the Turtles during the climactic battle.

Apparently, Fichtner was always intended to be the film's version of Shredder, but for reasons unknown, the actual Shredder was added in during extensive reshoots. As a result, Fichtner's role was diminished, and the Turtles' true enemy became a hulking, metal, CGI brute. Fantastic.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!