Characters / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Characters that appear in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

For characters in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles incarnations, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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The Turtles

General

Tropes that apply to all four turtles:

Rebecca Vincent: What are you?
Raphael: Let's just say we're four brothers who hate bullies — and love this city!

• Adaptational Badass: While the Turtles have never really been wimps, this movie turns them all into hulking monster trucks with Super-Strength and heavy armor, a very noticeable contrast to their usual portrayal as unpowered ninja. Noticeably, Raphael is much, much burlier than previous versions.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In most versions, the Turtles meet April while rescuing her from some threat, like Mousers, the Foot clan or street gang members, and accidentally reveal their presence to her in the process. Here, April herself seeks them out and they have no problem threatening her in case she tries to go after them again.
• Adaptational Ugliness: While they are occasionally described as freaks by some characters in the comics and most incarnations due to being mutant anthropomorphic turtles, the Turtles usually tend to look just fine and/or adorable. In this film series, the Turtles look very hideous, bizarre, and somewhat frightening, which therefore makes them qualify as mutant freaks.
• Cool Car: The one and only Turtle Van appears at the end of the film. It's big brother, a pimped-out garbage truck, has robot nun chuck swinging arms and shoots out manhole covers.
• Distinctive Appearances/Divergent Character Evolution: The individual turtles are much more visually diverse than in any past incarnation. It goes beyond color-coding their masks and weapons, to major clothing differences and physical stature. Though this was somewhat dialed back for more streamlined designs in Out of the Shadows, probably after fans complained they looked too "busy".
  • Raphael is incredibly muscular compared to the other three. On top of that, his mask is a bandanna fashioned like a do-rag, and he's covered in training bandages. He also has a character scarred onto his right shoulder.
  • Leonardo sports shoulder guards and other samurai-style armor garments. He's also got the most "average" build of the four.
  • Donatello is decked from head to shell in various gadgets, including goggles mounted on his forehead and stereotypically taped Nerd Glasses. He's also the tallest and has the leanest (but still muscular) build of the four brothers.
  • Michelangelo has a puka shell necklace, sneakers, and a hoodie around his waist. Even when he's serious, his general facial composition still makes him look dopey. He's also the shortest and roundest turtle.
• Fastball Special: Donatello uses his staff to throw Raphael into a Humvee. The Humvee loses.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Both Raph and Mikey have sunglasses as part of their clothing, but both never use them. Mikey's don't even seem to be the same size as his face! Subverted with Donatello's high-tech scanners.
• Good Is Not Nice: Leo and Raph have no problem threatening April - an unarmed woman - after she takes their picture.
• Happily Adopted: All four of them love Splinter as if he were their biological father; Leo even outright addresses him as "Dad" at one point.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: The brothers may have ninja training, but they're still huge green turtles in brightly-colored masks.
  Raphael: Like shadows in the night! Completely unseen!
  [April takes a picture, flash and all]
  Michelangelo: [whispering] What was that?!
  Donatello: It's a camera flash!
• Immune to Bullets: The Turtles' shells are bulletproof, which they are quite delighted to learn.
• Kiddie Kid: Although, they look or act a lot more like mature adults, there are a few times when the turtles really do act like teenagers, treating their own exploits like kids would. A particularly funny moment has the group in an elevator right before the climax and they all start beatboxing and using their weapons as instruments in turn, including Raph and Leo. Another funny moment has Donatello wonder if his telescoping staff has the punch to flip a humvee, and as it does so in slow motion the camera lingers on his glee-filled face.
• Lightning Bruiser: The greater size and weight these incarnations of the Turtles possess don't seem to do much in slowing down their traditionally acrobatic abilities. Special mention goes to Raphael, who has shoulders bigger than truck tires but is flipping and ninja-ing with the best of them, and even manages to sneak into the back of the Fenwick Express without April or Vernon hearing him.
• Made of Iron: The Turtles are shown to shrug off such things as getting shot with tranquilizers and repeatedly zapped with high-powered stun weapons. Bullets don't even faze them, to their delight. At one point, Raphael gets his shell cracked when Shredder stomps on him. His response?
  Raphael: Just tape it up. ^note If you pay attention, you'll notice his shell is heavily duct-taped, indicating he's done this before.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: The film's tagline is: "The Leader. The Brains. The Attitude. And Mikey."
• Rummage Sale Reject: Those new outfits are not haute couture, to put it mildly. Donatello has a computer's cooling fan stuck to the back of his shell, and Michelangelo has a hoodie tied around his waist as a belt, among other things. Flashbacks show that the turtles dressed that way since they were children, probably from what they could scavenge from the sewers.
• Super-Strength: The Turtles have this here. As stated under Fastball Special above, Donnie is able to throw Raph with enough force to bash in a Humvee and send it rolling down a hill, and flip another truck over with only his bo staff himself. Earlier, when hyped up on adrenaline, they all break through their unbreakable glass cages.
• Unskilled, but Strong: All their ninjutsu knowledge comes from a book they found, and they generally get by taking full advantage of their Super-Strength and Super-Toughness. This comes to bite them when they take on the Shredder, who's not only better trained and more experienced, but has Powered Armor that makes him their physical equal.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: One has to wonder how mutated lab animals who spent years underground managed to find so many ninja weapons, not to mention the equipment Donatello has, including but not limited to: retinal scanners, thermal goggles, and a wrist-mounted computer with a holographic display.

Leonardo

Portrayed by: Pete Ploszek (motion capture/Voice for second), Johnny Knoxville (Voice for first movie)

"We're turtles, whether you like it or not."

• Badass Armfold: Folds his arms a lot.
• Big Brother Instinct: While not directly called the big brother (supplementary material refers to him as such), he is shown to be very protective of his brothers, especially Mikey, who he does call "little brother."
• Determinator: When told that there is a less than 1% chance he and his brothers can hold and prevent a spire full of poison from falling to the ground, he only responds with an "I'll take it." Even when he starts getting pummeled by Shredder, he still refuses to let go of the spire or allow any of his brothers to let go to help him.
• Dual Wielding: Wields twin katanas, as per usual.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: It's clear that Raph doesn't respect Leo's leadership at first, but it's also clear that Leo is in charge because no one is able to keep the team together like he can. Raph eventually realizes that following Leo's orders is the only way for them to win.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: He has trouble considering others' feelings (which his brothers call him out for) and Splinter encourages him to listen to his own more, but he also believes acting on emotion can lead to rash decisions, so he fights between the two.
• Guilt Complex: Like most of his incarnations, he has a tendency to blame himself a lot. In the second movie, he places the responsibility for Shredder's escape from prison solely on his shoulders, despite his brothers also being with him at the time.
• Katanas Are Just Better: A pair of them, slung over his back, are his weapons of choice.
• The Leader: Typically the voice of reason in the group, reveals that he feels responsible for keeping his brothers in line and out of trouble in the second film.
• Nerves of Steel: He's the best at keeping his head cool in the middle of battle, showing why he's the leader.
• Not So Above It All: While he is a pretty serious character, he often find himself going along with his brothers' antics. The elevator scene is a good example. Also, when Raphael and Michelangelo sucker Casey into attacking Splinter, resulting in him getting floored, he was initially warning them against it, but couldn't help but laugh in the end.
• Only Sane Man: He's the first one to put his foot down when his brothers get too distracted, making sure they focus on what's important at the moment.
• The Strategist: As the leader, he's the one giving the orders. Donnie even mentions how he knows a lot about strategy.
• Your Mom: In one of the funniest moments in the movie, this is basically Leo's answer when Raph asks who put him in charge.

Raphael

Portrayed by: Alan Ritchson

"Raphael's like a cuddly teddy bear... if big cuddly teddy bears were incredibly violent."

—Michelangelo

• Badass Armfold: Folds his arms a lot.
• Baritone of Strength: He often growls when he speaks. As Michaelangelo jokes, "hey, look, he's doing his Batman voice!".
• The Big Guy: While all four of the turtles have very muscular builds and this version of them is much larger than their traditional appearances, Raphael has a noticeably bulkier build compared to his three brothers.
• Brooklyn Rage: Raphael, as usual, has the strongest New York accent and the shortest temper.
• Disney Death: He's assumed dead by the Foot Clan when his brothers are captured. He was just knocked out.
• Dual Wielding: Raphael wields twin sai.
• The Lancer: As usual, Raph serves this role to Leo.
• Oral Fixation: Has a toothpick in his mouth in several scenes.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: In the sequel when the Turtles get into the Foot cargo plane and are confronted by Foot Ninja.
  Raphael: The good news is, you're wearing chutes! The bad news is...
  (all the Foot Ninja are easily thrown out of the plane)
• Sand In My Eyes: As the Turtles are falling to their apparent doom, Raphael gives a heartfelt confession only to be stopped by Donny informing him they've landed safely. Then the following takes place:
  Michelangelo: Raph, are you crying?
  Raphael: Nah, ding-dong... [sniffles] It's just a little dusty out here.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Manages to slip into Vernon's van without Vernon noticing until he reveals himself.
• There Was a Door: When they reach the Sacks estate, he elects to simply tear a hole in the side of Vernon's van and jump out.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's a lot less aggressive in the second film than the first.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Raphael is constantly at odds with Leonardo, hates being told what to do, and mentions that he's leaving the group the first chance he gets. However at the end, he defers to Leo's leadership and tells the others to do the same, as well as confessing that he threatens to leave because he's really just scared that he's not as good as them, and he only says that to make them bond harder when it feels like things are driving them apart.
• Would Hit a Girl: While the attacks aren't like full-on punches to the face or anything, Raphael does slam Karai into a wall in their first encounter, and is the one that takes out the jeep she's in; it's questionable whether she survives the attack or not.

Donatello

Portrayed by: Jeremy Howard

"Allow me to be the bad-ass for once."

• Big Little Brother: Standing at a whopping 6'8", Donatello is far taller than his two older brothers. It's also worth noting that this is not only the tallest version of Donatello; this is also the tallest turtle in the entire franchise.
• The Engineer: Build Mikey's rocket skateboard, the turtle van, and the Tartaruga Brothers turtle truck.
• Gadgeteer Genius: The tech expert as always. He was even able to build advanced retina scanners into his goggles.
• Geek Physiques: Donnie's noticeably taller than his three brothers (standing at least half a head taller than Raph or Leo) and also has a comparably thinner build compared to his brothers (although Donnie is still muscular).
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When trying to avoid Splinter's punishment, he claims he forgot to soak his retainer. Splinter trips him up all the same.
• Lovable Coward: He shows hints of this. He has an Oh, Crap! reaction to the Foot soldiers having guns and he declares that he wants to be badass for once.
  • Completely averted in the second movie, where he jumps out of a plane without a parachute with absolutely no hesitation or concern for personal safety.
• Ludicrous Precision: His various calculations and distances; most have the help of his wrist computer, but this is calculated in his head:
  Donatello: If the spire falls and the toxin makes ground impact, it'll contaminate a 10-block radius!
  Leonardo: What are the odds of us stopping that from happening?
  Donatello: Uh, 0.00000000003%!
  Leonardo: I'll take it. Nobody moves, no matter what.
• Nerd Glasses: The smartest in the team and wears very thick-lensed glasses.
• The Smart Guy: As usual.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Averted—like always, Donnie's the most intelligent of the turtles, but in this version at least, he's also the tallest.
• The Smart Guy: With Hollywood Hacking skills and chemistry knowledge.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: A nerd in a Michael Bay movie? Of course he wears them!
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: True to tradition, he does this with his signature Bo staff. Against machine guns. At point-blank range. Justified in that the ammunition they are using are darts, which fly much more slowly.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He speaks like this, to the point where when Mikey tries to repeat exactly what he said and ends up translating in Buffy Speak.
• Telescoping Staff: His bo-staff is given this treatment here.

Michelangelo

Portrayed by: Noel Fisher

"I'm a triple threat: brains, brawn and a dazzling personality!"

• The Baby of the Bunch: As is typical of most portrayals of Mikey, he's the most immature and spacey of his brothers, though no less dangerous.
• Bad "Bad Acting": When the Turtles get caught and floored by Splinter for sneaking out without his permission, Michelangelo attempted to pass himself off as sleepwalking and therefore not responsible for his actions. Naturally, this wasn't bought and he gets floored as well.
• Big Eater: Is usually the one seen eating. He was seen eating at least four slices of pizza at the same time.
• Break the Cutie: In the sequel, Michelangelo was visibly the most hurt when he and the others' presence were exposed and labeled as monsters.
  Michelangelo: We're not monsters...
• Chivalrous Pervert: He has April on his mind in pretty much every non-action scene where they interact. He even apologizes for how creepy his "We will find you" line sounded when she first meets them.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Is usually on a slightly different page than everyone else. For example, when told that Beebop and Rocksteady are several thousand miles in the air, he assumes they've achieved the power of flight before being told otherwise.
  Mikey: You know what, good for them!
• Comically Missing the Point: When April sees the turtles for the first time, Michelangelo thinks she was more scared by their bandanna masks than the fact that she sees giant talking turtles standing before her.
• Cool Board: He has a jet-propelled skateboard. In the sequel, it's shown to actually be able to fly and even hover.
• Dual Wielding: His two sets of nunchakus as per usual.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Out of the Shadows shows Mikey's strong desire to be able to fit in with society.
• Interspecies Romance: He has a crush on April O’Neil. However, it is not acknowledged by April. He tells his brothers that he has dibs on April after they meet her and he refers to her as his girlfriend when he realizes that she is the hogosha. He is always trying to flirt with her and be romantic, though her safety is his biggest concern when they are in danger. Though he still makes silly jokes when he thinks her and one of his brothers are dead in the mountain fight scene.
• Jive Turkey: He talks in a more "urban" slang style than the "surfer" slang he's usually been associated with. Interestingly enough, this is not only a modernization but a development gag from the 87 show before it was ultimately decided they should be Totally Radical.

Family and Allies

Splinter

Portrayed by: Danny Woodburn (2014), Peter D. Badalamenti (Out of the Shadows)

Voiced by: Tony Shalhoub

Dubbed by: Michel Papineschi (European French)

"You will not lay a hand on my sons!"

• The Ace: Lacking the Hamato Yoshi aspect of the Turtle canon, Splinter, just by reading a book, learned how to be such a skilled ninjitsu combat master that he was not only able to train his sons into equally powerful warriors, but was able to be a virtual match for another warrior with potentially decades more combat experience wearing a suit of powered armor.
• But I Read a Book About It: Given that the Hamato Yoshi backstory was adapted out for the Project Renaissance experiment, Splinter teaches ninjitsu from a book he found, instead of getting their Italian renaissance names from one. Shredder lampshades during his fight that it might not be the best way to learn. Not that it stops him from actually putting up a good fight.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: The Turtles dread the ha-shi, where they have to perform balancing acts while simultaneously doing another task for hours on end.
  • Leonardo: doing the splits on cinderblocks while balancing eggs on single chopsticks and on his head.
  • Raphael: maintaining a crane stance on a tricycle while knitting.
  • Donatello: standing on a balance board while keeping ping-pong balls in the air. He's starting to get nauseous.
  • Michelangelo: doing a handstand on a swivel chair. He's actually starting to enjoy himself until Splinter brings out a pizza.
• Cool Old Guy: If his speech about how family is the strongest power of all is anything to go by. If not that, then going up against the Shredder alone definitely makes him qualify, even if he does get beaten.
• Gratuitous Italian: When using a pizza to get answers out of the turtles, he first refers to it in Italian before using the English phrase.
• Lightning Bruiser: Shredder's Powered Armor gives him enough physical strength to beat Raphael in a straight contest of strength, and he's noticeably faster than the Turtles. Splinter not only proves to be as fast if not faster than the armor, but Shredder noticeably struggles to stop Splinter's sword from stabbing him at one point. This despite Splinter being roughly a quarter the size of the armor or the Turtles.
• Old Master: He's pretty old by rat standards and is the most competent fighter in his family.
• Papa Wolf: He is NOT going to let any harm come to the turtles or April. It very nearly costs him his life.
• Prehensile Tail: He's able to extend his tail and use it like another arm. Seeing him fighting the Foot Clan with it is pretty neat.

April O'Neil

Leonardo: Wait a minute, Dad. All these years you told us we were rescued from the fire by a great guardian spirit, a hogosha.
Splinter: That's right. [points at April] And this is the hogosha.

Portrayed by: Megan Fox

• Adaptational Dumbass: She was a skilled computer programmer in the source material and some adaptations. Not only does she lacks that level of intellect, she also thinks it is a good idea to tell people about the existence of giant hulking mutant Turtle warriors living in New York city, with zero proof. Naturally, she is fired when she tries to tell her boss about them.
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • Where most versions of April only meet the Turtles years after they were exposed to mutagen, here the turtles are explicitly referred to by April as her childhood pets pre-mutation, and she later describes them as family; Splinter in turn notes that he was inspired to be a father to the turtles from watching the way April's father cared for her.
  • Somewhat exaggerated, she named the Turtles, fed them pizza, marked them with their signature colors and then freed them and left them near a sewer grate, thus being directly responsible for their names, their love for pizza, their signature colors and them living in the sewers. On top of that, it is her, who has a direct connection with the Shredder, not the Turtles, as Eric Sacks worked with her father and killed him.
• Broken Pedestal: April starts the film admiring Eric Sacks for publicly opposing the actions of the Foot Clan, until it is revealed that not only is he a member of the Foot Clan, he is the Shredder's right-hand man. That pedestal is completely obliterated by the end of the film when it's revealed Sacks killed April's father after the latter discovered the true purpose of Project Renaissance and tried to stop it.
• Cassandra Truth: Her accounts about the Turtles are dismissed as untrue by just about everyone.
• Combat Pragmatist: April is clearly outclassed by virtue of being a normal human against other normal humans with guns and training and one ninja master in Powered Armor. She still takes every opportunity she gets to screw with the Shredder, from stabbing him in the back to distracting him before he can kill a helpless Leo.
• Composite Character: This version of April had Splinter and the Turtles as pets before their mutation making her the movie's equivalent of the little boy from the comics who bought the Turtles from a pet store.
• The Determinator: Getting fired from her job doesn't stop her from learning the truth.
• Didn't Think This Through: Sure, take a photo of the giant talking turtles with a camera that has a flash. What could possibly go wrong with that?
• Dull Surprise: She doesn't show much in the way of emotion.
• Going for the Big Scoop: She has very little self-preservation, and is willing to put herself in dangerous situations to get a story.
• Hollywood Beauty Standards: She's practically required by tradition to be a hot reporter; being played by Megan Fox just amps it up.
• Intrepid Reporter: She spends most of the film chasing after the big scoop and not letting anything stopping her.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is portrayed by Megan Fox after all in addition to being a very beautiful female reporter. She also tends to wear a lot of skintight pants, with camera angles that feature them prominently. Lampshaded in a chase scene when she leans out the window trying to catch the Turtles fighting the Foot Clan with her phone and her bum sticking out, leading to Vernon being Distracted by the Sexy.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her determination to find someone who'll believe her story leads her to Eric Sacks. Though she had no way of knowing he was in league with the Shredder at the time, it does end up leading the Foot right to the Turtles' lair.
• Oblivious to Love: Doesn't even register Vern's attempts at flirting, just gets very confused.
• You Have to Believe Me!: She actually seems to go out of her way to look like a raving nutcase when she first tells her boss about the Turtles. Actually mildly justified as she said she was up all night going over everything. Nerves + lack of sleep + the sheer nuttiness of the tale = not being at your best.
• You Killed My Father: Said word-for-word. Eric Sacks was the one who killed April's father in the past.

Vernon Fenwick

Portrayed by: Will Arnett

Dubbed by: Jérémie Covillault (European French)

Vernon Fenwick: You're a talking turtle...
Raphael: Yeah, and you're a human nerd.

• Adaptational Heroism: In the 1987 cartoon, he is a Jerkass and a Dirty Coward. This film takes away much of his jerkassery and makes him an Action Survivor and something of a Badass Bystander along with April. This arguably makes him closer to the way he was originally portrayed in the '87 cartoon before he turned into April's rival.
  • Does a little bit of backsliding in the sequel when he lets his newfound wealth and fame get to his head, but he pulls through when it counts.
• The Artifact: He plays a considerably smaller role for much of the second film.
• Captain Obvious: When he sees Raph, all he can say is, "You're a talking turtle."
• Casanova Wannabe: Repeatedly and clumsily tries to hit on April. He seems convinced that the feelings are mutual, even though all of his flirtations go right over her head.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Gets distracted by April's ample rear as she's leaning out to record their escape from the Foot Clan and forgets to watch where he's driving, causing them to crash.
• The Everyman: Before he achieves fame in the second movie, he's basically a normal, average guy thrown into a world of mutants and ninjas.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: He gets sole credit for taking down the Shredder at the end of the first movie.
• Younger Than They Look: In-Universe, Mikey seems to think Vernon is old, since he tells Leo not to forget "that old guy" when the turtles must rescue him and April from a falling semi truck. Since Vern's actor was around 44 when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) came out this is obviously Played for Laughs.

Casey Jones

Portrayed by: Stephen Amell

• Adaptational Job Change: This version of Casey is a cop. He mentioned working as a bouncer in the original Mirage comics and was said to be a professional athlete in the 1990 movie. The 2003 series, on the other hand, indicated that he may be a mechanic, but this is the first time he is depicted as a law enforcer.
• Adaptational Wimp: As a result of turning the Turtles into Hulking mutants, Casey freaks out and begs for his and April's lives when he first meets them. Most of the other incarnations has him getting into a fight with the Turtles (either just Raphael or all of them) when he first encounters them. And he is usually a physical match for them.
• Affectionate Nickname: "The New Guy". Leo also calls him "Friday the 13th" because of his mask, which the guys make fun of a lot.
• Butt-Monkey: Takes grief from just about everybody.
• Cassandra Truth: Ninjas on motorcycles? Manhole-shooting garbage truck? Sure thing, Jones.
• Composite Character: He has more similarities with the character Nobody, from the original comics and the 2003 animated series than he has with Casey Jones, other than his name, mask and penchant for using a hockey stick as weapon.
• Cool Mask: Sports his trademark goalie's mask in one scene.
• Improbable Weapon User: Exaggerated. Aside from his hockey stick, he also uses an improvised hockey stick out of an L-shaped metal rod, to use as his weapon at one point.
• Improbably Cool Car: How the hell can he afford a Dodge Challenger Hellcat on an NYPD officer's salary!?
• Informed Flaw: He mentions having anger issues, but it is never really shown.
• In Name Only: Has nothing in common with his comic book counterpart and other versions outside of his name, skills with hockey, weapon (which is a hockey stick), and trademark goalie's mask.
• Rollerblade Good: Jury rigs a pair out of office chair wheels and duct tape.
• The Sixth Ranger: Although hesitant at first, Casey joins the Turtles in the plan to stop Shredder and Krang after learning that they had helped him fend off the Foot Clan. He's immediately known as "The New Guy".
• You Don't Look Like You: His overall appearance is very different from his usual appearance. The adult Casey generally has long hair, and a clean shaven face, or sometimes sports a Perma-Stubble (some younger incarnations do have short hair, though). Here he has a buzzcut and a goatee. And aside from his hockey stick in one scene, he doesn't carry any other sports equipments (that he generally carries in a golf bag) that he can use as Improvised Weapon and in fact, he uses a pipe shaped like a hockey stick as an improvised hockey stick in his final showdown against Bebop and Rocksteady.

Rebecca Vincent

Portrayed by: Laura Linney

• Da Chief: She's the Police Chief.
• Friend on the Force: Becomes this.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She's portrayed as a bit of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing at first but gradually evolves into this at the latter end of the film, setting April and Casey free when April's innocence was finally proven and even deciding to overlook the fact that Casey had stolen her cell phone in order to prove their innocence. Her attitude towards the TMNT also evolves, seeing them as monsters at first but eventually coming to see them as heroes.

Antagonists

Eric Sacks

Portrayed by: William Fichtner

"I'm going to be rich! Like, stupid rich!"

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He initially looks like a nice, reasonable businessman who publicly opposes the Foot Clan's actions, but under the surface, he's a Corrupt Corporate Executive who works as the Shredder's Dragon, and freely admits that his only motive for trying to poison New York is to make himself "stupid rich."
• But Not Too Foreign: An American who was born in Japan.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He is completely retconned out of the 2016 sequel, without so much as a mention.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: His Evil Plan amounts to releasing a lethal biotoxin upon New York just so he can profit from making an antidote.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He has a building in downtown Manhattan, a mansion home outside of town, helicopter, resources to have labs - but he's evidently not rich enough. He wants to be "stupid rich" by poisoning the city and selling the cure.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: His father died in Vietnam, leading to The Shredder becoming his Parental Substitute.
• The Dragon: He's this to the Shredder.
• The Engineer: He designed the Shredder's Powered Armor.
• Friendless Background: Being an American child living in Japan, he was an outcast. And then he was taken in by The Shredder.
• Military Brat: His father was an American serviceman stationed on Okinawa, who died during a deployment to Vietnam.
• Poison and Cure Gambit: The extent of his Evil Plan; he'll unleash a biotoxin upon New York, and then sell an antidote derived from the Turtles' mutagen.
• Red Herring: It was initially believed that he was going to be this film's incarnation of the Shredder. That said, the licensed game does indeed give him the identity, which lends credence to the idea that it was going to be true at one point. William Fichtner also confirmed that initially he was supposed to be the Shredder, before Executive Meddling changed that.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Due to the changes made to his character by Executive Meddling, he is now the Shredder's loyal right hand man, who is personally responsible for the murder of April's father, making him a somewhat less hulking and competent version of Hun.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He appears to be a clean-cut businessman who publicly opposes the Foot Clan. In reality, not only is he actually part of the Foot Clan, he's actually one of their highest-ranking members.

The Shredder

Portrayed by: Tohoru Masamune (2014), Brian Tee (Out of the Shadows)

"Tonight I dine on turtle soup!"

• Adaptational Wimp: Heavily downplayed. One might not even notice it at first glance because like past versions of the Shredder, he's more than capable of putting a good hurting on the Turtles or Splinter. But unlike past incarnations who were all Badass Normal villains capable of beating up mutants, this incarnation of Shredder, despite being skilled in his own right, has to wear Powered Armor to be able to achieve the same results, considering the Turtles are now Adaptational Badass characters with serious superhuman stats. Were this Shredder to fight the Turtles without his powerful robotic armor, it's more than likely he'd end up eating through a straw for the rest of his life, assuming he even survives at all.
• Asshole Victim: Goes from a sentence of life in maximum security prison to becoming a Human Popsicle. He deserves every bit of it, and more.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Briefly on the rooftop, he fights each of the turtles in a combat style similar to their individual styles, and hands them their shells every time.
• Big Bad: As if there was any doubt. He's the leader of the Foot Clan and aspires to take over New York City with a biological toxin.
• Bilingual Dialogue: When speaking to Karai and Sacks in the first film, they speak English while he responds in Japanese.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: His Powered Armor includes at least four of them on each arm. They're detachable and can be retrieved using magnets.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Each of the turtles promptly get their asses handed to them when facing him, even as a team. Splinter is the only one able to really give him much of a fight.
  • Special mention goes to his one-on-one against Raphael, who barely manages to lay a single blow. It's more of a beating than a fight.
• Demoted to Dragon: While he's the Big Bad of the 2014 film, he serves as The Dragon to Krang in 2016's Out of the Shadows, until Krang betrays him near the end of the movie, and freezes him.
• Eye Scream : When April kicks him at the end of the movie, she somehow manages to jam his own wrist blades into the eye hole of his helmet.
• The Faceless: Though we do see glimpses of him, he's mostly seen in shadows until he dons his Powered Armor, so we don't get a proper view of his face. We get to see his face in the sequel, but his actor has changed so it's a different face.
• Faux Affably Evil: He talks to Splinter and the turtles like old acquaintances he's happy to see again, though it's very clear he'd all the more delighted to kill them once he doesn't need them anymore.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He sports quite a few facial scars.
• Human Popsicle: His final fate in Out of the Shadows is to be flash-frozen by Krang.
• Hypocrite: Gets angry when Krang betrays him after outliving his usefulness even though he had done the same to Baxter moments ago.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The Shredder speaks several lines in full Japanese, though this stops once he's in his armor.
• Lightning Bruiser: With all that Powered Armor, he can still jump and kick three turtles before landing!
• Man Behind the Man: In the first movie, he is the one Eric Sacks and Karai report to.
• Marquee Alter Ego: Spends most of Out of the Shadows unmasked, probably to make the most of Brian Tee's face. Averted in the original, where he spends most of the film masked.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His fight with Splinter turns rather brutal towards the later half of it.
• Not So Stoic: Just as he arrives with Karai to brief Bebop and Rocksteady about their next mission in Out Of the Shadows, he is briefly interrupted by Bebop, who is still slurping in an overly long spaghetti noodle that wrapped itself around his face and nose. While this is going on, Shredder is trying his absolute damnedest to maintain a stoic appearance, while briefly exchanging a concerned and disgusted glance with Karai.
• Older Than They Look: In Out Of the Shadows, he looks more like a man in his late 30's, rather than in his late 50's.
• Out of Focus: He has noticeably less screen time in Out of the Shadows. He doesn't even get to fight at all during the whole movie.
  • He is also Out of Focus in the first movie, as Eric Sacks was supposed to be the Shredder, but the movie was reshot to make the two characters separate, resulting in the Shredder being a Man Behind the Man for Sacks, who barely has any role in the movie, outside of fighting the Turtles and occassionally interacting with Sacks.
• Powered Armor: Wears a nifty set of it designed by Eric Sacks. It allows him to go head-to-head with the Turtles, sports several retractable blades per arm, and the blades can even be launched out as projectiles and drawn back with magnets. He loses this in the sequel, due to having just escaped prison.
• The Unfought: In Out of the Shadows. After spending half of the movie following Krang's plans and donning his trademark armor, Krang promptly turns his back on him and turns him into a Human Popsicle before imprisoning him in the Technodrome, not even giving him another rematch against the Turtles.
• Walking Armory: As per usual. His Powered Armor has several retractable blades per arm, and he can even pull them out to make a double-edged blade. The suit can also fire the blades, and safely bring them back with magnets. He looks like a Swiss army knife.
• With My Hands Tied: In his first scene, he beats up a Foot ninja with his hands literally tied behind his back.
• Would Hit a Girl: Shredder clearly has no problem killing April, attempting to do so repeatedly, though the Turtles keep distracting him.
• You Don't Look Like You: Even ignoring the fact that Shredder is played by different actors in both films, he looks younger, shorter and has little to no scars on his face in Out of the Shadows.

Karai

Portrayed by: Minae Noji (2014), Brittany Ishibashi (Out of the Shadows)

"We know you're out there! If you don't surrender, we start executing hostages!"

The Shredder's second-in-command.

• Adaptational Wimp: In most media, she's the Shredder's successor as the Foot Clan's leader, and can go toe-to-toe with the Turtles to the point of murdering Leonardo once. Here, she gets easily defeated by them with little effort in the first film, and she even gets a One-Hit KO from April O'Neil of all people in the sequel.
• Dark Action Girl: Sort of. She does get to fight April in Out of the Shadows, but it's not much.
• Demoted to Extra: She has less of a role here than in other media. And in Out of the Shadows, she gets even more of a demotion since the Shredder himself gets demoted!
• The Dragon: To the Shredder.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The 2014 licensed game reveals that she cares for Eric Sacks's sanity.
• Faux Action Girl: She's the Shredder's second-in-command, but she easily gets defeated throughout the films.
• The Heavy: She serves as the Foot Clan's mission leader in the first film, while the Shredder operates behind the scenes.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Her personal color scheme.
• Satellite Character: She has very little characterization.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only known woman in the Foot.
• Truer to the Text: She is not the Shredder's daughter, adopted or otherwise, an aspect that was added to the 2003 series that has become a staple in all non-comic media. ^note The IDW comics depict her as his biological granddaughter.
• Unexplained Recovery: She is last seen in the first movie inside a Jeep that was sent rolling over and tumbling down a hill. She returns remarkably unscathed in the sequel.

Bebop and Rocksteady

Portrayed by: Gary Anthony Williams (Bebop) and Stephen "Sheamus" Farrelly (Rocksteady)

Bebop: You're a rhinoceros!
Rocksteady: And you're a... I don't know what you are!
Bebop: [sees his reflection] Huh, I'm a little piggy?
Baxter Stockman: You're a warthog.

• Adaptational Badass: In the original cartoon, Bebop and Rocksteady were never particularly dangerous enemies. While they were physically stronger than the Turtles, they were Dumb Muscle who were too incompetent to be a threat. As the turtles in these films already have Super-Strength, Bebop and Rocksteady are even stronger and more violent, easily tossing cars out of the way while on a rampage. And while they are still idiots, they are somewhat more competent, presumably because these versions of Shredder and Krang won't stand for failure in more ways than one.
• Affectionate Nickname: Beebs and Rock, respectively.
• Big Eater: Following their transformations, Bebop and Rocksteady eat from oil drums of spaghetti and meatballs.
• Character Catchphrase: "My man!"/"My man!"
• Delinquent Hair: Bebop is sporting his signature purple mohawk, because there wouldn't be any point in calling him "Bebop" otherwise. Unlike Rocksteady's hair, his survives his transformation.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Bebop is at least smart enough to know that firing a tank inside an active plane is monumentally stupid.
• Dumb Muscle: Shredder lampshades that they're able to take the Turtles down in a single blow, and they can, but they're so stupid, they not only visit their well-known favorite bar while on the run, they think licking the inside of a petri dish with unknown contents is a bright idea. Rocksteady even goes so far as firing the heavy machine gun of a tank while he's inside a cargo plane, in flight, and Bebop's in the line of fire.
  • Bebop is at least smart enough to immediately call out Rocksteady over using the tank inside an in-flight plane.
  • Shredder even says he needs soldiers that are powerful and stupid.
    Shredder: Candidates who will easily fall under my command. Large in size. Low in intellect.
• Evil Redhead: Rocksteady in his human form (due to it being the real life hair color of his actor, Sheamus), but he loses it when he mutates into a Bald of Evil rhino.
• Fat Best Friend: Bebop, to Rocksteady, following their transformation.
• Foil: To the Turtles, who are skilled, heroic, tempted by the prospect of becoming human and have frequent trouble cooperating. Beebop and Rocksteady rely on brute force, are petty criminals, love their powerful new mutant forms and get along great with each other.
• Forced Transformation: While neither of them were transformed of their own free will, they take it well and seem more excited than anything else.
• Full-Boar Action: Bebop turns into a giant, fat warthog.
• Fun with Homophones:
  Rocksteady: That's right. I'm Finnish, because when I start a beatdown I always Finnish it!
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: They are always seen together, never fight, compliment and encourage each other (even after they become mutants), and make a better team than the turtles for a while simply because they have each other's backs at all times.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: Rocksteady sports some very impressive muttonchops before his transformation.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: "Bebop" and "Rocksteady" are just criminal aliases that they've adopted and their real names are never said — though the rap sheets Casey looks at do have real names listed for them, with Rocksteady's real name, Owen Rocksteed, being shown for a second.
• Rhino Rampage: Rocksteady post-mutation becomes a giant rhinoceros.
• Those Two Guys: Never seen apart.
• Unskilled, but Strong: They are strong and are fully capable of outmuscling the turtles but they lack skill and strategy. They only won the first battle against the turtles because the turtles weren't prepared to fight them and because Rocksteady had access to a tank.

Krang

Voiced by: Brad Garrett

"I know what you're thinking right now, of all the ways you'd like to kill me. But that would require you out-thinking me. And no one, nothing is smarter than THE KRANG!"

• Adaptational Modesty: Instead of looking like a fat man in a red speedo, Krang's mech suit looks almost entirely robotic save for the head.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Much like the Mars Attacks! Martians, he's equipped with high-tech weaponry and just wants to wreak havoc on Earth for fun and simply calls Earth his toy.
• Bad Boss: As mentioned above, slaps the Shredder around a lot when they first meet. However, when Shredder completes his plan to assemble the Technodrome on Earth, he freezes him.
• Berserk Button: "I! DO! NOT! LIKE TO SHARE!"
• Beware the Silly Ones: Is a massive Large Ham and Psychopathic Manchild, but he's also a planet-conquering alien invader with a mecha suit powerful enough to give the turtles a serious fight.
• Big Bad: For the second movie, with Shredder as The Dragon.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: If Krang's trophy room is anything to go by, Shredder's not the first villain he teamed up with just to gain access to their world...
• Composite Character: His mechanical body bears more than a passing resemblance to his body from the IDW comics. Krang's action figure also has an extra 'A' in it ("Kraang") like the 2012 show.
• Crazy-Prepared: The platform in the Technodrome that he battles the Turtles on? Houses a platter of weapons for his robot body to switch out in case of dismemberment.
  Krang: You didn't think I planned for this?!
• Didn't Think This Through: Krang gets a dose of this when he tries to slide himself back into his android body, only to be too large for the cockpit. He demands that the android push him in. Well, it pushed him in, all right...
• Evil Is Hammy: Krang's voice is rather deep and more growly than his other incarnations, but he retains his normal level of hamminess.
• For the Evulz: Conquering planets with weapons of mass destruction, and exterminating the natives, is nothing more than a game to him.
• Laughably Evil: While he is a warlord who wants to reign havoc on Earth because he can, he is not above making a few jokes and is just as bombastic as his 80s’ self.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Invokes this when he summons a BFG to mount on the android to get to Mikey.
  Krang: Okay, turtles! Playtime is OVER!
• Little Green Man in a Can: Krang spends much of his time in an imposing robotic suit.
• Out of Focus: Appears in one scene in the first act to play Mr. Exposition to Shredder about the Arc Capacitor, then disappears after he sends Shredder back to Earth.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He calls the entire planet Earth his "toy", and goes berserk at Shredder ordering him to share that toy.
• Spell My Name with a "The": For some reason calls himself The Krang. Probably as an attempt to sound intimidating.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Does this with the upper half of his android body numerous times against the Turtles. Later on, they learn their lesson and just hang on to his arms.
• Truer to the Text: The 2012 incarnation heavily reworked Krang to be a Hive Mind, and portrayed him as a slightly more serious threat with very little in the way of a sense of humor. This film portrays Krang more similar to his 1987 counterpart, where he's a singular, snarky alien warlord.
• We Will Meet Again: As he is banished back to his dimension along with the Technodrome, he vows, "I'll be back, but a thousand times stronger!"
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Shredder has finished building the Arc Capacitor, Krang betrays him and turns him into a Human Popsicle before locking him away with all his other trophies from different worlds.

Dr. Baxter Stockman

Portrayed by: Tyler Perry

"This is gonna be good!"

• Ambition Is Evil: Baxter's motivation for helping Shredder and Krang is to be remembered in a way that makes other famous scientist footnotes in history.
• Black and Nerdy: So nerdy that he knows the difference between a "nerd" and a "geek."
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Becomes a victim of this when Shredder decides he doesn't need his help anymore.
• For Science!: Jazzed about helping Shredder create his own mutants.
• Glory Seeker: He dreams of being remembered as a great scientific trailblazer. Shredder Kicks The Dog by having Baxter dragged off to imprisonment once he's outlived his usefulness and assuring him that no one will ever even know his name.
• Grade Skipper: Graduated MIT at age 15.Q
• Internal Retcon: Stockman covers his tracks by altering security camera footage to make it appear that April O'Neil and Casey Jones stole the Ooze from Stockman's labs, and hiding his involvement with Shredder and the mutation of Bebop and Rocksteady.
• Mad Scientist: More like a giddy one.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Delighted to work with Shredder, a notorious criminal, to create Bebop and Rocksteady and help him assemble the Arc Capacitor.
• Nerd Glasses: Stockman sports a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His attire and position in the scientific community bears some resemblance to Neil deGrasse Tyson.
• The Smart Guy: In Shredder's band of accomplices.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He essentially replaces Eric Sacks as the "tech guy" for the Foot Clan, and also well-loved by the public at large. An odd example, as Sacks himself was relegated to the tech guy due to the reshoots.