The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie is coming out
and that could be just a disaster.
But the heroes in a half-shell did originate in a comic book,
so I feel like we need to talk about them.
Now I'm not going to sit here and poop on the film.
After all, I haven't even seen it yet.
It could be amazing.
Or it can easily go the route of say, "Daredevil",
not that those franchises would ever connect in any way.
Wait, guys, did Daredevil create the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles?
Welcome to Comic Misconceptions, the show that takes you
into detail about the things you think you know about comics.
I'm your host, Scott Niswander.
And again, I haven't seen the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
movie yet.
I do have plans on seeing it this weekend,
so fingers crossed that it's good and not terrible,
at least.
That's what I'm rooting for-- just not terrible.
Today's topic has kind of an interesting origin, maybe just
interesting to me at least.
A long time ago I went to go see the 2003 Daredevil
movie with my dad in theaters.
And I don't remember much of the experience
or really much of the movie except this one thing
that my dad told me.
He asked me if I knew where the hazardous waste that
blinded Matt Murdock went after it sprayed him in the eyes.
Of course, I had no idea.
He told me that it was washed down the storm
drain into the sewers and created the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles.
For years, I assumed that he was just joking.
But my brain also kind of played tricks on me
and created an entire scene in my head
where we see a shot of the hazardous waste going down
the drain in the Daredevil movie.
I watched the director's cut and the regular version
just recently.
That scene does not exist, but I can still
see it so vividly in my head.
So even though the movie's not going to be much help,
I do want to see if he's right.
So maybe we should start back with the origin of Daredevil.
Daredevil made his first appearance in April of 1964.
Is that our connection?
April?
No?
Anyway, issue reveals that his origin
is pretty straightforward and kind of ironic.
Young Matt Murdock was on his way home
from the library when he noticed a blind man
crossing the street.
He notices a truck about to crash into the man.
So Matt jumps to the rescue, saving the blind man.
But the truck was carrying radioactive waste
and a canister of it came off the truck
and struck Matt on the head near his eyes.
This is where the origin seems a little bit off to me.
I always assumed, like the movie,
that the radioactive waste had sprayed into his eyes.
But really it was just a canister hit him in the face
and the radioactive-ness of the material
inside gave him powers?
Either way, we all know what happens next.
He becomes blind, but his other senses
develop to a superhuman level.
He dons on some tights, as you do, and becomes Daredevil.
So that origin helps us a little, I guess.
Let's dive into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
next-- see what we can uncover.
It all starts back in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles number one
from 1984 when a canister of radioactive ooze
was bouncing around the street and smashed into a glass jar
holding four turtles.
The turtles fell down into the sewer followed
by canister of ooze, which broke and covered
the bodies of the turtles.
The four of them were gathered by a Ninjutsu-knowing rat named
Splinter.
He raised them up as they grew and became more intelligent
thanks to the ooze.
He taught them everything he knew about Ninjutsu as well,
turning them into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I bet you already see the connection here.
Where did that canister of ooze come from?
Well, I propose that it was the same canister that
hit young Matt Murdock's face, bounced around on the New York
street, smashing into the four turtles,
going down the sewer just like my dad said,
and turning them into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
But here's the thing.
It's not really a theory.
It's basically fact.
We can see here in that same first issue of Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles that the reason the canister of ooze
was bouncing around the street was because just a few panels
earlier, a young boy rescued a blind man
from being hit by a truck while crossing the street.
That canister fell off the truck and hit
the young boy near his eyes.
In other words, it's the exact same scenario
that happened to Matt Murdock.
That issue of Daredevil number one
never showed us what the canister of radioactive waste
looked like, but thanks to the Ninja Turtles,
we see that it is indeed a small canister of ooze.
Of course, in Daredevil, The Man Without Fear number one,
we see a partial retelling of this origin
in which the canisters are giant metal barrels.
And this time the radioactive stuff
actually does get in Matt's eyes.
So thank you, comics, for ruining that.
Obviously the connection between these two is not officially
confirmed because Daredevil and TMNT are not owned by the same
company and therefore cannot be explicitly stated to have
an influence on each other.
In fact, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
was supposed to be a parody of not just Daredevil but The New
Mutants, obviously, because they were teenage mutants, Ronin,
due to the themes of Japanese culture,
and Cerebus, because they were anthropomorphic animals.
But here's another issue.
So assuming that Daredevil and the Ninja Turtles
are indeed connected, Matt Murdock
may not be the reason the turtles exist, but just
another factor in their origin.
Could the real culprit be the truck driver,
driving recklessly in a truck filled with radioactive waste
that's not properly tied down?
Or what about the blind man we never hear about again?
What his agenda?
There are too many variables here to just be a coincidence.
It's already crazy enough when one superhero has their origin,
but we're talking about five in the same scene-- and six,
if you also count the ooze affecting Splinter.
What do you guys think?
Are the origins of Daredevil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles connected to that same accident,
and would you like to see that played up more in films
until we eventually get a Daredevil Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles Power Rangers movie?
Let me know in the comments.
I mean, a guy can dream.
And before you guys leave, I did need your help
picking a future topic for this show.
I was thinking about doing a Fantastic Four episode,
but I actually had two specific topics related to that.
So I want to have you guys vote on the topic and the winning
one will be the one that I end up doing.
Should the topic be, the real origins of Fantastic Four,
or should it be about what Doctor Doom's face looks
like under his mask?
Well , guys, I already know which one probably sounds more
interesting.
But I promise you, there's so much
good information in both of these
that it really is hard to pick between them
and they're strong contenders.
There'll be little annotation links for you guys
to click on at the end of this video to cast your vote.
And if this is your first time hanging out here at NerdSync,
I would love for you to hit that big sexy subscribe button
down below.
We do comic book videos just like this one every Wednesday,
and I don't want you to miss out on any of it.
In And if audio waves really get you going,
you can also listen to the NerdSync podcast
every Monday on iTunes stitcher and right here on YouTube.
This week we talked about the Guardians of the Galaxy,
give you our review, so go check it out.
Once again, I'm Scott, and we'll see you right here next week
for more things that you thought you knew about comics.
See you.
And don't forget to vote.