Who's the big bad in which series?
 

1987 series:

2003 series

2012 series

Some would argue that Krang is actually the big bad in the 1987 series as he's smarter and physically more powerful than Shredder, owns more territory, has a larger, more powerful army than the foot soldiers, owns the Technodrome, has more abilities, comes up with most of the schemes and so forth. I always thought Krang was really the main villain in the 1987 series but Shredder was the arch enemy since he hated the turtles more than anyone.

2003 It seems mostwould say Chrell would be but others might mention others like Bishop or the Triceratons. Some would anyway

2012: It seems to be divided. It is usually Shredder or Kraang Prime that is listed as the main villain. I wasn't sure about this one but Kraan Prime seems to get mentioned more often. What do you think?

FW: Shredder/Krang as a duo, but gun to my head I'm saying Shredder. He's the one out on the battlefield with a life mission of ending the TMNT.

4kids: Ch'rell, obviously. Nothin' but evil. Bishop & the Triceratons did their damage but Bishop eventually became a good guy & the horn heads had some decent fellas among their ranks.

Nick: Again, I gotta go with Shredder over the brainiacs. He ended the world, that's big-baddie sh*t.

Shredder

Shredder

Shredder

He's the main villain in every incarnation except Mirage where he's done away with quickly.

Pretty much. Headcanon or debates aside, that's how it's set up to be, plain & simple. You can feel otherwise, but that won't make it true. Each respective series' creator(s) will tell you that.

I'm glad that wasn't the case in Mirage, & that some of the series that do give him the top spot allow for breathing room.

In the 1987 series with the way Krang and Shredder interacted, especially in the 2nd season, it reminded me of star wars. Shredder is the enforcer who does a lot of the work like Vader and Krang is like Emperor Palpatine, who hides behind the scenes, issuing out orders ect.

In the 2nd season Shredder seemed to be a little afraid of Krang, tried to obey his orders and so forth, but I guess in the later seasons, Shredder grew a back bone and questioned Krang's orders and would even openly defy and insult Krang.

I wonder if Shredder wasn't the main villain in the Mirage verse, who is? What about IDW?

Mirage doesn't have a "big bad" or main villain, which is part of it's charm. You could argue he had the #1 spot in IDW, though, but one has to consider there is a supernatural chess game being played by The Pantheon, which is to say there are those greater than him who may very well be controlling his path (& the path of others, like Krang, who they've also had dealings with).

Mirage barely has any recurring villains at all. Almost all the villains are killed off in their first or second appearance (like Shredder, Rat King, Baxter), or immediately become friends like Karai, Leatherhead, Utroms, etc.

Closest would be Savanti Romero who returns around 4-5 times and is evil each time.

In the 1987 cartoon, it's pretty much Shredder and Krang except for the last 2 seasons, for those it's lord Dregg.

For 2003, it's any form of Shredder (Ch'rell, Karai as Shredder, Cyber Shredder, etc.) except Fast Forward, that would probably be Sho'kanabo or Darius Dunn.

Well, you can say that Mirage had one recurring villain: The Foot Clan, not any one person but one organization. I'd say that sort of counts.

Even then they don't actually fight the Foot much either. After the early issues its just #10, then Return to New York, then City at War. The Foot are pretty much at peace with the Turtles after that, besides a brief stint in the Image run.

Most of the enemies in Mirage are just one-shot characters or aliens. Like look through the entire 70 issue Tales run, can you even remember who the hell the Turtles fought in any of those issues? Its literally a blur to me, and I know there was some kind of adversary in most of them.

In the 2003 series season with the Ninja Tribunal they made it seem like the one true demon Shredder was way more dangerous than Ch'rell shredder could dream of being.

In the Nick series, Shredder is their arch nemesis but his threat to the world as a whole is not as big as the kraang's so it depends on what scale of evil you are talking about.

Big bad what? Beetleborg?

I have some problems with how Shredder is presented in the Nicktoon. He is presented as the main villain to be sure but he's not very active, the Kraang drove the plot forward way more than he did for the first three seasons, Shredder mostly just sat on his throne. It wasn't until about halfway through season 3 when there was was more focus on him, which of course didn't last very long as the season after has now spent half it's episodes in space.

Makes me wonder why the TMNT never had a crossover with the Beetleborgs. xD They did it with power rangers so why would you not want to see turtles and beetles together? :D

But I am referring to the big bad in each series. One could argue that Shredder is always the main villain, except for the Mirage version

IDW I am not sure. Does anyone know if it's Krang or Shredder?

Shredder is supposed to be the main villain in the 1987 and 2012 but there seems to also be indications that he's not either, as Krang in the 87 toon came up with almost all the ideas, was overall more powerful and dangerous and more intelligent than Shredder, owned the Technodrome and a larger more powerful army and owned more territory as well.

Even in the 12 toon, Shredder doesn't seem that active and doesn't cause as much damage as the Kraang.

I think it's more based on seasons as opposed to series, but for the most part it's Shredder.
87 series (Shredder amd Krang for the first 7 seasons, Dregg Season 8-10)
Next Muation (I went there) Dragon Lord
2k3 (Season 1-3 Shredder *Ch'rell*, Season 4 Bishop, 5 Tengu Shredder, FF Sho'konnabo, BTTS Cyber Shredder)
2012 (Season 1-2 Shredder *Haven't seen it past season 3's 3rd episode*)