The Rat King

Major Roles and Key Stories

"I, Monster" (First Appearance and Encounter with the Turtles)

A solitary madman, believing himself to be a monster, The Rat King lives in an abandoned factory and it's surrounding swamp. During an encounter with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles he believed them to be monsters that were coming to claim his home for themselves. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to the factory, just to train with Casey Jones, and did not want it for themselves. Rat King first watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the shadows, but after a while he captured Michelangelo and tried to feed him to rats. Michelangelo escaped and met with the other Turtles and Casey Jones. After failing to kill Michelangelo, Rat King attempted to kill all of the Turtles by feeding them alive to his army of rats. He failed and received a shiruken in his chest from Leonardo for his troubles. Rat King dropped in a silo because of the impact of Leonardo's shuriken and was expected to have died.

"City at War" (Encounter with Master Splinter)

Master Splinter enters the silo where the Rat King dropped to his defeat. He then injured his leg when he fell to a gap. Helpless and unable to move, the Rat King discovered Splinter. The Rat King will return in many occasions as the story unfolds to it's conclusion. He is likely to return talking about philosophical events and dreams . As the tale continues, Splinter had a dream of the Rat King in his terrifying form and talks to him about eating a rat to once again receive his energy. The Rat King also said that eating rats helped to find the one he has been trying to find and he also mentioned that he has been expecting Splinter to come to him. After two months of his absence, Master Splinter than receives enough strength and was able to get out of the silo. At the moment he went out of the silo, he was surprised to see, the rotting remains of the Rat King.

"Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2" (Origin)

When the Pantheon member who rules the rats reaches his end, an unnamed, hospitalized, bandaged man is then given the opportunity to take the first Rat King's place. The man does battle with Splinter when he became the Rat King. Unfortunately for him, Master Splinter was able to defeat him after a long, tiring battle. Splinter has been given the position to be the new Rat King but he denied to be it. The Pantheon, with the bandaged man, left for they have accepted Splinter's decision. However, they stated that he will be given the opportunity again at the time he dies.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 4" (Death of Master Splinter)

The Rat King makes a short cameo as a ghost in this issue. He witnessed Master Splinter's death when he got a heart attack while getting some milk.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures" (Debut in Archie Comics)

The Rat King in the series was addressed as Lord Ha'ntaan. He came in contact with the turtles when they were finding Shredder in the sewage outlet. Later, The Rat King told them where he is hiding because he realized that the turtles did not come for a fight with him.

"The Future Shark Trilogy" (The Rat King of the Future)

The Rat King has waged war on Donatello as a sign of revenge for exterminating his rats (as Donatello had created a new version of the Mouser Baxter Stockman had originally created in this alternate time-line). The Rat King made his actual appearance in the story-arc in the final issue where in he battled the turtles and their company. He is later defeated accidentally by the cat mutant Verminator-X.

"The Turtle King" (Saturday Morning Adventures)

The Rat King gets blasted in the face with some chemicals, which causes him to lose his rat mind control powers and instead give him turtle mind control powers. He uses these new powers to have the turtles break into TCRI labs and steal him weapons. He then uses the turtles and the weapons to steal cheese for the rats, and then to flood the city. The second part of his plan is stopped by Splinter and electric shock that causes him to lose his turtle mind control powers but in jail he realizes he can control rats once again.