The original four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are some of the most iconic figures in fictional media, but that doesn’t mean they’re the strongest, as one TMNT comic confirms the best Turtle isn’t one of the original four, but was actually the very first Fifth.
While it is true that Venus was technically the first Fifth Turtle to appear in TMNT’s extended lore during the ‘90s live action show Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, the entirety of the series’ mythos was reestablished with the ongoing IDW Publishing series, meaning anything that happened before it became noncanon. In this comic series, Venus is still an established character who does become a member of the TMNT, but her storyline was altered immensely, and she was far from the first additional Turtle to join the team. Before Venus hit the scene in IDW’s continuity, Jennika became the Fifth Turtle after proving herself as the deadliest ninja of the Foot Clan and then committing herself to a life of heroism before being mutated into an anthropomorphic Turtle. While many consider Jennika to be TMNT’s first Fifth Turtle following Venus’ retcon, they’d be wrong, as there was still one more before even her: Slash.
Slash was TMNT’s Best Ninja Turtle, & Michelangelo Proves it
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #90 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, and Michael Dialynas, the Ninja Turtles and their allies are at a funeral–Slash’s funeral. In the issues prior to this one, Slash sacrificed himself after a bomb was planted in his body, one meant to kill the TMNT and anyone else in that vicinity. Slash went off into the middle of the ocean and detonated the explosive, allowing himself to die so that everyone else might live. During his funeral, Michelangelo offers some final words about Slash to everyone in attendance. Mikey says that Slash was tough enough to easily survive a stab wound from Leonardo’s katana (back when Slash was kind of a bad guy). Not only that, but Mikey says that Slash was also incredibly intelligent, and that all-around he “couldn’t have been any cooler of a dude”.
Michelangelo ended his eulogy by saying that Slash possessed the best aspects of all four of the original Turtles: brave like Leo, tough like Raph, smart like Donny, and chill like Mikey–and Michelangelo was absolutely right. While Slash started his journey as a fairly mindless brute hellbent on killing the Ninja Turtles for reasons he didn’t even understand, he found intelligence when his mutation was brought to its completion. This made Slash not only a hulking brute with impressive fighting skills, but a smart one. In fact, Slash’s first true sign of sentience revealed itself when he saw the Ninja Turtles running on New York City rooftops, and then he fashioned himself a black mask similar to theirs. In his heart, Slash always knew that he was the TMNT’s Fifth Turtle, and since he came from the same laboratory as the original four did, he literally was–and he’d later find out that he’s the strongest one, at that.
Based on the evidence presented in Slash’s TMNT comic book history, it is clear to see that Mikey’s eulogy wasn’t just him speaking kindly of the dead, but that his words actually carried truth with them. Slash really was something of an amalgamation of the four original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while also proving to be an amazing brother and worthy member of the team–and, in fact, the best member of the team.
