One of the things that always stuck out to me as a casual fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the running gag about the untapped potential of Michaelangelo. The lackadaisical youngest turtle brother never took to training seriously, unlike his older brothers.
But, The Ancient One and Master Splinter always said that he had the most aptitude for ninjutsu if he only stuck to it. So, growing up, I always wondered, "what would happen if Michaelangelo tapped into that potential?"
Many years and several live-action adaptations, comic books, animated shows, and games later, a five-issue miniseries that came out in 2020 somewhat answered this question.
In a nutshell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is a comic book series set in an alternate future where, as hinted by the name, only one of the four turtle brothers survived. After teasing about identity of the surviving turtle (prior to the reveal, most thought it was Donatello or Raphael), readers found out that it's none other than Michaelangelo.
Gruff, disheveled, and lacking the carefree attitude that once defined him, this future vengeful version of Michaelangelo had realized his ninjutsu potential by force with only one goal in mind - to avenge his fallen family.
The Last Ronin isn't the first (and probably won't be the last) story run to take a stab at the "alternate, old version of goofy superhero becomes serious and takes revenge" trope but it was well done. So good, in fact, that it's being turned into a video game.
Polygon sat down with Doug Rosen, Senior Vice President for Games and Emerging Media at Paramount Global, where they revealed that an unnamed developer is working on a AAA action title that takes inspiration from the aforementioned comic book.
Rosen also revealed that this still-untitled game will break away from TMNT gaming tradition by focusing exclusively on the surviving turtle. Just like the source material, the titular Last Ronin will have access to the weapons of his fallen brothers. It isn't clear if the video game adaptation will feature Michaelangelo as the lead character, but, we're certainly hoping for this. After all, if something ain't broken, why fix it?
Finally, Rosen compared the Last Ronin video game to Sony's more recent God of War outings, presumably 2018's God of War and its sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, which came out to critical acclaim last year.
The possibility of playing a turtle brother who can switch weapons and fighting styles on a whim in a game like God of War certainly brings excitement to mind.
Unfortunately, Rosen refused to reveal more about the Last Ronin game, only saying that it's still "a few years" away from coming out. This would effectively mean that there's another "AAA" TMNT game that's coming out later this year, as per a report we wrote last year. Of course, the company's plans could have changed since then. But, we're leaning more toward the former. You can never have too much TMNT, right?
The power of nostalgia has brought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back into the forefront of mainstream media. The Last Ronin isn't the only TMNT project that's currently in development. An animated movie inspired by Sony's SpiderVerse films is set to premiere on August 4.
