Leatherhead as he is seen in the Mirage Comics: Volume 1 incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Leatherhead was originally an ordinary alligator who escaped a pet store during a robbery and found his way into the sewers. While in the sewers, Leatherhead was found by a pair of TCRI Utroms, who decided to bring the creature to their headquarters. During his stay with the Utroms, Leatherhead was exposed to mutagen, which mutated him into a humanoid and intelligent form.
Leatherhead is separated from the Utroms when the TCRI building self-destructs. The now-homeless Leatherhead lives in the sewers, where he is continually attacked by big-game hunter Jack Marlin. After aiding Leatherhead in defeating Marlin, the Turtles allow Leatherhead to live in their old home.
Four Foot Clan ninjas encounter Leatherhead in the sewers. Fearing that Leatherhead would kill them, the ninjas promise to aid him in creating his Transmat Device. Accepting the help, Leatherhead and the ninja set to work creating the Transmat, only to be interrupted by the Turtles. After a brief skirmish, the Turtles learn that the Foot Ninja are actually helping Leatherhead. Embarrassed by the incident, the Turtles decide to aid Leatherhead. The Transmat device is completed, but explodes before it can be used. Enraged, Leatherhead kills his two Foot assistants and vows revenge on the Turtles.
He has also appeared in two issues of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2. In issue #8, a mentally unstable and delusional Leatherhead is discovered by Raphael to be building another Transmat Device. Leatherhead seems to harbor a grudge against Donatello and nearly kills Raphael when he mistakes him for Donatello. Once the Transmat Device is finished, it suddenly activates and causes three Utroms to appear. These Utroms blast Leatherhead with a ray gun and take him away, destroying the Transmat Device as they leave.
In issue #23, the Turtles are recruited by the Utroms to save Leatherhead from a renegade group of Utrom radicals called "The Illuminated", the same ones who took him away in issue #8, in attempts to clone him into an army of mutants to aid in their world "cleansing" agenda. It is revealed that the Illuminated were secretly drugging Leatherhead, which healed his missing eye and caused him to subconsciously build the second Transmat Device. The Turtles rescue Leatherhead, defeat the clones, and aided in the destruction of the Illuminated. Leatherhead returns to Earth with the Turtles.
Image Comics (vol. 3)
After two children are found killed and half-eaten in the sewers, Leonardo comes to believe that Leatherhead may have been responsible. Tracking down Leatherhead, Leonardo finds him gagged and bound. Before he can free Leatherhead, Leonardo is attacked by King Komodo and his monitor lizard minions, the actual killers of the children.
Engaging King Komodo in battle, Leonardo kills King Komodo's minions, only to end up being knocked unconscious with his hand bitten off. Waking up hours later, Leonardo frees Leatherhead. The two, along with Michelangelo and Casey Jones, defeat King Komodo.
Leatherhead, his feud with the Turtles forgotten, introduced them to Dr. X, an Utrom left behind from when the TCRI building collapsed. Together with Dr. X, Leatherhead assembles a new Transmat Device. The signal projected from the device lures a group of Triceratons to Leatherhead's lair. Engaging the Triceratons in battle with the Turtles and their allies, Leatherhead mauls several of them. The last remaining Triceraton activates a "portable, short-range matter transponder" that transports itself and Leatherhead to parts unknown.
IDW Comics
Leatherhead makes his debut in the 49th issue of IDW Publishing's comic series. He appears very briefly, telling Dr. Harold and Professor Honeycutt that he had some mutagen that could be used to help heal Donatello.
Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Leatherhead is a human named Jess Harley who lived in the swamps of Florida, and was transformed into a mutant alligator when Dimension X warlord Cherubae uses the Turnstone on him. At first, Shredder lures Leatherhead to work with him, until Leatherhead discovers that the Shredder is a villain. Leatherhead later becomes a wrestling hero at the Stump Asteroid and later a member of the Mighty Mutanimals. He and the other members of that group were killed before the end of the Archie Comics run with the Turtles characters.
In other media
Animation
Leatherhead appears in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), voiced primarily by Jim Cummings and by Peter Renaday in the episode "Night of the Rogues".[2][3] This version is a wild alligator from the Everglades who was mutated by mutagen that entered his home swamp after a botched mission by Krang and Shredder. He is depicted as more villainous than his comics counterpart, working with Shredder and the Rat King and never befriending the Turtles.
Leatherhead appears in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), voiced by Frederick B. Owens in the second and third seasons and by Gary K. Lewis in the fourth and seventh seasons.[3] This version was originally an exotic pet who got flushed down to the sewer, where he was found and mutated by the Utroms. He was accidentally left behind during Shredder's attack, which forced the Utroms to flee Earth, and comes to live with the Turtles. Leatherhead's animalistic rage, already dangerous, was worsened by Agent Bishop's experimentation. One night, Leatherhead has a nightmare where he is attacked by monstrous versions of the Turtles and their enemies, which causes him to attack Michelangelo. Leatherhead chooses to live in a abandoned subway station near the Turtles' base, allowing him to keep in touch with them while ensuring their safety.
Leatherhead appears in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), voiced by Peter Lurie.[3] This version was originally owned by an unidentified boy until his parents discovered him and abandoned him in the sewers. There, Leatherhead was found and mutated by the Kraang. He soon comes across the Turtles, befriending Michelangelo, but sacrifices himself to defeat the Kraang and is sent to Dimension X. Leatherhead returns in the second season episode "Into Dimension X!", having aged several decades due to time passing much faster in Dimension X. In the third season, Leatherhead becomes a founding member of the Mighty Mutanimals, a ragtag group of mutants formed by Slash.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem incarnation of Leatherhead appears in the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Night of the Mechazoids" (2024), voiced again by Rose Byrne.[3]
↑"Boys' Life". April 1991. p.10. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
1234567891011"Leatherhead Voices (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 31, 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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