Agent John Bishop

John Bishop is a fictional character in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television series, voiced by actor David Zen Mansley. He was introduced in Season 3’s Space Invaders/Worlds Collide multi-parter, where he kidnapped the turtles and tried to dissect them in an attempt to learn the secrets behind their mutation. Since then, he has played a part in most of the series’ primary storylines, as both an enemy and ally to the turtles.

Origins
A U.S. soldier during the early 19th century, John Bishop's life was changed forever when, for unknown reasons, he was abducted by Gray Aliens while fighting in the Battle of New Orleans. After being experimented on, he escapes back to/is returned to (the series is unclear on this point, leaving both possibilities open) the battlefield. What exactly the experiments entailed is unknown, although it is speculated that they are at least partly responsible for Bishop's longevity and enhanced strength. Marked by the experience, he has since dedicated his life to staving off alien invasion.

Little is known about the following one hundred and ninety years of Bishop's life, except that he was present for the U.S. Army’s victory over the first alien invasion in United States territory and the subsequent creation of the black-ops Earth Protection Force during the Grant administration. He was also responsible for the Roswell incident of 1947, in reality caused by the a covert takedown of a flying saucer belonging to the Greys. In more recent decades, he acted as Best Man to Finn, a Navy sailor who later on was turned into a mutant under unknown circumstances.

Bishop in TMNT
During the 2003 Ninja Turtles series, Bishop acts as the head of the Earth Protection Force, a black-ops team formed to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. He applies an "any means necessary" approach to his mission, and currently aims to accumulate alien technology and to build an army of super-soldiers.

Cunning, cruel and manipulative, there is precious little that Bishop will not do to obtain what he wants. During the Triceraton Invasion, he made a deal with the Federation, offering the Fugitoid, along with his knowledge of the world-destroying Teleportal, in exchange for weapons and technology. He also captured the Turtles and took samples of their DNA and was going to collect more when the timely save a Splinter, Casey Jones and April O'Neil stormed his lab. He conspired to create an army of super solders born of enhanced DNA acquired from genetic manipulation, alien autopsies, and DNA stolen from the turtles. When the E.P.F. was under fire from the President of the United States for a perceived string of failures, he staged an alien invasion for him to stop, “proving” his organization’s worth and assuring his funding. He shows no regard for anything or anyone that may threaten his mission; after E.P.F. Scientist Baxter Stockman’s demise, Bishop simply resurrected him, claiming that he was far too important to his work.

Despite his enmity with the turtles, Bishop’s mission has time and time again coincided with theirs. During his stint in the series, Bishop has helped repel the Triceraton invasion of Earth, attempted to stop Oroku Saki’s return to the stars, and, most recently, attempted to find a cure for the mutagenic virus he, Stockman, and the turtles had accidentally unleashed upon the animal population of Manhattan. Furthermore, he has also clashed several times with The Foot, and joined forces with the turtles in their final battle against the forces of Tengu Shredder.

Bishop in Fast Forward
One of the few characters known to have survived the intervening 100 years between the series' present day and 2105, Bishop is a recurring character in TMNT: Fast Forward.

Bishop is re-introduced in the episode Bishop to Knight, where the turtles discover that Bishop has survived the intervening one hundred years, and that he has radically altered his approach to Earth defense. Now the very popular President of the Pan-Galactic Alliance (described as a galactic version of the United States, which Bishop helped form) he now uses diplomacy to maintain inter-planetary peace. Now a public figure and allegedly incapable of directly taking part in missions (although this seems to be contradicted in latter episodes), Bishop recruited the turtles to covertly stop famed mercenary Torbin Zixx from completing a sabotage mission on Earth.

Later on, the episode Head of State reveals the reasons behind Bishop's change of heart. Roughly fifty years prior to 2105, he and Baxter Stockman, both still working for the E.P.F., finally realized Bishop's ambition of a super-soldier army in the form of what Stockman named "organic mousers": biped creatures able to withstand heavy damage and controlled by sound. It is also during this time that a lab accident seemingly kills Stockman; Bishop himself would have died if not for the actions of one of the E.P.F.'s alien test subjects, who saved his life.

Surprised than an alien which had been tortured and experimented upon by the E.P.F. still had enough mercy in it to save him, Bishop's viewpoint on aliens slowly changed, leading to the creation of the Pan-Galactic Alliance. It is this change of heart that saves him when he is kidnapped by the still-living Baxter Stockman, who, seething at Bishop's abandonment fifty years ago and still incapable of building himself a new body, wished to take Bishop's body as his own; Stockman, convinced by ninja turtle Leonardo that the world Bishop helped create was one where even he could live a normal life, abandons his plan.

Immediately afterwards, as the abandoned E.P.F. base where Stockman had taken Bishop is destroyed by Stockman's organic mousers, Stockman is once again placed in mortal peril. This time, however, Bishop does not hesitate, and manages to save his friend's life.

Finally, Bishop appears in the episode Day of Awakening, where he informs the turtles about Sh'Okanabo's takeover of the lunar settlement Moonbase Bishop, recruits them in his attempt to stop the alien, and provides them with the weaponry that eventually kills him.

Powers and Abilities
Bishop is an accomplished martial artist, able to hold his own even when fighting all four of the turtles simultaneously, as well as Hun, Karai and Shredder's Elite Guard, using a mostly-defensive fighting style, much like real Ninjutsu. He also possesses super-human endurance, as evidenced in Bishop’s Gambit, when he was impaled on a hook, yet suffered no permanent damage. He has survived throughout the centuries thanks in part to a succession of clone bodies. Whether this is the only reason for his continued survival is, as of yet, unknown.

Bishop appeared in 23 episodes:


 * 1) Space Invaders, Part 2
 * 2) Space Invaders, Part 3
 * 3) Worlds Collide, Part 1
 * 4) Worlds Collide, Part 2
 * 5) Worlds Collide, Part 3
 * 6) Hun on the Run
 * 7) Bishop's Gambit
 * 8) Exodus, Part 1
 * 9) Exodus, Part 2
 * 10) Dragon's Brew
 * 11) Bad Day
 * 12) Aliens Among Us
 * 13) Outbreak
 * 14) Insane in the Membrane
 * 15) Adventures in Turtle Sitting
 * 16) Good Genes, Part 1
 * 17) Good Genes, Part 2
 * 18) Membership Drive
 * 19) Enter the Dragons, Part 1
 * 20) Enter the Dragons, Part 2
 * 21) Bishop to Knight
 * 22) Head of State
 * 23) Day of Awakening

Agent Bishop