The TMNT Just Gave Their Most Underrated ’90s Villain A Deadly New Upgrade
Attention! This article includes spoilers for the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued Despite the fact that the animated series of the ‘90s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ended decades ago, the story continues in the form of a comic book series. This series gave one of the Turtles’ most underrated villains, the Rat King, a powerful and deadly upgrade, making him one of the most relevant villains in the current canon.
In the current continuity of IDW Publishing’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Turtles are facing their greatest ever threat: the Rat King. The Rat King in IDW’s TMNT comics is an elder god and the embodiment of chaos and filth. Although he controls rats, this is more a byproduct of his divine power than a defining ability in itself. In the ‘90s cartoon, there was also a villain called the Rat King, who was a human with the ability to psychically control rats, primarily using them to pull off elaborate heists. While this Rat King was far from divine, he was the first incarnation of the same character causing so much trouble for the Turtles in the current canon. He has just gained a power that would make the new Rat King envious: the ability to control the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
How the ‘90s Rat King Could Have Won the Armageddon Game in TMNT
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 by Erik Burnham, Tim Lattie, and Jack Lawrence, a truck carrying a strange blue ooze swerves to avoid hitting a pedestrian, causing one of the vials to fall out the back of the truck. This substance falls into the sewer and breaks all over the Rat King. After exposure to the ooze, he finds he can no longer control rats with his mind, but he discovers that he can control turtles; specifically, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In the comic, the Rat King uses the Turtles to rob a weapons facility. However, he quickly decides that he prefers his old power and sets about figuring out how he can go back to just controlling rats. In short, this deadly power is wasted on this version of the Rat King. IDW’s Rat King could have used this power to win the Armageddon Game, with the added satisfaction of being able to control his greatest foes with a mere thought. Unfortunately for this chaos god, the Ninja Turtles defeat him, winning the Armageddon Game, which would not have happened if the Rat King had the newly acquired (yet unappreciated) power of the ‘90s Rat King.
Despite what IDW’s Rat King would have done, the Rat King of the ‘90s cartoon is the one who acquired an ability strong enough to make his divine counterpart jealous. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gave one of their most underrated ‘90s villains the deadly upgrade to control the Ninja Turtles themselves.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 by IDW Publishing is available now.
Warning! This article contains spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series of the ‘90s ended decades ago, the saga lives on in the form of a comic book series, one that actually gave one of the Turtles’ most underrated (and currently relevant) villains a deadly new upgrade, and this villain-in-question is none other than the Rat King.
In the current continuity of IDW Publishing’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesthe Turtles are facing off against perhaps the greatest threat they’ll ever face: the Rat King. The Rat King in the IDW TMNT comics is an elder god and the living embodiment of chaos and filth. Sure, he controls rats, but that’s more of a byproduct of his divine power rather than a defining ability in and of itself. However, in the original ‘90s cartoon, there existed a villain who was also called the Rat King. This bad guy was a human with the power to psychically control rats, mostly using them to pull off elaborate heists. While the ‘90s Rat King was far from a god, he was the first incarnation of the same character that’s giving the Turtles so much trouble in the current canon, and he actually just got a power that would assuredly make the new Rat King jealous: the power to control the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
TMNT’s ‘90s Rat King Could Have Won the Armageddon Game
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 by Erik Burnham, Tim Lattie, and Jack Lawrence, a truck transporting a strange, blue ooze swerves as to not hit a pedestrian when one of the vials falls out the back of the truck. This substance falls into the sewer and breaks all over the Rat King. After the exposure, the Rat King finds that he can no longer control rats with his mind, but he soon learns that he can control turtles–specifically, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In the comic, the Rat King just uses the Turtles to rob a weapons facility, but he quickly decides that he doesn’t like this power more than his old one, and gets to work figuring out how he can go back to just controlling rats. In short, this deadly power is absolutely wasted on this version of the Rat King. IDW’s Rat King could have used this power to win the Armageddon Game, with the added enjoyment of being able to control his greatest foes with a mere thought. Unfortunately for this chaos god, the Ninja Turtles are successful in defeating him, thus winning the Armageddon Game, which is something that would not have happened if this Rat King had the newly acquired (yet utterly unappreciated) power of the ‘90s Rat King.
Despite what IDW’s Rat King would have done, the fact is the Rat King of the ‘90s cartoon is the one who acquired an ability that is strong enough to make his divine counterpart jealous, as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gave one of their most underrated ‘90s villains the deadly upgrade to control the Ninja Turtles themselves.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 by IDW Publishing is available now.
