The long history of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescontains an army of characters with wildly varying iterations across mediums. The 80s cartoon, like most shows of the era, needed to pump out a constant stream of colorful creatures to turn into action figures. As a result, characters like Wingnut can have their fifteen minutes of fame over and over again.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldbergare set to bringTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesback to the early days with their upcoming filmMutant Mayhem. The animated epic seems to be a love letter to the franchise, bringing many characters to the big screen for the first time.
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Who is Wingnut inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Wingnut is a bipedal bat with a set of metal wings, and those are the only details that have remained consistent about his character. He is usually, but not always, accompanied by a mosquito called Screwloose. Screwloose will not beappearing inMutant Mayhem. In his first appearance in the 1987 cartoon, Wingnut was an alien from a planet called Flagenon. He arrives in New York disguised as “Sergeant Rambo” and enacts his plan to brainwash human children to take over the world. His evil scheme is foiled when Zach, a human kid who became the “honorary fifth turtle” before being absent from every other version of the story, breaks their control. He was a minormonster of the weekwho barely got to use his own name, but he enjoyed a new life in the comics.
The Archie comics introduced Wingnut in 1990, but he bore little resemblance to the first iteration of the character. His skin (fur?) was now all blue and his metal wings were more like a hang glider than natural appendages. In addition, the comic book iteration of Wingnut and Screwloosewere allies of the Turtles. Wingnut and Screwloose fled to Earth the escape the wrath of Krang. After a misunderstanding and a quick fight, the bat and the bug joined the Turtles in the battle against Shredder. They went on to join the Mighty Mutanimals, an auxiliary team of TMNT side characters who became heroes in their own right. The entire team was butchered in the 90s, but Wingnut was brought back for themore modern IDW series. They’re not around long.
The most interesting version of Wingnut so far is the one featured in the 2012Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescartoon. This iteration is a comic book superhero who is brought to life through a magic crystal.Michelangelo grants them life, giving them the chance to fight crime together. After a night out, Mikey informs Wingnut and Screwloose that they aren’t real, resulting in a behavior change. With the use of the crystal that gave them life, the bat and bug became twisted and villainous. The Turtles and April defeat Wingnut by convincing him to understand his fictional origin and allowing him to willingly return to the page.
How could Wingnut change forMutant Mayhem?
The most consistent element of Wingnut’s appearance in every medium is that he’s a broad parody of Batman. The 2012 iteration is probably the most direct, but many other takes on the character have takeninfluence from the Caped Crusader. The 80s cartoon depicted him enticing children to do his bidding, the Archie version fully pilfered Batman’s logo, and action figure bios of the time made fun of DC’s favorite hero. Multiple iterations mention Wingnut losing his parents to motivate him. Batman has changed a lot over the past decade, so there’s a lot of fresh ground to make fun of there.
The role of Wingnut will be portrayed by Natasia Demetriou, best known for her role as Nadja inWhat We Do in the Shadows. Wingnut is typically characterized as male, but an actress with vampire experience under her belt might change the direction of the character. The Utrom aliens will play a part in the story, but Krang hasn’t been mentioned thus far, so it’s tough to know whether Wingnut will be with the Turtles or against them. Either way, a Batman analog would be an interesting figure in a work that’s openly trying to evoke the older era of TMNT.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhemis set to bring characters of all levels of fame to the big screen together at last. Fans will be introduced or reintroduced to figures that have spanned the ages in a bizarre level of notability. Someone out there is undoubtedly excited to see Wingnut finally get their day in the sun.This Batman parody maybe of questionable origin, but they’re about to get their biggest display yet. Tune intoTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhemon June 09, 2025, to see all the new takes on classic characters like Wingnut.
