Michelangelo

Michelangelo (or "Michaelangelo" as his name was originally spelled) is the laid back "Party Dude" of the TMNT. He often makes attempts to lighten the situations that the Turtles are in by making wisecracks or otherwise fooling around. He personally describes being a ninja as "AWESOME!" But when it comes down to it all he is capable of taking care of himself in a time of need.

Origin
See Origin.

Childhood
Michelangelo is definitely the baby of the bunch, even from childhood. Mikey had a love for pizza (pizza being his first word) and playing with his brothers; even though Raphael would pick on him for being the most innocent of the four turtles. He is often considered the "little brother", or "the baby" by Leonardo (the oldest/"fearless leader"), Raphael (1st middle child/ "hot head") and Donatello (2nd middle child/ "tech-geek"). This may be because is actually younger or because of his immature/ bubbly personality. Mikey hasn't changed much from his turtle-tot days to his teen years. Out of all of the turtles, Mikey has had the innocence, the purest and most childlike heart out of all his brothers, and the most naive views on the world he lives in. Even as a youngin', little Mikey always saw the glass half full; just as long as he had a toy in one hand, a slice of pizza in the other, and his big brothers at his side.

Mirage Comics
In the Mirage Comics Michelangelo didn't joke and gag as much as he did later on in the first cartoon series. In the original comic books, Michelangelo was initially depicted as fun-loving, carefree, and, while not as aggressive as Raphael, always ready to fight. He is much more seriously natured than in the film incarnations, which have unfortunately labeled his character a permanent "dude" talking pre-teen. It was Michelangelo's one-shot in this series that fleshed out most of the traits that have become synonymous with the character, such as his playfulness, empathy, and easygoing nature. In the story, Michelangelo adopts a stray cat (which he names Klunk) and also stops thieves from stealing toys meant for orphaned children.

After their defeat at the hands of the Foot Clan the Turtles, Splinter, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones retreat to a farm house in Northampton, Massachusetts which used to belong to Casey's grandmother. While there, April is worried to note that Michelangelo is not himself. He spends his days in the barn taking out his aggression on a punching bag. A scene shows him lashing out at his surroundings and repeatedly punching the wall of the barn until it breaks, then collapsing on it despondently, anger spent. The end of the story implies that Michelangelo's sorrow and frustration have been resolved, as subsequent issues reunite Michelangelo with his more relaxed, optimistic personality.

It is during this time at the farm we learn that Michelangelo also has an interest in comic books, specifically ones involving superheroes such as "The Justice Force" (comic book heroes based on The Justice League and The Fantastic Four). He also found solace in writing fiction and produced a story depicting himself a ronin in Feudal Japan.

In the issue "City at War", Michelangelo instantly bonds with Casey Jones' adopted daughter Shadow, who nicknames him "Rooish". In the second volume, the Turtles decide to try to live apart from one another. Michelangelo, social creature that he is, moves in with April and Casey so that he can be close to Shadow. Throughout the first two volumes, Michelangelo seemed to act as peacemaker of the team. These stories also laid the foundations which demonstrated his closeness with Donatello; their laid-back natures separating them from the more contentious Leonardo and Raphael.

In Volume 4, Michelangelo gets a job as a tour guide showing alien visitors around Earth. His first (and only) tourist is the Regenta (or "princess") Seri of the Styracodon race. Michelangelo convinced Seri to sneak away from her bodyguards so that he could take her on a tour of the northwest coast of the U.S. Unfortunately, his plan landed him in trouble when Seri's bodyguards became aware of his machinations. They attacked Michelangelo and transported him back to their home world, were he was placed in prison. With the help of a Triceraton prisoner named Azokk, he managed to escape, and was rescued by a group of Triceratons who had come to rescue Azokk. Michelangelo was not given an especially large role in Volumes 1 and 2, did little to advance the plot, and was often not portrayed as an especially skilled fighter. His relatively small role was probably due to the need to establish Leonardo's role as "leader" along with the fact that Donatello was Peter Laird's favorite Turtle, and Raphael was Kevin Eastman's favorite.

1987 series
A master of the whirling nunchacku, Michelangelo (spelled "Michaelangelo" in this series) can wield two at the same time (or, at least before the union took them away after the 3rd season due to visible soughts of violence). He is known for his love of pizza and innocent comic relief. He loves to skateboard, surf and party party party! His accent is based on that of a stereotype west coast surfer. Michelangelo has a free spirited character, with a hopelessly innocent and romantic heart. When he meets Kala, the Neutrino sister form Dimension X, he develops a crush on her. Michaelangelo was well known for the phrase "cowabunga". With his love for pizza and skateboarding, Mikey was the turtle a lot of kids related to, what with his innocense and careless personality, which gave most fanfiction writers the impression of him being the youngest turtle of the team. Although, he would occasionally show glimpses of maturity, particularly in episodes such as Adventures in Turtlesitting and The Power of Three.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics series, Michaelangelo is initially presented very similarly to his 1987 cartoon portrayal-understandable considering the comic started as an adaption of the popular animated series. As the series progressed, Archie's Michaelangelo was presented as more mature than the cartoon version. This version developed an interest in poetry. During a battle, he was temporarily blinded and later captured by the U.S. Military, whereupon he was interrogated and tortured. He was eventually rescued by his family and saved the life of the man who tortured him.

One of his many skills in the Archie comics was also to communicate with animals. In a storyline set in the future, Michaelangelo is shown to have become an artist whose main job is running an orphanage.

Comin Out of Our Shells
Mikey's the lead vocals & guitarist of the band in their stage show.

Movies
Michaelangelo is depicted in the live-action movies as the easy-going, free-spirited turtle. One of his movie catch phrases is, "I love being a turtle!" Owing to his popularity with children, he is given many lines and comes up with several (slightly outrageous) plans to advance plots. In the 1990 movie, April O'Neil does her evening report on TV as Michaelangelo expresses "Shes a babe!" Be it pizza, partying, skateboarding or love, Michelangelo is a fun loving turtle, but when is comes to fighting, he gets right down to the "chucks"! In the first movie, he and Donatello were regularly paired together while Leonardo and Raphael were arguing. In the first movie and the first sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, he was portrayed by Michelan Sisti; in the second sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, he was portrayed by David Fraser. In all three movies, he was voiced by Robbie Rist.

Fourth Movie
In the 2007 TMNT film, Mikey has taken to performing at children's birthday parties as "Cowabunga Carl" in order to make ends meet to support his family. It becomes apparent early in the film that the physical and emotional absence of his older brothers has finally begun to affect the outgoing Michelangelo. Unlike his other incarnations, the 2007 Mikey seems to draw the most emotional support from Donatello instead of his oldest brothers, Leonardo and Raphael.

Upon Leonardo's return from Central America, Mikey gives his oldest brother an enthusiastic hug, falling over the couch and tripping over furniture in his excitement. Mikey's lively and innocent demeanor returns in full force when he is in the protective presence of his three brothers again, his good-natured jokes and brief commentaries lightening even in hard situations. Clearly, despite the hardship that his family has recently experienced, Michelangelo has retained much of his usual goofy, laid-back personality and still remains the main form of comic relief. He is voiced by Mikey Kelley. Comparing all four brothers in the 2007 movie; it is shown that he has blue eyes where the other three have brown. According to the film's director, this was done to make Michelangelo seem a bit more innocent and younger than the other turtles. In all other film incarnations, Mikey has brown eyes. He is a fantastic skateboarder in this movie, able to complete many tricks underground.

Image Comics
In the comics published by Image Michelangelo's interest in writing is expanded upon and he's established as a writer of fiction and poetry. An early issue has him selling his first poem to poetry digest. As the comic continued, Michelangelo's career as a writer gradually expanded. In the final issue, he has published his first novel, a romance called "A Rose Among the Thorns". April mentions that the book was already going back for a second printing and that she'd heard that Oprah Winfrey loved it which, "practically guarantees that it will be a best-seller."

The Next Mutation
Mikey's the only turtle who continued to like pizza. Besides being the wisecracking turtle, he also drives their jeep along the streets of New York, hosting his own pirate radio show, The Sewer Hour. He was also shown to have very odd eating habits (i.e. chicken feet, pouring soda on his cereal, etc.).

2003 series
In the 2003 TV series, Michelangelo is quite similar personality- wise with the 1987 series Raphael's. In this series Michelangelo's (nicknamed wise-guy/ "Mikey") finds deep joy in pestering his brothers with annoyances and wise remarks; particularly Raphael; who in this series becomes more of a "hot head", rather than the 1987 Raphael who is the "wise guy", like 2003 Michelangelo is. Mikey's compulsion to be a hero made him try to convince his brother that they should become superheroes, however he was the only one to do this and became "Turtle Titan", where he worked with Silver Sentry. He also has a love for comic books, in one episode he tracked down the Justice Force and reunited them where he also became an honourary member. He also won the Battle Nexus and constantly reminded Raphael (nicknamed "Raph", unlike the 1987 series) about his victory over him, he especially enjoyed being in the Tournament because the crowd supported him, which is also why Splinter let him win his match because of how important it was to Michelangelo to know that people like him.

Ninja Tribunal
Michelangelo became one of the Ninja Tribunal's Acolytes along with his brothers.

Fast Forward
In this series, Michelangelo (along with his brothers) travel into the year 2105, and meet the great-grandson of April and Casey, named Cody Jones. Mikey continues his video-gaming in the future; completely awestruck by all of the "totally awesome" new video games he gets to try out; especially seeing that most of the games have a virtual reality sort of flare to them. Though, when the turtles and Master Splinter reach the future and are given weapons; curtousy of O' Neil Tech (which Cody owns), Michelangelo is stuck with a giant body armor suit to begin with, which satsfies Mikey all in a matter of 5 seconds when he finds out it's too big for him to work. Then, it's back to the ol' nunchuck stand by for Mikey-boy. Overall, Michelangelo continues being the obnoxiously annoying little brother we all know and love, even in the future.

Back to the Sewers
In this series, Mikey continues to be obnoxious and pestering as he always has been in the 2k3 series. Michelangelo still loves his video gaming, and this becomes an important factor in an episode where the turtles must enter one of Mikey's video games to collect more of Master Splinter's data bits that were lost in the beginning of the series. Towards the end of the series, Michelangelo plays an important role in the wedding of April O' Neil and Casey Jones as the Maid of Honor.