Cassandra Jones

**Cassandra "Casey" Jones** was a recurring antagonist in *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* but has since become an ally of the Hamato Clan. Originally appearing in the first season episode "Hot Soup: The Game", she was a rookie member of the Foot Clan who was referred to only by the title **Foot Recruit**. It wasn't until she finally forsook the Shredder in the fourth part of the season 2 finale, "Rise", when she revealed her real name.

gave birth to Casey Jhones :)

## Physical Appearance

Casey Jones is a teenage Asian girl with black hair styled in a uniform buzz cut, black eyes, light skin, and a lean figure. She wears a black sleeveless jumpsuit with red wraps around her neck, calves, arms, and a red sash around her waist. She has a red face mask that she often wears during Foot missions. She also wears matte black lipstick, red eyeliner under her eyelids, and two red piercings on her left ear.

## Personality

Casey is intensely energetic based on her frantic speech pattern and tendency to shout. She is a quick-thinker and tends to take herself seriously (though she has the regular playful moment as the rest of the *Rise of the TMNT* cast do). She is fiercely loyal to the Foot Clan and always wants to prove her worth to them in any way she can, though she seems to most enthused about proving her battle prowess. However, despite her persistently combative nature, she never engages in a fight without the approval of at least one of her sensei's.

She seems to feel her emotions greatly as after she learns that she failed her test in "Hot Soup: The Game", she vehemently vows to improve herself to retake it in her disappointment. She has displayed a short-temper as when the gym car's gravity was deactivated in "Insane in the Mama Train", she quickly became angry. In "Many Unhappy Returns", she cries out in dismay when she discovers that she missed the reawakening the Shredder by the Foot, not even trying to hide her alarm.

Despite this, Casey can be influenced relatively easily by others she regards as superior to her in some manner such as when she listens to Baron Draxum throughout "How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will" or Splinter, who to her, is Battle Nexus legend and famous actor Lou Jitsu, who is able to pacify her and even give her a heart-to-heart in "Always Be Brownies").

Following the Shredder's return, she longed to take over the world and prove her loyalty to the Foot Clan, despite them abandoning her. However, after meeting Splinter, she began to question her destiny and place in the Foot. She remains conscious of how others perceive and treat her as Casey regularly feels underutilized in her work and taken for granted by her allies who don't seem to share the same faith she has in herself despite her admiration for them.

## History

The circumstances of Casey's entry into the Foot Clan are not known, but she has been in training since the age of seven. Later, she was ordered by the Foot Lieutenant to retrieve a Lou Jitsu artifact as her final test. After infiltrating an auction house, she encountered Michelangelo and discovered that he was there for Lou Jitsu merchandise, namely *Hot Soup: The Game.* She attempted to kill Michelangelo and steal the game but then learned that the game was not what the Foot Lieutenant was after, causing her mission to end in failure.

Despite this setback, she remained in the Foot Clan and later accompanied the Foot Lieutenant and Foot Brute on missions: attempting to bring back Franken-Foot, and stealing part of the Kuroi Yōroi from Sunita. She also worked alongside Baron Draxum as the Yōkai attempted to rise through the ranks of the Foot, and was given the honor of retrieving another shard of the Kuroi Yōroi by him. Upon his taking over the Foot, he then referred to her as his assistant.

## Abilities

* **Ninjutsu**
	+ **Kung Fu**
	+ **Fencing**
	+ **Stealth**
	+ **Speed**
* **Enhanced strength:** Casey has been shown to possess a remarkable degree of strength, to the extent that she can crush a medium-sized stone block to powder (with a single hand) and smash a large hole through a concrete wall.
* **Portal creation**
	+ Casey uses mystic items with ease and is comfortable around portals as the Foot Clan are seen utilizing them often.
		- **Teleportation**

## Relationships

Since Casey only switched sides in "Rise", the last episode of the season 2 finale, many of her former enemies became allies, and some of her former allies became enemies.

### Allies

* **Foot Brute:** Casey assists him in a mission to recover Sunita's Dark Armor boots. Casey ultimately never betrayed the Brute or Lieutenant, showing concern for them trapped under rubble even as the Shredder ordered her to abandon them.
* **Foot Lieutenant:** Casey informs him of the whereabouts of a rogue Origami Ninja and assists him in attempting to recover it. Casey ultimately never betrayed the Brute or Lieutenant, showing concern for them trapped under rubble even as the Shredder ordered her to abandon them.
* **The Mad Dogs:** Casey was their enemy for most of the series. They only finally became allies during "Rise".
	+ **Michelangelo:** Mikey was the first Mad Dog that Casey ever faced and they share the anguish of being forced into stagnancy by the members in their group and not given enough room to do what they need to do. For Mikey, it comes from a place of love and concern. For Casey, it comes from a place of strict social hierarchy.
* **April O'Neil:** Casey was April's enemy for most of the series. There was a moment in the episode "Always Be Brownies" when Casey and Splinter spoke peacefully with each other, Splinter kindly compared Casey to another young woman he knew. Casey and April only finally became allies during "Rise".
* **Hamato Yoshi / Lou Jitsu / Splinter:** Casey was Splinter's enemy for most of the series. Her attitude towards him began to change in "Always Be Brownies", after which she became intensely interested in studying Lou Jitsu's technique despite them still being enemies. In "Rise", an increasingly conflicted Casey finally betrayed the Shredder to save Splinter's life.
* **Baron Draxum:** At one near the end of season one, Casey formed an alliance of sorts with Draxum, joining forces to rise through the ranks of the Foot Clan. However, Draxum subsequently betrayed her so he could gain the power. They remained enemies throughout season two, and finally became allies again during "Rise".

### Enemies

* **The Shredder:** She was loyal to him for most of the series, only to betray him in "Rise" to save Splinter's life.
* **Big Mama:** In the episode "Battle Nexus: New York", Casey discovered that the Shadow Fiend was actually a disguised Shredder, whom Big Mama had enslaved with her mystic ring. Furious, Casey not only freed the Shredder from Big Mama, but she and the Shredder also managed to completely demolish the Grand Nexus Hotel in the process.

## Quotes

* "These fashion forward punks are either going to work for me or they're never going to work at all!" ("Always Be Brownies")
* "Now move. *Please!*" ("Insane in the Mama Train")
* "I shall cleave our foes in twain!" ("How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will")
* "You do that and you're top dog. The world is your oyster...to crush." ("Always Be Brownies")
* "Touching. And in case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm!" ("Sparring Partner")
* "*Foot Claaaaan!*" ("Hot Soup: The Game")
* "Beyond sacred. How could you?" ("Operation: Normal")

## Trivia

* As revealed in "How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will", Casey had been training in the Foot Clan since she was seven years old.
	+ In the same episode, it was also revealed that she applied to multiple clans before becoming part of the Foot Clan, and she was offered acceptance into every one.
* She appears to be a fan of sports, as seen in her bedroom at the end of "Always Be Brownies".
* Cassandra Jones is the first female incarnation of Casey Jones in the *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* franchise, as well as the first version of Casey who has yet to be shown wearing a goaltender mask. She remained the only female Casey Jones until the introduction of Casey Marie Jones in *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.*
* She is the second female Jones combatant and ninja in the franchise after Shadow Jones in the Mirage continuity. Like Cassandra, Shadow was trained in ninjutsu and matured into a fierce and hotheaded woman. And during Shadow's teen and college years, she was a goth girl who dyed her hair black and cut it short, though not quite as short as Cassandra's hair. However, unlike Cassandra, Shadow did not join the Foot Clan. She was originally poised to join, and they were eager to have her as a member, but she would end up being trained by Raphael instead after he learned from Renet that Shadow's most likely future as a Foot Ninja would see her dying young at the hands of a Foot Mystic.

* Prior to her identity reveal in "Rise", many fans mistook her for a new version of Karai before the real Karai of the series debuted beforehand.
* In June 2021, *Rise of the TMNT* director and story artist JJ Conway tweeted in response to a fan question about Casey's age that "she's April's age (around 16-ish)".