Top 10 Ninjas of the 80's and 90's

The 1980's and 1990's had many imports from Japan.  Cars, Nintendo, Betamax, Walkmen, etc. were all hot technological innovations but one of Japan's biggest exports came from the past: the shadowy and mysterious assassins known as the ninja.  The 80's and 90's quickly became the golden era of ninjas as they appeared in a variety of settings and forms.  Here, is Mechalawyer's Top Ten Ninjas of the 80's and 90's:

10. Video Game Ninjas: Ninja Gaiden (1988), Shinobi (1987), and Final Fantasy (1987)

In the 1980's, ninjas made a big splash in the newest and hottest form of media and entertainment - video games.  Video games such as Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi were offered both in arcade cabinets and in home consoles such as Nintendo’s NES and Sega Genesis.  In these games, players would play a lone ninja, such as Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa or Shinobi’s Joe Musashi, and would battle hundreds of villains and their bosses.

RPG video games such as Final Fantasy introduced the Ninja upgrade of the Thief character.  Here, the Ninja joined parties of western characters such as Warriors and Wizards in their battles against monsters from mythology and fantasy.

9. Wrestling Ninja: WWC (1988) Super Black Ninja / The Great Muta

Before he settled into his most well-known Great Muta character, Japanese wrestling legend Keiji Mutoh took on the character of the Super Black Ninja in the late 80's.  Clad in a full ninja costume, Super Black Ninja would assault opponents with acrobatic skills, martial art strikes, and even green mist!  Mutoh's persona and style would later be emulated by other Japanese wrestlers such as Tajiri "the Japanese Buzzsaw."

8. RPG Ninja: AD&D Oriental Adventures (1985) Ninja 

In 1985, RPGs jumped on the bandwagon as TSR released its Oriental Adventures handbook.  On the cover, a lone ninja armed with a chain and sickle kusari-gama confronts his mortal enemy, a samurai astride a giant temple dog.  Under the Ninja class, the description reads:

“Ninjas are the invisible warriors, spies and assassins practiced in the skills of concealment, stealth, trickery, disguise, acrobatics, and assassination. They possess a number of special powers and use many unique devices. Their abilities and reputations are clouded in mystery. Many ascribe supernatural powers to them. The ninjas have done nothing to discourage these stories and may very well spread the tales themselves. Such confusion only enhances their reputations, inspiring more terror at the mere mention of their name.”

The Ninja class also had its own unique weapons and equipment, many of which were concealable or used for surprise attacks.  From their climbing claw Nekode, to their throwing star Shuriken or their powder blowin Metsubishi, the Ninja class had an arsenal of specialized and unusual weapons for all sorts of encounters.

7. Wargame Ninjas: Citadel Miniatures OH1 Ninjas for Warhammer Fantasy Battle

In addition to RPGs, ninjas also made their way onto the wargames miniature battlefield in the form of Citadel miniatures for Warhammer.  In White Dwarf No. 81, Games Workshop even included a full description and stats for ninjas in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.  The description reads:

“In mysterious Nippon, the Ninja or ‘Invisible Warriors’ rule the night.  Their very name is spoken fearfully in hushed tones.  Trained from childhood in the martial arts and armed with an array of strange and terrible weapons, this caste of assassins has become a byword for sudden and inevitable death.  Some credit them with magical powers, but they have no need of such things.  They could rule Nippon if they wished, but they disdain temporal power, hiring their skills to whoever can afford them.”  Awesome.

6. Ninja Humor: Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) Haru and Fat Ninja (1986)

Ninjas also were portrayed in comedic and silly charicatures such as Chris Farley’s Beverly Hills Ninja or Silverwolf Comics’ Fat Ninja.  These light-hearted takes on shadowy assassins showed how mainstream ninjas and their culture had become.

5. Ninja Movies Icon: Enter the Ninja (1981) Sho Kosugi 

The 80's were filled with ninja movies but the most prolific ninja actor was Sho Kosugi.  In one example of his many ninja movies, 1981’s “Enter the Ninja”, Kosugi played the main antagonist ninja, Hasegawa.  Armed with his ninja-to sword and shuriken, the black-clad Hasegawa firmed up the mainstay images that would be associated with ninjas throughout the 80's.

4. Transformers Ninjas: The Transformers "Enter the Nightbird" (1985) Nightbird and (1990) Banzai-Tron 

Even robots jumped into the ninja act with the Transformers giving a rare female ninja in the form of Nightbird.  With her sais, nunchaku, shuriken, and ninja-to, Nightbird was a deadly adversary that could take on Optimus Prime and his Autobots all at once.  

Later, the comics would expand on the Transformers ninja-lore with Banzai-Tron who was a master of the Cybertronian martial art Crystalocution and in the comics, head of the shadowy Decepticon Secret Service.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ninjas: (1984) Turtles, The Shredder, and The Foot

Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ("TMNT") took ninjas from comics to cartoons, action figures, movies, and more.  TMNT's media & merchandising blitz took ninjas to new heights in pop-culture and beyond but the gritty, dark comic from 1984 was what first introduced the various ninjas from the TMNT world.

The TMNT turtles were named after renaissance masters and were each specialists and masters of one type of ninja weapon - Leonardo with his katana, Donatello with his bo staff, Michelangelo with his nunchaku, and Raphael with his sai.

The turtles main villan was The Shredder, a ninja clad in razor-enhanced armor who was supported by his henchmen, the Foot ninja clan.

2. Marvel Comics Ninjas: Uncanny X-men #256 (1989) Psylocke / Lady Mandarin, Daredevil #174 (1981) Kirigi and the Hand, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2 (1984) Ogun, and Wolverine #2 (1982) Yukio and the Hand

Before Marvel's cinematic universe, Marvel comics went big on ninjas in the 1980's in what could be called Marvel's ninjamatic universe.  With many stories created around The Hand, a criminal and mysterious ninja clan, Marvel comics often had skilled ninjas fighting toe-to-toe with superpowered characters.  Some characters got a ninja makeover like Psylocke of the X-men who went from telepath to ninja assassin after being brainwashed and enhanced by the Mandarin and Spiral’s Body Shoppe.  In her new Lady Mandarin persona, Psylocke combined martial arts prowess with a psychic dagger in a deadlier ninja package.

In Marvel comics, Psylocke and other ninjas were most often trained or connected to The Hand.  In the Daredevil comic series, The Hand and the ninja Kirigi battled both Daredevil and Elektra over many issues through Frank Miller’s ninja-based storylines. 

These dark themed ninja stories continued in series with Wolverine as Logan became often entangled with ninjas of one sort or another.  In the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series, we were introduced to the mystical and demonic Ogun who had mind control abilities on top of his ninjitsu skills.

Writer Frank Miller continued his ninja stories in Wolverine’s limited series which again featured The Hand as well as introducing a new ninja, Yukio.  These ninja adventures in Japan were such a cornerstone of Wolverine’s backstory that they were used as a basis for the 2013 film “The Wolverine”.

1. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Ninjas: (1984) Storm Shadow, (1985) Snake-Eyes, and the Arashikage Clan

In G.I. Joe, military operatives incorporated stealthy ninjas as elite covert agents tasked with the most difficult missions.  Storm Shadow was a COBRA assassin who was an 8th degree black belt in no less than five martial arts.  It was not long, however, before this popular ninja switched sides and joined the G.I. Joe team.

The yin to Storm Shadow’s yang was the mysterious and mute Snake Eyes.  Originally introduced as a commando, Snake Eyes was soon retconned into a ninja who trained alongside Storm Shadow in the Arashikage ninja clan. 

Writer Larry Hama developed the ninja stories that would become the mythos of Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes.  Although they would start in conflict, these two ninjas would later often join forces and were unequaled in their martial prowess.