Marvel comics and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[Doctorwhovian]

One thing that rarely seems to be mentioned about the franchise is that it's basically a homage to Frank Miller's work on Daredevil. Even the origin is practically the same, and there's a few other references peppered throughout ("Splinter" obviously is "Stick", "The Hand="The Foot Clan"). Even the artwork from the early issues is clearly inspired by Miller. It's not quite like S.H.I.E.L.D being somewhat made into the 80's incarnation of G.I Joe, but it's kind of interesting all the same.


On a side note, the Mousers's head design is very reminiscent of Ultron.


So how did it all end up getting dumbed down, and the Miller influence getting sort of left out of most of the following adaptations? (Except for perhaps the first 90's movie which was fairly close to the original comics).

 

[Admiral2]

They made it a kids cartoon in the eighties. End of story.

 

[Christopher]

One thing that rarely seems to be mentioned about the franchise is that it's basically a homage to Frank Miller's work on Daredevil. Even the origin is practically the same, and there's a few other references peppered throughout ("Splinter" obviously is "Stick", "The Hand="The Foot Clan"). Even the artwork from the early issues is clearly inspired by Miller.

More than that -- in the original comic, the canister of radioactive waste that mutated the Turtles was the same one that struck the eyes of a young man who'd just saved a blind man from being hit by a truck. Implicitly, the same canister that created Daredevil also created the Turtles.

So how did it all end up getting dumbed down, and the Miller influence getting sort of left out of most of the following adaptations? (Except for perhaps the first 90's movie which was fairly close to the original comics).

The 2003 animated series was also extremely faithful to the comics.

But what changed it was the original TV series. Its developers chose to take it in a very different direction from the comics, one that was more mainstream and kid-friendly rather than a dark satire. And that's the version that became a breakout hit, so naturally it influenced most of what came later.

 

[Admiral2]

But what changed it was the original TV series. Its developers chose to take it in a very different direction from the comics, one that was more mainstream and kid-friendly rather than a dark satire. And that's the version that became a breakout hit, so naturally it influenced most of what came later.

Isn't that what I said?

 

[Trekker4747]

Can you imagine in a fantastical world where Marvel gets ahold of TMNT rather than Nickeloden, IDW and uses the -thin- Dardevil connection to do the Turtles right and introduce them into the MCU?

 

[Hound of UIster]

No not really.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I have actually always wanted to see an actual Daredevil/TMNT x-crossover, but in comics, not live-action.

 

[Christopher]

I have actually always wanted to see an actual Daredevil/TMNT x-crossover, but in comics, not live-action.

Well, let's see how close we can come.

The Ninja Turtles appeared in Power Rangers in Space with Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy, who were in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with Amy Jo Johnson, who was in Felicity with Jennifer Garner, who was in Daredevil. So that's three degrees of Kevin Bacon. Can anyone do better?

EDIT: No, wait, I've found a shorter one. The Ninja Turtles were in their 1990 movie (and the upcoming 2016 movie) with Judith Hoag, who was in Armageddon with Ben Affleck, who was in Daredevil. So that's two degrees.