Raphael

physically the strongest, and often at odds with his brother, Leonardo

Raphael, nicknamed Raph, is a superhero and one of the four main characters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and all related media.[1] In most iterations, he is depicted as the most aggressive of the turtle brothers, physically the strongest, and often at odds with his brother, Leonardo.[1] He is usually depicted wearing a red eye mask; in this regard, he is the only turtle to retain this color since the original incarnation of the characters, as the remaining turtles received different colors at a later time. Raphael wields twin sai as his primary weapon. He is commonly portrayed in media as speaking with a Brooklyn accent. Raphael is known for his temperamental and cynical personality, being short-tempered, aggressive, sullen, maddened, sarcastic, and rebellious.[2] The origin of Raphael's anger is not always fully explored, but in some incarnations appears to stem partly from the realization that they are the only creatures of their kind and ultimately alone, while also bothered by the injustice the helpless and innocent suffer. Despite his fiery personality, he has shown a soft side on many occasions, mainly to Michelangelo. Raphael is an opinionated and independent character who chafes under authority. He serves as the team's enforcer. The combination of his personality and role contributes to his rivalry and frequent arguments with his brother and leader, Leonardo. When he feels as though Leonardo's decision is not in the best interest of the family, for whatever reason, he is sure to voice it. However, in a later iteration of the franchise, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his role as protector takes precedence over his traditional characterization and his dynamics with his brothers. In this series, Raphael is the eldest brother and his dynamic with Leonardo is effectively swapped—with Raphael now admonishing Leonardo for his irresponsible attitude and disregard for his role as leader. Like all of the brothers, he is named after a Renaissance artist; in this case, he is named after the 16th-century Italian painter Raphael.[3] In 2011, Raphael placed 23rd on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes,[4] a list that did not feature any of his brothers. He is the only Teenage Turtle brother whose name does not end in the letter "O", even though the artist he got his name from is "Raffaello". Comic books Mirage Comics In the earliest black-and-white Mirage Comics, Raphael was the most violent turtle and had a tendency for going berserk either in battle or when his temper flared up. He has a somewhat cynical and sarcastic sense of humor. In later issues, it is shown that he is not particularly fond of the supernatural, stating so explicitly in Tales of Raphael: Bad Moon Rising. Raphael mellowed somewhat as the series went on, possibly a key moment for his character development was when he allowed Leonardo to go in alone to defeat The Shredder after nearly being killed by the Foot Elite. Since then, he has been less likely to challenge Leonardo's leadership, and on the whole is more friendly towards his family and allies. Of his three brothers, Raphael is closest to Michelangelo, having stated this in the fourth issue of the Mirage TMNT comics. Raphael often shows a caring, more laid-back, side of himself when around Mikey, frequently indulging the young turtle emotionally when at home and ferociously protecting him from harm when in battle. Raphael openly admits that the mere thought of Mikey being grievously injured causes him to experience violent rage. In his self-titled one-shot miniseries, Raphael meets human vigilante Casey Jones, his foil, who is more violent and unstable than he was. Despite their brutal first meeting, the two have since formed a close bond. In the Mirage comic book series' Volume 4, he is still the most violent turtle but is more sociable. After having been bitten by a vampire-like creature, he experienced a further mutation and became a large, dinosaur-like version of himself. He went into a state of berserk animal rage because of it, but with some guidance from an inner manifestation of Master Splinter, he regained his original mentality and later assisted Leonardo and Casey Jones in tracking down the vampires who attacked him. This is also somewhat similar to an earlier storyline during Volume 1, where Raphael was attacked by a leech-like creature who, when sucking his blood, also drained him of the mutagen in his body and reverted him to a small turtle. The leech itself mutated and vanished, prompting the remaining turtles to follow it. Finally, after tracking down the creature, Raphael manages to bite it and pierce its skin, thereby drinking its blood and mutating it back. This incarnation of Raphael appeared in the crossover special Turtles Forever voiced by Sean Schemmel. Image Comics In the Image series that treated the first two volumes of the Mirage Comics as canonical, Raphael was blasted in the face and disfigured. After that, he wore one of Casey J