Warning: Spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4Raphael may have established a reputation as the toughest turtle in theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise, but Donatello just gave him a run for his money with his badass transformation. In the face of insurmountable odds, Donnie has proven his mettle and cemented himself as a serious powerhouse who could even put Raphael to shame.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#4 by Jason Aaron, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber and Shawn Lee faces Donatello with his greatest challenge yet in his entire history as a ninja. When he’simprisoned in a mutant zooand forced to battle a swarm of mutant-hating brutes who want him dead, he stands his ground and beats them up in a shockingly brutal display.
As Donatello fights, he thinks to himself,“No time to lose my mind. To be weak.“His current situation gives him every reason to succumb to weakness, yet Donatello instead conquers it and comes out stronger.
Donatello Sets Aside His Weakness to Become TMNT’s Toughest Turtle
Despite Harsh Conditions, Donatello Fights Harder Than Ever Before
Donatello’s time in the mutant zoo has had a visible effect on his body, as he’s lost muscle mass due to starvation. The other prisoners reveal that this is because he’s been giving them his food rather than eating it himself. This noble act isn’t all that’s pushed Donnie to his limits, as he’s also forced himself to fight every visitor to the zoo in an effort to protect the others.If they fight, they’ll die, so Donatello has ensured that everyone chooses to fight him instead.Furthermore, he refuses to die, surviving each beating through his own sheer willpower.
TMNT Just Reunited the Four Turtles, But There’s Something Very Wrong with Donatello
The four brothers are officially reunited in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4, but something’s tragically wrong with Donnie…
Most would give up in the face of such adversity, but Donatello hasgrown into a better fighterthrough the immense hardships he’s endured. Near the end of this issue, he’s thrust back into the ring to face off against every challenger he’s contended with thus far, and all of them have an advantage over Donnie in his weakened state. However, Donatello manages to take them out using both his ingenuity and his raw fighting power.After relying on magic over fisticuffs in recent stories, it’s refreshing to see Donatello become a brawler like Raphael when he’s backed against a wall.
This Ninja Turtle Unlocks Newfound Strength Without His Magic
As part of the Armageddon Game event, theninja turtles all developed mystic powersvia dark magic known as Kuji-kiri. Essentially, Kuji-kiri is a dark ninja art that employs hand signs in order to unleash powerful abilities. While the other turtles didn’t take to Kuji-kiri for long,Donatello continued to utilize magic and ended up becoming a proficient magic-user in a surprising upheaval to his usual tech-based style. He officiallychose magic over sciencein the build-up toTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#150, emulating a future version of himself who was a lonesome sorcerer dedicated solely to the mystic arts.
Want to learn more about the art of Kuji-kiri? Read about the ninja turtles' training under Oroku Saki inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#132 by Sophie Campbell and Pablo Tunica, available now from IDW Publishing.
In the end, magic has brought Donatello more tragedy than positivity. Thefate of Donatello’s future counterpartreveals that he’s been broken on a mental and emotional level by his overuse of magic over all else, and it’s a fate so horrific that his present-day self wants to erase his memory of it. Because of this, he has sworn off magic at the start of this issue, and with good reason.While magic could have come in handy to fight against his captors in the mutant zoo, Donatello shows that he doesn’t need magic to gain the upper hand in a fight anymore.
Donatello Replaces Raphael as the TMNT’s Strongest Fighter
With His Latest Fight, Donatello Isn’t Just “The Smart Turtle” Anymore
While Donatello is usually seen as less of a formidable fighter in comparison to his brothers, this astounding shift in his character proves that he’s every bit aspowerful as the other turtles. In fact, in this issue, Donatello has shown that he’s even more hardcore on the battlefield than brawny Raphael.Even when he’s outnumbered by Foot Clan ninjas, Donatello takes them all head-on"with nothing but grit and a stick”.Donatello’s negative experiences with magic and abuse have only helped him ascend to Raphael’s level, becoming theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’resident badass in a welcome change.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
