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Raphael (or Raph), a fictional character, is one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). His bandana is red (his favorite color) and he carries two sai. His personality is usually aggressive or sullen, and he tends to be the "rebel". He is named after Raphael Sanzio, the Renaissance painter.

Raphael's anger is not always fully explored, although in certain incarnations of the TMNT, it seems his anger stems from realizing, more than his brothers do, that they are the only creatures of their kind and are ultimately alone. Furthermore, he is often shown as feeling jealous of his brother Leonardo, who leads the TMNT. He is generally the most likely to experience extremes of emotion.

Inaccuracy

In all incarnations of the TMNT, Raphael's weapons are twin sai. Sai were never used by ninja, historically (it's a Kobudo weapon originating in Okinawa). However, if sharpened at the tips, a sai could most certainly be used by a ninja assassin, very much in contrast to Michelangelo's nunchaku.

Comic books

Mirage Comics

In the earliest black-and-white Mirage Comics, Raphael was the most violent turtle and had a tendency for going berserk either in battle or when his temper flared up. He has a somewhat cynical and sarcastic sense of humor.

Raphael mellowed somewhat as the series went on, possibly a key moment for his character development was when he allowed Leonardo alone to defeat The Shredder in Issue #21 of Volume 1. Since then he has been less likely to challenge Leonardo’s leadership, and on the whole is more friendly towards his family and allies.

Of his three brothers, Raphael is closest to Michelangelo, even having stated it in the fourth issue of the original TMNT comics. In his self-titled one-shot micro series, Raphael met human vigilante Casey Jones, his foil, who was even more violent and unstable than he was. Despite their brutal first meeting, the two have since formed a close bond.

In the 2001 comic book series (Volume 4), he is still the most violent turtle, but is also more social and less bitter. After having been bitten by a vampire-like creature, he experienced a further mutation, and became a large, dinosaur-like version of himself. He went into a state of berserk animal rage because of it, but with some guidance by an inner manifestation of Master Splinter, he regained his original mentality and later assisted Donatello and Casey Jones in tracking down the vampires who attacked him.

Image Comics

In the Image series that treated the first two volumes of the Mirage Comics as canonical, Raphael was blasted in the face and disfigured. After that he wore one of Casey Jones’ hockey masks for much of the time, and eventually just an eye patch. Later, Raphael wore Shredder's armor in an attempt to psychologically dominate a number of the New York Mob, with whom the Foot Clan was engaged in a losing gang war. He had accidentally stumbled into a battle between Foot members and these gun-toting Mobsters and was chased right into Shredder's old forge, where he crafted his armor and weapons by hand in Ninja tradition. He donned a slightly variant version of the armor, which had far more blades on the arms than just the two held on the hand by a type of brass knuckle band seen in other versions of the Shredder, and pretended to be the Shredder to get the advantage on his pursuers. He succeeded in defeating them and then was actually accepted into and given control of the New York faction of the Foot Clan for a brief time. The current series (Volume 4) produced by Mirage Comics does not treat the Image series as having happened.

Archie Comics

The Archie comics series was titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures,” and began as a direct adaptation of the popular cartoon series in the late eighties. The comic later branched out on its own; changes for Raphael included him wearing a skin-tight black outfit for a time, and having a girlfriend in the anthropomorphic fox Ninjara. His personality was closer to how he was represented on the television show at the time. During the story arc "Future Shark Trilogy", a version of Raphael from the future appeared, this version was far more cynical, but less temperamental. Additional he had lost an eye in battle and wore an eye patch. During the 5 issue "Cyber Samurai Ninja Turtles" arc (issues #62-67), the lives of the future Turtles are expanded upon with Raphael having married an anthropomorphic wolf woman named Mezcaal, with whom he runs a restaurant called Turtle Island. Raphael is also the only Turtle to break the code which the Turtles follow in the Archie comics by using a weapon with the intent to kill by shooting the villain Verminator X, though X survives the gunshot (actually being shown later to have reverted to his original personality).

1987 animated series

In the original North American version of the 1987 cartoon show, Raphael's voice actor is Rob Paulsen in all seasons except the final 1996 season, in which he is voiced by Michael Gough. In some episodes of the UK's "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" version of the 1987 show, his lines were redubbed by Hal Rayle.

As opposed to being angry and sullen, Raphael is a sarcastic wise-guy, and supplies comic relief alongside Michelangelo, whose humor is usually attributed to his ignorance and spaciness. As a result, Michelangelo is the subject of Raphael's jokes more than any other Turtle. He frequently makes jokes that break the Fourth wall.

This incarnation of Raphael has a far less confrontational relationship with his friends and fellow Turtles. The most striking example with this is his lack of a rivalry with Leonardo. Raphael has no desire to steal anyone's thunder or become a leader; he's perfectly content providing the wittiest of the cartoon's jokes.

In the episode "Raphael Meets His Match," Raphael was paired off with a mysterious mutant female named Mona Lisa, who might have been considered as a potential girlfriend for Raphael. Despite following the Turtles back to New York, Mona Lisa was never seen again. She has a mild fanbase, despite her one appearance. In the Italian dub, his name was Raffaello.

2003 animated series

In the 2003 TV show, Raphael is voiced by John Campbell, who since the Season 3 episode "Touch and Go" he's been credited as Frank Frankson.

Raphael's personality is more akin to his original movie incarnation - he is angrier and more sardonic, but not quite as violent as shown in the earlier Mirage comics (although he is very impulsive). He also talks with a similar Brooklyn accent used in the movies. He often argues with Leonardo and Michelangelo, although he is depicted as being very close with both at times. His angry personality may be just a cover up for his true feelings towards his brothers. His best friend is generally regarded as Casey Jones. In all incarnations of the turtles, Raphael appears to live in the shadow of Leonardo and resents his brother's social position in the group. This was only confirmed in the new cartoon, and the reasons for so stated, where in his pre-teen years, he competed with Leonardo for leadership of the Turtles by virtue of the belief that he was the best and bravest fighter.

Raphael's relationship with Michelangelo is unique in this series. Michelangelo has a tendency to severely annoy his brother, from playing pranks to taunting, gloating, and overall rubbing his accomplishments in his face (which leads him to knock Michelangelo down a peg). Though, it has been shown that he deeply cares for his brother. Raphael showed concern for him when he thought Michelangelo had been killed by a rampaging Leatherhead and was the first to try to come to his aide when he found out Michelangelo's Battle Nexus rematch was rigged.

Raphael values his family over anything and will react immediately if they are in danger.

Movies

In the 1990 film adaptation, Raphael, who speaks with a distinctive tough-sounding Brooklyn accent (that was imitated in later versions of the TMNT), is the turtle whose character is explored most completely. He has a quick temper, uses mild profanity, verbally challenges Leonardo and is the first one to meet the human characters, April O'Neil and Casey Jones; an unexplored romantic subplot between him and April O'Neil, limited because of their difference in species, is hinted at. In the middle of the film, he is ambushed by the Foot Clan and severely injured (this happens to Leonardo in the original comics and the 2003 series); after this, his role is lessened somewhat, although he recovers. At the end of the movie in the battle with Shredder, Raphael is the first to get rid of his weapons upon The Shredder's demand in order to save Leonardo's life. This demonstrates an obvious, though perhaps subconscious, loyalty to Leonardo, and a newfound acknowledgement that they are in it together. He is acted and voiced by Josh Pais. Josh Pais is a native lower east side New Yorker, a natural to voice and also portray Raphael under the 80+lb costume. He described the headpiece with all of its noisy motors like, "Grand Central station at rush hour with a tin can on your head."

In the second movie, he is acted by Kenn Troum and voiced by Laurie Faso. In this film and the third film, his personality is explored no more than the other TMNT. He is still angry and occasionally goes off by himself, but has a soft spot for the young people the team meets. He was played by Matt Hill and voiced by Tim Kelleher in the third movie.

At the start of the new, CGI loose sequel TMNT, Raphael, growing increasingly frustrated and violent, has become a masked vigilante, the Nightwatcher, going to the surface at night and fighting crime in very brutal fashions. He and Leonardo will come to blows over this sometime during the story. He is voiced by Nolan North in this film.

Video games

In the first few video games, Raphael was an unpopular character to utilize because of the short range of his weapon. In later games, he was designed to be the fastest turtle (Donatello, popular due to the length of his staff-type-weapon, was established as being slower) to give him more of an advantage. In games released after the 2003 animated series began, he is the strongest and toughest Turtle as opposed to the fastest, reflecting his "tough guy" personality.

See also

• Leonardo (TMNT)
• Donatello (TMNT)
• Michelangelo (TMNT)

External link

• Raphael profile on official TMNT web site

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) characters
• Fictional mutants
• Fictional ninja
• Fictional turtles
• Animal superheroes
• Fictional time travelers
• Fictional characters with superhuman strength
• Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds