Donatello

*¨Donatello is a fellow with a way of machines¨*

-2012 TV Theme Song

**Donatello** (or **Donnie** or **D/Dee**) is one of the main protagonists in the *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* 2012 television series. He is the adoptive son of Splinter, and the biological brother of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. He is also the younger adoptive brother of Karai.

Donatello is the brains of the team: scientist, hacker, mechanic, inventor, and weapons specialist. He designs and manufactures all the tools, gadgets, armor, vehicles and weapons in Turtles' arsenal.

In this iteration, his massive crush on April O'Neil plays a major role in his characterization. He develops a rivalry with Casey Jones (April's usual love interest) as a result of this and also most likely as a callback to their relationship in the 1990s film.

## Physical appearance

Donnie is a mutated anthropomorphic turtle with brownish green skin. His signature color is purple, most prominently featured in his purple mask. His weapon of choise is a bō (rokushakubo) which also converts to a naginata (a Japanese halberd) via a switchblade inside one end of the staff.

Unlike all his previous incarnations, Donnie is much taller and skinnier than his brothers. He also has a gap between his teeth and distinct brown-red eyes. When in combat or when being stealthy, he has whited-out eyes (like the 2003 incarnations).

Just like most incarnations, he wears a purple mask where the tails of the mask are longer than any of his brothers, except for Raph's. His ninja gear consists of brown knee and elbow pads, light brown bandages wrapped around his ankles, wrists and white bandages wrapped around his fingers.

## Personality

Donatello's characterization more closely aligns with his mischievous 1990s film iteration than his soft-spoken 2003 iteration. The fact that he is only a teenager learning everything on the fly is heavily emphasized and he frequently answers questions from his brothers with sarcastic and outlandish responses before yelling that he doesn't know.

He is much more high-strung and quick to anger than any of his previous iterations. He frequently gets frustrated when he can't accomplish a task. He can be defensive and argumentative, especially when his intellect is challenged (though ironically with Fugitoid, they *both* get along really well). He has been known to lash out whenever someone messes with his inventions or experiments, especially Mikey, but it's often verbal rather than physical. Despite this, Donnie is overall a compassionate character and would support his family and allies anytime.

That said, he is still incredibly intelligent. He is frequently praised for having "a way with machines". He is a skilled scientist, engineer, and mathematician. He begins to devote more of his time to studying technology, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, metallurgy, and eventually astronomy (as of Season 4) than ninjutsu.

Although he is a skilled martial artist, he often puts more faith in his high-tech gadgets and machinery than spiritual advice and traditional ninjutsu methods taught to him by Master Splinter. Because of his genius-IQ level, Donnie tends to over-analyze, overthink, and over-complicate things (especially Splinter's advice), ultimately putting too much of a burden on himself and making bad decisions.

Similarly, his social skills are slightly lacking. His nerdiness can sometimes get in the way of properly communicating and connecting with others. He’s frequently teased by his brothers (especially Raphael) about his unrequited feelings for April and his inability to take a hint. Early in the series, he had to make himself a flowchart in order to navigate interactions with her. When it comes to explaining complicated things, he sometimes forgets that others are not on his same intelligence level—leading to confusion and frustration for all parties. However, he becomes more socially skilled as the series goes on.

## Skills, powers and abilities

* **Mutant physiology:** As a mutant, the Mutagen Ooze heightened Donatello's physical attributes to considerable extraordinary levels. He possesses strength, speed, reflexes, agility, endurance, recovery speed, and stamina much greater than even the finest human specimen athlete. His mutant abilities has been listed as shown below:
	+ **Enhanced strength:** Donatello possesses an adequate level of strength. He and his brothers have been mutated and have had years of training under a grand master of martial arts, so their strength has been amplified as a result. In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Donatello overpowered the Foot Clan humans with no difficulty.
	+ **Enhanced speed:** Despite being a turtle, he is not slow. Donatello is able to move at great speed, able to free run on rooftops without losing momentum. He can also move things at enhanced speeds too, such as twirling his bō staff. He can also spin his staff at incredible speed to momentum to his strikes.
	+ **Enhanced reflexes:** Donatello also possesses great reaction speed, allowing him to dodge projectiles such as lasers the Kraang's blasters, and enemy attacks. He can run fast enough to avoid laser fire from a Kraang weapon. In "Rise of the Turtles", Donatello was able to dodge laser fire from Snake's weapon designed by Kraang at very close-range.
	+ **Enhanced agility:** Donatello can coordinate his bodily to levels that are beyond then the finest human athlete. In "New Friend, Old Enemy", he has shown to acrobatic flips from one building to another building at further distance.
	+ **Enhanced healing:** Donatello can heal faster than normal humans. He was able to take numerous hits from mutants like Dr. Tyler Rockwell, Dogpound and Slash, seriously injuring himself and was still able to fight. He also was able to fight Shredder, but was hurt by him. In "Slash and Destroy", Donatello healed from severe injuries including his sprained arm from Slash's brute attacks in several days.
	+ **Enhanced Stamina:** Due to his ninjutsu training, Donatello has high-level stamina , which allows him to keep up with his training. A good exhibition of his enhanced stamina is when Donatello is training the Pulverizer.
	+ **Enhanced endurance:** Donatello has high-level endurance and can take hits better than Mikey can take, but not as good when compared to Leo and Raph.
	+ **Retractable Limbs into Shell:** Donatello has the normal ability of a turtle to get into his shell.
	+ **Semi-aquatic adaptations:** He is able to swim long distances, dive deeply and hold his breath underwater for a long time.
* **Super intelligence and communication:** Donatello is a extreme scientific genius in multiple fields. He is able to invent impressive machines, including, but not limited to, the Shellraiser, T-Phone, Metalhead, Ninja Smoke Bombs, Turtle Racer, and Turtle Blimp, all out of trash found in junkyards, garbage dumps, etc. He is also an master biologist, chemist, and geneticist, as he was able to create the first ever successful Retro-Mutagen and has often been seen in his lab experimenting with chemicals. Additionally, Donatello is able to plan out strategies, as well as build, fix, take apart, and hack into machines. His super intelligence is also his greatest advantage in battle. In "Follow the Leader", it is revealed that Donatello is able to use impressively quick logical thinking and mathematical calculations while in combat. For example, he is able throw shuriken at nearby objects and/or surfaces, in order to make them bounce off objects again and again in the exact directions he predicted and calculated previously. He is incredibly intelligent able to calculate complex equations in his head, create different machines and handle the creation of medicines and other chemical compounds. He enjoys tinkering with items he finds in the junkyards and in the abandoned part of the sewers, which have allowed him to make the Shellraiser, the T-phone and T-pod. Although Donatello is not a great tactician like his brother, Leonardo; however, he can assist Leonardo in difficult situations and complex missions. Touched by his father as human given the power to speak and understand perfectly human English. Furthermore, Donatello's super intelligence is so great that he created many tech machines throughout his career, such as Turtle Mech, Turtle Flyers, Metalhead, Patrol Buggy, Turtle Sub, Shellraiser, and many others. One of the greatest testaments of his super intellect was when Donatello repaired Fugitoid's damaged robotic body, a feat that was considered to be impossible. Even as a baby, Donatello exhibited high levels of intelligence for his age. Such as putting together a camera and plugging in a lamp. Splinter even referred to Baby Donnie as the smart turtle before giving him a proper name.

— Donatello to The Pulverizer.

* **Bōjutsu:** Donatello was trained by Splinter in the use of the bō staff, in which he twirls, swings and stabs like a spear. As Donnie's fighting relies more on defense than offense, he makes use of his bō's versatile nature to block as well as counter attack. Despite this, he also able to deliver powerful strikes that can send enemies flying, and combine it with his physical combat skills.
* **Naginatajutsu:** Donatello skills with his bō staff translate to his proficiency with the naginata. His staff possesses a retractable blade that is mostly used in cases when he is fighting robots.
* **Shurikenjutsu:** Donatello can throw shuriken with remarkable accuracy and even make calculations to have them bounce off surfaces and strikes multiple enemies.
* **Tantōjutsu:** In "Mousers Attack!," Donatello threw a tantō to take April's phone out of Dogpound's grip.
* **Weaponry:** Donatello is proficient in various types of weapons. In The Pulverizer Returns!, Donatello learned to adapt his surroundings and shown to use other non-weapons, such as a broom to fight Dogpound and the Foot Clan.
* **Expert martial artist:** Donatello is an excellent fighter. In "Monkey Brains", he was taught by Splinter to fight without using his head, as he defeated Victor Falco without thinking in unarmed combat. He also taught his 1987 counterpart in how to improve his combat skills in "Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady".
* **Master of stealth:** Being taught by Splinter, Donatello, as well as his brothers, are able to be one with darkness and hide and move within the shadows without being noticed. Like his brothers, he is stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use hand to hand combat.

## Biography

Fifteen years before "Rise of the Turtles, Part 1", Donatello and his brothers were once ordinary turtles; when they were infants the benevolent Hamato Yoshi purchased the four as pets. When their soon-to-be father walked passed a strange man, he felt something odd about him and followed. Unfortunately Yoshi gave away his position when he accidentally stepped on a brown rat's tail. The Kraang found him and attempted to kill him, but Yoshi fought back hard. During the scuffle, the aliens dropped a container of mutagen, Yoshi, having to have stepped on that rat, thus mutated into a humanoid brown rat by the name of "Splinter", While Donnie and his brothers, after having been in contact with Yoshi and the clerk of the pet store where they were bought, mutated into humanoid turtles. Yoshi raised the turtles as his own children and to train them in Ninjutsu.

Splinter knew they would never be accepted in society and with the Kraang hot on his trail, the five of them lived in an abandoned water tower and a warehouse avoiding detection. During all of these trials, Splinter and the Turtles bonded and after he noticed the baby turtles trying to copy his Ninjitsu training, Splinter decided that there was an opportunity to turn this new life he was thrust into to his advantage, Taking one of his favorite books about the Renaissance art named them after the Artists he admired the most.

After last fight against the Kraang in the sewers in Splinter overheard the Kraang talking about how it became impossible for them to track Splinter and the Turtles there, Splinter decided to remain there. Thus making it that Splinter had found the safe environment where he could raise his adopted sons. Knowing the world would be dangerous and there would be a time where they want to explore the outside world, Splinter started to train the boys in the art of Ninjitsu. Eventually giving Donatello his signature Bō staff "for a thoughtful soul and a peaceful heart."

Donatello's character design was also updated, giving him a gap in his teeth and a taller, more leaner appearance than his brothers.

## Weapons

In this version, Donatello wields a wooden 6-foot long Bō Staff (rokushakubo) which, like his brothers with their individually chosen weapons, he is highly skilled with, twirling it like a spear and swinging it like a baseball bat. His bō staff can also convert into a Naginata spear via a switchblade inside one end of the staff.

However, in battle, his wooden staff is often broken, snapped in half, or destroyed (disintegrated by lasers), which implies he has stashed several identical bō staffs at the lair. Several examples occur in "Metalhead" - and a great deal of the episode being dedicated to Donatello's annoyance with this. i.e: Donatello hits a Kraang robot with his staff, which does absolutely nothing. Donatello exclaims in frustration at his staff (furious at how useless it seems to be against the robots) just before Raphael destroys the same robot by throwing and stabbing one of his sai through its head. Donnie watches helplessly as Leo (with his katanas), Raph (with his sais) and Mikey (with his nunchucks) deflect the Kraang droid's laser blaster (since their weapons have metallic stainless steel while Donnie's bō staff is made out of wood). Raphael then turns to Donatello and says that "When we're done here, there's a matching band who needs a majorette." implying that *he* isn't particularly impressed with Donatello's bō staff either. Soon after this, half of Donatello's staff is burnt away by an energy canon, once again causing him to exclaim angrily at the apparent ineffectiveness of his weapon. Donatello dives behind a crate to avoid the canon, and screams, "How am I supposed to fight advanced alien technology, with a stupid ***stick***?!" Later in the episode, Raphael is tending to Spike and says, "Look Spike, Donatello got another stick to break." just as Master Splinter is handing Donatello *another* bō staff. (Donatello then tells the Sensei that he wishes to upgrade it with modern technology, to make it more effective, and the rest of the episode follows his endeavors, and eventually, he *does* fight alien technology - and win - by using the so-called "stupid stick".) Despite this, he later upgraded his staff by equipping it with a rocket launcher, though it malfunctions and backfires.

In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Splinter says that the boys are getting too reliant on their own weapons, telling them to swap for once. After this exercise, Donatello is left with Raphael's sai. During a later, more serious fight, the turtles become way too uncooperative with their new weapons and in the end decides to swap back. Afterwards, when Splinter finds out, he confiscate all their weapons, stating that anything can be useful for true fighters. When Donatello and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, he uses a broomstick, holding and fighting with it in a style similar style to his regular bō staff. In "Turtle Temper" and "The Gauntlet", he also used a Yumi bow and like the rest of his brothers wields shurikens.

From "Beyond the Known Universe" until "Bat in the Belfry", Donatello used a space bō staff and a laser blaster created by Fugitoid.

Throughout much of the fifth and final season, Donnie continues using his regular bō staff. In the 4-episode Monsters and Mutants story arc, his staff has a mystical seal of protection, capable of shining a bright white light when held at the correct angle, and as long as he has faith in it.

## Inventions

* T-Pod
* T-Phone
* T-Rawket
* Shellraiser
* Turtle Sub
* Patrol Buggy
* Stealth Bike
* Metalhead
* Mutagen Tracker
* Ooze Specs
* Ninja Smoke Bomb
* Turtle Flyers
* Turtle Mech

## Relationships

### Family members

* **Leonardo** - Donatello's oldest brother. He and Leonardo sometimes fight, but it's rare. They do tend to argue and tease each other. In fact, there are points in the series where Leo tends to nag Donnie while trying to fix mechanical problems which drives Donnie mad. Like Raph, when Donnie argues with Leo, Donnie would either challenge Leo’s authority and leadership or talk back to him. This is shown especially in "The Fourfold Trap", when Leonardo blames Donatello for not working hard enough to save Karai. It shows how much pressure Leo puts on his brothers (especially Donnie) to get things done. However, they seem to get along well in general. They often blame themselves for situations that are beyond their control (Leonardo thinking he's failed everyone as a leader; Donatello burdening himself too much while working on his inventions/medicines/etc).
* **Raphael** - Donatello's second-oldest brother. He and Raphael do fight occasionally, but they taunt each other more. Raphael tends to taunt Donatello about his dorkiness, while Donatello is not above insulting Raphael about his temper. Like Leonardo, Raphael would also nag Donatello to move faster and Donatello would also yell at him too. Overall, they still have each other's backs and show compassion as they are brothers, though they hardly show that kind of affection openly. Although Raphael refers to Michelangelo as his little brother more, he does express his protective big brother side to Donatello, going as far as directly blaming Leonardo for his injuries ("Broken Foot"). Raph also cares about Donnie's feelings, as seen in "The Invasion, Part 1", when Casey asks if April likes him back in a romantic way. Raph refuses to answer that question, knowing that Donnie has a huge crush on her. During their stay at the farmhouse, Raphael is often seen encouraging his younger brothers, especially Donatello, to keep training ("A Foot Too Big").
* **Michelangelo** - Donatello's only younger brother. He and Mikey fight the most out of all his brothers, though he's the closest to him since they're the "B-Team", plus he's the one who usually takes Mikey under his wing, although he expresses his frustration towards Michelangelo more in Seasons 2 and 3. Donnie dislikes it whenever Mikey doesn't use his common sense or touches his equipment. There are several instances where Donnie tends to lash out at Mikey for screwing up his inventions or not acting as smart as he should be, but Donnie refrains from hurting Mikey physically, especially later in the series ("Mutant Gangland"). Michelangelo, on the other hand, looks up to Donatello, often teasing him about his huge crush on April. Despite that, he always tries helping Donatello due to his compassionate nature, trying to impress him with his own expertise and comforting him whenever April rejected him. After "The Creeping Doom", their relationship improves significantly, mutually understanding their dynamic and why it's the way it is. During Season 4, they seldom interact, whereas in Season 5, Donnie rarely gets annoyed by Mikey's tactics.
* **Splinter** - Donatello's adoptive father and sensei. Donatello tries his best to listen to Splinter's advice, but most of Splinter's words tend to confuse him, which is ironic, because Donatello is never confused once it comes to words. It is shown that Donatello questions Splinter's advice the most, despite being the smartest. Splinter also enjoys teasing him in a playful manner, especially in Season 1, which annoys Donnie a little, but he understands that his father means well. Though Donatello isn't as close to Splinter as Leonardo is, he loves his father very much, as seen in the Season 3 finale, when Donnie silently mourns over his temporary death. When Donatello realizes Splinter's death is permanent in "Requiem", he openly weeps over his father's body while sadly reminiscing over happier times they've shared together. In "Owari", he vows to avenge Splinter's demise by ending Shredder's life once and for all (though *Leo's* the one who actually kills Shredder).
* **Hamato Miwa/Karai** - Karai is Donnie's technically adoptive older sister. They first met in Alien Agenda, when Raphael caught Karai spying on them while they were breaking into one of the Kraang's experimentation labs. When Karai created a mutant abomination and left the Turtles to face the mutant alone, Donnie stated, "I still don't know who she is, but I HATE HER ALREADY!!!" Donnie eventually learns that Karai is his adoptive sister in Earthquake Part 1 and slowly accepted her as family after she learned the truth. When she was mutated into a violet and white viper, Donnie told Mikey that he hoped he could create some Retro-mutagen to cure Karai, only for Donnie to realize months later that Karai was a special kind of mutant that could not be cured by normal Retro-mutagen. Once Karai was freed of the brain Worm Shredder used to control her, she relentlessly attempted to bring Shredder's evil empire down one piece at a time, only for Donatello to get caught in an explosion that occurred in Auman Chemicals that Karai triggered. Upon realizing her adoptive brother got injured because of her revenge, Karai apologized to everyone for injuring Donatello and stopped attacking Shredder's connections. When Karai got hurt by Super Shredder, Donatello and the other turtles visited her and she gave them the location of Super Shredder's laid in the woods so they could avenge their father's murder at the hands of Super Shredder once and for all.

### Friends/allies

* **April O'Neil** - Donatello's best friend and crush. Donatello instantly developed a crush on her when he first saw her, despite her sometimes not knowing how to react, to his immense attraction towards her. There are several episodes where Donatello actually shows his feelings for her, but he quickly takes it back or makes up an excuse, fearing that she'll not accept him and their friendship will go awry. When she discovers that the turtles caused her father's mutation and becomes outraged at them (in "The Mutation Situation"), he is devastated. However, after he and his brothers save her from Karai and her talk with Casey, April reconciles with the turtles and she gives Donatello a hug and a kiss on the cheek as an apology. After it becomes clear that Casey is also in love with April, Donatello's attempts to earn April's heart become even bolder than before, as he keeps trying to one-up Casey's attempts to impress her. In "Fungus Humungous", it's revealed that his worst fear is April hating him and leaving him for Casey. In "The Invasion, Part 1", as The Kraang are invading New York City and the world seems to be ending, the Turtles have sought cover in the O'Neils' apartment, and April is in the process of tying off an injury to Donatello's arm, Donatello finally tells April that he wants to tell her his feelings. April, who was almost certainly never ignorant of Donatello's feelings towards her, quickly shuts him up before he can speak, telling him to stop talking as it will only make things hurt more, while trying to make it look like she's referring to Donatello's injury. In "The Invasion, Part 2" (which picks up immediately after the events of the previous episode), Casey arrives at April's apartment, and April embraces Casey and tells him "I was scared I'd lost you forever," in front of Donatello. Donatello is briefly fazed by this display, but quickly shrugs it off as their crisis isn't over yet. By "Within the Woods", Donatello has become paranoid of April and Casey spending any time alone together. In "A Foot Too Big", Donatello still tries to keep earning April's heart, but is increasingly frustrated. After Raph tells him that Bigfoot's one-sided obsessive crush on Donatello is just like Donatello's crush on April, Donatello confronts April. He tells her that he intends to give up on seeking her heart, and that he's "just a mutant". To his surprise (and extreme confusion), April calls Donatello her mutant, and gives him a very affectionate kiss. Their friendship has a slight rift during Season 4, when April acquires the Aeon crystal. During "The Power Inside Her", April's powers (though she was mind-controlled by Za-Naron) cause Donnie to literally disintegrate, thus technically killing him. In season 5 the two of them have grown closer. With him having lost all awkwardness around her. In "When Worlds Collide, Part 1", the two of them are seen hanging out, messing about and having fun with each other. April is also there to console him after the Newtralizer blew up Michelangelo.
* **Casey Jones** - Even though he didn't officially meet Casey until The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones, Donatello didn't like what he observed of Casey with April. At first, he's jealous of how close Casey is with April and doesn't like him because of it (the feeling is mutual). In "Fungus Humungous", he gets upset with him when he tells the turtles that he lost April on their way over to the lair. When he and Raphael pinned Casey to the wall, he admitted he enjoyed it, proving how much he doesn't like him. In addition to April hating him, Donatello's worst fear involves her falling for Casey. He does view him as an ally and occasionally friend, but their rivalry gets in the way. After the events of "The Invasion, Part 2" when it became clear that there was a real possibility April *was* falling in love with Casey, Donatello started to treat Casey with even greater hostility and spite. In "Within the Woods", a normal training session at the O'Neil Farm saw Donatello and Casey drop their discipline and start brawling, for which April said the two were acting like "caged animals". Donatello was also paranoid and opposed to letting April and Casey spend any time alone together. In "Race with the Demon", his relationship with Casey improves after they work together to build the Turtle Racer and take down Speed Demon. However, it seems that Donnie and Casey continue to show a bit of resentment towards each other in the following episodes, though the reason is left unsaid. By Season 4, their friendship evolves significantly, having witnessed their home planet being swallowed by a gigantic black hole. During "The Power Inside Her", Casey is visibly shocked and horrified after seeing Donatello disintegrate. He also silently mourns behind Donnie after witnessing Splinter's death ("Requiem"). Donnie also feels sympathy for April during earlier episodes whenever Casey was thought to have been killed. During the 3-part series finale, Donatello was visibly concerned about Casey's internal injuries, suggesting that he should remain behind and rest.
* **Fugitoid** - Donatello first met Professor Zayton Honeycutt (a.k.a. Fugitoid) after the devastating events that occurred in "Annihilation: Earth! Part 2". Unlike Donnie's other scientifically-inclined counterparts, he doesn't have a problem working alongside Fugitoid. In fact, these two get along really well. However, there are moments when Donatello feels inferior (intelligence-wise) to his D'Hoonibian friend, as seen in "Revenge of the Triceratons", when Donnie expressed his self-doubt over whether he could fix Fugitoid's robot body. Later on, during "Earth's Last Stand", Donatello temporarily distrusted him, despite understanding that Fugitoid attempted to change his ways in spite of building the Black Hole Generator in the first place. During the final battle against the Triceratons, fighting alongside his alternate past self, Donnie finally realized why Fugitoid "banned" him (and the others) from his ship, thus regaining his trust in the android. Once Fugitoid sacrifices himself, Donnie watches sadly as he "dies" and permanently destroys the Black Hole Generator, unaware that Fugitoid actually survives the explosion.
* **Leatherhead** - Donatello has neutral feelings about Leatherhead. While he sees him as a valuable ally, Donatello's terrified of Leatherhead; mostly because the running gag where whenever Leatherhead looses control, he grabs Donatello by the face and shakes him like a rag doll. Leatherhead has regretted this action though and he sees Donatello as a good friend like he does all the turtles. After Leatherhead is rescued from Dimension X during "Into Dimension X!", Leatherhead appears amicable to all of the Turtles, and does not attack Donnie again after this.
* **Timothy** - At first, Donatello was annoyed by Timothy as the Pulverizer in "The Pulverizer", but in "The Pulverizer Returns!", Donatello develops a friendship with him. He thought Timothy was a hopeless guy in over his head at first, but then he realized there was more to him. Timothy tries to mutate himself, hoping that he'll turn out to be like Donatello and his brothers. Fortunately, Donatello tries his best to stop him, warning Timothy that the mutagen is dangerous, and could even kill the Timothy if he came in contact with it. Unfortunately, Timothy doesn't listen to him, and optimistically exposes himself to mutagen. Donatello then promises that he'll find a cure for Timothy. Donatello puts the mutated Timothy inside a body tank and indefinitely parks the tank in Donatello's lab in the Garage. From then, Donatello would frequently talk with Timothy about how much he loves April; but this only causes Timothy to develop a crush on April as well. In "Mutagen Man Unleashed", Donatello's friendship with Timothy rapidly disintegrates as Timothy siphons entire canisters of mutagen into his tank (becoming Mutagen Man), his tank becomes mobile, and he breaks out of Donatello's lab and returns to the surface, obsessively seeking out April. When Donatello and the other turtles confront him, he fights them, declaring they are no longer his friends. Timothy as Mutagen Man is finally subdued, and Donatello has Timothy's tank indefinitely frozen, putting Timothy into suspended animation. In "The Invasion, Part 1", The Kraang discover and partially destroy the Lair, which must be abandoned. In "The Invasion, Part 2", Donnie is briefly returning to his lab for what may be the very last time, and is unable to take the still-frozen Timothy with him. He tells Timothy that he'll try to come back for him later, but that if he can't, that his frozen tank will thaw in about 70 years, hopefully to meet a better world.

### Enemies

* **Shredder** - Donatello's arch-nemesis. Donatello has heard a lot about the Shredder from Splinter ever since he and his brothers were younger. Even though he never met him until "The Gauntlet", he knew the Shredder was dangerous. When he does officially meet him, he is rightfully afraid of him and tries his best to fight him. This encounter does make him and his brothers realize how inexperienced they are in contrast to the Shredder. However, when they encounter the Shredder in "Enemy of My Enemy", he, Raphael and Michelangelo are able to stand their ground against him much better.
* **The Kraang** - Donatello's targeted archenemies. From their Dimension X, the Kraang are partially aware of Donatello's inventions spying on them for information, but never focus on them. Meanwhile, he invents gadgets to spy on the Kraang to gather the exact information that he and his brothers need in order to get rid of them. Donatello is very impressed with their technology. Donatello also has a strong crush on April, and they both discover in "The Kraang Conspiracy" that she is actually a half Kraang mutant.
* **Chris Bradford/Dogpound/Rahzar** - One of Donatello's enemies.
* **Fishface** - One of Donatello's enemies.
* **Dr. Falco/Rat King** - One of Donatello's enemies. Falco is an enemy Donatello was able to defeat on his own.
* **Newtralizer** - He is the Kraang prisoner who escaped with Donatello's help. Also he is the first and only enemy of the turtles whose name was given by Donatello, and not by Michelangelo.
* **Snakeweed** - Snake made his debut in the first episode of the series "Rise of the Turtles, Part 1", before he mutated into a mutant weed he was a henchman for The Kraang.
* **Spider Bytez** - Yet another of Donatello's enemies.
* **Anton Zeck/Bebop** - One of Donatello's enemies.
* **Ivan Steranko/Rocksteady** - One of Donatello's enemies.
* **Baxter Stockman** - One of Donatello's enemies.
* **Triceratons** - One of Donatello's enemies. When Michelangelo gets kidnapped by the Triceratons ("Annihilation: Earth! Part 2"), Donatello (along with Leonardo and Raphael) attempt to rescue him, threatening the Triceratons in the process.
* **Don Vizioso** - One of Donatello's archenemies. Though Casey Jones encountered Don Vizioso earlier in the show ("Casey Jones VS. The Underworld"), they barely interacted. However, Donatello (along with Mondo Gecko) was one of Vizioso's prime victims due to kidnapping him in "Mutant Gangland". Vizioso attempted to dissect him, which caused Donnie to hold a massive grudge against him, as seen in "Heart of Evil". Despite Donnie's normally merciful nature, he attempted to murder Don Vizioso with his naginata blade, uttering the words, "This is the *end*!" However, Leonardo (Donnie's oldest brother) begged him to spare Vizioso, because he's not a murderer. Horrified by his actions, Donatello retracted his naginata blade and threatened to call the cops instead, ultimately leading to Vizioso's arrest.

## Trivia

* Donatello is named after the famous Renaissance master, Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, (better known simply as "Donatello").
	+ Donatello's name is Italian, a diminutive form of the name Donato, from Latin Donatus, which means "Gift from God".
	+ In Katakana, Donatello's name is spelt: ドナテッロ (*Donaterro*).
	+ Given the fact that he was adopted by Hamato Yoshi/Splinter, Donatello's full name would be "Hamato Donatello". In Western order for Japanese names, it would be "Donatello Hamato".
* Donatello is the tallest amongst his brothers, presumably at around 6 ft tall as seen on concept art of the Pulverizer scale refers to the Turtles' maximum height.
* Donatello has Diastema.
* Donatello has OCD: According to J.R. Ventimilia Donatello is "*(…)a little fussy, nervous, and obsessive-compulsive*."
* In this incarnation, Donatello has a crush on April O'Neil, having fallen for her at first sight.
	+ Throughout Season 5 and during the "Ice Cream Kitty" music video, April is seen kissing Donatello on the lips or play-fighting with him, possibly indicating that they have started a romantic relationship. However, it has not been directly confirmed.
* While Donatello still fights with his weapons of choice, a Rokushakubo, in this incarnation, his staff can be converted into naginata, via a retractable blade inside one end of the staff. It has been seen as early as the events of "I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman". The other episode being "The Alien Agenda".
	+ In the third season episode, "Vision Quest", Donatello arms himself with a weapon which is a combination of Stone Hammer and Ono Axe.
* His mastery of Ninjutsu includes: Taijustu, Qigong, Bōjutsu, Sōjutsu, Naginatajutsu, Bōryaku, Intonjutsu, Tenmon, Chi-mon, Shinobi-iri, Shurikenjutsu, Archery, computer hacking, and building machines.
* His eye color tends to refract between red and brown.
* He is the third-oldest/second-youngest of his brothers; Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo.
	+ He is younger than Leonardo and Raphael, yet older than Michelangelo.
* Donatello is an expert in fields of metallurgy, chemistry, physics, biomedical sciences, and *various* other subfields of science and technology.
	+ In "Revenge of the Triceratons", he admits to Fugitoid that he does not have enough knowledge in the astronomical fields.
* Rob Paulsen, Donatello's voice actor, also voiced Raphael in the 1987 TV series.
* It is revealed at the New York 2012 Comic Con that Donatello has a pet cockroach named Chong, who has already been through one of two mutations and will become a villain.
* Before "Heart of Evil", he was the only Turtle that *did not* have an archenemy that he personally disliked as Leonardo's archenemy was Shredder, Raphael's archenemies were Xever Montes, Spider Bytez, and Cockroach Terminator, and Michelangelo's archenemy was Chris Bradford.
	+ His archnemesis became Don Vizioso after he tried to dissect him in "Mutant Gangland".
* Donatello is the first turtle other than Michelangelo to use the catchphrase "Booyakasha!"
* In Leatherhead's first two appearances, he repeatedly grabs Donatello by the face and shakes him around "like a rag doll."
* Due to his behavior in "I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman", he is second to Raphael in temper and anger.
	+ Donatello has picked up some of Raphael’s aggressive behavior, despite him thinking that Raphael’s behavior is ridiculous.
* Despite being opposites, Donatello is really close to Michelangelo, as they are seen hanging out together a lot.
* When Donatello's T-Phone rings, it has the tune of the intro of the 1987 series.
* In this incarnation, he has a strap over his ninja belt, while in the other incarnations besides the 90s films, he does not; this is the second incarnation other than the 90s films where Donatello has a strap over his ninja belt.
* The first two humans who have entered the lair have been closer to Donatello out of the four turtles.
* Donatello appears for the first time without his mask in "Slash and Destroy".
	+ He is also the first turtle seen without his mask.
* He is the third turtle to hide completely in his shell as seen in "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman".
* Donatello's favorite color is purple.
* His and his brothers' favorite food is pizza.
* In "In Dreams," the gap in Donnie's teeth makes him whistle while he sleeps.
* He is right-handed.
* His favorite TV show is Super Robo Mecha Force Five!
* Donatello did challenge Leonardo's leadership in two episodes. In "The Invasion, Part 1", after Leonardo stated that the Turtle Mech would harm more than help the situation, Donatello and Leonardo almost got into a fight. In "The Fourfold Trap", he lost his patience with Leonardo and told him that as the leader, Leonardo should find the solution to their problems.

* Donatello's relationship with Casey Jones has evolved the most out of all the turtles' friendships, though Donatello's best friend is April, whereas Casey's best friend is Raphael.
* In "Lone Rat and Cubs," Donnie is shown to be the last of the Turtles to have his teeth grow in.