
Fans of comic books are ecstatic since it has been proven that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are Black teens in human form.
The main brand originated in 1984 as a comic book series developed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and has since expanded to include cartoons, films, novels, toys, and more.
It follows four turtles that evolved to become sentient and anthropomorphic and were educated as ninjas by their rat sensei Master Splinter, as the title indicates.
The four, named after artists Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo, reside under New York City’s sewers and emerge to battle crime.
Fans of the series have always believed that the four are based on Black adolescents, and a new comic book has proven this hypothesis.
In the issue, the turtles hook up with the Power Rangers for the Boom Studios Power Rangers series, and they use a hologram to turn into humans in order to fly under the radar.
A page from the comic has circulated on social media, depicting the four characters as Black teenage lads, with one commenting, ‘Everyone’s gazing,’ and another explaining, ‘Because these holograms make us seem hella dope, bro.’
It’s the first time Leonardo and Raphael have been exposed as Black while human, however Donatello and Michaelangelo were converted in a previous crossover issue courtesy to a hologram generated by Don and Blue Ranger Billy.
As the new issue was published, readers grew emotional, with one calling it ‘monumental… especially for us black fans who have been in the trenches being hounded by trolls.’
‘Holy f*** I’m gonna go cry because at first they only showed Mikey and Donnie, but now Raph and Leo are too,’ one wrote along with a series of crying and heart emojis.
They added: ‘My Turtle Boys are all BLACK LIKE ME!!!! Y’all my TURTLE BOYS ARE BLACK!!!!’
‘These feelings of joy I have right now is overwhelming,’ one fan penned.

‘The glow up is immaculate,’ another wrote, while yet another admitted they were ’emotional for a weird reason.’
It comes as TMNT fans brace for the release of Seth Rogen’s version on a Turtles film later this year.
The Pineapple Express star, 41, is working on a fully-animated feature-length picture that he has previously characterised as ‘very personal.’
‘It’s a teenage movie, we’re putting a lot of our own sentiments — of shyness and insecurity and a want to belong and be accepted and all that — into the movie,’ the producer said of the pizza-loving turtles that dwell in the sewers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will hit theatres in August 2023.