THE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles They are famous for being bright, colorful and kid-friendly. After all, the franchise became the property of Nickelodeon, so it makes sense that the television series and animated films would be aimed at family audiences. However, the “child-friendly” lens that is often placed over the TMNT the franchise doesn't give fans a complete picture of what the series is about as a whole. In truth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it can be incredibly dark.
When the series was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it had nothing to do with toys, cartoons or Nickelodeon. In fact, it was an independent black and white comic, aimed at a more mature audience, and did not contain the hyperviolence. While TMNT has certainly changed over the years since its bloody origins, there is a corner of the franchise that has stayed true to the darker elements of the Turtles that fans fell in love with, offering fans no shortage of incredible, dark moments from the series.
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brutally kill Shredder (in the first issue)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
THE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the franchise wastes no time when it comes to kicking off the brutality, as one of the heaviest things the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have ever done happened in the first issue of the original comic book series. In fact, TMNT was originally a franchise aimed at a more mature audience. The Turtles were brave, black and white, and used their ninja training to kill their enemies without remorse. And in the first issue, one of the people the Turtles brutally killed was Shredder himself.
Shredder would become the most iconic TMNT villain in the history of the franchise, appearing in practically all incarnations of the franchise. However, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was still in his infancy, Shredder was slaughtered by the Turtles in a truly brutal fashion.
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TMNT's Raphael gets his face melted
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Image Comics) by Gary Carlson and Frank Fosco
While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the franchise isn't afraid to be brutal, it tends to avoid being super bloody. Sure, the Turtles are going to stab and slash Shredder on a New York rooftop, but the comics don't really emphasize the blood and guts associated with killing someone like that. However, when TMNT was briefly published by Image Comics, the series' restriction on blood went out the window – and in the first issue, no less.
In Image Comics' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, Raphael has half his face melted off while fighting an enemy, and the panel depicting this doesn't stop the bloody horror Raph was experiencing. This wasn't a one-time injury either, as Raphael spent most of this series wearing one of Casey Jones' hockey masks, making this moment both somber and significant to the broader story.
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TMNT's Donatello is beaten to death by Bebop and Rocksteady
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #44 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Cory Smith
Aside from Raphael's unfortunate injury in Image Comics, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are usually the ones who deal with brutality rather than being victims of it. But that's not exactly true, as Donatello found himself in a much more serious situation at IDW Publishing. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he was ambushed by Bebop and Rocksteady. In fact, the normally dim-witted mutant duo prove just how deadly they really are in TMNT #44.
Bebop and Rocksteady were sent to kill Donatello after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle betrayed Shredder during a story arc that saw Donnie turn the Foot Clan against the Utroms in a scheme that would eliminate two of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' greatest enemies at once. Shredder learned of Donatello's betrayal, so he sent Bebop and Rocksteady to kill him – and they did just that.
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Casey Jones' father is an abusive alcoholic (and Raphael almost kills him)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Dan Duncan
It's not up to IDW Publishing TMNT May Casey Jones' personal story come to fruition like never before. This version of Casey isn't an adult vigilante who meets the Turtles while patrolling the city, he's just a high school kid who plays on his school's hockey team. Although, tragically, Casey Jones has more going on in his life than balancing sports and school, as he lives in an abusive home with an angry, alcoholic father.
Casey's home life is a dark aspect of her story that TMNT fans didn't know before, and the situation only gets worse when Raphael intervenes. Raph sees what this man is doing to his son and breaks into their house with the intention of stopping him – maybe even killing him.
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TMNT's old stove horribly transforms a crowd of people, and Raphael helps him
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #98 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz and Michael Dialynas
There's a moment in IDW TMNT canon where Raphael leaves his brothers to join a mutant extremist named Old Hob and his band of loyal soldiers called the Mighty Mutanimals. However, Raphael underestimated how far Old Hob was willing to take his pro-mutant mission. Raph thought they would simply take down organizations that targeted mutants. But in TMNT #98, Raphael is horrified to realize that Old Hob didn't just want to save existing mutants, he wanted to create new ones.
During a demonstration by Mayor Baxter Stockman (who famously creates, imprisons and torments mutants), Old Hob drops a mutagen bomb on a crowd of humans, transforming them all against their will. This process seemed unbearable, and these people's lives were forever changed (most for the worse) because of Old Hob – and, to some extent, Raphael.
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TMNT's Leonardo is corrupted by Shredder and almost kills his family
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #24 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Mateus Santolouco
Raphael isn't the only Turtle Brother to leave his family's side to join a known villain, as Leonardo did the exact same thing earlier in the series. However, in Leonardo's case, he was manipulated by an ancient god to join the worst villain in the entire series: Shredder. Leo's mind was warped by Kitsune, and as a result, he became Shredder's chunin – the Foot Clan's second-in-command.
His commitment to Shredder was so great, in fact, that when his brothers and father came to rescue him, he almost killed them where they stood, and only stopped when Shredder himself told him not to deal the killing blows. Seeing Leonardo – the turtle who leads his brothers through their greatest hardships – fall into villainy was utterly heartbreaking and one of the series' darkest moments.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #61 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Jim Lawson
The weapons that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles use are not only iconic, but also quite appropriate for all ages without being considered hyper-violent. It's true that two of the four are types of blades, while the other two are used for beating, but the 'toy' nature of ninja weapons is sanctioned by society as being appropriate for children without parents making too much fuss. The weapons, however, are decidedly more mature, although that didn't stop Raphael from using them to kill a Foot Clan soldier.
It's true that Raphael did this at the more mature Mirage Studios TMNTbut in retrospect, it's pretty shocking to see this character wielding a firearm in battle. No fun ninja kicks or non-lethal sai attacks, just good old fashion bullets, which are surprisingly dark for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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TMNT's Casey Jones Accidentally Kills a Child
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #48 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Jim Lawson
As if Casey Jones TMNT While the story may get darker than suffering abuse at the hands of his father as a child, his original run in the TMNT canon has the vigilante doing the unthinkable: killing a child. It's true that Casey didn't intend to kill him, but that doesn't excuse what he did. Casey Jones used excessive force on a gang of teenagers and as a result killed someone with their whole life ahead of them.
Casey couldn't forgive himself for a long time after accidentally killing this boy, falling into a pit of depression that he struggled to climb out of. Even after returning to being a hero with his TMNT allies, Casey never forgot what he did, as this dark moment stayed with him for the rest of his life.
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TMNT's Donatello is trapped in a mutant-fighting pit
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 (IDW Publishing) by Jason Aaron and Chris Burnham
Right now, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are entering a whole new era in IDW Publishing's continuity, marking a new beginning for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, this “new beginning” doesn’t look so good for the Turtles themselves. Raphael was in prison, Michelangelo was famous but miserable, and Leonardo could not find peace. However, none of them had it worse than Donatello, who found himself trapped in a mutant combat arena as he slowly went mad.
In the previous story arc, Donatello dabbled with magical forces beyond his understanding, and now he is experiencing the consequences of this as his mind begins to slip while his body slowly wastes away. Then, Donnie is kidnapped by people who are kidnapping and fighting mutants for money, which is a decidedly dark start to Donatello's new story. TMNT was.
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TMNT's Raphael goes back in time to kill Donatello
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2023 #1 “Out of Time” (IDW Publishing) by Michael Walsh, Vlad Legostaev and Santtos
Some of the darkest moments Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are when one Turtle brother turns on another, especially when it's more than just a temporary fight, but with true murderous intent. That's exactly what happened in “Out of Time,” although the circumstances were definitely different. In “Out of Time”, Raphael attempts to kill Donatello, as Donnie is responsible for creating the timeline-eating cosmic shark, Armaggon. However, this Raphael is not the brother that Donatello knows and loves – this one is from the future.
'Old Raph' jumps through time and space, faces Armaggon himself and even loses an arm, all to do one thing: kill his own brother. That's a dark story arc no matter which franchise it's set in, and it's especially so in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesmaking it one of the 10 darkest in the entire franchise.