Baxter Stockman
Baxter Stockman is a male comic character who features in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Contents |
Biography
Mirage
Dr. Baxter Stockman was a knowledgeable but sociopathic 36-year-old African-American scientist off 'in his own world' who used his talents to achieve his own selfish goals rather than helping mankind. Baxter Stockman was introduced as a brilliant but unscrupulous scientist and inventor operating in New York City. Presenting himself as a visionary in robotics and pest control, Stockman unveiled his latest creation — the Mouser robots — which he claimed were designed to combat the city’s rodent problem. Secretly, he intended to use these highly mobile, metal-shelled machines, each equipped with powerful jaws, to commit a series of bank robberies by tunneling into vaults. His latest invention, the Mousers, were small robots designed allegedly to find and exterminate rats in New York City, thus solving the city's rat problem. He developed the Mousers with the help of his software engineer, April O'Neil. Around the time when Baxter completed his invention, mysterious bank robberies were being committed, with small tunnels leading into the vaults.
When Stockman's assistant, April O'Neil, questioned him, he led her into an underground factory where hundreds of Mousers were being made. Stockman revealed he was really using the Mousers to rob banks. He also planned on sabotaging the foundations of certain important buildings throughout the city and holding them for ransom not because of the money but because it was 'fun'. Once April discovered his true intentions, she tried to escape through an elevator, but Stockman sent the elevator down to sewer level. Stockman wanted April dead and sent the Mousers to eliminate her so that she would not jeopardize his scheme. The turtles saved April from the Mousers that Stockman had sent to kill her. Not knowing that she was saved by the turtles, he continued his plans, holding the city for ransom with the threat of destroying several city landmarks with his Mousers. With the help of April, the turtles then successfully infiltrated Stockman's lab and managed to stop the Mousers for good. Soon, Stockman is taken into custody by the police. ((Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #2) In his return, Stockman escalated his criminal operations, expanding his control over the Mouser network and attempting to overwhelm the Turtles and their allies with sheer numbers. From a hidden control center, he coordinated attacks across multiple city districts, targeting infrastructure to cause panic and chaos. Stockman also made repeated efforts to recapture April, intending to silence her permanently as a witness to his crimes. His arrogance in underestimating the Turtles’ resourcefulness led to repeated defeats, as they systematically dismantled his robotic forces and traced the signal to his command hub. Cornered, Stockman tried to destroy the facility with a self-destruct mechanism, but the Turtles escaped the blast and left his ultimate fate ambiguous — though his survival would be confirmed in later stories. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #3)
Stockman would somehow escape from prison and break into the DARPA facility to wreak havoc. After taking out the guards, he would somehow use the technology from DARPA to implant his brain into the body of a huge killer robot, making him a cyborg who wanted revenge. As the robot, Stockman would bust out of DARPA, seek out and find April and inject her shoulder with something which was, at the time, unrevealed. The Turtles, Casey Jones, and Nobody soon battle it out with the Baxterbot, which would result in Baxter losing an arm and blacking out, before Raphael was captured by DARPA. Regaining consciousness, Baxter would discover his robot body was fixed and somehow regenerated an arm. The other three Turtles and Casey find the Baxterbot in the sewers, ready to electrocute them with live power lines. Leonardo would turn the tables and electrocute the Baxterbot instead. While the Turtles wondered how Stockman got the robot to work, they didn't know his brain was actually inside it. Or so it would seem. Assumed to be destroyed; only the glasses he had retrieved earlier remained.
However, April would fall prey to nanobots inside her system, threatening to destroy her body. It was revealed that this was what Baxter injected her shoulder with all those years ago. It was also revealed that, unbeknownst to anyone else, Donatello had maintained a secret sewer room where he kept the remnants of Stockman's cyborg robot body with Stockman's brain still alive and mounted up against a wall. Though understanding Stockman was a sociopath who should never be free, Don would have long talks with the fellow scientist in appreciation of his brilliant mind. As it turned out, Stockman was once hired by the Utroms, which at the time were staying incognito on Earth, to overhaul their computer systems. On this occasion, Stockman stole a laboratory sample containing a set of prototype nanobots from the Utroms. Don went to Stockman to plead for a way to save April, but the doctor wouldn't tell him. He also tried tolling Don into more scientific discussions as an attempt to stall the turtle for time. Don spent long hours trying every angle to extract information from him, only to be disgusted by Stockman's sheer depravity. Don finally came to the late conclusion that Baxter Stockman was irredeemably evil. Don told him to rot in hell as he unceremoniously executed what was left of Stockman's cyborg body. The Utroms, Donatello, and the turtles eventually found a way to save April from Stockman's nanobots without any of the condemned scientist's help.
Archie
Baxter Stockman would again try to sell off his Mousers to a pest control agency, and be thrown into the street. Shredder would use his Mousers to try to get rid of the Turtles and Splinter. The Turtles would tie up Baxter and interrogate him and leave him there to be taken away by police. Later, he'd be in an insane asylum where Shredder would again use him for his evil plans.
IDW
As a young boy, Baxter's father Robert Stockman taught him how to play chess as a method of honing his skills, intelligence, and tactical abilities. Baxter, in turn, later used these attributes to take StockGen away from his father. Under Baxter's management, John O'Neil, Lindsey Baker and Chet Allen became employed at StockGen, and John's daughter April O'Neil came to work there as an intern. Baxter would later do business with the mysterious warlord General Krang, who provided him with the resources to create a supersoldier mutagen, a psychotropic compound to enhance intelligence, and biological body armor based on turtle shells. However, these projects attracted the attention of the Shredder, due to the covert intervention of Chet Allen. Much to Stockman's dismay, both the mutagen and the psychotropic compound were stolen and lost. Over the next several months, Baxter would use the mutated alley cat Old Hob to hunt the former lab rat Splinter in hopes of reclaiming an untainted sample of the psychotropic compound. His relationship with Krang also became strained, as Baxter had failed to complete two of the three scientific projects he had been contracted for. He eventually allowed Old Hob to use his robots, named Minefield Ordnance Unarming System Enhanced Robots (MOUSERs), to capture Splinter. While Splinter was soon lost to StockGen for the second time, Baxter's technical skills impressed Krang. Baxter was drugged and transported to Burnow Island, where he found that Krang was an extra-dimensional Utrom who wished to use his engineering abilities to complete a terraforming fortress known as the Technodrome.
He eventually allowed Old Hob to use his Minefield Ordnance Unarming System Enhanced Robots to capture Splinter. While Splinter was soon lost to StockGen for the second time, Baxter's technical skills impressed Krang. Baxter was drugged and transported to Burnow Island, where he found that Krang was an extra-dimensional Utrom who wished to use his engineering abilities to complete a terraforming fortress known as the Technodrome. During his time working on the Technodrome, Baxter attempted to undermine Krang by installing malware in the computer systems, and even attempting to kill the Utroms in cryostasis. He formed an uneasy alliance with Zayton Honeycutt, but the robot scientist turned against him when he learned that Baxter planned to take control of the Technodrome as a weapon. Baxter interfered with Honeycutt and the Turtles' attempts to stop him by unleashing an army of MOUSERs, but Krang easily dispensed with his malware. Defeated, Baxter used flyborgs to flee the Technodrome. Upon his escape from the island, Baxter used flyborgs to rescue the suffocating Shredder, and proposed a mutually beneficial partnership, showing Shredder his new headquarters at the Techno Cosmic Research Institute. At the Shredder's behest, he began using flyborgs and MOUSERs to hunt down Splinter, but his creations were destroyed by a squad of Foot Ninja led by Oroku Karai. When Splinter challenged Shredder to the Gauntlet, a disgusted Baxter left the Foot Headquarters. Sometime later, he was confronted by April O'Neil, and was shocked to discover that she knew all about his prior dealings with Krang and the Shredder. However, before he could respond to this revelation, the building was invaded separately by the mutant scorpion Zodi working for Madame Null and a small army of Darkwater mercenaries working for Jonathan Bishop, forcing Baxter to ally himself with the Turtles in order to survive. After the conflict concluded, he reluctantly accepted April as his new partner.
After Old Hob detonated a mutagen bomb in an area of New York City, Mayor Stockman had that part of New York City walled off and classified as Mutant Town where the Earth Protection Force patrols the borders. The Union Square Park celebration for Baxter Stockman's election was infiltrated by Old Hob and Man Ray of the Mutanimals. Hob rushed the podium, forcing Baxter and April to flee, and Hob both shared his manifesto with the world and detonated a mutagen bomb, quickly mutating hundreds if not thousands of New Yorkers. As mayor, Baxter declared a quarantine zone in the parts of Manhattan's East Side most contaminated by the bomb's mutagen fallout, built a fifty-foot wall around it, and with the Earth Protection Force's involvement, evacuated the zone's unmutated human population and forced the mutated humans to live inside the zone until their mutations could be reversed and the area decontaminated, neither of which was to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. Within this quarantine zone, the mutant inhabitants and the Mutanimals formed the new community of Mutant Town.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Baxter Stockman was a male human with a slender yet wiry build, dark skin, and short black hair. He typically wore a white laboratory coat over business attire, often with a shirt and tie, giving him a professional but clinical look. His eyes were sharp and calculating, and his posture suggested precision and control. In his earliest appearances, he had no cybernetic augmentations, appearing fully human and carrying only small electronic devices or control units for his Mouser robots. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #2)
Baxter Stockman displayed traits of arrogance, ambition, and calculated malice. He possessed an unshakable belief in his own intellect and ingenuity, viewing himself as superior to those around him. Morally indifferent, he was willing to sacrifice innocent lives to achieve his goals. His manipulative nature allowed him to use others as pawns in his schemes, while his overconfidence often blinded him to potential risks. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #2)
He viewed himself as a misunderstood genius, mistreated by the world, and this sense of injustice drove his vendettas. His obsession with proving his superiority made him reckless, leading him to overlook practical flaws in his schemes. When mutated into a fly or transformed into a cyborg, his instability intensified, blending self-loathing with an even greater desire for vengeance. Despite his megalomania, he was often sycophantic toward stronger villains like Shredder, though his loyalty never outweighed his self-interest.
Powers and abilities
Baxter Stockman was an ordinary human being with no inherent superhuman abilities or powers of any kind. However, he possessed a genius-level intellect in robotics, engineering, and computer systems, enabling him to design and construct highly advanced autonomous machines such as the Mousers. His expertise in electronics allowed him to remotely operate and coordinate these units with precision, making him a dangerous opponent despite his lack of physical enhancements. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #2)
His Mouser robots, with their compact design and powerful jaws, were among his most iconic inventions, often deployed in swarms.
Stockman had obtained several degrees in the electronic and engineering fields, but he was particularly interested in microelectronics and robotics.
Among his creations included:
- Mousers :
- Flyborgs : cyborg mutant flies created by Stockman as a side project whilst working for Krang. They were intended to be an expendable laborer whose efficiency far exceeds that of Krang's workers at the time.
- Stockman-Pod :
As a mutant fly, he gained wings for flight, clawed hands, enhanced strength, and the ability to secrete acidic saliva, though his insect form often hampered his sanity.
In cybernetic forms, he wielded advanced weaponry and augmentations, such as energy cannons, mechanical limbs, and reinforced armor, making him a formidable combatant both at range and in close quarters.
Notes
- Baxter Stockman was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird where he made his first appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #2 (October, 1984).
Alternate Versions
- In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1 #4 (2020), an alternate version of Baxter Stockman appeared in the crossover comic between Boom! Studios and IDW Publishing. He was based on the animated series version where he was a mad scientist working for the Foot Clan. Stockman first appeared Tommy Oliver's jail cage, intending to extract some samples so that he can study how the Morphing Grid energy effects his cellular structure, then gleefully proclaims that it will 'sadly' hurt. The other Power Rangers and Casey Jones arrive in time to spook Stockman off, but as they make their move to escape, the scientist sics his newest creation, the Putty Soldier Elite on them. Baxter was later arrested and ended up in the prison on Rikers Island. He spent his time with a cellmate named Creager, who offered him protection and guidance during his incarceration. One night, Baxter thanks Creager for his help, to which Creager enquires why it sounds like he's on his way out. The cell wall suddenly breaks open, revealing Rocksteady and Goldar, who are there to break him out on Krang's orders. On their way out, however, they are confronted by the Power Rangers and Turtles. Baxter tries to radio Shredder to get him out of there, but cannot achieve a signal. Donatello tries helping him despite their opposing sides, but only serves to scare him. Donnie and Trini corner Baxter, and a long-truant Casey Jones arrives to, as Don assumes, help them. However, he smashes Don in the head and morphs into a Ranger, then fights off Michelangelo, allowing Goldar, Rocksteady, Baxter, and Casey to leave together through a portal.
In other media
Television
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared as an antagonist in the 1987 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Pat Fraley. This version was a misguided Caucasian inventor who was shown to have had a red-haired twin brother called Barney Stockman who was also a mad scientist that threw a fit whenever someone confused him with Baxter. At some point, Baxter tried to bill his Mousers to the Ajax Pest Control company who decided not to fund the project as the Mousers were simply too efficient as exterminators which would put them out of work. As such, he came to be rudely thrown out out of the building where he came to be approached by the Shredder who offered Stockman a job. Embittered, the scientist promptly accepted, and Shredder ordered him to create a "master control device" for the Mousers. The Shredder, not being able to wait, used a replication device at the Technodrome to assemble twelve Mousers. He then programmed the Mousers to find and destroy Splinter, the mutant rat who was the Turtles' master. The Mousers were destroyed by the TMNT, and they found Stockman's name on the devices. The Turtles and Splinter found Stockman with April O'Neil's help, and he told them his part of the story. They then proceeded to take Stockman's van, later to become the Turtle Van. After a failed Mouser attack led to his arrest, Stockman's tales of a giant talking rat and talking ninja turtles landed him in an insane asylum. The Shredder soon returned to break him out and Stockman, now a lot more evil-minded and insane than he had been before his incarceration, became his sidekick and lackey, helping him to get the "Three Fragments of the Eye of Sarnath," an alien artifact that would grant the owner virtually limitless power. Ultimately Stockman, tired of being abused by the Shredder during their numerous attempts to gather the fragments, would betray the Foot leader and take the "Eye of Sarnath" for himself, once the Shredder acquired the three segments of the powerful artifact. The Shredder ultimately puts Stockman in his place and regains the powerful artifact, only moments before Donatello's Sarnathometer destroyed the Eye via a massive explosion. Stockman would crawl back to Shredder's side, but the damage would be done, as the Shredder began conspiring to rid himself of the turncoat scientist.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared as an antagonist in the 2003 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Scott Williams. This version resembled his Mirage Comics incarnation where he was more egocentric than mad and has 'business' connections to the Shredder. He came to be subjected to various punishments by the Shredder involving the mutilation and removal of parts of his body. Later in the series, Stockman returns in various forms as his numerous bodies are continuously replaced. Stockman was working for Oroku Saki and the Foot Clan, having developed the Mousers to steal and loot from banks for his own benefit as well. However, the efforts of his defecting employee April O'Neil and the Turtles destroys his Stocktronics lab, earning him a brutal punishment from the Shredder carried out by Hun. After many encounters with the Turtles ended in failure, these vicious punishments continued. Developing a hatred for the Shredder and Hun, Stockman secretly plotted to destroy them. When the Turtles were thought to have been perished in April's gift shop when it burned down, the Shredder demands physical proof of their demise. Stockman offers to search the ruins for their remains, in exchange for an Utrom exo-suit that was retrieved from the Hudson River. However, when Stockman finds no proof that the Turtles and their allies died in the destruction, he makes his own evidence and is able to deceive the Shredder. Stockman receives the exo-suit as promised, and builds an enormous robotic battle armor with it by the time the Turtles storm the Foot headquarters. Just as the Turtles face off with the Shredder and Hun, Stockman arrives and attempts to kill them all for revenge. It is only through the combined efforts of the Turtles and the Foot that Stockman is defeated, albeit after several false victories.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared as an antagonist in the 2013 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Phil LaMarr. Stockman explained that he always had an evil streak in his heart as a child prodigy being pushed around by his classmates, so he decided to make himself an amazing intellect by presenting a volcano with real lava at the school science fair. To his dismay, however, that resulted with the entire gym burning down and him getting expelled. As an adult, he tried re-developing his intellect by getting a job as an inventor at TCRI, but was fired for an incident involving spilled copier toner, so he vowed revenge on his classmates and co-workers for making a mockery of him and his failing intellect. He first appeared in "I Think His Name Was Baxter Stockman," where he was seen trying to break into a building in a shriveled suit of armor. The Turtles stopped him, but Stockman came into possession of Donatello's T-Pod (which has a military-grade artificial intelligence chip) and incorporated it into his armor. This results with the armor upgrading itself into a larger size, proving him a competent threat to the Turtles, who still expressed sympathy for the hapless scientist. During "Mousers Attack," he was shown to have created the Mousers to steal electronics from underground. But when they interfered with the Foot Clan's new plan to kill the Turtles, he was captured by Dogpound and brought before Shredder, who forced him to join the Foot Clan, believing his genius to be a useful asset. However, by "Baxter's Gambit," Stockman became tired of being regularly harassed and threatened by Dogpound and Fishface, so he sought to eliminate all of his enemies at once, and trapped the two with the Turtles in a deadly maze. He was defeated when the two groups unexpectedly joined forces against him, and he fled the Foot Clan. In "Mikey Gets Shellacne," Stockman was revealed to have secured a large amount of mutagen, seeking to create an army of mutants to serve him. Unfortunately, he was sought out by Karai to be taken back into the Foot Clan when cornered by Dogpound, who he claimed he can return to his human form. As a precautionary measure, Dogpound placed a collar containing mutagen around Stockman's neck, vowing to mutate him if he double-crossed him. After Dogpound was mutated into Rahzar and the villains were defeated by the Turtles, Stockman was brought back into the Foot Clan once again, with a collar containing a set of miniature mutagen vials locked around his neck, which was meant to mutate him if he attempted another betrayal.
Films
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Baxter Stockman appeared as a supporting antagonist in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Tyler Perry. He would once ask a young April O'Neil asks Eric Sacks what the experiments were for. In the scene, we see Sacks, April's dad, and Baxter Stockman standing in the background. In a later scene, Stockman's name was written on a whiteboard by April when she is trying to put together her knowledge of Project Renaissance. April began shadowing Stockman a year later, believing that he was tied somehow to Shredder and the Foot. Her suspicions turned out to be correct, as Stockman was deeply involved in a plan to free Shredder from a prison convoy. As the Turtles attempted to recapture Shredder, Stockman used his untried teleporter to remove Shredder from the area. Stockman was later consulted by Shredder in the use of the purple ooze, and in the reconstruction of the Arc Capacitor. He was deeply excited by the prospect of interdimensional travel and the power it would give them, predicting that other scientific geniuses would be "footnotes" beside him. However, Stockman's arrogance and plans began to irritate Shredder, and after the activation of the Arc Capacitor, Shredder ordered Stockman to be taken to the Tokyo branch of the Foot Clan. Stockman resisted, but was dragged away into a Foot vehicle.
- In Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared in the animated film adaptation where he was voiced by actor Keith Ferguson. He was a genius scientist working for the Foot Clan and Shredder. He is also a mutant fly, which does not seem to be particularly upsetting to him, though he does seem perturbed by the question of whether he is an employee or a hostage of the Foot Clan. He was brought to Gotham in order to handle the construction of a mutagen-disseminating device for Ra's al Ghul. During this time, he was also in charge of the mutagen store that the Foot Clan had brought with them, as he was the one called upon to inject a League of Assassins ninja with it. He finished the machine at the factory at Ace Chemicals, but the Turtles and Batman arrived before it could be launched. During the battle that ensued, Stockman was spotted by Robin, who challenged him to hand-to-hand combat. However, Stockman was terrified of the boy, pleading with him not to attack, then vomiting and fainting out of fear. When the Ace Chemicals building began to explode and collapse, Stockman was last seen being dragged from the building by Robin.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Baxter Stockman appeared in the setting of the 2023 animated film where he was voiced by actor Giancarlo Esposito. Described as a "rogue" former employee, Stockman's employment at T.C.R.I. had ended at some point in the recent past. He was developing a mutagenic ooze that would accelerate the evolution of animal subjects, but T.C.R.I. sought to weaponize the concept. Stockman was opposed to that, and brought his work to a makeshift lab in an abandoned house. Yearning for a family more than anything, he intended to raise his liberated subjects as his own children. The eldest, the mutant housefly who would later take the name Superfly, was treated as his infant son. Once Cynthia Utrom tracked down Stockman's location, she sent a strike team lead by Spider to apprehend Stockman and retrieve the assets. When they arrived, the baby Superfly fought off the soldiers, but one of them shot their anti-ooze gun at some volatile materials, which set off an explosion. The heavily armored soldiers were mostly dazed and injured but survived; Stockman, however, did not. As the soldiers carried off Stockman's body, he dropped a vial of ooze that fell into a floor drain. Under the cover of the dust of the detonation, Superfly rescued his developing "siblings" and began to raise them as their older brother and parental figure.
Video games
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared in the setting of the 1989 Konami beat 'em up video game. He first appears in the first arcade game, as a boss in the sewer, flying a hovering machine and dropping Mousers. Baxter does not attack the Turtles directly, but the sheer number of Mousers that he can produce keeps the player on his or her toes. He is in his human form during this battle. In the NES port of this game, Baxter in his fly mutation replaces the Bebop and Rocksteady dual-boss fight from the arcade version. He flies around with an energy gun and a fly swatter and attempts to subdue the Turtles whilst April O'Neil sits tied up in the background. The NES instruction manual calls him Knat Man to differentiate between the forms - a name which has caught on as a catch-all term within the fandom to refer to his fly form.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman appeared in the setting of the 2003 Konami beat 'em up video game. Baxter creates the Turtlebot in the 2003 video game, unleashing it to smear the Turtles' name and defeat them. Baxter also functions as a boss, in his exo suit, in Donatello's path.
Appearances
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v1: (1984)
External Links
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