Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Daredevil Crossover “Will Happen,” Kevin Eastman Says (Exclusive)

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles probably doesn’t exist without Marvel’s Daredevil. Co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have been open in the past about how their work on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics were influenced by Frank Miller’s work on the character, and the signs are all there even if you didn’t know it. Daredevil fights the ninja cult The Hand, and the Ninja Turtles fight the ninja cult The Foot. Daredevil was trained by his blind master Stick, and the TMNT are trained by their master, Splinter. Plus, the ooze that created the four turtles is implied to be the same thing that gave a young Matt Murdock his super powers.

Since their debut in comics nearly forty years ago, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have crossed over with a ton of other properties. There have been four volumes of Batman crossovers, two volumes where they met the Power Rangers (plus once in live-action), and other one-off crossovers with Ghostbusters, The X-Files, Stranger Things, Street Fighter, and more. So far though the Turtles have never officially crossed over with Daredevil, but co-creator Kevin Eastman tells ComicBook.com that not only does he think it will happen, he already knows how it will go. Speaking with us to promote the digital release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Eastman had this to say on a TMNT/Daredevil crossover:

“(It happens) In my mind a lot and often. It’s been something that in all sincerity I believe will happen. But if not, I’ll just do it for free and put it out. But the thing is, Daredevil as a character, long before Frank Miller, I grew up on the Bill Everett, Wally Wood, Bob Brown, Gene Colan; Daredevil was my guy. I really gravitated towards the more, I don’t want to say grounded, but you had Daredevil, Captain America and Batman, there was similarities of more human, accessible characters, but Daredevil was my favorite. But certainly when Frank Miller came in and issue #158 blew us away, it was just epic.”

Eastman continued, “But I have a story and I have ideas and one time, I would like that opportunity to do it. But you know, in the meantime, we were lucky enough to cross over with Ghostbusters and Batman in the comic and man, what a blast. So yeah, one day. That’s definitely bucket list.”

Unfortunetly it seems like the biggest hurdle standing in the way of a proper Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Daredevil crossover would be the House of Ideas themselves, Marvel. Though previously open to crossing over with other companies and bringing characters into stories with other company’s heroes, Marvel has shied away from it over the past decade. Luckily for all of us readers, Kevin Eastman has actually done some work for Marvel in recent years, working on titles like King-Size Conan and Elektra: Black, White & Blood, plus doing covers for X-Men, The Thing, and…you guessed it, Daredevil.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to buy or rent on Digital.