The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) or just Ninja Turtles are four fictional bipedal humanoid talking turtles. Originally, they were created as comic characters in November 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
Their names are Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. Their sensei is a bipedal humanoid talking rat named Splinter. Their hometown is New York City.
The first TMNT comic was published by Mirage Studios in May 1984. Later, the franchise has spawned into various television series, other comics and films.
In October 2009, Nickelodeon purchased the franchise rights from Mirage Studios.