From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Terrific Whatzit

DC Comics fictional animal character

Summary

DC Comics fictional animal character

Field	Value
image	Terrific Whatzit.jpg
caption	The Terrific Whatzit (left) and his "conscience" (right). From Funny Stuff #6 (Fall 1945).
Art by Martin Naydel.
character_name	The Terrific Whatzit
real_name	Merton McSnurtle
publisher	DC Comics
debut	Funny Stuff #1 (Summer 1944)
creators	Martin Naydel
alliances	Flash Family
Legion of Super-Pets
aliases	McSnurtle the Turtle
powers	Super-speed
Super-strength
Flight
"Automatic conscience"

Art by Martin Naydel. Legion of Super-Pets Super-strength Flight "Automatic conscience"

The Terrific Whatzit (real name: Merton McSnurtle, also known as McSnurtle the Turtle) is a superhero turtle appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. DC's first talking animal superhero, the Terrific Whatzit first appeared in Funny Stuff #1 (Summer 1944) and was created by writer-artist Martin Naydel.

Natasha Lyonne voices the character in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets (2022).

Fictional character biography

McSnurtle is a turtle and shopkeeper who lives in the town of Zooville and is famed for his honesty and laziness. Wishing to see how such a person would handle receiving superpowers, otherworldly entitles called Prince Highness and Prince Lowness grant him super-speed, among other abilities. Dubbing himself the "Terrific Whatzit", he would go on to aid the Allies during the "Second Weird War". Additionally, his nephew Timmy Joe Terrapin / Fastback would acquire similar powers and join the Zoo Crew.

Powers and abilities

McSnurtle possesses super-speed, super-strength, and the ability to fly. Additionally, he is haunted by a ghostly "automatic conscience" that berates him unless he takes action against danger and can remove his shell.

In other media

Television

McSnurtle the Turtle appears in The Flash in two different forms. The first version appears in the episode "Revenge of the Rogues" as the childhood stuffed animal of Iris West. The second appears in the episode "Borrowing Problems from the Future" as a regular turtle that Harrison "HR" Wells gives to Barry Allen as a housewarming gift.
The Terrific Whatzit appears in the DC Super Hero Girls episode "All Pets Are Off".

Film

Merton the Turtle / Terrific Whatzit appears in DC League of Super-Pets, voiced by Natasha Lyonne. This version is a non-anthropomorphic female turtle who acquires super-speed after being exposed to orange Kryptonite and goes on to become the Flash's pet and a founding member of the titular League of Super-Pets.

Miscellaneous

An unnamed turtle wearing the original Terrific Whatzit costume appears in DC Super Friends #14 (June 2009) as the adopted pet of Wally West / Flash.
The Terrific Whatzit appears in the DC Super-Pets children's book Salamander Smackdown. This version is the pet of Barry Allen / Flash who wears a similar costume as him.

References

(2019). "American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944". TwoMorrows Publishing.
Becattini, Alberto. (2019). "American Funny Animal Comics in the 20th Century: Volume Two". Theme Park Press.
Markstein, Don. "McSnurtle the Turtle: The Terrific Whatzit".
Rovin, Jeff. (1991). "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals". Prentice Hall Press.
''Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew'' #4 (June 1982)
''Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew'' #9 (November 1982)
''Funny Stuff'' #1, Summer 1944
Nevins, Jess. (2013). "Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes". High Rock Press.
Agard, Chancellor. (November 17, 2021). "Dwayne Johnson's Krypto assembles a team in DC League of Super-Pets first look".
"DC League of Super-Pets | Meet the Pets: Natasha Lyonne as Merton".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

animal-superheroes anthropomorphic-turtles comics-about-anthropomorphic-turtles golden-age-superheroes comics-about-talking-animals comics-characters-introduced-in-1944 dc-comics-characters-with-superhuman-strength fictional-turtles dc-comics-superheroes dc-comics-male-superheroes dc-comics-animals flash-(comics)-characters legion-of-super-pets

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Terrific Whatzit — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report