Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained in ninjutsu who fight evil in New York City. The franchise encompasses printed media, television series, feature films, video games, and merchandise.
The franchise began as a comic book, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which Eastman and Laird conceived as a parody of elements popular in superhero comics at the time. The first issue was published in 1984 by Eastman and Laird's company Mirage Studios and was a surprise success. In 1987, Eastman and Laird licensed the characters to Playmates Toys, which developed a line of Turtles action figures. About $1.1 billion USD worth of Turtles toys were sold between 1988 and 1992, making them the third-bestselling toy figures ever at the time.
The action figures were promoted with an animated series, which premiered in 1987 and ran for almost a decade. It was succeeded by several other television series. The first Turtles video game was released in 1989, the first of several developed by the Japanese company Konami. The first Turtles film, released in 1990, became the highest-grossing independent film up to that point.
Eastman sold his share of the Turtles franchise to Laird in 2000. In 2009, Laird sold it to Viacom, now Paramount Skydance Corporation. The franchise has continued with a new comic book series, television series, films and video games.
History
1983–1986: Conception and first comics
The comic book authors Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird met in Massachusetts and began working on illustrations together. In 1983, Laird invited Eastman to move in with him in Dover, New Hampshire. That November, Eastman drew a masked turtle standing on its hind legs armed with nunchucks to make Laird laugh. Laird added the words "teenage mutant". The concept parodied several elements popular in superhero comics of the time — the teenagers of New Teen Titans, the mutants of Uncanny X-Men and the ninja skills of Daredevil — combined with the comic tradition of funny animals such as Howard the Duck.Eastman and Laird developed the concept into a comic book. They considered giving the turtles Japanese names, but instead named them after the Italian Renaissance artists Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, which Laird said "felt just quirky enough to fit the concept". They developed a backstory referencing further elements of Daredevil: like Daredevil, the Turtles are altered by radioactive material, and their sensei, Splinter, is a play on Daredevil's sensei, Stick.
In March 1984, Eastman and Laird founded a comic book company, Mirage Studios, in their home. Using money from a tax refund and a loan from Eastman's uncle, they printed copies of the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and advertised it in Comics Buyer's Guide. This attracted the interest of comic distributors, and all 3,000 copies were sold in a few weeks. Sales of further issues continued to climb.
1987–1989: Toys, animation and video games
In 1987, Eastman and Laird licensed Turtles to Playmates Toys. Between 1988 and 1997, Playmates produced Turtles toys including around 400 figures and dozens of vehicles and playsets. About US$1.1 billion toys were sold in four years, making Turtles the third-bestselling toy figures ever at the time, behind GI Joe and Star Wars.Influenced by the success of G.I. Joe, He-Man and Transformers, which had promoted toy lines with animated series, Playmates worked with the animation studio Murakami-Wolf-Swenson to produce the first Turtles animated series, which premiered in 1987 and ran for almost a decade. It introduced Turtles elements such as their color-coded masks, catchphrases, love of pizza and distinct personalities. To make it acceptable to parents and television networks, the series had a lighter tone than the comics, with no expletives, less violence and less threatening villains. In the United Kingdom and some other European regions, the franchise was renamed Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles due to the violent connotations of the word "ninja".
The first Turtles video game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989, the first of several developed by the Japanese company Konami. It sold approximately four million copies, making it one of the bestselling NES games. In response to concerns that the series was drifting from its origins, Eastman and Laird published an editorial in the comic in 1989, writing: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours." Eastman later said they regretted approving some projects, and Laird wrote of his dislike for the softer tone of the animated series.
1990s: First films, franchise expansion and commercial peak
The franchise reached its commercial peak in the early 1990s. The first Turtles film was released in 1990, featuring costumes designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. It was based more closely on the comic than the animated series, with a darker tone. It was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1990 and broke the record for the highest-grossing independent film, earning more than US$200 million worldwide.A second film, The Secret of the Ooze, was released in 1991. With a rushed production and a lighter tone, it received weaker reviews and was less successful at the box office. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was aimed at the Japanese market, the largest foreign market for US films at the time, but failed to see release there and had weaker reviews and sales.
In 1990, a stage musical featuring the Turtles as a rock band, Coming Out of Their Shells, played 40 shows across the United States. The musical was sponsored by Pizza Hut and promoted with an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. A soundtrack album and VHS were released. After the animated series ended, a live-action television series, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, was created in 1997 with Saban Entertainment. It introduced a fifth, female turtle, Venus de Milo. The series was canceled after one season. Eastman later said he liked the series, while Laird said it was the only Turtles project he "truly regrets".
2000s–present: Relaunches and sale to Viacom
Eastman sold his share of the Turtles franchise to Laird in 2000. In 2003, 4Kids Entertainment launched a new animated series, which ran for seven seasons, concluding in 2009. Laird had a role in the production, creating a closer adaptation of the original comic. A computer-animated Turtles film, TMNT, was released in 2007.On October 21, 2009, it was announced that Laird had sold the franchise to Viacom. He said he had tired of working on Turtles, writing: "I am no longer that guy who carries his sketchbook around with him and draws in it every chance he gets." In August 2011, IDW Publishing launched a new Turtles comic series, with Eastman as co-writer and illustrator. A third animated series premiered in September 2012 on Nickelodeon, and ran for five seasons before ending in 2017. A live-action Turtles film directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Michael Bay was released in August 2014. It received negative reviews but was a box-office success. A sequel, Out of the Shadows, directed by Dave Green, was released in June 2016. It was a box-office bomb and the third film was canceled.
A fourth animated series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, premiered in 2018 and ran for two seasons. A film sequel was released in 2022 on Netflix. Mutant Mayhem, an animated film directed by Jeff Rowe and produced by Seth Rogen, was released in August 2023; several critics named it the best Turtles film. A followup series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, premiered in 2024 on Paramount+.
Characters
In most versions, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are created when four baby turtles are exposed to radioactive ooze, mutating them into humanoids. They fight evil in New York City, where they reside in the sewers.Leonardo, the leader, is the most disciplined and skilled turtle. An expert swordsman, he wields two katana and wears a blue bandana. Raphael, the strongest and most quick-tempered turtle, wears a red bandana and uses a pair of sai. Donatello uses his intellect to invent gadgets and vehicles. He wears a purple bandana and uses a bō staff. Michelangelo is the least disciplined and most fun-loving, and is usually portrayed as the fastest and most agile. He wears an orange bandana and uses nunchucks.
Splinter is a mutant rat who is the wise adoptive father of the Turtles and teaches them ninjutsu. In some iterations, he was once the pet rat of ninja master Hamato Yoshi; in others, he is a mutated Yoshi. The Turtles are assisted by April O'Neil, who is variously depicted as a news reporter, lab assistant or genius computer programmer. In most versions, she is pursued romantically by Casey Jones, a hockey mask-wearing vigilante who usually becomes an ally of the Turtles.
The Turtles' nemesis is the Shredder, a criminal mastermind clad in samurai-like armor, who leads the ninja clan known as the Foot Clan. His real identity is usually the ninja Oroku Saki. In most versions, the Shredder's second in command is Karai, a skilled martial artist; in some iterations she is the Shredder's daughter. In some versions, the Shredder allies with Baxter Stockman, a mad scientist, and Krang, an alien warlord from Dimension X. Krang was introduced in the original animated series, was inspired by the Utrom race from the comics, and is sometimes depicted as an Utrom himself. Also created for the series were the Shredder's buffoonish henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady, a mutant warthog and rhinoceros.