Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a six-issue intercompany crossover comic book miniseries featuring fictional heroes Batman and the IDW incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The series was written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Freddie E. Williams II.
A film adaptation, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was released in March 2019.
Publication history The collaboration between DC Comics and IDW Publishing was announced during IDW's panel at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. A six-part monthly miniseries was written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Freddie Williams II. In addition, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' co-creator Kevin Eastman provided some of the variant covers.
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Overview The Turtles and their arch-enemy Shredder have been transported to an alternate universe by Krang. Here, in Gotham City, they meet Batman and clash with a series of members of his famous "rogues gallery" while attempting to find their way home.
Plot During a battle with the alien conqueror Krang, the Turtles, their master Splinter, and their archenemy Shredder are transported to an alternate universe with a good number of Foot Clan ninjas. While the Foot attempt to steal various components from labs all around Gotham to work out a means of returning home, as well as abducting a scientist doing research into cross-dimensional travel, the Turtles intercept the various thefts, although the Foot still departs with their gathered equipment. Batman is puzzled by the inhuman descriptions of some of the participants and at the fact that the crimes were committed by ninjas. Predicting a break-in at one of his own facilities, he takes out the raiding Foot ninjas and has a brief encounter with Shredder before the latter retreats.
The Turtles have in the meantime set up a new base in the Gotham sewers, but Killer Croc stumbles upon their lair while tracking Batman. After defeating Croc and his men, the Turtles are forced to relocate, since their hideout has been compromised. The Turtles retreat to the surface to discover the Batmobile parking nearby. When Batman returns to his car from his confrontation with Shredder, he finds the Turtles milling aboutBatman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 and fights them until Splinter distracts Batman with a smoke bomb. The Turtles begin to research Batman, and most of them come to admire him, while Raphael just believes him to be a distraction. Having recovered one of Raphael's sai during the fight, Batman takes it to Lucius Fox. Fox's analysis confirms that the dagger is from another universe, but it is reverting to this reality's 'local' version of steel. He also notes that a strange mutagen in a blood sample that Bruce provided him with is incompatible with their laws of physics and anything mutated by it will thus revert to its non-mutated state.
Learning about a stolen power generator that could allow them to power the equipment they need to return home, Shredder and the Foot make a deal with the Penguin to acquire it, only for the Foot to kill all of the Penguin's men. However, the Penguin convinces Shredder to spare him by arguing that he can provide useful local knowledge.
Unbeknownst to Batman, Splinter has followed him into the Batcave and learned of their situation and Batman's identity. Reuniting with the Turtles, Splinter leads his sons to the Batcave to ask for help.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 Although Batman is initially hostile, Splinter catches Batman off guard by calling him by his real name, which helps them form an uneasy peace. Splinter and the Turtles subsequently lead an assault on the Iceberg Lounge, where Shredder intends to activate a portal that will return him to his world, also planning to create a permanent link between their worlds so that he can conquer New York and Gotham. However, when the Turtles and Batman attack, Shredder destroys the portal and kills the scientist who helped him build it, revealing that he also knows of the mutants' impending reversion. Raphael engages Shredder in battle, but Shredder injures Raphael and escapes, only to be met by the League of Assassins and Ra's al Ghul, who offers him an alliance.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3
With Shredder unaccounted for, the Turtles remain in the Batcave and Wayne Manor. In his growing impatience, Raphael snaps at the lack of progress made in finding a cure, accusing Batman of being simply "a rich boy playing at being a hero" with no idea about true loss and sacrifice, and storms off in a huff. While Raphael is walking through Gotham in disguise, Batman pulls up beside him in the Batmobile and takes him to Crime Alley, where he tells Raphael about the death of his parents and how that loss drove him to become Batman. As Raphael considers this, realizing how wrong he was about Batman, he apologizes and finally starts to accept Batman, the other Turtles alert him to an energy surge in Gotham that they identified as another portal, constructed and activated by Ra's and Shredder. At the portal they meet Casey Jones, who has attempted to bring his friends fresh mutagen to stabilize their condition, but was stopped by the villains, who stole the substance and took it with them to Arkham Asylum.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4
Batman, Leonardo, and Raphael meet with Commissioner Gordon at the roof of the GCPD and learn that the Penguin has turned informer, revealing that Shredder and Ra's are intending to attack Arkham. As Leonardo collapses due to the decaying mutagen in his system, Damian returns to the Batcave to find Donatello, Michelangelo, and Casey inside, resulting in a brief fight between them until Batman returns to confirm that the Turtles are his allies. As Damian reports that the League of Assassins is coming to Gotham en masse, Casey reveals that he was provided with equipment that would allow the Turtles to return to their dimension and Batman tells the Turtles to get home before Leonardo's condition becomes irreversible. Despite Splinter's warning, Batman and Damian head to Arkham, confident that they can beat Shredder, only to be confronted by a mass of mutagen-contaminated Arkham inmates (Mr. Freeze as a polar bear, Bane as an elephant, Scarecrow as a crow, Two-Face as a baboon, etc.), who move in for the attack.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5
During the resulting fight, Batman is trapped by the mutated Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Confronted by al Ghul and Shredder, he learns that the two archvillains intend to use the mutagen in every major city of the world, throwing human civilization in chaos and thus paving their ascent to total world domination. Watching all of this via security camera in the Batcave, the Turtles decide to stay and risk their lives to save Batman, despite being given the chance to escape back to their own dimension with Casey. The Turtles arrive just as the Joker is about to kill Batman, and while Splinter fights off the remaining inmates, Batman battles Shredder inside his latest Intimidator combat armor and the Turtles engage Ra's al Ghul. Although Shredder severely injures Batman and damages the Intimidator suit, Batman manages to knock his opponent to the ground and Splinter finishes him off. With the Turtles beating him down, and the League of Assassins disarmed and captured by Damian and the G.C.P.D., al Ghul escapes.
Just as the Turtles wonder how they will get back home, a dimensional portal opens and disgorges Casey and April O'Neil. The Turtles round up the Foot ninjas and Shredder and send them back to their original dimension. Before they leave, Raphael gives Batman his mask and tells him that he can now count on the Turtles' aid if he ever shows up in their dimension. Batman and Robin return to the Batcave where they learn from Commissioner Gordon that the situation at Arkham is being stabilized until the mutagen has decayed naturally, turning the inmates back to normal within a week. Damian remembers that it is the anniversary of the death of Bruce's parents and volunteers to leave, but Bruce insists that he stay and they work on the Intimidator Suit together. The final panel shows Raphael's mask lying on the chair of the Batcomputer.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II On September 14, 2017, the impending publication of a six-issue sequel miniseries was announced, with the first two issues being released on December 6 and December 20, respectively. This storyline features Bane as the central antagonist. James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II, who worked on the previous series, return as participants in the project.
Plot Months after the events of the first crossover, a battle for new leadership of the Foot Clan ensues between the Elite Guard and Shredder's descendant Karai, since the Turtles threw Shredder in prison after returning home. The Turtles confront Karai and the Elite Guard in a New York City Subway tunnel, where Karai escapes and Donatello is rescued by his brothers after failing to defeat the Elite Guardsmen. Back at the lair, Casey and April mend Donatello's wounds and warn the Turtles not to leave the sewers, as Bebop and Rocksteady have formed a third faction of the Foot that wants the Turtles dead. Donatello tells Splinter of his shame of not being as good of a fighter as his brothers and wonders how someone like Batman can balance being a technological genius and master combatant. Hitting upon this idea, he sneaks out of the sewers to Harold Lillja's laboratory, where he activates an experimental multiversal teleportation system to send a message to the Dark Knight, hoping to learn some wisdom from him. The Elite Guardsmen attack Donatello in the lab and wreck some of the fragile technology during the fight.
Meanwhile, in Gotham, Batman and Robin likewise deal with a shift in power within the League of Assassins, since a faction no longer trusts Ra's as their leader following his defeat by the Ninja Turtles. They learn of another Lazarus Pit beneath the city and find the faction's new leader, Bane, emerging from it. Before the Dynamic Duo can engage the now stronger villain, the Foot's attack on Donatello causes the teleportation system to malfunction and Donatello and Bane to switch places.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #1
A week later, the three heroes manage to find all the parts necessary to build the multiversal portal back to Donatello's home dimension. Batman obtains one part from Ra's (who gives it willingly, if only for the slim chance of being able to rid himself of Batman and Bane in one go) while Robin and Donatello get the last part from Mr. Freeze. Batgirl and Lucius Fox finish constructing the portal and tell the trio that they will turn it on once for a minute every 24 hours to avoid any other intruders. Batman leaves Batgirl in charge of protecting Gotham as the three enter the portal.
Once they enter the Turtles' dimension, they discover that Bane has nearly conquered the city and taken over a large majority of the Foot Clan, including Bebop and Rocksteady. They reunite with the Turtles, Splinter, April, and Casey in the sewer. Raphael expresses outrage at Donatello's mistake that resulted in the city's chaos, but Splinter calms him down and welcomes Batman into their home. April shows the group footage she got of Bane on her phone to determine his movement patterns. Batman observes that Bane's Venom tank on his back is nearly empty and proposes they attack in the next 24 hours, where Bane will be at his most vulnerable. Back at the Foot lair, however, Bane has Bebop and Rocksteady bring him the disgraced scientist Baxter Stockman to create more Venom.Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #2