- In one commercial for Paramount+'s Mountain of Entertainment Campaign, Leonardo (in his 2003 series design) is among those gathered to find out that the person who sent the stars of Paramount on their journey in the first place is none other than Sir Patrick Stewart.
- One 1990s Public Service Announcement from the Partnership For A Drug Free America starred the 1987 TMNT, who advise a classroom of children that if someone offers them drugs, they should get out of there and talk to an adult.
Anime
- Haré+Guu in one of the un-animated manga chapters, the protagonist are visiting a city and hear of superheroes. Hare imagines a group of superheroes identical to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure: Kabaton, the first major villain, has a very similar appearance to Bebop, just with purple skin instead of pink and much more round in shape.
- Log Horizon: Leonardo is an In-Universe fanboy of the character of the same name, and thus is cosplaying as him. Several other characters also recognise Leonardo's costume as a reference to the show. As bonus points, Leonardo (the cosplayer) is a New Yorker who plays as an Assassin (a.k.a. Ninja), and wields twin swords. That said, as a case of Writing Around Trademarks, his costume resembles a Frog Ninja instead of a turtle, and nobody ever refers to TMNT by name.
- In episode 8 of Boonie Bears, Logger Vick shows disdain at not being able to find the bears (who are acting like ninjas), saying it's like chasing after "teenage mutant ninja bears".
- A small team of kappas, which resemble the Ninja Turtles, with the "Kappa Boss" resembling Leonardo, appears in the last chapter of one of the volumes of the Malaysian Chinese series Moo Moo Dahnote . Here's two
◊ pages.◊ - Robin: When Tim goes to visit Ives after realizing that Ives has cancer, there is a knockoff Ninja Turtle figurine displayed prominently amongst the figurines on the shelf above his desk.
- When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics were still in print, the Turtles made a cameo in issue #10 of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). During Sonic's trek through the sewers, the Turtles can be seen in the background, commenting that they're in the wrong comic book.
- In one of the sub-stories (also known as "The Other Stories") of the comic magazine tie-in of the Malaysian cartoon series The Amazing Wanag Khenit, four monsters wearing bandanas, resembling the Ninja Turtles, trying to rob a bank,◊ but are stopped by the main character.◊
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Amelia is introduced in Azada with a cup of hot soup and she mentioned that she got this from a man named Lou Jitsu and his turtle sons. Bonus points since Amelia's voice actor is Lena Headey, who voices Big Mama.
- The LEGO Movie: A minifigure of Michelangelo makes a cameo appearance as a Master Builder.
- Pinocchio: A True Story: Jepetto briefly considers naming Pinocchio 'Leonardo', but dismisses the name, fearing it will turn him into a "turtle who is obsessed with pizza".
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: When the Titans go back in time to sabotage all the superhero origin stories, they are shown preventing four baby turtles from crawling into radioactive waste.
- Wreck-It Ralph: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game arcade machine can be seen in a few shots during the Time-Passes Montage at the beginning of the movie. It shows up again in the sequel right behind the Sugar Rush cabinet.
- Jingle All the Way: There is a scene near the end of the film with a large parade of famous cartoon characters and mascots. Leonardo can be seen marching in the parade in a few shots.
- Joy Ride (2023): After Lolo says Audrey has never slept with an Asian man, Audrey says she has masturbated to Splinter, of all things.Lolo: He's a rat!
Audrey: He's a good father. - The Muppets (2011): This exchange occurs between Kermit and Rico Rodriguez:Rico Rodriguez: Are you one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Kermit: Yyyyyes I am! - Ready Player One: The 2014 movie incarnations of them appear in the final battle.
- The Goosebumps story Egg Mosnters From Mars features a bit where the leads, Dana and Anne, talk about a TMNT party the former had
- The Speed of Sound: When Eddie moved to Harmony House at age 11, he brought his stuff in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles suitcase.
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jake Peralta often references the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in many episodes.
- The Vulture: Jake has a TMNT action figure on his desk.
- The Fugitive Jake and Terry enter the New York city sewers where Jake starts talking about the Turtles.Jake: I can't believe Leonardo lived in this. I mean, Michelangelo I get. He's kind of a sloppy dude. But Leo is so fastidious.
Terry: Jake, shut up!
Jake: Sarge, we're in a sewer! I'm gon'sta talk about the Turtles.
…
(When Jake and Amy later meet)
Jake: You wanna know what my first thought was when we dropped into the sewer? "Smells like home".
Terry: He's lying, Amy. His first thought was about the Ninja Turtles.
Amy: C'mon Terry, we were in a sewer! He's gon'sta think about the Turtles. - The Golden Child: Jake tries to help Amy, who resents her perfect brother, David.Jake: Alright, look, Ames. I never had a brother, but I know four guys who did, and they would have fights and squabbles, but in the end, they always had each others shells.
Amy: Are you talking about the Ninja Turtles?
Jake: Of course, I am talking about the Ninja Turtles! Look if something happens to your brother, you are gonna regret it, just like Raph regretted it when he abandoned Leo in the Technodrome with Krang.
Amy: I don't know what that means.
Jake: Well, that's on you. It's classic. - Admiral Peralta: Jake and his grandfather, Admiral Peralta, briefly discuss the Turtles.
- Game of Boyles has Jake reveal how he fake cries:Jake: Anyone can fake cry! You just have to think something sad. Like that episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when Leonardo was in a coma.
Charles: And that works?
Jake: (tearing up) Yeah.
- In the Two and a Half Men episode "Big Flappy Bastards" Charlie plays the show's theme song on his piano, but Jake doesn't know it. This is a reference to the creator of the series Chuck Lorre being a writer for the theme song.
- Dinosaurs: Robbie has a poster of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Cavemen in his bedroom.note
- Spitting Image:
- One episode has Neil Kinnick show off a Ninja Turtles board game as a prize for voting for the Labour Party, complete with three of the turtles on the box invoking their original designs.
- A short mini-arc one season focuses on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turds and parodies the series for being so Merchandise-Driven.
- In ANNO: Mutationem, one of collectible movie posters is titled "Teenage Mecha Sewer Warriors" that's about four brothers living in the sewers fighting monsters.
- Borderlands 2 had a sidequest where you're sent to kill a group of Rats (mutated bandits) named Lee, Ralph, Dan, Mick, and Flinter. To enter their lair, you need to bring them a pizza, and when they see you, one of them says "What the hell, you're not June!"
- In Civilization 6, activating Leonardo da Vinci in New York while having Great Works from Michelangelo and Donatello, plus a sewer, in that city, leads to the achievement "Pizza Party".
- In the Dennis the Menace Licensed Game for the SNES, ninja turtles serve as enemies in the Sewer levels.
- Disco Zoo: The Mythical animal in the city is a "sewer turtle" wearing ninja gear.
- Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder: When certain enemies, such as the Bad Brothers and even Death Adder himself are killed, the game plays the voice clip of Raphael yelling "DAMN!" as he chases after Casey Jones in the 1990 live-action film.
- Infinite Craft: The title "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", as well as the names of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Splinter, are all possible crafting recipes.
- Nuclear Throne: The Pizza Sewers is a secret area branching from the Sewers, which is littered with pizza boxes and contains no enemies except for four turtles and a rat. The turtles each shout a different color ("Red!" "Orange!" "Blue!" "Purple!") when they're killed.
- Paper Mario: The Koopa Bros. are clear parodies of the Ninja Turtles, right down to being color-coded, bandana-wearing... well, ninja turtles.
- In Sonic Adventure, Dr. Eggman's E-100 series of robots have the same color scheme as the turtles' signature headbands; Red (E-102 Gamma and Raphael), Blue (E-103 Delta and Leonardo), Orange (E-104 Epsilon and Michelangelo) and Purple (E-105 Zeta and Donatello).
- In Streets of Rage 4, graffiti art of a rat with four color-coded turtles (red (behind the box), orange, blue, and purple) appears in the game's sewer stage.
- In Them's Fightin' Herds, four of the pixel cosmetics are recolored eye masks based on the ones worn by the ninja turtles, which also reference the artists they're named after; "Vinci" (Blue/Leonardo), "Buonarroti" (Orange/Michelangelo), "Betto Bardi" (Purple/Donetello) and "Urbino" (Red/Raphael). Each one of their descriptions shout out the franchise or particular turtle in some way, as well.
- Dorkly Originals:
- In "TMNT Argue over Pizza", Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael all argue over who should eat the pizza to restore their health. Michelangelo (who is at full health) takes the pizza in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the argument.
- "NES Ninja Turtles Theme Song" is a song set to the tune of the theme song of the 1987 series that rants about how bad the 1989 video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System is.
- "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Elevator Troubles" involves a man named David Crussman interfering with the Turtles' Elevator Action Sequence against the Foot Clan, including holding the door open for the Foot Clan Soldiers, and eating the Turtles' pizza.
- In "TMNT Child Protective Services", a man named Jerry Clien comes to the sewers to interview Splinter over the custody of the Ninja Turtles.
- "Teenage Teenage Teenage Turtles" depicts Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo as stereotypical teenagers. Leonardo is caught "making turtle soup" in the restroom, Michelangelo is more interested in his phone than pizza, and Splinter introduces the turtles to Linda, his online date.
- In "If Videogames Had Impossible Mode", Leonardo travels to Hollywood in the year 2014 A.D., where Michael Bay turns him into his 2014 movie counterpart, much to his horror.
- In "Why Videogame Minions Switching Places Would Be Pure Chaos", Leonardo and Michelangelo come across a pair of Koopa Troopas, and decide against fighting their own kind.
- Red vs. Blue: Family Shatters: In "Phase's Reputation", Axel refers to One and Raymond as Bebop and Rocksteady.
- Vietnamese web animation Wolfoo has one episode about the titular main character having an Imagine Spot where he fights against animated food on the moon while wearing a ninja turtle suit.
- Hark! A Vagrant: Vanessa is called April O'Neil by the teenage "detectives".
- In the And Shine Heaven Now storyline 'Eurekon' Baxter Stockman is seen attending Doc's panel at the titular mad scientist convention.
- Unsounded: After designing the construct Uaid the author realized his face looked similar to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, which she thought was likely influenced by having loved them and drawn them a bunch as a child. His name thus means "turtle" in the conlang of the Northern people's of the setting.
- xkcd has two comics, one comparing whether the names Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael are more associated with a Renaissance artist or a Ninja Turtle, and another with Wikipedia article titles that can be sang to the tune of the 1987 theme song. (the last one inspired a Twitter with that purpose!)
- The Angry Video Game Nerd has reviewed the licensed game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.
- The Annotated Series would riff several turkeys of the franchise, notably We Wish You a Turtles Christmas, Secret of the Cliffs, and a trauncated run of The Next Mutation. With more than one commercial compilation featuring commercials for the toyline. The finale to their Street Sharks riff also features the intro for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge as an alternate opening.
- Console Wars:
- In one episode, Greg and Dan see whether the SNES or the Sega Genesis had the better Licensed Game based on the franchise; Turtles in Time or The Hyperstone Heist.
- Another episode features April O'Neil on a dating game show with Casey Jones and Shredder as her bachelors. When Casey and Shredder get into an argument over whether the SNES or Sega Genesis version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters video game is betternote , they get Pat and Dan to help them decide. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that there was a third bachelor, Raphael, whom April made a real connection with.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged: In its version of Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, since Cooler's final form resembles Shredder, he paraphrases one of his classic lines by saying, "Tonight, I dine on monkey soup!"
- The turtles appear in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, facing against the Renaissance artists they were named after.
- Honest Trailers, along with making episodes on a few TMNT live-action works, have referenced the franchise many times, mostly in the credits section singing to the tune of the 1987 opening ("Teenage mutant Negasonic", "Teenage Foggy Nelson Turtle", "Teenage Mutant Abomination Lord of the Rings Cave Troll", "Teenage Mutant Naked Turtle"), and in two "Honest Titles", as The New Mutants was "Teenage Mutants Facing Hurdles" and Ghostbusters II earned the subtitle "The Secret of the Ooze". Pushing one step further, once they notice The Goonies, has one who leads, one who does machines, a cool but rude and a party dude, cue a "Teenage Oregon Coastal Townies" Song Parody.
- Phelous is a noted fan of the franchise and has frequently reviewed many of its lesser-known entries including Operation Blue Line, Coming Out of Their Shells and an entire episode-by-episode review of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.
- RedLetterMedia's re:View series would review the first movie as one of its episodes. Rich reveals himself to be a hardcore fan of the comics; while episode co-host Freddie Williams is one of the comic's current artists.
- The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: There is an episode titled "Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas". In addition, Big Mouth says "I love being a koopa!"
- Animaniacs (1993): The short "Hooked On a Ceiling", opens with a narrator talking about Michelangelo, and parodies of the Ninja Turtles appear, leading him to remind the viewers that Michelangelo was not a turtle. In addition, Rob Paulsen voices one of the turtles.
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!: In "Attack of the Killer... Pimentoes", the pizza delivery men say "We don't serve to turtles, no sewer deliveries."
- The Casagrandes: In "Fast Feud", the mock ice cream bars that the vendor that Jim Sparkletooth exposed was selling looked very similar to the Ninja Turtles, complete with varying colored bands like the Turtles' signature colors.
- The Fairly OddParents!: In "Channel Chasers", one of the channels Timmy and Vicky go to is showing the end credits for Adolescent Genetically-Altered Karate Cows.
- Family Guy:
- In "Deep Throats", the 1987 theme song is heard while Mayor West watches TV.
- In "Hot Pocket-Dial", Chris comes out of hernia surgery after lifting up manhole covers thinking that the Ninja Turtles live in the sewers, then he mistakes a construction worker for Donatello.
- In Freakazoid!, as Lord Bravery tries to rescue a man from the sewer, said distressed man complains about Bravery only trying to pull him with a rope instead of going down saying "those turtle fellows with bandannas" would have no issues in entering the sewers.
- An episode of Futurama is titled "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles". Coincidentally, Fox had started airing the 2003 series of this franchise around the time this episode first aired.
- Garfield and Friends:
- One post-opening sequence line was, "Just think of me as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Pussycat."
- In "Sound Judgement", Garfield reads a letter from the Sound Effects Man, who had quit the show in favor of handling sword noises for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- In the U.S. Acres episode "Hare Force", Orson tells Booker and Sheldon the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, and the two decide to make it more interesting. When one of them suggests the tortoise could be a ninja, the other rejects the idea, asking who'd want to see it. It's odd coming from two kids who usually believe everything's better with ninjas.
- In "Clash of the Titans", Garfield and Odie team up with the Power Squad, an X-Men parody. As they travel through different TV channels, Garfield asks if they can stop at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so he can pick up some pizzas.
- In "Speed Trap", Garfield notices Al Swindler posing as a highway patrolman and quips "If he's a cop, then I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."
- Inside Job (2021): In "Buzzkill", the episode opens with a flashback to Reagan's childhood, where she attempted to turn her pet turtles into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Instead, she gives her turtles cancer by exposing them to radiation. After the flashback, Reagan is shown watching the Turtles on TV.
- King of the Hill:
- In at least a couple of episodes, Bobby wears Ninja Turtles pajamas.
- In "Hilloween", an old photo shows Bobby is dressed as Raphael.
- MAD:
- "TMNTMZTV" is a crossover between the 1987 series and TMZ, where Shredder and the Foot Soldiers annoyed the famous celebrities, the Ninja Turtles.
- "I Hate My Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a crossover between the 1987 series and I Hate My Teenage Daughter, where the Ninja Turtles appear trying to protect their "mother" from a date with Shredder.
- "Sanjay and Kraang" is a crossover between the 1987 series and Sanjay and Craig, where Sanjay adopts the evil alien brain Kraang instead of the titular snake.
- Mike, Lu & Og: In "Roller Madness", Lancelot skates through a jungle brush and ends up with a leaf over his eyes and some bamboo in his mouth, making him look like a Ninja Turtle.
- Muppet Babies (1984):
- In "It's Only Pretendo", when Baby Piggy dons a ninja outfit to play Donkey Kong, she dubs herself a "Baby Mutant Ninja Piggy".
- "Sing a Song of Superheroes" featured Baby Kermit, Baby Fozzie, Baby Animal, Baby Bean, and Baby Rowlf as the Ninja Turtles.
- An episode of My Life as a Teenage Robot is titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles".
- Robot Chicken:
- A sketch from "S&M Present" features Joey Fatone getting trained by the Turtles from the first three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.
- A sketch from "Rodiggiti" depicts the turtles as the "Senior Mutant Ninja Turtles" in a retirement home, doing such things as playing bingo, eating prune pizza, and wearing adult diapers. Michelangelo even attempted to get out of his wheelchair and onto the skateboard, only to fall and sustain fatal injuries that led to his death at the end of the sketch.
- A sketch from "Moesha Poppins" features Venus DeMilo from Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation drowning herself in a toilet after she was kicked out of the Ninja Turtles.
- A sketch from "Collateral Damage in Gang Turf War" features Michelangelo spinning on his turtle shell, but has fallen on his back and can't get up. In a later sketch in that episode, his skeleton is shown.
- A sketch from "Butchered in Burbank" claims Street Sharks to be completely different from the Ninja Turtles.
- A sketch from "Secret of the Booze" features Muckman looking after April while the Turtles fight Shredder, only for him to make a bad impression on her by farting, and then denying that he did it, blaming it on Krang. It is later revealed that Krang was hiding from April and Muckman, and he really did fart.
- A sketch from "Super Guitario Center" has Splinter embarrass the turtles by eating a rotten apple from a nearby trash can. Another sketch from the same episode has Shredder and April O'Neil fall in love with each other a la Romeo and Juliet.
- A sketch from "Fridge Smell" features Splinter teaching sex education to the Turtles. Donatello later creates a robot of April O'Neil when Splinter denies the turtles the chance to have sex with the real April.
- A sketch from "Hopefully Salt" has Donatello create a tank that fires pizzas. It's surprisingly effective against Shredder, even going as far as to make a news report.
- A sketch from "Secret of the Flushed Footlong" features Krang on a blind date with a girl named Courtney.
- A sketch from "Your Mouth Is Hanging off Your Face" has Michelangelo exposing himself to the pizza delivery guy.
- A sketch from "Ginger Hill in: Bursting Pipes" has Shredder killing the turtles with plastic straws.
- Rock, Paper, Scissors: In the episode "Weekend Story" this is part of an idea to impress his love interest Pencil, he names the turtles the "Pre-Teen Modified Martial Arts Tortoises" plus calls out various names like Shrodder, Botticelli, and the fact they eat calzones, complete with a parody of the theme song in the ending.
- Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: In "The New York Underground", during the Scooby-Dooby Doors scene set in the sewers, the Gator Man Monster is seen running away from Mystery Inc. and Halsey, who are all wearing red ninja headbands. Scooby, Halsey, Velma, and Fred are wielding a nunchaku, a pair of katana, a pair of sai, and a bō respectively, while Shaggy uses a skateboard and is eating a slice of pizza.
- The Simpsons:
- One episode of the series was entitled "Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles".
- In "Now Museum, Not You Don't, Lisa comes across two pages of a book titled Illustrated History of Western Art; on the left is Leonardo da Vinci, and on the right is "Leonardo da Ninji".
- Teen Titans Go!: The "Turtle Dudes" are parodies of the Ninja Turtles.
- Tiny Toon Adventures:
- In the short Slugfest, from the episode "Mr. Popular's Rules of Cool", Plucky's favorite TV show is revealed to be "Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs", featuring four slugs named Picasso, Warhol, Rockwell, and Grandma Moses, and their archenemy, The Iodizer. In the prologue, a Ninja Turtle was in Mr. Popular's audience.
- In the third season episode "The Return of Batduck", when Plucky is trying to sneak onto the set of the new Batman movie, he and Hamton duck through the sewers, and Plucky assures Hamton there's nothing in the sewers. Naturally, the Ninja Turtles run past them, and Plucky cracks, "Nothing to speak of, anyway". He then asks, "Okay, who saw that coming?", and several audience members raise their hands and yell out, "I did!"
- In the Direct to Video movie How I Spent My Vacation, Plucky brings along a mint-condition copy of Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs #1, which Hamton promptly throws up on.
- In the "Samurai Film Critic" segment from "Weekday Afternoon Live", Hamton and Dizzy review a series of movies a la Siskel & Ebert. One of these is Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs III, a film they both agree on. A brief clip from the movie is shown of two of the slugs getting squished.
- Wish Kid: In the prologue to "Gross Encounters", Macaulay Culkin asks the audience if they're tired of Ninja Turtlesnote , tells them he is, and uses his animated persona Nick McClary's baseball glove to wish for something new.
Other
- Avishai Ivri, writer and editor on the Israeli right-wing satire and media criticism website Latma, and Ronen Shoval, right-wing political activist, wrote tweets in favour of Senator Joseph McCarthy; Shoval went as far as to say that "in most cases he was right". Leftist politician Zehava Gal’on decided to respond with a summary of what they got wrong, starting off with:Gal’on: It’s hard to choose whether to laugh or cry. Here’s a short history lesson for our Bebop and Rocksteady:...
- Adult actress Sheila Marie Eberhart uses the professional name "April O'Neil". She has cosplayed as April on several occasions, including a TMNT porn parody.
- Italy's contributions for the International Space Station were modules named Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello. Knowing the association was inescapable, Mirage Studios was brought in for a mission patch featuring an astronaut ninja turtle.◊
