Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Donatello
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character
Donatello
Textless Planet Awesome exclusive cover variant of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #98.
Art by series co-creator Kevin Eastman
First appearanceTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984)
Created byKevin Eastman
Peter Laird
Portrayed by
Others:
  • Tim Arem (Operation Blue Line)
  • Gregory Garrison (The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour)
  • Eric Anzalone (later performance in The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour)
  • Michael Steuber (understudy in The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour)
  • Danyol Leon (The Mystery of the Cliffs)
  • Florence Reymond (We Wish You A Turtle Christmas and Turtle Tunes)
Voiced by
Others:
In-universe information
SpeciesMutant turtle
AffiliationTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
WeaponBō
Family
HomeNew York sewers, United States
Abilities
  • Mastery of ninjutsu, naginata and bō, kobudō, and chi gong, and stealth
  • Superhuman agility, speed, and strength
  • Genius-level intellect
  • Scientist, engineer, and inventor
  • Energy constructs (Rise of the TMNT)

Donatello, nicknamed Donnie, is a superhero and one of the four main characters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and all related media.[1][2] He is the smartest and often gentlest of his brothers, wearing a purple mask over his eyes. He wields a bō staff, his primary signature weapon in all media.

He is the adoptive and mutated son of Master Splinter and the brother of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. He is the most rational and logical of the turtles, and second-in-command of the team. Donatello has a natural aptitude for science and technology and often speaks in technobabble. Thus, he generally prefers using gadgets in battle over hand-to-hand combat. Like all of the brothers, he is named after a Renaissance artist; in this case, he is named after Italian sculptor Donatello.[3] He is the favorite turtle of co-creator Peter Laird, who served as the basis of Donatello's personality.

Like his brothers, he is named after an Italian Renaissance artist, in this case Donatello. In the original comics, all four of the Turtles wear red masks, but for the creators to tell them apart, he was written and redrawn to have a purple mask.

  1. ^ Simpson, Janice C. (1990-04-02). "Show Business: Lean, Green and on the Screen". Time. Archived from the original on November 6, 2006. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
  2. ^ Greenberg, Harvey R. (1990-04-15). "Just How Powerful Are Those Turtles?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  3. ^ TMNT Origin Story Archived June 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, official site. Retrieved 2007-11-16.