Apparently, in the idw comics, when the turtles were killed (as humans. There’s a whole plot about them being reincarnated as turtles but they were originally humans who were executed by Shredder) they were all very different ages?
Apparently Mikey was 13-14, I’m not totally sure of Donnie and Raph, but I’m guessing between they were 15-16, and Leo was NINETEEN. LEO IS 5-6 YEARS OLDER THAN MIKEY. So that means, when they were mutated they were all the same age physically, but mentally, Leo was fuckin 19. I always imagined Leo was the oldest but holy frick I didn’t expect that much older.
Here’s a pic of how they looked when they were younger:
This is how they looked around the time they were killed:
You can really see how much older Leonardo is. All the boys are grief stricken, and rightfully so, they literally got murdered right afterwards, but Leo just closed his eyes and accepted it. Also, he acts a lot more mature, actually greeting their father with a gesture and saying the weren’t deserving of the treats.
He also has a longer (forgive me on this one) Kimono(?), his Nagagi is longer than his brothers, and he has a Hakama (I’m guessing by the looks of how he fights, he looks like he has pant legs. I’m not an expert tho, I don’t know for sure. I also don’t know if there’s a difference between a female and male Hakama. If anyone knows, id love to be enlightened!), which all symbolize higher rank.
He’s also the only one with his hair up but idk if that means anything.
Also, he is often depicted carrying Mikey around:
Anyway, this backstory makes me really sad, but it’s also so fascinating to read all the intricate details about it. Still kills me when I see them crying with foot soldiers about to execute them tho :(