Hey there! We welcome you to another Marvelous Video. Today, we will be discussing Baxter Stockman’s TMNT Universe origins. So hold on because the journey ahead will be lengthy and challenging; I hope you like it.
Baxter Stockman is one of the TMNT’s most tenacious adversaries. Several times, Stockman has caused the heroes problems.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have to contend with a number of terrifying adversaries, such as The Shredder — their archrival — and the malevolent extraterrestrial Krang. These villains appear in a variety of ways across the TMNT media. The crafty scientist Baxter Stockman is a constant source of irritation for the turtles.
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Baxter Origins
In this video, we will examine how various comics and television shows have portrayed Baxter’s numerous ancestries. Since we must obviously begin at the beginning, we shall first quickly discuss the Mirage Comic version.
Mirage Comics
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first established Stockman as a psychopathic criminal scientist in the first volume of the original TMNT series. Stockman developed tiny robots known as “mousers” to tunnel into bank vaults. Once April O’Neil, his assistant, was made aware of his scheme, Stockman attempted to kill her with his mousers. Stockman’s firm was forced to close since April was saved by the turtles, which was unfortunate for him.
Stockman made a comeback and transformed into a cyborg to exact revenge on the turtles in volume 2 of the series. Stockman was ultimately shocked to death. Donatello had kept some of Stockman’s cybernetic body parts, it was revealed in TMNT volume 4. When Donatello found out that Stockman had implanted April with nanobots to make her infertile, he flew into a rage and smashed everything that was left of Stockman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
The arrative of this animated series was very close to the actual comic except for minor changes here and there.
In this version, Stockman morally began his life by attempting to sell his Mousers to the Ajax pest treatment company. As it would work a bit too well to get rid of rats in the city and put the pest control company out of business, they did not appreciate his concept. Stockman was consequently tossed out onto the street. Through his cameras, Shredder had recorded this. Later, he would track down Stockman and give him the assignment of developing a Master Control System for a legion of Mousers. Shredder couldn’t wait and assembled twelve Mousers in the Technodrome using a reproduction device. The mutant rat Splinter, the leader of the Ninja Turtles, was then programmed to be found and eliminated by the Mousers.
The Turtles noticed Stockman’s name on the gadgets after the TMNT annihilated the Mousers. With April O’Neil’s assistance, the Turtles and Splinter discovered Baxter. Even though Stockman was unaware that Shredder was employing the Mousers to murder the Turtles and Splinter, he nonetheless dispatched the Foot Soldiers to take him out.
After defeating the Foot, the Turtles questioned Stockman while tying him to a lamppost and got him to tell them his side of the tale. Following his incarceration, Donatello would construct the Turtle Van and the Turtle Blimp using Stockman’s van and the supplies he discovered in his apartment.
Due to his stories of a giant talking rat and talking Ninja Turtles, Stockman was subsequently sent to an insane asylum and has since become criminally crazy. Shredder reappeared to free and utilize him in his battle against the Turtles. As his sidekick and henchman, Baxter helped him acquire the “Three Fragments of the Eye of Sarnath,” an extraterrestrial relic whose possessor would have practically infinite power. Baxter was now far more evil-minded and psychotic than he had been before his imprisonment.
After Shredder obtained the three pieces of the potent relic, Stockman finally became tired of Shredder’s mistreatment and attempted to utilize the Eye of Sarnath for himself. Even though he would still lose to the Turtles, when Donatello’s Sarnathometer blew the Eye out with a tremendous explosion, Shredder used it as an opportunity to reclaim the Eye. Although Baxter would eventually scurry back to Shredder’s side, the damage had already been done, as Shredder started hatching plans to get rid of the treacherous scientist.
The Case of the Killer Pizzas, in which Baxter aids Shredder in releasing deadly monsters from Dimension X to assault the city, would be the last complete episode to feature Baxter before getting mutated.
Baxter had a significant transformation in the second season, episode “Enter The Fly,” as Shredder determined that he needed muscle to take the place of Baxter’s wits following a botched effort to create a force field between the World Trade Center skyscrapers.
Shredder was told that the dimensional link was unstable and needed to have someone sent back through the portal to keep things in check before giving Krang the order to send his mutant henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady through the portal to Earth. Krang decided to murder Baxter by throwing him in a disintegrator unit, because he had no use for the scientist’s skills. So, Baxter was launched through the vortex to Dimension X, much to the scientist’s distress.
However, in a nod to the 1986 film The Fly, a common housefly on Baxter’s clothing when he was thrown through the portal was also imprisoned in the chamber with him. Immediately seeking retribution for his mutation, Baxter left Dimension X and assaulted both the Turtles and Shredder.
As a result of their molecules mixing, Baxter eventually underwent cross-mutation, turning into a huge, humanoid fly-like creature. However, since Baxter’s mind was confused and not totally sane, Shredder was able to reason with him and convince him that the Turtles were to blame for his condition (Ironically, the Turtles never recognized Baxter in his new state).
After that, Baxter helped Shredder hatch a scheme to keep the Turtles trapped in a tiny window of time that would always be out of sync with the rest of reality. However, during the ensuing conflict, Baxter somehow managed to fly inadvertently between the device’s two pylons and vanished in a burst of energy.
In the third season episode “Return of the Fly,” Baxter made a comeback, marking the start of a run of episode names that alluded to and paid homage to classic B Horror movies. Baxter spent months searching the sewers as a wraith, eventually finding the Turtles’ hideout and devising a scheme to exact revenge on them and Shredder simultaneously. Despite being forced to move out of phase with our dimension, the undetectable, intangible Baxter could still perceive the world around him.
Baxter kidnapped April O’Neil to lure the Turtles into falling for his trap, but Shredder was able to cajole the dimwitted fly into collaborating with him once more. Baxter realigned his molecules with the remainder of reality by allowing himself to be hit by a lightning bolt. Unfortunately for Baxter, a freeze-ray mishap thwarted his plan and imprisoned him in a block of ice. As Shredder and Krang were making fun of Baxter’s incompetence, he erupted from his freezing cage and soared out of the base in a rage.
Baxter was stuck in space with the computer’s remnants in his final appearance in season seven, “Revenge of the Fly,” and Krang was given credit for keeping him there. After making a quick getaway, Baxter linked his computer companion into the Technodrome’s database, giving him total control over the stronghold and enabling him to imprison Shredder and his cronies.
Ironically, Krang was the one who released Baxter, because when he tried to use a defective technology to establish a connection between Earth and Dimension X, it instead opened a gateway to Baxter’s jail. In an effort to exact revenge on everyone in the world, Baxter decided to steal a sample of Krang’s mutagen and combine it with genetic material from various insects that were also taken from a research facility. He then used the resulting mixture to turn humans into mutant insects, including the Channel 6 staff.
When the computer reminded him of the Turtles, he used his insect henchmen to catch them, but when asked what they had done to him specifically, Baxter acknowledged he couldn’t even recall. The Turtles eventually overpowered Baxter and had him guide them to the Technodrome so they could take Shredder’s retro-mutagen beam and transform the mutant humans back into their original state. The computer was destroyed in the ensuing pandemonium.
When the retro-mutagen ray was discovered, Baxter scooped it up and flew out via a dimensional portal with the intention of using it to transform back into normal. Shredder attempted to block the group’s portal as the Turtles chased after them, but the Turtles defeated him, retrieving the ray and making it back through in time. On the other hand, Baxter was less fortunate and disappeared forever.
In this series, Baxter Stockman also had a twin brother with red hair named Barney, a crazy scientist who spoke in the same voice as his brother. Barney Stockman appeared in the episode “Raphael Knocks ‘Em Dead”. He had tantrums anytime the Turtles mistook him for Baxter, despised his brother, and despised the fact that he changed into a fly.
TMNT 2003
In the 2003 TV series, Baxter Stockman, portrayed by Scott Williams, was an African-American scientist with hidden intentions for working on his mousers, similar to the Mirage comics. While he sold them to get rid of the city’s rat issue, he was actually employing them to steal banks while working for the Utrom (pronounce:-U-trom) Shredder and now the Foot Clan.
When his employee April O’Neil uncovered his plans, he dispatched the Mousers to track her down, claiming that she knew too much. She escaped with the assistance of the TMNT and returned to Stocktronics Corporation to defeat him. Stockman is eventually cornered by the Turtles and April, who recalls his Mousers and then flees.
April is compelled to input a command that causes the Mousers to overload in order to defeat them. The resulting explosions completely demolish the lab and the structure. Hun took Stockman to see Shredder as the building collapsed. Hun removed his left eye as punishment for his failure.
Stockman would then utilise the knowledge he gained from researching an Utrom Exosuit discovered by the Foot to develop the invisible Foot Tech Ninjas to fight the Turtles. With their aid, Stockman ultimately manages to apprehend Raphael. Raphael is questioned by Hun, but he lets him go so that the Foot Tech Ninjas may follow him to the Turtles’ hideout. With the help of Donnie’s heat-sensing goggles, the Turtles successfully repel the disguised ninjas.
Hun hurt Stockman to the extent that he was in a wheelchair with a neck brace and without his left hand, which was substituted with a robotic prosthetic after that plan failed, and the Foot Tech Ninja took him off. Stockman is badly disabled at this time, yet he continues to work for the Shredder to gain access to the Utrom exosuit.
When Shredder exacted his vengeance on the Turtles (Shredder Strikes Back storyline), he demanded proof that the Turtles had perished. He dispatched Baxter to obtain confirmation that the Turtles perished but threatened Stockman with “ultimate punishment” if he failed to return with sufficient evidence. Stockman searches the antique store but discovers no human or mutant DNA.
Distraught by this discovery, Stockman created his own proof (a duplicate of Raphael’s mask) and handed it to Oroku Saki in return for the Utrom exosuit to investigate. Saki grants him access to the exosuit after convincing him that the Turtles are no longer alive.
Stockman rapidly develops a bad taste for the Shredder and Hun after being subjected to mistreatments and severe punishments by the Shredder on many occasions. He intended to use his newfound and unrestricted access to the Utrom exosuit to construct something that would offer him more power. When the TMNT came to New York to exact revenge on the Utrom Shredder, he took advantage of the surprise attack by the Turtles to start his own revenge scheme against the Utrom Shredder.
To combat the insane scientist, the Turtles and Shredder had to collaborate temporarily. Stockman infiltrates the Shredder’s throne room with a massive four-armed robot and attacks the Utrom Shredder, Hun, and the Turtles. Despite being a nearly invincible antagonist, Stockman is vanquished and seems to explode in the night sky.
Shredder would later reduce Stockman to a head on a voice-operated spider robot body. The Shredder controls him remotely via a robot eye implantation that covers up his prior wound and shocks Stockman when he disobeys his commands or grows haughty.
This variant of Baxter Stockman is conceited and egotistical, often boasting about his immense intelligence and scientific achievements. While his narcissism is understandable, given that he is a scientific genius, it also causes him to be overconfident. In Return to New York Part 3, for example, he ensured that his cyborg suit had backup power sources for each component in case his primary power source failed. However, because he boasted about it, Donatello could use Stockman’s dismembered mechanical arm against him, ultimately defeating him.
Stockman has evidence of mental instability despite his intellect, as his former coworker April O’Neil refers to him as “crazy.” While he seemed to admire April, calling her “so clever but so naive,” he didn’t hesitate to order her mousers to murder her after she discovered his illicit operations, stating that he had “trust issues.” Along with his insanity, narcissism, and desire for retribution, these trust difficulties are most likely one of the reasons why Stockman has absolutely no friends. Stockman’s sole relationship that could be considered a friendship is his cooperation with John Bishop.
Stockman is also a spiteful man who works tirelessly to eliminate everyone who gets in the way of his ambitions. At some time in the narrative, he has been an adversary of all of the key characters, both heroes and villains, and he regularly shifts allegiances. Even Bishop, Stockman’s lone true friend throughout the series, was subjected to Stockman’s fury until Leonardo persuaded the crazy scientist that Bishop had changed and thus Stockman could change as well. Despite his insanity and spiteful temperament, Stockman enjoys his relationship with Bishop and finally tries to change his ways.
TMNT 2012
Phil LaMarr voices Baxter Stockman in the 2012 TV series. Stockman is an African-American scientist like the Mirage and 2003 iterations, but like the 1987 TV series, he transforms into a mutant fly.
He first appears in “I Think His Name Is Baxter Stockman,” where he is seen in a shriveled suit of armor attempting to break into a building. The Turtles apprehended him, but Stockman stole Donatello’s T-Pod (which contains a military-grade A.I. chip) and merged it into his armor. This causes the armor to grow in size, demonstrating him to be a competent danger to the Turtles, who nonetheless show pity for the unfortunate inventor.
Stockman successfully attacked the office, where he was swiftly dismissed with his new primitive armor. The attack was shown live on the news, revealing his name and demonstrating that he had the T-pod to the Turtles. As a result, they followed Stockman down to his lair to recover the T-pod, but Stockman was far too powerful for them this time. Later, Stockman confronted the Turtles a third time, but they had devised a superior strategy this time.
Mikey fetched a beehive from a neighboring greenhouse and hurled it right into the suit’s only entrance, while Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello just distracted Stockman. The swarm of bees attacked Stockman from within the suit, allowing Leonardo to sever the T-pod. Stockman was subsequently overpowered and tossed in the garbage.
Stockman reappears in “Mousers Attack!” aiming to gain more fame as a self-proclaimed villain owing to his robotic mousers. The robots begin by taking various goods from the Purple Dragons gang, leading Leo and Raph to his lair. On the other hand, Stockman is more than prepared for them this time. He has an apparently limitless number of robots at his disposal and showers the two Turtles with a tracking mist, allowing the robots to hunt them all across town.
On the other hand, Stockman gets knocked unconscious by Purple Dragons Tsoi and Sid and transported to Dogpound to be chastised for taking their wealth. Dogpound saves Stockman’s life after discovering that they both despise the Turtles, and Stockman has the electronic abilities to get into April O’Neil’s freshly stolen mobile phone.
On the other hand, Stockman is pressed for time when the Turtles pull the Mousers inside the building. Dogpound quickly sends Stockman to the Shredder. The Shredder is furious with Stockman for interfering but lets him live since his talent in robotics may be necessary.
In this version, Baxter Stockman’s shy and nerdy demeanour masks a cruel and angry nature. He maintains great hatred toward a world he believes has consistently mistreated him. Other people regard Stockman as a weak, sad guy, which further fuels his hatred, even though he frequently acts as such when confronted with dominant personalities such as Rahzar or the Shredder.
The major factor that can make Stockman shockingly deadly is his ability to design powerful weaponry, robots, and other helpful inventions.
His sanity seemed to deteriorate more after he mutated, as he became considerably more violent and vicious, taking particular pleasure in changing, or attempting to mutate, others into monsters. Stockman also appears to have grown more willfully obedient, eagerly responding to the Shredder’s orders rather than be frightened. Perhaps most remarkable is his new sweet appetite, similar to actual flies, and it appears that a small piece of candy is enough to purchase his devotion.
The creation of Scumbug and Antrax, his only companions, demonstrates Stockman’s devotion to friendship and commitment to Shredder above all else. However, he ultimately abandoned them so that Shredder would have someone to check on him. As the story continued, Stockman lost some of his tragic qualities due to his devotion to Shredder. He continues to be ungrateful toward Mikey for healing him even in the season four finale when he ends up enjoying being a fly.
TMNT IDW
In this version, Baxter Stockman has worked as a businessman, scientist, inventor, and politician throughout his career. He formed the Techno Cosmic Research Institute after owning StockGen and is presently the mayor of New York City. Since working with General Krang, he has also become heavily interested in genetic and mutant research. Baxter is a shrewd survivalist and psychopath who only has himself to turn to for support.
Robert Stockman, Baxter’s father, taught him how to play chess when he was a small kid to develop his talents, intellect, and strategic thinking. Later, Baxter used these qualities to steal StockGen from his father. John O’Neil, Lindsey Baker, and Chet Allen all started working at StockGen under Baxter’s direction, and John’s daughter April O’Neil joined them as an intern.
Later, Baxter would conduct business with the enigmatic warlord General Krang, who gave him the materials he needed to develop a supersoldier mutagen, a psychoactive substance to boost intellect, and organic body armor made from turtle shells. However, the Shredder found out and became interested in these programmes. Stockman was shocked to learn that both the mutagen and the psychoactive substance had been taken and lost.
Over the coming months, Baxter would seek the erstwhile lab rat Splinter with the help of the mutant alley cat Old Hob in an effort to recover an uncontaminated sample of the psychoactive substance. Baxter’s failure to finish two of the three scientific projects for which he had been hired caused tension in his relationship with Krang as well.
He finally consented for Old Hob to capture Splinter using his robots, known as Minefield Ordnance Unarming System Enhanced Robots (or MOUSERs for short). While StockGen quickly defeated Splinter for the second round, Krang was amazed by Baxter’s technical prowess. After being drugged, Baxter was taken to Burnow Island, where he discovered Krang to be an extra-dimensional Utrom who wanted to exploit his technical skills to finish building the Technodrome, a terraforming stronghold.
Baxter sought to sabotage Krang while working on the Technodrome by inserting malware into the computer systems and even attempting to kill the Utroms in cryostasis. He developed an uneasy relationship with Zayton Honeycutt, but after learning that Baxter intended to use the Technodrome as a weapon, the robot scientist turned against him. By releasing an army of MOUSERs, Baxter attempted to thwart Honeycutt and the Turtles’ efforts to stop him, but Krang quickly eliminated his virus. Baxter utilized flyborgs to escape the Technodrome after being defeated.
Baxter used the flyborgs to rescue the suffocating Shredder after making his way off the island and pitched a cooperative venture while displaying to Shredder his new workspace at the Techno Cosmic Research Institute (or TCRI, for short). He started utilizing flyborgs and MOUSERs to find Splinter on the Shredder’s orders, but a group of Foot Ninja commanded by Oroku Karai destroyed his inventions. A disappointed Baxter leaves the Foot Headquarters after Splinter challenges Shredder to the Gauntlet.
He was horrified to learn that April O’Neil knew all about his previous interactions with Krang and the Shredder when she confronted him later. Before he could react to this information, however, a small force of Darkwater mercenaries working for Jonathan Bishop and the mutant scorpion Zodi working for Madame Null assaulted the building independently, forcing Baxter to team up with the Turtles to live. He hesitantly accepted April as his new companion when the fight was over.
April persisted in giving Baxter advice on how to improve his reputation in the city, recommending that he utilizes his MOUSERs to address the growing rat issue even though he was aware that the Rat King was to blame. As a result of Baxter’s robots being released, the Turtles were able to defeat the Rat King and discover Leatherhead’s whereabouts. Later, with April’s assistance, Baxter was able to win the election for mayor of New York City after formally announcing his candidacy.
What Makes Him A Challenging Opponent?
As a human, and as we see him in the 2012 series, Stockman is a brilliant mechanical and electrical engineer who, as a young man, set up a toy volcano to erupt with actual lava and built a fighting suit out of trash on a shoestring budget. He is also an adept hacker, as seen at the times he was successful in breaking into April’s phone and the Turtles’ T-Phone. In an effort to build a mutant army, he has also learned enough about genetics to produce 73 mutants.
He retained his knowledge and technical prowess after changing into his fly form. Still, he also obtained more powerful physical traits, including a better hearing sense, more strength, and the ability to fly. With the help of his wings, Stockman was able to keep up with the Shellraiser and was therefore challenging to hit (much like a fly). He could also move around flat surfaces like walls and ceilings, just like a fly, and he could spit out acid strong enough to disintegrate metal. Stockman could also accurately spit this saliva a long way and use it while flying.
Trivia
Did you know Baxter Stockman’s appearance is a clear homage to comedian Richard Pryor? And his nasty nerd persona is a nod to Pryor’s portrayal of Gus Gorman in Superman III, with whom he also shares a knack for computers and robotics, hyperactivity, and a grudge against anybody who has wronged him.