John Bishop

Agent **John Bishop** is a special agent of the U.S. government, head of the Earth Protection Force and the tertiary antagonist in the 2003 animated series. He works to protect the earth from alien invasion. He was introduced in the 2003 TV series Season 3’s Space Invaders/Worlds Collide multi-parter, where he kidnapped the Ninja Turtles and tried to dissect them in an attempt to learn the secrets behind their mutation. Since then, he has played a part in most of the series’ primary storylines, as both an enemy and ally to the Turtles.

## Origins

A U.S. soldier during the early 19th century, John Bishop's life was changed forever when, for unknown reasons, he was abducted by Gray Aliens while fighting in the Battle of New Orleans. After being experimented on, he escapes back to/is returned to (the series is unclear on this point, leaving both possibilities open) the battlefield. What exactly the experiments entailed is unknown, although it is speculated that they are at least partly responsible for Bishop's longevity and enhanced strength. The Abduction traumatized Bishop and let him develop a long-lasting paranoia against aliens. Marked by the experience, he has since dedicated his life to staving off alien invasion.

Little is known about the following one hundred and ninety years of Bishop's life, except that he was present when the U.S. Army encountered the first aliens who crashed in United States territory and the subsequent creation of the black-ops Earth Protection Force during the Grant administration in 1870. He was also responsible for the Roswell incident of 1947, in reality caused by the a covert take down of a flying saucer belonging to the Greys. (These could be the same Greys who experimented on Bishop, since the surviving alien they dragged out seems to recognize Bishop.) In more recent decades, he acted as Best Man to Finn, a Navy sailor who later on was turned into a mutant under unknown circumstances.

### 2003 TV series

During the 2003 Ninja Turtles series, Bishop acted as the head of the Earth Protection Force, a black-ops team formed to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. In order to combat a possible alien invasion effectively, he applied an "any means necessary" approach to his mission, and was aiming to accumulate alien technology and use it to improve humanity's gene stock and build an army of super-soldiers by doing secret (and quite illegal and unethical) experiments on captured aliens and mutants.

## Personality

Agent John Bishop possesses an intense hatred for aliens due to his abduction and torture by them early in his life. He is normally very calm and likes to be in control, gathering as much information about his enemies and victims as he can before meeting them, as shown by the fact that he knew all of the turtles names during their first meeting. He possesses a cunning and cold mind and rarely loses his temper. Bishop is manipulative but hates it if he is the one being manipulated as shown by his restrained but visible anger when he realized that the Foot Mystics had tricked him into securing their freedom. This is one of the very few times where Bishop was shown to not be in control of a situation.

Bishop is very sadistic, gleefully anticipating the fun he would have dissecting the turtles and torturing Leatherhead ruthlessly. Despite his sadistic nature however, Bishop's main motivation is to protect the world so that the torture he went through at the hands of the aliens won't happen to others. Bishop's sadistic treatment of aliens and mutants is partially a way of dealing with the trauma Bishop himself suffered at the aliens hands. Due to his devotion to the safety of the planet he is, by his own admission "a bigger picture kind of guy" who believes that the ends justify the means, so even if people are hurt or even killed he believes that it is worth it if it ensures the safety of the planet.

Although Bishop is considered a devil by Leonardo, he is not a truly evil man and during the Fast Forward Series, he shows that he is not beyond redemption. After an alien saved his life, despite the painful experiments Bishop had performed on the creature, Bishop felt indebted to it and decided to change his ways. He also considered Baxter Stockman to be a friend and saved his life before offering him a chance to continue working alongside him, as they had many years earlier.

Despite his problems with the Turtles, Bishop is willing to side with them against a common threat, such as the mutant outbreak and later the Tengu Shredder's army.

## Abilities

Agent Bishop is trained as a war veteran and a secret agent with two hundred years of experience in all relevant fields of the military and espionage and also has an extensive basic scientific training in the field of genetics. Physically, Bishop is the prime example of a man at the peak - and even beyond - his physical capacities.

While the source of his physical prowess is debatable, Bishop possesses speed and agility that borders on inhuman, allowing him to avoid most assaults to his person. He is an accomplished martial artist, which make him a very dangerous opponent: In the episode "Hun on the Run" he shows himself able to single-handedly hold his own and gain the upper hand (with no weapons) while fighting all four of the turtles simultaneously, as well as Hun and Karai effortlessly. He has also proven to be able to defeat the Shredder's Elite Guard with ease, in the episode Exodus, Part 1. In "Bishop's Gambit", he even proved able to fight on par with Splinter. In battle, his unique fighting style is mostly defensive, allowing him to adapt to seemingly any situation and use any item of the very battlefield to his advantage. By mixing DNA genomes he also possesses a high degree of physical strength and superhuman endurance and recovery, as evidenced in when he was impaled on a hook, yet survived with no permanent damage. Bishop is able to fend off multiple opponents, due to his enhanced DNA, which he has been extracting from all different alien species, which he has captured for his super soldier project to help stave off alien invasions.

Despite his physical abilities, his body seems to suffer from an unknown condition that causes it to gradually break down. He has survived throughout the centuries thanks in part to a succession of a one or two clone bodies. It is known that Bishop at least once had to do a complete transfer of his personality into a cloned body, how many times total and at what intervals, in the series, however, remains unclear. His most recent body, made by Baxter Stockman, seems to have freed Bishop of his body breakdown problem. Whether or not his clone bodies are the reason for his continued survival is, as of yet, unknown. He also managed to unify Earth, thanks to espionage discrediting allying sabotage and others, and made the EPF the Earth military by doing counter-terrorism work, as well as mystical defense and special operations with others.

As head of the Earth Protection Force, Bishop has a wide range of high tech terrestrial and extraterrestrial technology available to help him. For heavy combat missions, Bishop likes to use a special combat suit equipped with laser weapons.