Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Facts & Truths Hidden in Their Tubes

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are four fearsome heroes who live in the sewers of New York City and protect their city from crime, while desperately trying to remain hidden from people. With all the pizza they eat and all the dangerous situations they get involved in, it’s really surprising how our favorite heroes are still alive. Ever since their first appearance in a 1984 comic book, the anthropomorphic ninja turtles have found their way in a variety of media: TV cartoon shows, animated cartoons, movies, series, video games and other merchandise.

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo have become a world-wide phenomenon and exceeded the popularity of many iconic characters of Marvel and DC Comics. Every kid who grew up during the late 80s and early 90s knows these four heroes, knows their names, their colors and their weapons. It was impossible to stay resistant to their almost-failed adventures, because of their inability to operate as a team all the time. There is so much to love about the teenage mutant ninja turtles. If you truly like them or want to get to know them, the facts and truths below are MUST-KNOW.

• The teenage mutant ninja turtles are known by names of Renaissance artists, only with a different spelling. Leonardo is named after Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello after Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, Raphael after Raphael Sanzio and Michelangelo after Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
• To create the first comic strip in 1984 (intended to be a single issue), the creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman barely financed their project by borrowing money from Eastman’s uncle. If Eastman’s uncle wasn’t rich, we would’ve lived in a world without the teenage mutant ninja turtles.
• Does the story of the ooze that mutated the ordinary turtles sounds familiar? That’s because it is a similar story to how Matt Murdock became The Daredevil. It is similar because the TMNT comics began as a parody of Daredevil. It began as a parody because the creators didn’t have serious intentions with our beloved ninja turtles.
• The greatest villain of the ninja turtles of all time, The Shredder, is inspired by a cheese grater. This bizarre story origins from one of the original creators of TMNT (Kevin Eastman), as he put a cheese grater on his arm and immediately got the idea of creating the coolest villain. Luckily, they didn’t use the original name “The Grater”.
• Although the ninja turtles we know from the animated series and movies are funny and interesting characteristics, the original comic version features a bit darker characters. In the original comic strips, the ninja turtles are trained ninjutsu by their sensei Splinter with only one goal – to kill the Shredder.
• The four heroes of New York became so popular for their favorite menu option that two pizza giants had a fierce fight. For their marketing campaign in the TMNT movie, Pizza Hut spent an incredible $20 million. However, Domino won the battle and was included in the movie.
• In the beginning, the ninja turtles were making fun of many other super-hero shows, such as the Daredevil, Teen Titans, X-Men and others. However, the New York City heroes made friends with the Power Rangers and together battled the dark forces for a while. Their run was short.

source: https://www.listaddicts.com/all-4-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-names-and-colors/