The future era of the Mirage TMNT (detailed chronolgically by me)
 

Got the urge to put this together today and spent all afternoon and evening researching and writing it up:

The (mysterious) Future Era of the Mirage Universe

I decided to gather every story that gave us a look at the mysterious future era of the TMNT and piece them together chronologically, detailing how they reference one another and where they contradict one another.


Let me know if I missed any tidbits and I'll add them in, but I think I got most everything. I *almost* forgot about the epilogue in Tales (Vol. 2) #55 until Adam Winters reminded me about it (and a good thing, too, since there's some pretty important info in there).

Anyway, the future era always confused the Hell out of me, but now that I've got it all laid out chronologically, it does offer a pretty coherent (if ocassionally contradictory) narrative.

Also, it's crazy-depressing, man.

Really well-written article, and after reading all that, the Turtles future timeline really does make sense, doesn't it?

I guess it can be said that only parts of the world were flooded, while Japan in all versions managed to survive, as seen in the year 2060 with Raph and again in 2099 or so.

I agree that Shadow obviously blinded Donatello somehow, most likely by accident, but it caused a riff in the family. Raphael being in Tokyo in 2060 shows that he at least still travels for awhile before going insane and losing his mind. Mike is left a mystery.

And I think its also implied Donatello may be the last Turtle left alive, if that blinded Donatello and the simulation was any indication.

We can assume Casey died, and April may have very well faded to the Kirby Dimension like her other, "sisters" that failed. I guess Shadow would be an old lady herself in 2099 or dead herself.

Anyway, Mirage really did have a good story here, while leaving things open for the fans to decide. The only problem is this story is spread out through back-up stories, Tales issues, the Tales 2007 collected book, and other specials....that only the most hardcore fans probably track all this stuff down to read it coherently.

Shame there can't be a collected book that collects, "Future TMNT stories," as you've done in your article, so we can read through it coherently rather than randomly searching various issues and back-up stories.

EDIT: And I forgot to add, this is the best damn ending the Mirage universe could ever get. Even if Vol. 4 is never completed, we still know how the story, "ends" so it is still fullfilling and gives us closure.

Good work, Spengs. Very good theories on your ordering, though I might not necessarily agree with all of them (for reasons below).

-I always interpreted Raphael living in the swamp was less about him being senile than going feral. Something like out of the bible with going into the wilderness and living with pain in your heart, acting like an animal. His physical faculties don't seem to have deteriorated along with his mind, though I know the two don't always go hand in hand. So I'd prefer to think that he went feral after whatever happened to the family (supposedly Shadow hurting Don, though there could be more), eventually mellowed out as much as he ever was going to and then would see his brothers from time to time.

-Donatello going blind was more a thematic decision (just as Raphael losing an eye was, even in Archie for a completely different timeline) that came out of the late 90s. For a fourth movie pitch that morphed into the "Next Mutation" series, Donatello would be blind but have techno goggles that let him see anyway. This worked its way into being Donatello's future look. This could explain what's going on at Radical's funeral.

-It's a possible future and it's depressing. I don't buy it.

That's a good alternative, I'll admit.

If that were the case, then "A Christmas Carol" could also fit nicely immediately after "Dark Shadows". I imagine Raph was monstrously pissed after losing his eye, which could account for his feral behavior. With that in mind, "Choices" could make for a nicer ending for his arc, as he finds peace protecting the animals of the swamp.

That could definately work, too, now that you mention it. Maybe I'll reorder my chronology to reflect that idea, since it also works better with Raph's physical appearance in "Choices" (where he looks geriatric) as oposed to "A Christmas Carol" (where he looks more middle-aged).

Good call.


EDIT: Swapped it around and it DOES work a whole lot better in this order. Updated the Notes and my Conclusion to reflect the new order. Definately like the idea of Raph peacefully spending his twilight years protecting forest animals over his going senile and berserk in a murky hellhole.

Off hand, one omission in your treatment has come to mind: the cryptic prophecy of Splinter's death and Donatello's trip to Japan to bury him in Volume 2, #1.

Off to read more of the list!

shame that some of that future stories were publised as back up stories, i didn`t know about the "christmas carol" or the Treasury Edition...

good article, i posted some questions there...

Ah! I just remembered another easily forgotten future snippet!

The framing device scenes of "Triptyche" (Tales Volume 2, #38 ) where we see an old (but not exceedingly old) Leonardo (at least I think it's Leo) remembering Master Splinter and the story of their first encounter with Leatherhead. When the memory ends, Leonardo climbs a ladder onto the deck of what appears to be a futuristic submarine.

Great write-up! At least Leo doesn't "die a virgin" har har!

Huh? :tconfuse:

Read the article.

Maybe not so sad for warriors ninja turtles in older ages...but very painful and sad for a humble fan .... ( :cry: )....Great work anyway!! Congrats!

wow, what a depressing read. Good job though you are a very good and analytic writer. I can't say I would have had the motivation to put something together like that if it didn't involve my job. Props for you.

I guess this is brutatly realistic take, most people tend to drift apart from their loved ones instead of staying together and this ending for the turtles refeltcs that. Though considering how strong and beautiful the family element is with the turtles it's doubly tragic to see them all die (or seem to) all alone with out each other.

I wonder why Mike's fate was left so undetailed though. That sort of annoys me.

Wow, talk about grim. I prefer the happier endings of the other universes. Frankly, I do.

If Raphael dies peacefully in the swamp when he is last seen, then the order of death would be:

1) Michelangelo
2) Raphael
3) Leonardo
4) Donatello

Even before that Tales special edition, many people had speculated that Donatello would be the last one to die. Whether it had to do with actual events in the plot, or more to do with his calmer temperament, I am not sure. Perhaps both.

I really wish Murphy didn't use the same ideas in both comic series. He took Raph's eye patch and the water levels rising sinking coastal cities and put it in the Archie series too, which came after a lot of this initial Mirage stuff.

And also Mike being a writer apparently, which also happens in the Cyber-Turtles story.

I like it! Makes the two universes seem more connected.

Mike dies first and gets no story. Is there no one that thinks he deserves more than little brother syndrome and/or being totally ignored?

:roll:

This is why I prefer the Archie Universe Future Turtles. They stick together through the generations.

Though it seems more doubtful every passing month that we'll see it - maybe Peter Laird will give Mike some closure when he releases the rest of the plot to his TMNT v4 arc, as Mike is currently out having adventures off of Earth in that series, he could fall into a very interesting future situation.

Yea, I wanna see that get some closure. But I'm not holding my breath. Laird's taking a well-deserved break from Turtles.

So, I haven't read the Plastron Cafe short, but why can't Don be blind there as well?

I don't see what the difference is between him "seeing" his holographic brothers in Plastron Cafe and him "seeing" his holographic brothers in the Tales collection. But I guess it's moot.

Anyway, I love all the future stuff. It's one of my favorite things about the series, the fact that we get these realistically bleak glimpses of what happens. You might want to include mention of other stories that hint at the Turtles' future. The ending of "Rocks" deserves a shout out.

It should be clear by the time you get to "City at War" that the Mirage version of the story doesn't lean toward sappiness. I would like this series significantly less if the (sometimes bittersweet) flow of time were not a major focus.

But this is also the only version where the Turtles and Splinter aren't, strictly speaking, good people. They're often selfish or vengeful or narrow-minded. Cha Ocho hits a real chord when he criticizes Leo's point of view at the end of "Scars" (which is another series highlight). Realistically there's just no way these guys are headed for a happy-go-lucky finale. The Turtles here are complex characters; they get more complex endings than settling down for a pizza together.