Hot Soup

"Hot Soup" (katakana: ホットスープ Hotto Sūpu) is a battle cry used by Splinter and the Turtles in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

History

The "Hot Soup" battle cry originated from martial arts movie star Lou Jitsu and was an iconic part of his character and films in-universe.

"Hot Soup" was first used in "Mystic Mayhem" by Michelangelo after taking a mystic kusari-fundō from Baron Draxum's laboratory. Raphael later said it as he combated Draxum's golem alongside Mikey.

Splinter yelled "Hot Soup" when correcting Donatello, Mikey, and Raph's recreation of Teriyaki Shakedown fight choreography in "Origami Tsunami".

Raph said "Hot Soup" in "Donnie's Gifts" as he took the initiative of challenging Meat Sweats and again after rescuing Donnie and punching Meat Sweats into the path of a subway train.

Splinter used "Hot Soup" after his rat flu in "Down with the Sickness" progressed to its fourth stage named Ninja Supreme and later during its sixth stage named Fan Fiction as he shared his idea for a Lou Jitsu-Jupiter Jim crossover to Mikey and Raph.

Splinter said "Hot Soup" in "The Fast and the Furriest" as he took the Turtle Tank on a secret joyride.

Raph shouted "Hot Soup" in "Shell in a Cell" while delivering the finishing blow to Ghostbear in his team-up with Leonardo.

As Leo skated down one of the lair's skate ramps to try to execute the 14-40 skateboarding trick in "The Longest Fight", he said "Hot Soup".

Splinter said "Hot Soup" after S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. served him a second bowl of soup in "Smart Lair".

Lou Jitsu said "Hot Soup" in the Hot Soup: The Game trailer and later Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute yelled it in tandem as they gave Foot Recruit background on Lou Jitsu films for her Foot Clan mission in "Hot Soup: The Game".

In "The Evil League of Mutants", it was the Turtles exclaiming "Hot Soup" during their fish and ladders fight against the Evil League of Mutants that allowed Draxum to make the connection between Lou Jitsu and the Turtles.

Splinter crying "Hot Soup" in "Shadow of Evil" while escaping the grasp of Draxum's mystic vines made Draxum, and soon after the Turtles, realize that Splinter and Lou Jitsu were the same person. Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute, who exclusively knew Splinter as their new Foot recruit Randall, understood the revelation as Randall and Lou Jitsu being the same person (despite the fact that Randall was merely Splinter's alias to allow him to pass on the surface as human).

Leo called out "Hot Soup" while forcibly taking back his Mystic Ōdachi from its thieves in "Portal Jacked!".

Foot Lieutenant exclaimed "Hot Soup" alongside Lou Jitsu as he followed him in a training video in "Sparring Partner".

Leo referenced "Hot Soup" to Señor Hueso in "You Got Served", arguing that having him and Mikey be waiters and chefs instead of bouncers was as unnatural as Lou Jitsu offering others cold soup.

Raph exclaimed "Hot Soup" as he lead the Turtles onto the battlefield where the Botanical Garden's Security Force Alpha was fighting the Foot in "How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will".

In "The Mutant Menace", Mikey said "Hot Soup" after being fired from inside the Turtle Tank using its bowling ball launcher.

Lou Jitsu began to shout "Hot Soup" in "Jupiter Jim Ahoy!", but was cut off by Splinter pausing the film.

To end his battle against Draxum, Splinter yelled "Hot Soup" in "End Game".

Splinter said "Hot Soup" during his Battle Nexus fight in "Many Unhappy Returns".

"Hot Soup" was referenced by Leo when trying to convey to April O'Neil how unfazed he was when Donnie reentered the Lair Olympics just how Lou Jitsu would be if presented cold soup in "Lair Games".

Leo said "Hot Soup" in "Air Turtle" while playing basketball with his brothers and later again while making the game-winning dunk against the Daves.

Donnie exclaimed "Hot Soup" as he collaborated with Mikey to poison Meat Sweats in "Pizza Puffs".

In J.I.T.S.U., Lou Jitsu said "Hot Soup" as he spoke to the viewer in "Always Be Brownies".

To announce his arrival at April O'Neil's high school, Mikey yelled "Hot Soup" in "Mystery Meat".

The Turtles used their Mystic Hot Soup Hibernator technique against Shadow Fiend in "Battle Nexus: New York".

In "Finale Part 1: E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Splinter's Lou Jitsu-shaped subconscious said "Hot Soup" while fighting the Turtles and it was said again later on by Splinter as he leapt into the Twilight Realm.

"Hot Soup" was used by Hamato Atsuko followed by the rest of the Hamato Clan to mark the killing blow to the Shredder in "Finale Part 4: Rise".

In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Splinter exclaimed "Hot Soup" during his first fight against Krang Two and the Turtles said "Hot Soup" during their final battle against Krang One as they rode an energetic construct of Raph attached to large jetpacks summoned by Donnie.

In the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics issue Sound Off! part 2, Raph cried “Hot Soup” as he punched Gnatalie’s explosive loogies off of Donnie.

Leo said “Hot Soup” while messing around with his new katana in "Turtle Tots".

Trivia

• It was revealed in October 2020 by Rise of the TMNT staff writers Russ Carney and Ron Corcillo in the fan interview Turtles Rising that "Hot Soup" stemmed from network demand to create a catchphrase for the series, Carney stating, "Early on, there was a lot of pressure from above, let's say, to come up with a catchphrase. I can't even remember how many times [it was asked], 'You guys come up with a catchphrase yet? You come up with a catchphrase?' And I mean, you can't just create a catchphrase. You could sit and I don't know... 'Thuns!' I don't know what a catchphrase is. It usually needs to come from the characters and when you start writing dialogue for them, that kind of thing. We hadn't even gotten to that point. Ron and I were writing 'Origami Tsunami' and, I don't know, he sort of whimsically pitched 'Lou Jitsu' as Splinter's TV persona. But then we were sort of trying to create a scenario about a Lou Jitsu movie and it just sort of popped out of nowhere. I think it was my pitch, 'How about a nice bowl of Hot Soup?' and he flips them into the soup. It really just came out of that. It was just sort of [us] trying to get our script done at probably ten o'clock at night, something like that, and much like the name 'Lou Jitsu', we thought that nobody's gonna be cool with 'Hot Soup' . . . but somehow it slipped through and became the catchphrase."
  • Corcillo also revealed in the same interview that, "I mean, ['Hot Soup'] never became the officially approved catchphrase. We put it in that episode and then people started asking us about what's the catchphrase gonna be and we were like, 'Well, how about 'Hot Soup'?' and everybody's like, 'No,' and wanted us to come up with other things. Remember, Russ, we went through these lists of just ridiculous [catchphrases]⁠—'Windeloo'? None of that went anywhere and they started to say, 'Well, it's gonna have to be 'Cowabunga', then,' and we were like, 'We wanna do something weird and different,' because that's the whole point of Rise of the TMNT is to be a little weird. And so we just kept pushing for it and it caught on eventually, but that's just what they say."

• It was stated by Rise of the TMNT executive producer Ant Ward in the November 2022 Rise of the TMNT: The Movie TAAFI panel that, "It ['Hot Soup'] came from Russ and Ron who are two of the writers and we were under pretty solid guidance to basically make sure the Turtles had ‘Cowabunga’ and have a catchphrase . . . And they didn't want to do ‘Booyakasha’ from 2012, they wanted to go back to ‘Cowabunga’ and Ron and Russ, I love them dearly, Russ just refused to. He was like, ‘I'm not writing it.’ ‘Hot Soup’ became their thing which was amazing because we tied it into Lou Jitsu's origin story, but then in the ADR booth we actually had to, unbeknownst to Russ, we had to go like, ‘Okay, can we get a ‘Cowabunga’ from everybody, please? Great, yeah, we'll match lip sync.’"

See also

• Hot Soup: The Game
• Hot Soup Forever