Few franchises become beloved the way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has. The superheroes captured the audience’s attention from their first appearance in 1984 and haven’t looked back. While one might think that there’s nothing controversial about a bunch of ninja turtles living in the sewer with their rat master, there’s one issue that has gripped social media after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem released their first look at April O’Neil. Fans of the original cartoon took to various social platforms to announce their displeasure at another white character turned black. But is the outrage true or faux-manufactured?
The Original April O’Neil Of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the co-creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, introduced the character of April O’Neil in 1984 in issue 2 of their black-and-white comics. Back then, it was impossible to discern the ethnicity of the woman due to the lack of colors on the page. However, her black curly hair and white skin hinted at her being mixed race. When the cover of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 11 was released, that theory was confirmed. Later, Eastman revealed that O’Neil’s character was based on April Fisher (his then-girlfriend and later ex-wife), who was a mixed-race woman.
The first shouts of whitewashing arose when issues 1 to 11 were reprinted in color and O’Neil was depicted as a white woman sporting red hair. Fast forward to 1986, Eastman and Laird signed deals with Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Productions and Playmates Toys. The latter would make their 2D characters into 3D, and the former would make a cartoon called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1987, that show debuted, and O’Neil was depicted as a Caucasian red-headed woman. This version didn’t change for 32 years till now when the character is visibly Black in the upcoming animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem series. With such a tumultuous history, which version is right?
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Which Version Of April O’Neil Is The Correct One?
In TMNT: Autobiography (2002), Eastman explained that rather than being a case of malicious whitewashing, it was mostly a case of miscommunication. The co-creator explained that Laird had created April O’Neil to be white, while he had based her on his ex-girlfriend. Laird too talked about the issue and explained that for him it’s simply a case of who gets asked about the character.
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As per the co-creator:
“It depends on which co-creator of the TMNT you ask. If you ask me, I always saw April O’Neil as white. If you ask Kevin, I suspect he would say – as he has in a number of interviews – that she was of mixed race, much like his former girlfriend April.”
This explains why there are such wide discrepancies in April O’Neil’s appearance in various TMNT media. As such, the character now being portrayed as Black isn’t too great a leap. After all, in her earliest appearance in the comic book, the character was of mixed race. So it’s perfectly in line for the upcoming show to portray her as leaning heavily towards her Black heritage and give a marginalized community the exposure they deserve in popular media.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be released on 4 August 2023.
