It seems that Rat King is about the age of The Shredder and refers to dueling diamayo[s in Japan and is the brother of Kitsune. How he himself lived this long or returned like his sister and brother-in-law is not revealed.

What does Leo realize he has to do to beat The Shredder?

Remember when people suspected from the CityFall solicitations, that Leo goes double agent, and infiltrates Foot? Maybe, he convinces Shredder hat he is on his side again, he was just confused before.


Or maybe he ment using Krang & Shredder against each other, like Rat King did with Leo & Splinter?

Hmmm....interesting, I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but if that's the case, I wonder if RK will be making an appearance in Turtles in Time #2 which is set Feudal Japan??? I guess we'll just have to wait and see next week!

I'm not as well versed in TMNT lore as some so I know little about the Rat King aside from his old cartoon appearance. Making him an entity similar to Kitsune, with his own agenda, is certainly an interesting way to go as it adds another layer to the massive number of sides in this battle, and leaves us with the unsettling feeling that everyone, heroes and villains, are being manipulated by something else.

Seeing Krang and Shredder together at the end was a bit of a surprise given the end of Utrom Empire. But then we don't really know how this is all going to pan out. I've sort of assumed Shredder and Krang will eventually end up in their cartoon status of "Allies who hate each other" at some point but Leo may be taking the Rat King's subliminal message as an idea to have them fight each other.

The visual repetition of the dream sequences was a nice touch, letting us know, without showing it, that Leo and Splinter were actually facing each other. As impressive as Leo was for immediately recognizing he was being manipulated, he was almost too smart for his own good when he injured Splinter assuming everything was completely fake.

I'll repeat what I said in the other thread that bringing April's parents into New York at this time might be something they regret, although April's father may know something about the ooze that can help them.

The Rat King and Kitsune are "siblings." By that I take it they're similar demon-like/elder god-style beings who have been wrangling for control of Earth for eons. My long-running hunch has been that Kitsune is more than she's let on and she's just using Shredder; guess this is more or less confirmation. But the big thing that stands out to me is that there are presumably more beings like the two of them still to come. Here's to hoping Kitsune and the Rat King have a brother called Null who likes to pose as a human businessman. :D ...Seriously though, after this issue I feel like that would be the perfect way to work him into this series.

We knew it had to happen eventually, right? I can't wait to see how defective their partnership is, however brief it may be. I don't know that I expect them to be like an old married couple a la the cartoon, but I'm hoping they spend a few panels before #50 bickering with each other just for old time's sake. And of course I assume this is an alliance doomed to go down in flames, probably in spectacular fashion, whether the turtles interfere or not.

What Kitsune actually is was the last major mystery in the series that hadn't been addressed at all, and I had honestly kind of forgotten about that. I'm glad that it won't be long before we get the skinny on that as well as what was going on between her and The Iron Demon back in the day.