The Rat King: The villain with a thousand faces - TMNT 1987

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Thanks for watching! Don't forget to leave a theory and/or vote for your favorites!

[@lucasgibbs4050]

Saturday Morning Adventures is in the exact same universe as the 87 universe.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

In the Cowabunga Collection, there’s a cheat that lets you play as 2 of the bosses. One of them is the Rat King.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@lucasgibbs4050 For now.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

@@TheTurtleNexus and probably for good, and for good reason.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

What video will you do an updated version of next?

[@williamkerfoot8039]

For what little we got of him in the 2012 series, this guy proved to be a rare psychological adversary for both Splinter and the TMNT. How many villains from the franchise can say that?

[@PaulSebert]

I think the Rat King became a lot more interesting to me once I learned that domesticated rats are both highly intelligent and capable of displaying empathy. He's a social misfit finding kinship with misunderstood creatures.

[@Hack_Man_VII]

I always thought Rat King was a failed scientist. He was smart enough to make his soda pop bombs, but his ego lead him to aim beyond his abilities. Maybe an exposure to a bad chemistry mixture caused him to gain mental powers in exchange for going crazy. The flute could be how he initially hypnotizes his rats, and only he gains full mental links to them after he spends enough time with them.

[@p344y]

Rat King is my favorite TMNT antihero. This is awesome

[@Flashshadow]

Something just occurred to me. Have we ever seen Rat King interact with Baxter Stockman or the Mousers? 🤔

[@TheTurtleNexus]

No (or at least, not this version).

[@Flashshadow]

@@TheTurtleNexus I didn’t think so. I just found it strange that we have all these TMNT adaptations/stories, yet we somehow never once had the Rat King encounter the Mousers. Much less Baxter Stockman… 🤔

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@Flashshadow It almost happened for the second live action movie, but the studio decided to go in a different direction.

[@Flashshadow]

@@TheTurtleNexus Man, and Secret of the Ooze was one of my earliest introductions to TMNT… 😅

[@noodle3384]

hes my favorite villain. still waiting for a movie of some type

[@pinkfoxboi1331]

I think he's a some kinda of ethereal being that takes many forms but none are his true form and is like a phantom of sorts like a boogeyman that maybe doesn't just control the rats but also may just be all the rats desire to survive given a visible corporeal looking form...

[@stevenrobinson9856]

Sewer Surfin!!!!!

[@lestersmiley1781]

Townsend Coleman? Spooooooon!!

[@Icebot7]

He was also in Donatello’s Duplicate (season 5).

[@kinglord7707]

Rat King meets Marvels Squirrel Girl would be interesting

[@terrysyvertson9205]

i think the rat king was a lawyer but ended up becoming so overwhelmed with so many cases it caused him to have a serious mental breakdown and started becoming mentally unwell he started loving in the sewers and wearing the clothing he wears now and starting believing he was the king of rats

[@tmrevenge]

That reminds me of the joke that scientists started using lawyers for experiments instead of rats. Because sometimes they would get attached to rats and because there were a few things even rats would not do

[@cuginkcain5430]

My favorite villain back then.

[@srstriker6420]

Thanks for noticing my comment on the theory, but I guess you knew about the they’re making a fan comic on the Forever war but it’s a shame that the 2003 version of the rat king wasn’t used more often because he only had 3 episodes which the last one was a cameo and there was a drawing of a storyboard where he steals a butcher van and gives the meat to a bunch of rats. I did reimagined him as a Solider so maybe that’s where I got the idea from along with Heath Ledger’s Joker origin theory

[@nonyabizness3758]

Rat king has always been a favorite of mine

[@srstriker6420]

Mine too

[@pinkfoxboi1331]

Same so mysterious and cool

[@derekbates4316]

He's long overdue to appear in films.

[@disneyboy3030]

I do wonder if the new comic is set before Season 8 or its in its own continuity.

[@alfredojacome2027]

They are taking place before season 8

[@midwestmonster9886]

8:51 looks like WWE's Undertaker

[@cleofaspintolimalima1627]

Wonderfully rat kind ❤❤❤❤ like personagens so much

[@mattmann8422]

I always thought this character was poorly written on the original TV show. They never gave him any kind of back story. How did he end up in the sewers? What is his actual name? Why didn't the Turtles do better detective work on him and look into these details? Wouldn't important information like that have better helped them defeat him? He appears to be 100% human yet was able defeat and capture a mutant alligator in the episode where he first encountered Leatherhead. If he ended up in the sewers because he was poor, it sure doesn't show it in the way his body is built. Certainly looks muscular and not in bad health. After the first episode in which he appeared, he just seemed like a pointless character that just showed up for the sake of letting the audience know he was still around causing trouble. No back story, poorly managed character. Even Baxter Stockman the dimwitted Fly had a meaningful back story. He was an important part of Shredder and Krang's operation from the very beginning as a human scientist long before he mutated into a Fly. But the Rat King sadly never had his back story filled in any meaningful way. Very poorly handled by writters.

[@Ivanculina1]

Interesting

[@youtubehandlescostmemyusername]

Dennis Leary or Willam Dafoe

[@rebeccavolbeda8744]

0:07 is that batman

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Bat King... maybe.

[@jeffwolcott7815]

What I want to know is why dose the Rat King have a bandana around his nose?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I don't know, that came from the original comic design.

[@srstriker6420]

You know this Rat king almost comes off a annoying neighbour like you see in sitcoms, but have you seen Mutant Mayhem and into the spider Verse and sequel where that there is a thing called the Bagel effect as that did lead to the sequel villain called the Spot well as for Mutant Mayhem did notice that when the turtles were looking for Superfly by going around beating up street gangs that where one of was willing to rat the Superfly out which the guy looked very rat like which I wonder will he be that version’s rat king? You know when he gets arrested both the series and the comics you think he should put in a mental hospital the same one where Baxter Stockman when during season 1?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I did notice the odd appearance of that gangster in the movie. I don't think he'll be Rat King (he could end up being someone like Dirtbag).

[@srstriker6420]

@@TheTurtleNexus right then where would Groundchuck be if you think that guy will be Dirtbag, do you think Cynthia Utrom is really an Utrom or are they trying to misdirect us and most of all how would the Shredder fit in the sequel like the 2014 movie there is no Hamato Yoshi in both of them as he is supposed to be the Uncle Ben to Splinter and the turtles Spider-Man as you think that Spider-Man doesn’t get any creative freedom.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@srstriker6420 They have time to introduce all the mutants (in the upcoming series). I do think Cynthia Utrom is an utrom. And most of the people working for her were aliens as well (the antenna behind them gives them away and that could explain why Splinter stabbed them in the head). However I think Cynthia Utrom is going to be Krang in particular. As for how the Shredder fits in this... I think he will be the reason for the turtles to become real ninjas. But I am not sure they will adapt Shredder as plan old Oroku Saki. They may race-bend him, and/or make him an alien as well. I say this because they stayed away from the Japanese side of things in the origin.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

They might make him Japanese. Seth Rogen does like to go for authenticity sometimes. The last two movie Shredders were Japanese.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@lucasgibbs4050 the Michael Bay Shredder was accidentally Japanese (after poor reaction on them making Shredder white), but there is nothing in that story that justified his Japanese roots. So I just hope they do a Shredder that makes sense at least on paper.