The fifth addition to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was always a touchy subject as many long-time fans were reluctant to accept any change to the series’ status quo–though Jennika actually earned her spot on the team before she was even mutated, and long before she officially became the long-awaited Fifth Turtle.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were introduced in the first issue of Mirage Studios’ comic book of the same name. As established upon their first appearance, there were four Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael–and that’s exactly how it stayed for years. The only time the TMNT series added a Fifth Turtle (before the IDW comic series) was in the live-action television show Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation with Venus, but just like the show itself, the idea of a member added to the TMNT was incredibly short-lived. However, all that changed upon the introduction of Jennika.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #59 by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Bobby Curnow, and Dave Wachter, Jennika–who was still a human and former Foot Clan assassin that pledged her loyalty to Splinter after he took over the clan–saved Master Splinter’s life as he was being attacked the villainous deity Kitsune and her mind-controlled minions. At this moment, Jennika actually does what none of the original TMNT have done up until that point. Jennika directly saved Splinter’s life in a very literal sense. Sure, the TMNT have rescued him or ‘saved’ him in a more spiritual sense, but they never blocked the weapon that should have meant Splinter’s immediate death like Jennika did.
Jennkia Proved her Worth and was Accepted by the TMNT
Not only did Jennika prove she belonged by saving Splinter’s life, but she was actually named as a member of the TMNT family by Leonardo himself only a few issues later. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #61, Jennika and Leonardo are training together following Kitsune’s attack on Splinter. While the two hadn’t spent much time together before, Jennika’s heroic actions made Leonardo interested in her progress and inspired him to help her become even more skilled than she already was. By the end of their training session, their relationship goes far beyond two colleagues helping each other get stronger as Lenoardo says to her, “far as I’m concerned… you are family”.
While Leonardo couldn’t have known that Jennika would eventually become one of the Mutant Ninja Turtles herself, he already accepted her as one of them before that mutation occurred. So, from saving Splinter’s life to gaining the acceptance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ leader, Jennika proved that she earned her spot long before she was mutated.