Foot Clan (Mirage)

The Foot Clan is a group of Ninjas who has mastered various forms of martial arts and are recurring enemies of the TMNT. They are led by Karai.

Background

In Eastman and Laird's original comic books, the Foot was started by two Japanese men named Sato and Oshi. In Volume 1 Issue 47, the Turtles travel back in time before the Foot exist. Raphael met the two men and, not knowing who they were, taught them Ninjutsu. After the Turtles returned to the present, the two decided to follow the way of the ninja. Oshi said, "We must never again mention the strange shelled creatures. In time, others will join us and we will become a force to be reckoned with. So just as every journey begins with a single step... we shall call ourselves The Foot."

The Foot Clan became the most feared ninja in Japan. Both Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Nagi were members, until one day, they fought for the love of Tang Shen and Yoshi killed Nagi. Dishonored, Yoshi was exiled to New York City, while Nagi's younger brother Oroku Saki was adopted by the clan and was trained to become a fierce ninja. Oroku Nagi's brother, when he was ready, Saki went to New York to start the American branch of the Foot Clan. Under his leadership, it took only a year for it to become a powerful and fearsome group.

Saki also sought vengeance for his brother and, using the persona of The Shredder, he assassinated Yoshi. Over a decade later, the Ninja Turtles challenged The Shredder to a rooftop duel to avenge Yoshi's death. The Shredder sent his Foot Ninja to fight the Turtles, but they were no match for the Turtles and were eventually defeated. Shredder then fought the Turtles himself, and although he was a more skilled ninja than them, he was killed when he fell off the building carrying a bomb.

After the Shredder's death, the American Foot fell apart and the Foot Soldiers began fighting Shredder's elite guard. Karai, a clan leader from Japan, came to New York to stop the clan war. She enlisted the Turtles' help in this, in exchange for promising that no Foot shall ever try to avenge the Shredder again. This truce is still in effect in Volume 4 of the comic.

In Volume 4, the Foot were given a security contract with the Utroms for their base because the Utroms have a no weapons policy and the foot are skilled in hand-to-hand combat. At one point, mysterious Aztec warriors started attack the Foot Clan around the world. Karai informed Leonardo that the New York Branch of the Foot is all that's left.

The Foot Clan's logo is a drawing of a left foot. Issues 3 and 4 of the new Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature a Foot Mystic with magical abilities, including the power to resurrect the dead.