Alan Ritchson cast as Raphael in Ninja Turtles

Any last-minute hopes that old school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans had of Michael Bay's live-action reboot Ninja Turtles collapsing before it manages to become a reality look to have fully collapsed themselves now with the news that Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans) have cast their first Hero in a Half-Shell, with Alan Ritchson signing to portray Raphael (via motion capture, presumably).

A former model, Ritchson first came to attention with a recurring guest star role as Arthur Curry / Aquaman on the TV series Smallville, and also lent his voice to the character for the direct-to-video animated feature Justice League: The New Frontier. He subsequently had a lead role on the Spike TV comedy series Blue Mountain State, and will be seen later this year as Gloss in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

It's fair to say that Ninja Turtles hasn't got off to the best of starts among fans of the franchise, starting with the revelation that the Turtles' origins would be revamped to that of aliens, dropping both the teenage and mutant aspects of the characters. A subsequent script leak received a hammering online, and the recent casting of Bay's Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen star Megan Fox as April O'Neil did very little to appease any fan discontent.