They were created in New York’s sewers after being exposed to chemical ooze. Now the world’s strangest heroes are back in a new movie, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” out Thursday. To prepare you, here are 10 things you might not know about the heroes in a half shell.
1. The Turtles began life in a black-and-white, underground comic book back in 1984. The series, created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, was actually aimed at a mature audience. The Turtles drank and swore, and the comic contained plenty of bloody violence. Once the creators struck a deal with Playmates Toys, the company asked them to tone down the Turtles. “It probably affected Pete more than it did me,” Eastman told The Comics Journal in 1998. “He was really upset about it, and even today he’s very much of a purist as far as the Turtles go.”
2. In the 1980s cartoon, the voice of villain Shredder was provided by the late James Avery, who played Uncle Philip on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
3. During the first four years of Turtlemania, beginning in 1988, some $1.1 billion worth of toys were sold. The Turtles are the third bestselling toy property of all time, behind only “G.I. Joe” and “Star Wars.”
4. The first movie, 1990’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” was directed by Steve Barron, the man responsible for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video.
5. When the current film was announced, word leaked that the origin of the Turtles was going to be changed to make them aliens. Fans were outraged. Rewrites were reportedly ordered, and now the movie contains a winking exchange in which Will Arnett says, “So, they’re aliens?” Megan Fox replies, “No, that’s stupid. They’re turtles.”
6. The four Turtles were nearly joined by a fifth. Eastman and Laird had planned to introduce Kirby, named after comic book legend Jack Kirby, in an aborted fourth live-action movie in the 1990s. The studio insisted that the new Turtle, however, be female. The creators balked. A female turtle named Venus de Milo was later introduced in the 1997 TV series “Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.”
7. Eastman estimates that he grossed $50 million in 1991. He had so much money that his accountants urged him to find ways to spend it so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes. He eventually launched a failed publishing company and a now-shuttered comic book museum.
8. Vanilla Ice, who appeared in 1991’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze,” isn’t a fan of the new movie’s theme song, “Shell Shocked.” “It feels a little artificial — what I mean by that is that it sounds like a bunch of executives in the corporate world put it together,” the rapper told GQ. “I think you have to understand, and be a true Ninja, to possess the Magic to really pull off the secret sound.”
9. Pizza Hut and Domino’s battled to sponsor the pie-loving heroes upon the release of the 1990 movie. Pizza Hut won. The chain recently introduced four pizza recipes “based upon the personalities of each Turtle.” Each had to be approved by the studio, Paramount, to make sure Leonardo would really eat onions, black olives, green peppers and mushrooms.
10. A young Sam Rockwell plays a small role in the 1990 movie. In a nod to the comic’s creators, he tells police to “go check out the East Warehouse over at Lairdman Island.”