The Ninja Turtles Come to Gotham City by Jerry Whitworth
This November, DC Comics and IDW Publishing are teaming up for a crossover comic book mini-series seeing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come to Gotham City and join alongside the Dark Knight in Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The premise follows that a frayed relationship between General Krang and the Foot Clan leads to the former transporting the Ninja Turtles and their nemesis Shredder to an alternate dimension. Finding themselves in Gotham City and meeting the Batman, the Turtles have to fight their way through the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery as they try to find a way back home. Generally fighting creatures like the sewer-dwelling Killer Croc or a horde of Man-Bat ninjas, Batman must not only learn to co-exist with these new mutant guests across the rooftops of his city but deal with a handful of rambunctious teenagers that put all of his Robins to shame. Lets take a look at what this crossover could entail as these two worlds collide.
NINJA TURTLES IN GOTHAM
Spending most of their time in the Big Apple, the Ninja Turtles are use to switching between fighting mutants, robots, aliens, and ninjas (or all at the same time) but Gotham City introduces likely a significantly different wrinkle. While Batman certainly has foes that test him physically, his enemies fall more into the cerebral realm which presents a major issue for the Turtles (especially a hothead like Raphael or airhead like Michelangelo). It wouldn’t be surprising if Batman calls in back-up from his partners past and present especially considering how similar the Turtles can be to several of them (Leonardo to Nightwing, Raphael to Red Hood, Donatello to Red Robin, and Mikey to… well, Damian will likely have his hands full). So, should the Turtles face something like Killer Croc, Man-Bat(s), Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy’s Green Ghosts, or Hugo Strange’s Monster Men, they’ll be stepping into familiar territory. But, the real intriguing part of their journey would be to tackle the likes of the Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Ventriloquist, or the Joker.
LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS
Known as the leader of the Foot Clan and likewise being stranded in an alternate universe, it would be a missed opportunity if the Shredder doesn’t align with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. While ninja exist in DC Comics, the closest to a clan of active ninja is the organization serving Ra’s which makes them a prime candidate for Shredder to try and usurp (and certainly, Ra’s has a history of employing less-than-trustworthy leaders of the League with Dr. Ebeneezer Darrk and the Sensei as past selections). Add in that previously Talia turned members into Man-Bats or that the League employs shapeshifters like Whisper A’Daire, Kyle Abbot, and Bronze Tiger (not to mention the rest of Batman’s separate history of transformed foes like Blockbuster, Anthony Lupus, Poison Ivy’s Ivor, and the aforementioned Monster Men) and the group is seemingly tailor made for the Shredder. That said, it could also be very interesting should the Shredder’s path somehow cross with Deathstroke the Terminator, seeing as the two armored clad weapon masters would likely make for quite the showdown and/or alliance.
GOTHAM KNIGHTS IN NEW YORK
While the premise of the series is the Turtles trying to get back to their home universe, that shouldn’t exclude the possibility of them returning with Batman and perhaps his allies. With the Turtles gone, the protection of New York would likely fall upon the likes of Splinter, Casey Jones, Alopex, Nobody, Metalhead, and the Mutanimals to fight Krang’s forces which, considering the Turtles were always needed in the past, would likely produce a failing effort. It makes sense then that not only would the Turtles need to return to save the day, they would need help especially if their allies were incapacitated. It would be interesting to see Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl, Spoiler, Bluebird, and Black Bat arrive to face Krang’s Rock Soldiers, Baxter Stockman’s Mousers and Flyborgs, Hun’s Purple Dragons, and Karai’s Foot and mutants Bebop, Rocksteady, Koya, and Bludgeon.
