If tmnt had another "main villain"?
 

What if there was a point where creators stopped using Shredder as the main villain for future tmnt incarnations and used someone else.

Who do you think the main villain would end up being in that situation?

It could be Baxter Stockman. I wish it was.

Oh man, dittoing so hard on Baxter Stockman!
He'd have a lot more reason to work with an antagonistic set of Utroms than Shredder, for sure.

Plus, he'd give a nice break from Splinter's "gotta have revenge!" spiral...it's just a question of how the turtles would get their identity as ninjas.

Unless it fits into an idea I had of the turtles and Splinter being mutated deliberately as soldiers for the Utorm military and then something went wrong. Then it was up to Baxter Stockman to arrange their recapture.

At that point, things take a turn for the Tom and Jerry as they wear each other thin, especially with the turtles having no idea why they're being chased in the first place.

He needs his time in the spotlight.

I always thought that The Rat King would've been the best main villain if Shredder wasn't there, due to his connections with Splinter.

How about take a page from the source material and... "No main villain." Why does that even need to be a thing?

It doesn't need to be, its just that many people like the idea of a regular big bad.

Besides, I'm open to a more Mirage esque story with no main villain.

Different seasons can have different main-antagonosts. Shredder can be kept during early stories, then put aside in favour of Baxter Stockman, Krang-the Kraang, Triceratons, John Bishop or whoever you want.

There doesn't really need to be another "main" villain.

However, if there to be one, the most logical alternatives are Baxter Stockman, Bishop and the Triceratons. I'm not including the Rat King because he's arguably not even really a villain.

I think Old Hob would be a nice foil to the Turtles, be their Magneto to their X-Men.

Armaggon and Verminator X would work in the future but as said, I want variation.

I've always considered Shredder, Krang, Bishop and Null at the best "Big Bads" of TMNT-lore.

Shredder for obvious reasons, Krang representing the best of the outer space/inter-dimensional aspect of TMNT (Maligna and/or the Triceratons coming close second), Bishop representing Splinter's fear of the outside world, and Null (both Mr. or Madame) being that mysterious unknown factor who's grand scheme is ambiguous in places.

Other villains (Dregg, Stockman, Rat King, Romero etc), while I do like them, I always seen them more out side-antagonists than real big bad (though Stockman has come close in places, 2K3/IDW wise).

I thought Tiger Claw from the Nick series would've been a good main villain instead of Shredder.

It would've been cool if there were more episodes in season 5 showcasing him being the big bad, but oh well.

Too late for that, even then whatever villain appeared first or appeared more than once would be seen as a main villain

Definitely Old Hob or Agent Bishop.

He could easally have taken over what remained of the Foot Clan at the time for one season.

The only obvious choices are Bishop, Karai (without Shredder, an older and more experienced Karai like in Mirage), Old Hob, or such.

Can't see Baxter ever being the main villain, he works better as a secondary one.

Bishop is the frontrunner for next biggest "main villain" after Shredder; he has the most potential and has no overlap with Shredder, so he's different enough to stand out

And his character tropes are pretty familiar to the general public; xenophobic government agent protecting humanity by persecuting everything different and alien. Evil Agent K.

I think John Bishop is cooler, but the plot would always be the same John Bishop tries to protect Earth from extraterrestrials. Tigerclaw can lead the Foot Clan with many different ambitions.

Technically, Dragon Lord is TMNT's only other "main villain" they've ever had in any incarnation, unless I'm mistaken.