After getting a Captain America Ninja Turtle sketch cover by Kevin Eastman in 2010 I thought, hey, what if there was an entire TEAM of Teenage Mutant Ninja Avengers? So in 2013, I did this sketch:
I figured, if I was going to use anything as a reference, the cover of Avengers Assemble #1, which was an homage to the DC New 52 Justice League #1, was as good a pose as any, right?
I tried to mash-up the characters in ways that made sense. Leonardo as Captain America, as they’re both the leaders. Thor as Michelangelo because Mjolnir-chucks was a funny idea. Raph as Hulk because they’re both angry. Casey Jones as Iron Man because they wear kind of similar masks. April O’Neil as Black Widow because they’re both redheads that wear jumpsuits. And Donatello as Hawkeye because they both wear purple, and Donnie’s staff is a “bo,” which is pronounced like “bow,” as in the thing Hawkeye uses to fire his arrows.
I scanned in the sketch, then “inked” and colored it in Photoshop:
I had this on my Redbubble store for a while, until Nickelodeon — owner of the TMNT — hit me with a cease-and-desist letter. I think technically shouldn’t be able to do that as this falls under parody, but whatever. I’m not going to fight Paramount’s lawyers over selling like 8 copies of this thing.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters and concepts are owned by Nickelodeon, a division of Paramount. Marvel’s Avengers and all related characters and concepts are owned by Marvel Comics, a division of the Walt Disney Corporation.