We are glad you are back on our channel, and we have another exciting video for you. Today we will discuss Leatherhead and his ancestry as we continue our study of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On our channel, you can learn more about the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters if you are interested.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman created in 1984, have entertained fans for the past 30 years. The TMNT was first created as a spoof of the dirty, depressing superhero comics of the 1980s. However, they ended up becoming one of the most well-known kids’ brands of the decade because of the phenomenal popularity of their Saturday morning animated series. The Ninja Turtles ruled the late 1980s and early 1990s with countless toys, numerous comic books, and three feature-length motion pictures.
Every version of the Ninja Turtles includes Leatherhead as one of the primary characters (keeping aside the movie versions). Alligator named Leatherhead escaped from a pet store and was taken as a test subject by the Utroms. In the sixth installment of “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Leatherhead made his comic book debut. Like many of the evil characters on this list, the gator was directly exposed to the Mutagen, which gave him incredible strength and intelligence. He has backed or opposed the Turtles depending on the episode and the situation.
Learn more about the Leatherhead by reading on.
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The Becoming of The Leatherhead
Before swimming through a section of Florida’s Everglades marsh that the Mutagen had tainted, Leatherhead was a gigantic green alligator (owing to the previous movements of Shredder and Krang, the one that yielded the genesis of the Punk Frogs). He changed to his present humanoid shape when he came in touch with the Mutagen immediately after his connection with a Cajun trapper. However, despite his increased knowledge, he could still not completely overcome his aggressiveness and hunting instincts, which made him a threat to everyone who came in contact with him.
In his initial appearance, Leatherhead holds the Punk Frogs— Genghis Frog, Napoleon Bonafrog, Rasputin the Mad Frog, and Attila the Frog— slaves until the Ninja Turtles arrive to rescue them. The same swamp likewise altered these frogs. Despite being ultimately vanquished, Shredder and Rocksteady are responsible for his escape.
Then, in order to get vengeance on the Turtles, he traveled to New York City. After that, he went for the Turtles in the sewers, their natural habitat. He was caught by the Rat King while looking for the Turtles, who he does not much appreciate (he thought of him as “a few shrimp shy of a boatload”). They quarreled and tried to murder one another when he was subsequently set free before deciding that working together to defeat the Turtles would be more useful.
Later on, though, they formed an alliance to hunt down the Turtles, enticing them to remote locations and capturing or trying to kill them in various ways. They intended to invade the city with android alligators and robot rats. Splinter’s presence and Leonardo’s surprise survival derailed their strategy. The other Turtles vanquished the Rat King and Leatherhead once they had been set free.
Shredder and Krang recruited Leatherhead, Slash, the Rat King, Antrax, Tempestra, Chrome Dome, and Scumbug to annihilate the Turtles in an episode titled “Night of the Rogues.” When his payment was rejected, Leatherhead left just like the other rogues.
Leatherhead was formerly an exotic pet that got flushed down to the Sewer and somehow ended up in an Utrom base, according to his origin story in the Mirage Studios Comic Tales in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue no.#6. Leatherhead evolved into a gigantic, humanoid crocodile after being infected by the exactly same Mutagen that would ultimately transform the Turtles. He shared Donatello’s brilliance and resided with the Utroms, whom he regarded as his family. He was unintentionally left behind when the Utroms fled Earth after the Utrom Shredder’s onslaught.
In Part 3 of The Secret Origins, Leatherhead initially appeared in a shadowy cameo while fleeing the TCRI headquarters during the attack. He made the Turtlebot and was experimenting on a transmat interface that allows him to reunite with the Utroms when he was first introduced in the “What a Croc” episode while he was assisting Baxter Stockman in building a new body. But Stockman merely intended to exploit him. Later, Leatherhead became friends with Michelangelo, who discovered him residing in the Turtles’ former hideout.
Furious that the Utroms had adopted and informed him well about Shredder, Leatherhead snapped and seized Stockman. Eventually, Stockman dropped a bomb on the area, causing it to succumb. Tragically for Stockman, the doctor mistakenly revealed to Leatherhead that he had worked for the Shredder during a fight between the Turtles and Stockman. Notwithstanding Michelangelo’s pleadings for Leatherhead to accompany them, it appeared that he gave his life to rescue the Turtles.
Later in season 3, it was discovered that Leatherhead had not only endured the trauma due to his healthy skin, but had also been captured by Agent Bishop, used cruelly as a test subject for genetic analysis and experiments in his lab, and suffered severe mental scars as a result.
However, Bishop’s research increased the risk of Leatherhead’s bursts of ferocious wrath, which were already deadly. Leatherhead struck Michelangelo during an unconscious rage, and when he awoke, he thought he had murdered his friend. He assisted his old companions in escaping after being set free by the Turtles and briefly resided in their hideout.
After abandoning the Turtles, a dejected Leatherhead discovered himself being pursued in the sewers by Mr. Marlin, an extreme game hunter. Fortunately, his buddies rescued him, who persisted in believing in him and were thrilled to learn Michelangelo was still alive.
However, he had come to feel that his increased aggression made it nearly unthinkable for him to live with the Turtles permanently. Due to his condition, he chose to live apart from his friends, residing in an adjacent chamber (an uninhabited subway station that resembles the Turtles’ hideout from the second and third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films) so he would always be close by and be able to make sure of their safety while helping them as much as he could with his intellect.
He later made several more appearances as the Turtles’ ally, mostly in their conflicts with Agent Bishop and the Foot, including the attack on the Shredder’s headquarters. He joined them in targeting the Shredder’s covert launch site even more ferociously than before. He encountered the Hun, a Shredder’s goon who blocked his path, and the two tumbled into the silo as a result of the conflict.
Both lived, and Leatherhead retreated to his lair but chose to live alone owing to the rage issues that had worsened due to Bishop’s experimentation on him. Later it is revealed that he assisted Donatello in the creation of the Monster Hunter equipment that the Turtles used to battle the mutant monsters from Bishop’s breakout. He also seemed to have developed a close connection with Don.
In season 4, Leatherhead played a crucial part in helping Don stop the local species’ transformation due to the Mutagens that Baxter Stockman had previously developed during his staged alien invasion. But when Donatello unintentionally comes into contact with the neurotoxin, Leatherhead is heartbroken that he cannot save him and joins the rest of the turtles in catching the altered Don. Later, Leatherhead realized that the initial Utrom Mutagen and the Bishop’s breakout mutation combined in a volatile reaction that would extinguish Don if not treated well.
When the Bishop headquarters were located in Area 51, Leatherhead collaborated with the Splinter and the Turtles to break in. Bishop was forced to battle the mutant Donatello while he dispatched the three turtles to Karai to capture the Heart of Tengu. He was tempted to seek revenge on Bishop when his trauma awakened him, but he could do so with his friends’ support. Despite his personal animosity towards Bishop, Leatherhead could use Stockman and Bishop’s knowledge about the new Mutagen. By employing Bishop’s tools, he could heal Don and the other animals and people affected by the epidemic.
In the episode titled “Identity Crisis,” Donatello remembers seeing Leatherhead. In Wedding Bells and Bytes, Leatherhead shows up during Casey and April’s nuptials at Casey’s grandmother’s farm. He admits to Angel about him constantly crying at weddings after being seen sobbing. Leatherhead assists in rescuing the other guests amidst the Foot attack as the barn falls and later assists in battling the Foot.
When Leatherhead appears in this episode for the first time, the Turtles discover him engaged in a fierce fight with a group of Kraang. Michelangelo led the effort to assist him. After knocking Leatherhead out, Mikey persuaded the rest of them to bring him back to the hideout. Leatherhead regularly assaulted the turtles, but Mikey became friends with him and gained his confidence. Leatherhead erupted into a frenzy and attacked all of the turtles when the rest of the turtles found the power cell, and he realized what they had seen. He was vanquished by Splinter, who then chased him away.
Mikey quickly ran outside to look for him and discovered Leatherhead in an isolated subway car at his own hideout. The rest of the turtles then showed up, thinking Leatherhead was up to no good. However, Leatherhead begged them and gave them a history of himself. When the Kraang ambushed the subway vehicle, Leatherhead left Mikey in charge of the power cell and confronted the advancing Kraang, allowing the turtles enough time to flee. Finally, a Kraang said that Leatherhead would not allow them to inform anybody or anything about the power cell, despite the fact that they had to notify the other Kraang.
After the Kraang took the power cell, the turtles asked Leatherhead for assistance, but they discovered him dozing off. When Leatherhead awakened, he immediately grabbed Donnie by the face. When he awakens, the Turtles tell him they have lost the power cell.
He erupted into a rage and again grasped Donatello’s face before coming to his senses and telling them what he knew of the Kraang along with the gateway. In order to buy the turtles some time to flee, he battled Traag and pulled him into the portal. He was subsequently utilized as a decoy by the Turtles so that the gang could ascend to the summit of the TCRI structure. The image of Leatherhead is that of a fire-breathing dragon. The turtles ultimately defeat him because they think their weapons are supernatural.
Due to the temporal difference, Leatherhead has spent many years in Dimension X, where he has acquired grey hair and an eye scar. In order to tell the Turtles that the Kraang have finished the Mutagen and are about to attack, he utilizes a Kraang Communications System after escaping the Kraang. A struggle breaks out when the Kraang discovers him, and Leatherhead is eventually knocked unconscious. The Turtles go to rescue him from what appears to be the Technodrome, right where he is being held captive and subjected to torture.
He offers to assist the Turtles in stopping the invasion at the episode’s conclusion and gives them a high five. He then directs them to the Kraang portals and assists in the ensuing battle. He volunteers to stay in Dimension X and fend off the Kraang before the fight is over, but Mikey does not want him to get stuck there again and knocks him via the Earth portal.
A few Kraang assault Master Splinter in the sewer, and Leatherhead rescues him. The mutant alligator praises Splinter and inquires about the whereabouts of the Sensei’s sons. Master Splinter also admits his ignorance and requests Leatherhead to assist him in the search for them. They move towards the surface when he accepts.
After they separate, Master Splinter fights Shredder and is on the verge of death until Leatherhead crashes through a block and saves him. The villain then prevails in their battle and knocks the victim into the sewers after winning. After that, his future is uncertain.
Battle for New York: Leatherhead is seen to have survived the Kraang invasion at a location where Jack Kurtzman subsequently discovers him. Kurtzman then recruits Leatherhead, Slash, Dr. Tyler Rockwell, as well as Pigeon Pete as part of the Mighty Mutanimals to stop the Kraang from invading New York City. He serves as the group’s second-in-command. He and Michelangelo have a touching moment when the crew saves the Turtles amidst the Kraang for the first time.
Leatherhead attacks Tiger Claw along with the other Mutanimals during a gathering at the docks with the Fulci Twins. Still, he overcomes everyone and captures Slash and Dr. Tyler Rockwell to put them through experiments. Shredder abducted Slash and Rockwell, say Leatherhead and Pete, as they rush to the Turtles. Later, in Shredder’s hideout, he observes Karai’s unsuccessful attempt to escape by shattering the glass. Stockman-Fly then claims to have created the Mind-Control Serum for Karai, but Shredder orders him to try it on Rockwell and Slash first. They burst out when the Foot pursues them after biting them with the worms.
At least that ancient, Leatherhead originally morphed on Burnow Island in the 18th century. His transformation occurred as a result of a neighboring pirate ship discharging some of its cargo, which included mutagen canisters, into the ocean. The island’s old native people gave Leatherhead the moniker “Leatherhead of the Lagoon” after they had seen him only briefly. Leatherhead claimed to have lived alone for more than two centuries when he first encountered the Turtles and the Honeycutt, but this turned out to be a deception; for the most of that time, he had been General Kraang’s pet and had only fled when the Foot Clan landed on the island.
Burnow Island ultimately became unfit for earth life after Kraang’s Technodrome terraformed it, causing Leatherhead to seek refuge with Professor Honeycutt. In return for being permitted to utilize Honeycutt’s teleportation apparatus to depart Burnow Island and fly to New York City, Leatherhead gave Honeycutt access to his mutagen supply in order to repair Donatello’s shattered body and resurrect the Utroms from stasis. He happened to have met Harold Lilja also through remote transmission.
However, Leatherhead had a hidden goal; he desired retribution on Kraang and all Utroms for his long incarceration and torture. In order to do this, he mutilated and almost killed Honeycutt after killing a few Utroms in stasis. He battled the Turtles and almost murdered Michelangelo when his deeds were discovered in an effort to get to New York. When he arrived there, he was overpowered and forced to leave.
In “Urban Legends,” he made another appearance when Old Hob sought to enlist him under the Mutanimals. However, there was a disagreement due to their vastly divergent views about mutants.
In “The Trial of Kraang,” the Neutrinos subsequently pursued Leatherhead as an unexpected eyewitness against Kraang since Leatherhead could swear to Kraang’s brutality firsthand. However, Leatherhead became outraged when King Zenter ordered that Krang would suffer a life term on Burnow Island, and he decided to avenge himself by devouring Kraang alive. After completing his retribution, Leatherhead quickly left Burnow Island, that too for New York, and promised to save “normal” animals against mutations after protecting a seal from a modified monster. He later made his way back to Earth by using the portal.
After losing two fingers to a M.O.U.S.E.R. at a museum, Leatherhead was rediscovered by the Turtles there. When Raphael challenged Leatherhead about his view that mutants shouldn’t exist, the alligator started to dream that Kraang was mocking him. Before escaping back into the ditches while hearing his adversary’s voice, he lashed right out at the Turtles and almost hurt Michelangelo. Later, it was discovered that this had a medical explanation since Kraang started parasitically regenerating inside the mutant’s belly.
What Makes Him So Powerful
His skills were improved from a regular alligator to a mutant, making him a superb powerhouse. He can spend a lot of time swimming underwater, much as genuine alligators can. In battle, he rolls down the ground like an alligator and utilizes his weight and razor-sharp back plates to smash his foes. All alligators and their relatives have a third eyelid that allows them to see underwater. He has one as well. When Leatherhead gets angry, this third cover locks into place. Although Kraangdroid blasts are nearly impervious to his rugged, armored hide, it is demonstrated that it still stings.
He is a powerful warrior, having even defeated all the turtles in battle, defeated Traag, and severely injured Shredder. Despite his enormous size and incredible power, he was easily destroyed by The Shredder in a brief but harsh battle and by Splinter in a similar manner due to his unstable temper. With his jaws, which are strong enough to rip steel. He could lift a car and throw it a short distance with enough strength. He seemed to possess unbreakable resolve since he would resist the Kraang, regardless of what they tried to do. He is seen to be competent to withstand the dangerous environment of Dimension X.
Leatherhead possesses a fiery temper that is similar to Ralph that, when appropriately utilized, may make him stronger. Still, it can also have disastrous consequences since it can make him lose control of his wrath and imperil everyone, including those he loves.
Although he is enormous, has a strong tail, sharp claws, an armored body and jaws that can crush bones in addition to having sharp teeth, his armor was proved to be lacking against the Shredder. Given his body type, he has demonstrated tremendous agility by using his tail lash and long arms to swing about. He showed that he could run as fast or as evenly as Slash.
It appears that throughout his stay with the Kraang, he learned as much as he could about them. He can communicate and think, much like the bulk of mutants. His voice is intense and gravelly, yet he can talk pretty fluently despite his prominent snout. He can still make alligator sounds like hissing, growling, bellowing, and roaring. He could endure some of Shredder’s blows and save the Turtles from Traag because of his armored physique. He was one of the few that had a shot against Shredder and perhaps even came close to winning with his cutters, skill, and mastery of pressure points.
Why is Leatherhead the Badass Villain in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Everyone is familiar with the tale of the Ninja Turtles, in which a rat (or a man, based on the rendition) and four pet turtles are transformed into humanoids by an extraterrestrial mutagen. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo— all named after well-known Renaissance painters— learn the art of Ninjutsu from Sensei Splinter and protect New York City from the evil Foot Clan extraterrestrial invaders and other freaks intent on harming innocent citizens. A character must appear at least twice in different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles media in order to qualify as a “major” villain, or they must serve as the main adversary in one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies or TV series.
The vicious alligator is portrayed as a genuine villain in the 1980s animated film. He has a Cajun accent, joins up with Shredder to defeat the Turtles along with their allies, and is as stupid as Leatherhead. However, he is among the most brilliant characters in the whole series in the animated versions between 2003 and 2012, even rivaling Donatello in intelligence. He plays both the hero and the villain in each of these shows.
Despite being their ally, he is frequently forced to battle the “Heroes in a Half-Shell” by other villains through brainwashing, trickery, or torture. One of the most formidable opponents the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have ever encountered is Leatherhead because of his powerful primitive instincts and raw strength. His famous dialogue, “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees,” will forever be engraved in the hearts of all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans.