Over the years, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have collected an impressive number of allies who all bring their own unique skills to the team–and now, the first human friend they ever made (before, even, the ‘90s cartoon) just became an even greater asset, after receiving a long-overdue ninja upgrade.
April O’Neil made her TMNT debut in the 1984 Mirage Studios comic book series, and her inclusion marked the first human ally the Ninja Turtles ever made. At the time, April was a computer programmer and assistant to the villainous Baxter Stockman. However, that origin would change with the release of the ‘90s TMNT animated series, where April would be portrayed as an investigative journalist for the first time–which would become a staple for her character. In the years since that change, April has used her skills as a journalist to help the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles take down a number of their deadly villains from behind the scenes–and with her new ninja upgrade, that skill has increased exponentially.
April O’Neil Has Ninja Skills that Rival Even the TMNT Themselves
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Armageddon Game - The Alliance #5 by Paul Allor and Pablo Verdugo, April has tasked herself with stealing informational data files from the offices of Madame Null in an effort to help the Ninja Turtles in their ongoing battle against the sinister deity, the Rat King. Madame Null, along with Baxter Stockman and General Krang, are working with the Rat King, so if any of them are weakened during this conflict, so, too, is the Rat King himself. This issue follows April on that mission as the comic tracks her breaking into the office, evading deadly mutanimals, outsmarting an interdimensional businesswoman, and eventually making her escape with the information she was after–an escape that saw her leap from the top of a New York City building.
While April didn’t do much fighting in this issue, she still displayed some impressive ninja skills. Infiltrating the offices of Madame Null, stealing from her, and then escaping unharmed is no easy feat, especially when her presence in the building was discovered, leading to her being pursued by two terrifying and deadly mutants–and she still managed to get out of there and complete her mission. Even the TMNT sometimes run into trouble doing covert missions like that, including when the Turtles themselves tried to break into Madame Null’s office in an earlier storyline. Not only did the sneaking and evading live up to the standards set by the Ninja Turtles, but the fact that April was skilled enough to jump off a building and work her way down the side of it by grabbing available holds and landing on scaffolding and fire escapes on different levels is incredibly impressive. Most of what the Ninja Turtles do is run around on rooftops and avoid being seen during covert missions, and April proved here that she can run with the best of them.
Not only is April becoming a ninja herself a great evolution for her character, but it also melds perfectly with her previously established skill set introduced in the ‘90s cartoon. April is an investigative journalist who does no shortage of dirt-finding detective work to get to the bottom of a complicated story. With her new ninja skills, April O’Neil has become even more capable both in terms of her profession and the investigations she does on behalf of the Turtles–an incredibly awesome and immensely useful upgrade given to a classic ‘90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character.