TMNT: The Last Ronin II - The New Crime-Fighting Team Roster Explained
A new team of Heroes in a Half-Shell is about to emerge from the sewers in IDW Publishing's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution," a follow-up to the hit 2020 miniseries "The Last Ronin," which sees Michelangelo navigating a dystopian future New York City as he seeks vengeance for his fallen brothers. Though the series ends with Mikey being mortally wounded while taking down the Foot Clan once and for all, an epilogue offers a tease of the next generation of Ninja Turtles. The four turtle hatchlings appear only for a single panel, with Casey Marie Jones, the daughter of April O'Neil and Casey Jones, looking over them in an underground lab and promising she has so much to teach them.
And she isn't lying. A follow-up miniseries, "The Lost Years," is a quasi-sequel to "The Last Ronin." While following Michaelangelo throughout the events leading up to the original story, "The Lost Years" also flashes forward to see Casey Marie raising and training this new team — consisting of Moja, Odyn, Uno, and Yi — throughout their adolescence. Having studied Master Splinter's teachings and trained under Michaelangelo, Casey Marie is now the sensei and is working hard to prepare these fledgling heroes to deal with the power vacuum left in New York by the Foot Clan's fall.
"The Lost Years" ends with the new crew finally heading out for their first mission, led by Casey Marie, sporting her father's iconic hockey mask. But while they seem ready for battle, we never get to actually see the team in action. "Re-Evolution" will finally show us what they're capable of.
The original team's spirit will live on
Despite Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael all being wiped out in "The Last Ronin," this new miniseries presents the perfect opportunity to continue their legacy, as well as the legacy of Master Splinter, who also didn't make it out alive. Splinter was Michaelangeo's sensei, and Mikey passed his master's teaching on to Casey Marie. With this new crop of reptilian heroes looking to her as their teacher, she's keeping alive the spirit of Splinter and his clan.
The creative team of "The Last Ronin" will be returning for "Re-Evolution," with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman writing alongside Tom Waltz. The miniseries will feature art from Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza, and Isaac Escorza. Edgar Delgado will serve as colorist and Shawn Lee as letterer.
Eastman seems eager to use this updated turtles team as a way to further expand the world of "The Last Ronin" and explore the fallout Mikey leaves behind in his quest for revenge. "The incredible surprise on coming out of the end of ['The Last Ronin'] was the opportunity to continue to tell stories beyond that ending," Eastman recently told IGN. "All new characters, in a whole new universe to really sink our teeth into ... I can't wait for you to see what we have in store for them."
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution" #1 is scheduled for release on December 13.