TheTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesare skilled fighters with a penchant for advanced martial arts, as taught by Master Splinter. However, there’s one thing the Heroes in a Half-Shell love more than fighting, and that’s pizza. The'90s cartoon that propelled the ninja turtlesto mainstream stardom featured the first instances of the brothers chowing down on pizza, and since then, the delicacy has become a staple of TMNT lore.
Of course, the ninja turtles don’t limit themselves to typical pizza toppings like pepperoni. They prefer to spice things up with dessert pizzas, breakfast pizzas, and confounding combinations of ingredients that only they could come up with. Some actually seem worth trying, whereas others are utterly revolting.These are 5 of the most delicious - and 5 of the gnarliest - pizza orders that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made in the comics.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Special#10 by Bill Fitts and Dan Seneres
Everyone can appreciate a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have come up with a spin on the classic dish that combines it with their favorite meal.Peanut butter and jelly are already a winning pair on bread, which means there’s a chance they could taste just as good together on a pizza crust.
What makes most of the TMNT’s pizza choices so unappetizing is the way the ingredients don’t mesh well with each other, such as when Michelangelocommits the mortal sinof mixing ice cream with anchovies, so this combination of ingredients at least has enough synergy to be edible. If nothing else, at least this pizza flavor doesn’t sound quite as nauseating as others the ninja turtles have eaten.
9Gnarly: Jellybeans and Sausage Pizza
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#3 by Ryan Parrott and Simone Di Meo
TheTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise is no stranger to crossovers, and they offer the perfect opportunity for the turtles to share their love for pizza with others. In acrossover with the Power Rangers, Michelangelo seizes the chance to offer slices of two unusual pizza flavors to his new friends. One pie is sprinkled with jellybeans and sausage, while the other features butterscotch, onions, and anchovies.
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The butterscotch pizza might not be half bad due to the other ingredients tipping the scale towards normalcy, but jellybeans and sausage don’t even sound remotely appealing together.The Power Rangers call out the ninja turtles' topping preference, pointing out that humans don’t eat pizza"withice cream toppings on them".Michelangelo can’t wrap his head around that idea, and it’s doubtful that he’ll ever stray from his questionable taste.
8Delicious: Double Anchovies and Black Olives Pizza
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Special#11 by Steve Sullivan and Brian Thomas
There’s no question that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have poor taste in pizza, but they didn’t inherit that trait from their mentor.Unlike his sons, Master Splinter exhibits a preference for the standard toppings on a pizza.In this instance, he’s preparing to dig into a steaming hot pizza covered in anchovies and black olives, and it’s a pie that could make any reader’s mouth water.
It’s worth nothing that Splinter feels he can only enjoy his pizza when the ninja turtles aren’t around. Usually, the boys choose wacky toppings without letting him get a word in edgewise, so he doesn’t have a real say in his meals.Splinter would benefitfrom ordering while the turtles are on missions; that way, he can consume more delectable pizzas without any interference.
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Adventures#22 by James Nicholas and Sandy James
Dessert pizzas aren’t inherently unacceptable, as proven by other entries on this list, but there are certain ingredients that cross the fine line between edible to disgusting. Michelangelo demonstrates this here when he lists off theninja turtles' most recent pizza order: a deep pan pizza with chocolate, marshmallow, and mustard. Since they’ve been waiting hours for the pie to arrive, they are obviously looking forward to eating it, despite how gross it must be.
A pizza with chocolate sauce and marshmallows sprinkled on top could potentially suffice as a dessert pizza, butthe addition of mustard completely throws this one off into repugnant territory. Mustard and chocolate simply don’t mix, and anyone who values their taste buds - unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - should probably pass on this order.
6Delicious: Corn Flakes and a Scoop of Sugar Pizza
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White & Green#2 by Tyler Boss
A story from theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White & Greenanthology series features a pizza that could technically qualify as a balanced breakfast. “If By Feast or By Famine”, written and drawn by Tyler Boss, stars Michelangelo as he investigates his stolen pizza. According to Mikey, this pie has corn flakes sprinkled on top, along with a scoop of sugar to add sweetness.
Corn flakes and pizza don’t seem like a match on paper, but compared to other pizza orders the ninja turtles have made, this one is remarkably tame.Michelangelo refers to the pizza as his breakfast, so cereal makes sense as a topping for a breakfast pizza.Besides, ifMichelangelo is willing to embark on a wild journeyacross the city for this pizza, it must be worth that hassle.
5Gnarly: Chinese Mustard and Raspberry Jam Pizza
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures#1 by Dave Garcia
In this example, three separate pizza orders are brought up by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and none of them are appetizing. Raphael requests cucumber and honey, whereas Leonardo suggests whipped cream and pickles. Michelangelo’s stands out as the most shocking, however. His preference of Chinese mustard and raspberry jam couldn’t be more unfitting to combine on a pizza.
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The funniest part about this exchange is Raphael mentioning that he could try tomato sauce on his pizza.Anyone else would agree that tomato sauce belongs on a pizza, but Leonardo looks grossed out by the mere thought of it.For whatever reason - perhaps aside effect of their mutation- the turtles are put off by regular pizza toppings and instead gravitate towards the most putrid possible options.
4Delicious: Ham, Pineapple, and Jalapeño Pizza
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin#3 by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau Escorza, and Isaac Escorza
The Last Roninis one of the darkest stories in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' history, chronicling the deaths of the brothers as Michelangelo lives on as the sole survivor. However, in the flashback ofLeonardo and Casey’s deaths, they share a moment of levity as they discuss their pizza orders if they survive. Casey says that Leonardo will be paying, to which the turtle replies that he’ll therefore choose the toppings.
Rather than coming up with an outlandish flavor like Michelangelo undoubtedly would, Leonardo opts for a pizza topped with ham, pineapple, and jalapeño.He may have eaten his fair share of gross pizzas over the years with his brothers, but it’s nice to know that Leo would at least choose something edible to be his last meal.
3Gnarly: Cabbage and Ice Cream Pizza
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Adventures#25 by James Nicholas and Sandy James
Although Michelangelo is the main culprit behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' more absurd pizza orders, he isn’t the only turtle who’s guilty of exercising his poor taste in food.Donatello’s scientific smartscan’t salvage his opinion on pizza, as theTMNT’s resident genius presents his brothers with a particularly absurd array of toppings, including cabbage and ice cream.
The ninja turtles all possess varying maturity levels from one to the next.Michelangelo’s “party dude” reputationcements him as the most goofy of the bunch, whereas Donatello and Leonardo tend to be less outgoing. However, all four brothers' shared love for ridiculous pizza flavors serves as a perpetual reminder that they’re all fun-loving teenagers deep down - regardless of their different levels of intellect.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures#45 by Stephen Murphy and Ken Mitchroney
If this pizza order sounds pleasant, that can be attributed to the fact that it isn’t intended for the ninja turtles themselves. Instead, it’s a birthday gift for Splinter, who doesn’t share their affinity for out-of-the-box pizza flavors. As such, in lieu of treating him to a horrifying amalgamation of toppings that should never touch one another,the brothers surprise Splinter with a meaty pizza a human would traditionally prefer.
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This pizza order doesn’t merely sound like one an average person may like; it sounds positively mouth-watering. Evidently, Splinter has excellent taste in pizza compared to his sons. In an issue that centers onSplinter’s nostalgiaover his time as the human Hamato Yoshi, it’s heartwarming to see his sons choose a pizza for him that’s reminiscent to what he would have eaten during that time.
1Gnarly: The TMNT’s Longest Pizza Order of All Time
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures#6 by Ryan Brown, Dean Clarrain, and Ken Mitchroney
Here, the ninja turtles place an elaborate order for a pizza that’s covered in mushrooms, onions, peppers, and more. This pizza seems basic enough at first, but then they ask the chef to add extra cheese and lots of pepperoni and rhubarb. To top it all off,they request fried clams and peanut butter cups, turning an unassuming order into what just might be the most nauseating pizza ever.
Hilariously enough,Raphael makes one requestfor the pizza, and that’s for one quarter of it to have no onions. It’s very telling that the only ingredient on that entire list he can’t stomach is the onions, as opposed to the clams. Clearly, theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleshave drastically different tastes in pizza than the average consumer, and we can’t help wanting to try a slice out of morbid curiosity.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
