Donatello, nicknamed Donnie or Don, is a superhero and one of the four main characters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and all related media. He is the smartest and often gentlest of his brothers, wearing a purple mask over his eyes. He wields a bō, his primary signature weapon in all media.
He is the adoptive 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, although just as skilled as his brothers in that regard. Like his brothers, he is named after an Italian Renaissance artist, in this case Donatello.TMNT Origin Story , official site. Retrieved 2007-11-16. He is the favorite turtle of co-creator Peter Laird, who served as the basis of Donatello's personality.
Comic books Mirage Comics In the comics, Donatello is depicted as the calmest turtle. While the comics' portrayal of the team has no official command structure, he is depicted as the next in command in the early stories, and the closest brother to Leonardo. In the first issue, he is the one that killed the Shredder by knocking him and his grenade off the roof. The second issue elaborated more on each turtles' personalities and opened with Donatello soldering a circuit. Later in the issue, Donatello reveals his familiarity with computer systems by helping April O'Neil deactivate the Mousers. During the turtles' exile to Northampton, Donatello becomes obsessed with fixing up and repairing the many broken things within the farmhouse they were living in. Most notably he spent days and nights fixing the boiler to give his family hot running water and builds a windmill and a water wheel to provide electricity. He also finds an old typewriter and writes his own personal credo.
In the Donatello one-shot, Donatello encounters an artist called Kirby (an homage to the comic artist Jack Kirby) whose mysterious crystal brings his drawings to life before disappearing. The two newfound friends journey to a dimension inhabited by Kirby's creations and help the heroes defeat the invading monsters.
In the Shades of Grey storyline, Casey Jones encounters the turtle by a ravine as he was pondering "the fractal structure of natural patterns". Casey accuses the turtle of using big words and acting better than everyone else. Donatello suggests they should continue the conversation when Casey is sober. Grabbing a stick, an angry Jones continually pokes the turtle until he loses his temper and sends Casey careening into the water.
In the City at War storyline, the turtles return to New York to put an end to the Foot Clan's civil war. During a battle with Shredder's Elite Guards in the ruins of the Second Time Around Shop, Donatello falls through the floor and breaks his leg. Seeing their ally Karai subdued and about to be killed, Donatello grabs one of the Foot's machine guns and repeatedly shoots the Foot Elite. Donatello is visibly shaken by the violence and throws the gun away. At the end of the story the turtles, April and Casey move back to New York save for Donatello who chooses to stay in Northampton with Master Splinter to heal from his injury as well as reflect on everything that had happened. After encountering the turtle vigilante ally Nobody in civilian guise he returns with him to New York to help his brothers battle Baxter Stockman.
Donatello later finds an armored truck in the sewers which apparently had been part of a bank robbery in the sixties. Along with Raphael and Casey Jones, he undertakes the task of fixing up the vehicle. Donatello decides to accompany the Utroms on a mission to Tepui to search for two missing research teams. The group are attacked by strange wooden creatures who shrink them to miniature size. The creatures turn out to be a group of Utroms which had been stranded in the Jungle during their first stay on Earth and had been living in secret thanks to their Quantum Inversion Redimensioning device which could alter their size. The process could not be reversed on Donatello, possibly due to his mutation, leaving him the size of an action figure. While the Utroms work on returning him to normal, Donatello put his new size to use infiltrating a terrorist organizations warehouse. He has also made a robotic body for him made to resemble a turtle to help him move around.
Image Comics In the Image Comics incarnation of the TMNT, he became a cyborg after his body was partially destroyed after he was shot and dropped out of a helicopter (he maintained a positive attitude nonetheless, although he was constantly at risk of losing his mind to the cyborg half). He was almost killed by Image character Deathwatch by having his brain drained of mutagen, while assailing with mental torture tactics. Leonardo blamed the CPU of his injured brother's armor for his subsequent brain death; however, Donatello was not dead but was somehow separated from his body, and with the help of his brothers he returned to his body. In the independent published series of the Image Comics, Issue #24, Don's armor began to malfunction and was so powerful Donatello was on his last legs until he made a deal with Baxter Stockman who Don was reluctant to work with but had no choice. Donatello is rid of most of his body metal by issue #25 and Baxter informs him his shell had regrown and as a result he was back to being a non-cyborg turtle. Baxter died once more when Don's metal particles would not help restore his body; as a result Baxter requested Donatello give April O'Neil his regards and he died laughing maniacally. Donatello then went on to battle Lady Shredder and the Foot Clan with his brothers and Pimiko. Donatello was then by the end of the issue completely rid of all metal particles and had kept his and Baxter's ordeal a secret.
In the official IDW-published conclusion, TMNT Urban Legends, after Dr. X activated an EMP, the living armor abandoned Donatello for a new host, where it was discovered the armor had been impeding Donatello's natural healing abilities.
Archie Comics Donatello's appearance in the Archie publications were largely based on the 1987 Fred Wolf incarnation, but with Mirage writers on board at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures such as Steve Murphy and Ryan Brown, a lot of references to his Mirage counterpart were made. Donatello was showcased to be pure of heart and soul, being able to pass through the Netherworld unscathed. He was also chosen of the Turtles by a group of Aliens known as the Sons of Silence to share their wisdom. He was one of the few who could telepathically communicate with them. Donatello was almost a pacifist, detesting every time he used violence.
IDW Publishing Donatello was seemingly killed at the end of issue #44 when Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo were on a mission to stop Krang from transforming the Earth using an alien device called the "Technodrome". Donatello was left at the home base, and while the others were away, he was attacked by Bebop and Rocksteady. After a brief fight, Rocksteady smashed Donatello's shell, nearly killing him.
The news of Donatello's apparent death spread across the internet and IGN conducted an interview with script writer Tom Waltz, where he called the final scene a beautiful rendered scene, catching the emotion of the family. He also claimed there was no earthly way that Donatello could survive, but at the same time, he said it was not the end of him and his career.
In Issue #45, it was revealed that Donatello was not dead as his spirit was in an alternate plane and he was barely clinging to life. Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael carried Donatello's body into the freezer to slow down the bleeding and increase his chance of survival. Fugitoid says he needs to go to Burrow Island to get the equipment to save Donatello. Splinter finds Donatello's spirit and guides his son back to earth, however, due to Donatello wearing a helmet to keep his consciousness alive, his mind is in Metalhead, while his own body is being restored to how it was before his near demise.
In Issue #46, In Harold's lab, Donatello-as-Metalhead finishes prepping his body to be moved to the lair. He tries his best to remain brave, but being trapped in a robot body has been an upsetting experience. The Fugitoid tries to help Donnie adapt to having his mind in a robot body while Harold sees to Metalhead's repairs (the robot having been trashed by Bebop and Rocksteady). Raphael storms off with Alopex following behind him. Raphael starts regretting leaving Donatello behind and seeing him in a robot body is too much for Raphael to handle, but as soon as Alopex and Leonardo give him some comfort he eventually accepts Donatello as Metalhead and he, Leo and Mikey go on patrol while Donatello and the Fugitoid transfer Donnie's turtle body to the lair of the turtles while Harold gets some equipment to help Donatello get back into his own body.
In issue #47, He mentioned to Fugitoid and Harold he is connected to his body's vital signs. Indicating he could still feel his body and was slowly getting back to normal. In issue #50, Metalhead self-destructed and Donatello returned to his organic body which has now been outfitted with an artificial shell. Since then he has been fighting alongside his brothers.
Television
1987 animated series Donatello appears in the 1987 animated television series, voiced by Barry Gordon, and understudied for 7 episodes by Greg Berg. In this series, he is depicted as the genius of the group who invents many of the turtles' vehicles and equipment including the Turtle Van, the Turtle Blimp and the Turtle Com. He is the calmer turtle out of the 4 turtles. Donatello made many revolutionary inventions, the most notable being the portable portal capable of opening gateways to other dimensions as well as an early warning system which warns of impending attacks from other dimensions or from Krang and Shredder.
Gordon reprised the role of the 1987 Donatello in five episodes of the 2012 TV series, "Wormquake!", "Trans-Dimensional Turtles" and the three part series final "Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady".Eighties Teenage Mutant Mutant Ninja Turtles To Make Appearance On Current Animated Series Comicbook.com, Retrieved May 20, 2017
Coming Out of Their Shells Tour The 1990 TMNT: Coming Out of Their Shells would have its first show broadcast from Radio City Music Hall on Pay Per View and later released on VHS. Donatello would be depicted as playing both a portable electric keyboard and in some iterations of the show after this initial show, a keyboard guitar. He was also depicted as having constructed all of the Turtles instruments. The Making Of VHS tape, which was set in the fictional 'universe' of the concert, depicted the Turtles as real people, and expanded on Donatello's interest in electronics, and confirms the concert's claim that he constructed the Turtles' instruments. He is also shown helping backstage during the construction of the set for the inaugural show.
1997 live-action series Donatello appeared in the live-action series, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, as well as the crossover episode of Power Rangers in Space, portrayed by Richard Yee and voiced by Jason Gray-Stanford.
2003 animated series Donatello appears in the 2003 animated series, voiced by Sam Riegel. However he is more pacifistic in this incarnation. His skin color is a medium olive green color; this particular color is only used for him in the 2003 animation.
In the S3E21 titled Same as It Never Was, Donatello is transported into a future by Ultimate Drako where Shredder has taken over the planet and the Turtles were unable to stop him and lost Splinter and Casey Jones to him and later split up because of infighting due to Donatello's absence.