Casey Jones

Arnold Bernid "Casey" Jones is a character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Like the turtles, Casey Jones is a vigilante, and was created as a parody of vigilante characters that were in comics. Casey wears a hockey mask and cut-off biking gloves and carries his weapons in a golf bag over his shoulder. His weapons include baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, and hockey sticks. He is a master of stealth, as he has never been caught by the NYPD despite his bizarre appearance. In recent installments, he appears as a love interest for April O'Neil.

Mirage Comics
Casey first appeared in the Raphael solo issue Me, Myself and I. Raphael runs into Casey beating some muggers and proceeds to stop him before the crooks are murdered. Jones and Raphael fight several times before making peace with each other. Later, he comes to the aid of the Turtles, Splinter and April O'Neil when they are attacked by the resurrected Shredder at April's home. The seven escape, and retreat to a farmhouse in Northampton, Massachusetts that once belonged to Casey's grandmother. Casey "officially" becomes a part of the Turtles' family around this point, and the farmhouse acts as a second home to them all for some time.

In the Mirage series, Casey is extremely violent, even more so than Raphael, but mellows throughout the course of the series. In "Shades of Gray," he accidentally kills a teenager who tried to mug him. The incident sent him into a drunken spiral, damaging his relationship with April O'Neil. His initial homicidal tendencies are especially present in his first appearance, although he never actually murders anyone in that instance

During City at War, Casey leaves the farmhouse and begins to drive to Los Angeles, planning to find April, but instead meets a pregnant woman named Gabrielle with whom he falls in love and marries. Gabrielle dies during childbirth and Casey is left to take care of her daughter, whom he names Shadow. After spreading Gabrielle's ashes, Casey returns to New York with Shadow to stay with his mother. In a chance encounter, Casey is reunited with April when she comes to buy the apartment building owned by Casey's mother. During this meeting it's revealed that Casey's real name is Arnold. Casey repairs his relationship with April and they begin dating. By volume four, he and April are married. They raise Shadow as their daughter and try to have a child of their own. Often Casey has been known to shout the term, "Goongala," as a sort of battle cry.

Image Comics
Casey, in addition to working as a handyman in April’s complex, got a new job at another supermarket, this one in New York, where he became promoted to assistant produce manager. He jumped Donatello, thinking him to be one of the cyborgs he heard that earlier assaulted Donatello. He was nearly killed by Donatello when the Turtle’s Artificial Intelligence temporarily kicked in. When his daughter was kidnapped by Foot (under the employ of mob boss Antoine Puzorelli—her grandfather) he got drunk, then picked a fight with hoodlums and got shot. Taken to the hospital, he was soon greeted by Michaelangelo, who had rescued Shadow from the mob (TMNT Vol. 3, #6 - 8). Antoine Puzorelli then had his thugs put his apartment on surveillance in an attempt to locate his granddaughter. When April caught on to this and told Casey, Casey, April, and Shadow went into hiding in the Turtles’ current hideout in the mausoleum of Westwood Cemetery. Casey accidentally clubbed Raphael when he returned to the hideout, thinking him an intruder. He, April, and Shadow met back up with Leonardo and Michaelangelo when they brought brought Donatello to their mausoleum hideout, where he was then revived (TMNT Vol. 3, #11, 12 & 15). Casey was fired from his job at the supermarket when he called in sick and helped Michaelangelo and Leonardo kill the three Komodo Dragons and subdue King Komodo, appearing in a news broadcast his employer saw. He quickly received a ten thousand dollar reward for his efforts and a ticker tape parade ceremony in honor of him. When he later went to cash his check, however, it bounced (TMNT Vol. 3, #19 - 23).

1987 series
In the original TMNT cartoon, Casey Jones is a crazed vigilante who goes after all sorts of crime, from murder to littering; apparently, adopting the Dirty Harry persona. He never takes off his mask in the series, even when once going undercover in a business suit, but does take of his trousers revealing his blue boxers. This version of Casey does not play a central role in the cartoon, nor does he have a relationship with April O'Neil. He is, however, one of the few interpretations of the character to wield an actual weapon; in his final appearance for the series in the episode Cyber-Turtles, he duels Shredder evenly matched with a sword (taken, ironically enough, from his golf bag). His most notable line is “When do I get to break something?”, and he also tends to call many villains "scuzzbuckets" and "lawbreaker". He claims that holding back his urge to break stuff will gve him an ulcer as he is so used to causing destruction while doing the "job" he loves.

In America, Casey was voiced by Pat Fraley, while in the Japanese version, he was voiced by Issei Futamata and Akio Ohtsuka (NHK-BS2 Version). He was more of a side character and appeared in only five episodes:
 * Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero
 * Corporate Raiders from Dimension X
 * Leonardo Cuts Loose
 * Night of the Rogues
 * Cyber-Turtles

Movies
Casey Jones appeared in the first, third, and fourth TMNT movies, as well as a self-titled fan film

First Movie
In the first film, he is portrayed by Elias Koteas. Jones was first introduced to the Turtles in an altercation with Raphael. The two of them actually fought each other in a New York City park, just after Raphael stopped some punk from stealing a woman's purse and Casey was about to beat them to a pulp for that whereupon Casey turns his aggression on Raphael. In the initial altercation, Jones used two Jose Canseco bats, which Raphael sarcastically asked if Jones in fact paid money for them, and a cricket bat to put Raphael in a garbage can.

Casey later sees Raphael alone on a rooftop surrounded by Foot soldiers. Jones proved to be very useful in a fight when he joined the Turtles while they were being attacked by the Foot Clan above April's store. He is referred to by Michaelangelo as "Wayne Gretzky on steroids". Casey Jones joins the Turtles to assist them against the Shredder and the Foot, and ultimately rescues Splinter from the Foot Headquarters. He also deliberately set the garbage truck to compact the Shredder.

After a rocky start, Jones developed a love interest with April O'Neil, and the two of them kiss at the end of the first movie. Casey Jones origins are not revealed, but he did tell April that he played hockey professionally before he got hurt less than a year afterwards.

Second Movie
Despite his significant role in the first movie, as well as his developing relationship with April O'Neil Casey is absent for the entirety of the second film. Oddly enough, he isn't even mentioned.



Third Movie
In the third film Casey is once again portrayed by Elias Koteas. When the Turtles made their decision to travel to feudal Japan to rescue April O'Neil, Michelangelo recruited Casey to help Splinter keep an eye on Kenshin and the Honor Guards back home at were transported to the present when the Turtles would take their place in feudal Japan. Although very much subdued from the original film, Casey was still very much himself, and helped teach the finer points of living in the 20th century to the visitors from the past. Koteas also performs an ancestor of Jones named Whit, who like his descendant ends up helping the Turtles despite anti-heroic tendencies and he also shows a romantic interest in April, just like how Casey does.

It is implied that he had moved away for a time and has finally returned to New York.

Fourth Movie
Casey appears in the 2007 TMNT film, and is voiced by Chris Evans. Casey is now living with April, and it is shown that he has commitment issues because April is ready to get married but he isn't. He works for April's shipping company as a delivery man, spending his nights continuing his vigilante activities. Through this, he meets Raphael as the Nightwatcher, becoming his sidekick - though he claims Raphael is the sidekick. At the beginning of the film, he is the only character to know that Raph is the Nightwatcher-when he meets Raph in costume, the latter is at first confused; Casey states, "Wasn't that hard, man. Y'know, you look like a big metal turtle," and Raph says, rather despondently, "It's that obvious, huh?" He is still pretty much the same person, but he is not as rough as he used to be. He assists the Turtles on rescuing Leo and saving the city from Max Winters' evil generals.

Casey-Jones-Film.jpg
Casey appears as the main character of a 2011 fan film. He is portrayed by Hilarion Banks. The film is an origin story which sees Casey take on the Purple Dragons to protect his neighborhood.

2003 series
Contrary to earlier versions, Casey Jones becomes a more regularly recurring character in the 2003 series. He is voiced by Marc Thompson.

Arnold Casey Jones — first name rarely spoken (except by his mother) — first met the Turtles as a kid, though neither the Turtles nor Casey himself are aware of this fact. When he was pushed around by a group of bullies, they tried to teach him ninjutsu, but failed. However, their lessons inspired him to stand up to the bullies in order to save a friend, using one of their own hockey sticks to fight them. Casey's modern-day battlecry originated from Michelangelo, who taught him to shout "Goro Goro Sama!" (literally, "Mr. Thunder"), which Casey ultimately garbled into "Goongala!".

While Casey was still a kid, his father, Arnold Casey Jones Sr., refused to pay protection money to the Purple Dragons. His father's shop was burned down as a result, and Hun told Casey to tell his father to pay up next time. Jones Sr. subsequently went to the police, but with no success; it is implied that the Purple Dragons later killed him for trying to turn them in. As a result, Casey developed a deep hatred for crime, the Purple Dragons in particular, and vowed to get revenge.

As he grew older, Casey became a vigilante and started hunting down crooks — particularly Purple Dragons — in the streets. Incidentally, fate brought him across the path of Raphael once again. Raphael stopped him from seriously injuring a gang of Purple Dragons, and the two fought with each other, but were brought back to their senses by their common enemy. Casey was at that occasion formally (re-)introduced to the Turtles; after that, they became close friends and allies. Casey Jones would help the Turtles out with various operations and the Turtles would return the favor. Through the Turtles, he met April O'Neil, for whom he quickly developed a romantic attraction.

Fast Forward
In Fast Forward, it is revealed that Casey and April got married. Their line of descendants leads up to Cody Jones in the year 2105, who has become one of the Turtles' greatest fans.



Back to the Sewer
Casy appears in Back to the Sewer. He and April have been taking care of the Turtles' lair during their year-long absence, and during this time Casey was brain-washed by Kahn, a member of the Foot Clan and associate of the Purple Dragons. In the end, things get back to normal, and Casey ends up marrying April, with Raphael as his best man.

4kids TMNT Blog post with concept art of Casey's various outfits here.

TMNT (1987)
Casey Jones is a playable character in the NES and Sega Genesis versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, and he appears in the background in War's stage in the SNES version.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions he rescues the Turtles if they lose all their health.

TMNT 2003 games- PS2/Game Cube/X Box/PC
Casey Jones is in the 2003 video game and the 2003 Game Boy Advance game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is a boss in Raph's story mode, and if the player inserts a cheat code or beats stage 1 as Raphael, he will become a playable character in story mode. Casey is also an unlockable playable character in the He is also an unlockable alternate for Raph in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare, Casey appears mostly in the cutscenes. He and April O'Neil are imprisoned on a Triceraton spaceship during the first episode of the game. After being rescued, he briefly becomes playable in a shooter level, taking the place of Leonardo in the Player 1 position.

He is a playable character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee. In Mutant Melee, he has a unique storyline in which he must get revenge on Shredder and the Purple Dragons for the death of his father. His ending reveals that he intends to seek a job as a Pewee hockey coach, the job he "always wanted had he not become a vigilante." In each game, his appearance mirrors his initial 4Kids appearance (prior to the Back to the Sewers redesign); alternate seasonal (summer and winter) outfits are unlockable in Mutant Melee.

TMNT: Smash Up
He is a fully-playable base character with his appearance from the 2007 movie. He wields his hockey stick and is designed as a "Power" character with very powerful repel attacks.

Action Figures
The first Casey Jones action figure was released in 1989 the second in 2003. The Steel Cage Slam Set had Casey Jones. The Speedeez Nanotech Monster released in 2004 also came with a Casey Jones. The S.W.A.T. Assault Pack S.W.A.T. released in 2005 also came with a Casey Jones. Also a Casey Jones figure was released in 2007.

Abilities
Casey is a fair hand-to-hand combatant, but his fighting speciality is the use of various battering sport implements, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, and cricket bats, of which he carries a fair selection in a spacey golf quiver.

In the 2003 series, Casey acquired some martial arts skills as an unwitting stooge of Master Khan during the year the Turtles spent in the future. However, he still prefers to go into combat with his battering equipment.

Trivia

 * Casey Jones was created as a parody of vigilante characters that were in comics. Instead of having something tragic happen in his past that helped him choose the path to go out and fight crime on his own, Casey Jones was inspired to do the same, but just from watching too much bad TV, like "TJ Hooker" and "A-Team". However, the 2003 series gave him a tragic backstory, as well as a semi-retconned backstory in Tales issue #59.


 * In the 2007 film TMNT Casey Jones was voiced by Chris Evans who also played the Human Torch, another wisecracking superhero, in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and the 2007 film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.


 * In the 2007 film, there is a subplot, although very lightly touched upon, concerning Casey's uncertainty of his own maturity and ability to commit to a stable lifestyle with April O'Neil. In an alternate ending that got halfway through the animation stages, Casey ultimately proposes with a wedding ring taped to the inside of her motorcycle helmet. This implies that Casey's subplot may have been a much more prominent role in previous script versions. This ending is touched upon in the Game Boy Advance game based on the movie.
 * unlike mirage comics and the 2003 cartoon and the movies the 1987 Casey is never seen with his mask off.

Etymology

 * Gender:Both
 * Origin:American English
 * Meaning:From Cayce
 * Origin:Gaelic
 * Meaning:Descendant of Cathasach
 * Origin:Greek
 * Meaning:Pet form of Cassandra
 * Pronunciation:(KAY see)

Casey was first used as an honorary nickname for American folk hero Jonathan 'Casey' Jones. He acquired his nickname from his birthplace, Cayce, in Kentucky. Casey is also a last name, an anglicised form of the Irish Gaelic surname Ó Cathasaigh. This means 'descendant of Cathasach', a name which itself means 'vigilant' or 'noisy'. As both surnames and Irish names are currently 'in' it's no surprise that Casey is popular in the US, but after a popularity peak in the mid-80s it was ranked 308th most popular name for boys in 2006.