Credit: Inside the MagicIf there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Well, this time it’s the Ghostbusters and the Ninja Turtles!
The Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles franchises share a ton of similarities. They both came into existence in 1984, they both take place in New York City, they both follow four characters who fight otherworldly forces throughout the city, and during the late ’80s through to the early ’90s, they both exploded onto the pop culture scene with waves of toy lines, movies, sequels, and Saturday morning kids’ cartoon shows.
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Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles have endured for nearly forty years, and they remain just as popular today. In fact, they each have a brand-new movie heading to theaters this year — Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 (working title) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). But it begs to question why there hasn’t been a crossover between these two franchises, right? Well, even if you’re a diehard fan of just one, then you’ll know this is untrue.
Something else they both have in common is that they’ve both enjoyed a long-running comic book series under IDW Publishing. “Ghostbusters” is now defunct, and will soon be replaced by a new limited edition series some time this year that will serve as a follow up to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), while TMNT‘s run is still going strong, more recently in the form of the widely popular “The Last Ronin” (2020) series.
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During its 10-year-run, “Ghostbusters” welcomed a number of other franchises through its big red firehouse doors for crossover events, including Trans-Formers, Mars Attacks, and The X Files. However, many don’t know that among those guests were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in the crossover events titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters” (2014) and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters 2” (2017).
Related: ‘TMNT’ Prequel Follows ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot, Replaces Beloved Heroes With Female Turtles
Volume 1, which was a four-issue miniseries, sees the Ninja Turtles arriving in the Ghostbusters’ universe, where both teams must join forces to save the day. As per IDW Publishing, here’s the official synopsis:
When a new invention goes haywire, the Turtles are sent to a whole new type of New York City. One with a whole lot more ghosts… and Ghostbusters! The two teams will have to learn to get along quickly, because a new foe from the Turtles’ past has followed them and aims to conquer NYC!
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Volume 1, which was comprised of five issues, sees the Ghostbusters and the Ninja Turtles team up once again to take on the “Collectors”. Here’s the official synopsis:
An enemy from Master Splinter’s past is back and hungry for revenge. To get it, he’ll summon the most dangerous foe that the Turtles have ever encountered — the Collectors, shape-shifting demons that can pass through dimensions at will and cannot be stopped once they have been summoned to harvest a soul. To save themselves from the clutches of the Collectors, the Turtles team up with the Ghostbusters, the only people who have ever faced them and lived to tell the tale in a battle that turns a chase across dimensions both incredible and terrifying.
Related: A Guide to the ENTIRE ‘Ghostbusters’ Franchise
If you’re a fan of Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles, these comic books are definitely worth the read. While you might be tired of all things multiverse lately, it’s great fun to see Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore interact with their half-shell-hero counterparts Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo!
The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comic book series continues to enjoy crossovers with other popular franchises, more recently with Batman and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Whether or not we’ll ever see Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles cross over on the silver screen, though, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, many fans are hoping that the “The Last Ronin” will one day get a big-screen adaptation, which suddenly seems all the more likely now that a brand-new video game based on the storyline has been confirmed to be in development.
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Have you read this epic crossover? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!