What's Next After Shredder?
 

I wonder what story can done in the aftermath of Shredder? I only ask because when I think about about Neutrino's storyline in the IDW or any storyline that's doesn't involve the Shredder, then the story doesn't revolve around them anymore. It's like there all this plot that you see and you dump some turtles in there and hope it works together.

We've seen what post-Shredder TMNT is many times:

Mirage: Shredder wasn't a major character here, so they had some fueds with the Foot Clan and went on other adventures

Fred Wolf: The Lord Dregg era

Movies: Random villains

4kids: Bishop, Karai becomes Shredder....then...Demon and Cyber Shredder

Archie: Other aliens/mutants like Malinga, Null, Verminator X

They're gonna back with the Dimension X stuff, this time adding the Triceratons. After that who knows. Shredder probably won't be done. Hob might start up his mutant army after that.

The most interesting parts of any Turtles incarnation have always come after Shredder's been dealt with.

I see no reason why the same can't apply to IDW, Nick or any future versions.

IDW feels a lot more like a regular super hero-like comic book, so I doubt Shredder will ever die permanently. I'm sure if he is killed off he'll reappear again, healed from some Mutagen storage he had. A proper Ra's al Ghul.

While I agree that it feels more like a monthly super hero book than, say, Mirage, and while it's definitely closer to mainstream American comics in the sense that it's a 22-page-per-month, action-oriented series, I still get the sense that they're building a story meant to see major changes over the course of its run. I actually have faith (and hope) that we'll see Shredder bite the dust well before it ends.

I'm surprised the Archie series had so little Shredder in retrospect. While he was in some of the major arcs as well as the climax of the whole series, he was absent for most of the middle of it.

Totally agree with this, with the exception of maybe the film series. Surely it could have been better, but it wasn't back in the day. & while I may not prefer Dregg's run over Shredders, one could certainly argue that Red Sky plots were more interesting, though not necessarily entertaining. Is that a contradiction to say? I just mean they're unique.

No, definitely agreed on all accounts. While the best days of the Fred Wolf 'toon were behind it by the time we got to Dregg, it was so refreshing, and did so much more to actually define that universe than the previous eight or so season had, that it was worth it.

And then you have other versions where I'd argue that the post-Shredder stories were actually more interesting and an objective improvement, though your mileage may vary. (Mirage, Adventures after #25 when Shredder's mostly left the scene, the fourth season of the 4Kids series, etc.)

And obviously I'd forgotten about the film series when I said that. But that's kind of a unique case. And, for that matter, one of my favorite things about the mediocre 2007 movie was that it took place after Shredder had apparently been killed.

Nick is obviously going to keep Shredder till the very end. He's way too much of a big bad in this series, and the Turtles haven't even managed to defeat him even once in battle yet.

IDW will probably axe him at some point....but then bring him back like 20 issues later.

Well Shredder can die but technically the Dragon soul will live on so he'll just be reincarnated. As someone else who isn't evil of course as Saki didn't start out evil until he was betrayed. My bro suggested he become Shadow and the Turtles must struggled with rather loving her or killing her in fear she may become a threat once again. But eh just tossing some ideas around.

Super Shredder.

not sure, but the foot is always a good reliable enemy. i do hope that they come up with a few "new" quality villains too. Hobb is good, but not strong enough to be anything more than an annoyance. i never really cared for mirage's nobody character. he was ok, but felt fabricated for the sake of fabrication.

I think the lure of having the Turtles' adventures outside or after Shredder's final defeat is the fact that it brings up the issue of expanding the Turtles' identity. The premise of the whole TMNT lore is that these Turtles were trained in ninjitsu to fight off (or at least defend themselves) against Shredder because of Hamato Yoshi's feud. So after that feud is resolved, what... then? What's the next phase of life for these Turtles when their father's archenemy is defeated, and the constant threat on their lives is gone?

...It's an interesting topic because it forces the reader/viewer to think about these Turtles more than just within the confines of their "Hatfield-McCoy" family feud. Plus, it's relatable because it parallels the emotional questioning that some readers/viewers encounter when a long-term relationship (family member, friendship, dating partner/spouse), a career/occupation path, or a particular long-term hardship (financial strain, abusive relationships, health problems, etc.) ends, which was so integrated into one's identity or way of living is suddenly gone.


With me, I respect the fact that at least the FW series was attempting to establish itself outside of the Shredder-Splinter saga/feud. The problem was that Dregg was created during the series' decline and was incorporated when the series was taking too many elements from other popular kids' shows at the time. In addition, it didn't help that he was so abruptly introduced when so many FW elements were being removed at the same time.

If Dregg had a little more depth and a unique backstory, besides being similar to Power Rangers' Lord Zedd, he could have been a better received super villain.

Bishop, Null, Savanti Romero, Armaggon, Verminator X, Ultimate Ninja, Stockman, Complete Carnage, Purple Dragons...
I thinks it's possible to do bigger story arcs, with any of them, if fact, most of them already had bigger arcs.
If you just want to continue the Foot's story, you got Karai as a leader, maybe as Lady Shredder. Or how bout Hun taking over NYC underground? (well, 4Kids had that in the later seasons actually, Hun growing into a major player, from Shredder's hitman)
With that reincernation stuff, IDW have some interesthing possibilities, like bringing back other players from Shredder's medieval past. Or imagine, Shredder reincernating as April & Casey's baby... If IDW later introduces time travel, some sick stuff could happen.

In a way the OT even kept the Shredder/Krang/Technodrome idea until the very end after taking a one-season break. I feel that in incarnations geared towards younger audiences, its important to keep the young audiences engaged or they would stray away. That was the number one reason why the OT jumped the shark according to the long defunct jumptheshark.com website. Even the third movie suffered because of this, so Michael Bay better keep a popular villain in each of its movies.

Really its only been the comics (and to a lesser degree 4kids) in which removing Shredder hasn't really alienated the fanbase. Comics have an older audience and are open to new antagonists. But the key to removing Shredder is to have built a loyal fanbase that's willing to accept new dimensions.