Rocksteady

**Rocksteady** is an antagonist of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He was originally a human Russian arms dealer with ties to Shredder and The Foot Clan named Ivan Steranko. He is now a mutant white rhinoceros who is one of Shredder's hench-mutants alongside his partner, Bebop. He made his debut in ***Enemy Of My Enemy***.

**Russian Rock-Head Rhino**

## As Ivan Steranko

### Early Life

Not much is known about Ivan Steranko's origin except that he was born in 1967 in Soviet Moscow, he was better at hunting than his brother Boltak, he and Shredder have been business partners in the mafia for 10 years and he's got a diamond for a right eye because Anton Zeck shot the real eye out by accident.

### Season 1

***Enemy Of My Enemy*****:** When Steranko makes his debut in this episode, he delivers a shipment of weapons to the Foot Clan and was caught in the attack of the Kraang Scout Ship.

### Season 2

***The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto*****:** Steranko hired Zeck to steal the Shredder's helmet, the Kuro Kabuto. Later, he flew in on a helicopter and saved Zeck from being killed by the Foot. When he finds out that Zeck failed to capture the helmet, he vows that to "pop his head like blueberry".

***A Chinatown Ghost Story*:** Steranko was briefly mentioned by Fong while stealing the Mystic Dagger.

## As Rocksteady

### Season 3

***Serpent Hunt*:** Steranko planned on hunting Karai as a means of trading her to Shredder for a way out of the Kraang-invaded city, but when the Turtles get in the way, both he and Zeck are captured by Rahzar and Fishface and tossed into a computer-based vat of Mutagen in Stockman-Fly's lab. Steranko, having been infused with white rhinoceros DNA, mutates into an 8-foot-tall humanoid white rhino with a jagged horn ripping out of his droopy beak-like nose and his shoulder pads and knuckle dusters fused to his skin. He lands right next to Zeck and complaines that he doesn't feel so well.

***The Pig and The Rhino*:** Steranko works with Bebop to get even with Shredder for mutating them, but Shredder beats them up. He then sent the duo to find Karai, but they decide to skip their search to take their revenge on the Turtles. After capturing Raphael and Casey Jones, Steranko is tipped off by Bebop (who has just captured Donatello and April O'Neil) into cornering the other two Turtles at the Coney Comet amusement park. However, Leo was able to free the captives while Michelangelo stalled the captors, giving Steranko a tough-sounding nickname off of the van that he and Bebop arrived in, "Rocksteady", which he liked. A fight breaks out and Rocksteady is struck by a roller coaster cart and flees with Bebop. Going back to their search for Karai, the duo eventually succeeded in capturing her and delivering her back to Shredder.

***The Noxious Avenger*:** Rocksteady is seen breaking into a abandoned Kraang ware-house with Bebop to search for Chemical X (one of the many chemicals that are needed for Shredders Mind Control Serum). While taking Chemical X, Bebop also takes some mutagen that the Kraang left behind and just as the two are about to leave, Rocksteady hears a noise outside. He tells Bebop that it is just the trashman, but gets kicked in the face by Leonardo. A battle erupts between the Turtles and the duo and Rocksteady orders that they retreat. Later, after leearning about Muckman on TV, he encounters him with Bebop and forces him to help them take Chemical X, but the garbage mutant betrays them to the Turtles and destroys the chemical with a single spit.

***The Deadly Venom*:**Rocksteady is forced to fight Karai when she is mind-controlled by the Shredder. Karai wins and beats him, even though Rocksteady says it would be a piece of cake.

***Attack of the Mega Shredder!'''***: *Rocksteady and Bebop are ordered by the Shredder to protect their lair as he senses the Turtles will make another assault on it, warning them of severe punishment if they fail. As Shredder thought, the Turtles manage to make it into the catacombs before they are chased off by Rocksteady, Bebop, Tiger Claw, and the Shredder Elite. However, the Shredder is furious by the Turtles getting that far, and threatens all of them with punishment if it happens again. Later, when Leo and Mikey attempt to infiltrate Stockman's lab to retrieve one of the mind-control worms, they are caught by Bebop and Rocksteady. As they prepare to mutate the two brothers, Leo and Mikey are able to convince them to mutate them with the Shredder Elite, but by falling for the brothers' trick, Rocksteady and Bebop end up mutating the Shredder Elite into an amalgamation known as the Mega Shredder. After the Turtles, April, and Casey are able to destroy it, Rocksteady and Bebop face Shredder, who is livid over their stupid actions, and leaves Tiger Claw to give them a fitting punishment, leaving Rocksteady and Bebop to run for their lives as Tiger Claw pounces at them.*

***The Fourfold Trap'''***: *Rocksteady is part of an elaborate trap, led by Karai, to capture the Turtles and April. It works, and while April is kept prisoner with Karai, the Turtles are each subjected to a torture fitting each of them. Knowing that Splinter will come to rescue them, Rocksteady and Bebop attempt to ambush and defeat him before he reaches Karai's command center, but Splinter easily overpowers and defeats them and continues on his way to saving his sons and April.*

***Annihilation Earth''***: *Rocksteady catches April and Splinter when they infiltrate Shredder's lair to broker a truce with him to ask for his help against the Triceratons and save the Earth from destruction by the Heart of Darkness. At first, Shredder agrees, and Rocksteady proves his strength going horn-to-horn with the Triceratons. However, putting his vengeance over anything else, Shredder murders Splinter and condemns the Earth to annihilation. Rocksteady embraces Bebop as the two of them are some of the first victims to be sucked up by the Heart of Darkness' black hole before the rest of the Earth follows.*

### Season 4

**City at War:** Rocksteady reappears as a bodyguard along with Bebop in Shredder's new lair.

**Broken Foot:** Rocksteady, along with Bebop and Tiger Claw are protecting Shredder's chemical factory. He fights Shinigami and the witch calls him "Dinossaur" which makes him in fury run to her until he misses and knocks Bebop to the ground. He tries to hunt the Turtles down using the van with his name.Later, he fights Mikey that insults her mother and makes him destroy the Foot-Bots and stop Bebop from finish Shinigami. He tries to stop the Turtles from escape but he fails.

## Appearance

**As Ivan Steranko:** Steranko is large, muscular and wears a black suit with spiked shoulder pads, a black dress shirt, a red tie, an Ushanka with a yellow star, and a pair of knuckle dusters (with the Soviet Russian symbol on them). He has blonde hair and a diamond right eye, as well as several scars on his face.

**As Rocksteady:** Rocksteady has a jagged horn ripping out of his hook-lipped nose and wears a beige tank top, brown bandoliers and camouflage pants. His shoulder pads and knuckle dusters are fused to his grey skin.

## Personality

Rude and humorless, Ivan Steranko is shown to not care about others, but about rare and personal items, as he is willing to be reasonable in dealing when the opportunities present themselves.

As Rocksteady, he is even more aggressive and develops more brave skills to suit his new form.

## Bio

Mutated by Shredder from Russian arms industry officer Ivan Steranko, Rocksteady swears allegiance to Shredder and agrees to team up with his partner-in-crime Bebop to form the dynamic duo of Bebop and Rocksteady. Our heroes need to use extreme caution when dealing with this mutated rock-headed rhino. He is the brains and brawn of the partnership and could deliver quite the feast to Shredder when the main course is Turtle Soup!

## Abilities, Skills, Weaponry and Powers

**Minigun:** He happens to be a good marksman by using his minigun proficiently.

**Knuckledusters:** His fists are shown to have brass knuckledusters with a picture of the Soviet Union flag that has grown a bit bigger for his size.

**Flamethrower:** He is seen carrying a flamethrower sometimes while hunting down his foes.

**Hammer and Sickle:** He is shown with with a handheld hammer and sickle, even larger than the ones on his knuckledusters.

**Jagged Horn:** He often uses his horn as a sword or as a battering ram.

**Enhanced Strength:** He is shown to be quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat by gaining the upper hand in a fight against Raph and Mikey and winning. Things get better for him when his strength enhances after his mutation, but he is shown to be no match for the Shredder that he was easily defeated in very short fight.

**Enhanced Charging Speed:** He is very fast.

**Leap:** He is shown to be able to jump as high as Bebop.

**Intelligence and Communication:** He is shown to have his intelligence of great ways for making deals with people as human and has retained it despite his mutation. He can still make growls while talking.

**Stamina and Durability:** He is able to take many attacks from his enemies able to fight for long period.

## Episodes Appeared In

* Enemy Of My Enemy (First Appearance as Ivan Steranko)
* The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto
* A Chinatown Ghost Story (mentioned)
* Serpent Hunt (Last Appearance as Ivan Steranko; First Appearance as Rocksteady)
* The Pig and the Rhino
* The Noxious Avenger
* The Deadly Venom
* Attack of the Mega Shredder
* The Fourfold Trap
* Annihilation Earth
* The Arena of Carnage (Hologram)
* City at War (cameo, non-speaking)
* Broken Foot

## Trivia

* Steranko's name was never mentioned in the episode ***Enemy of my Enemy***. However, it was shown in the closing credits.
* In the episode ***The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman***, Baxter Stockman mentions his idea of mutant pigs and rhinos, which foreshadows the creation of Bebop and Rocksteady.
* Steranko is named after Jim Steranko. Jim Steranko was a famous comic book artist/writer.
* The gold plates on his knuckledusters feature the pictures on the Soviet Union's flag: A hammer and a sickle.
* He has some major connections to New York's crime ring because of his ties to the Purple Dragons, The Foot Clan, and Anton Zeck.
* He mentions that he has a brother, Boltack Steranko, and mentions that he is better at hunting than him.
* He is one of the few mutants to actually like the mutant name assigned to him by Mikey.
* As he is Russian he speaks in a stereotypical Russian accent.

## Quotes

* *"Don't you trust me? We're old friends."*
* "*I going to pop your head like blueberry!"*
* "No, no. *Shredder, how long have we known each other? It is ten years, huh?*" (Steranko pleading for his humanity)
* "Let us become reasonable*, I'm more useful to you as normal guy, not mutant!*"
* "*Uhh, don't feel so well... oh nyet, look at me!*"
* *" I am Rhinoceros"*
* *"So, other turtles are here, da?"*
* *"Pinky promiss!"*
* *"Nyet, Nyet. Not so good names"*
* *(Shouting at Mikey) "NYET!"*
* *"Hey, it's not so bad, kinda like the Rocksteady"*
* *"No one can face, the Bebop and Rocksteady!"*
* *"NO! YOU GAVE WORD!"*
* *"Nyet!"* (His variant for "no")
* (To Shredder) "But boss! It was the Turtles's fault. They sabotage the mutagen."
* "I kind like the Dump of Doom. Is nice"
* *"Ha! Is Rocksteady late for party time?"*
* "Did no one tell the Turtles they are too slow."