I know I've said this before, but I SERIOUSLY enjoy the summaries on this channel. They are always _so_ concise and thorough! My favorite (animated) introduction of Leatherhead was in the 2003 _TMNT_ cartoon. He was introduced as a *terrifying* monster, aggressively chasing poor Mikey through the sewer waters. Compare this version to his goofy, Cajun stereotyped, gumbo counterpart from the 1987 cartoon. It was WORLDS different and a HUGE improvement in every way. This has also got me wondering if DC's Killer Croc had any influence on Leatherhead's character. (although the idea posited at the beginning of this video, i.e. of Leatherhead being a sort of amalgamation of the urban legend of alligators in the sewers /and Spider-man's Dr. Curtis Connors/Lizard man truthfully makes MUCH more sense.)
Thank you for your words. Killer Croc wasn't always the beast he is now. In the eighties, back when he was involved in the origin of Jason Todd, he was basically a deformed gangster. As time went by, writers came in and started doing more interesting things with the character and he started being more and more like a monster. So while they were a little similar to each other, I think they were different enough overall. In recent decades, Killer Croc changed a lot and started looking more and more like Leatherhead. I think he went full Leatherhead during "Batman: Hush".
Update Leatherhead and Dr. X dies in mirage continuity in tmnt origin graphic novel by illusion studios andrew modeen, mark pellegrini, dan berger, arseniy dubakov, courtland brugger, dmitry bobrovnik, lenar sharipov in a battle against ch'rell first and last mirage appearance and leatherhead sacrificing himself to get rid of a bomb
Honestly the Dr x probably would of encouraged the decision leatherhead made to go back to Earth. They clearly cared for Leatherhead, and would knowing that he's a target for the cultist faction would probably make them think "Oh heck no baby gator ain't safe here no more" and tell him to go As for the ability for the mutant reptiles to survive the sewers, they were all mutated into human hybrids, being the last thing they all touched. It might make sense their blood is likely not fully cold.
The mutation mechanics were different in the Mirage comics. You didn't really need to touch an animal to mutate (also, mutants were very very rare in these comics). I can imagine the Utroms letting Leatherhead go, to avoid another situation like that.
What color was he? When his story was adapted into the 2003 series, he was an albino (or off-white) alligator, just like the 1988 cartoon version. But he stayed an albino once he mutated. (Given most of the Mirage stories are black-and-white or colorless, this may be tough to answer.)
He was made albino in the cartoon because they were trying to make it similar to Moby Dick. It was a one scene joke. :p I've seen him in covers and he was always green.
Mmm... that one is from 1976. It's hard to tell if it could have been an inspiration for Ryan Brown. But given that in the end, that wasn't a real alligator nor a mutant, I don't think so. However, Wally Gator is clearly an inspiration for the toy/cartoon/Archie version... I assume.
