Would anyone else like Leatherhead to return to his villain roots?
 

I personally think Leatherhead if he returned to his villain roots and stayed highly intelligent would be an awesome villain in the TMNT universe. Ideally to me at least he should be a villain in the new TMNT movie. Like have the movie end with a crocodile being exposed to mutagen and have Leatherhead as the next big villain after Shredder. I think he should be a villain in the new movie series assuming there's a sequel because a mutant that is freaky smart and possesses extreme strength would make for a great story.

I agree, as long as they don't go with 'Leatherhead was originally a man' origin story or it will mirror Amazing Spiderman too much.

being a villain isn't exactly his "roots"

Well, he started out as an ally in Mirage, but quickly turned on his back on the turtles after he -wrongly- thought the turtles to be responsible for his failed attempt at creating a transmat which would allow him to teleport to the Utrom homeworld. He was mostly potrayed as a villain up until the story which featured the "Illuminated", an evil pack of Utroms which used Leatherhead as means to conquer Earth.

But to be fair, it was actually the OT which introduced the idea of Leatherhead being a villain.

What's so bad about Leatherhead being human? Also, Lizard existed in the Spider-Man canon years before The Amazing Spider-Man.

I never said there was anything bad about him originally being a human, I said that him mutating from a man into crocodile/alligator and start running around in the sewers would mirror what happened in the Amazing Spiderman movie with Connors mutation into a lizard and him running around in the sewers, that's all! People seem to be giving this upcoming TMNT movie enough greif without its follow up (as suggested by the OP) being accused of ripping off another bad movie!

Oh. Sorry then. :D

I like the Cajun gator who has a bit of a school-yard bully air about him.

Me too, he's definitely the best version as far as I'm concerned.

I kinda want a mixture of both if I had to choose, I rather an anti hero from Leatherhead.

So, I'm not sure I want it in IDW (the only forum left for it at this point), but I'd love to see villainous, Cajun Leatherhead again. Hopefully some future version finds a spot for him.

Correct. Leatherhead has no villain roots to return to.

They could adapt that big game hunter from Mirage, hunting the turtles in the sewers and encountering Leatherhead and mutagen. Just have him being Cajun.

Creating Neatherdead.... :P

I'm not totally against it. But I think going from fighting Shredder and his army to fighting one rogue mutant seems kinda weak.

True that's why I think he should stay super smart he can start off as Baxter Stockman's or even Shredder's pet(personally I think it would be could if Shredder fed Stockman to a crocodile and that crocodile became Leatherhead) and then when the Shredder's lair is going up in flames mutagen can get on the Crocodile.

Any way I digress while Shredder is "dead" Leatherhead could create a mutant army or organization of his own and this way they can introduce Rocksteady and Beepbop.

Ideally to me I can see Leatherhead having a Hun personality vowing "The Shredder my Master is dead and it is in his memory that I have raised this army of mutants to rebuild the Foot in my image!"

I prefer Leatherhead in a hero role than a villain. In Mirage Comics as well in 2k3 he was an ally. Although in Mirage Comics has some quarrels with the turtles.

Since the original toyline was tied to the OT, you'll see that red Foot Clan symbol on Leatherhead's file card. The Turtle Trap and Swamp Gun were never used anywhere and could make good use on the screen, though not necessarily as a villain. The only reason that OT Leatherhead was outright a villain at the beginning was due to Shredder's mutagen giving him the Foot persona. Other versions portray him as either a normal pet from Earth or an exotic one and usually have an allied personality. But Archie's human-turned mutant is probably the route that seems the most interesting for a possible future villain; have some man start out as a thug that eventually grows more evil until he wants to mutate; this creates an evil Leatherhead that shows no mercy over peace and wants to rule the world. However, I would like this Leatherhead to be an all-out villain, evil causing problems to the Foot or other familiar villains. It would create a higher level of fear to anyone that could result in scenrios such as the Foot temporarily being on the Turtles' side.

Completely agree
 

No matter the universe this should be leather head

He could be the Bane to the Turtles' Batman

Yes!
I gar'untee

He could still be an ally or anti-hero if we are aligning mutant against Foot/Alien