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Batman was TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman's second choice for the DC / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover - and he reveals who DC rejected

Kevin Eastman had another pitch for a different TMNT crossover before Batman was involved

When I was a kid I loved creating crossovers with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. I could have the turtles interact with the Power Rangers, the Jurassic Park crew, and even my sister’s Barbie dolls. There wasn’t anything IP lawyers could do to stop me.

That’s one of the cool things about IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics. Since acquiring the license, the Turtles have crossover with numerous other properties, from the X-Files to the Power Rangers. Plus, there are the numerous crossovers with Batman. 

However, the TMNT/Batman crossover was almost something completely different. During a spotlight panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman spoke about the various Turtles crossovers. 

“The first one that IDW did which I really loved was the Ghostbusters/Turtles crossover. It was great. Then there was TMNT/Batman. It was funny because I was pitching a Kamandi/Turtles crossover to DC, and they said, ‘Nobody knows who Kamandi is. Why don’t you do Batman?’ We said, ‘We didn’t know that was on the table.’”

This caused the audience to chuckle. 

”They wisely brought a writer like James Tynion who was fantastic,” Eastman said. The 2015 Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was a success, spawning many sequels, and even an animated movie. Could this have happened with Kamandi? Probably not, but I would still love to see the Turtles team-up with the Last Boy on Earth. Maybe DC and IDW can make that happen one day. 


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Joshua Lapin-Bertone

Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.

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