Casey Jones (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Casey Jones
Casey Jones (Art by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird)
Publication information
Publisher	Mirage Studios
First appearance	Raphael #1, 1985
Created by	Kevin Eastman Peter Laird
In-story information
Full name	Arnold "Casey" Jones
Team affiliations	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April O'Neil
Notable aliases	Case. Space Case
Abilities	Skilled at armed and unarmed combat. Master of stealth. Wields sports equipment (baseball bats, hockey sticks, cricket paddles, golf clubs) as blunt weapons.

Arnold "Casey" Jones is a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Like the turtles, Casey Jones is a self-appointed vigilante. Casey wears a hockey mask and cut-off biking gloves and carries his weapons in a golf bag over his shoulder. His weapons include baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, and hockey sticks. He is a master of stealth, as he has never been caught by the NYPD despite his bizarre appearance. In recent installments, he appears as a love interest for April O'Neil.

Beginnings

As a boy growing up in New York, Casey Jones' neighborhood was overrun with criminals. Casey became tired of the "hoods running his 'hood'", started an intense weight training regimen and purchased a few books on martial arts to help combat the "bad guys." He started his career with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he ran into a gang of youths attempting to beat up Raphael. The two clashed but eventually helped each other to take down a group of Purple Dragon gang members. Ever since, Casey has been a close friend to Raphael and the Turtles.

Often Casey has been known to shout the term, "Goongala," as a sort of battle cry.

Casey Jones does not appear in the Archie Comics Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.

Mirage

Casey first appeared in the Raphael solo issue "Me, Myself and I". Raphael runs into Casey beating some muggers and proceeds to stop him before the crooks are murdered. Jones and Raphael fight several times before making peace with each other. Later, he comes to the aid of the Turtles, Splinter and April O'Neil when they are attacked by the resurrected Shredder at April's home. The seven escape, and retreat to a farmhouse in Northampton, Massachusetts that once belonged to Casey's grandmother. Casey "officially" becomes a part of the Turtles' family around this point, and the farmhouse acts as a second home to them all for some time.

In the Mirage series, Casey is extremely violent, even more so than Raphael, but mellows throughout the course of the series. In the story "Shades of Gray," Casey accidentally kills a teenager who tried to mug him. The incident sent him into a drunken spiral, damaging his relationship with April O'Neil. His initial homicidal tendencies are especially present in his first appearance, although he never actually murders anyone in that instance.

During City at War, Casey leaves the farmhouse and begins to drive to Los Angeles, planning to find April, but instead meets a pregnant woman named Gabrielle with whom he falls in love and marries. Gabrielle dies during childbirth and Casey is left to take care of her daughter, whom he names Shadow. After spreading Gabrielle's ashes, Casey returns to New York with Shadow to stay with his mother. In a chance encounter, Casey is reunited with April when she comes to buy the apartment building owned by Casey's mother. During this meeting it's revealed that Casey's real name is Arnold. Casey repairs his relationship with April and they begin dating. By volume four, he and April are married. They raise Shadow as their daughter and try to have a child of their own.

1987 TMNT animated series

In the original TMNT cartoon, Casey Jones is a crazed vigilante who fights crime as horrific as murder, to as petty as littering. He never takes off his mask in the series. This version of Casey does not play as central a role as his comic book counterpart, nor does he have a relationship with April. His most notable line was “When do I get to break something?”. He also tended to call many villains "scuzzbuckets" and "lawbreaker". Casey was voiced by Pat Fraley. In the Japanese Version, he was voiced by Issei Futamata and Akio Ohtsuka (NHK-BS2 Version).

He appeared in five episodes, #41, Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero; #43, Corporate Raiders From Dimension X; #119, Leonardo Cuts Loose; #162, Night of the Rogues; and #177, Cyber-Turtles.

2003 TMNT animated series

In the later TMNT cartoon, Jones has a much more important role. His father’s shop was burned down by Hun and the Purple Dragons. This gave Casey his hatred for crime. It is revealed in one episode that he and the Turtles had met before when they were kids. The Turtles tried to teach him self-defense to fight some bullies, but it ended badly. In the show, Casey has a good heart, but is easily enraged and occasionally bumbling. He loves motorcycles, is good friends with Raphael, and is romantically involved with April. In the episode, Back to the Sewers, he asks April to marry him, which they do in the finale "Wedding Bells and Bytes". His main catchphrase is his battle cry “Goongala!”. He speaks in a Brooklyn accent. He is voiced by Marc Thompson in English and Tokuyoshi Kawashima in Japanese.

Feature Films

Casey Jones, played by Elias Koteas, has lead roles in two of the TMNT films. In the first film, he is a former professional ice hockey player who had turned vigilante. He encounters Raphael while attacking some purse-snatchers. Raphael stops Casey from harming the thieves, whereupon Casey turns his aggression on Raphael. Casey later sees Raphael alone on a rooftop surrounded by Foot soldiers and comes to the Turtles' aid in the subsequent attack. He is referred to by Michelangelo as "Wayne Gretzky on steroids". Casey Jones joins the Turtles to assist them against the Shredder and the Foot, mentions to April that he was a professional ice hockey player until he got injured, and ultimately rescues Splinter from the Foot's headquarters and crushes the Shredder in a garbage truck. He also falls in love with April in the process.

In the third film Casey returns at the Turtles' request to assist Splinter in watching over the four honor guards that were transported to the present when the Turtles would take their place in feudal Japan. Koteas also performs an ancestor of Jones named Whit, who like his descendant ends up helping the Turtles despite anti-heroic tendencies and he also shows a romantic interest in April, just like how Casey does.

In the Japanese Version, his voice actors are Hiroya Ishimaru (1st Movie in VHS Version), Taro Arakawa (1st Movie in TV Version) and Issei Futamata (3rd Movie).

Casey appears in the 2007 TMNT film, and is voiced by Chris Evans . By the time the film takes place, Casey is now in a relationship with April and he works for her shipping company as a delivery man, spending his nights continuing his vigilante activities. Through this, he meets Raphael as the Nightwatcher, becoming his sidekick - though he claims Raphael is the sidekick. At the beginning of the film, he is the only character to know that Raph is the Nightwatcher-when he meets Raph in costume, the latter is at first confused; Casey states, "Wasn't that hard, man. Y'know, you look like a big metal turtle," and Raph says, rather despondently, "That obvious, huh?"

Video games

Casey Jones is a playable character in the NES and Sega Genesis versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, and he appears in the background in War's stage in the SNES version.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions he rescues the Turtles if they lose all their health.

Casey Jones is in the 2003 video game and the 2003 Game Boy Advance game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is a boss in Raph's story mode, and if the player inserts a cheat code or beats stage 1 as Raphael, he will become a playable character in story mode.

He is an unlockable alternate for Raph in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus.

He is a playable character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee.

External links

• Official 2003 Animated Series Profile
• Unofficial Character profile
• Read the comic that introduced Casey Jones at the Official Ninja Turtles site