TMNT's Awful Treatment of Donatello Helped Me Realize I Still Love the Series
Warning: Spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6!Anyone who has followed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will look at the current comic arc and agree that Donatello has been treated badly. I don't mean in the sense that the writing is bad or that the character is mishandled, but in the sense that the usually jovial Donnie has endured a living hell that's heartbreaking to witness as a fan. He's treated badly not by the writing, but by the universe.
The latest example of Donatello's turmoil comes in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 by Jason Aaron, Juan Ferreyra, and Shawn Lee. At this point in time, Donatello is beaten, broken, battered, surrounded by bickering brothers, driven crazy, and talking to a dead rat he's mistaken for his father. But considering that the issue appears to be narrated by the late Splinter, maybe Donnie isn't that crazy after all.
Still, that doesn't make his plight any less tragic. As someone who grew up with Donatello being the furthest from his favorite Turtle, this arc gave me a new appreciation for Donatello.
How Did Donatello Get This Way in the New Ninja Turtles Lore?
Donatello's Arc, Explained
Before Aaron took over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, Donatello chose magic over science. The typically tech-savvy turtle had his world shaken after dying at the hands of Bebop and Rocksteady, then meeting his mother in the afterlife. His favoring of scientific rationale and logic went out the window once he experienced a spiritual epiphany. This experience led to him learning magic from Shredder and practicing Kuji-kiri (time and space manipulation) to battle numerous threats in "The Armageddon Game" arc. He never stopped dabbling with magic, putting a physical and mental toll on his body.
Given that he was also mourning the fallen Splinter, the combination of magic and grief proved to be too much for Donnie. He is captured by poachers running a mutant zoo, which is probably better referred to as a mutant fight club, since humans pay to fight humanoid-animal hybrids to death. His struggle to survive each fight withers Donatello to a malnourished shell of his former self. He hasn't been eating or sleeping as his mind continues to fracture, with no one to guide him except for a dead rat he's convinced is Master Splinter communicating with him from beyond the grave.
To see the beginnings of Donatello's imprisonment in a mutant zoo, check out "Long Way from Home" by Jason Aaron and Chris Burnham in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1.
Donnie is eventually rescued by and reunited with his brothers, but since their bond was damaged before all this turmoil, it hasn't been a happy reunion. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 shows the Turtles struggling to co-exist. The only thing they seem to agree on is that it's best not to remind Donatello that Splinter is dead. That agreement is broken when Michelangelo snaps and drops the bombshell on Donnie. Donatello already appeared to have lost his sanity and massive amounts of muscle mass. In an instant, he loses hope, too.
TMNT's Donatello Is In a Hell of His Own Design
Donnie Had It Coming
All things considered, I have to call a spade a spade and say that Donatello had all of this coming. He started messing with forces he had no business messing with, forces of magic he didn't fully understand, and he abused that power. He even says so himself in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 by Aaron and Chris Burnham. "Worried this is me paying the price for how much I've been tampering with [mystic] forces," are his exact words. Then again, the fact that Donatello has no one to blame but himself makes his story all the more tragic.
Donatello only wanted to use magic to help - and all it's done is hurt him in the end.
Donnie wasn't trying to abuse power for the sake of it or misuse it, but he tried to use it resourcefully in a way that could help him become a better warrior. He used magic to combat the threats of Armaggedon and the Rat King during "The Armageddon Game" in hopes of protecting the past and becoming a better sorcerer. He only wanted to use magic to help - and all it's done is hurt him in the end.
Watching Donatello Suffer Makes Me Love Him More
Will We Ever Get the Old Donatello Back?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 is my favorite issue of this series so far, but man, the writing is just torturing the poor guy at this point. "Look how they massacred my boy," as they say. Donatello is withering, both inwardly and outwardly. Growing up, I always knew Donnie as "the smart one" of the Ninja Turtles. Compared to the strong-willed leader Leonardo, the funny Michelangelo, or the tough and cool Raphael, Donatello was the least interesting to me as a kid.
This arc has turned him into my all-time favorite Turtle. Not just for the sympathy he's garnered from me, but for everything he's had to overcome lately, I think Donnie might actually be the toughest Turtle. I don't know if we'll ever get the old Donnie back. It might take a miracle or a Splinter resurrection for that to happen, but to me, this arc isn't about getting Donatello back to normal. It's about showcasing how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can go through absolute hell and come out of it all stronger than ever.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 is available now from IDW Publishing.
- Created by
- Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird
- First Film
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
- Latest Film
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
- Upcoming Films
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2
- First TV Show
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Latest TV Show
- Tales of the 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.
- First Episode Air Date
- December 14, 1987
- Cast
- Cam Clarke, Rob Paulsen, Barry Gordon, Townsend Coleman, Seth Green, Sean Astin, Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon
- Current Series
- Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Spin-offs (Movies)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin
- TV Show(s)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Video Game(s)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - The Game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger Of The Ooze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project
