Super Turtles (2003 TV series)

The Super Turtles are an alternate universe version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were originally designed by Peter Laird in 1993, but their designs went unused until 2002, when they appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles volume 4, issue 7. The Super Turtles later appeared in the 2003 series episode Reality Check, interacting with a denizen of the standard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe, Michelangelo. The Super Turtles' origin is told in Tales of the TMNT Volume 2, issue 47.

Mirage Comics
When aliens apparently threatened to attack Earth, a man named Lucks stepped up to unify a world government under his control to combat the menace. Chairman Lucks hired a team of scientists, led by his friend Doctor Shreddarius, to create an army of bio-mechanical soldiers to defend the Earth, the Terrorkinetics. Little did Lucks know, Shreddarius was experimenting on four turtles to use as soldiers against Lucks in the event of a double-crossing. Unfortunately for Shreddarius, the chemicals he was using to perform his experiment exploded, gravely injuring Shreddarius. Shreddarius was later reconstructed as a cyborg, and the four turtles grew to become the Super Turtles. Sliver, a rat that mutated after licking Shreddarius' chemical-infected wounds, trained the Super Turtles to use their super powers. As Lucks and Shreddarius' friendship and political relationship grew, the Super Turtles were dispatched to save Lucks' rule from rebel factions. Lucks presented the Super Turtles with a new base of operations, the Shell of Justice, where Sliver used torturous methods to strengthen the Super Turtles. Shreddarius and Sliver occasionally sent one of the Terrorkinetics out into New York City, making it seem as if it had gone rogue. In reality, this was to test the Super Turtles' mettle against live foes.

Unfortunately for Lucks, Shreddarius, and Sliver, two former scientists who had worked under Shreddarius, Jonas Case and Neil O'Malley came to the Shell of Justice to explain the truth; the alien invasion was a fabrication so that Lucks and Shreddarius would have power over the world. Case and O'Malley convinced the Super Turtles to fight against Shreddarius and Lucks, although Sliver, blinded by loyalty to Shreddarius, refused to accompany them, and even attacked his students to prevent them from rebelling. The Super Turtles reluctantly defeated their master and joined Case and O'Malley's cause.

To quell the uprisings around the world against their regime, Lucks sent Terrorkinetics to dispose of the rebellion. The Super Turtles broke into Lucks' compound, and faced off against Shreddarius and the recently recovered Sliver. Both villains were soundly defeated. Lucks himself attempted to attack the Super Turtles, but he was not a fighter by any stretch of the imagination, and was easily stopped by Griddex. However, Shreddarius had escaped. The Super Turtles then go on live TV, with Case and O'Malley, and declare that the world's nations have their previous control returned to them with Lucks behind bars. The Super Turtles pledge to defeat the remaining Terrorkinetics and Shreddarius, as well as any other entities that abuse their power to attempt to control the people of the world.

An unspecified time later, the Super Turtles battle Shreddarius and a select number of Terrorkinetics - Slaythereen, Frisbat, Armorgga, Gnet Gnet, and K'nign. The Super Turtles defeat the six of them, but then feel the eyes of another on them... an Utrom scientist looking into their world from the standard TMNT universe.

2003 Cartoon
The exact origin of the Super Turtles' powers remains unexplained in the 2003 series. In their alternate dimension, the Turtles were initially trained by Sliver, but he eventually turned into a mad, evil mastermind whom his former foster sons pledged to stop at all costs. In this dimension, April had become the mayor of New York City (here called Megatropolis) and was working with the Turtles on a professional basis, with Casey as her bumbling and timid right hand man.

When the Ultimate Daymio's son and Drako, both fused into one entity, used the War Staff and the Time Scepter to banish the Ninja Turtles into different realities, Michelangelo ended up inside the Super Turtles' headquarters, the Shell of Justice, where he caught his counterpart brothers in an exercise simulation. After throughly checking Mikey out and hearing his (somewhat incoherent) story, the Super Turtles were at a loss as how to send him back to his own reality when Mayor O'Neil showed up to inform them of the Sliver's newest threat: the Penultimate Nullificator, a doomsday device set to eradicate all life on Earth, with the exception of all inside Sliver's tower headquarters. Mikey joined the Super Turtles in their exploit, only to learn to his horror the true identity of the Sliver. The Super Turtles and Mikey were then overpowered by the Sliver and locked inside a cage made of Utrominium, the only substance capable of neutralizing their powers.

In this dire situation, Mikey had the decisive idea: upon his suggestion, Blobboid turned into Mikey and professed his loyalty to Sliver, tricking him into letting him out. Then Blobboid snatched Sliver's control cane and released Mikey and his brothers, whereupon they attacked Sliver and trapped him inside his own Utrominium cage. With time ticking down on the Nullificator's timer, and him beginning to phase out of this dimension, Mikey provided another vital idea, which made Shellectro reprogram the timer so the device would destroy everything inside the tower only. Then Mikey disappeared, and the Super Turtles escaped just moments before the Nullificator activated, taking Sliver and his tower with it. In recognition of Mikey's achievements in their final fight, the Super Turtles erected a statue in front of the Shell of Justice in his honor, under the name of the Turtle Titan (Mikey's 'superhero' alias).

Roster

 * Graviturtle (Formerly known as 'Captain Gravity' in Laird's 1993 sketches)
 * Shellectro (Formerly known as 'Electroboy' in Laird's 1993 sketches)
 * Blobboid (Formerly known as 'Mr. Blob' in Laird's 1993 sketches)
 * Griddex (Formerly known as 'Grid' in Laird's 1993 sketches)