Who the Clix? Baxter Stockman (Mirage)

Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

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Appearances in Heroclix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
First Appearance: Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vol. 1)  #2 (October 1984 )
Team Affiliations: N/A
Powers: Brilliant intellect; Electronics engineering expect; Robotics and Microelectronics knowledge.
As a cyborg
Superhuman strength, speed and durability; The power to repair himself from any damage
Created by: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

 
Artwork and characters are copyright/trademark Nickelodeon; used under Fair Use

Dr. Baxter Stockman is a brilliant, yet demented, scientist who comes into the Turtles' lives after inventing the Mousers. The Mousers are meant to seek out and kill rodents in New York City, thus eliminating a massive problem for the city and, potentially, filling Stockman's pockets with cash. He is aided in programming the Mousers with the help of his software engineer, April O'Neil. Soon after the Mouser prototypes are completed, mysterious bank robberies begin occurring around New York City with small tunnels into the vaults being discovered.

April is suspicious and worries that perhaps someone has stolen the Mouser design. When she goes to Stockman about this, he leads her to an underground factory where hundreds of Mousers are being built and used to rob banks. He also reveals to her that he intends to use the Mousers to damage the foundation of several buildings and hold them hostage simply for the fun of it. April tries to escape through an elevator but Stockman is able to send it into the sewers. Once there, he releases the Mousers to seek and destroy April, so that she cannot ruin his plans.

During this attack is the first time that April meets the Turtles. They rescue her from the Mousers and with her help, are able to sneak into Stockman's lab and destroy the factory. With Mouser production shut down, April is able to go to the authorities who arrest Stockman.

Some time later Stockman escapes from prison and breaks into a DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) facility. After subduing the guards, he uses the technology there to transfer his brain into a massive killer robot. Stockman breaks out of the facility and goes on a rampage, finding April and injecting something into her shoulder. Before he can do much more damage, the Turtles, Casey Jones and Nobody attack Stockman and destroy one of his arms before he blacks out.

Baxter comes to and finds that his body is repaired, complete with rebuilt arm. He lays a trap for the Turtles in the sewers, planning to electrocute them with power lines. During the fight, Leo is able to shove the lines into Stockman's robot body instead. The body is seemingly left for dead, with the Turtles unaware that Stockman's physical brain is actually inside of it.

Years later, April suddenly becomes ill and the Turtles discover it is due to nanobots that Baxter had injected into her shoulder. Desperate to help April, Donatello goes to a secret part of his lab where he has kept Stockman's brain alive after discovering it in the robot body. Donatello would have long discussions with Baxter about different scientific topics, fascinated by his intelligence. Though he understands that Stockman is too dangerous to be allowed to roam free.

Stockman reveals that he had been hired to do some work for the Utroms when he was still human and had stolen the nanobots, planning to use them for something at a later date. Donatello begs Stockman for help in curing April but Baxter refuses and tries to lead Don in conversational circles to burn time. With his friend's life on the line, Don recognizes that Stockman is beyond redemption and kills what remains of the former scientist unceremoniously. April is eventually cured with the help of the Utroms.