TMNT AGE ORDER (Evidence based)
Look at this high quality answer for one of the most commonly asked TMNT questions out there.
This is fantastic and EVIDENCE based (I LOVVVVVEEEE me some evidence)
Long answer: depends on the universe*
Short answer: (1) Leonardo (2) Donatello (3) Raphael (4) Michelangelo
And this post goes into why Don is older than Raph, as Leo/Mikey being eldest/youngest is never up for update.
So Don > Raph.
Why?
#1. “Word of God”
#2. IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011), volume 5
#3. Character/family/team dynamics
#4. Aesthetics
~ 1 ~
For those unfamiliar with the term, the Word of God
is
“A statement regarding some ambiguous or undefined aspect of a work, the Word of God comes from someone considered to be the ultimate authority, such as the creator, director, writer or producer of a TV show / video game / film / etc.”
With that in mind, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird co-created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984. Unlike a fair amount of co-created series, TMNT is actually an evenly split brain-child (ie neither Eastman nor Laird seems to be any more responsible for or involved in its creation/production/etc than the other).
On August 14, 2014, Kevin Eastman stated “I’m going to take a bold step and say Donatello is older” during a Reddit AMA.
I couldn’t find so much as a whiff of Peter Laird’s explicit opinion on the matter (for all my searching… and there was a lot), but that also means that I never found him contradicting Kevin Eastman’s statement.
At any rate, if you’re the type of person who accepts the “Word of God” at face value, then continue no further! I, however, don’t do that—hence why this is only reason 1 of 3(4).
~ 2 ~
If you’re not familiar with IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011)
then read it, because it’s phenomenal, it’s the franchise’s longest running piece of media ever and up until volume 100, original co-creator Kevin Eastman co-wrote the series and collaborated on page layouts. The much acclaimed Last Ronin, the first thing written by both Eastman and Laird since the original Mirage run, is set in the IDW-verse as its own version of SAINW.
The premise of the IDW run is that Splinter’s and the Turtles’ souls are reincarnated from those of a human family that lived in feudal japan (yes it sounds stupid, but it’s touched on very little and is executed surprisingly well).
And that means that the Turtles’ corresponding human-selves are all visibly different ages (because unlike turtles, it’s not so common for humans to have quadruplets).
So when we see the Turtles’ human selves in volume 5…
It’s clear in both appearance and mannerisms that Don is older than Raph.
They’re definitely the closest in age of the siblings, but still most assuredly different ages.
Besides Raph being smaller than Don with shorter and chubbier limbs, his hairstyle also strikes me as more baby-like (kinda like the ancient version of the ponytail parent’s give their 1 year olds when they don’t have enough hair yet to actually do anything with). His mannerisms also lend themselves to that of a younger child—more sleepy, much more oblivious to his surroundings, and more clingy. Don’s also shown to be able to stand, while Raph seems like he might not be able to yet.
~ 3 ~
This reason is subjective, which is why I’ve listed it last and need more space to elaborate on it.
The short of it is: Donatello’s character has always seemed to be designed around being second-in-charge—both in team and family contexts.
I don’t think anyone would argue against the fact that Don is the go-to turtle. Doesn’t matter what continuity you look at, when Leo anyone runs into a problem, they turn to Don.
You could argue that Donnie’s the smart one and “so it only makes sense to turn to him to fix a problem” (and that’s a bit of a catch-22 that I’ll talk about in more detail in the unabridged version!). However… he’s not a real person and so him being the smart one that characters always turn to when Leo falters (including Leo!) is a deliberate choice by the creators. And in the context of the The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s very traditional operating style—with heavy emphasis on hierarchy by age, blood, etc.—it’s very telling.
Were they a real family, yes, they would have developed their personalities/aptitudes mostly independently of their birth order, but given that specifically assigning children roles/ideals based on birth order is a significant player in Japanese culture (especially ancient Japanese culture which pertains to ninjitsu on which TMNT is based)… well…
(I mean just look at how Splinter treats Leo).
Anyway, looking at the TMNT franchise as a whole, the advancement of the plot, in 9/10 cases, hinges on Don coming up with a solution either (1) via Leo coming up with something, pointing him in a direction, and asking “Don can you make [insane thing] work?” or (2) when Leo stalls entirely and Don has to take over. And though it’s a formula, it’s a formula with a million different permutations so it stays interesting.
Raph’s role is to go into a berserker rage and brute force a second-wind powerup when when fighting is the only option. He’s as the one who makes the first option work when Leo & Don are stuck and he has to, not the one who comes up with the second option. And, narrative-wise, it would be boring and lazy for the Turtles to only ever brute force plan A.
(Happy to say I wrote this before I saw Laird say the same thing about Raph.)
That very distinct chain-of-command is why we get things like this, which is much more interesting and satisfying than beat-the-thing-until-it-stops:
The same follows in terms of family dynamics. Leo & Raph are simply too similar for the family to feel “balanced” if they’re the two eldest brothers. There’s no functionality in a family where 1 & 2 are providing nothing different or, worse, butting heads. Don holds the emotional stability of the family in the palm of his hand, largely just by existing as the buffer between Leo & Raph (we all know what happens in SAINW when Don disappears).
And, just from a characterization perspective, it seems much more natural for Raph to turn to Don for comfort than vice versa.
(Again, I’m gonna just… aggressively point to IDW.)
Setting Don aside for a moment, I see so many people argue for Raph being the second son based entirely upon his attitude towards Leo and ignoring everything and everyone else. It sorta drives me insane, tbh. I think it’s a wildly shallow interpretation of his character.
Raph’s entire hang-up is not around being second best, it’s around being denied authority/autonomy in general—you know, stemming from being a mutant and being banned from doing 99/100 things he’d like to? That’s why we see him fighting with Leo; Leo is the only authority he can fight (putting aside the literal syndicate-type authority he also fights obv). But more importantly, we also see him exerting as much power as he can by playfully, not cruelly bullying Mikey //glares at 2k12 (and in more source-compliant adaptations, yes, it is only Mikey that he truly messes with //glares harder at 2k12) or going off solo.
As much as I love 2k7, specifically the Leo/Raph dynamic, it’s not actually a good representation of their real relationship—more of a spin-off “what if” (which Laird has also said). And 2k12 is ok plot-wise, but as far as I’m concerned it mostly fails at creating any compelling character dynamics and it crashes and burns in terms of staying true to source material. C’:
~ 4 ~
Finally, I will end this post with my strongest argument for Don being second-eldest…
Sunset Aesthetic
*The cartoons seem much more inclined to be higgly-piggly with the ages. Take ROTTMNT for example, which kinda… throws everything out the window. And in 2k12, Raph is also older than Don as confirmed in the Tales From Turtle Lair prequel flash comic.
(I would like to quickly add that MM has the same age order as the 2k12 universe, as shown through their descriptions on the Nickelodeon movie promontion.)
Here is the link to the glorious answer:
https://qr.ae/pKZDje
