By VeVe Staff · November 7, 2025
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) have a famous origin story that has been retold and tweaked in comics, TV, and film for decades. Every version centers on four baby turtles exposed to mysterious ooze, a wise mentor named Splinter, and a ninja feud, but each era adds its own twist. Here are seven key moments in TMNT history that defined or reinvented the TMNT origin story for a new generation, shaping how fans understand the Turtles’ beginnings. Now, TMNT is entering the digital age with limited-edition digital collectibles available exclusively on VeVe.
In November 1983, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman doodled a bipedal turtle with nunchucks as a joke. He and Peter Laird found the “ninja turtle” sketch so absurd that it inspired them to create an entire comic around the concept. By early 1984, they were hard at work developing a universe for these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They drew on their favorite comics for ideas, notably Marvel’s Daredevil and Frank Miller’s Ronin, which influenced the tone and backstory of the TMNT origin story. In a clever homage, Eastman and Laird imagined that the same radioactive canister accident that gave Daredevil his powers also caused the Turtles’ mutation. In their outline, a canister of radioactive isotope falls off a truck (after blinding young Matt Murdock) and strikes a bowl of four pet turtles, sending them plummeting into the sewers. There, the turtles are found by a rat named Splinter (formerly the pet of ninja master Hamato Yoshi) who is exposed to the glowing ooze as well. This scrappy origin paid tribute to Daredevil without explicitly crossing into Marvel’s story.
The very first TMNT comic (Mirage Studios TMNT #1) laid down a gritty and dramatic origin. In a flashback, Splinter explains how a feud in Japan led to the Turtles’ creation. Hamato Yoshi was a member of the Foot Clan with a pet rat (Splinter) who mimicked his martial arts practice. Yoshi’s rival, Oroku Nagi, attacked Yoshi’s love Tang Shen, and Yoshi killed Nagi in defense. Fleeing to New York with Shen and his rat, Yoshi was later hunted down by Nagi’s vengeful younger brother, Oroku Saki (who would become The Shredder). Shredder murdered Tang Shen and Hamato Yoshi, leaving Yoshi’s pet rat masterless and alone. Not long after, fate intervened with that canister of TCRI mutagen falling into the sewer. The four baby turtles (dropped by a boy above) were doused in the ooze and retrieved by Splinter. The mutagen caused extraordinary changes: the turtles grew into humanoid teenagers, and Splinter, having been an ordinary rat, became a sentient, human-sized rat. As they developed speech and intelligence, Splinter took onthe role of their father and sensei. He named the turtles after the Renaissance artists from a discarded book and taught them ninjutsu, passing on the skills he had observed from Hamato Yoshi.
When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit TV in 1987 as a children’s cartoon, the origin had to be sanitized and simplified for a young audience. The result was a hugely influential retelling of the TMNT origin story, though quite different from the comics. In the animated series, Hamato Yoshi and Splinter are the same person, a major change from the source material. Yoshi is introduced as a good-hearted ninja master in Japan who is betrayed by his pupil, Oroku Saki. Framed for a crime he did not commit, Yoshi is exiled from the Foot Clan and ends up living in New York’s sewers, destitute and befriending rats.
The 1987 cartoon’s origin also removed the lethal ninja feud from the story. There is no Tang Shen or murdered master.Instead, Splinter’s rivalry with Shredder comes from Saki’s betrayal and Yoshi’s exile rather than a family blood debt. Splinter now raises the turtles as his sons and trains them to fight evil in general, not to seek vengeance. The tone is much lighter: the turtles act like fun-loving teens who shout “Cowabunga!” and love pizza, and Splinter is a gentler father figure. By making these changes, the cartoon made the TMNT origin story kid-friendly and accessible, which helped launch Turtle-mania worldwide.
The first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film in 1990 took yet another approach, blending elements of the Mirage comic and the cartoon. The movie’s version of the TMNT origin story leans closer to the comics’ dark tale but with some adjustments and a more emotional bent. In the film, Splinter is once again a rat who was the pet of Hamato Yoshi in Japan. Through Splinter’s narration, we learn Yoshi fled to America with his wife Tang Shen to escape a feud with Oroku Saki. However, Saki (now using the persona Shredder) tracked them down in New York and killed Yoshi and Tang Shen. During the attack, Splinter escaped his cage and lunged at Saki, clawing his face and scarring him. Saki retaliated by slicing off part of Splinter’s ear before leaving, a detail visible on Splinter’s character in the film.
One notable change in the movie: Splinter does not push his sons to avenge his master’s death at all costs. Instead, he emphasizes honor and restraint, “Never fight unless you absolutely must,” he advises. When the Turtles eventually face the Shredder, it’s portrayed as a twist of fate rather than the fulfillment of a revenge quest. In the film’s climax, Splinter confronts Shredder and reveals their connection (“It was you who killed my master!”), but defeats him without hatred, showing mercy until Shredder’s own aggression leads to his downfall. This more Zen approach gave the film a heartwarming theme of family and justice over vengeance.
In 2003, a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series premiered, aiming to reboot the Turtles for a modern audience while returning to the franchise’s comic-book roots. This 4Kids-produced show largely restored the classic Mirage-style TMNT origin story, reintroducing elements the 1987 cartoon had changed, but it also added bold twists of its own. Once again, Splinter starts out as an ordinary rat who was the pet of Hamato Yoshi, not a mutated Yoshi himself. The Turtles’ mutation happens when Splinter, now alone in New York, comes across four turtles and a canister of TCRI mutagen after a traffic accident, a direct homage to the original comic setup.
The big twist in the 2003 cartoon is who Shredder really is. Midway through the first season, it is revealed that Oroku Saki is actually an Utrom, an alien brain-like creature, named Ch’rell wearing a human exosuit. This Utrom Shredder twist shocked viewers and fundamentally changed the context of the Turtles’ origin in this series. Now the mutagen’s presence (from TCRI) and Splinter’s backstory are tied to alien refugees secretly living on Earth. Hamato Yoshi, in fact, had been protecting these Utrom aliens, which is why the Shredder (Ch’rell) killed him.
By 2011, the Turtles’ origin had been interpreted many ways, but the ongoing IDW comic series managed to do something truly new. The IDW comics introduced a bold plot: the Turtles and Splinter are reincarnations of a family from feudal Japan. This inventive retcon preserved classic elements (mutagenic experiments, a Foot Clan feud) while giving the TMNT origin story a deeper mythological layer. In IDW continuity, Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki lived in Japan centuries ago as members of the Foot Clan. When Yoshi refused Saki’s cruel methods, Saki had Yoshi’s wife Tang Shen killed and ordered Yoshi’s four young sons executed in front of him, before killing Yoshi himself. With his dying breath, Yoshi vowed vengeance. Oroku Saki then used dark magic to extend his life (entering a centuries-long slumber). During a Foot Clan raid on the lab, the animals are exposed to the experimental ooze and also a psychic serum. They escape into an alley and mutate, the turtles into anthropomorphic form and the rat into a humanoid rat. Crucially, the serum awakens Splinter’s past-life memories, and he realizes he is Hamato Yoshi and these turtles are the reincarnations of his slain sons. Splinter then raises the Ninja Turtles as his children with the awareness that they are truly family. When Shredder learns the truth, the stage is set for a very personal showdown, it is literally the continuation of a blood feud from another life.
Nickelodeon’s 2012 TMNT animated series offered yet another remix of the origin, blending ideas from previous versions into a new narrative for the 2010s. This CGI-animated show took the approach of making Splinter actually Hamato Yoshi again (as the ’87 cartoon did), but it kept the dramatic backstory of a family tragedy from the Mirage comics. In this continuity, Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki were raised as brothers in Japan (an adoptive family angle unique to the 2012 show). They both loved Tang Shen. When Shen chose Yoshi and bore his child, Saki’s jealousy exploded. Saki revealed his true colors (being part of the Foot Clan) and attacked the Hamato family home, causing a fire that killed Tang Shen. In the chaos, Saki kidnapped Yoshi’s infant daughter, Miwa, and raised her as his own, renaming her Karai. Hamato Yoshi, believing his baby girl perished, was devastated and moved to New York to start a new life. Years later, in New York, Yoshi happens to buy four baby turtles from a pet shop. But on the same night, he stumbles upon an alien plot by the Kraang. A canister of Kraang mutagen gets shattered during a fight, dousing Yoshi and the turtles in ooze. And just like the old cartoon rule, the mutation reflects cross-species contact: Yoshi had just stepped on a rat’s tail as the fight began, so he turns into a humanoid rat; the turtles, having been handled by Yoshi, turn into human-like turtle kids. Hamato Yoshi accepts his new form and once more takes the name Splinter. Knowing they cannot return to normal society, Splinter brings the four young turtles into the sewers and raises them as his sons, training them in ninjutsu. He gives them the familiar Renaissance names. Each retelling adds its own flavor, but all contribute to the rich tapestry of the Turtles’ mythos, a testament to how beloved and adaptable the TMNT really are.
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