Leonardo (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

**Leonardo** is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Raphael) of the *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* series, serving as one of the three deuteragonists (alongside April O'Neill & Splinter) of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the main protagonist of the 2022 Netflix/Nickelodeon film *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie.*

He is a red-eared slider who was mutated to become part human. He wielded a portal-generating mystic ōdachi until it was destroyed and replaced by his katana. While rebellious, he is the most charismatic and the current leader of the Mad Dogs, to the point he is referred to as the "face man" of the team.

He is voiced by Ben Schwartz who also voices Sonic the Hedgehog in the 2020 live-action movie and its 2022 sequel, Dewey Duck from the reboot of *DuckTales*, Randy Cunningham from *Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja* and Banarnar in the 2019 sequel of *The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part*.

## Appearance

He wears a blue bandana like in all the incarnations of the Turtles (except the Mirage comics). Leo originally used two katanas like his mainstream counterpart, and later wields an ōdachi sword in battle that can open portals.

## Personality

He is the "self-proclaimed 'coolest' brother". He is also known to be called the "trickster", and he thinks that his one liners will "fire up the team."

He boasts a less serious, joke-cracking personality.

Leonardo is also shown to be a bit arrogant and prideful; this is evident in the movie adaptation where Leo thinks he has the answer to everything and will try to do heroic deeds on his own without thinking about his team. It is from a harsh rebuking from Casey Jones that Leo finally understands the true meaning of being a team leader and manages to be more humble.

## History

Leo began life as a juvenile turtle in Baron Draxum's laboratory. Wishing to create a mutant army with formidable combat capabilities, Draxum used Lou Jitsu's DNA paired with his ooze to turn Leo from an ordinary turtle into a mutant. He and his brothers were then stolen from Draxum's laboratory by Lou Jitsu promptly after their mutation and Leo went on to be raised in the sewers of New York City alongside his brothers by Splinter. Eventually, Leo and his brothers met a human girl named April O'Neil and forged a strong bond with her through the years.

## Abilities

* **Kenjutsu:** Leo is trained in wielding katana and the ōdachi. He makes use of his ōdachi for skilled offense and defense, allowing him to slice through sturdy material.
* **Power Portal Jutsu:** Leo wields a mystic ōdachi that can create portals when its blade is swiped through the air to teleport people/objects from one location to another.
* **Ōdachi Bomb:** A technique where Leo falls from a portal of his creation at a high elevation to attack an opponent from above, using his momentum to knock them to the ground.
* **Ninjutsu:** Leo is skilled in basic ninjutsu, but due to Splinter’s reluctance to advance their training and the Turtles’ own lack of focus on learning the art, he and his brothers’ skills aren’t honed.
	+ **Stealth:** As a practitioner of ninjutsu, Leo can slip in and out of areas undetected. These skills significantly improved after additional instruction in "The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek", Leo now being capable of blending in with his environment to the point where he can seamlessly pose as objects.
	+ **Speed:** Leo possesses a great amount of speed, capable of moving in bursts faster than the eye can follow.
	+ **Agility:** Leo's agility allows him to successfully dodge attacks and perform sharp twists and flips.
	+ **Strength:** Leo possesses strength greater than the average human.
		- **Hamato Ninpō:** As a member of the Hamato Clan, Leo is capable of tapping into his clan's energy to unleash his own mystic might.
			* **Weapon generation:** Leo can use random objects to form weaponry, namely katana.
			* **Blade teleportation:** Using his sword as a point of focus, Leo can teleport himself or anyone holding one of his swords to the location of the other.
* **Ninja mind meld:** Leo is capable of telepathically exchanging strategies with Raphael, heightening team coordination.
* **Strategy adaptation:** Leo is able to formulate plans that take into account his opponent's disposition and weaknesses as well as his allies', incorporating potential trickery and vulnerability from his opponents ahead of time in his strategies to bypass them or use them to his advantage.
* **Durability:** Due to his mutation, Leo's body can experience a higher threshold of physical trauma without lasting repercussions than the average human.
* **Shell retraction:** Leo is able to fully retreat into his shell.
* **Cooking:** Leo's culinary skills are rough as he is seen creating quality dishes while also being unable to make unburnt toast in "You Got Served".
* **Skateboarding:** Leo is a seasoned skateboarder and enjoys it as one of his hobbies.

## Trivia

* Unlike his past versions, until the series finale, he is not the leader of the team.
* He is a red-eared slider.