Baxter Stockman

Dr. Baxter Stockman is a fictional scientist who has appeared in several versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show and comic. In each version, he is depicted as the creator of the Mousers, machines meant to seek out rats (not mice, in spite of their name). However, there are several differences between his various appearances.

Laird & Eastman Comics, Volumes 1 and 2

In the comics, Dr. Stockman was an African-American mad scientist with no relation to the comic Oroku Saki, or Shredder. He developed the Mousers, with the help of his computer programmer April O'Neil. Around the time of the Mouser's invention, strange bank robberies were being held, with small tunnels leading into the vaults. When April questioned Stockman, he led April to an underground factory where hundreds of Mousers were being made. Stockman revealed he had been using the Mousers to rob banks, not because of the money (he could use his invention to make millions legally), but because "it was FUN!" April tried to escape through the elevator, but the scientist sent the elevator to sewer level. The Turtles saved her from the Mousers Stockman had sent to kill April. They successfully infiltrated Stockman's lab, and managed to stop him. He was taken into custody. Later, he reappeared in Volume 2 as a major villain who had used technology from DARPA to place his brain in a robot body, making him a cyborg. Stockman tried to get revenge, but his new body was electrocuted and destroyed, and only the glasses he had retrieved earlier remained. However, (as per the official TMNT site) it is assumed that Baxter Stockman's entity still somehow exists and is capable of manipulating electronics and devices as it is suspected he injected April with nanobots to make her sterile.

Old TMNT Cartoon Series: 1987

In the 1987 cartoon, a more lighthearted show, Stockman was a bumbling Caucasian inventor who tried to bill his Mousers to the Ajax Pest Control company. They did not like his suggestion, saying it would put them out of business, and threw him out of the building. The Shredder had watched this via his cameras, and offered Stockman a job. Baxter promptly accepted, and Shredder ordered him to create a "master control device" for the Mousers. Shredder, not being able to wait, used a replication device on the Technodrome to assemble twelve Mousers. He then programmed the Mousers to find and destroy Splinter, the rat-man 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 Baxter 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 Turtlevan.

After a failed Mouser attack, Baxter helped Shredder to get the Three Fragments of the Eye of Zarnov. Shortly after this attempt failed, he was placed into a disintegrator by Krang. A common housefly accidentally flew into the disintegrator, creating Baxter the Fly. The Fly left Shredder and Krang later, after several failed attacks together. He appeared as a guest villain in a few later episodes, and then was abandoned in Dimension X prior to the appearance of Lord Dregg. He was voiced by Pat Fraley in this show.

New TMNT Cartoon Series: 2003

In this show, a darker-toned show, Baxter Stockman was African-American like the comics. The first Stockman plot was similar to that of the comics, but he was working with the new series' Shredder and was robbing banks for him. Instead of being taken into custody, Shredder punished him, most likely tearing out his left eye.

With only one eye, he captured Raphael, with the help of Foot Tech Ninja he had made based on an old exoskeleton found by the Foot. Dr. Stockman questioned him on his species, threatening to kill him and let his DNA reveal it. Raphael escaped, and Stockman was once again punished, his body reduced to that of a near parapelegic (save for his right arm). His left arm was replaced with a robotic prosthetic, and most likely had his legs amputated/torn off, since his wheelchair does not look to be able to accomodate a human being's legs. At this point, the TMNT were hiding in Casey Jones' grandmother's house, having barely escaped their last encounter with the Shredder. Shredder wanted proof of their death, so Stockman offered his DNA analysis system in exchange for full access to the exosuit. Having found no proof, he manufactured false proof of their deaths and successfully decieved the Shredder. As a result, he was awarded the exosuit.

During the "Return to New York" three-parter, Dr. Stockman reappeared, in a giant robotic suit presumably based on the exoskeleton. The Turtles and Shredder had a hard time fighting him. Finally, Donatello defeated Stockman, blasting his suit to pieces.

Stockman reappeared during the battle with the Utroms, now a head and robotic eye piece in a spider body. Shredder controlled Stockman using a robotic eye placed where he previously had an injury, now with the ability to shock Stockman into following him. With the help of the Fugitoid, he was freed from the control of Shredder, and turned against him, knocking him out. Shredder returned minutes later, and Stockman escaped.

He briefly reappeared with the mutant alligator Leatherhead in an Utrom exosuit, saying he was the reptillian scientist's "friend." Stockman once again escaped, managing to get rid of Leatherhead, who is brilliant but cursed with a vicious temper, in a cave-in.

During "City at War," he reappeared, now with the Mob. He was on top of an exosuit during that time, but failed, finally being shot down.

He makes a few appearances during "Rogue in the House," now just a brain, an eyeball, and a piece of spinal column connected to a machine that allows him to speak and hear. After the Foot base was destroyed, Stockman sunk underwater.

He appeared again briefly in one of Leatherhead's post-traumatic stress nightmares, in his Utrom exosuit, and then in the flesh--so to speak--in "Nobody's Fool". Stockman was still in his tank, but it was modified with a self-propulsion system, a crude robotic arm and a 360-degree hologram of his head.

Stockman was replaced by his student, the ambitious and energetic Dr. Chaplin, who first appeared in "New Blood." Dr. Chaplin admires him greatly, and built him a new humanoid exosuit in "Mission of Gravity." His brain is hidden under a chestplate, and his holographic head is where the robot's head would normally be.

He appears in "Same as it Never Was," in an alternate future. He was once again a brain and eyeball in a tank, which was sewn to the back of an aged, crippled, and disgraced Hun. The pair had moved to the Turtles' side after being saved from execution by the Shredder. Stockman mentioned that he designed the Shredder's new exoskeleton.

Following a punishment for his sending an unauthorized message to the Turtles in an attempt to lure them into a battle in "Hun on the Run", the exosuited Stockman joined forces with the mysterious Bishop, who seems to harbor grudges against both Shredder and the Turtles. Stockman's dismemberment/disembodiment seems to have been the will of the Shredder, as Stockman bitterly holds Shredder responsible for his punishment.

In the final moments of the season finale, Bishop told Stockman, following the defeat and banishment of the rogue Utrom who called himself "Shredder", that this was the beginning of a "beautiful friendship".

Scott Williams voices the new Dr. Stockman.