The badass blind vigilante known as Daredevil
and the reptilian brothers collectively known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
, share far more in common than it seems, with their ninja skills, acrobatic talents, and New York City-based adventures being only a few of their shared similarities. With all the crossovers happening in comics lately, why haven’t Daredevil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles officially met yet? The answer isn’t as complicated as fans might think.
Created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael have crossed over with their share of comic properties over the years, with their multiversal shenanigans seeing them step into the worlds of Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, and most recently, the anime and manga series, Naruto.
In an interview with AIPT, popular industry artist Freddie E. Williams II, the superstar behind the iconic visuals seen in the Batman/TMNT crossover trilogy, 2022’s Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, 2024’s Turtles of Grayskull series, and more, Freddie explains how a Marvel x IDW collaboration featuring Daredevil and TMNT is the next crossover he’d love to draw, held up by nothing but a deal between parent companies.
A Daredevil x TMNT Crossover Is Something Artist Freddie E. Williams II Is Hoping To Draw
This Crossover Would Be a “Dream Come True” for Freddie
After speaking on some of his work on Turtles of Grayskull alongside editor Brett Israel, Freddie is asked “If you could draw a crossover between any two other toy/cartoon franchises from the ‘80s or ‘90s, what would your dream pick be?” Responding that he would love to draw characters from The Pirates of Dark Water, Thundarr the Barbarian, Gargoyles, and even SilverHawks cartoons, Freddie finally admits that if he could choose just one and “make it happen” it would be “a Daredevil and Ninja Turtle crossover,” something that would make a whole lot of sense from a canonical perspective.
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Explaining how fans would “go wild” for this team-up, Freddie describes how there are “PLENTY of canonical connections between the two properties” — in TMNT’s first issue, for example, Eastman and Laird subtly laid the groundwork tying Daredevil’s origin to TMNT’s — and how it’d be a “dream come true” for him to work on. Far from the first time a creator has floated the idea of bringing Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Raph, and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen together, the fact that Williams has already drawn a slew of crossovers for various companies and properties bodes well for an official comic series.
How Probable Is an Official Daredevil x TMNT Crossover Event in the Comic Space?
Marvel and IDW Just Need To Make a Deal
While Freddie E. Williams II is up for continuing his streak of being the go-to artist for cross-company storytelling, TMNT’s publisher, IDW, along with Marvel, will still need to work out a deal to make an official crossover happen. Luckily, the fact that Marvel has been more open to allowing their characters to share the same space with other properties recently — the current Alien vs Avengers book, Godzilla vs Marvel series, and upcoming Predator vs Spider-Man comic being prime examples — it isn’t out of the question that Daredevil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could meet sooner rather than later.
Source: AIPT
- Created by
-
Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird
Summary
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.
