107 Fun Facts About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The four Turtles are named after what kind of famous people?

Italian Renaissance artists: in the 1987 cartoon, Splinter had been a ninja master who studied art history, and he named his sons after his favourite artists.

Which weapons does Leonardo carry?

Two katana: in the very first 1984 comic, it is Leonardo who runs the Shredder through with his sword during their rooftop battle.

What colour bandana does Raphael wear?

Red: in the original comics all four Turtles wore red masks, and Raphael is the only one who has kept that colour ever since.

What weapon does Donatello fight with?

A bō staff: in the very first comic, Donatello's staff strikes the Shredder, who then falls from a rooftop to his death.

Which Turtle wears the orange bandana?

Michelangelo: British broadcasts cut scenes of his signature weapon, so the American cartoon swapped it for a grappling hook.

Splinter, the Turtles' adoptive father and sensei, is a mutant version of which animal?

A rat: in the original comics he was a ninja master's pet rat, but the 1987 cartoon made him the master himself, mutated into a rat.

What is the Shredder's real name in most Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories?

Oroku Saki: in the original comics he killed Hamato Yoshi, Splinter's master, to avenge his older brother, whom Yoshi had killed.

Casey Jones, the Turtles' vigilante ally, hides his face behind what?

A hockey mask: Casey Jones began as a parody of the tough vigilante heroes that were popular in comics at the time.

Where do the Turtles make their home?

The sewers: in the origin story, four baby turtles tumble into the sewer where Splinter is already living, and the ooze mutates them all.

In the 1987 Turtles cartoon, what is April O'Neil's job?

A TV news reporter: the original comics made her a scientist's lab assistant, and the 1990 film chose the cartoon's newsroom version instead.

Which toy company wanted a TV cartoon made before it would sell Turtles action figures?

Playmates Toys: the cartoon had to suit young children and pass TV censors, so the Turtles became lighter and sillier than in the gritty comics.

Which actor famous as a Star Trek captain voiced the villain Max Winters in 2007's TMNT?

Patrick Stewart: Winters is secretly Yaotl, an ancient warlord whose ritual made him immortal but turned his four generals to stone.

Roughly how many copies made up the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic's print run?

3,000: the first printing sold out within weeks, and the creators soon had a full-time job making more issues.

What did the original Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic look like?

Black and white on newsprint: the pair made it at home and named their company Mirage because there was no actual studio.

The Ninja Turtles' radioactive-ooze origin deliberately parodied which Marvel hero?

Daredevil: the first Turtles comic implies that the canister that mutates them is the same one that blinds young Matt Murdock.

The Foot Clan was a satire of which Marvel ninja organisation?

The Hand: the Foot was a joke on Marvel's Hand, and the 1987 cartoon made its ninjas robots so parents wouldn't complain the Turtles were too violent.

The Turtles' creators paid for their first comic with a tax refund and a loan from whom?

Eastman's uncle: Laird later used his Turtles fortune to found the Xeric Foundation, which gave grants to comic creators to self-publish.

Which Lord of the Rings star voiced Raphael in the 2012 Turtles cartoon?

Sean Astin: the same show cast Rob Paulsen, the 1987 cartoon's voice of Raphael, as Donatello instead.

Which brain-like villain was created for the 1987 Turtles cartoon, inspired by the comics' Utroms?

Krang: a warlord who led an army of Rock Soldiers, he got Shredder to build him a human-shaped android body in exchange for his technology.

The 1987 cartoon's theme song was co-written by which future sitcom mega-producer?

Chuck Lorre: given 48 hours and about $2,000, he and Dennis C. Brown read the original comic books for ideas and recorded a demo.

In the 1987 cartoon, the disembodied brain who allies with the Shredder comes from where?

Dimension X: the brain-like warlord once ruled armies there, until he lost his body and was exiled to Earth.

What is the name of the Shredder's giant mobile fortress in the 1987 cartoon?

The Technodrome: its commander took the finished fortress and banished Drakus, the engineer who had helped build it, to Earth.

The Shredder's henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady are mutants of which two animals?

A warthog and a rhinoceros: in the 1987 cartoon they began as human street thugs working for Shredder, until he had them mutated.

Which Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star voiced the Shredder in the 1987 Turtles cartoon?

James Avery: after his death in 2013, the 1987 Shredder's crossover lines went to Kevin Michael Richardson, the 2012 cartoon's Shredder.

Which catchphrase is the orange-masked Turtle best known for in the 1987 cartoon?

Cowabunga!: the word began in the 1950s on TV's Howdy Doody Show, and surfers adopted it in the 1960s before the cartoon spread it worldwide.

Which food are the Turtles famous for loving?

Pizza: the obsession came from the 1987 cartoon, and the 1990 live-action film borrowed it from there rather than from the original comics.

The 2012 Turtles cartoon first cast which American Pie actor as the voice of Leonardo?

Jason Biggs: he left partway through season two, and after a stand-in finished that season, Seth Green took over the role.

The Turtle suits in the 1990 live-action film were built by which company?

Jim Henson's Creature Shop: actors inside the suits did the fighting, while off-camera puppeteers worked each Turtle's face by remote.

What does the Shredder fall into at the end of the 1990 live-action Turtles film?

A garbage truck: Casey Jones switches on its crusher, yet the Shredder returns, badly scarred, to vow revenge in the 1991 sequel.

Which studio distributed the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film in the United States?

New Line Cinema: the small independent studio took the film on after many major studios, including Disney, turned it down.

The 1990 Turtles film cost about $13.5 million; roughly how much did it gross worldwide?

$202 million: a hit that big made a sequel inevitable, and The Secret of the Ooze was rushed into cinemas within a year.

Which Hong Kong studio produced the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film?

Golden Harvest: the Hong Kong studio behind Bruce Lee's hits saw the film through its final edit largely without director Steve Barron.

Who played April O'Neil in the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film?

Judith Hoag: she was never asked back for the sequels, and she blames her own complaints about the gruelling six-day filming schedule.

Most of the 1990 film was shot at a studio in which US state?

The sewer lair and Manhattan interiors were built in Wilmington, with a summer 1989 shoot in New York for exteriors.

Which rapper performs "Ninja Rap" in 1991's The Secret of the Ooze?

Vanilla Ice: the brawl spills into the club where he's performing, and he improvises 'Ninja Rap' so the crowd thinks the fight is part of his act.

Instead of Bebop and Rocksteady, The Secret of the Ooze introduced which two new mutant henchmen?

Tokka and Rahzar: a snapping turtle and a wolf; one co-creator called the cartoon duo's shtick 'silly to the point of being stupid', though the other recalls pushing for them.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, the Turtles travel back in time by swapping places with whom?

Four honor guards: while the Turtles are in the past, Casey Jones watches the lair and tries to help the guards adjust to the 20th century.

Which Chris voiced the vigilante Casey Jones in the 2007 animated film TMNT?

Chris Evans: director Kevin Munroe said TMNT continues the three live-action films, though co-creator Peter Laird placed it in its own universe.

Which veteran actor was announced as the voice of Splinter in 2007's TMNT and died the very next day?

Mako: a dedication to him closes the film, and Greg Baldwin voices much of Splinter's dialogue in the finished version.

Who played April O'Neil in the 2014 live-action reboot?

Megan Fox: she came back as April for the 2016 sequel, but it earned only about half as much as the first film.

Which blockbuster director's company Platinum Dunes produced the 2014 and 2016 live-action Turtles films?

Michael Bay: the 2014 film was a big enough box-office hit that the studio fast-tracked a sequel for 2016.

In 2012, what did the producer of the 2014 Turtles film say the Turtles would be?

Aliens: he said their origin would move from a radioactive waste accident to an alien planet, but he later insisted they come from the ooze.

Which CW superhero star played Casey Jones in 2016's Out of the Shadows?

Stephen Amell: his Casey Jones is a corrections officer who turns vigilante after the Shredder escapes from his prison convoy.

Which martial-arts movie legend voices Splinter in 2023's Mutant Mayhem?

Jackie Chan: his Splinter, once chased away by humans, distrusts them and lets the Turtles go out only to steal supplies.

Who voices the villain Superfly in Mutant Mayhem?

Ice Cube: his Superfly is a mutant fly who wants mutants to rule over humans, until the ooze turns him into a giant monster.

Which comedy actor produced Mutant Mayhem through his company Point Grey Pictures?

Seth Rogen: he said casting actual teenagers as the Turtles 'really opened up' their version, and he voices Bebop too.

The 2003 Turtles cartoon was co-produced by Mirage and which anime-dubbing company?

4Kids Entertainment: with co-creator Peter Laird closely involved, the show kept much closer to the serious tone of the original comics.

Which WWE star played Rocksteady in the live-action 2016 film Out of the Shadows?

Sheamus: he played Rocksteady before and after the mutation, and in 2023's Mutant Mayhem another wrestler, John Cena, voiced the character.

What was the fifth, female Turtle added in the 1997 live-action Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation called?

Venus de Milo: the director of 2007's TMNT said co-creator Peter Laird's rules included 'absolutely no mention of Venus de Milo'.

The Next Mutation Turtles crossed over with which other Saban series?

Power Rangers in Space: the villain Astronema brainwashes the Turtles into fighting the Rangers, until her hold breaks and they team up.

Which Goonies star voiced Donatello in the 1990 live-action Turtles film?

Corey Feldman: he skipped the 1991 sequel but returned for the third film, and he later voiced the villain Slash in the 2012 cartoon.

Which company developed the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game for the NES?

Konami: in the US it came out under Ultra Games, a label Konami set up to get around Nintendo's limit of five games a year.

Members of which rap group feature on the Shredder's boss theme in the 2022 game Shredder's Revenge?

Wu-Tang Clan: Ghostface Killah and Raekwon rap on 'We Ain't Came to Lose', part of it voiced as the Shredder vowing to crush the Turtles.

The Turtles' 1990 concert tour was promoted with an appearance on which talk show?

The Oprah Winfrey Show: in the tour's story the Turtles play as a rock band, battling a Shredder who plans to steal every song in the world.

In 2009, which media company bought the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise?

Viacom: the seller said he was 'no longer that guy who carries his sketchbook around', and the deal led to the 2012 Nickelodeon cartoon.

Which publisher ran Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures from 1988 to 1995?

Archie Comics: it began by adapting cartoon episodes, but two Mirage Studios employees soon took over and brought in environmentalist themes.

The Turtles' 1990 live concert tour, Coming Out of Their Shells, opened at which New York venue?

Radio City Music Hall: one of the shows there went out live on pay-per-view, and a making-of video presented the Turtles as a real band.

Which kitchen utensil, imagined on a villain's arms, inspired the TMNT's armoured foe the Shredder?

A cheese grater did it: one of the Turtles' creators pictured large trapezoidal graters on a bad guy's arms and built the Shredder's bladed look around them.

Which Ninja Turtles weapon was cut from British broadcasts and later swapped for a grappling hook?

Nunchaku were so controversial in the United Kingdom that scenes using them were edited out of the cartoon. The makers later dropped the weapon from the series altogether.

Which pet species did the Ninja Turtles craze make popular in Britain, with many later released into the wild?

Red-eared slider is also the species the comics later gave the heroes themselves. Unwanted British pets set loose in the wild went on to cause ecological havoc.

The names of the Ninja Turtles villains Bebop and Rocksteady are both borrowed from what?

Music genres supplied both names: bebop is a style of jazz, and rocksteady is the Jamaican sound that came just before reggae.

Which DC superhero met the Ninja Turtles in a six-issue crossover comic launched in 2015?

Batman shared the pages with the IDW comics' version of the heroes. The miniseries was successful enough to earn two sequels.

In the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon, the Shredder's human Foot ninjas were replaced by what?

Robots fill the Foot's ranks in the cartoon, and the heroes smash them to pieces, whereas the original comics' Foot were flesh-and-blood ninjas.

In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, April O'Neil's trademark jumpsuit is which colour?

Yellow is April's signature look, and the jumpsuit is said to have been modelled on one worn by Fujiko Mine in the Japanese anime Lupin III.

In the very first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, which fate meets the Shredder on a rooftop?

He is killed, knocked off the building after refusing the offer of ritual suicide. The comic had been planned as a single one-off issue.

Which 1980s film team shared a four-issue crossover comic with the Ninja Turtles in 2014?

Ghostbusters met the heroes in an in-continuity team-up from IDW, the publisher that held the comic-book rights to both New York franchises.

Which weapon, also the trademark of Marvel's Elektra, does the Ninja Turtle Raphael carry in pairs?

Sai are pointed weapons from Okinawa, each with a long central prong and two shorter side prongs.

In the original Ninja Turtles comics, Splinter began as the pet of which Japanese ninja master?

Hamato Yoshi was later murdered in a blood feud, leaving his pet to seek revenge. In the 1987 cartoon, Yoshi and Splinter are instead the same person.

Which cartoonist co-created the Ninja Turtles in 1984 and sold the whole franchise 25 years later?

Peter Laird had bought most of his creative partner's share in 2000. Even after the sale he kept the right to publish up to eighteen comics about the heroes every year.

In which New England state, in the city of Dover, were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first drawn?

New Hampshire is the birthplace: the two creators shared a house in Dover, and the first issue went on sale at a comic convention in nearby Portsmouth.

Which comic-book rabbit has crossed over with the Ninja Turtles in comics, three cartoon series and toy lines?

Usagi Yojimbo is Stan Sakai's wandering samurai, partly based on the real swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

Which inventor of the rodent-hunting Mousers becomes a human fly in the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon?

Baxter Stockman built the Mousers for a pest-control firm, which turned them down because machines that good would put it out of business.

Which Foot Clan commander, introduced in 1992, is usually the Shredder's deputy or adopted daughter on screen?

Karai ran the Foot Clan in its native Japan when the comics introduced her, and she has a long-running rivalry with Leonardo.

Leatherhead, a hot-headed ally of the Ninja Turtles since the Mirage comics, is a mutant what?

Alligator is right: in the original comics he began as an ordinary animal that slipped out of a pet store during a robbery.

Which adult fantasy comics magazine did a co-creator of the Ninja Turtles buy for $500,000 in 1992?

Heavy Metal was the magazine he had grown up reading, and he bought it when he learned it had been put up for sale.

A comic spoofing the Ninja Turtles starred Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt versions of which pet?

Hamsters led one of several copycat parodies, alongside commando koalas and kung-fu kangaroos, all spoofing a comic that was itself a parody.

Which children's TV network launched a new Ninja Turtles cartoon in 2012, aimed at boys aged 6 to 11?

Nickelodeon paired the reboot with new Winx Club episodes for girls, a two-part plan to revive established brands for new viewers.

Which streaming service premiered Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie in August 2022?

Netflix premiered the film around the world, but in China it was released in theatres a few months later.

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast member voiced April O'Neil in the 2007 animated film TMNT?

Sarah Michelle Gellar voiced a reinvented April: a young archaeologist who also owns a shipping company.

Which 2020 comic miniseries follows the sole surviving Ninja Turtle avenging his brothers in a future New York?

The Last Ronin grew out of a story outline the Turtles' two creators had written back in 1987, more than thirty years earlier.

Which 2009 animated film teamed the 2003 TMNT cartoon's heroes with their 1987 counterparts for a 25th anniversary?

Turtles Forever also served as the finale of the 2003 series, sending its heroes to meet the jokier earlier versions of themselves.

Which rock musician scored the Ninja Turtles film Mutant Mayhem with his regular partner Atticus Ross?

Trent Reznor and Ross set their score beside a soundtrack packed with classic East Coast rap songs.

Which voice actor played Raphael in the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon, then Donatello in the 2012 series?

Rob Paulsen has said that Raphael's voice is very close to his own natural one. He later served as voice director on the 2018 series.

Which future WCW and WWE world champion played Super Shredder in TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze?

Kevin Nash revealed in 2022 that another actor had originally been cast as the villain's hulking mutated form.

Which extraterrestrial race in Ninja Turtles lore governs its own Republic and wages war against the Federation?

Triceratons look like upright Triceratops, and in the IDW comics they are mutant dinosaurs created by another extraterrestrial species.

Which Arrested Development star played Vern Fenwick, who has a crush on April O'Neil, in the 2014 Ninja Turtles film?

Will Arnett's casting was announced with his role kept secret, until leaked photos revealed which character he was playing.

Casey Jones, the Ninja Turtles' vigilante ally, carries his arsenal of sports equipment in what?

A golf bag slung over his shoulder holds his bats, clubs and rackets, an idea one co-creator suggested to the other at the last minute.

Which future Oscar winner appears as the Foot Clan's head thug in the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film?

Sam Rockwell is credited simply as the head thug, and the same film has Skeet Ulrich among the Foot's recruits.

Which actor, the film voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, plays Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Ben Schwartz is also known as Jean-Ralphio in Parks and Recreation and as the voice of Dewey in DuckTales.

Which US network added the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon to its Saturday morning schedule in 1990 as an hour-long block?

CBS gave its Saturday episodes a different opening sequence, while the cartoon kept airing in syndication on weekday afternoons.

Which rapper joined Juicy J and Ty Dolla Sign on Shell Shocked, a single promoting the 2014 Ninja Turtles film?

Wiz Khalifa shared the track with Madsonik, a credit used by Brian Tyler, who also composed the film's score.

Which music-video director, who made a-ha's Take On Me, directed the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film?

Steve Barron also directed the videos for Billie Jean and Money for Nothing, and went on to make Coneheads.

Which IDW comics character became a fifth Ninja Turtle after an emergency blood transfusion from Leonardo?

Jennika, a Foot Clan member, had been stabbed, and the turtle DNA in the donated blood transformed her as it saved her.

Which publisher released the tabletop role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness in 1985?

Palladium Books licensed the comic just a year after its debut and two years before any cartoon, letting players become mutated animals themselves.

At the end of Mutant Mayhem, the Ninja Turtles are embraced as heroes and finally enrol where?

High school is where they join April as pupils, and an early draft of the script was much more of a school film.

In the arcade game Turtles in Time, which New York landmark is stolen in the opening scene?

Statue of Liberty is the prize: a giant flying villain carries it off, moments before the Shredder hijacks the airwaves to gloat.

In the Super NES version of Turtles in Time, how do players damage the Shredder's foreground battle tank?

Throwing Foot soldiers at it means hurling them straight at the screen. The home version turned that throw from a random flourish into a deliberate move.

Which French publisher released Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, a 3D remake of the arcade classic, in 2009?

Ubisoft sold the remake as a download for the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade.

In the Super NES version of Turtles in Time, which villain replaced Cement Man as the prehistoric level's boss?

Slash, himself a mutant turtle, took over the prehistoric stage as one of four bosses added for the home version.

In the NES game TMNT III: The Manhattan Project, what does the Shredder do to the borough?

He lifts it into the sky as a floating island and takes April hostage, daring the heroes to come to his lair and stop him.

In TMNT III: The Manhattan Project, the Turtles are on vacation in which US state when the Shredder strikes?

Florida's Key West is the holiday spot, and the first of the game's eight levels is fought on its beaches.

In TMNT III: The Manhattan Project, using a Turtle's special attack costs the player a portion of what?

Energy drains with every special attack unless the Turtle is down to a last bar of life, when the move costs nothing.

Aska, a ninja girl created for the SNES game TMNT: Tournament Fighters, was originally meant to be which film character?

Mitsu came from the third live-action film. The fighter was renamed Aska before release, reportedly because that film had been poorly received.

TMNT: Tournament Fighters was three different games: one each for the NES, the Super NES and which Sega console?

Genesis owners got a roster of their own, with April O'Neil as a playable fighter, a far more active role than she has in other games.

The 1989 NES game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has players defuse timed bombs underwater at which location?

A river dam on the Hudson is the second of the game's six stages, which begin on the streets of New York and later reach an airport.

Which star of The Bear voices April O'Neil in the 2023 animated film Mutant Mayhem?

Ayo Edebiri said she looked back to her own adolescence to find April's determination for the part.

Which warlord took over from the Shredder as lead villain in the last two seasons of the 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon?

Lord Dregg fooled the public at first, and was only outed as a villain at the end of his first season on the show.