TMNT Accidentally Created A Villain Even Deadlier Than Shredder

Shredder is believed to be the deadliest TMNT villain, but one comic confirms there is another who's far deadlier, and he was created accidentally.

When a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan considers the deadliest villain in the TMNT's rogues’ gallery, it is likely they think of the Shredder, though there is one other villain who has a nearly identical origin to that of the Shredder, but who proved to be far deadlier–and he was created totally by accident.

Oroku Saki aka the Shredder was the TMNT's first villain in terms of their publication history, which also made him their most iconic. However, in the current continuity of IDW Publishing's TMNT, the Shredder would have been nothing without another classic TMNT villain backing him: Krang. Krang is an Utrom from Dimension X who brought the infamous mutagen ooze from his world to Earth, and even gave some canisters of the substance to Shredder to strengthen his army. Before their inevitable falling-out, Krang and Shredder planned to take over the world together. Krang strengthened Shredder's Foot Clan to prepare the world for his presence, and Shredder happily accepted the means to become stronger, as he always planned on betraying the alien invader. In a way, Krang created Shredder, as it was the Utroms’ ooze that granted Shredder immortality, and then it was Krang himself who made Shredder way more of a threat to the Turtles. Now, it seems as though creating villains is something the Utroms inadvertently made a habit of doing.

Related: TMNT Finally Gives a 90s Cartoon Hero Their Own Ninja Upgrade

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #88 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, and Dave Wachter, the Ninja Turtles find themselves in the middle of a war between humanity's secret military led by Agent Bishop and the residents of Burnow Island (i.e. the Triceratons and the Utroms, who are trying to exist in peace). In the end, the Turtles are able to save the Triceratons and the Utroms from Agent Bishop's attack, and in doing so, they uncover a dark secret: Agent Bishop is a cyborg. When he was a baby, Agent Bishop was born prematurely, and his development was stunted as a result. Bishop's mind developed at a typical rate (perhaps even at an advanced rate given his intellect), but his body didn't grow larger than the size of an average infant. So, Bishop's father developed a robot exosuit his son could operate from within, and the technology that was used to create this suit came straight from the Utroms.

Back in the 1940s, when Agent Bishop's father was a strapping young secret agent, he and his team uncovered an Utrom corpse, one that was inside one of the robot suits Krang made famous in the ‘90s cartoon. Upon taking the corpse and its suit back to their lab and studying it over the course of a few decades, Bishop and his team were successful in replicating it before making one specifically for Bishop's son. Little did his father know at the time, but he was developing interdimensional technology for someone who would become one of the most ruthless and deadly villains in TMNT history. Not only did Agent Bishop outlive the Shredder (before Saki's more recent resurrection, of course), but the personal impact he had on the Turtles after killing the TMNT's other brother, Slash, was far greater than anything Shredder did to them throughout the IDW run–and it was all thanks to the Utroms.

The Utroms accidentally gave Bishop the technology he’d need to become a dangerous threat, just as Krang did everything in his power to make the Shredder and his forces even stronger than he already was. The only difference is, Agent Bishop proved to be even deadlier than the Shredder, and he was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain who was created completely by accident.

More: TMNT: Splinter's Origin Proves He's Actually a Villain (& He Agrees)

Spencer Connolly is a Staff Writer for Screen Rant. With years of writing and journalism experience under his belt, Spencer joined Screen Rant in 2020. Prior to writing for Screen Rant, Spencer was a Photojournalist and News Producer. Throughout his career as a journalist and even his entire life, Spencer always had a deep love for comics and is now applying everything he has learned throughout his career to the fun and informative articles he writes for Screen Rant. You can follow Spencer on Twitter: @TheSpencerVerse.