Warning: Spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4!I am certain thatTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesis ready to undo the most controversial moment of the franchise. Anyone only familiar with the cartoons and movies probably thinks I sound dramatic, but those who have seen justhow unbelievably dark the TMNT comicscan get know I’m talking about the death of Splinter. For many fans, it was genuinely blasphemous to kill Splinter.
However,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#4 by Jason Aaron, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber, and Shawn Lee gives me the impression thatSplinter’s inevitable return has been foreshadowed. Mind you, the foreshadowing comes through the ramblings ofa madman named Donatello, whose badass rebrand has driven him crazy.
As easy as it would be to dismiss both Donatello and his ramblings in this issue, I think there is at least a method to the madness - if not from Donatello, then from the story itself. I think the story is preparing audiences for a real resurrection of Master Splinter.
Splinter Returns to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles … Kind Of
During IDW’s previousTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesvolume, Splinter died in the 100th issue, having sacrificed himself in an effort to save the world and resurrect the dormant humanity of Shredder. In the time since then, the four central Turtles have all gone their separate ways, struggling in differing ways.Raphael has been reinvented entirelyby going to prison, whileMichelangelo became a famous TV starandLeonardo mournedhis greatest sin: taking a life. But I’m tempted to say that in his post-Turtles life,Donatello goes through the worst of it all.
Splinter dies in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #100 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Michael Dialynas, Mateus Santolouco, Adam Gorham, Dan Duncan, Cory Smith, Ronda Pattison, Bill Crabtree, and Shawn Lee.
Not to minimize the pain of any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as they all go through their unique brand of turmoil, all which eventually forces them to band back together by this issue’s end, but as this issue shows,Donatello has become an unwilling participant in a mutant fight club. Truthfully,Donatello has been worse for wearfor a while now, even before the events of this book. In the prior volume ofTMNT, Donatello started dabbling in magic, using it to the point where he found himself able to travel through time.
Where Does Donatello’s Rat Come From, And Is It Really Master Splinter?
Not Likely, But Never Say Never
While his decision to start choosing magic over sciencetransformed Donatello’s power level, it negatively transformed him on a physical level. Both his psyche and his skeletal structure and body started to deteriorate; it became harder for him to keep food down. As he mourns Master Splinter,he mistakes a random rat for his late father, thinking that Splinter is sending him a sign for his next chapter. It does, though, lead him to find a truck full of imprisoned animal-mutant hybrids, moments before getting captured himself and used in a mutant fight pit at the Sunshine Safari Park.
Even when the rat is killed by a wild shuriken when the Foot Clan attacks, Donatello is still convinced that it is Master Splinter, alive and in the flesh.
Donatello spends months in his cell, only exiting to fend for his life. He never eats in favor of giving his food to other inmates. His body and mind deteriorate further, and all he has to comfort him is a rat in his cell. That may or may not be the same rat who led him to the prisoners, but Donnie definitely thinks it’s the same rat who was once Master Hamato Yoshi. Even when the rat is killed by a wild shuriken when the Foot Clan attacks,Donatello is still convinced that it is Master Splinter, alive and in the flesh.
Could Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Be Foreshadowing Splinter’s True Return?
Assuming this Random Rat Isn’t Splinter
There’s a good chance that Splinter has not been reincarnated into a random rat who is guiding Donatello through life. In fact, I think that’s pretty safe to assume - but then again, never say never, right? Stranger things have happened inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleslore. After all, the Turtles' origin story confirmed that Master Splinter and his sons were - respectively - humans reincarnated into a rat and turtles, who then happened to transform by chance through radioactive ooze. I don’t thinkHamato being reincarnated into another ratwould be the most far-fetched or weirdest thing to happen in these stories.
Alternatively, let’s just say that it is far-fetched to think that Master Splinter has become Donatello’s rat guide. Let’s assume that this moment is just as dark as it really is, and it’s just Donatello losing his mind, hanging out with a dead rat with a shuriken stuck in its head that he’s keeping nuzzled on his shoulder. Nothing more, nothing less than that - at least on the surface. Beneath the surface, this small moment could beforeshadowing Master Splinter’s actual return. Maybe not through this rat, though; the rat probably doesn’t have anything to do with Splinter.
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But the story could lead to a real Splinter return. Truthfully, knowing how much Aaron, as the series' still-new writer, has professed to beinga long-time fan of TMNTduring its grittier days, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t at least a little bit tempted to write for such a central figure inTurtleslore. If that’s the case, then he isn’t going to let a little death stop him from bringing Splinter back. When has death stopped anyonefrom coming back in superhero comics? TheTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise should be no exception.
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.
