Leonardo

Leonardo or Leo is one of the four main protagonists in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a member of the TMNT. He is the younger adoptive brother of Karai, older brother of Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo, and the eldest Male child to Master Splinter. Due to his persevering dedication towards ninjutsu, (and partly because he asked for it), Splinter chose Leonardo to be the leader of the Turtles. He wields twin katana.

History
Leonardo and his brothers were once ordinary turtles: when they were infants, they were adopted from a pet store by Hamato Yoshi. When their soon to be father walked passed a strange man, a Kraangdroid, he felt something odd about him and followed. Unfortunately, Yoshi gave away his position when he accidentally stepped on a brown rat's tail. The Kraang found him and attempted to kill him, but Yoshi fought back hard. In the end, the Kraang dropped the canister of Mutagen they were holding, causing the turtles and Yoshi to mutate.

Yoshi, having to have stepped on that rat, thus mutated into a humanoid brown rat by the name of "Splinter", while Leo and his brothers, after coming in contact with Splinter when he was human, mutated into humanoid turtles. Splinter knew they would never be accepted in their urban society, so he took them to the sewers, made a home down there, and made the four turtles his children.

Knowing the world would be dangerous and there would be a time where they want to explore the outside world, Splinter trained the boys in the art of Ninjitsu. Leo and his brothers were named after great Renaissance artists from a book Splinter fished out of the storm drain.

Personality
Leonardo is the most serious, mature and focused of the team. Being the designated leader of the group, Leonardo is very enthusiastic about his role. He is also a big science-fiction fan (or "nerd" as referred to by his brother Raphael). His favorite series is Space Heroes, while his favorite character from the show is Captain Ryan. Leonardo is so caught up with Space Heroes that he relies on Ryan's character traits more than on his own intuition, which often causes his brothers (especially Raphael) to question his leadership.

For the most part, he tries to be the mature and responsible sibling, but there are occasional times where he can be as childish as his brothers, such as teasing Donatello for losing to a mutant monkey and trying to be like an unrealistic TV character, although Leonardo often tries to comfort his brothers when they are scared or upset, mostly Michelangelo.

He comes up with most of the team's plans and strategies, while he and his brothers are fighting bad guys or training in the Lair, but while these strategies have proven to be effective, his lack of practical experience has prompted his brothers - particularly Raphael - to become frustrated with his approaches, and they try to do things their own way instead. Sometimes, due to his oppressive burden as leader, Leonardo faces the fear of losing his brothers, though he is often calmed down by Splinter, who claims that the fear is held by almost all leaders. It is also shown that he kind of had a crush on Karai, but, of course, he cares for his brothers much more. In one episode, Leonardo told Karai that if she wanted to fight, she should fight him. He also said if she went after his brothers or Splinter, he'd go after her himself. This sentence indicates that he can be very courageous.

Leonardo is shown to be quite selfless when it counts. In the Season 1 Finale, this is especially shown in Showdown, Part 1 and Part 2, where he almost sacrifices himself twice to save his brothers and the entire world. In the Season 2 Finale,The Invasion, Part 1 and Part 2, Leonardo leads the Kraang away from his brothers and finds himself facing off against the entire Foot Clan alone. Knowing the dangers they'd face, he doesn't contact his brothers for help

Appearance
Leo is an emerald green colored mutant turtle with sapphire blue eyes. He wears a blue mask where the tails length range between Donnie and Mikey's. Like Raph, Leo doesn't have much changes to his physical appearance like all his previous incarnations, except for the fact that his green skin is slightly darker than the others. His height ranges between Raph and Donnie's. He is lean, looks more mysterious and is handsome and or charming

Abilities, Weaponry and Skills
Ninjutsu: He is an extremely skilled martial artist and swordsman. Like his brothers, he is a master ninja and is very agile, able to leap over rooftops and avoid attacks from enemies, including gunfire, weapons, and punches and kicks.

Enhanced Strength: He is pretty strong when it comes to defense and counter attacks and he is mainly a well balanced ninja. Since an actual turtle can pull 5x its body weight, he and his brothers have been mutated and trained for 15 years as master martial artists by Master Splinter, so their strength has been amplified as a result.

Enhanced Speed: Despite being a turtle, he is not slow. He can run fast enough to avoid laser fire from a Kraang weapon. He can also move things at enhanced speeds too, like twirling his katana blades.

Stealth: Like his brothers, he is stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use hand to hand combat like a real ninja.

Katana: He uses katana blades in a traditional niten-ryu style.

Healing Factor: His healing factor seem to work while in water, where he woke up after the villainous fight 3 months later but the fight left him very injured.

Intelligence: He has a good line of defense, and is the best at planning strategies.

Stamina and Endurance: He shown off his high stamina in The Invasion, he was able to handle and stay much alive while the long Foot-Bot challenge, he was also able to defeat all of Shredder's henchmen, but all that work worn him out giving Shredder the chance to finish him off.

Family

 * Raphael - Leonardo has a love-hate relationship with his brother Raphael. He and Raphael argue the most amongst all of the turtles, especially concerning who should lead the pack. However, they share deep respect for one another. In Showdown, Part 1, it is shown that Raphael is very protective about Leonardo and cares deeply for his brother, just like Leonardo does for him. It is seen that the two trust each other more than the others as seen how they often discuss things privately away from the others such as Leonardo's issue with Karai.


 * Donatello - Leonardo's third youngest brother. He and Donatello rarely fight, but occasionally tease each other throughout the series. He usually gets anxious whenever Donatello completes an invention, one after the other, fearing that Donatello's technology might go wrong at one point. Donatello always outsmarts him, but never in leading purposes, annoying Leonardo in the process. Overall, they share a wonderful relationship as brothers and best friends.
 * Michelangelo - Leonardo's youngest brother. He and Michelangelo don't fight, unless Michelangelo's slight dimwittedness irritates Leonardo, causing him to criticize Michelangelo's idiocy. Whenever Leonardo goes through a plan, he occasionally questions Michelangelo to see if he's really listening. Leonardo also feels very protective of Michelangelo, saving him from danger several times. (i.e. Showdown, Part 2, or Follow The Leader, when Leonardo actually goes back to save Michelangelo from danger.) Overall, their brotherly-best-friend bond is unbreakable.
 * Splinter- Leonardo's surrogate father and sensei. Leonardo always takes Splinter's advice seriously, even though at times, his stubbornness starts to annoy Splinter. Also, Leonardo gets confused whenever Splinter uses difficult phrases and quotes while giving away his wisdom, but he always takes it under consideration.
 * April O'Neil - Leonardo's first human friend. He saves April from the Kraang as seen in the first two episodes of the first season: Rise of the Turtles, Part 1 and Rise of the Turtles, Part 2. They are very good friends, and April was the one Leonardo sought out when searching for advice regarding his crush on Karai. Leonardo's friendship with April is somewhat similar to a brother/sister relationship, when one looks after the other, like when April called for Leonardo to save her from the Creep in Within the Woods, and when Leonardo gives her hope in seeing her mother again inBuried Secrets.
 * Casey Jones - Leonardo's second human friend. He met Casey in the eighth episode of the second season: The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones. Leonardo often calls Casey for help and Casey would come to help out. While they barely interact, they remain good friends.
 * Karai - Leonardo was immediately fascinated by Karai from the moment they first met, and developed an infatuation with her. Leonardo eagerly wants to be able to trust Karai, even after it became apparent that she has repeatedly lied to him and his friends. Raphael disapproves of Leonardo's association with Karai, considering Karai a threat to their survival and Leonardo a liability for so frequently giving Karai the benefit of the doubt. Leonardo's ambiguous friendship with Karai was frayed when he tried to kill Shredder, and Karai revealed to him that Shredder was her father. Leonardo was the first family member Splinter confessed to that Karai was actually Hamato Miwa, his daughter. After Karai herself finally accepted the truth of her origins and tried to take revenge against Oroku Saki for his actions, she was captured and imprisoned by him, and Leonardo eagerly sought to rescue her. After Karai was captured again, Leonardo unsuccessfully tried to save her from falling into a vat of mutagen, which turned her into a snake mutant. Relationship-wise, Leonardo's attachment to Karai is two-fold: he is in love with her, and has also come to consider her part of his family since she is the biological daughter of his adoptive father Hamato Yoshi.

Trivia

 * Leonardo is named for the famous Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci.
 * Leonardo's name is Italian, meaning "Strong as the Lion/Lion-Bold".
 * As revealed in Vision Quest, his Spirit Element is Wind; he must be the leader in both body and mind and mustn't let anything weigh him down.
 * The blue in his bandana represents his main emotions: calmness and leadership.
 * His skin is darkest but in the other incarnations he had the second lightest skin.
 * His mastery of Ninjutsu includes: Sheishienteki Kyoyo, Taijustu, Kenjustu, Shurikenjustu, Kayakujustu, Shinobi-iri, Sui-ren, Boryaku, Arhcery, and Intonjustu.
 * Like all his incarnations, Leo's more mature, calm, and acts like a parental figure, however unlike his incarnations Leo acts like a teenager, seems to lack confidence in his position as leader, is more cocky, and seems to think less of Donnie and Mikey's fighting skills (Until they proved themselves in that same episode: Mousers Attack).
 * Leonardo seems to be the most educated (out of the four brothers) about Japanese culture and etiquette:
 * He understands Japanese when spoken to and is able to speak in this language to some extent.
 * He uses chopsticks correctly and deftly.
 * He knows, at least basics, of Japanese etiquette (i.e. he bows to master Splinter) Rise of the Turtles, Part 1.
 * His caller ID on April's phone is "ichiban turtle", which means "number one turtle".
 * He develops an obvious crush on Karai in the episode New Girl in Town. He talks about her to April who is supportive; that is, until she finds out Karai is a part of the Foot Clan. He's the second Turtle to develop feelings for a 'human', the first being Donatello (of course).
 * Of all four turtles, Leonardo seems to be the most loyal and respectful to Splinter.
 * He is shown to share some of the skills his brothers have. He can be strong, like Raph, he can figure out stuff, like Donnie, and has tremendous athleticism, like MIkey.
 * He is the oldest of his brothers; Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo.
 * It's shown in Enemy of My Enemy that Leonardo can put things before his own brothers.
 * He is the second tallest of his brothers.
 * Of all the turtles, he's the most mature:
 * He was made leader by Splinter's choice.
 * He sometimes acts like a parent to Michelangelo.
 * He argues with Raphael, and eventually finds logical reasons to win the argument.
 * Donatello and Michelangelo tend to listen to Leonardo instead of Raphael, because he thinks first before taking action.
 * Unlike his brothers, Leonardo always takes Splinter's advice seriously.
 * Leonardo is the first turtle to refer to Master Splinter as their father.
 * He is the first of the turtles to punch Splinter.
 * Leonardo is the first of his brothers to learn that Karai is actually Miwa, Splinter's daughter.
 * Leonardo has a tanto blade hidden under his wrist wraps, as seen in TCRI.
 * He has the second shortest bandana.
 * Leonardo's fear is failure and losing his brothers.
 * He has slight Atychiphobia (fear of failure)
 * This version of Leonardo stores his swords on his back much like the original Mirage one, side by side instead of crossed.
 * Leo is the second turtle to be held as a hostage, which was seen in Follow The Leader.
 * Leo was voiced by actor Jason Biggs, best known for his role as Jim in American Pie.
 * Now, Leo is voiced by Seth Green, best known for the voice of Chris Griffin in Family Guy and the creator of Robot Chicken
 * When Leonardo's voice actor changed between Season Two and Three, it was explained in-show as being the result of damage to his larynx during the final battle of The Invasion, Part 2.
 * In season 3 Leo has shown to be getting stronger, even being able to hold his own against Shredder. As shown in Vision Quest, Serpent Hunt and Casey Jones VS. The Underworld.
 * He played the Knight in Mazes & Mutants.
 * In the season finale of Season 2, he was beaten, knocked unconscious, badly injured and thrown through the window into April's apartment by the Foot Clan. The same was also shown in the 2003 TV series in the episode, "The Shredder Strikes Back Part 1", and in the Leonardo one-shot Mirage comic.
 * He is the third Turtle to be seen without his mask on and the first to be seen without any of his gear on as seen in Within the Woods.
 * He is the only turtle to be unconscious for a very long period of time. (Three months).
 * He is the only Turtle who has not said the phrase Booyakasha!yet. He later states it alongside the Mighty Mutanimals in Battle for New York.