Leatherhead (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leatherhead |
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Interior artwork from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #56 (March 2016).
Art by Mateus Santolouco. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Mirage Studios |
| First appearance | Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 (August 1988) |
| Created by | Ryan Brown |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Mutant alligator |
| Notable aliases | Jess Harley |
| Abilities |
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Leatherhead is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) comics and all related media. The character first appeared in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 (August 1988) and was created by Ryan Brown. He is depicted as a mutated humanoid-alligator.
Leatherhead has been voiced by Jim Cummings and Peter Renaday in the 1987 series, Frederick B. Owens and Gary K. Lewis in the 2003 series, Peter Lurie in the 2012 series, and Rose Byrne in the 2023 feature film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
Contents
Mirage Comics
Originally, Leatherhead was nothing more than an infantile alligator that had escaped a robbery at a pet store and found his way into the sewers. While in the sewers, Leatherhead was found by a pair of TCRI Utroms, who decided to bring the creature to their headquarters. During his stay with the Utroms, Leatherhead was exposed to mutagen, which caused him to mutate into a humanoid and intelligent being.
Living with the Utroms, Leatherhead ended up being separated from his "family" when the TCRI building self-destructed. The now-homeless Leatherhead was forced to live in the sewers where he was continually attacked by a big-game hunter called Jack Marlin. During one attack by the hunter, Leatherhead met the Turtles. Aiding Leatherhead in defeating the hunter, the Turtles decided to allow Leatherhead to live in their old home.
Eventually, four Foot Clan ninjas encountered an eye-patch-wearing Leatherhead in the sewers. Fearing that Leatherhead would kill them, the ninjas tried to get on Leatherhead's good side by promising to aid him in creating his Transmat Device. Accepting the help, Leatherhead and the ninja set to work creating the Transmat, only to be interrupted by the Turtles. After a brief skirmish, the Turtles learned that the Foot Ninja were actually helping Leatherhead. Embarrassed by the incident, the Turtles decided to aid the mutant alligator. Eventually, the Transmat Device was complete, so Leatherhead could finally reach the Utrom Homeworld. Unfortunately, instead of teleporting Leatherhead, the device simply blew up in his face. This failure was too much for Leatherhead to handle and in a fit of rage, Leatherhead killed his two Foot assistants and vowed revenge on the Turtles, whom he blamed for wrecking his attempt to get "home".
Leatherhead later resurfaced in Volume 4. He makes an appearance at Master Splinter's funeral. He is then seen wrestling a mutated Raphael in the sewers before swimming off. It is unknown what his current relationship with the Turtles is, but Raphael's comment that he hopes that he did not hurt Leatherhead would make it seem as if they are at least on good terms.
He has also appeared in two issues of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2.
In the past, at several comic conventions, Leatherhead creator Ryan Brown has said that he initially intended to kill the character off at the end of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vol. 1 #6 by having the gator-man tumble into the underground gorge with the evil big game hunter, but the Turtles' creator Peter Laird nixed the idea, opting to have Leatherhead survive and return to the sewers with the Turtles.
Brown returned to plot his creation after 19 years in the September 2007 issue of Tales of the TMNT. Out for a swim, Leatherhead encounters a group of aliens called Sigmurethites and attacks them. The alligator-man's Utrom guardian Dr. X, a.k.a. Xeinos the Utrom, also appears in this issue in a female scientist's exoskeleton.
Image Comics (Volume 3)
After two people are found dead in the sewers Leonardo comes to believe that Leatherhead may have been responsible. Tracking down Leatherhead, Leonardo was surprised to find the mutant alligator gagged and bound. Before he could free Leatherhead, Leonardo was attacked by King Komodo and his monitor lizard minions, the actual killers of the children.
Engaging King Komodo in battle, Leonardo successfully managed to kill King Komodo's minions, only to end up being knocked unconscious with his hand bitten off. Waking up hours later, Leonardo managed to free Leatherhead and the two, with help from Michelangelo and Casey Jones, managed to defeat King Komodo.
Afterwards Leatherhead, his feud with the Turtles forgotten, introduced them to Dr. X, an Utrom left behind from when the TCRI building collapsed. Together with Dr. X, Leatherhead managed to assemble a new Transmat Device; unfortunately, when testing it, the signal projected from the device ended up luring a group of Triceratons to Leatherhead's lair.
Engaging the Triceratons in battle with the Turtles and their allies, Leatherhead managed to viciously maul several of them. Unfortunately, while battling the last remaining Triceraton, the Triceraton activated a "portable, short-range matter transponder", and transported Leatherhead and the unnamed Triceraton to parts unknown.
IDW Comics
Leatherhead makes his debut in the 49th issue of IDW Publishing's comic series. He appears very briefly, telling Dr. Harold and Professor Honeycutt that he had some mutagen that could be used to help heal Donatello.
1987 animated series
In the 1987 series, Leatherhead is an enemy of the Turtles who fought them on several occasions. He started off as a giant alligator until he swam through a mutagen-polluted (thanks to a previous botched mission by Krang and Shredder, the one that gave birth to the Punk Frogs) part of the swamp, where he mutated to his current humanoid form. He resides in the swamp area of Florida commonly known as the Everglades. He hunted the Turtles' allies, the Punk Frogs (Napoleon, Genghis, Attila, and Rasputin) and then went after them. He then hunted the Turtles on their own turf in the sewer. While he searches for the Turtles, he also meets the Rat King (whom he describes, in a Cajun accent, as "a few shrimp shy of a boatload") and wrestles him to the ground before he tried to fight against the Turtles.
Later, he partnered up with the Rat King, after their attempts to kill each other failed, to eliminate the Turtles.
His overall clothing is a yellow cargo vest, blue rubber waders (rubber pants that go over boots and regular pants, held up by straps over shoulders), and a beat-up pink hat; he speaks in a Cajun accent. He usually carries bear traps and large crayfish on his person. He is depicted as a survivalist and tracker. Original creator Ryan Brown went back and redesigned his Leatherhead character for this particular incarnation of the Ninja Turtles.
Leatherhead was originally voiced by Jim Cummings who also, coincidentally, went on to voice more of Brown's characters, such as the Dakota Dude and Saddlesore Scorpion from the series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa. Peter Renaday voiced him in the episode "Night of the Rogues".
Archie Comics
In the Archie TMNT Adventures Comics, Leatherhead starts as a poor human named Jess Harley who lived in the swamps of Florida, and became transformed into a mutant alligator when the "witch" Mary Bones (actually the former warlord Cherubae from Dimension X in disguise) used the Turnstone on him. At first, Shredder lures Leatherhead to work with him, until Leatherhead discovers that the Shredder is a villain. Leatherhead later becomes a wrestling hero at the Stump Asteroid and later a member of The Mighty Mutanimals. He and the other members of that group were killed before the end of the Archie Comics run with the Turtles characters.
Ryan Brown, at convention appearances, has stated that his character Jess Harley is an homage to his favorite actor, Lance Henriksen, and is named after two characters from his favorite films, Jesse Hucker in Near Dark and Ed Harley from Pumpkinhead. Henriksen would later go on to voice the Triceraton Zog in the 2012 animated series.
2003 animated series
In the 2003 series, Leatherhead is shown as a friend of the Turtles and is often referred to as "LH". He is voiced by Frederick B. Owens in seasons 2 and 3 and by Gary K. Lewis in season 4 and 7.
2012 animated series
Leatherhead appears in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, voiced by Peter Lurie and again an ally to the Turtles.
2023 animated film
A female incarnation of Leatherhead appears in the 2023 animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, voiced by Rose Byrne. In the film, Leatherhead acts as a member of Superfly's mutant army.
Video game appearances
Leatherhead made an appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project as a boss in the sewer level; his appearance is that of his action figure. He also appears in both the arcade & SNES versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, as the boss in the train level; in the Xbox Live Arcade remake, he is voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas. He also appears as the first boss in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist. In these appearances, his appearance is that of his cartoon counterpart from the original animated series.
Leatherhead has also made an appearance as a boss in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, although the cutscene shows him as an ally. We see the cave-in caused by Stockman that causes Leatherhead to be buried beneath what remains of the Turtles' old lair. He also is the final combatant in the Monster open Tournament.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare, Leatherhead is shown in the background in a cutscene near the end of Episode 1. There is no reason given why he is there in space with the Turtles, Casey, and April. In reality, this is because the scene was taken directly from the cartoon, where he was with them for some time. Leatherhead does appear in the DS version of the game as a boss fight and in a level or two where he teams up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Leatherhead also appears as a boss in the 2014 3DS game voiced by André Sogliuzzo.
Leatherhead appears as a boss in the 2022 beat-'em-up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. He is brainwashed by Shredder helping Baxter Stockman, Tempestra, Shredder, and Krang transport the Krang body into the sewers, before fighting the Turtles. He is beaten quickly, but vows revenge.
Leatherhead appears in 2023's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. He acts as the boss of the game's first area, the Sewers.
