WARNING! Spoilers Ahead for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #2Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleshasrevived Raphael’s long-forgotten Nightwatcher alter ego at long last, but with an unexpected twist. Instead of Raphael wearing the mask, it’s Jennika, and her version of the mask is much more than meets the eye. As Nightwatcher’s origin is revealed, so too is the true extent of Jennika’s responsibility as the new Nightwatcher.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher#2 – written by Juni Ba, with art by Fero Peniche – provides the backstory for howJennika, the fifth Ninja Turtle, became the vigilante Nightwatcher.
A massive creature takes young hostages in Mutant Town, so Jennika decides to join the fight and put a stop to the chaos. She manages to hold her own, but gets knocked down, and the creature’s cloak falls off to reveal that he’s a robot who bears a striking resemblance to the Nightwatcher armor.
Who Is TMNT’s Nightwatcher? The Fifth Turtle’s Alter Ego Is Revealed
Nightwatcher’s Origin Undergoes A Major Rewrite
After Jennika sees Nightwatcher’s daunting form, an elderly mutant woman appears and reprimands the armor for his kidnappings, claiming to be his mother. She explains to Jennika that she created the Nightwatcher armor to be a protector for mutantkind. In her youth, she was exposed to bigotry and racial injustice, and she knew that the same would happen for thosetaking refuge in Mutant Town. She constructed Nightwatcher to be focused solely on the protection of mutants with no capacity to be deterred from that core mission.
Jennika made her lore-changing debut as Nightwatcher inFree Comic Book Day 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#1.
However, Nightwatcher’s tunnel vision has proven to be a design flaw. As a machine powered by magic rather than a proper living entity, Nightwatcher isn’t able to detect nuance in a scenario and only acts with cold, mechanical logic. Thus, Nightwatcher starts to kidnap mutants to protect them from dangers on the streets in his misguided attempt at saving mutantkind. The woman tells Jennika,“He needs someone to show him how to be a person.“Thisredefined origin for NightwatchergivesJennika a compelling reason to claim the mantle, in a daring departure from Raphael’s take.
Raphael Laid the Groundwork For Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles' New Nightwatcher
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher#2 – Written By Juni Ba; Art By Fero Peniche, Luis Antonio Delgado, & Nathan Widick; Available Now From IDW Publishing
Raphel first became Nightwatcher in2007’sTMNTmovie, but he wasn’t the one who originated the mantle in that version of continuity. In theTMNT Movie Prequelminiseries – written by Stephen Murphy with art by Fernando Pinto – thetrue originator of Nightwatcheris unveiled. David Merryweather is an old man who is retired from his days of crimefighting as a vigilante when he encounters Raphael. The two become friends, but their friendship reaches a sorrowful end with David’s death. In his final moments, David passes the Nightwatcher mantle down to Raphael, who then makes it his own.
TMNT Gives 1 Sibling a New Design & Codename (& It’s a Direct Insult to Raphael)
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1, one of the turtles steals Raphael’s alter ego and proves to be a better vigilante than he ever was.
The 2007 film finds Raphael fully embracing vigilantism. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles parted ways after their defeat of Shredder, so Raphael gets his fill of crime-fighting as Nightwatcher.Rather than the armor existing as its own being, it’s merely a suit Raphael dons to keep his identity hiddenas he imparts justice through violent combat that’s far more brutal than ninja-like. By the end of the movie, Raphael joins forces with his brothers again and retires his Nightwatcher persona. Seventeen years later, Nightwatcher is back, and Jennika needs the mask in a way Raphael never did.
Nightwatcher Gives Jennika A New Purpose In Ninja Turtles Lore
The Fifth Turtle Finds Her Calling As The New Nightwatcher
At the start ofTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #2, Jennika has been caught a bit of a funk, feeling aimless on her own. She’s always had a clan to fall back on, whether it’sShredder’s Foot Clanor her found family with the ninja turtles, so she struggles to navigate the world as a solo act. Her status as the protector of Mutant Town isn’t enough to assuage her inner turmoil. As she tells the woman,“I don’t know who I’m expected to be.“Now, Nightwatcher finally gives Jennika the drive she’s needed.
Nightwatcher requires someone to guide him, and Jennika is the perfect candidate for the job of mutantkind’s defender.
Jennika crossing paths with Nightwatcher feels destined as the next step for her character. Nightwatcher requires someone to guide him, and Jennika is the perfect candidate for the job of mutantkind’s defender. She’s hesitant at first, but once she wears the armor, she realizes that it lets her hide behind a mask. Therefore, Jennika can fight without being conscious of herself, giving this Nightwater mantle a more profound purpose than Raphael’s.Jennika has become Nightwatcher inside and out, and this new origin story forTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’resident vigilante opens up thrilling possibilities for the future.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
