Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Foot Clan always had an air of goofiness about them, despite the fact that they were supposed to be hardened assassins. Maybe it was just the cartoonish world in which they existed, maybe it was because they were called ‘The Foot’, but these villains simply never seemed that threatening or serious. At least, until the clan’s official backstory was revealed and proved that they were hardcore as anything, and it did so in a way that completely redefines the ‘90s cartoon symbol.

The ‘90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was something of a rebirth for the Turtles. Before the cartoon, the Turtles were hardened and gritty, existing only in a black and white comic that showed them living in disgusting sewers and gruesomely killing their enemies. Once they were adapted into the cartoon, however, all that changed, and the Turtles became a lot more fun. Not only that, but the '90s cartoon expanded the TMNT’s lore immensely, which is something that hasn’t been ignored as the series continues to progress. In the current continuity of IDW Publishing’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, every aspect of their previously established lore is being woven into one cohesive storyline. Time and again, IDW’s TMNT has improved upon every part of the Turtles’ history, and the Foot Clan is no exception.

TMNT’s Foot Clan Proves It’s More than a Daredevil Parody

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan #1 by Mateus Santolouco and Erik Burnham, fans are taken back in time to feudal Japan, and are introduced to a man named Tatsuo Takeshi. Takeshi was the greatest warrior in the Yuu Clan before his master grew fearful of his skills, and sent him into an ambush, where a small army of men is waiting to kill him. However, Takeshi still managed to kill every single soldier who challenged him, but he was badly injured. One of his legs was sliced off completely, and as he hobbled away, he knew that he’d be dead very soon. But then, the trickster god, Kitusne, found Takeshi and gave him a green elixir that would later be revealed as the mutagen ooze. The ooze healed Takeshi’s leg, but it did so slowly, leaving it without skin and bloody for some time before he was fully recovered. However, Takeshi didn’t need to be at his peak to enact the vengeance his heart desired. Takeshi snuck into the home of his master and killed him, leaving no trace that he was there–and the comic tells readers this while Takeshi looks down at his own bloody footprint from the leg his former master nearly robbed him of. With that, the Yuu Clan was dead, and Takeshi’s new Foot Clan was born.

This origin story is brutal beyond compare, and definitely restores the Foot Clan’s reputation as a truly hardcore group of trained killers. Plus, it totally fixes not only the goofiness of the Foot Clan in the ‘90s cartoon, but also their meta origin as well. Looking back at the original TMNT comic book, there are a lot of connections between the Turtles and Daredevil (with the comic even going so far as to imply Daredevil and the TMNT share an origin). Though none are more obvious than the Foot, which is a clear parody of Daredevil’s own villainous ninja group, the Hand. Now, however, the Foot Clan can easily stand on its own as a badass group with a killer origin.

While the ‘90s series will always be perhaps the most iconic iteration of the Turtles, IDW Publishing’s TMNT is undoubtedly the best. This is proven true by the Foot Clan alone, as it successfully made the borderline absurd symbol of a literal foot from the ‘90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon into one of the most hardcore insignias for a villain group in modern comic book fiction–which is also a far cry from being a mere Daredevil parody.