Agent John Bishop is a special agent of the U.S. government, head of the Earth Protection Force and one of the primary antagonists in the 2003 TV series. He works to protect the Earth from alien invasion. He was introduced in the 2003 series' third season Space Invaders/Worlds Collide arcs, where he kidnapped the Ninja 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 former enemy and later 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/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. The abduction traumatized Bishop and led him to develop a long-lasting paranoia against aliens. 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 when the U.S. Army encountered the first aliens who crashed in United States territory and the subsequent creation of the black-ops Earth Protection Force during the Grant administration in 1870. He was also responsible for the Roswell incident of 1947, in reality caused by the a covert take down of a flying saucer belonging to gray aliens. (These could be the same gray aliens who experimented on Bishop, since the surviving alien they dragged out seems to recognize him.) In more recent decades, he acted as Best Man to J. Finn, a Navy sailor who later on was turned into a mutant under unknown circumstances.
History[]
During the 2003 Ninja Turtles series, Bishop acted as the head of the Earth Protection Force, a black-ops team formed to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. In order to combat a possible alien invasion effectively, he applied an "any means necessary" approach to his mission, and was aiming to accumulate alien technology and use it to improve humanity's gene stock and build an army of super-soldiers by doing secret (and quite illegal and unethical) experiments on captured aliens and mutants.
Cunning, uncaring and manipulative, there was precious little that Bishop would not do to obtain what he wanted. 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 what he needs, as well as a guarantee that the Earth would be left alone. As a bonus he also captured the Turtles to use as test subjects and took them to his lab where Bishop says he knows their names and much much more. He took samples of their DNA, the Turtles of course wanted to not accept such exploitation, as well as Leatherhead's, whom he self-imprisoned, experimented on, and tortured, thus traumatizing him and unleashed his primal instincts. He was going to dissect them and collect more DNA when Splinter, Casey Jones and April O'Neil stormed his lab. He battles the Turtles, Splinter, and Casey, before Leatherhead gets the upper hand on him. Then he escapes with the DNA samples, but not before declaring they'll meet again. When he reached another one of his bases, Honeycutt's message was interrupting his work and he ordered the transmission to be severed.
Bishop also made an enemy of the Utrom Shredder and the Foot Clan. Bishop set up a convenient trap for Karai, who was trying to steal an alien microchip from the government, and then called Oroku Saki to demand that he hands over all of the Triceratons tech he had been salvaging under the cover of rebuilding New York, threatening to kill Karai should he not respond in forty-five minutes. But instead of surrendering, Saki sent Hun to save Karai, who follows Bishop all over town. Bishop then decided to take down the brute once and for all, only for the Turtles to interfere, as 'he is the only person they hate more than Hun'. Outnumbered, Bishop decides to abandon the train he was on, but not before revealing to the Turtles of his taking of their DNA, which sped up his work by decades.
Bishop then began an elaborate plan to capture Splinter, whose DNA was more complex. He intended to copy that advance DNA to create an army of super solders (all in the image of him) who should act as a combat-ready protection force against alien attacks, born of enhanced DNA acquired from genetic manipulation, alien autopsies, and DNA stolen from the turtles. His first creation was the Slayer (a prototype who during the course of the series became this series' version of the Rat King), a cyborg meant to hunt down aliens anywhere, who didn't care if people got hurt in the process. But with the help of Leatherhead the Turtles and Honeycutt stormed the lab and managed to seal the Slayer in a tank. While fighting against Splinter, Bishop was sent slamming against a hook, which he was impaled on, but he survived and escaped the flooding facility while no one was looking. He had gray liquid on him, suggesting he is not human.
At Oroku Saki's "good-bye party", Bishop had a contact on the inside — Dr. Baxter Stockman, who had grown tired of the Shredder's punishments. He learned that Saki had been constructing a ship to return to the stars. Bishop had his men blow the main launch tunnel, forcing Saki to go through the doors of the party going on beneath. Bishop had any surveillance station launch missiles at the ship, determined not to allow the ship to escape. The ship was destroyed, which was a relief to Stockman, as Bishop says it's the beginning of a "Mutually beneficial partnership".
Unfortunately, the E.P.F. was under fire from the President of the United States for attacking the Oroku estate and failing to stop the Triceraton invasion. The President warns Bishop should there be anymore failures, he would cut the E.P.F.'s funding. Immediately after, Bishop learns that J. Finn had been stolen by the Purple Dragons and was determined to retrieve the mutant at all costs. He chased Finn to his wife's house, remarking that Finn still remembers. Unfortunately, Bishop fails to recapture the mutant and resumes that he died in a fire. This further further failure was enough for the bureaucrats to cut funding for the E.P.F.
Bishop staged an alien invasion for him to stop, “proving” his organization’s worth and assuring his funding. With one ship in the sky, remote controlled aliens and a number of holograms, they made it seem like Earth was being invaded again. Bishop "saved" the President, his plan worked as the President agrees to give him money to fund the EPF, as well as getting the Turtles wanted by the government. Unfortunately, the alien residue went into the sewer and accidentally came in contact with local wildlife and mutated them into a savage, near-sentient form. Bishop had to focus the E.P.F.'s resources on containing the outbreak, but there was no end to it.
Bishop demanded that Stockman clean up his mess, and tries to warn Stockman to postpone his attempt to get a new human body. But his head scientist was too focused on creating his own body. But it proved to be a failure after a series of hallucinations and decomposition's. Stockman seemingly died in the East River, but Bishop simply resurrected him, claiming that he needed his brain to clean up the outbreak.
The Turtles (excluding Donatello, who was infected) demanded they give a cure. Bishop agreed, having Stockman work with Leatherhead, while he had them retrieve the Heart of Tengu, which he heard from a mysterious contact that it was an archive of alien technologies. Once they got it to him, he had Area 51 self-destruct to cover its existence (though they all left before that) and had the cure spread all over New York. But when Stockman uses lasers to try to crack the Heart, it shattered, as the entity cut off communications. What Bishop didn't known was that the entity was the Water Foot Mystic, who was manipulating everyone so that Karai's control over them will be broken.
The Lost Episodes[]
Stockman recovered a number of nanobots from a Triceraton wreck at Coney Island, which they presumed to be a new alien technology, not knowing it is a government project. Stockman places a microchip on one of the nanobots, activating them to serve Bishop's commands. Unfortunately, they found out that the nanos were intelligent and that its original programming was fighting with Stockman's and gathered all advanced technologies as it escaped, underlining Stockman's overconfidence once more to Bishop.
The Turtles were reluctantly forced to work with Bishop because of a common interest, particularly as the threat posed by the Tengu Shredder was so great that the Turtles had to ask for help against this common threat from their friends and enemies. Bishop, Stockman and the rest of the E.P.F. troops were part of the final attack on the Tengu Shredder at the Turtles' side.
Although the Bishop and the Turtles were usually enemies, he nevertheless developed a certain grudging respect for their abilities.
Back to the Sewer[]
Bishop appears in "Wedding Bells and Bytes", watching Casey and April's wedding from a monitor.
Personality[]
Agent John Bishop possesses an intense hatred for aliens due to his abduction and torture by them early in his life. He is normally very calm and likes to be in control, gathering as much information about his enemies and victims as he can before meeting them, as shown by the fact that he knew all of the turtles names during their first meeting. He possesses a cunning and cold mind and rarely loses his temper. Bishop is manipulative, but hates it if he is the one being manipulated as shown by his restrained but visible anger when he realized that the Foot Mystics had tricked him into securing their freedom. This is one of the very few times where Bishop was shown to not be in control of a situation.
Bishop is very sadistic, gleefully anticipating the fun he would have dissecting the turtles and torturing Leatherhead ruthlessly. Despite his sadistic nature however, Bishop's main motivation is to protect the world so that the torture he went through at the hands of the aliens won't happen to others. Bishop's sadistic treatment of aliens and mutants is partially a way of dealing with the trauma Bishop himself suffered at an alien's hands. Due to his devotion to the safety of the planet he is, by his own admission "a bigger picture kind of guy" who believes that the ends justify the means, so even if people are hurt or even killed he believes that it is worth it if it ensures the safety of the planet.
Although Bishop is considered a devil by Leonardo, he is not a truly evil man and during the Fast Forward Series, he shows that he is not beyond redemption. After an alien saved his life, despite the painful experiments Bishop had performed on the creature, Bishop felt indebted to it and decided to change his ways. He also considered Baxter Stockman to be a friend and saved his life before offering him a chance to continue working alongside him, as they had many years earlier.
Despite his problems with the Turtles, Bishop is willing to side with them against a common threat, such as the mutant outbreak and later the Tengu Shredder's army.
Abilities[]
Agent Bishop is trained as a war veteran and a secret agent with two hundred years of experience in all relevant fields of the military and espionage and also has an extensive basic scientific training in the field of genetics. Physically, Bishop is the prime example of a man at the peak - and even beyond - his physical capacities.
While the source of his physical prowess is debatable, Bishop possesses speed and agility that borders on inhuman, allowing him to avoid most assaults to his person. He is an accomplished martial artist, which make him a very dangerous opponent: In the episode "Hun on the Run" he shows himself able to single-handedly hold his own and gain the upper hand (with no weapons) while fighting all four of the turtles simultaneously, as well as Hun and Karai effortlessly. He has also proven to be able to defeat the Shredder's Elite Guard with ease, in the episode Exodus, Part 1. In "Bishop's Gambit", he even proved able to fight on par with Splinter. In battle, his unique fighting style is mostly defensive, allowing him to adapt to seemingly any situation and use any item of the very battlefield to his advantage. By mixing DNA genomes he also possesses a high degree of physical strength and superhuman endurance and recovery, as evidenced in "Bishop's Gambit", when he was impaled on a hook, yet survived with no permanent damage. Bishop is able to fend off multiple opponents, due to his enhanced DNA, which he has been extracting from all different alien species, which he has captured for his super soldier project to help stave off alien invasions.
Despite his physical abilities, his body seems to suffer from an unknown condition that causes it to gradually break down. He has survived throughout the centuries thanks in part to a succession of one or two clone bodies. It is known that Bishop at least once had to do a complete transfer of his personality into a cloned body, how many times total and at what intervals, in the series, however, remains unclear. His most recent body, made by Baxter Stockman, seems to have freed Bishop of his body breakdown problem. Whether or not his clone bodies are the reason for his continued survival is, as of yet, unknown. He also managed to unify Earth, thanks to espionage discrediting allying sabotage and others, and made the EPF the Earth military by doing counter-terrorism work, as well as mystical defense and special operations with others.
As head of the Earth Protection Force, Bishop has a wide range of high tech terrestrial and extraterrestrial technology available to help him. For heavy combat missions, Bishop likes to use a special combat suit equipped with laser weapons.
Appearances[]
Bishop appeared in 25 episodes:
|
2003 Series |
Lost Episodes | Fast Forward | BTTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) Space Invaders, Part 2 | 19) Membership Drive | 22) Bishop to Knight | 25) Wedding Bells and Bytes |
| 2) Space Invaders, Part 3 | 20) Enter the Dragons, Part 1 | 23) Head of State | |
| 3) Worlds Collide, Part 1 | 21) Enter the Dragons, Part 2 | 24) The Day of Awakening | |
| 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) I, Monster | |||
| 12) Bad Day | |||
| 13) Aliens Among Us | |||
| 14) Outbreak | |||
| 15) Insane in the Membrane | |||
| 16) Adventures in Turtle Sitting | |||
| 17) Good Genes, Part 1 | |||
| 18) Good Genes, Part 2 |