TheTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesare famously bright, colorful, and kid-friendly. The franchise has become a Nickelodeon property, after all, so it makes sense that the television series and animated films are geared towards a family audience. However, the ‘kid-friendly’ lens that is oftentimes placed over theTMNTfranchise doesn’t give fans a full scope of what the series is as a whole. In fact,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescan be insanely dark.
When the series was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleshad nothing to do with toys, cartoons, or Nickelodeon. In fact, it was a gritty, black and white indie comic geared towards a more mature audience, and it didn’t hold back on the hyper-violence. WhileTMNThas certainly changed over the yearsfrom its bloody origins, there is a corner of the franchise that has stayed true to the darker elements of the Turtles fans first fell in love with, offering fans no shortage of awesome, dark moments from the series.
10The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Brutally Kill Shredder (in the Very 1st Issue)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#1 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
TheTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise wastes no time when it comes to kicking off the brutality, as one of the most hardcore things the Ninja Turtles have ever done happened in the very first issue of the original comic book series. Indeed,TMNTwas originally a franchise meant for a more mature readership. The Turtles were gritty, 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 the Shredder himself.
Shredder would go on to become the most iconicTMNTvillain in the franchise’s history, appearing in practically every single incarnation of the franchise. However, back whenTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleswas still in its infancy, Shredder was put down by the Turtles in truly brutal fashion.
9TMNT’s Raphael Gets His Face Melted Off
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#1 (Image Comics) by Gary Carlson and Frank Fosco
While theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise isn’t afraid to get brutal, it does tend to stay away from being super gory. Sure, the Turtles will stab and slash Shredder on a New York City rooftop, but the comics don’t really emphasize the blood and guts associated with killing someone like that. However, whenTMNTwas briefly being published by Image Comics, the series' restraint on gore went right out the window - and in the first issue, no less.
In Image Comics’Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#1, Raphael gets half his face melted off while battling an enemy, and the panel depicting it doesn’t hold back on the gory horror Raph was experiencing. This wasn’t a one-off injury, either, as Raphael spent most of this series wearing one of Casey Jones' hockey masks, making this moment as dark as it was significant to the wider story.
8TMNT’s Donatello Gets Beaten to Death by Bebop & Rocksteady
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#44 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Cory Smith
Aside from Raphael’s unfortunate injury over in Image Comics, the Ninja Turtles are usually the ones who deal out the brutality as opposed to being on the receiving end of it. But, that’s not exactly true, as Donatello found himself in a far more serious situation in IDW Publishing’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleswhen he was ambushed by Bebop and Rocksteady. Indeed, the normally dim-witted mutant duo prove just how deadly they truly are inTMNT#44.
Bebop and Rocksteady were sent to kill Donatello after the Ninja Turtle betrayed Shredder during a story arc that saw Donnie pit the Foot Clan against the Utroms in a scheme that would eliminate two of the Ninja Turtles' greatest enemies at once. Shredder became aware of Donatello’s double-cross, so he sent Bebop and Rocksteady to kill him - and they did just that.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#2 (IDW Publishing) by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Dan Duncan
It isn’t until IDW Publishing’sTMNTthat Casey Jones' personal story gets fleshed out like it never had before. This version of Casey isn’t an adult vigilante who meets the Turtles while on patrol of the city, he’s just a kid in high school who plays for his school’s hockey team. Though, 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 his story thatTMNTfans weren’t aware of before, and the situation only becomes worse when Raphael intervenes. Raph sees what this man is doing to his son, and he breaks into their house with the intention of stopping him - maybe even killing him.
6TMNT’s Old Hob Horrifically Mutates a Crowd of People, & 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’sTMNTcanon 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 just how far Old Hob was willing to take his pro-mutant mission. Raph thought they would just take down organizations targeting mutants. But inTMNT#98, Raphael’s horrified to realize that Old Hob didn’t just want to save existing mutants, he wanted to make new ones.
During a rally for Mayor Baxter Stockman (who famously creates, imprisons, and torments mutants), Old Hob drops a mutagen bomb on a crowd of humans, mutating all of them against their will. This process appeared excruciating, and these people’s lives were forever changed (most for the worse) because of Old Hob - and, to some extent, Raphael.
5TMNT’s Leonardo Gets Corrupted by Shredder & Nearly 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 who leaves 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 twisted by Kitsune, and as a result, he became Shredder’s chunin - the second in command of the Foot Clan.
His commitment to Shredder was so great, in fact, that when his brothers and father came to rescue him, he nearly killed them where they stood, and only stopped when Shredder himself told him not to land the killing blows. Seeing Leonardo - the Turtle who leads his brothers through the greatest hardships - fall to villainy was utterly heartbreaking, and one of the darkest moments in the series.
4TMNT’s Raphael Uses a Gun to Kill a Foot Clan Ninja
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#61 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Jim Lawson
The weapons the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles use aren’t just iconic, but they’re also pretty appropriate for all ages without being considered hyper violent. Granted, two out of the four are types of blades, while the other two are used for bludgeoning, but the ‘toyetic’ nature of ninja weapons is sanctioned by society as being appropriate for kids without parents making too big a fuss. Guns, however, are decidedly more mature, though that didn’t stop Raphael from using one to kill a Foot Clan soldier.
Granted, Raphael did this in the more mature Mirage StudiosTMNT, but retrospectively, it’s pretty shocking to see this character wielding a firearm in battle. No fun ninja-kicks or somehow non-lethal sai attacks, just good ol' fashion bullets, which is surprisingly dark forTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
3TMNT’s Casey Jones Accidentally Kills a Kid
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#48 (Mirage Studios) by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Jim Lawson
As if Casey Jones’TMNThistory could get darker than suffering abuse by the hand of his father as a kid, his original stint in TMNT canon has the vigilante do the unthinkable: kill a kid. Granted, Casey didn’t mean to murder him, but that doesn’t excuse what he did. Casey Jones used force that was too excessive on a gang of teenagers, and as a result, he killed someone with their whole life ahead of them.
Casey couldn’t forgive himself for the longest time after accidentally killing this kid, falling into a pit of depression that he struggled to claw himself out of. Even after he went back to being a hero with his TMNT allies, Casey never forgot what he did, as this dark moment stuck with him for the rest of his life.
2TMNT’s Donatello is Imprisoned 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 an all-new era within IDW Publishing continuity, marking a fresh start for the Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, this ‘fresh start’ doesn’t seem to be that great for the Turtles themselves. Raphael was in prison, Michelangelo was famous yet miserable, and Leonardo was unable to find peace. However, none of them have had it worse than Donatello, who found himself imprisoned in a mutant fighting pit while slowly going insane.
In the previous story arc, Donatello meddled with magical forces beyond his understanding, and now he’s experiencing the fallout of that, as his mind is starting to slip while his body is slowly withering away. Then, Donnie gets abducted by people who are kidnapping and fighting mutants for money, which is a decidedly dark start to Donatello’s newTMNTera.
1TMNT’s Raphael Goes Back in Time to Kill Donatello
Some of the darkest moments inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesare when one Turtle brother turns on another, especially when it’s more than just a temporary fight, but with actual murderous intent. That’s exactly what happened in “Out of Time”, though the circumstances were definitely different. In “Out of Time” Raphael tries to kill Donatello, as Donnie is responsible for the creation of the timeline-eating cosmic shark, Armaggon. However, this Raphael isn’t the brother Donatello knows and loves - this one is from the future.
‘Old Man Raph’ jumps through time and space, faces off against Armaggon itself, and even loses an arm, all to do one thing: kill his own brother. That is a dark story arc no matter what franchise it takes place in, and it’s especially so inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making it one of the 10 darkest of the entire franchise.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
