Rat King (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) cameo appearance in "Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles" Vol. 4, watching as Splinter succumbs to a heart attack and dies while retrieving milk from a refrigerator. Much of the Rat King's origin is later revealed in an issue of "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Vol. 2; the story reveals that a group of beings known as the Pantheon exists, with each member of the group having jurisdiction over a species of animal. When the time of the Pantheon member who rules the rats reaches an end, a new one is chosen, a scarred and heavily bandaged (explaining the Rat
Rat King (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) him off balance, sending him plummeting into the bowels of a silo. In the multi-part storyline "City at War", the Rat King appears in a major role. After entering the silo where Leonardo defeated the Rat King, Splinter falls into a pit and injures his leg; left helpless, Splinter is found by the Rat King, who appears before him multiple times throughout the story-arc, often debating philosophically with him and giving him cryptic advice in dreams. Splinter soon has a dream in which the Rat King appears before him as a demonic rat-like entity, and tells him to devour a