Roderick Underwood, Jr., aka Rod is a character appearing in the Tales of the TMNT. He is the son of Roderick Underwood, Sr., a multimillionaire and the principal financial backer of Bishop Robotics.
History[]
Rod's initial appearance is in a flashback during Leo Nardo Stands Alone, the first episode of the series. His story is fully explained in the episode Bishop Makes Her Move. Rod accompanies his father, Roderick Underwood, Sr. to the factory belonging to Bishop. She goes through a presentation for her company, Bishop Robotics, but Underwood cuts her off partway through, wanting only to know what she's asking for. Bishop says she needs funding. Underwood turns to his son and asks what he thinks. The younger Underwood is immersed in his phone and says he guesses it's cool. Underwood then says that's good enough for him and that he'll fund her project, but she has to give Rod Jr. a job. Both Bishop and Rod are stunned, the latter more so as he begs his father not to do that to him. He claims it will stifle his own ambitions. However, Underwood ignores him and tells Bishop that Rod needs direction in his life. He says that if Bishop takes Rod, he'll double to the investment she's asking for.
Unforeseen circumstances cause Bishop's focus to shift and she creates robots called Mechazoids whose sole purpose is the destruction of mutants. She tricks the Turtles into coming to the shipyards and sends the Mechazoids to annihilate the Turtles. Unfortunately, due to Rod's anisocoria (one pupil much larger than the other), the Mechazoids think he is a mutant too. When one of them goes to attack Rod, Michelangelo grabs him and leaps out of the danger zone caused by exploding fireworks.
Rod's adventures continue with Mikey in Mikey Does the Right Thing. The pair flee from Mechazoid 03 in a garbage truck, with Rod driving. The two argue about escaping from the robot and Rod insists that Mike is holding him hostage, despite Mike's objections to the contrary. 03 catches up with them and starts breaking into the truck with a buzzsaw, and the pair jump out of the truck and duck into an alley. Rod thinks this is where Mike will now eat him, and Mikey asks him why he thinks he's the bad guy despite the fact that he's trying to save Rod's life. Rod asks him to give him one example of him saving him, and Mike points out just five minutes ago, as well as the shipyard earlier in the night.
Mikey soon learns that Rod's dad is financing Bishop's operations. He asks Rod to call his dad and stop Bishop, and Rod agrees... but only on the condition that Mike helps him become a mutant. Mike thinks this is a horrible idea and refuses, as he doesn't even know what mutagen would do to a human. Rod offers to throw in $1,000,000 and Mike suddenly agrees. Rod takes a selfie of himself and Mike and uploads it to a photo-sharing service.
Rod and Mike head to the New York City Zoo, where they prepare to figure out a way to mutate Rod. When Rod calls Mikey the "lame one", Mike shoots back that Bishop makes robots and has evil plans but Rod is just an "adult intern" and points out his piercing gaze. Rod reveals he has anisocoria "like David Bowie" and that his mom says that makes him super special. The pair finally reach the zoo's animal hospital and Mikey draws some of his own blood. Before he can inject Rod, security guards arrive. The guards are also interrupted, this time by freed animals, including the large bear the guards were taunting earlier. Mikey finally injects Rod with the stuff in a vial, but nothing happens. Rod then spots the real vial of mutagen rich blood tucked in Mikey's belt. The pair wrestle over it, but it falls into a waste bin, where it spills and pours into another vial that had a substance in it. A pigeon flies in through the ceiling and enters the waste bin, drinking the substance and mutating.
Meanwhile, Mechazoid 03 has arrived and identifies Mikey, Pigeon Pete and once again Rod, as being mutants. Coming up with a plan, Mikey grabs the candy bar used by the guards to tease the bear, and sticks the candy under the robot's head. Seeing the bear charging at it, 03 curls up in the fetal position and the bear begins wailing on it. Mike, Rod, and Pete escape into a bathroom. The Mechazoid, having somehow escaped the bear, breaks into the bathroom and targets Rod again. Mike fights off the Mechazoid, tearing both of its arms off, and bashing its head in with a hand dryer.
Mike implores Rod to call his dad to get call off the robots, and Rod agrees despite Mike not really keeping his end of the bargain, but then realizes that his phone broke in the scuffle. Mike says they can just find a landline and call him up, but Rod doesn't know his dad's number off-hand. He says they could just ask Bishop because she's "old" and would probably know the number, but Mike says they'll just go to her headquarters and stop her outright. Rod, Mike, and Pete head out, and moments later, the Mechazoid reaches out and grabs the hand dryer....
When Mikey arrives at Bishop's lab to join his brothers in Night of the Mechazoids, Rod accompanies him and explains that Pigeon Pete was made with mutant blood and that he's next. One of the upgraded Mechazoids targets Rod, and Mikey jumps in front of him. Bishop tries to tell 03 to stop because Rod is not a mutant. However, 03 refuses, saying that she's incorrect because his DNA contains a deviation. The robot then says that all life forms have the potential for mutation, including humans. When the Mechazoids begin attacking Bishop in her XS-1 exosuit, the Turtles and Rod (except for Leo) start to leave. Rod says that she should have seen this coming if she watched any robot movie ever. The Turtles save Bishop from the rampaging robots, and Rod helps her out of the exosuit and they run to the control room, where April has been monitoring the situation.
The Turtles come running down the hallway towards the control room and Bishop starts to shut the door on them, but Rod reminds her that they save her life. When Bishop and Donnie find that they can't hack the Mechazoid's code because it's changing too fast, Rod suggests turning them off. Bishop starts to go off on him for being a pampered imbecile, Donnie interrupts to say that Rod is right, which surprises even Rod. After the Turtles defeat the Mechazoids, Underwood calls his son, who excitedly tells his father that he knows what he wants to be -- a mutant! Underwood rubs his temple as Rod tells him he just needs some mutant blood and $5 million start-up cash.
Trivia[]
The condition that Rod has is incorrectly identified as anisocoria, when what he really has is heterachromia. David Bowie, however, had both conditions.
See also[]
- Character gallery: Rod
- Animation gallery: Rod
- Appearances of Rod