Leatherhead is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) comics and all related media. The character first appeared in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 (August 1988) and was created by Ryan Brown. He is depicted as a mutated humanoid-alligator.
Leatherhead has been voiced by Jim Cummings and Peter Renaday in the 1987 series, Frederick B. Owens and Gary K. Lewis in the 2003 series, Peter Lurie in the 2012 series, and Rose Byrne in the 2023 feature film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
Comics[]
Mirage Comics[]
Originally, Leatherhead was nothing more than an infantile alligator that had escaped a robbery at a pet store and found his way into the sewers. While in the sewers, Leatherhead was found by a pair of TCRI Utroms, who decided to bring the creature to their headquarters. During his stay with the Utroms, Leatherhead was exposed to mutagen, which caused him to mutate into a humanoid and intelligent being.
IDW Comics[]
Leatherhead makes his debut in the 49th issue of IDW Publishing's comic series. He appears very briefly, telling Dr. Harold and Professor Honeycutt that he had some mutagen that could be used to help heal Donatello.
Archie Comics[]
In the Archie TMNT Adventures Comics, Leatherhead starts as a poor human named Jess Harley who lived in the swamps of Florida, and became transformed into a mutant alligator when the "witch" Mary Bones (actually the former warlord Cherubae from Dimension X in disguise) used the Turnstone on him. At first, Shredder lures Leatherhead to work with him, until Leatherhead discovers that the Shredder is a villain. Leatherhead later becomes a wrestling hero at the Stump Asteroid and later a member of The Mighty Mutanimals. He and the other members of that group were killed before the end of the Archie Comics run with the Turtles characters.
Ryan Brown, at convention appearances, has stated that his character Jess Harley is an homage to his favorite actor, Lance Henriksen, and is named after two characters from his favorite films, Jesse Hucker in Near Dark and Ed Harley from Pumpkinhead. Henriksen would later go on to voice the Triceraton Zog in the 2012 animated series.
Television[]
1987 animated series[]
In the 1987 series, Leatherhead is an enemy of the Turtles who fought them on several occasions.
Leatherhead was originally voiced by Jim Cummings who also, coincidentally, went on to voice more of Brown's characters, such as the Dakota Dude and Saddlesore Scorpion from the series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa. Peter Renaday voiced him in the episode "Night of the Rogues".
2003 animated series[]
In the 2003 series, Leatherhead is shown as a friend of the Turtles and is often referred to as "LH". He is voiced by Frederick B. Owens in seasons 2 and 3 and by Gary K. Lewis in season 4 and 7.
2012 animated series[]
Leatherhead appears in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, voiced by Peter Lurie and again an ally to the Turtles.
In the series, Leatherhead was a baby alligator that was owned by a kind boy, until the boy's cruel parents found him and flushed him down their toilet into the sewer. He was discovered there by the Kraang, taken to their dimension, mutated, and experimented on.
In The Big Blowout, Leatherhead and the other Mutanimals team up with the Turtles, their 1987 counterparts, April, Casey, Karai and Shinigami to defeat Bebop and Rocksteady, who are recruited by Krang and the 1987 Shredder.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem[]
The 2023 animated film features a female version of the character Leatherhead, who is voiced by Rose Byrne. In the movie, Leatherhead plays a role as a member of Superfly's mutant army.
Video game appearances[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare
- 2014 3DS game voiced by André Sogliuzzo.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
See Also[]
- Leatherhead (1987)
- Leatherhead (2003)
- Leatherhead (Mutant Mayhem)
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