Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Easter Eggs And References

Oct 03, 2023

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem features references to the franchise's past and Easter eggs for comic fans.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem brings a new version of the titular characters to the big screen, and it does it with a lot of Easter eggs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was first published as a comic book series in 1984. By the end of the 1980s, the darker comic had already been adapted into a lighter animated series and kids were obsessed. Each movie or animated series has adapted the characters slightly differently ever since.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is lighthearted in a lot of ways, but it introduces a lot of familiar characters from the Ninja Turtles canon in a new way. Most of the characters aren’t Easter eggs themselves as they play their own roles in the movie’s new story, but there are a lot of harder-to-spot Easter eggs and references throughout Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem from pop culture nods to comic book references to hints at what’s to come.

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Because Paramount and Nickelodeon are the studios behind Ninja Turtles projects, the Nickelodeon logo is shown on the screen as the movie begins. Typically, the Nickelodeon logo is bright orange. It has been for years, despite Nickelodeon having a strong relationship with green slime in the 1990s. The Nickelodeon logo in Mutant Mayhem, however, is slime green. It’s the same color as the ooze that mutates Splinter and the turtles.

TCRI is an acronym. It stands for Techno Cosmic Research Institute in the Ninja Turtles canon. In Mutant Mayhem, it’s the facility where Baxter Stockman works, and it’s the same company that comes after him to take all of his experiments from him, though they don’t succeed. They find his research, but can’t replicate it. His work with the ooze leads to the creation of characters like Superfly and Genghis Frog. Most often presented as a scientific research facility, TCRI is a front for a race of aliens who crash-landed on Earth.

Cynthia Utrom appears to be the head of TCRI in Mutant Mayhem. She’s the one who orders the attack on Baxter Stockman and tries to “milk” the Ninja Turtles for their ooze-mutated blood. She’s also likely an alien. The Utroms are a race of aliens that use TCRI as a front for their activities on Earth. Depending on the continuity, the Utroms are sometimes seeking a way back to their planet, while other times, they are looking to take over Earth. Mutant Mayhem doesn’t reveal Cynthia Utrom as an alien, but it does seem likely that she is one of the aliens considering her name and her company.

With the modern incarnations of animated Ninja Turtles being a part of Nickelodeon, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of references to Nickelodeon characters in the movie. A character actor in a Spongebob Squarepants costume can be seen in Time Square. The turtles also make a reference to Arnold’s football-shaped head from the animated series Hey Arnold.

Nickelodeon’s properties, however, aren’t the only pop culture references the turtles know. They’ve been to an Adele (the “Easy On Me” singer) concert and have seen the Fast and Furious movies. They also have a healthy appreciation for manga and anime. Stickers from different franchises can be seen on their belongings. Donatello is also an avid video game fan, claiming he learned to drive from playing the Forza racing games. The group also watches the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, sings some BTS, and knows who the animated characters Shrek, Gru, and Megamind are. They definitely know their pop culture.

Not all the pop culture references are ones younger audience members will recognize either. Superfly comes through a doorway at one point saying, “six in the morning police at my door.” Those are song lyrics from “6 ‘n the Mornin’” by Ice-T.

Jackie Chan voices Splinter for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and the fight scenes take clear inspiration from the style used in his movies. For one thing, the fight scenes are incredibly funny, and for another, the characters don’t stick to just using their weapons but instead rely on found objects to become weapons. Splinter even uses a rolling desk chair to give himself an advantage during the fight at TCRI. According to co-writers/director Jeff Rowe, those similarities to Chan’s style are intentional. In fact, the movie took inspiration from Chan’s movies Rumble in the Bronx and Police Story (via Screenrant) for the fight sequences.

“Go ninja, go ninja, go” has a distinct rhythm to it. When the phrase is uttered, even briefly, ‘90s fans will recognize it as part of Vanilla Ice’s iconic “Ninja Rap.” The music is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Vanilla Ice performs it when the turtles end up at a club. In Mutant Mayhem, the music is heard during the fight in the chop shop as the radio in one of the cars turns on.

The high school that April O’Neil attends in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is Eastman High. That’s a reference to Kevin Eastman, one of the original creators of the Ninja Turtles comic books series. Likewise, when April and the turtles meet up to talk, they do it on the roof of a building that has a large lit sign over it that says “Laird.” Peter Laird is also one of the original creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics. Their original stories were much darker than the animated shows and live-action movies that have been aimed at younger audiences.

When Splinter tries to throw a party for his turtle sons, he does it with three life-size cardboard cutouts of humans. The humans are three of the most famous Hollywood Chrises: Chris Evans (Captain America movies), Chris Pine (Star Trek movies), and Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy movies). The only one missing is Chris Hemsworth. Splinter even calls one of them the “best Chris,” and it’s likely Chris Evans who previously voiced Casey Jones, a vigilante and friend of the turtles, in another animated project.

The news channel most often seen in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is Channel 6. That’s also the same channel that the turtles’ usual ally April O’Neil ends up on in the movie. She walks into a live broadcast to tell the truth about the turtles when they are incorrectly reported to be the villains. Channel 6 is the same news network that April O’Neil works for in the early animated series for the franchise.

Some unexpected voice casting was already known before the movie was released, like Rose Byrne as Leatherhead. There are, however, a lot of characters in the movie who only appear for one or two lines and disappear, so the potential for voice cameos is high. One of those cameos is from Youtuber MrBeast. He voices a man in a flashback to Splinter’s bad experience with humans in Time Square. Kevin Eastman, one of the Ninja Turtle creators, is also credited as one of the New Yorkers in the climactic battle sequence. There are likely even more voice cameos that won’t be known until the full voice cast is released.

In the grand tradition of superhero movies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem features a mid-credit scene. More of a sequence to tease what happens next with the turtles, the events make it clear that Cynthia Utrom is still watching the turtles, but she also wants to call in The Shredder to get to them.

Shredder has become the most iconic of Ninja Turtles villains, appearing in every adaptation of the story. The tease means that Shredder will likely appear in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sequel.

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Amanda Bruce is a freelance writer in Florida who got her start penning features for the now defunct Portrait Magazine. She has been writing featured content for Game Rant since 2021. Additional bylines can be found at The Movie Network, The Things, Comic Book Resources, and Screen Rant. She holds a Psychology degree from the University of Florida, but her real loves are superheroes and serial storytelling. Her favorite heroines include Black Widow, Blake Belladonna, Poison Ivy, and Sailor Jupiter.