Mona Lisa (1987 TV series)

Mona Lisa was a former female college student turned mutant amphibian/reptilian.

Biography
She was a college student who majored in physics. One day while on a fishing trip with some friends, a pirate named Captain Filch attacked their boat. Though her friends were able to escape, Filch kidnapped Mona Lisa and after finding out about her knowledge in physics, forced her to help him with experiments on his submarine so he could take over the world. One night she tried to destroy his nuclear reactor and in the process was mutated. After this, she vowed to stop Filch. She and Raph meet when Filch was holding a yacht full of people hostage and teamed together to stop him. Afterward, she followed the Turtles back to New York but was never seen again.

Description
Mona Lisa had webbed fingers, could jump extremely high, and used her highly developed legs for attacking. She physically resembles a salamander, only with breasts and hair (distinctively mammalian traits).


 * ''The backing card for the Mona Lisa action figure identifies her as "The lovely lizard lady." Mona Lisa was slightly re-designed for the action figure; in the TV episode she had brown hair and two-toed feet, but her action figure version has black hair and three-toed feet.

Appearance

 * TMNT 1987 series
 * "Raphael Meets His Match"

Origins
In the letters pages in volume 4, issue 18 of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Peter reveals that Mona Lisa was originally intended to be a girl turtle, who was later reworked to become the character of Venus de Milo.

"The character of Mona Lisa was created for the old show by someone working for Fred Wolf. What many people do not know was that she was originally supposed to be a female mutant turtle, but Kevin and I put our foot down (this was back when we both agreed that a female turtle was a lame, stupid, creatively bankrupt idea) and they changed her to some kind of lizard." --PL

This would also explain why no animal was present for her mutation, as well as confirm her reptilian origins, including why she still had "turtle feet."