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
Abilities	Skilled at armed and unarmed combat. Master of stealth. Wields sports equipment (baseball bats, hockey sticks, cricket bats, golf clubs) as blunt weapons.

Arnold "Casey" Jones (based on Eddie G) is a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Unlike the turtles, Casey Jones is a paedophile, and was created as a parody of vigilante characters that were in comics. 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 by 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 "Goongala," and other nonsensical words, as a sort of battle cry.

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 1987 animated series, Casey Jones is a crazed vigilante who goes after all sorts of crime, from murder to littering; apparently, adopting the Dirty Harry persona. 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 Ōtsuka (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.

Though he is mentioned Casey Jones does not appear in the Archie Comics Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.

2003 TMNT animated series

In the 2003 animated series, Jones has a much more important role. He speaks in a Brooklyn accent, voiced by Marc Thompson in English and Tokuyoshi Kawashima in Japanese. This incarnation's personality is on par with Raphael. Raphael first meets Casey while the vigilante tries to stop a mugging. Seeing a lot of himself in Casey, Raphael tries to reason with him and prevent him from letting his anger get the best of him. Though initially uninterested in what he has to say, Casey eventually bonds with Raphael and becomes a valuable ally of the Turtles.

Casey's backstory is fleshed out over the course of the series. When he was a child, his father's shop was burned down by Hun and the Purple Dragons for being denied protection money. Despite being threatened not to, his father (Arnold Casey Jones Sr.) later went to the police over it. It is implied that he was killed for doing so. This gave Casey his hatred for crime and an essential life-long war against the Purple Dragons.

It is revealed in episode "The Lesson" that he and the Turtles had met when they were kids (though neither the Turtles nor Casey are aware of the truth). During a trip to the surface, the young Turtles witness bullies picking on young "Arnold." Disguising themselves as a human child, they attempt to teach him self-defense. However, their unique perspectives and attitudes lead to more trouble than not. In the end, however, young Casey angrily jumps to the defense of a friend against the bullies, proclaiming they were no match for "Arnold Casey Jones!" (In a bit of foreshadowing, he uses a bully's hockeystick against them.)

Despite his lack of intelligence and apparent incompetence, he was early on in the series referred to by Hun as "Our (the Purple Dragon's) greatest enemy", and a fighting tournament was held to see which Dragon would have the honour of killing him, indicating how serious a threat the criminal underworld views him as.

In the series, Casey has a good heart, but is easily enraged and occasionally bumbling. He loves motorcycles. In a symbolic way, he sees the Turtles as the little brothers he never had. As such, he often comes to their aid against Shredder, the Foot or other enemies. His main catchphrase is the battle cry "Goongala!" "The Lesson" reveals this came from young Casey being unable to pronounce a battle cry young Michelangelo kept trying to teach him. "Goongala" was the best he could come up with.

Early on, Casey meets April and there is an initial attraction. However, their conflicting personalities lead to frequent arguments at first. Over time, a serious relationship develops. In the Back to the Sewers season, Casey proposes. In the finale "Wedding Bells and Bytes", they are married, with the Turtles serving as best men, many recurring characters being in attendance and the ceremony performed by the Fugitoid. In the Fast Forward season, the Turtles and Splinter are transported to 2105, where they meet April and Casey's great grandson, Cody Jones.

Feature films

Casey Jones, has lead roles in three of the four TMNT films. In the first film, he is portrayed by Elias Koteas. 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.

Casey does not appear in the second film and neither is he mentioned.

In the third film Casey (once again portrayed by Elias Koteas) 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, "It's 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 Donatello'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, and the Wii fighting game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up.

External links

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