Leatherhead (2012 TV series)

Leatherhead appears in the 2012 TV series. He is an ally to the turtles in this incarnation. Leatherhead made his series debut in the episode "It Came From The Depths". He is voiced by Peter Lurie.

Personality
Leatherhead is overall a rather heroic character with good intentions, but he is dangerously unstable thanks to the Kraang's cruelty. Simply mentioning the word "Kraang" causes him to lose control and sends him on a violent rampage. When he regains his senses, he is horrified by what he's done and so he tries to isolate himself from others. Although he greatly appreciates the Turtle's help in controlling his temper, Leatherhead seems to find himself unbearable to live with, and he would prefer to live a secluded life.

History
When Leatherhead was a normal baby alligator, a human boy kept him secretly as a pet. One day the boy's parents discovered him and flushed the baby alligator down the toilet into the sewers. After this, the Kraang found Leatherhead and took him back to their home dimension, where they performed mutagen experiments on him. They changed him into an intelligent and strong but monstrous mutant. However, despite this, Leatherhead's spirit remained unbroken.

One day, Leatherhead broke free and escaped back to his own dimension in New York. Six months before meeting the Turtles, he stole a power cell --a piece of technology the Kraang need to control their dimensional portal. They chased and hunted him to get the power cell back, and eventually cornered him in the sewers under New York City. Leatherhead refused to surrender the power cell and defeated many of the Kraang-droids in battle, but was subdued by electrocution. While he was unconscious, the Turtles came to his aid and defeated the remaining Kraang-droids. At Mikey's insistence, they took him back to the lair with them.

When Leatherhead awoke in the lair, he believed the Kraang were still attacking him. He immediately grabbed Donnie and attacked the turtles but was knocked out again when Leo electrocuted him with a stun gun. Leatherhead woke up some time later, and would have attacked Mikey if not for the chains restraining his arms. After calming down, he began to trust Mikey enough to eat his cooking and let him give him a name. Leatherhead also told him that he did not mean to attack the Turtles earlier, but he cannot control himself when he enters that aggressive state and he is ashamed of himself afterward.

By the time Leo, Raph, and Donnie returned to the lair with the power cell, Leatherhead had calmed down enough so that Mikey could remove his chains. They tried to ask him about the power cell, but quickly found out that mentioning The Kraang caused Leatherhead to become violently angry. He blindly attacked the Turtles, including Mikey. Splinter intervened, defeated Leatherhead in combat and drove him out of the lair. Leatherhead took the power cell with him as he leaves, unaware that Mikey was following him.

Leatherhead retreats to his own lair, a graffiti-covered subway car. He plays an old vinyl jazz record that seems to calm his rage. Mikey comes in and demands an explanation for his actions. Leatherhead reminds him that he must be alone as there is a dangerous force within him. Mikey's brothers arrive and command Leatherhead to leave Mikey alone. Leatherhead pleads that he means Mikey no harm and he tells The Turtles the story of his past, how he stole the power cell, and why the Kraang need it so badly.

Just then a squad of Kraang droids attacks the subway car. The Turtles defend Leatherhead as best they can, but there are too many and they can't hold them off for long. Leo suggests Donnie use the power cell to get the subway car mobilized. Leatherhead entrusts Mikey with the cell and confronts The Kraang to buy Donnie some time. Leatherhead decimates The Kraang forces, and Donnie manages to hook the power cell to the subway car's motor and the Turtles escape.

After the battle, two surviving Kraang attempt to regroup and warn their allies that the turtles escaped with the power cell, only for Leatherhead to confront them, assuring them that they would not be telling anyone anything. With a rumbling roar, the huge reptile lunged at them with his jaws wide open, suggesting that he killed the aliens.

Leatherhead appears again in "TCRI". The Turtles have lost the precious power cell to the Kraang. Leatherhead had trusted that they would keep the cell, so Leo suggests they should pay Leatherhead a visit, in order to solve the problem. Leatherhead awakens, but the turtles still had to tell him about the loss of the cell. Donnie informs them that Leatherhead will attack, but Leatherhead is able to calm himself when Mikey tells Leatherhead who they are again. Leatherhead reports to them that all he remembered was a logo that the Kraang could operate under, and Donny is able to track that logo to the T.C.R.I. work center in Brooklyn. The building had been the main base of the Kraang. The turtles have to investigate the building and stop the portal from being activated. Leatherhead helps them break into the building and he fights the Kraang-droids while the Turtles go to the top floor. By the time Leatherhead catches up with them, they are fighting Traag, a gigantic monster that came through the portal to Dimension X. All seems lost until Leatherhead arrives and joins the fight. He grabs Traag by the feet and throws him towards the portal. However, Traag is not still not defeated, and in spite of Mikey's protests, Leatherhead says farewell and pulls Traag into the portal with him, and they both disappear into Dimension X.

Later, it is known that he will return in season two or three.

Abilities
In battle, Leatherhead relies mostly on crude punches and powerful bites to subdue his opponents, but also incorporates in his fighting style the characteristic spin move, referred by experts as a "death roll", that the Crocodilia reptiles, like crocodiles or alligators use to chop the meat from their prey. Usually Leatherhead uses this movement to get rid of opponents clinging to his back or to crush them under his mighty weight. He is extremely strong and fast moving, making him a dangerous adversary. He also has keen senses, and a very tough hide.

Gallery
See: Leatherhead (2012 TV series) / Gallery

Trivia

 * Every time Leatherhead loses control of his anger around the Turtles, he tends to grab Donatello by the face and shake him like a rag doll.
 * He is one of a few mutants that was not human before he was mutated, the others are the Turtles, Pete and Chong.
 * Leatherhead has a scar on the upper left side of his chest. He received it when he stole the power cell from the Kraang.
 * When he is angry, Leatherhead's eyes are covered with white membranes, the nictitating membranes, that in normal alligators, crocodiles and relatives, protects the eyes when they are diving.
 * So far, Michelangelo is the only Turtle whom Leatherhead addresses by name.
 * He is well known by fans for his friendship with Michelangelo.
 * It is unknown how Leatherhead survives in the apparently toxic air from Dimension X, as he would have had to encounter it during his escape.
 * His head looks much more like that of a crocodile, than an alligator.