< Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Characters


Characters from the long-running comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as some exclusive to some of its non-comic incarnations.
Note: Several characters' allegiances shift between incarnations. They have been placed in the side they are most usually associated with.

This page needs some cleaning up to be presentable.

This page describes characters from many different versions of the story. Several characters' allegiances shift between incarnations. This page needs to be split into separate pages, one for each version of the story. (Also, shouldn't there be an entry for Miyamoto Usagi somewhere on two of those new pages?)

Heroes

Leonardo

Leads. Always in control. Identifiable by his blue bandana and his twin swords.
Appears in: all continuities.


  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Consistently the most skilled Turtle, he falls into the leadership role by default.
  • The Cape (trope)
  • The Chains of Commanding: 4Kids Series, 4th film.
  • Child Soldiers: Of the four, it's Leonardo who exemplifies this the most.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Leonardo's sense of honor dictates that he fight fairly, but when he's pushed into a corner or there is no other alternative, he will not hesitate to slice off your head.
  • Determinator
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
  • Guilt Complex: He is very bad with this. Very bad.
  • The Hero
  • Heroic BSOD: Mirage Comics, 4Kids Series.
  • Heroic Spirit: A big reason why he's a determinator.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Miyamoto Usagi.
  • Honor Before Reason
  • Indy Ploy: Alarmingly, a lot of his plans qualify as this. Most of the time, however, they actually work.
  • Jack of All Stats: Videogames.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Obviously.
  • Martial Pacifist: Mirage Leonardo, in the future.
  • Master Swordsman
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He gets into quite a few of these. If he's not on the receiving end, he's usually administering it.
  • The Messiah: Even after all the betrayals and all the terrible things he's seen, Leo still expects the best out of people.
  • Metamorphosis
  • Named After Somebody Famous
  • Nerves of Steel: Captured by aliens, trapped thousands of miles from Earth with no way back, poisoned and weaponless? For Leonardo, that's a training run.
  • Old Master: Mirage Leonardo, in the future.
  • A Protagonist Shall Lead Them: Leonardo usually gets the most lines of dialogue, and most of the stories are told from his perspective. Even when he's not presented as the main character (such as the TMNT movie), he plays a major role.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Raphael's red.
  • Samurai: Leonardo is technically a ninja, but a lot of the tenets he quotes are in line with samurai. It's no surprise he and Usagi got along swimmingly.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: In the 4Kids series, he starts out at the very end of the Idealism scale, even believing the best of the Shredder and then this daughter Karai. As the seasons progress he shows signs of being capable of sliding down the other way--he does this in the fourth season--though he remains mostly rooted in idealism.
  • The Spartan Way: All the turtles train hard, but Leonardo--whether or not by his own design--is almost always subjected to the kind that involves complete isolation, distant countries, and/or imminent death.
    • In the 4Kids series, Leonardo as a child is suffering from fear of heights. Splinter brings him to the top of a gigantic reservoir and pretends to be in danger of falling. Leonardo forces himself to crawl out and save him, and apparently conquers his fear in the process.
  • Standardized Leader: Usually in his most basic, stripped-down incarnations.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Mirage Leonardo, in the future.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In all incarnations, the turtles all go through this, but Leonardo is the one who most clearly demonstrates the trope. One example is in the first season of the 4Kids cartoon where he can barely handle fighting one of the Foot Elite, and is nearly killed trying to take on all four. By the end of the fourth season, he not only takes on all four without apparent difficulty, but also bests Karai, the incumbent Shredder, in the process.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: During the first half of the 4Kids cartoon's fourth season, combined with Heroic BSOD.
  • Weapon of Choice: Twin Katanas Are Just Better.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Most of what Leonardo does is to please Splinter. Whether or not this is a good thing is still a debate in fandom.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Leo gets this in the 4Kids cartoon from his brothers and Splinter when he's on the verge of becoming a Knight Templar.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: In childhood flashbacks, he's usually the turtle acting like the adult. And for a teenager, he deals very well with duties and responsibilities most adults would be unable to fathom.

Raphael

Is cool but crude. Throws the first punch. He wears red and fights with a pair of sais.
Appears in: all continuities.

Raph: (Examines one of Casey's bats) A Jose Canseco bat?? Tell me... you didn't pay money for this...

Donatello

Does machines. Is the brains of the bunch. Marked with a purple headband, and fights with a bo staff.
Appears in: all continuities.

Michelangelo

Is a party dude. Wiseguy. The most laid-back of the turtles, who lists among his interests pizza, comic books, and more pizza. Wears an orange-yellow bandana, and duels with nunchaku.
Appears in: all continuities.

  • Annoying Younger Sibling
  • Ascended Fanboy: Sorta, he's a big comic book geek who happens to be a superhero himself.
    • In the Mirage comics he's a comic book geek who gets to write for comic books and even becomes a published novelist.
  • Badass Adorable: Silly, loves him some comic books, childish, always willing to crack a joke and and can kick tons of asses with his nunchucks. Yup.
    • Taken to it's furthest extreme in 2007's TMNT where Mikey is the shortest turtle and has huge adorable Blue Eyes (we know it doesn't make sense, but it's cute, dammit)
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Big Eater: In the 'Fred Wolf cartoon, he'd often annoy his brothers by eating all the pizza.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: He's usually portrayed as having great potential, but because of his more laidback personality, he'll focus on something more fun instead.
  • Butt Monkey: Especially in the cartoons. If any of the Turtles klutzes out or has something bad happen to them for comic effect, it's Michelangelo.
  • Characterization Marches On: Depending on the version, really - in the comic books, he isn't really a party dude, but more of a down-to-Earth type of guy as opposed to his brothers. He was able to author a book at one point.
    • In the Mirage comics he often traded back and forth with Donatello as The Smart Guy with Donny being the expert in science and technology while Mikey's specialty was culture and literature.
  • Cloudcuckoolander
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: (4Kids series): Although he can always kick ass, his skills will occasionally take a bump as the plot requires, allowing him to take on foes that would normally defeat him or his brothers.
  • Dope Slap: Gets it a lot in the 4Kids series.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Donatello's responsible.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
  • Genre Savvy: 4Kids series.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Although the trope is disproved by Leonardo, there is an element of this to Mikey's abilities, and he is consistently considered to be the most naturally gifted of the turtles despite his lack of focus and dedication to training.
  • The Heart: Although he exasperates his three brothers on a constant level, when a serious rift between their bond takes place, he usually is the one to try and patch things up...usually via humor.
  • Hidden Depths
  • Hooks and Crooks: Occurs in later seasons of the original cartoon, due to censorship in England.
    • He also uses one briefly in the 4Kids cartoon as a callback.
  • Jumped At the Call: 4Kids series.
  • Keet
  • Kid Appeal Character
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover
  • The Knight Who Says Squee: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Michelangelo runs faster than Leo and Don and has more health than all of his brothers. However, his nunchucks are slow and have little range (Turtles in Time, The Arcade game, Manhattan Project).
  • Metamorphosis
  • Real Men Wear Pink: in Back to the Sewers he was positively delighted when April asked him to be her Maid of Honor, when people tried to call him the more gender-neutral "Turtle of Honor" he would correct them.
  • The Red Mage: In the games, average movement speed and faster attack speed than Don, but defensively weaker than Leo.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: 4Kids series.
  • Secret Identity: Turtle Titan (4Kids cartoon).
  • The Slacker: 4Kids series.
  • Surfer Dude: Mostly in the 'Fred Wolf cartoon, although aspects of this remain in other incarnations.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In the Next Mutation series. To a lesser extent, in the 4Kids series as well.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Though pizza is the favorite food of all four turtles, Michelangelo eats it more obsessively than the other three, especially in the 'Fred Wolf cartoon.
  • Weapon of Choice: Fighting with Chucks (the hardest to master of the four turtles' weapons).

Splinter

Taught them to be ninja teens. A mutated rat who serves as the turtles' mentor, raising them from when they were young.
Appears in: all continuities.

Venus de Milo

Check it out, another one found! The female Ninja Turtle, from the Next Mutation series. Wears a light blue mask (with braided tails) and fights with iron fans and mystical orbs. Don't ask Peter Laird about her.

Appears in: Next Mutation.

Allies

April O'Neil

A Girl Next Door who serves as one of the turtles' first human friends.
Appears in:Mirage comics,'Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie comics, 4Kids cartoon, Dreamwave comics, IDW comics, films.

Michelangelo: She ain't no fun, she fainted.

  • Going for the Big Scoop: Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie Comics.
  • Green Eyed Red Head: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Hot Scoop: Cartoons, Archie comics, first two movies.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Fred Wolf Cartoon, Archie comics, first two movies.
  • Leitmotif: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Mission Control: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Motherly Scientist: In the IDW Comics, where she becomes quite attached to the pre-mutation turtles and even gives them their names.
  • Odd Friendship: In most adaptations Splinter and April strike up a deep but rather strange friendship. April is sometimes perplexed by the various personality quirks of each turtle while Splinter is exasperated having seen this all before.
  • Put on a Bus: Mirage comics.
  • Race Lift (Mirage comics): Although her race was never established within the comics, or even agreed upon by the creators, Kevin Eastman used to draw her with distinctively non-caucasian features, which went away when he stopped drawing.
  • Second Love: Mirage comics.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In most continuities.
  • Unfazed Everyman

Casey Jones

An eccentric vigilante who fights crime with various sporting tools (baseball bats, hockey sticks, etc.) Tends to have the most in common with Raphael.
Appears in: Mirage comics,'Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie comics, 4Kids cartoon, Dreamwave comics, IDW Comics, Films.

Leatherhead

A mutant alligator/crocodile (depending on the incarnation) who fights, then befriends the turtles. Generally the subject of a lot of abuse.
Appears in: Mirage comics, Archie Comics,'Fred Wolf cartoon, 4Kids cartoon.

Professor Honeycutt/The Fugitoid

A scientist whose mind was accidentally transferred into a robot's body. Forced on the run by groups seeking to obtain his plans for a teleporter, he eventually meets and befriends the turtles.
Appears in: Mirage comics, 4Kids cartoon.

Shadow Jones

The daughter of Casey Jones' first wife, who was raised collectively by Casey, April, Splinter and the Turtles after her death.
Appears in: Mirage comics.

Carter

A college student who seeks out Splinter in order to gain some ninja training. Becomes an ally of the turtles in their fight against Dregg.
Appears in: Fred Wolf cartoon.

  • Black Best Friend
  • Cursed with Awesome: In his debut appearance, he gains a Hulk-like mutation power that sporadically causes him to turn into a huge, muscular yellow-skinned mutant with a metal arm and spikes.
  • Magic Pants: Averted the first time he transforms, but played straight on all subsequent occasions.
  • Only One Name
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: We never actually see Carter at college. Either his attendance rates are lousy, or his college has one heck of a long summer break.
  • Put on a Bus: Halfway through the final season, he's taken away to the future to get his mutation cured. We never see or hear from him again, so whether or not the cure was successful, we'll never know.

Renet

An apprentice "Timestress" whose job it is to oversee and protect the timestream.
Appears in: Mirage comics, 4Kids cartoon

  • Character Development: (Mirage) Initially a ditzy, irresponsible and overly impulsive girl, she eventually evolves into a mature, responsible and self-reliant woman -- after having spent some time as grim-faced, solemn and reluctant. What makes it confusing is that, thanks to her traveling back and forth through time, we don't necessarily see this development in chronological order.
    • In fact, we're informed that her parents originally made her take the job as an apprentice timestress in the hope that she would undergo some much-needed Character Development.
  • Deus Ex Machina: In the Mirage comic Juliet's Revenge the fully-adult, post-Character Development Renet plays this role (having changed so much that the Turtles don't recognize her at first). For the most part, however, she averts this.
  • The Ditz: In her pre-Character Development appearances.
  • Dumb Blonde: Again, pre-Character Development she's the embodiment of this trope.
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: She's completely and inexplicably absent from the Fast Forward season of the 4Kids cartoon, where the Turtles are stuck in the future -- because if she'd appeared she could instantly have fixed their predicament.
  • Ms. Fanservice: (Mirage) About the only thing that stays consistent about her appearance is her huge breasts and tendency to wear skintight (and sometimes rather revealing) clothes.
  • Most Common Superpower: It's especially prominent in the Mirage comic (especially if Jim Lawson is drawing her), but the 4Kids cartoon version is notably endowed as well.
  • Shout-Out: The third movie prominently features a time travel scepter that looks very similar to Renet's.
  • Time Police
  • Took a Level in Badass: (Mirage) It's a long way from the Damsel in Distress we're first introduced to, to the nearly god-like woman who shows up to save the Turtles from certain death.


Villains

Oroku Saki/The Shredder

A Ninja Master with ties to the New York underworld, and the franchise's most visible villain.
Note: While all Oroku Sakis are Shredders, not all Shredders are Oroku Sakis.
Appears in: all continuities.

Karai

A high-ranking member of the Foot Clan.
Appears in: Mirage comics, Volume 3; 4Kids cartoon, 2007 animated film.2012 cartoon, live action films IDW comics

Baxter Stockman

Mad Scientist and creator of the mouser robots. Never quite seems to remain whole (or even human, in some versions).
Appears in: Mirage comics, 'Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie comics, 4Kids cartoon, Dreamwave comics, IDW Comics.

  • Animorphism: His Fred Wolf 'toon incarnation eventually gets turned into a fly.
  • Anti-Villain: Eventually, in the 4Kids cartoon. He started out as one in the Fred Wolf cartoon but went crazy when he became a fly.
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: In the Fred Wolf cartoon, in his later episodes he would sometimes suffer from this due to having the mind and attention span of a fly.
  • Back from the Dead: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Black and Nerdy: Except in the 80's cartoon.
  • Body Horror: In 4Kids' "Insane in the Membrane," after four seasons of losing body parts, Baxter Stockman finally obtains a new body via cloning. Soon enough, however, he discovers that it's unstable, as his limbs start deteriorating and melting off. Worse still, his mind is going with it...
  • Butt Monkey: In both the the Fred Wolf cartoon and 4Kids cartoon incarnation.
  • Brain In a Jar: Mirage comics, 4Kids cartoon.
  • Clone Degeneration: 4Kids cartoon.
  • The Dragon: He was briefly this to the Shredder in the Fred Wolf cartoon, prior to his transformation.
  • For the Evulz: His original motivation in the comics.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard (4Kids cartoon): In "Return to New York".
  • Horrible Judge of Character: In the Fred Wolf cartoon, he agrees to help Shredder even though he approaches him on the streets in his full villainous garb and it gets worse from there. Even when Baxter turns into a fly as a result of Shredder sending him to Dimension X, as all it takes for Baxter to change from wanting revenge on Shredder to wanting revenge on the turtles is Shredder telling him that it was the turtles' fault.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: His motivation in both cartoons. Ironically in the 4Kids cartoon he actually does eventually get his body back while in the Lighter and Softer series, he ends up trapped forever in dimensional limbo.
  • Irony: Interestingly, in the original TV Show, he ended up getting a Fate Worse Than Death, in a Lighter and Softer show, while in the darker show, not really mattering since Fast Forward still had Dark elements, Baxter gets a somewhat happier ending.
  • Killed Off for Real: Mirage series.
  • Leitmotif: 4Kids cartoon.
  • Mad Scientist
  • Metamorphosis: From human to giant fly, in the Fred Wolf cartoon.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist
  • Race Lift: Fred Wolf cartoon.
  • Scars Are Forever: 4Kids cartoon.
  • The Starscream: To the Shredder, in the 4Kids cartoon.
  • Third Person Person: The 4Kids version is prone to this when gloating.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In the 4Kids series. He used to be a fairly benevolent and principled scientist too until his ego and arrogance got the better of him.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Mirage Comics, 4Kids series.
  • Wetware CPU (Mirage Comics, 4Kids series): As loses more and more of his body, Baxter begins becoming this.

Hun

A hulking, tattooed gangster who serves as the leader of the Purple Dragons street gang.
Appears in: Mirage comics, 4Kids cartoon, Dreamwave comics.

Bishop

A government agent who will do absolutely anything to protect Earth from aliens invasion. Head of the Earth Protection Force.
Appears in:Mirage comics, 4Kids cartoon.2012 cartoon,IDw comics

Krang

An alien general fighting a losing war, and who turns to Earth for assistance. A small, brain-like creature, he often uses a robotic exoskeleton to move around.
Appears in: 'Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie comics, IDW Comics.2012 cartoon live action films

  • Big Bad: Along with the Shredder (Fred Wolf series).Also in the 2012 cartoon,Archie comics,and IDW comics.
  • Canon Foreigner
  • The Exile: (Fred Wolf Cartoon, Archie Comics) Part of his backstory is that he's an exiled warlord from Dimension X.
  • Laughably Evil: In the original cartoon and Archie comics.
  • Mark of Shame: (Fred Wolf Cartoon) He was reduced to his brain-like state by the people who exiled him, and he is quite embarrassed about it.
  • Put on a Bus: Fred Wolf series, Archie Comics.

Bebop and Rocksteady

Human gang members who were mutated into a warthog and rhino respectively, and serve as henchmen to the Shredder. Neither of them are particularly bright. Seen in their human forms in the IDW comics.
Appear in: Fred wolf cartoon, Archie comics, IDW Comics.


The Rat King

A man dressed up in rags and bandages who shares a rapport with rats. Varies wildly within incarnations--descriptions for each can be seen in the other Wiki.

Appears in: Mirage comics, Fred Wolf cartoon, Archie comics, 4Kids cartoon.Nick cartoon,IDW comics

Tokka and Rahzar

A snapping turtle (Tokka) and wolf (Rahzar) mutated by the Shredder.
Appears in: Films, Fred wolf cartoon, 4Kids cartoon

Dregg

An alien warlord from Dimension X with aspirations to take over Earth. Stop us if this sounds familiar...
Appears in: Fred Wolf cartoon.2012 cartoon

  • Big Bad: For the last two seasons of the Fred Wolf cartoon, replacing Krang and Shredder.Also one of the main villains in season 4 and 5 of the 2012 series.
  • Manipulative Bastard: After trying to defeat the Turtles by force fails, he tries using propaganda against them.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Initially.
  • You Have Failed Me...: Dregg is a lot more willing to punish failed subordinates than Krang or Shredder ever were, to the point of giving his right-hand man a Fate Worse Than Death in the Season 10 premiere.

Other

Hamato Yoshi

Splinter's owner, a martial artist whose death at the hands of The Shredder gets the ball rolling.
Appears in: All Continuities

Tang Shen

Yoshi's lover, who is murdered as part of his backstory.
—Appears in: Mirage comics, films, 4Kids cartoon, IDW Comics.


Klunk

Michelangelo's pet cat, originally a stray that Mike found and adopted one Christmas.
—Appears in: Mirage comics, Image comics, 4Kids cartoon.
  • Killed Off for Real: Mirage continuity.
  • Team Pet: Curiously enough, subverted. He's a completely normal cat who never gets involved in the stories and whose appearances are generally spent lying around on the floor or in someone's lap.
  • What Happened to the Cat?: When Shredder attacks April's apartment in issue 10, Klunk is nowhere to be seen, and isn't even mentioned when April, Casey and the Turtles escape. (This is doubly frustrating because he was explicitly shown to be in the apartment in the Leonardo special, which takes place immediately before.) He remains unmentioned for several issues before he shows up on Casey's farm with no explanation at all.
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