Without Master Splinter, where would the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles be? Even in the early comics, Splinter was in charge of rearing them after being soaked in the goo that turned them all into monsters and teaching them ninjutsu techniques.

The Turtles need Splinter’s training, but where did he learn his skills? The answer to that changes on the medium the Turtles are in, but regardless of the universe, he is consistently among the top martial artists, teaching his boys that there is always more to learn and ways they may improve.

Depending on his medium, he’s either a human or a rat.

The origin of Master Splinter varies depending on the media, although there are generally two. In the original movies and the 2003 animated ones, he begins as a rat who learns martial arts by imitating his instructor, who The Shredder, the head of the Foot Clan, later kills.

However, the 1987 animated film Splinter was originally Hamato Yoshi, who fled to the USA after losing the Foot Clan to Oroku Saki. He got into contact with some strange ooze while helping some turtles in the USA. The ooze transforms whoever touches it into a copy of the last item it felt, making the Turtles more human-like, while Yoshi later touches some rats and becomes Hamato Splinter.

He ascends to the position of a foot clan leader in the IDW comics.

Splinter has a closer connection to the Foot Clan than normal in the IDW comics. He is Hamato Yoshi from hundreds of years ago, who was reincarnated there. In another reality, Yoshi challenges Saki’s authority, prompting Saki to murder Yoshi and his kids (who would later reincarnate as the Turtles).

In the end, Master Splinter would overcome the immortal Shredder in their struggle to command the Foot Clan in the present. Splinter took over as the Foot Clan’s new leader following the incident, putting Leonardo in charge of their extended family.

Tony Shalhoub’s Voices Master Splinter in the 2010 Live-Action Film

There have been two live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie series. The original trilogy is the most well-liked, because of nostalgia and also because of the outstanding design work and ability to blend the cartoon’s humorous bent with the dark tone that fans were familiar with from the comics.

Kevin Clash, also known as Elmo, provides the voice of Splinter in the first two installments of that trilogy. Tony Shalhoub, well-known for a number of roles but most recognized for his involvement in the USA Network series Monk, provides Splinter’s voice in the more recent duology, which has its own fanbase.

In the 1987 animated film Splinter Regains Humanity.

In the episode “Splinter No More” of the 1987 animated series, Splinter was eventually permitted to revert to being a human. In that episode, Donatello consumed enough ooze to reverse-engineer its effects and gave Master Splinter a second chance to assume the identity of Hamato Yoshi.

Splinter could change back into a human with a clear spray, although the effect lasted only a few hours. But after interacting with the human world for a while, he decides he doesn’t want to ever return to being a human and will stay with his students.

The Rat King was once defeated by Splinter by taking control of his robotic rats.

The 1987 animation features many of Turtle’s antagonists, some of which are not very good. The Turtles and Splinter fight the Rat King in the fourth season episode of the show, “Splinter Vanishes.” Due to Splinter’s partial rat ancestry, the Rat King was able to manipulate him several times in the series’ early episodes. He can fend off this attack and gain control of the Rat King’s rats thanks to “Splinter Vanishes.”

The Rat King and Leatherhead are employing robots to seize control of the city, but with Splinter’s assistance, the Turtles can thwart their schemes and order the robots to be destroyed.

The 1987 animated character Splinter is terrified of cats.

April turns into a cat in the second season episode of the 1987 series “The Cat Woman From Channel Six” after having her DNA partially mixes with a cat due to a teleporter.

There were a lot of cats in the episode, and Donatello tried to use his staff to fend off a tiger, but finally, one of the cats goes inside the Turtles’ base. Despite simply being a domestic cat, Master Splinter just about manages to chase it away before confessing the one thing that genuinely frightens him.

Shredder provided the voice of Master Splinter for the 2012 animated film.

The realm of voice acting is always intriguing since actors frequently play characters who are either quite different from themselves or very similar to them in previous roles.

Throughout the years, Hoon Lee, who played several parts in both live-action and animated productions, provided the voice of Splinter when the Ninja Turtles made their television debut on Nickelodeon in 2012. However, in the most recent Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the actor was chosen to portray Oroku Saki, who serves as both the Turtles’ most significant ally and their deadliest foe.

Splinter can see in the dark when in his rat form.

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles attempted to indicate that people who were transformed into animals would also acquire certain traits from the creatures with which they were combined.

When April transformed into a cat, she was compelled to move and even purr like a cat. As for Master Splinter, he claims in “Splinter No More” that he has been able to aid the Turtles by using his night vision, which unquestionably qualifies him as a great ninja.

In the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, he fused with Alfred.

There are three separate Batman/TMNT crossover arcs in the comics. Except for the final one, each has interactions between the characters in their worlds. In that one, the worlds of the Turtles and Batman are combined, weakening both universes.

Batman enrolls as a pupil under the Master Splinter, who also has an affinity with Alfred and is in charge of integrating Batman into the Turtles’ training program.

Splinter achieved Battle Nexus Champion status in the 2003 animated film

In the TMNT television series from 2003, the main characters find out that Splinter is not only their father but also a renowned warrior known as the Battle Nexus Champion.

He triumphs the first time in the name of his master Hamato Yoshi and then makes an effort to compete a second time covertly in an effort to protect his kids from the hazards of the competition. In the end, Master Splinter gives up by letting one of his kids die so that someone else might strive to win.

Conclusion

The Ninja Turtles’ half-father through adoption and instructor is named Master Splinter. Although he taught the Turtles the technique of Ninjutsu, they had not yet attained the level of master ninja. Master Splinter is responsible, aggressive, and adult. He fights with several ninja techniques and a variety of ninja weapons. Any evil who wants to hurt his boys must first go through him. If you liked this post, you may also want to read our post on the complete history of Crimson Chin.