Hun (2003 TV series)

Hun is one of the characters and villains from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise and Mirage Comics. He is also one of the main villains in the 2003 animated series, and he is a large, hulking bully, powerful but fast and very skilled in martial arts. He is the leader of the Purple Dragons street gang in that series and is The Utrom Shredder's right hand man. Due to his working with The Utrom Shredder, he also works with the Foot Clan. Although he despises all four turtles he has developed an intense rivalry with Casey Jones.

2003 Series
Hun’s criminal career began at a young age; during his teen years he was already a prominent member of the Purple Dragons street gang. When Hun and the Purple Dragons were younger, they burned down Arnold Casey Jones Sr' (Casey's father) store as well as his eventual death. This caused Casey to develop a personal vendetta against Hun and the Purple Dragons. It is during this time that the Utrom Shredder, realizing his potential, takes him under his wing, training him as his protégé. At the beginning of the series, Hun is second-in-command of the New York faction of the Foot Clan, as well as leader of the Purple Dragons (although he leaves its day-to-day operations to people like Dragon Face or Johnny). During the City at War arc, where New York’s underworld is fractured due to The Utrom Shredder’s presumed demise, he leaves the Foot and takes direct control of the Purple Dragons, until he is informed of his master’s true fate and returns to the Foot. A more definitive split occurs in season 4, after the Shredder’s true identity as an Utrom is revealed and he is exiled: with the Shredder gone, Hun turns to the Purple Dragons, successfully remaking them into a Foot-like organization. Hun is a lethal fighter due his brute strength (his strength is at near superhuman levels, although the Utrom Shredder has shown to be stronger then him), surprisingly agile despite his massive size and skilled with a multitude of weapons (although he prefers to use his fists). He his used weapons beside his powerful, enormous fists such as a metal-chain and a bazooka. In part 1 of The Shredder Strikes, Hun was seen using a sword. Hun has proven himself to be quite smart. As evidenced by his leading and commanding of the purple dragons street gang. (Which now thanks to Hun is an organized crime syndicate). However, his power level, as it is, has been inconsistently portrayed throughout the series: although sometimes he is able to hold his own against all four turtles (in their first fight against him he actually overpowered them, they were only saved by the Battle Shell busting in), at others, he is able to be defeated by a single fighter. Generally, he is defeated more easily the later he appears in the series, presumably due to the turtle's increasing skills.

Although loyal to the Utrom Shredder, Hun’s loyalty does not extend to the rest of the Foot, as evidenced by his defections and his hatred for Karai, Saki’s other protégé. During Karai’s time in New York, Hun made no secret of his desire to see her disgraced and dead, resulting in an attempt on her life aided by Dr. Baxter Stockman.

In this continuity, it was Hun that first entered the home of Hamato Yoshi in order to kill him and received a scar from his rat Splinter, in an attempt to defend his master, before the rat escaped. In some other continuities where Hamato Yoshi was killed, it was Oroku Saki himself who was scarred.(though such a twist would have made no sense, due to the nature of this version's Shredder).

During Season 3, Hun and Stockman have an uneasy partnership due to the fact they both serve the Utrom Shredder but are now considered expendable failures to him, as both have lost to the Ninja Turtles so many times and were demoted with their former positions filled by the more competent Dr. Chaplin and Karai - although unlike Stockman, Hun is still loyal to the Shredder despite being regular demoralized (sometimes physically abused) by his Master. While Stockman receives humiliating scars from the Utrom Shredder for his failures, Hun is not so permanently damaged for his. This could either be because Utrom Shredder values his physical health (whereas Stockman is only needed in a mental capacity) or because, unlike Stockman, Hun accepts responsibility for his failure. Possibly Hun's punishments are not as severe as Stockman's, given that Hun has been a very loyal and competent servant until his run of bad luck with the Turtles. It is also noteworthy that the Utrom Shredder gives Hun a chance to redeem himself in Hun on the Run. Hun is also responsible for all of Stockman's "punishments"

In the episode Same As It Never Was, when Donatello is transported to a post-apocalyptic future courtesy of an enemy, Ultimate Drako, the Turtle finds Hun, now weak and out of shape, confined to a wheelchair and Baxter Stockman's brain container is attached to Hun's body (due to a punishment of the Shredder's) and that they have joined the Turtles' rebellion army - although Hun is still loyal to the Shredder.

In almost every major battle, Hun falls off or down something extremely high and yells "oh crud", and is shown again. Sometimes (usually when there is nothing to fall from) he will instead groggily stagger backwards and fall down onto the floor. This happens often, and he always survives falls that would seemingly kill him, such as in the episode City at War, where he is dropped from the top floor of the Foot tower into a police car on the streets.

Hun hates the Utroms, considering them as much freaks as the Turtles. He later finds out that the Shredder (Oroku Saki) is actually an Utrom and was shocked. He was left behind when Shredder leaves for outer space, after falling down a shaft with Leatherhead and surviving.

During the show's fourth season; with Ch'rell exiled in space and his daughter, Karai, ruling in his stead, Hun left the Foot and overhauled the Purple Dragons. Hun changed the Purple Dragons from a lowly street gang to an organized criminal syndicate, similar to the Utrom Shredder's and begins big-time operations. So far, the new direction has proved successful. Hun now doesn't seem to like the Shredder after learning he is an Utrom and even asks Karai how could she serve the Shredder knowing that he was an Utrom. He was mentioned to be recruiting other smaller street gangs (such as The Turks) to his cause.

The Lost Episodes
Hun and the Purple Dragons were later recruited to aid the Turtles against the armies of the resurrected Tengu Shredder, although Hun first thought he could join the Tengu Shredder, the Utrom Shredder's minions were not welcomed. He would later betray the group to steal Tengu Shredder's treasure, only for it to dissipate following the Tengu Shredder's destruction.

Fast Forward
Hun appears in Michelangelo's story in Clash of the Turtle Titans and in a story in the episode The Journal.

Back to the Sewer
Hun's first appearance in Back to the Sewer is in The Engagement Ring. The episode sees Hun seeking the Ring of Yin, wishing to use its monster-creating powers to build an army against The Shredder, who he had heard was coming into power. He lords over the Purple Dragon, which have grown into an organized crime syndicate. When the ring is given to April by Casey as an engagement ring, Hun and the Purple Dragon kidnap April in an attempt to obtain it from her, going as far as to even considering cutting off her finger to get to it. Upon seeing Raphael, one of the Dragons asks him about the Turtles' supposed defeat at his hands, alluding to a section of bo and a sai on Hun's belt as "trophies", and Hun becomes visibly nervous when called on his bluff. In the end, Hun failed to obtain the ring, having been knocked off of the giant flying Demon April, and into the river.

Hun has been revealed to be a hardcore gamer, playing on SuperQuest as the Elfinator, a trash talking green elf. He worked with the Turtles, though not knowing it is them. When they obtained the keys to the chest holding Splinter's data bits, the Ultimate Gamer appeared, having masked himself as an NPC. Hun worked with the Turtles to turn Leonardo into a level 50 White Lion to defeat the Ultimate Gamer. He and Mikey (whom he had a rivalry with online), befriend each other. Just then, a Purple Dragon walked in on Hun, who immediately signed off and threatened to rip out the lackey's tongue if he told anyone.

Video Games
Hun has appeared in the following video games.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 game)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 GBA game)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2007 GBA game)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle for the City

Turtles Forever
Hun made an appearance in Turtles Forever, capturing the "1988 Turtles" and becoming intrigued with the mutagen that those Turtles stole from 1988 Shredder. Later, Hun gets mutated accidentally, turning him into a mutant turtle. Hun is now furious that he has been transformed into a giant turtle, the one thing he hates most in the world, even more than the Shredder. Consumed with hatred, he rejoins with the Utrom Shredder to help him destroy the Turtles. He later aids the Turtles with his own technology when he learns that the Utrom Shredder wishes to destroy any reality that has Ninja Turtles. It's unknown whether or not Hun returns to his normal self since he is last seen getting erased from existence due to the Utrom Shredder's plan. Hun also hates it when 1988 Raphael is breaking the fourth wall and he doesn't understand who Raph is talking to. Hun is not present in the 1987's cartoon, nor the Live Action Movies.



Appearances
Hun appeared in 41 episodes:
 * 1) Attack of the Mousers


 * 1) Meet Casey Jones


 * 1) Darkness on the Edge of Town


 * 1) The Way of Invisibility


 * 1) Fallen Angel


 * 1) The Shredder Strikes, Part 1


 * 1) The Shredder Strikes Back, Part 1


 * 1) The Shredder Strikes Back, Part 2


 * 1) Tales of Leo


 * 1) Return to New York, Part 1


 * 1) Return to New York, Part 2


 * 1) Return to New York, Part 3


 * 1) Secret Origins, Part 2


 * 1) Secret Origins, Part 3


 * 1) Reflections


 * 1) City at War, Part 2


 * 1) City at War, Part 3


 * 1) Rogue in the House, Part 1


 * 1) Rogue in the House, Part 2


 * 1) Touch and Go


 * 1) Nobody's Fool


 * 1) New Blood (a.k.a The New Guard)


 * 1) Mission of Gravity


 * 1) Hun on the Run


 * 1) Same As It Never Was


 * 1) Exodus, Part 1


 * 1) Dragon's Brew


 * 1) Bad Day


 * 1) Dragons Rising


 * 1) Still Nobody


 * 1) Insane in the Membrane
 * 2) Enter the Dragons, Part 1


 * 1) Enter the Dragons, Part 2


 * 1) Clash of the Turtle Titans


 * 1) The Journal


 * 1) The Engagement Ring


 * 1) Hacking Stockman


 * 1) Identity Crisis
 * 2) SuperQuest


 * 1) City Under Siege


 * 1) Mayhem from Mutant Island

Mirage Comics
Hun was created especially for the 2003 cartoon series. Initially, Peter Laird was not fond of the character, but later declared that he was one of his favorite new characters created for the series, as Hun was further fleshed out. Laird hinted for some time that Hun may make his way into the Mirage universe. On August 6, 2008, Tristan Jones confirmed that Hun would make his way into Tales of the TMNT #56 - a re-tooled version of his scrapped character Copperhead, who in turn, was based on Hun from the beginning. Jones' blog revealed Hun's full name in the comics to be Hunter Mason.

Hunter Mason has appeared in the following comics:
 * Tales of the TMNT v2 56
 * Tales of the TMNT v2 59
 * Tales of the TMNT v2 64

Dreamwave
Hun has appeared in the following comics:
 * Dreamwave's TMNT #3
 * Dreamwave's TMNT #4

IDW Comics
Hun has been confirmed to appear in the IDW series story-line "City Fall", he is still the leader of the Purple Dragons and now goes by the name "The Hun".

Abilities
Hun is a master of martial arts. When he was young, Hun was trained by Oroku Saki and became the Shredder's right hand man of the Foot and the Purple Dragons. Next to the Shredder, Hun is the strongest character in the series due to his size. Hun also possesses incredible speed and brute strength - he's capable of handling all four turtles simultaneously and he can even handle the Triceraton Zog.

Family Ties
The children's book Lean, Green Smackdown Machine!, written by Stephen Murphy, establishes that Hun has a brother named Ahnold who appears nearly identical to him. There was also an un-produced episode of the 2003 series, Nightmares Recycled, which would have dealt with the fact that Hun and Garbageman were born as conjoined twins. It is unknown whether of these brothers can be considered related to Hun in the canon of the 2003 series, due to one only appearing in an obscure children's book (even if it was written by a well-known scribe of both TMNT comics and cartoons), and the other was never established as a sibling in a broadcast episode.