Master Splinter

Michelangelo (adopted son)Donatello (adopted son)

Date of death

**Splinter**, also known as **Master Splinter**, is the overarching protagonist of the Paramount Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise.

He is an ally and adoptive father of the Ninja Turtles. He is a mutant rat who is very elder and wise Ninjutsu master, who lives with the Ninja Turtles as their Sensei and father figure, who is willing to defend his sons from any danger that lurks. Splinter debuts in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

## Films

### Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Splinter first appears when the Turtles try to secretly return after a battle with some Foot Clan thugs in the subway without alerting Splinter. However, he manages to catch them and punishes them by making them maintain balance on certain items until they tell him why they were out on the streets.

Splinter breaks Mikey by tempting him with a slice of the 99 cheese pizza, and Mikey admits they were out fighting the Foot Clan and when he mentions April's name, Splinter is alarmed and orders the Turtles to go find her.

Later, when the Turtles bring her into the Lair, April meets Splinter, who remembered April before he mutated, when he and the Turtles were ordinary test animals in a lab manned by Dr. O'Neil and Eric Sacks. April used to videotape herself in her fathers lab when she was little, and loved Splinter and the Turtles, personally naming them and feeding them pizza, which they all loved.

However, Dr. O'Neil learned that Sachs was up to something evil, and burned the lab down, at the cost of his own life. April saved Splinter and the Turtles, and took them to the sewers to be safe, with Splinter alone possessing enough intellectual ability at this time to remember April and her kindness. The mutagen soon took effect, granting Splinter and the Turtles enhanced intellect and anthropomorphic bodies.

Remembering the example of Doctor O'Neil's love for April, Splinter decided to raise the Turtles as his sons. The boys were always curious about life above the surface, but Splinter tried to keep them away, but soon realized they would need to protect themselves. One day, he stumbled upon a book about the art of Ninjutsu, which he used to teach himself the art, before passing it down to the Turtles. When they were ready, he armed them with their trademark weapons. Having told this story to April, Splinter expresses his thanks to her for protecting them.

However, soon after, The Foot infiltrate the lair- unintentionally alerted to the Turtles' continued existence by April talking to Sachs before she learned that he was a threat- triggering an alarm that alerts the Turtles. The Foot Soldiers break in with a bomb and blow the place open. The Turtles fight the Soldiers, and Splinter gets in on the action himself. Shredder enters the lair, decked out in a new armor. He faces off with Splinter, who dodges Shredder's knives and gets a few good hits in.

Splinter blocks the Turtles from joining in, in order to protect his sons, but they lift themselves up in time to see Shredder grab Splinter and hold him before the Turtles, threatening to kill him if they don't lay down their weapons. They do so, but Shredder still hits Splinter hard enough to take him out, while the Soldiers cattle-prod Leo, Donnie, and Mikey, capturing them and then blowing the lair up. Raph emerges from the rubble and goes with April to take Splinter to rest. He pleads with Raph to save his brothers and stop Shredder.

Later, after escaping, and stopping Sacks and Shredder, The Turtles use some mutagen to revive Splinter, who tells them he is proud of them.

### Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Two years later, Splinter has become notably older, with his hair now grayer than the previous film. He is initially shown attempting to complete a twenty-four meditation session to achieve enlightenment, but the Turtles interrupt him with a second to go when they learn that there is a plan to break Shredder out during a prison transit. When the team becomes divided after discovering a mutagen variant that could conceivably make them human, Splinter consoles Leonardo to remember that the team is strongest because of their different points of view, rather than because they all think the same way.

## Appearance

Splinter wears a yellow robe and a black belt with a medal on the front. His hair is graying and in a Japanese bundle.

## Personality

Splinter is shown to be an extremely wise rat,inspired by April and her father,Splinter adopted the Turtles,calling them his sons and showed tender fatherly love to Leonardo,Raphael,Donatello and Michelangelo,his love for the Turtles is immense,going as far as to train himself into a skilled Ninjutsu Master to protect them.While he love the Turtles dearly,he is also extremely strict with them as he forced them to undergo a unorthodox and physically extremely taxing training exercises the form of what he called the Hashi which the four brothers are immensely dreadful of whenever the brother misbehave or defy orders.Overall he is immensely protective of his adopted children as he bravely stood against Shredder sternly telling the latter he will not allow the Foot Clan leader to hurt his sons. Like the Turtles Splinter has a strong fondness for Pizza due April feeding them the Italian delicacy when they were test subjects by her father.

## Movie Novelization Description

Originally an experimental lab rat, Splinter was injected with DNA-infused mutagen that gave him sentience, thoughts, and a soul. After an unfortunate event at the lab, Splinter and four mutant box turtles found themselves building their new home in the sewers. Splinter took on a fatherly role and trained the turtles to become ninja heroes.

## Powers, Abilities, and Weaponry

**Immense Strength** : Enhanced by the very Mutagen that transformed him into a humanoid rat,Splinter is physically strong enough to overpower multiple skilled Ninjas with punches,kicks and tail swing.He could even match Shredder armor enhanced strength briefly.

**Immense Speed** : Splinter's natural born agility as a rat is also vastly enhanced by the Mutagen,his speed and reflexes further honed through ninjutsu training are fast enough to attack extremely quickly and keep up with the Shredder own speed.

**Master Hand to Hand Combatant :** Splinter is a immensely skilled self taught master of Ninjutsu,his mastery of Ninja Martial arts is extremely high, even Shredder was impressed by Splinter's skills.He could overwhelm multiple well trained Ninjas of the Foot Clan who are armed with weapons.

**Master Swordsman :** Splinter is extraordinary skilled in Kenjutsu,the traditional art of samurai swordsmanship,he combined Katana sword techniques with Ninjutsu maneuvers to fight against Shredder,able to briefly overwhelm him during their fight.

## Trivia

* Splinter learned Ninjutsu through a book that he once found in the Sewers.
* Splinter believes that April always had her fathers eyes.
* When he first met April O'Neil after years from the fire in the laboratory, he revealed that he remembers her and how she saved him and the Turtles, which he thanks her for.

* When Splinter is telling April about how he raised the Turtles there's a scene in his flashback where Leonardo appears slicing pizza in the air for his family and one of the pieces hits Splinter in the head is a reference to the 1990 film, where the same thing happens.
* Splinter and the Turtles were laboratory experiments, much like in the IDW comics origin story.
* This incarnation appears to have a strong prehensile tail. This is evidenced by being able to use it to pin one of the Turtles to the wall and spin the objects they were balancing on.
* Unlike other versions of the character, this Splinter has no connection to Hamato Yoshi.
* The book Splinter found on ninjutsu is written by Eastman and Laird.
* Splinter's face is based on Toshiro Mifune.
* He learned to how to care for the turtles as their father from watching how Mr. O'Neil cared for April as her father.

## Quotes

* "Remember, as long as you keep the team unified, then you shall always succeed."
* "You live, you die, you fight, as brothers, and remember, nothing is as strong as family."
* "The katana -- the most noble of all the blades. It is the weapon of a leader."