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
Splinter (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) buried at the O'Neil farmhouse. His spirit still gives his sons advice. The IDW Comics series, which began in 2011, presents a new origin for both Splinter and the Turtles. All five were originally test subjects at Baxter Stockman's bioengineering firm, Stockgen Corporation. When agents of the Foot Clan break into Stockgen and attempt to steal an alien mutagen, Splinter and the Turtles escape but are exposed to the mutagen in the process. While the element of Splinter being Hamato Yoshi is still present, Oroku Saki is now the Foot Clan's medieval leader, with Splinter and the Turtles being the