1996-versionen från Image Comics fick en hälsosam dos av kontrovers baserad på hur mörk versionen var.
The series was controversial for physically altering the turtles. In the five part opening story half of Raphael's face was scarred and Donatello was dropped out of a helicopter breaking his shell and thus paralyzing him. He soon bonded with a living armor and became cyborg, thus granting him his mobility but at the price of sharing his consciousness with an artificial intelligence that would assume control when it felt threatened. A later story had Leonardo's hand bitten off by a monitor lizard.
Medaninteallmäntsåvåldsam,har den mer aktuella IDW-körningen också sin egen del av brutalitet.
Speciellt finns det ett problem där Rocksteady dödar Donatello med en slädehammer.