When you’re the eldest son of one of the most well-known fictional senseis in pop culture history, you tend to see yourself as a failure if you cannot hold yourself to those standards. Leonardo “Leo”, the blue Ninja Turtle, knows this too well.
Leo is portrayed as the eldest son in almost all of his appearances on screen. Though TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird left it ambiguous about which of the four turtles was more senior in the early comic runs. The only screen media we can think of where Leonardo isn’t the eldest is the Rise of the Mutant Ninja Turtles, where he is the second-oldest behind Raphael.
Since the success of Mutant Mayhem has garnered a sequel and television series, we wanted to briefly review how Leo doesn’t have it easy as the eldest son of four.
To start, the film debut of The Turtles in the 1990s sets off the rivalry between Leonardo and Raphael. This plot point has carried over into other media, especially the 2007 film. This battle of brothers almost gets Leo killed, something Raph did not intend.
Leo And The Differing Personalities Of His Brothers
Usually, it is Leo’s job to keep his brothers in check, given their differing personalities. This was a source of contention in the 2016 film Out of the Shadows, the sequel to the 2014 movie. Leonardo vents to Splinter that his brothers are too immature in their ways. Mikey is a prime example of this.
In the 2012 television series, Leo is put through the wringer often during the show’s run. His voice changes after he sustains an injury to his throat, and then he has to become the family patriarch after Shredder kills Splinter. Imagine if a fifth turtle, say, a female one, was there to help out.
Finally, a prime example of Leo’s struggles as the eldest son comes from the 2007 film. Splinter sends him to train for a year. Upon Leonardo’s return to New York, he sees himself as a failure for not doing what he thought his father required of him. This causes him to clash with Raph, who sees him as their father’s favourite.
