How Many of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Are Dead & How Did They Die?

Everybody knows about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles because this comic book series has been one of the most popular comic book series in the last three decades. The general public knows the characters more from great cartoons and animated series that have been released in the 1990s and 2000s. The first comic book volume was released in 1984, and since then changed a few publishers but the series continued. However, in the most recent issue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, our favorite turtle ninjas died. In this article, we will discuss how many TMNTs are dead and how did they die.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are no more. Donatello, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, and Master Splinter died in the last volume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. First died Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, and Master Splinter after the separate attacks on their lives by the Foot clan. Michaelangelo, the last standing of his family takes over the mantle of the Last Ronin and seeks revenge for his family’s death. His final fight against the grandson of Shredder, Hiroto, and the rest of the Footclan, results in him dying.

We will go deeper into what happened to our favorite turtles and their father, and discuss what is next for them. Also, find out how they died, and if they managed to complete their mission and protect their home. Warning for spoilers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin comic book series. If you are interested, stick with us until the end of the article.

Short Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Introduction

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series first appeared in 1984, which at first was supposed to be a parody of the superhero genre of that time. However, creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, have not imagined that the comic book will succeed. The comic book was so popular that between 1988 and 1992, billion Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys were sold all over the world.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series ran for almost a decade and is still one of the most successful cartoons in the last three decades. More cartoons and comic book series were released and got almost the same success, as the original ones. Live-action movies did not get that many accolades but were decent action movies that were watched a lot. All in all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are truly popular even today – fans are still religiously reading and following this franchise.

The story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is pretty interesting. It follows four anthropomorphic turtle brothers, that mutated from the radiation spilled in the sewers. Master Splinter found them, took them in, and trained them in ninjutsu. Even though Splinter was against the turtles coming out of sewers and communicating with the outside world, after some time turtles and Splinter himself realized that they can help New York City with their skills and clean the streets of crime. They later meet humans April and Casey Jones, who is helping them with fighting crime, and later become great friends.

Each brother has his own personality and is unique:

• Leonardo – the oldest brother and the most responsible one in the group. He wears a blue headband and fights with his two katanas. His maturity sometimes gets him in trouble with his brothers but he always tries really hard.
• Raphael – the one with a feisty personality and a hothead, who fights with his twin sai, and wears the red headband.
• Donatello – the one who is the smartest and has bō as his weapon of choice. Wears purple headband and uses gadgets in combat.
• Michaelangelo – the youngest, quirkiest, most talented but would rather have a good time than train. Wears an orange headband and his dual nunchaku are his weapons of choice.

Master Splinter is a mutated rat, who is an expert in martial arts and ninjutsu, and an adoptive father to the turtles.

How Many of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Are Dead?

Now, we get to the main point of this article. What happened to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Master Splinter in the recent comic book run Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin? Well, the story, which was first released in 2020, is following the last standing Michaelangelo, who wants to avenge the death of his family and his journey after the separate incidents that took his loved ones away. The story takes place years and years into the Dark Future where the original Shredders grandson, and the bastard son of Karai, Oroku Hiroto, rules the New York city with full-blown totalitarianism.

Michaelangelo is the only one left and is followed by hallucinations of his deceased brothers that hunt him every day. He wants to avenge them and goes on the journey to do just that. Through the story, we find out how his brothers and father died – they were killed in separate attacks ten years prior to the time of the comics and Mikey has been the only one left. During his journey, he meets his old ally April O’Neal and her daughter whom she got with her partner in crime and lover, Casey Jones, who died shortly after Casey Jr. was born. He died protecting his family and friends’ turtles. Mikey succeded in his revenge – he killed Hiroto and reunited with his family and Casey Jones in the afterlife, in a version of New York that was when they were young.

All turtles are dead, including Master Splinter and Casey Jones.

How Did Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Die?

As we already mentioned, all turtles died with their Master. Foot Ninjas infiltrated their lair in the sewers and were led by Oroku Hiroto and Karai, an old nemesis of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and daughter of Shredder. Donatello died trying to protect his father from Foot Ninjas attacks – they tried to negotiate peace with Oroku Hirato.

Splinter died after Foot Ninjas ganged on him and inflicted fatal injuries to him. Raphael died after Foot Ninjas attacked during dinner at April and Casey’s apartment. He got enraged, killed a lot of them, and started fighting Karai. They fell into the water in the bay, and while Karai was injured and on verge of death, her ninjas saved her, while Raph sank to the bottom of the bay and died. Leonardo and Casey Jones died protecting the city and their loved ones – they died during the robot invasion by Baxter Stockman and the explosion that killed them all. Evacuated Mikey, April, and the rest of the people were the only ones left alive.

Finally, Mikey died in the battle against Oroku Hirato. Mikey managed to hold his own and almost defeat Oroku Hirato, however, his dirty tricks and desire to win, even against all odds, made him press the button on his suit and kill both of them. A heartwrenching ending and goodbye to the Last Ronin touched our hearts and left us teary-eyed. Mikey finally made his peace and in the end, reunited with his brothers, father, and a dear friend Casey Jones in the afterlife, where they are now looking at beautiful New York City without any regimes and darkness. Just enjoy their life and live through their love for each other.

Emotional, heartbreaking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arc that got us emotional, but showed us a truly good comic book volume that needs to be read by any comic book fan. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is one of the best comic book series in the last decade or so, and deserves to be put together with the best TMNT comic books released ’till today.

This is the end of our article. It was an emotional journey covering this story, but we can’t wait for new storylines and alternate universe stories with the quality of the Last Ronin in the future. Thank you for reading, and until the next time!