Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Battle Nexus # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

The Turtles have been captured by Savanti Romero as he had taken over the Battle Nexus tournament so he could take his revenge upon them. The Turtles met a mysterious figure that explains that Savanti chooses opponents based on people they have a connection with. Leonardo was defeated by the Mirage version of the Shredder. Raphael and Alopex fought to a draw. Now Donatello faces the 2012 version of Metalhead.

The story opens with a flashback as Savanti Romero arrives in the 2012 dimension, Donatello's lab, and finds Metalhead. He is impressed by the robot, but he finds there is ample room for improvement since he's a god. He touched Metalhead with his staff, using his magic to activate him.

Savanti has improved Metalhead making him stronger, meaner and faster. He is sent after several TMNT characters from across the multiverse such as Super Rocksteady (Rocksteady's robot clone from the 80's cartoon), the Evil Turtlebot (from the 2003 show), Half Court (action figure that never made it into the 80's show), and Merdude. The 80's version of Muckman manages to kick Metalhead back. Metalhead draws guns from his arms, shoulders and mouth and blasts Muckman to bits, his buddy Joe Eyeball barely getting away in time.

Back to present day, Donatello stares down Metalhead. He says he's shorter than what he's used to, but since a Donatello built it, he imagines he won't be able to land a hit on it. Alopex says Donatello's evaluation doesn't fill her with confidence. Michaelangelo says this is how Donnie gets fired up.

 

Savanti offers chance to make the match more balanced and tells Metalhead to lower his defenses. Mirage Shredder says he's a fool for underestimating a ninja. Savanti says a fool is anyone that charges towards a tank with a toothpick. Shredder says there's something different about this Donatello.

Metalhead starts to open fire and Donatello dodges. He studies the robot's head, shoulders, kneepads and mouth and tries to figure where an alternate version of himself would design it and gets an idea. As he flips behind Metalhead and starts hitting him in the shell, Don monologues on the stereotype of turtles being slow. He says there's a reason that turtles make perfect ninjas.

Donatello dodges Metalhead's flame-thrower and says turtles know what others never try to learn. Turtles show their enemies what they want to see and let them think what they want to think. They do what it takes to keep the element of surprise. Donatello hits the circle on the top of Metalhead's head with his staff. Metalhead falls back and Donatello says no version of himself would a robot without a factory reset.

Donatello says he won and asks if Savanti will honor his word and release everyone. He doesn't expect him to do but he's willing to see a miracle. Savanti says he spared Raphael and Alopex but he will banish Donatello and Metalhead.

The captive Time Lords are angry that Savanti went against his word. One of the masked Time Lords says this is why Savanti doesn't appear in the Saturday Morning Adventures series. Savanti blasts the mask off his face and we see he's Mr. Ogg. Mr. Ogg says not to hit him in the face so he looks his best for the comic's back up feature. Renet asks Romero how it feels to cheat and still lose to a teenager. Savanti gets in her face and tells her not to provoke his wrath.

Donatello and Metalhead land in some deserted area. Donnie is relieved he's still alive and figures this is where his other brothers are. Sure enough, Leonardo and Raphael are there, alongside other versions of themselves. Raph introduces Don to the Archie Comics Raph (in his all-black wrestling costume), who asks how kids can tell them apart if all of them wear red masks. 2003 Leonardo comments that he's glad Donatello got past his recent brush with madness. The Rise version of Donatello likes the metal shell and asks if he has a copyright on it.

 

Donatello asks where they are. Rise Donnie says the place is a collection of temporal waste from all realities. Donatello asks where all the others defeated Turtles are. 2003 Leo says they last time he was there he met an older Battle Nexus-tested version of himself (Mirage Vol 4 Leonardo) who learned that being close to your doppelgangers is dangerous. Being in close proximity to your multiverse counterpart can lead to violence and madness. Raph figured Savanti wants them to go crazy and kill each other. Leo says some other versions of themselves must have really angered Savanti since they barely know him.

2003 Leo says they chose to stay behind to warn newcomers. Rise Donnie says they are still under the effects of the toxic temporal energies and are starting to forget what their life was like before this. Leonardo tells his 2003 counterpart and asks if he can talk to him before they have to separate. Donatello is eager to pick Rise Donnie's brain. Raph wants to spar with Archie Raph.

Both Leonardos sit by a campfire. Leo points to a symbol carved onto a rock structure and says he saw the same symbol in the barracks. 2003 Leo says he remembers carving it so he wouldn't forget what it meant, but that memory is gone now. Leo asks how long does he think he's been there. 2003 Leo doesn't know, it could be week, months or even decades. Leo asks his counterpart how he is so calm about it. 2003 Leo says he's using his faith training.

Leo says he wished he remembered his faith training since that other Shredder really got into his head. 2003 Leo says this Shredder moves like a demon and a Mirage. Leo says this version really hates them and asks how they can defeat him. The 2003 Leo says they've earned their skills through all their battles, wins and loses. If they all destined to be mutants raised as ninjas to fight the Shredder, then he believes they are fated to win. Leo says he doesn't believe in fate. 2003 Leo says if he doesn't believe he can be fated to win, he also can't be fated to lose.

Both Raphs face off and Archie Raph the mutant fox Raph fought must have been someone special. Raph asks if they're only wired for rage, ultraviolence and heartache. Archie Raph he's still a kid and his mutant teenage hormones are out of whack. Raph says they're both the same age. Archie Raph adds he loves his family and there's nothing wrong with getting angry if anyone tries to get to them. As for the heartache, there might still be hope.

Archie Raph says he found someone special. It's still early in the relationship but sometimes he thinks of settling down and opening a small pizzeria together. Raph just stops fighting upon hearing this. Archie Raph shrugs and says crazier things have happened. Raph yells that they haven't.

The two Donatellos examine Metalhead and Donatello says he never seen something like that. Rise Donnie asks if he feels jealous and proud at the same time. Donatello agrees but he says he feels more jealous than proud. He feels he is stuck where he's at and when he wasn't himself, he was letting his brothers down. Rise Donnie points out that Donatello was the only one able to beat Savanti at his own game. He says Donnie's unpredictable oscillations between mysticism and technology gave him the edge. He says he might have blown things up along the way but as his father says 'mistakes are the first step towards growth'. He says he's eager to steal, or study Metalhead for his S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.

Don asks his Rise counterpart what S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N stands for, and he can't remember. Raph asks his Archie counterpart the name of his special lady and he can't remember. Leonardo asks the 2003 version of himself if he can remember his father, and he can't remember. Leonardo yells out to everyone that they can't stay there and let the place destroy them. He asks for ideas. Archie Raph says they've been stuck there forever and haven't figured a way out.

Leonardo asks the two Donatellos if they know anything about the device Savanti is using and if they can make one. The two Donatellos work out some math equations, assuming it works similar to Renet's Time Scepter. Archie Raph says the double-dose of Donatellos is giving him a headache. Raph says he agress but they're lucky they got two Donatellos to science their way out of this.

They have two problems that the Donatellos face, the first one being their lack energy. Romero is using some sort of dark energy they never seen before. The dark energy lingers a bit after another turtle gets sent to their location. If they could make their own Time Scepter, they can use it to grab the power source the next time Savanti banishes someone there. The second problem is they don't have the tools and materials to create such a device. Rise Don says unless Savanti decides to banish super seriously sophisticated equipment over, they're screwed. Leo points towards the deactivated Metalhead and asks if that sounds as super seriously sophisticated equipment. All six Turtles look at Metalhead. 

 

Back to the Battle Nexus, Mirage Shredder tells Savanti that this family of Turtles was more troublesome than expected and he should just let him kill them all. Savanti tells Shredder to watch his tongue or he send him back where he found him, an instant before his defeat (as seen at the end of Mirage TMNT # 1). Savanti says he has saved the most brutal match for last, Slash VS Michaelangelo.

Michaelangelo says Savanti isn't the first maniac he's faced. He says the only way to win this game is to not play at all. Slash leaps onto the battlefield and Mikey jumps out of the way. He says he won't lose another friend and he won't lose any more of his family. Michaelangelo throws his nunchucks to the side and says he won't fight.

 

Back Up Story- 

The 80's Turtles face off against the Archie Turtles, only the Archie crew are in their Stump Wrestling outfits. Raph complains about Mr. Ogg making them fight other turtles in weird costumes and adds they could have least have fought against 'the black and white ones'. Archie Raph says at least his outfit is cool. Archie Mikey wonders about these 'black and white ones'.

Mr. Ogg says he bet 'the continuity wonks' are wondering how he can be both here and captured by Savanti in the main story, as well as having access to some of the captured Turtles. He says it pays to be able to warp time and space.

80's Leo asks Archie Raph if his outfit comes in royal blue, which he says no. 80's Mikey tells Archie Don that he's not really a 'warm color dude' and he agrees. 80's Don flips over Archie Leo, shoving his helmet down on him. Archie Mikey jumpkicks 80's Raph while yelling out 'Cowabunga!'. 80's Raph says he's copying their catchphrases and will call his lawyer.

80's Donnie pins Archie Leo at the same time that Archie Mikey elbow-smashes 80's Raph. Archie Raph asks who won, and Mr. Ogg says it looks like a tie. 80's Leo asks how they will break the tie. We later see Archie Raph and 80's Leo playing chess. Archie Raph says it's a ridiculous way to break a tie.

My Thoughts- 

Now we're finally getting into the multi-verse, and not just for a quick panel cameo. The 2003 Leonardo, Archie Raphael and Rise Donatello are actually part of the story going forward. 

There are still a few comments to make here. A smaller nitpick is Archie Raph's line about 'the kids not being able to tell them apart if they all wore red masks'. First off, while the Archie TMNT started off as adapting the 80's cartoon and then became its own thing... the Turtles weren't constant fourth wall breakers that early into the series run. They confused Archie Raph with the actual 80's Raph. Secondly, the Archie comics TMNT did wear the different colored bandanas, and Raph just liked his wrestling costume. It wasn't something to 'help people tell them apart'.

Second, we finally find out that Mirage Shredder is indeed the Shredder from the first Mirage issue and he was pulled out of his reality moments before his death. We can assume that, similar to Metalhead, Shredder was pit against several versions of the Turtles before facing the IDW ones. I would say the fact that Mirage Shredder was taken out by relatively rookie Turtles would mean he should have had problems against 2003 Leo, 2012 Leo or even PD Leo due to his sheer size and strength. I would say the main edge Mirage Shredder would have is his unrestrained willingness to kill and not just 'somehow smack people back with his blades' like some of the cartoons did. That would be horrible news for 80's Leo, Mutant Mayhem Leo, Rise Leo and definitely Coming Out Of Your Shells Leo.

 

One thing to note is that if Savanti did send Mirage Shredder back to his world, would he now be stronger, faster and better prepared to take out the Mirage Turtles? Or would Savanti wipe his memory first? Savanti seems careless and lets his emotions affect his decisions, so he probably would send Mirage Shredder back, as is. It's not like he'd care if Mirage Shredder took them out anyway. 

We got more cameos, and it was funny to see Mr. Ogg in this story alongside the back-up story. Out of the random cameos Metalhead fought with, probably the most random was Super Rocksteady. I had to look him up because even the 80's cartoon couldn't get it straight. The episode was titled Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady but in the actual episode they were called Super Rocksteady and Mighty Bebop.

The actual match between Donatello and Metalhead was short to give time for the other Turtles stuck in limbo. This is why I feel we needed an extra issue to go heavy into the story and give the matches enough time to breathe. We had a set up issue and then four issues with each one devoted to a match. Somehow we're going to get Mikey VS Slash in the next and final issue while somehow wrapping everything else up. I guess we'll find out how that one will go.

One thing I have to point out is that this is sort of a dark story if you think about all the different kid-friendly versions of the Turtles that were dragged into this bloodbath. Mirage Shredder killed who knows how many kid-friendly versions of the Turtles. It's said that being alongside your counterparts withing that limbo dimension drive you crazy enough to start killing each other, so who knows what kid-friendly versions of the Turtles fell to that fate. We even see Metalhead gun down Muckman from the 80's cartoon, the one where 'that's not how we get rid of bad guys in this show'. Not to mention the fact that the 2012 Donatello never designed Metalhead to ruthlessly gun people down.

Another interesting note is the fact that while Savanti's main issue is against the Mirage Turtles, his vendetta has gone so far he's trying to kill all turtles from all realities. Somehow the IDW Turtles got dragged into the revenge plot caused by some other set of Turtles. They barely know Savanti and they never even met the Mirage Turtles. That's a plotpoint we haven't seen before, or at least not too often. We don't see the Batman Animated Series Joker go after the Adam West Batman over something the George Clooney Batman once did to him.

The back up story was fun, as always, as we see the 80's Turtles fight against the Archie Turtles. For those that remember, the Archie TMNT series started off by adapting the original 5-episode mini-series and the first two episodes of the on-going series. After that the series went in a different more on-going narrative adventure with new villains and new situations. One such adventure had them get new wrestling costumes when they were abducted and forced to fight on Stump Asteroid. Out of the four, Raph chose to keep his outfit for several adventures.

Since, aside from the overall art style, the Archie TMNT wouldn't look much different than the 80's TMNT, it made sense to put them in the wrestling outfits to better tell them apart. It's also worth noting that the Saturday Morning Adventures series is pretty much the second attempt of making comics based on the 80's cartoon, except this time they tried to stick closer to the show than going in a dramatically new direction. Seeing as both teams are pretty much different sides of the same coin, one side forever trying to stop Shredder and Krang from stealing power for the Technodrome, and the other side facing off against Null and Maligna, it makes sense they'd pretty much be a tie.
 

We'll see what happens next issue as things wrap up. I do wonder though, why Savanti didn't also banish Alopex. She also hasn't interacted with Ninjara yet. We also still don't know who the mystery turtle is either.