All the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movies and Series in Order

Including the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, there's seven films in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series as of this writing, plus a direct-to-video release entitled Mutant Turtles: Superman Legend. There was also a made-for-TV movie entitled Turtles Forever that aired in 2009 in celebration of the franchises' 25th anniversary, and another special in 2015 entitled Half-Shell Heroes: Blast To The Past. Oh and we can't forget Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 2019 either.

Since 1987, there's been five Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series. We'll be diving into each series here shortly.

Our very first time seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on any kind of screen was in 1987, with its first official series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The pilot (which obviously tested well), was first aired in mid-December 1987, beginning its full-time run the first week of October 1988. The show centered around of the TMNT crew as they battled numerous villains like Shredder, Krang, and plenty more. The series was a notable shakeup from the darker nature of the comics, making it the perfect Saturday morning cartoon for kids.

After a couple of years of success on the smaller screen, New Line Cinema decided to try their hands at a big-screen adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990. While you didn't necessarily need to watch the series to understand the movie as it was essentially a broader introduction to the franchise, there were some references pulled from the series, meaning that you wouldn't have fully gotten it unless you watched the show. That aside, the 1990 version was about the TMNT gang battling against the Shredder and his Foot Clan to protect NYC, and went to become the highest-grossing independent film at the time of its release.

The success of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 meant it was time for a sequel. Almost exactly one year later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze hit theaters, taking on lighter and much less violent tone than its predecessor. In addition to learning more about how the TMNT gang got together, we also learn Shredder is out for revenge by obtaining the same radioactive ooze that created the Turtles to create two new mutants: Tokka and Rahzar. Oh, and he plans on using it on himself too, which is kind of a problem.

Two years later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released, and by this point it was clear that a new direction was going to be needed with the film series altogether. Part of this was due to the passing of Jim Henson, who provided much of the creative direction and vision of the previous two films. The plot switch was an interesting direction as it focused on a reporter (Paige Turco) who gets captured in another time dimension after purchasing an ancient Japanese scepter, but it still wasn't enough to really move audiences.

After the disappointment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, the decision to produce major films in the TMNT franchise was put on hold. However, there was a one-off two-part special in 1996 entitled Mutant Turtles: Superman Legend that was released in Japan. The first part was based on the Supermutants line, with the second part being based on the Metal Mutation line. Each part was 25 minutes, making the entire runtime 50 minutes.

After the ending of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1996, a live-action series adaptation was attempted by Fox Kids called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. The crime fighting adventures of the Ninja Turtles was brought back in full, as it was a continuation of the events that took place in the films. While the decision to essentially move the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film series the big screen to the small screen to see if it produced more success in that area was an understandable one, it still wasn't a hit on television as it only lasted one season.

This iteration of TMNT is what us millennials grew up with, so forgive us if we're a bit partial. In our opinion, there's something incredibly special about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in animation form, and that was proven with the 2000s version of the franchise, which ran from 2003 to 2009. While this iteration aligned more closely with the original comics, the overall theme of the TMNT gang fighting villains and protecting New York didn't change much. There were 155 episodes produced during that six year run, and we'd venture to say that everyone deserves to be watched.

Similar to how things went down in 1990, the success of the 2000s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series sparked another big screen film that hit theaters in 2007. By that point, it had been fourteen years since the release of the last Ninja Turtles film, but the decision was made to take the storyline in another direction. This time around, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo have grown apart, and they have to find a way to strengthen their bond before evil takes over and completely destroys the city. 

Two years after the release of TMNT and several months after the 2000s series ended, TheCW4Kids aired a television special entitled Turtles Forever, which was essentially the TMNT crew meeting a cloned version of themselves. In order to successfully defeat the Shredders, they've got to team up with themselves for the greater good. If you missed Turtles Forever during its original airing in 2009, you can catch up via streaming.

The 2010s needed its own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, which was brought back in a CGI version via Nickelodeon from 2012 to 2017. The series started with the turtles emerging from its sewer inception to once again defend the city of New York against evil forces from the past and present. The Kraang storyline was incorporated much more into this version then previously seen before, and the show as a whole was received well, earning Nickelodeon its highest ratings for an animated series since 2009 with its debut. The series spanned five seasons first airing on Nick, and then Nicktoons.

Back to the movies. In 2014, Michael Bay decided to bring back the Ninja Turtles in a live-action big screen format with the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Megan Fox starred as journalist April O'Neil, who's assignment was to follow and document TMNT's every move as they went about their day of fighting villains and protecting New York as usual. The 2014 version served as a reboot for live-action series and films.

Airing on Nickelodeon in 2015, Half-Shell Heroes: Blast To The Past was a one-hour television special based on the respective Nickelodeon series that centered around the Half Shell Heroes toy-line as the turtles get blasted back into the past, and have to find their way through the pre-historic dinosaurs and triceratons in order to get back home.

The sequel to 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Out Of The Shadows hit theaters in 2016, this time facing a new challenge with Shredder escaping from custody to join forces with a mad world domination-plotting scientist named Baxter Stockman. While Out Of The Shadows did receive better reviews from critics as opposed to the first film, the tradeoff was that it didn't perform as well at the box office meaning that we didn't get a third movie, and that the Ninja Turtles big screen film adaptations were put on hold until...now.

In 2018, Nickelodeon decided to give another animated TMNT series a shot entitled Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which aired on the platform from 2018 to 2020. While this version was CGI (just standard animation), the basis of the series didn't stray too far away from what we know the Ninja Turtles to be—NYC crimefighters. The series spanned two seasons on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons respectively, and while there hasn't been another TMNT series since, history tells us that another one will probably pop back up within the next five to ten years.

The linkup we didn't know we needed. In 2019, Batman and the Ninja Turtles joined forces along with Batgirl and Robin to battle against The Shredder, who himself has teamed up with Ra's Al Ghul and The League Of Assassins to wreak havoc. The film was released direct-to-video and Blu-ray on June 4, 2019, earning over $3 million from home video sales.

The Netflix film sequel to the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that aired on Nickelodeon/Nicktoon, the Ninja Turtles receive a visit from Casey Jones from the future telling that impending doom is on the way in the form of...the Krang. While it's helpful to have watched the series, the film does work as a standalone, and can essentially introduce you to the TMNT storyline if you are unfamiliar.

Due out on August 2, 2023, the Ninja Turtles are being re-invented...again. Since there will be a new audience being introduced for the first time, the backstory stays the same—you'll meet the mutant teens in New York, and the reporter that covers them—April Jones. We'll have to see what this particular version brings once its officially released, but one thing's for sure—there's going to be more coming whether its on the big screen or small.