How Every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Officially Dies In TMNT: The Last Ronin

Published Nov 8, 2026, 10:46 PM EST

An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead For Major Character Deaths In TMNT: The Last Ronin!

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have proven to be enough of an enduring franchise to cross the generational gap rather seamlessly, engaging old fans continuously while remaining approachable to newcomers. Its origins at Mirage Studios through the present at IDW have been confirmed as such, in addition to numerous successful theatrical releases and video games, have proven audiences continue to respond. But while TMNT is timeless, its characters are not immortal, with The Last Ronin standing as its The Dark Knight Returns in terms of a grim future where not everyone survives as they would have in their prime.

Michelangelo was the sole survivor in this dark alternate future, and while it's not broadly accepted as canon, it arguably doesn't matter. The story following this continuity by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz has been the most acclaimed over the past decade, even if every new chapter and sequel piles on the heartache with new loss amid pyrrhic victories. In a vengeance arc spurred on my merciless killing, with only more death seen to be the way to balance the scales, every member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eventually meets their demise in this series, along with key foes and tragically even more friends.

How The Other Three Ninja Turtles Die In The Last Ronin

The Foot have always been treacherous nemeses to the Ninja Turtles, but the first to truly experience their deadliness in the strictest way imaginable was Raphael. After Master Splinter was gravely injured by an ambush attack, this triggered a rage in Raphael, prompting him to pursue and confront Oroku Karai, the leader at the time and daughter of Oroku Sakai (Shredder), getting fatally wounded and being left to sink into the East River. Karai survives, but also sustains a grave wound, going into a coma later and dying at the hands of her resentful son, Oroku Hiroto.

With Hiroto assuming leadership of the Foot and 10 years having passed, the next to come would be Leonardo, then Donatello. While Donatello and Master Splinter would come to Japan to meet with the Foot Clan on the presumption that they were entering peace talks, Leonardo remained in New York, in which the next tragedy would occur.

Under attack by Baxter Stockman's forces, Leonardo, Casey Jones, and April O'Neil faced down the invasive attack by Stockman's Synjas, having tracked down and in pursuit of Zayton Honeycutt. Honeycutt attempted to self-destruct his physical robot body, only for Stockman to have the Spider Mousers explode to finish the job for him, the ensuing blast claiming the lives of both Leonardo and Casey, maiming April in the process while she was still pregnant.

The peace talks, meanwhile, devolved as predicted. Upon arriving at the agreed-upon meeting location at the Hamato Village, they are soon met with Hara and then Hiroto, who unleash an attack using the Foot ninjas at their disposal. Splinter and Donatello, the ones who arrived for the peace talks, fight back valiantly, only to eventually be killed by the Foot's archers.

How Michelangelo Dies In The Last Ronin

While the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles died tragic deaths, Michelangelo was left behind, their youngest member, haunted by their memory and wracked with survivor's guilt, striking back at Hiroto's forces while hanging by a thread. With the help of the surviving April and Honeycutt's consciousness, surviving his previous shell being destroyed, and Casey and April's daughter, Casey Marie Jones, carrying the flame as well. Michelangelo is thankfully not alone. And with Casey Marie carrying similarly mutated genes like her father due to proximity with the Turtles, she even shows promise as his eventual disciple.

Michelangelo carried all but one of the mementos of each of his brothers and Splinter into battle, them genuinely serving as vital to his fights as he inched closer to his goal. His personal quest is to kill Hiroto, the main loose end, ahead of clearing his conscience before he could die. So upon their final confrontation in The Last Ronin #5, the two draw their fight out into the sewers, Hiroto actually being the one to deal both of them the last grievous wound by detonating an electrified burst and then an explosion in his armor.

Having left behind Master Splinter's journal, Casey Marie brings it to him, pleading with him not to die and urging him to stay and continue to teach her. Instead, Michelangelo turns the back cover over the page tastefully revealing the poignant lesson, "Know Peace" as he bleeds out in front of Casey Marie with April soon seeing his lifeless body, as his dying mind relives memories of his youth alongside the other Turtles.

Michelangelo, or "Mikey", fought to his last while making sure he did right by his lost brothers, with others like April soon to follow in subsequent stories. Fortunately, Casey Marie had begun raising a successor generation of her own with Uno, Odyn, Yi, and Moja, functioning as their parent while imparting Michelangelo's ninja training upon them as he did for her. Mikey can return to his brothers, having avenged their legacy, while a new generation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles begin featuring more heavily in The Last Ronin II: Re-Evolution, Training Day, and The Last Ronin III yet to release. May Mikey's successors know peace as well, once this is all over.