Mirage Series:
-The purpose of the turtles in general. Their master raises them as nothing more than personal hitmen, and that inadvertently sent them to be superheroes. The fact that they realize and struggle with this in later stories is heartwrenching.
-Early on, Raphael showed less signs of bipolar disorder, but rather sociopathic behavior. Take for example that after losing a sparring match, he nearly beats Michaelangelo, his brother, to death with a wrench. Made even worse when it's clear he's the strongest of his brothers physically
-In the first issue, take into account the turtles, still very young, murder a man they've never met in cold blood because of their master's blood feud
-Michaelangelo has some severely disturbing dreams throughout the mirage series, one of which has him dreaming that a demon tears his heart out. They make a point to show this explicitly.
-On the theme of disturbed turtles, Donatello exhibited some very worrysome behavior in later arcs. It's revealed that for years, Donatello salvaged and kept the remains of Baxter Stockman, performing experiments on it and even at one point sacrificing a dog for the sake of science. A. Dog.
-Rat Kings entire existence, and soon after, his death. After a battle with Leonardo, Rat King is filled full of shuriken, and drops to the bottom of a siloh.
-The aftermath of that as well. When Splinter is left to die at the bottom of the very same siloh, Rat King appears before him, reminiscing his existence, and even convinces Splinter to eat rats. Later Splinter removes piles of filth to reveal Rat King's decayed corpse, meaning a hallucination drove him to cannibalism.
-One heartbreaking example is the entire situation concerning Casey Jones and his love life. April leaves him and goes out west. Casey marries another woman and has a child with her, only to have her die in childbirth. With both loves gone, Casey is left a single father unable to hold a steady job
-Still on Casey, he at one point became an inadvertent child murderer. On a usual vigilante run, Casey is assaulted by two minors in a park. In defense, Casey hits one with his hockey stick in the back of the kids head, killing him instantly. Distraught, Casey flees. He's never caught, but the guilt he must've felt makes the situation almost unbearable.
-Raphael continued to have extremely violent tendencies throughout. He at one point admits that losing Michaelangelo would send him into an uncontrollable rage, meaning any and everyone within his radius would likely suffer a very unfortunate fate.
-Definitely the most notorious of the Ninja Turtles plot points, the entire situation concerning April as a cartoon is nonsensical and disturbing. She learns she's not a human being, but rather a drawing created with a magic pen by legendary comic author Jack Kirby. She's sent back in time, as a cockroach, and is explicitly said to engage in cockroach activities, including sex. Yes, sex.
-The concept of the Shredder dying, and coming back as a literal mass of worms and flesh haphazardly thrown together. Also, when Leonardo decapitates the Shredder without a second thought is reminiscent of their first encounter.
1987 Cartoon-
-Baxter Stockman makes this list again, as his plight as Shredders virtual slave is tragic. Moments before death, he's mutated into a monstrosity with little to no thought process.
-Beebop and Rocksteady can also fit into this category. They seem to be unaware that they were once human.
-Take any time April is in mortal danger as an example. Perhaps the most distressing example is when she's suffocating to death, saved mere moments before she would have surely met her fate. A chilling and all too real example.
-Despite his brief appearance, Casey Jones is very clearly a mentally disturbed man, as it's pretty clear the line between fantasy and reality to him are blurred. (The man did, in fact, smash to pieces an entire kitchen's worth of appliences with prejudice...and in sincerity.)
-Michaelangelo nearly being melted to death....on his birthday.
-Yes, the series did attempt to recreate the success of Batman: The Animated Series with a dark tone in later seasons, but it did succeed in creating shocking moments. Early into one episode, the Shredder takes temporary status as a truly cruel villain. Without any announcement or provocation, he blows the Channel 6 news building sky high....with countless inside. As a warning.
-It's uncountable the amount of times the Turtles have inadvertently killed villains through wacky shenanigans.
Archie Comics (TMNT Adventures):
-Michaelangelo is kidnapped and tortured by the government. This goes on for a painfully long time, with Michaelangelo begging them to stop before he's rescued by Leonardo and Donatello.
-At one point the turtles meet and team up with a future version of Raphael, who in his own time lost not only his brothers but his left eye. He proves to be one of the darker characters in the series.
-Once again on Raphael, he showed a surprising level of violence when he shot his one time ally, Verminator, point blank, on purpose. Topped off with an unsettling comment about how he never bluffs.
-The death of mighty superhero team and allies of the Turtles, the Mutanimals. While the turtles are preoccupied, the Mutanimals are cornered and mercilessly gunned down by robot sentries. The comic even shows the turtles discovering their bodies piled up and surrounded by blood.
-Regarding the above entry, later TMNT issues elaborate that not only did the Mutanimals STAY dead, but are currently in hell. Yeesh.
-Perhaps the most disturbing entry to this series, at one point the turtles time travel, and visit WW2 Germany. The turtles find none other than Hitler, hiding in his bunker. After delivering a very brutal and severe beatdown, Leonardo literally convinces Hitler to take his own life. In a comic for children.
-Slash, the further mutated 5th turtle from another dimension, ends up giving his life to save the turtles and crew. He's able to accomplish this by hurling himself and his spacecraft into the sun.
IMAGE comics: (warning: this one is hard to sit through)
-Several tragedies happened in the very first issue. On Dons birthday, the sewers are invaded by the Foot. Donnie boy himself is shot point blank, the other turtles are badly beaten, and half of Raphaels face is disfigured when he recieves the brunt of a blast.
-Due to this, Raphael often wore some of Casey's masks to hide his scars.
-Leonardo also ends up losing one of his hands to a monster.
-Splinter, perhaps the only person they know capable of completely understanding of them, is turned into a monstrous Man Bat knockoff incapable of rational thought. Take one good guess as to who has to stop him.
-Poor Donatello. He is the worst treated in this entire series. He's shot point blank on his birthday, held captive by the Foot, is dropped thousands of feet out of a helicopter, PARALYZED, left for dead by his brothers, and his only option to stay alive is enhance himself with mechanical parts containing an evil computer system capable of overriding his mind.
-Raph pulls a smart move when he dons the Shredders armor in order to intimidate the remaining foot clan. It works, but it's no less startling to see Raph seemingly switch sides.
2k3 Cartoon:
-The episode "Same as It Never Was" has Don find his way to an alternate dimension in which his brothers fall at Shredders hands. Relatively cliche, but still no less traumatic.
-Stockmans treatment at the hands of Shredder. It's implied later that Shredder tortured and dismembered Stockman after his insolence, leading to his appearance is "Insane in the Membrane", in which he builds himself a new body, only to have it deteriorate and his mind slowly slip.
2k12 Cartoon:
-Donatellos dark side, with his almost stalkerish crush on April.
-Raphael continues what he does best and does some pretty brutal numbers on a few enemies.
-In the comic, Donatello was recently killed in a battle against Beebop and Rocksteady, when he recieved a crowbar to the shell. Made even worse twice: Metalhead attempted to assist Donnie in battle, but to no avail. It's possible to say Metalhead didn't fight AS hard, as he being a robot didn't understand the implication of Donnie's impending doom. Second, being found by his brothers, and cradled by his master is almost too much to bear.
Michael Bay film:
-Everything about this film is horrifying on some level.
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