Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is finally here, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an iteration of the reptilian quartet as instantly loveable as the crew that Seth Rogen and company have dreamed up. Indeed, with the essential DNA of each turtle’s personality packaged refreshingly into personalities befitting of gung-ho teenage boys, it could be said that the brothers are at their best at the moment.
But it’s not just the turtles who get a makeover in Mutant Mayhem; April O’Neil is given her own refreshing reimagining as well; one that fits in effortlessly with the relentless dynamic of the brothers. And one glance at the list of names in Superfly’s crew will yield many a wink and a nod for seasoned TMNT fans.
But if there’s one essential piece of the TMNT puzzle outside of the turtles themselves, it has to be Master Splinter, the mutant rat who single-handedly molded them into the fun-loving ninja warriors they are today.
From the outset, it’s immediately apparent to longtime fans that Splinter’s backstory in Mutant Mayhem isn’t quite what it is in all other media, but how exactly does this Splinter differ from the other versions of the character?
Where did Splinter come from in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem?
Splinter’s origin story has been chopped up and rearranged a couple of times throughout the character’s life, but the most widely-recognized version sees him start off as the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, a Japanese ninja who’s able to train Splinter in the ways of ninjitsu thanks to his abnormally high intelligence for his species. Yoshi is later killed by the vengeful ninja Oroku Saki, who goes on to take the mantle of Shredder, the eventual archnemesis of the turtles.
Orphaned by the murder of Yoshi, Splinter runs away and eventually finds himself in New York City’s sewers, which become infected with mutagenic ooze after a traffic accident sends a canister beneath the city’s surface. Splinter, along with four baby turtles whom he fatefully crosses paths with, consumes the ooze and is mutated into the anthropomorphic being he is today. He then names the young turtles and goes on to raise them as his sons.
In Mutant Mayhem, however, Splinter is simply an ordinary rat fighting for survival on the mean streets of New York City, distrustful of most other rats due to the violent nature of the environment. While exploring the sewers, he comes across the ooze in the sewers, alongside four baby turtles who he takes a liking to after being charmed by their sweetness; a trait he’s not used to seeing in others.
The ooze mutates both Splinter and the turtles, and he goes on to raise them as his own. But you may be wondering how Splinter taught the brothers karate if he himself was just an ordinary rat.
The answer is that father and sons learned together this time around; after managing to acquire a handful of self-defense VHS tapes, Splinter studied them vigorously before passing on his haphazardly-acquired knowledge to the turtles in a scene that will leave most audiences in stitches.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now playing in theaters.