Shredder

The Shredder (also known as Oroku Saki) (born March 13, 1930 - April 1, 1998) is the eternal adversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter, and appears in some context in every form of TMNT media. Originally he was supposed to only appear in one issue of the comic, but his popularity saw him return; Peter Laird had said that it was not his and Kevin Eastman's intent for him to become the "Darth Vader" of the TMNT universe, but he had indeed become the chief villain. He is also known as the leader of the Foot Clan.

Eastman and Laird got the idea for the Shredder's armor late one evening after the two creators had been drinking. Kevin was drying dishes and came across a triangular cheese grater, he put the cheese-grater on his arm and said, "Could you imagine a character with weapons on his arms like this?". He said how it would be awesome to have a villain called, the "Grater" and Peter responded with, "How about the Shredder?". The next morning the two of them put their pens to paper and actually created the infamous character we know today.

In every form of media, his tenaciousness keeps him returning even after he should have been killed.

Mirage Comics
A pair of ninja members of the Foot Clan, Oroku Nagi and Hamato Yoshi, both competed for the love of a woman named Tang Shen. However, Shen only loved Yoshi, which enraged Nagi. Nagi attacked Shen, and in defense, Yoshi fought and killed Nagi.

Shamed for killing another member of the Foot Clan, Hamato Yoshi fled to America with Tang Shen and his pet rat, Splinter. However, Nagi's younger brother, Oroku Saki, swore a vendetta on his brother's murderer. He eventually tracked down and killed both Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen. Joining the Foot Clan himself, Saki quickly rose through the ranks, and was put in charge of the American branch of the Clan.

Fifteen years later Oroku Saki was seen now working for a security company, when actually he was sending the Foot to rob the same places later. The TMNT would challenge and face the Shredder. After a bloody rooftop battle, Leonardo managed to run him through with his sword. Forcing Shredder to commit Seppuku, thus dying an honorable death, he instead opted for throwing a thermite grenade at them, which Donatello would bat back at his face. The explosion as well as Shredder falling off the roof would be the end of him. With their leader dead, the Foot would continue to hunt down the TMNT for revenge.

However, several months later, several members of the Foot, as well as the Shredder himself, would jump and beat Leonardo to the brink of death, and throw his body through the window of April's Second Time Around store. Shredder and the Foot would attack the TMNT, and with the help of Casey Jones, they managed to escape to his old farmhouse in Northampton. After months of recuperation, the TMNT returned to New York, and with the help of Zog, a Triceraton mentally confused due to breathing our Earth oxygen, they went to take down the Foot and the Shredder once and for all. During the fight, Zog gets hacked to death by 3 deformed Shredder clones. The other Turtles would face them and be taken down one by one, leaving Leonardo to go ahead and face the real Shredder himself.

Shredder revealed that he was a worm clone of the original Shredder, but still harbored the hatred of the original. The Foot employed some sort of mystic worms that ate remains of the dead, and then grow into the form of what they ate. The malformed Shredders were past attempts, and the Shredder now facing Leonardo was their perfect copy. Shredder and Leonardo fought it out and in the end, Leo would end up beheading him. Leonardo would then take Shredder's body and burn it.

Sometime later, a Foot Mystic would find the remains and use the worms again, but this time they'd also eat the remains of a shark. This shark monster considered himself the real Oroku Saki. Facing the turtles, he realized he was just a clone and escaped, also eating the Foot Mystic. Sometime later, this Shark/Worm/Shredder monster would also face Splinter and Casey Jones. It's unknown if it would return.

Due to Shredder's death, the Foot would still be after the Turtles. The Elite Foot in particular were after Leo's head. The TMNT would be forced to help Karai (leader of the Japanese branch of the Foot) kill off the Foot factions that were battling each other in exchange for a truce. And sure enough, after they defeated the Elite, Karai and the Foot promised to leave the Turtles alone.

So even after Shredder was only fought with and killed off in one day, his shadow continued to haunt the Turtles for years to come, be it in the form of wormclones, the rest of his clan or Karai.

Shredder had a brief cameo in Turtles Forever, playing the same role he did in Volume 1. He appeared to the Mirage Turtles to challenge them when the 1988 and 2003 Turtles threw trash cans at him making him fall. This is a reference to the general weakness of this incarnation's Shredder in comparison to the others. He was voiced by David Wills.

Image Comics
In the story Galahad, Galahad tracks down the assassin Headhunter, the murderer of Reid, to New York City. He interrupts a man and woman in mid-coitus and begins attacking the man, who he believes is Headhunter, and tells the woman to lock herself safely in the bathroom. During the fight, the woman re-emerges, revealing herself to be Headhunter, and the man who Galahad had mistaken for the assassin is actually the Japanese crime boss Oroku Saki. Saki steps forward in his full Shredder armor and orders his Foot Soldiers to kill the pair.

Galahad and Headhunter call a truce and begin battling the Foot Clan. Galahad fights his way to the Shredder and explains that he’s only after Headhunter. Shredder refuses to give her up, saying they have unfinished business. Galahad then takes three arrows to the back and a bo staff to the head. As Galahad falls face first to the ground, Headhunter berates him for not taking the Shredder down when he had the chance and angrily calls their truce off. As Headhunter escapes, Shredder orders two of his Foot Soldiers to finish off Galahad while the rest go after Headhunter and bring her back alive. The Foot Soldiers decide to do a poor job and just dump Galahad’s body into the sewers. Galahad encounters the turtles and Splinter who help him recover. Splinter than leads him to just below a shoe store that’s secretly operated by the Foot and bids him good luck on his confrontation with the Shredder. Galahad cautiously enters the shoe store and finds seven Foot Soldiers dead; slashed to death presumably by Headhunter. Galahad then finds the Shredder, sitting behind a desk. Shredder asks if "the White Knight" has come to rescue his damsel in distress, but Galahad insists he’s here to arrest her. Shredder is reluctant to give her up, as she’s a threat to his life and he doesn’t believe any prison can hold her. Galahad insists, leaving Shredder no choice…but to hand her over? It seems that he owes Galahad a debt of honor for (accidentally) saving his life when he was in bed with Headhunter. At any rate, he’s done with Headhunter, anyway. After an interrogation, it seems that seven of his Foot soldiers, displeased with Shredder’s leadership, hired Headhunter to deal with him. Shredder, in turn, dealt with them. Shredder then tells Galahad to go collect Headhunter and then never cross his path again, lest he be forced to kill him.

1987 series
Long ago in Japan, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi were both members of the Foot Clan. Jealous of Yoshi, Saki made his move the day the Shidoshi arrived at the Foot school. He pinned the back of Yoshi's kimono with a knife, which would prevent him from bowing to show respect for the Shidoshi, which everyone considered an insult. When Yoshi found the knife and pulled it out, they considered it a plot to kill the Shidoshi, so Yoshi was kicked out of the clan. From then on, Saki took over and took the once noble Foot Clan and turned it into an army of crime. Not content with having banished Yoshi from the Foot, he followed him to New York. We assume this is when Saki somehow met up with Krang, the alien warlord from Dimension X, arming him with all sorts of technology ranging from robotic Foot Soldiers to the colossal Technodrome. Wearing steel bladed armor, he was now the Shredder. After finding Yoshi, he tried to kill him by pouring the mysterious chemical Mutagen on him, not knowing it would instead mutate him into a giant rat named Splinter, and also give birth to his worst enemies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In this incarnation, he was voiced by James L. Avery, Sr. most of the time from 1987 to 1994. In total, he played the role in 125 episodes.

After the seventh season, Bill Martin took over the role, voicing the bad guy in 12 episodes from 1994 to 1996.

Three different voice actors provided Shredders voice on a fill-in basis during the original Turtles series. Jim Cummings voiced him in 9 episodes between 1990 and 1993, Townsend Coleman (the voice of Michaelangelo in the series) voiced Shredder three times in 1993, and Dorian Harewood filled in for the role in four episodes between 1987 and 1989.

Shredder continued his crime wave, sending his men to steal all sorts of advanced technology throughout the city, as well as posing as a security service, where he'd send his own men to rob the places he was securing later. When news reporter April O'Neil started reporting the possibility of ninjas being responsible for these crimes, Shredder sent his gang of thugs to take her out. April, however was rescued by the Turtles. Later April and the Turtles would discover Shredder's security front, and he's send all the Foot Soldiers to the Technodrome and flooded the building to the point to which it would explode, not knowing the Turtles would still escape alive. Shredder then asked Krang for advice, to which the brain would remind him that he gave Shredder all of his technology in exchange for a body he was supposed to create for him. Krang gave Shredder the idea to mutate his own henchmen into killer mutant animals, and thus Shredder turned the punks Bebop and Rocksteady into a mutant warthog and a mutant rhinoceros, respectively.

One of Shredder's robots would capture Splinter, forcing the Turtles to enter the Technodrome to rescue him. There he would attack them with all sorts of death traps. Once the Turtles made it to Splinter, Shredder formerly introduced himself to them, explained his part in the origin of the Turtles and asked them to join him. When they refused, he sent Bebop and Rocksteady after them. The turtles defeated them and escaped with Splinter. Next Shredder tried to kill his enemies by using Baxter Stockman to create an army of Mousers. Shredder managed to capture Michaelangelo and had the others surrounded by the Mousers. When Krang saw his plans working too well, and thus giving Shredder no need to build him the body he promised, he himself set Mikey free and helped him destroy the Master Control for all the Mousers. Still refusing to give Krang his body, Shredder instead tried to pull advanced weaponry from Dimension X through the Technodrome's Dimensional Portal. Doing so, he'd accidentally set the Neutrinos free onto the city. Krang's Rock Soldiers|stone warriors]] would soon follow, and Shredder would send them after the Turtles. After the Turtles sent both the Stone Warriors and their new friends the Neutrinos back home, Shredder saw he had no choice but to build Krang his body.

Shredder however, also invented the Retromutagen Ray Gun, a device that undoes mutations. He used it as bait to lure the Turtles to him, since he knew they wanted to restore their Master to his human form. Splinter went alone, since his sons could also be turned back into normal turtles with that device, and was captured. As the Turtles arrived to the Technodrome, they defeated Shredder's forces, as well as Krang's giant-sized robot body, rescued Splinter and sent the Technodrome back to Dimension X. Now stuck in Dimension X, Shredder was forced to follow Krang's orders.

Wanting to return to Earth and get his revenge on the Turtles, Krang finally sent him back to Earth, but completely alone, without his Foot Soldiers or any fancy weaponry. First Shredder would take over a dojo and form the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang to frame the Turtles, and then he'd once again employ Baxter Stockman to help him defeat the Turtles. Though the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang would soon be defeated, Shredder would continue to use Baxter for a while until he got fed up with his failures. Krang finally sent Bebop and Rocksteady back to Earth, in exchange for Baxter, which would lead to Krang accidentally turning him into a mutant fly. Eventually, Shredder would finally gather the power he needed to return the Techondrome to Earth, but thanks to Donatello, it would be trapped on the bottom of the Earth, unable to move.

Shredder would continue his plans, thanks to Krang's transport modules which would lead them to the surface to continue their plans to either destroy the Turtles or gather enough energy to make the Technodrome mobile again. Once the Shredder got the Technodrome back in action, their next move was to open a portal huge enough to send Earth through, where Krang's Stone Warriors would open fire on it. But again, thanks to Donatello, the Turtles would send the Technodrome itself through the portal, having the Stone Warriors open fire on it and having the Technodrome be stuck on an asteroid in Dimension X. Even that wouldn't be enough to keep the Shredder gone for long, as now they'd use the Dimensional Portal to return to Earth to continue their plans.

The Technodrome would continue to be stuck in other places like the bottom of the ocean and the middle of the Arctic until the Turtles would finally manage to send the Technodrome back to Dimension X but without Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady in it. Now the villains would resort to running from hideout to hideout with the Turtles hot on their heels.

It was during this arc that the "Red Sky" seasons would begin and Shredder would commit one of his most memorable acts. During this time, his goofiness had vanished and he was full of anger and bloodlust to kill the Tutles. While still looking for an approprite replacement hideout, Shredder was ambushed at the Hall of Sceince by Berzerko, who kidnapped Krang. Coming to the wrong conclusion that the Turtles captured Krang, Shredder decided to give the Turtles the choice of giving Krang back or letting him blow up the Channel 6 building. After the Turtles fought Berzerko and got Krang back, Shredder laughed triumphantly that they were too late. However, the building was still there, making the Turtles think Shredder was bluffing. Shredder would then say 'I never bluff' and make the building explode. This would force April to get a new job as a freelance reporter and have Burne Thompson start a permanent anti-turtle campaign throughout the city, blaming them for all this.

After this, Shredder helped set up their new base in the Hall of Science. Desperate to be rid of the Turtles, Shredder offered the Rat King some mutegen for his rats in exchange for getting rid of the Turtles. However, after the Rat King managed to temporarily remove the Turtles from action and claimed his prize. Shredder was shocked to see him betray them for Krang's ultimate weapon. He later kept quiet during the time H.A.V.O.C. was busy battling the Turtles, choosing instead to focus on getting a portal to Dimension X open to retrieve the Technodrome. He even shot down the ship of warlike aliens to attempt breaking the dimensional walls in Earth's dimension to merge dimension x into his, but was stopped by Casey Jones and the Turtles.

Shredder would have his final battle with in Dimension X, where the former would finally trap Shredder and Krang there for good in a nearly destroyed Technodrome. They would never have returned if it weren't for Mung, who heard rumors about them. After telling Lord Dregg about their history with the Turtles, Dregg sent Shredder and Krang back to Earth. Shredder didn't want to work with Dregg, so instead, he became a victim of his plans. Dregg had the turtles, Krang, and Shredder captured and was using a device to drain the Turtles' life energy, Shredder's ninja skills and Krang's intelligence into himself to make him unbeatable. Dregg, however didn't notice that Shredder had already gotten free, and he escaped with Krang. Shredder later gave some of his life force to revive Krang, and they both decided to return to finish off Dregg and the Turtles. In the final battle, amongst the crossfire, the Turtles managed to send Shredder and Krang back to Dimension X. They were never to be seen again. In the final battle against Lord Dregg, the Turtles returned to Dimension X to find Krang's android body in the Technodrome to use against Dregg, but neither Shredder or Krang (or Bebop and Rocksteady for that matter) were anywhere to be seen.

It should be noted that Shredder started out as quite the dangerous and merciless villain, especially during the first season. But as the show got sillier (starting with half-way of season two and the beginning of season three), so did his character, spouting out wisecracks and one-liners in between fights with the Turtles. Shredder, however, still had impressive ninja skills and was, for the most part, able to take on all four of them at once. As the show got more cartoonish, so did Shredder's plans. His plots were now as silly as to create a fake Pizza Parlor to lure the Turtles into ordering whatever kind of pizza they wanted, and when Shredder was convinced the pizza was ordered by the Turtles, he'd put a homing device that looked like an anchovy on it to lure them to the turtles' lair. Another such plot had him take over the city's automated garbage trucks and program them to capture the turtles, but in turn they would capture every kind normal sea turtle throughout the city. And yet another plan was to clone Michaelangelo, but Shredder was hit by a ray from the device making him think that HE was Michaelangelo. No matter how complicated or important Shredder or Krang's plans were, they'd always trust the always-bumbling Bebop and Rocksteady to carry it out, which of course, would lead to their downfall.

It was due to Shredder and Krang's Mutagen that led to most of the mutants and other beings on the show, whether they'd side with them or not. Some of the mutants created by Shredder besides the main cast, whether intentional or not, would include The Punk Frogs, Leatherhead, Groundchuck, Dirtbag, Mutagen Man and Muckman, as well as turning Baxter into a mutant fly. He'd also be responsible for the creation of Chrome Dome, and he'd also create the Turtles Rogue Gallery. It was also his version of the trans-dimensional portal interfering with Don's version that led to Usagi Yojimbo being stuck in their world.

Shredder and Krang also argue a lot, mostly due to the fact that Shredder despises taking his orders when he used to be the guy in charge. Despite the fact Shredder has double-crossed Krang several times in the past, during their final appearance, it appeared their friendship had grown. There were many times that Shredder could have just left Krang at the mercy of the Turtles or Lord Dregg, but he always rescued him, and went as far as to donate his life energy to save him.

History
In the 1987 animated series, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi were both members of the Foot Clan in Japan. After Saki framed him for the attempted murder of one of the Clan’s sensei, Yoshi was forced to exile himself to New York City, where he lived in the sewers with four pet turtles that were accidentally dropped down a storm drain. Shredder was voiced by Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star James Avery for seasons 1 to 7; William E. Martin for seasons 8 and 10, and the alternates being Dorian Harewood in 1987-1989, Jim Cummings in 1990-1993, and Townsend Coleman in 1993. In the 2009 crossover movie, Turtles Forever, he was voiced by Load Williams.

In the following years, Saki took leadership of the Foot Clan, and took on his Shredder persona. He also met a trans-dimensional alien called Krang, and used the advanced technology at his disposal to replace the Foot Ninja with robots called the Foot Soldiers. He secretly moved to New York, where he found Yoshi still alive. In an attempt to kill his old foe, the Shredder dumped mutagen in the sewers. This mutates Yoshi into Splinter, and he starts training the also mutated Turtles in ninjutsu.

Depiction
In his early appearances, the Shredder was presented as extremely cunning and was described by Splinter himself as the most dangerous adversary he ever faced. The Shredder's intelligence persevered throughout his various portrayals, and in several instances it is claimed that the Shredder has an IQ of 300. As the 1987 cartoon series was more light-hearted than the comics, the Shredder was later depicted as an evil but incompetent villain rather than the dire and lethal ninja he was originally shown to be. He and Krang are constantly arguing about tactics and take pleasure in the other's failings (and often intentionally sabotage each other). His two henchmen Bebop Rocksteady are incompetent and fail miserably at everything they do; they are mostly used for comic relief in the show; however, the Turtles certainly consider them to be formidable (despite their stupidity) in combat due to their great strength and endurance, and as such, often use their intelligence to outwit them.

Despite the Shredder's failings, he is still shown to have considerable skills. In martial arts, he is often shown to surpass the Turtles and to be equaled only by Splinter. Nevertheless, he usually runs away from a fight when outnumbered, incapacitating the Turtles to defeat them in combat; as the series progressed, however, the Turtles were able to battle him on more equal grounds and even defeat him in combat on several occasions. However, he also frequently states (especially in the earlier episodes) a desire to defeat Splinter by "his own hand" and not wanting to use someone else to slay him.

He trained the Punk Frogs in a very short period of time to be a match for the Turtles, but the Punk Frogs soon switch sides. His technical skills are also quite impressive: he designed and built a robotic body for Krang, prepared the mutagen mixture, knew how Krang's teleportation engine worked, and built numerous other advanced devices. Ironically in one episode Shredderville the Turtles dream they find themselves in a mirror universe where the TMNT never existed and Shredder rules New York City, yet finds the task of ruling so burdensome that he has a nervous breakdown.

Family
The Shredder's family is presented in three episodes. In the episode Shredder's Mom, Shredder's mother Miyoko helps Shredder and Krang in an attempt to destroy the world's climate. In this episode, Miyoko first learns of her son's criminal activities, and proves herself to be as villainous. However, she constantly treats Shredder like a baby, until he gets fed up with it and transports her back to her retirement home.

In the episode My Brother, the Bad Guy, it is revealed that Oroku Saki has a younger brother, Kazuo who works as a police lieutenant in Tokyo. Kazuo and the Turtles try to join forces to stop one of Shredder's plans, but his fervent respect of the law clashes with the Turtles' "whatever it takes" attitude.

Finally, the episode The Legend of Koji features Saki's distant ancestor Oroku Sancho, who lived in Japan in 1583. He is the leader of a small clan, and every bit as wicked as his descendant. When Shredder offers to help him find magical relics that would provide him with power and wealth, Sancho takes the Shredder's information, then betrays him and orders his men to kill him. However, Sancho is also a coward, and when he breaks down in the face of danger, his men abandon him.

This family tree leads to a bit of confusion regarding whether Shredder's given name is Oroku and his last name Saki (as indicated by the fact his brother shares the name Saki), or the other way around (as indicated by the fact his ancestor's name is Oroku). This question is never resolved on the show, although Mirage comics adds more evidence for Oroku being the family name; Saki's brother is "Oroku Nagi". This follows Japanese naming conventions, which place the family name before an individual's given name.

Timeline
Counting from the first meeting between the Turtles and Shredder, the Shredder spent eight seasons plotting ways to defeat the Turtles. In the season 8 episode Turtle Trek, the Turtles destroy the engines of the Technodrome, trapping it and its inhabitants in Dimension X for good and putting an end to Shredder's plans. He spent the next two seasons in Dimension X, until he was contacted by Dregg (The Power of Three). Dregg arranged for him and Krang to come back to Earth, to help him fight the Turtles. Together, they capture the Turtles, but Dregg then betrays them and tries to drain the life energy of the Turtles, Krang, and Shredder all at once, making them weaker while Dregg becomes stronger. Shredder alone escapes the trap and restores Krang (A Turtle in Time), but Dregg captures them again. Finally, the Turtles spoil Dregg's plan and transport Shredder and Krang back to Dimension X (Turtles to the Second Power). In the series finale Divide and Conquer, the Turtles return to the Technodrome in Dimension X to take Krang's android body, which they need to fight Dregg. Shredder is nowhere to be seen, but it is assumed that he is still somewhere in Dimension X.

He and Krang also appear in Turtles Forever, with the Technodrome freed from Dimension X. While attempting to destroy the Turtles, the dimensional transportor backfired and sent foe and friend alike into an alternate timeline set nearly 15 years into the future (if this happened in 1996). There, he attempted to find a way to repair the Technodrome to escape the more serious world of the 2003 era Turtles, but was shocked to notice the Turtles from his had teamed up with the Turtles of this one. After his foot soldiers were defeated. Shredder decided to look for his counterpart and found the Utrom Shredder. However, after seeing how deadly and mentally unstable he was, Shredder attempted to knock him out and kill him. However, Chrell's adopted daughter Karai arrived and rescued him. Shredder then lost control of the Technodrome to Chrell, who them added Utrom technology to the powerful war machine while remodeling it from its silly design to a mar death star-like appearance. Compared to the Utrom Shredder, Shredder was truly incompetent.

Turtles Forever
Shredder, along with Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop, was a main character in Turtles Forever After a routine battle with the Turtles in which the Technodrome's Interdimensional Portal was accidentally damaged, a temporal anomaly occurred which trapped the Technodrome and all participants in the 2003 universe. Shredder then seeks aid in the Utrom Shredder to help defeat the Turtles, but this attempt backfires; Ch'rell simply takes over the Technodrome and upgrades it to a lethally armed mobile fortress. Shredder and Krang appear as background characters following this coup d'etat, and finally growing disillusioned with Ch'rell, they aid the Turtles in their final battle against their common enemy. Afterwards, Shredder and Krang returns with 'their' Turtles to their home dimension on a temporary truce, though they swear to get back to business with their arch-enemies soon enough.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics series, while drawn in the fashion of the 1987 cartoons, The Shredder was shown to be more intelligent, ruthless and competent. His schemes were more ingenius, and he was shown to form alliances with other villains (such as Verminator X) while hoping to reap all the rewards himself. He finally met defeat in the three-part Finally Year of the Turtle saga, where he was left in a vegetated state in the aftermath of his final battle with the Turtles.

First Movie
Similar to the comics, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi would both be members of the Foot and be in the love with the same woman, Tang Shen. Yoshi and Tang escaped to live in New York, but Saki found them. He killed Shen and waited for Yoshi to get home. During the fight, Splinter, still just a pet rat, escaped from his cage and bit and clawed all over Saki's face. The same sword slice that would kill Yoshi would also cut off a piece of Splinter's ear.

Years later in New York, the Shredder, alongside his second-in-command Tatsu, had formed the Foot, a gang of street kids and gangsters trained in the art of Ninjutsu and started what was called 'the Silent Crime wave' where no one so much as saw what was being stolen. When reporter April O'Neil started talking about the Foot on the news, the Shredder sent the Foot to force her into silence. She was rescued by Raphael, but one of the Foot followed them back to their lair. Later, while the Turtles were hanging with April in her apartment, the Foot attacked and kidnapped Splinter. Then they found and attacked Raphael to near death and sent him crashing through the roof of April's Second Time Around store. After a big fight with the Foot, the Turtles, April and Casey escaped to April's farmhouse.

Sometime later, the Shredder found April's artwork of the Turtles from one of his fellow members, Danny Pennington, signaling that the Turtles were back. The Shredder sent the Foot to the turtles lair and sent Tatsu to kill Splinter. The Turtles managed to defeat the Foot, and Casey Jones defeated Tatsu and rescued Splinter. Shredder finally appeared and had a dramatic battle against the Turtles. Upon hinting that the Shredder had already killed Splinter, Leo lost control and went at the Shredder head on. The evil ninja tripped him up and aimed his spear at him, telling the turtles to toss their weapons or he'd kill him. Even after the Turtles threw their weapons, the Shredder intended to kill Leonardo anyway, but Splinter finally arrived, revealing himself to be the same rat that clawed Saki's face so many years ago. The Shredder removed his mask and charged at Splinter in a blind rage, intending to spear him. Splinter, however, whipped out a nunchaku, wrapped it around the Shredder's yari and sent him over the side of the roof. Still hanging on to the yari, the Shredder threw a tanto at Splinter. Splinter caught the knife, but he had to let go of the nunchaku that was holding his spear, and the Shredder fell into a garbage truck. Casey Jones pulled a lever, and the garbage truck's hydraulic press apparently grind the Shredder to death.

The Shredder was voiced by David McCharen and portrayed by James Saito.

Second Movie
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, the Shredder somehow survived and returned to the Foot's fall back HQ, now bent on revenge against the Turtles. He sent a member of the Foot to spy on April, hoping to find the Turtles through her. When April's team was doing a report on T.G.R.I., the Foot agent found some mutated dandelions and sent one to the Shredder.

Upon seeing this, the Shredder sent Tatsu and the Foot to retrieve the last vial of Ooze at TGRI and kidnap Professor Jordan Perry, and had a wolf and a snapping turtle turned into mutants. However, the mutation did not go precisely as planned, and the new mutants Tokka and Rahzar had the minds of babies. The Shredder ordered Tatsu to kill them, but Perry convinced him to keep them alive since their brute strength would be useful. The Foot captured Raphael and used him as bait to lure the other turtles; Shredder had them caught in a net and was about to impale them on a bed of spikes. Splinter arrived to set them free, and the Turtles fought the Foot, Tokka and Rahzar and escaped with the professor.

The Shredder would release Tokka and Rahzar to do damage upon the city as a means to challenge the Turtles to a final showdown. In the final battle, which was carried right into a Vanilla Ice concert, the Turtles would defeat the Foot and Tatsu and demutate Tokka and Rahzar. The Shredder arrived with the last canister of Ooze, but the Turtles' ally Keno arrived to spin-kick the vial out of the Shredder's hands, which would be taken away by Professor Perry. Following this, the Shredder grabbed a random girl from the concert and threatened to pour Ooze on her from a tiny vial he still possessed. Keno and Don, however, used the loudspeakers to blast him out of the building and into the docks outside. The turtles followed him, only to find that the Shredder used the Ooze on himself out of desperation and had now transformed into a monster. Blinded by rage, the Super Shredder started breaking down the support beams of the docks, hoping to bring it all down on himself and the Turtles. The turtles escaped by diving into the water, while Shredder finally met his end.

It is worth noting that the Shredder's cape and armor also grew when he mutated; this is an uncommon feature to other victims of the ooze. Another thing worth noting is that in the first Turtle movie (as well as the beginning of the second when he first escaped the pile of garbage) the Shredder wore red like he did in the Mirage comics. In the second movie he wore purple like in the 80's cartoons. In both movies he also had a black cape. When he rebuilt his helmet in the second movie, he added buzz saw-like ridges along the sides. In both movies he used his infamous claw on just the left hand instead of both.

David McCharen reprised his role as the voice of the Shredder (as well as Super Shredder). François Chau physically portrayed the Shredder, and Kevin Nash played Super Shredder.

Fourth Movie
While the Shredder makes a brief cameo appearance in TMNT, the movie opens with how the Turtles finally defeated him, and explained how they went along their separate ways. Karai now leads the Foot and uses them more as mercenaries rather than a street gang. In the end of the movie Karai hinted that the Shredder might be back. In the end of the movie, Splinter walks towards a display case of past adventures which would include things such as the canister of ooze from the second movie, the Time Scepter from TMNT III and the Shredder helmet, looking like it did in the first Turtle movie. It's also worth mentioning that Playmates released a kind of 'what if the Shredder was in the movie' action figure version of the Shredder.

Turtles Forever
All three main incarnations of the Shredder appear in Turtles Forever, with Ch'rell, the Utrom Shredder, playing the role of main antagonist. With the OT (1988) Turtles and the Shredder sent to the NT (2003) universe, OT Shredder attempts to bring down the Turtles once and for all with the aid of the NT dimension's Shredder. However, he soon realizes that this was a bad idea as Ch'rell, with the aid of Karai, takes over the Technodrome and converts it to a lethal mobile fortress.

OT Shredder serves as mostly comic relief in this movie, contrasting the personality of Ch'rell. Towards the end of the movie, the Mirage Shredder appears to challenge the Mirage Turtles, but is defeated when the other eight Turtles (OT and NT) throw trash cans at him, making him fall off the roof he was standing on and presumably to his death (a nod that Mirage Shredder was killed off immediately in the first issue). The twelve Turtles (with aid from OT Shredder, Krang, Karai and NT Splinter) manage to defeat Ch'rell before he completely destroys the Turtle Multi-Verse, and as a result the rest of the universes are restored.

Coming Out of Their Shells Tour
In this addition to the Turtles hype following movie fame, Shredder is reduced to even less than a cartoon villain and seeks to destroy, of all things, music using the De-Harmonizer brought to him by Krang. Throughout the show Shredder appears mostly via a massive TV monitor with his main minion being found in Baxter Stockman. His appearance is very loosely based on that of his cartoon appearances, the main liberties being taken in his mask and helmet. He only sings one song in the middle of the show with "I Hate Music", using a remix of the Turtle's background instrumentals such 'Cowabunga", and "Skipping Stones".

Getting Down In Your Town
This is a sequel to the "Coming Out of Their Shells" concert tours. This picks up where the other tour ends with Shredder still trap in the television cyber space. In this set, Casey Jones contioniously taunts Shredder throughout the whole show.

Next Mutation
Shredder appears in 3 episodes of the Saban produced series, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. He is mentioned in a few others. He is once again the head of the Foot clan and the sworn enemy of the turtles and their sensei, Master Splinter, whom he desires revenge upon after the rat scarred him many years ago. The Foot of this series appear a lot more clumsy and less intelligent (due to comic relief values), much to their master's irritation. This Shredder is implied to have battled the turtles constantly for many years, as the Turtles are now 18 years old. When Splinter falls ill, Shredder decides to unleash the full fury of his army upon the Turtles' lair, which has recently been discovered by his forces. The sheer numbers of the expanding Foot clan easily overwhelm the turtles in combat and Shredder then prepares to finish them off, vowing to destroy their leader as well. However, he meets his match at the hands of the recently arrived fifth turtle, Venus de Milo, who using her Shinobi magic, drives the Foot leader insane by calling the true Oroku Saki to the surface to take control, thereby destroying the Shredder, seemingly forever. Afterwords the Foot disbands and Saki begins living on the streets. When dragon minions attack him in order to obtain an ancient ninja amulet in his possession, he is temporarily brought to live with the turtles by Splinter, far out of the reach of the evil Dragon Lord. Despite the situation, Saki is hate filled and ungrateful and the turtles are none too happy sharing a homestead with their former arch nemesis either. In the episodes' conclusion, Saki rejects the Dragonlord's offer to join forces with him, but is defeated by his new enemy. He manages to escape with the amulet during the ensuing battle between the Dragonlord and the turtles. He then appears alone in a deserted alley, where he appears to unlock the amulet's true power, laughing maniacally as he does so. This greatly implies that Saki would have gone back to his old ways in season 2, likely once again becoming the Shredder, reforming the Foot clan and either declaring war upon or allying himself with the Dragonlord. However, the Next Mutation was canceled before this could occur. Another time Shredder was mentioned was when Splinter stated that the Dragonlord's formidability as an opponent made him miss and long for the malevolence of the Shredder.



2003 cartoon


The Shredder seen mostly in the 2K3 series is actually an Utrom named Ch'rell. He was voiced by Scottie Ray.

Ch'rell was a cruel and merciless sociopath that went from planet to planet causing wars and destruction. He was eventually captured by his fellow Utroms and was to be taken into custody, but he managed to escape and cause his transport to crash into Earth. Trapped in the era of 11th century Japan, the Utroms used what remained of their ship and technology to create exosuits to blend in with humanity, but Ch'rell would steal one of them to create his version of the Shredder, based on the legends he had heard of the Tengu Shredder. ''This page is for the Oroku Saki and Ch'rell version of The Shredder. For other characters who have used the identity of The Shredder, see Alternate Shredders.''

To facilitate his plans of conquest and revenge, Ch'rell formed the Foot Clan and created the Sword of Tengu, a sword with the ability to toss destructive waves, but somehow it was lost. Sometime before leaving Japan in modern times, he met and trained an orphaned girl named Karai and left her to watch over the Japanese faction of the Foot Clan. In America, he established himself in New York City as Oroku Saki, a billionaire philanthropist, while he secretly formed a criminal organization and hired Baxter Stockman, Hun, and the Purple Dragons to do his bidding. One of the few that had the power to oppose him was Hamato Yoshi, Splinter's original owner, who was eventually attacked and killed by the Shredder.

Years passed, and all went well until the Turtles defeated some of the Purple Dragons who were trying to steal an armored car carrying a large sum of money. Then the Turtles also shut down Stockman's plans to use his Mousers to rob banks all over New York. What really angered the Shredder was when he finally found the Sword of Tengu (as well as one of the Utroms exosuits, proving that they still lived), and lost it to the Turtles. He sent Stockman and Hun to deal with them. Hun captured Raphael and let him go, intending the Turtle to be followed by Stockman's invisible Foot Tech Ninjas, but they were also defeated. From Hun's interrogation of Raphael, Shredder learned that Turtles weren't aware of the Utroms existence, and considered that they might be of use against them.

Finally, Shredder decided to invite one of the Turtles themselves to his abode. As Oroku Saki, he faced Leonardo and convinced him that there was a powerful evil out there and they both had to work together to stop it. Returning home, Splinter told Leo that Oroku Saki was also known as the Shredder and is the evil force they must stop. The Turtles returned and refused to side with Shredder, so the big fight began. They were able to fight Shredder's Foot ninjas as well as Hun, but were forced to run when Shredder came after them himself. The Turtles were separated, but Splinter was able to get them to regroup, and he decided to let the Shredder find them so he could avenge Yoshi. The Turtles easily beat Shredder's Foot ninjas, but he individually ambushed each of them during the fight, picking them off one by one. Before Shredder could finish the Turtles, Splinter intervened and tricked Shredder into slicing the support beams of a huge water tower and then kicked it on to him. The force of the released water would shove Shredder off the rooftop, and then the water tower itself would collapse on him.

Thinking he was defeated, the TMNT and Splinter left, not knowing he was still alive. In the Fast Forward storyline, right after Shredder rose from the collapsed water tower, he encountered, fought and was defeated by Leonardo, who was at that time accidentally marooned in the past along with Cody Jones. Shredder and the Foot followed Leo and Cody through the time portals, bringing them to Sh'Okanabo's spaceship and tried to seize the technology for themselves. Between the alien Sh'Okanabo and the Turtles, however, Shredder and the Foot were defeated and sent back to their normal time.

Months later, Leo would be ganged up on and beaten by near death by the Foot, Hun, the Foot Elite and Shredder himself, who tossed Leo through the window of April's Second Time Around store and then stormed the building. Shredder drove everyone in a freezer, but seeing that police were arriving, locked the freezer, cut a gas pipe and set a fire bomb set to destroy the area. Thanks to Casey, the TMNT, Splinter and April escaped the explosion and went to live in Casey's farmhouse in New Hampton. After they recovered, they finally returned to New York, where they took down the Foot, Foot Tech Ninja, Hun, Baxter (whom had constructed a powerful exo-suit and intended to kill the turtles and the Shredder, forcing them to team up against him), the mysterious Foot Mystics, deformed Shredder clones, the Elite, and the Shredder himself. When they finally faced the Shredder, the Guardians came to aid the Shredder against the turtles. Shredder was able recover the Sword of Tengu but Leonardo managed to take it from him. In the end, Leo lept up using the Sword of Tengu, while Shredder lept up using Leo's swords, and after a clash, Shredder was beheaded. However, after the TMNT and their friends left, Shredder picked up his head and walked off.

After this battle however, Splinter was missing. When the TMNT found him at the T.C.R.I. building, Shredder was following them. As the Utroms revealed their origins to the Turtles via VR Technology, Shredder had Baxter (now a head in a robot spider body) tamper with the VR so that what they saw could really hurt them. This had the turtles fight it out with the Medieval Japan Shredder and the Foot. Back to reality, the Turtles and Splinter battled the Shredder, and after Baxter broke free from his control and turned on him, but Shredder set timebomb set to destroy the TCRI building. Despite the seeming severe damage to him before, Shredder quickly came back to face the Turtles. This time, they were able to damage Shredder's exo-suit to point where he was forced to abandoned it, and the truth about Shredder being an Utrom was finally revealed. The Turtles and the Utroms all escaped, and just before Shredder could get on the Transmat to do the same, the building exploded. This is the only time the Turtles defeated the Shredder and he wasn't revealed to be alive immediately after the fight, but the fact that would come back when they were sure he was dead in the past made them very skeptical if he was alive or dead.

With Shredder supposedly dead, the Mobs, the Purple Dragons and the Foot, now led by the Foot Elite, raged war over control for the city. Karai arrived from Japan, and with the help of the Turtles managed to get control back to the Foot, in exchange for a truce between the TMNT and the Foot. However, Shredder managed to survive the explosion at the TCRI building and was kept in a capsule with worms that were healing him, under Karai's eye. Unfortunately for Karai, Shredder's first plan once he was healed was revenge on the Turtles.

Once Shredder was healed, he returned to find that Hun had found Baxter and reduced him to a brain, and got him to work for them again. Baxter had now made Foot Mechs, in form of armored Foot Ninja, but also in forms of the President, the Prime Minister of England, and Master Splinter. However, due to the unexpected arrival of the Turtles with the Triceraton Zog, as well as Karai questioning her loyalties, the Shredder was again defeated, but only when Zog gave his life to keep Shredder on his freighter when it exploded. Karai then used a helicopter to rescue him.

A short time later the Triceratons would invade Earth, and Shredder would gain favor over the city by paying for the restoration of the city under his Oroku Saki persona (the Turtles weren't surprised when they found Shredder was alive anymore). The Foot was changed now somewhat, with Karai being the new second-in-command, having more authority than Hun (Hun himself would find himself a victim of Shredder's cruelty when Shredder punished him for being seen in front of the mayor). A new scientist was hired, Dr. Chaplin, and was basically Baxter's replacement. While he made political statements, he was secretly building a spaceship hoping to return to cause destruction to the Utroms and other planets. After finally completing the ship, he bid farewell to the city and left Karai in charge of the Foot. However, due to Splinter's visions, Splinter, the TMNT and Leatherhead all went to stop Shredder's plans. It was during this brave assault upon the Foot Tower than Hun finally discovered that Shredder was an Utrom after his exo-suit was again destroyed. Other factors, such as Baxter disrupting the spaceship's controls, and Agent Bishop's men trying to take down the spaceship before it even left the planet all complicated matters for him, but despite that he still escaped onto his ship with Karai and Dr. Chaplin. In the final battle, Shredder got inside a larger, more powerful Shredder armor and easily defeated the Turtles and Splinter in combat, and they only survived because Shredder was forced to fall back due to Bishop firing at his ship. Seeing no other choice, the Turtles used the downloaded Fugitoid program they had to overload the ship's power core to destroy everything, even themselves if need be, so that Shredder could never cause harm and destruction again.

This explosion was however, paused in time stasis due to the Utroms' technology. They would take care of the Turtles and Splinter, send Karai and Dr. Chaplin back to Earth and would finally sent Shredder, now his true name Ch'rell revealed to finally stand court for his crimes. For all the destruction and lives he cost throughout the galaxy, he was sent to the ice planet Mor Tal to freeze to death. Seeing that Shredder was finally beaten for good, Hun would lead the Purple Dragons to become less than a common street gang and more into organized crime, Baxter would work with Bishop, and Karai would now lead the Foot as the new Shredder in a personal vendetta against the Turtles for killing her father. Chaplin would remain loyal to Karai.

It's also worth noting that in an alternate future visited by Donatello, Shredder had taken over the world. In this version, Splinter and Casey Jones were already killed in battle and Mikey had lost an arm. Shredder had Baxter's brain sewn into Hun's right shoulder and was in a wheelchair, and was now working with the Turtles, according to them the ultimate punishment: being stuck together for the rest of their lives. In a final battle, the alternate versions of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Hun, Baxter Stockman, and Karai died, Don faced the Shredder, but the Shredder's massive exo-suit was too powerful for him to defeat head on, but Don managed to kill the Shredder by shoving the Turtle Tunneler into his face. This left April as the only surviving member of the main cast, though Don going back home would make sure this would never happen.

Probably a cue to the first movie, this version of the Shredder only had his claws on his left hand, instead of both like in the Mirage comics. Once it was revealed he was an Utrom, Shredder changed his armor a few times. While he was usually hidden within the stomach cavity of the suit, the dark future version of the Shredder actually had Ch'rell himself as the head of the exosuit, still wearing the helmet. This Shredder's exosuit was far larger than any other seen, and possessed four arms and was nearly indestructible.

Chrell has also won the battle nexus championship 3 times because if you watch secret origin part 1 and 2 it shows the utrom shredder in a complete different armour to his receent one, this is the exact armour as the one in the battle nexus hall of fame (If you look closely you can tell) also when leornado is attacked in the Big Brawl episode he consequently picks up The Shrdders helmet which is grey and the Utrom Shredder has a grey helmet.

There is also a debate going on about who would win in a fight The Shredder or Agent Bishop but neither have fought in a one on one fight so this is hard to say because both Utrom Shredder and Agent Bishop can beat Hun and both have lost to Master Splinter also The shredder fights offensively and he is really strong and also can fend off multiple enemies while Bishop fights defensively and makes good use of his surroundings and has speed also he is able to fend off multiple enemies.

The Original Shredder


However, it would later be revealed that there really was an Oroku Saki back in 300 AD in Japan, and Ch'rell would steal his name and image. The real Oroku Saki was human until a massive demon attacked (the demon was the original Shredder). To combat the Shredder tengu, the Emperor of Japan recruited the five most skilled and powerful warriors in the country, which in addition to Saki there was Kon, Juto, Chikara, and Hisomi. Clad in enchanted armor, these “Five Dragons” rode out to confront the Shredder. Although Kon, Juto, Chikara and Hisomi were quickly beaten, Saki bested it on his own. But just as he was about to finish the demon, it promised Saki his dark powers in exchange for allowing his soul to live within him, which Saki accepted. Oblivious to what had occurred, the other Dragons returned to the emperor with Saki, where they were honored as the greatest heroes of Japan, and given their own insignia, bearing the “Three-Toed Sign of the Dragon.” It was not long, however, before the possessed Saki began his own conquest of Japan, taking the name of the Shredder and using an inverted Sign of the Dragon as his symbol. The Shredder committed atrocities and his evil seemed to posses no limits. He quickly destroyed much of Japan and erected a fortress of his own. With all known resistance destroyed and his forces and powers continuously growing, The Shredder's conquest of the planet seemed unstoppable. Unable to match the Shredder’s power, Saki’s four former allies trained with the most powerful masters of the martial and mystic arts the world over, until finally, they were strong enough to face him in battle within his citadel. All five combatants manifested their spirits in the form of dragon avatars, but the Shredder was ultimately overpowered. To keep the Shredder from ever threatening mankind again, the Four Dragons cast a spell that enchanted his helmet, gauntlet and body, all of which were separated and sealed away – but, should they ever be reunited, the Shredder would live again.

Now in modern day, it was revealed that the Foot Mystics were actually serving the True Shredder all along, but were chafed in the service of Ch’rell, and were even further reviled when Karai took his place as the holder of the Heart of Tengu, determining to release themselves. Tricking the Earth Protection Force into stealing the Heart of Tengu from Karai and destroying it (under the belief that it was a storehouse of alien DNA), the mystics were released and set about arranging the resurrection of the original Shredder, dispatching various demon minions to find the helmet and gauntlet that the Four Dragons – now known as the “Ninja Tribunal” – had hidden away so long ago. The Turtles and four other humans were recruited and trained by the Tribunal in order to reclaim the helmet and gauntlet, but in doing so, they had unwittingly played into the elementals’ hands, having brought the two items to the Tribunal’s lair, the Lap of the Gods, where the Shredder’s body was held. In a massive attack on the Lap of the Gods, the elementals succeeded in capturing all three items, which they took to New York and reunited, restoring the demon Shredder to life.

The demon Shredder’s first goal was the elimination of the pretender to his name, Karai, but thanks to the intervention of the Turtles, she survived, and the Shredder instead turned his attention to the world at large, transforming New York City into a twisted, hellish, nightmarish landscape from which his conquest of Earth would begin. The Turtles discovered that, in inheriting the mantle of the Shredder, Karai had also inherited a mystic link to the demon’s power. The Turtles went to face Shredder, and joined by Hun, Bishop, Stockman, the Justice Force, Karai, Splinter, The Ancient One, and the other acolytes which were supposedly dead. The turtles faced Shredder after killing his mystics, but even their allies the demon was too powerful for them. Shredder was about finish them off, but the Spirit of Hamato Yoshi manifested from their medallions and held him off. Manifesting their spiritual avatars and transforming into powerful dragon forms, the Turtles and the Shredder (who took his dragon form as well) battled in the skies above New York. The Shredder was able to take the upper hand until Karai started to drain his energy, allowing the Turtles were able to destroy his helmet and gauntlet; weaken him, then, they summoned spirit of Hamato Yoshi appeared to deliver the final blow, cutting the villain in half and destroying the demon Shredder once and for all.

The demon Shredder displayed godlike power during his attempt to conquer the world. He has telekinetic abilities that can use to levitate himself (which is how he usually moved) and other objects (even large objects, shown with ease he once tossed a cement-mixer). He usually fought by firing blasts of dark magic, which can easily demolish the walls of large buildings, although he also possess a large degree of super-human strength (enough to easily overpower the Turtles' ally the Silver Sentry). He invulnerable to most means of attack (having taken no damage when Karai impaled him with a sword, or showing signs of pain when Chaplin blasted a hole in him, which instantly regenerated). He can also create weapons for himself to use, as well as demonic minions and shape the world around to the form he chooses, though spreading his power does weaken him. Finally, Shredder can assume the form of a massive dragon (his dragon form dwarfs those of the Turtles and the Ninja Tribunal) that possess strength far surpassing those of any others seen, and can fire extremely powerful blasts of dark magic.

Fast Forward


Cody keeps Ch'rell's armor in a hall where other things from the Turtles lives are being kept. In the episode Clash of the Turtle Titans Utrom Shredder appears in the story at the beginning that Mikey is telling.

In the episode Timing is Everything, when trying to find a way to bring the Turtles back to present day, Cody and Sh'Okanabo's devices accidentally opened portals from different points in time all over the city. One of them sent Leonardo and Cody back to the exact point where the Utrom Shredder was first defeated by having the Water Tower fall on him. He'd follow them through the portal but would be defeated and sent back by the Fast Forward TMNT and Sh'Okanabo.

Also in the episode The Journal, it was hinted that Karai was to join the Ninja Tribunal and would finally cast away all ties to the Utrom Shredder. But of course, this Journal was all stuff Splinter and Cody made up, so it is not true.

Back to the Sewer (Cyber Shredder)
In the beginning of the Back to The Sewer season, the turtles are transported to some point after they return where three Shredders, the original demon Shredder, the Utrom Shredder and a third unknown Shredder, who knows the turtles, fighting in a war between the Foot Clans. At the end of the episode, Viral, a villain from the Fast Forward season, became trapped in the internet and eventually found a foot ninja program and after trying to enter it, it takes her over and transforms her into the Cyber Shredder, the third Shredder that the turtles hadn't met yet.

In the episode Something Wicked it is revealed that the Cyber Shredder was created by the utrom, Ch'rell, who used utrom technology and Earth machinery to create an engram of himself (Cyber Shredder) should anything happen to his other form. This engram was stored in the foot vault, so when Viral tried to hack the vault, it activated, taking over her body and turning her into the Cyber Shredder. Cyber-Shredder's first goal was to escape the cyber world and return to the real world to reconquer New York. One of his attempts to get out of cyber-space was to hijack Baxter Stockman's new robot body and use it to fight the turtles. He almost ripped Leonardo apart, but fortunately, Stockman managed to get word to Donatello who was in cyber-space. Donatello entered Cyber-Shredder's lair and severed his connection to Baxter's body, who put up new firewalls upon regaining control. During one of the turtles' search for Master Splinter's bits, Cyber-Shredder zapped them with a virus, suppressing their memories and turning them into his slaves upon returning to the real world. Through the efforts of April, Casey, and Serling, the turtles were freed of his control, but Cyber-Shredder's real goal was realized as during the time Donatello was under his control, he acquired his memories of his cyber portal and planned to use them to make his own.

In Web Wranglers, his portal was finished, but needed to be perfected. He ported virtual animals into the real world to test it. Each one that went through became mutated and reeks havoc on the city. The turtles fight them by using special darts that delete cyber life forms when they come in contact. The Cyber-Shredder managed to get his portal to a point to which each creature he sent was less mutated than the last. Eventually, he perfected it when he sent a non-mutated cyber version of a chipmunk and a cyber-version of his servant Khan (the original shot the cyber-version with a poison dart because he was too real). The turtles discovered the chipmunk and realized what his plan was. While Leonardo and Raphael head to the location the Cyber-Shredder is coming out of, Donatello and Michelangelo go into cyberspace while the Cyber-Shredder is offline, and hack into his portal. When the Cyber-Shredder comes out, he becomes mutated. Leonardo and Raphael then shoot the darts at him, deleting him, and trapping him in cyber-space once again.

He appears again in Virtual Reality Check in which he tricks the Turtles into believing they are in the real world, however they are in still in cyberspace. The Cyber Shredder uses this plot to allow him to spy on Donatello as he repairs the cyber portal (which Cyber-Shredder made him believe melted down). Khan and the Foot duplicate his work and build their own cyber portal. During the time this was happening, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo notice strange things happening, and soon realize Cyber-Shredder's plan. Even though they take down Cyber-Shredder's fake world and stop Donatello from finishing the cyber-portal, Cyber-Shredder is still victorious. As the turtles leave cyber-space, his spy bug takes a sample of their exit portal's energy, allowing Khan and the Foot to finish their portal. The episode ends with the Cyber Shredder entering the real world.

In City Under Siege the Cyber Shredder hacks into New York's central hub, causing the city's systems to go haywire. The turtles discover his code infecting the systems and travel to the hub to undo the damage before it becomes permanent. Cyber-Shredder attempts to uses the city's systems against them to stop them from reaching the hub, but they soon arrive and are surprised to see their foe freed from cyber-space. Even though Donatello and April manage to free the city from his control, Cyber-Shredder takes down all the turtles except Michaelangelo. Using the same method Splinter used against the Utrom Shredder in their first battle, Michalangelo tricks Cyber-Shredder into slashing away the holding rails of the catwalk their on, causing Cyber-Shreder to fall and hit an electrode which seems to fry him. However, while his body was damaged, his digital core was unharmed. As the Turtles departed, Cyber-Shredder's gauntlet is seen piercing an electrical wire. Using this, Cyber-Shredder returned to cyberspace and absorbed the energy from the electrical surge to become more powerful than ever.

He then located one of Master Splinter's remaining data bits and infected it with a virus before the Turtles obtained it. When the Turtles converted Splinter back into matter, the virus converted into a homing beacon which Cyber-Shredder used to track the Turtles to Casey's grandma's farmhouse during Casey and April's wedding. He then led an all-out attack on the Turtles and the wedding guests. During the battle, he brought down the barn in an attempt to kill the Turtles' friends, fortunately, they managed to escape before it completely collapsed. Donatello then extracted the homing beacon from Splinter and used it to get a sample of Cyber-Shredder's digital core, giving him the data he needed to enable the Turtles to destroy Cyber-Shredder with Serling's decompilier blast. The blast appeared to have deleted Cyber-Shredder and it is unknown if the future with three Shredders, seen in the first episode of the season, will still occur.

Had another season of Back to the Sewers occurred, the Shredder Wars (power struggle between Demon, Utrom, & Cyber Shredders) would have been the major plot arc.

Turtles Forever (Return of Ch'rell)
In Turtles Forever, The Technodrome and the Shredder and Krang of the 1987 show were brought to the world of the 2003 show. Realising that he may have a dimensial double, Shredder has the Technodrome scan the universe for their Shredder, finding Ch'rell (Utrom Shredder) frozen in ice on the asteroid. Their matter transporter teleports Ch'rell to the Technodrome and they revive him. Ch'rell summarily attacks him and Krang when he refers to himself as the Shredder, before taking over the Technodrome with the aid of Karai. He re-allies himself with Hun, and then has his Foot Ninja's, the Purple Dragons, and the Robotic Foot Soldiers perform a massive redesign to the Technodrome, adding Utrom technology to the Dimension X technology of the powerful war fortress. He also co-opts the technology from Krang's original android body to create a new Shredder exo-suit for himself. In this suit Ch'rell is in the head of the body.

The evil Utrom Shredder attacks the city with the Technodrome and easily over comes the Earths military. Both Turtle teams attack, but are captured and scaned for similar DNA. Ch'rell Shredder used this information to have the Trans-Dimensional Portal locate 'Turtle Prime' (The Mirage Comics reality). The Technodrome quickly leaves for Turtle Prime to destroy it and all versions of the Turtles. However the Turtles manage to follow soon after and team up with the Turtles their. Ch'rell had turned on the 1987 Shredder and Krang, and Karai had realized that her father was wrong and turned against him.

Called out by the original Mirage Turtles, he is confronted by the 2003 and 1987 Turtles as well, and then faces off with all twelve turtles, the 2003 Splinter, Karai, and the 1987 Krang and Shredder. Despite their combined efforts, Ch'rell nearly wins the conflict, overpowering them all by using the technology co-opted from Krang's android body to increase himself to massive size and proceeds to nearly slay the Mirage Turtles. It is only through the well-intentioned but badly timed actions of Bebop and Rocksteady that he is defeated at all. However, no evidence of his body, Utrom or machine, remains behind, so it isn't possible to tell if he has been destroyed for good or not, and Splinter sagely remarks that their world's Shredder is rarely defeated for good, and Karai also agrees that he is likely to return.

The exact placement of Turtles Forever in the 2003 continuity is not 100% confirmed, since Karai appeared as a guest at April & Casey's wedding during 'Wedding Bells & Bytes'. 2003 Donatello says in response to 1987 Donatello building a transdimensional portal stick, "We've seen time travelling windows, cyber-mat transporters, but dimensional portal in a stick? It sounds, uh, silly!" referencing both Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers events. While no official word has been given, the best guess would be that the film takes place sometime after 'Wedding Bells & Bytes'. Khan, the Cyber Shredder's right hand man, does not appear nor is he mentioned in the film. Serling is also absent from the film. Hun's mutation, except if it was canceled by the 2003 universes' healing, can be considered too as a proof. The fact that Splinter was present can also be considered proof that Turtles Forever was indeed the series finale since he was gone for the vast majority of the Back to the Sewers season and only came back during the final episode to go to Casey and April's wedding.

Manga and Anime
In the Japanese anime adaption, the back story from the original cartoon was preserved. Unlike the rest of the main cast, Shredder's appearance was changed to match the Supermutants Shredder toy that was being sold at that time. The manga explained this by saying his original outfit was destroyed in a battle with the Turtles and Krang created the new armor for him. Shredder also gains the ability to transform into the dragon Devil Shredder using the Mutanite crystals he stole from the Neutrinos. With the energy from the evil sprite Dark Mu, he was later able to transform into the gigantic Dark Devil Shredder.

In the second volume of the anime he gets his Tiger Spirit Metal Mutant armor.

He was played by Kiyoyuki Yanada.

Action Figures
1988

Shredder: The original action figure, it was released alongside the four Turtles, April, Splinter, Rocksteady, Bebop, and a Foot Soldier. Unlike his Mirage and cartoon counterparts, he had blue armor and was barechested. Accessories included a katana, two shuriken, two fist daggers, a kama, and a removable purple cloth cape.

1990

Slice 'N Dice Shredder: The first Shredder figure to have silver armor, as well as the first one with a shirt. Part of the Wacky Action series, this figure had a wind-up feature that made his armor spin. Accessories included a sword, a sickle, and detachable spinning armor.

1991

Super Shredder/Movie Star Super Shredder: Based on the transformation seen at the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. However, this figure's scale is quite diminutive compared to his silver screen counterpart. Super Shredder's body sculpt is a reworking of the previous year's Slice 'N Dice Shredder. Two exceedingly rare variants were produced: a black-clothed version that was available only through a Chef Boyardee's promotion, and a foreign-produced version that has purple armor. Accessories included a spiked staff, a Foot communicator, two Retromutagen Ooze canisters, and a removable belt.

1992

Toon Shredder: A simply repainted version of the 1988 release, this version now has silver armor and a gray shirt (although this is just his bare chest, repainted). Accessories included a katana, two shuriken, two fist daggers, a kama, a lenticular-screened TV set (which strangely depicted the blue armored Shredder), and a removable purple cloth cape.

1993

Mutatin' Shredder: Made for the Mutations line, this Shredder could transform from Oroku Saki to the Shredder, by manipulating his kimono and revealing hidden armor. This Shredder resembled the first film incarnation, especially in face and helmet (this Shredder had the scar given to him by Splinter in that film), but had a long blue cape (made from Saki's kimono), and purple chest armor. This version of Shredder is seen frequently in Japanese merchandise. Accessories included a staff with a Foot logo on top that hid a sword, and two Ooze canisters.

Road Ready Shredder: As part of a sub-line of the Mutations figures, there were some figures that would 'mutate' into vehicles. Road Ready Shredder transformed into a Mutant Module. Shredder's standard appearance was modeled primarily from his original figure, with a bare chest and blue-and-purple helmet. However, he had no armor on his body, and his cape (which was part of the transformation aspect), was purple on the inside, and black on the outside. Accessories included a jack, a Retromutagen Ooze canister, a drill shield, and several guns.

1994

Cyber Samurai Shredder: Visually a cross between the Secret of the Ooze Shredder and his Super Shredder transformation, like the other Cyber Samurai figures, he had removable chest armor and fist launching action. Accessories also included a spear and a missile.

Shogun Shredder: A black-clothed Shredder with silver, vacuum-metalized armor. He somewhat resembles Super Shredder, and as evident by the figure's trading card art and photo on the portrait, it originally was a Super Shredder with vacuum-metalized armor, a different head sculpt, and some different leg armor. Accessories included a spiked staff, hook knife, sword, and a staff that could be used to turn the sword into a polearm.

Supermutant Shredder: Loosely based on the Super Mutation of Shredder in the first Japanese OVA. Accessories included a spring-loaded claw, and a javelin.

Dimension X Wars Playset

Modular Battleset with Mini-Mutant Shredder Figure!

The Turtle Tenderizin' Combo Mini-Mutant Module with Turtle Cycle and Mini-Mutant Shredder Figure!

1995

Metal Mutant Shredder with Tiger Spirit Armor: Based on the spirit armored version of Shredder in the second Japanese OVA, this figure has removable vacuum-metalized tiger armor that can be used to create a white tiger toy. Other than the armor, accessories include a sword that doubles as the tiger's tail.

1996

Stretch Shredder: A version of Super Shredder with stretchy limbs, a la Stretch Armstrong. His accessory is a spiked staff.

1997

Shredder: Based on the Next Mutation Shredder, it has slightly different armor and more black in his costume than his television counterpart. Accessories included a sword, a lance, an axe, and a scythe (labeled as a kusarigama blade).

Tyranno Shredder: Shredder mutated into an anthropomorphic tyrannosaurus. Accessories include a mace, an axe, and a dinosaur-headed spear.

2003

Shredder: Modeled after the version from the 2003 cartoon, but with a slightly bluish tint to his armor. Accessories include two Swords of Tengu (which can combine at the handle), a guan dao, and two shuriken.

Armorized Shredder: A slightly modified version of the previously released Shredder 2003 Shredder figure, the armor on this figure is silver. The shoulder and hand armor is vacuum-metalized and detachable. The helmet is also detachable, revealing Oroku Saki's visage below.

Mutatin' Shredder: Retooled from the 1993 Mutatin' Shredder to appear closer to the 2003 version. This version had a black kimono and a helmet more closely designed to the 2003 Shredder. Saki's scar from the 2003 is also missing (the head is a completely different sculpt). Accessories include a guan dao and a canister of Ooze (green slime version - not the small faux canister that was included with previous toys).

2004

Air Ninja Shredder: Visually similar to the first 2003 Shredder, it also comes with flight gear including wings and a jet pack, and a cross strap design on the figure's front. Other accessories include two Swords of Tengu.

2005

''Combat Warriors Shredder:' Also visually similar to the first 2003 Shredder, the main difference is the lack of shoulder armor. Combat Warriors Shredder has weapon spinning action. Accessories include a guan dao, a tri-point staff, and two Swords of Tengu.''

Feudal Shredder: Based on Shredder's armor from the Secret Origins episodes that took place in feudal Japan, only his armor is a little darker. This figure has an action feature that makes him 'crumple' in defeat when a button is pressed on his chest; a dial on the back sets him back to normal. Accessories include a guan dao, and removable shoulder and hand armor, and a removable helmet.

Ninja Action Shredder: Yet another figure designed after the 2003 figure, this one has two guan dao permanently strapped to his back. Ninja Action Shredder has a cartwheeling action feature. His only accessory is a vault door to cartwheel through.

2007

Shredder: Released as part of the 2007 film toy line, it is not based on the brief appearance of Shredder in that film, nor is it on the video game's version of him (which is ostensibly the same as the 2003 version). Instead, this version of Shredder is completely new, having redesigned black, silver, and blue armor, and a black sash. Accessories included a guan dao, a removable helmet, two different swords, and a shield.

''Mini-Mutants Shredder:' Included as a pack-in for the Leo's Ninja Dojo playset, this is basically a shrunken down version of the standard 2007 Shredder. Its helmet was removable.''

2009

Mini-Mutants Aerial Assault Shredder: Part of a two-pack with Aerial Assault Leo, this version of Shredder is similar to the standard Mini-Mutants Shredder, but with slightly different shoulder armor, and helmet. The figure's chest features a cross-strap, and the only accessory is a detachable parachute.

Mini-Mutants Exoskeleton Shredder: The 2007 Mini-Mutants Shredder with a giant mecha that is fashioned after Shredder's visage. Its accessory is a guan dao.

Video Games
Shredder appears in most Ninja Turtles video games usually as the final boss.

Shredder appears in the following games.


 * 1989 video game (1989)
 * Shredder is the final boss. He is found at the end of the Technodrome level. He causes the Turtles to lose roughly half their energy if he touches them, and has a gun that can de-mutate them instantly killing them. He wears a red costume in the NES version like in the Mirage comics.


 * Original arcade game (1989)
 * Once again, Shredder is the final boss and is found at the end of the Technodrome level. He is armed with a sword, and has the ability to clone himself (the exact number of clones is one more than the number of Turtles attacking him in the arcade version). Shredder and his clones also have the ability to shoot lightning bolts from a device on the helmet, which de-mutate the Turtles they hit, killing them. When Shredder or one of his clones is close to death, his helmet falls off, a unique occurrence in the game series.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (1990)
 * This game was the first one not to feature Shredder as the final boss. Instead, Shredder is the boss of the penultimate stage, which is set in a river. It is also the first game in which Shredder doesn't have the ability to de-mutate the Turtles. His only attack is a sword swipe, but he can teleport if hit. The final boss is Krang.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions (1991)
 * In this PC game, Shredder fights the turtles in his Manhattan hideout, decorated in a Japanese style. His appearance is based on the Mirage comic version.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (1991)
 * This game is the first to feature both a battle against Shredder and a second one against a mutated Super Shredder. The first battle takes place at the end of the Technodrome level, which is the sixth of the eight levels of the game. In this battle, Shredder uses a sword to attack the Turtles. Shredder later returns as the final boss of the game, on the stage set in Krang's spacecraft. This time, he mutates himself into Super Shredder, much as he did in the second TMNT movie which had been released earlier the same year (1991). Super Shredder has two superpowers, the ability to call down lightning, and the ability to shoot fireballs. These fireballs can de-mutate the Turtles, but unlike other games, this isn't an instant kill.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (1991)
 * A sequel to Fall of the Foot Clan, this game also features Shredder as a regular level boss and Krang as the final boss. He does not have the ability to de-mutate the Turtles, but he does have a wider variety of attacks than in the previous Game Boy game. Shredder returns later in his mutated Super Shredder form, as a sub-level boss of the final Technodrome level. However, in this incarnation, his only super-power is the ability to teleport elsewhere on the screen. He attacks the Turtles using a sword.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (1991)
 * Shredder is again the final boss of the game, and found in the Technodrome. However, this time, he is not preceded by a Technodrome level. Instead, the Turtles fight through a Starbase level in the future (2100 AD) with Krang as boss, then teleport to the Technodrome in the present (1991 in the arcade game and 1992 in the SNES version) for the final confrontation. Shredder attacks with a sword, and can fire energy attacks. In the SNES port of the game, Shredder begins the battle by mutating himself into Super Shredder, and has the added superpowers of super-speed movement, fire ground attacks, ice air attacks, and a de-mutating fire ball which instantly kills a Turtle. The SNES port also added a Technodrome level earlier in the game, which leads to a battle with a regular Shredder. In this battle, Shredder is in a kind of battletank, armed with a machine gun and claws. Where you must throw Foot Soldiers at him to defeat him.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (1992)
 * This game uses a Super Shredder similar to the one in Turtles in Time. His attacks are roughly the same.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (1993)
 * Unlike its two predecessors, Fall of the Foot Clan and Back from the Sewers, this game does feature Shredder as the final boss. However, this time Shredder has become Cyber Shredder, half-man and half-machine. This form of Shredder possessed deadly kick moves and energy ball attacks, as well as being the only boss in the game with two life meters, as the meter instantly refills after it's drained the first time.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (1993)
 * This is the first game in which Shredder is not a boss but instead a regular playable character. Furthermore, his costume is based on the Mirage comics version. Finally, in the SNES incarnation of this game, he appears under the name CyberShredder, but there is no indication that he has become a cybernetic being as in Radical Rescue.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)
 * Shredder appears as the final boss. The Turtles face him on the helicarrier at the top of the Foot Helicarriers; he wields the Sword of Tengu in this fight. Shredder's combo attacks are quick and nearly continuous. When half of his health bar has been depleted, his attacks become much faster. There is also a secret final boss in which the player faces the Shredder as Oroku Saki. His combos are much quicker and deadlier, and he also has a temporary powered-up state.

The Fuedel Shredder appears in the game near the end however, The Utrom Shredder appears as the last boss and wields his Tengu Sword.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (2004)


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee (2005)
 * Shredder appeared as a playable character and opponent in three forms—his standard armor, without the armor (as Oroku Saki), and a golden "Mega" Shredder.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare (2005)


 * TMNT (2007)
 * In the console versions of the 2007 movie-based game, the Shredder appears as a boss in a flashback-within-a-flashback (as the events of the game are told to Splinter after their occurrence). The armor of Shredder in this game is based on the 2003 cartoon series version.


 * TMNT: Smash Up (2009)
 * Shredder is a playable character in the PS2 and Wii fighting game. He appears in both his Utrom Shredder and Cyber Shredder forms.


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami handheld)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Shredder's Last Stand (Title only)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GBA)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle for the City
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Way of the Warrior
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Shredder Reborn
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Double Damage (Utrom and Tengu Shredders)

IDW
Oroku Saki was a high-ranking member of the Foot Clan in feudal Japan. He orders that in addition to assassinating the lord they were hired to kill, they should wipe out anybody else they come across. Hamato Yoshi, another Foot Clan member, refuses, and Saki marks him for death. The Foot kills Yoshi's wife, Tang Shen, but Yoshi flees with his and Shen's four sons. Some years later, Saki and the Foot find Yoshi and his children, and slay them all.

Trivia

 * The Shredder was originally called "Grate Man"
 * Shredder and the Foot take the crown as being the only villains that are a constant in every last canon from the original comics, lasting all the way through to the 2007 CGI film (if only as a back story component).
 * The Shredder is left-handed.
 * The Shredder was ranked as IGN's 39th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
 * Ironically the Shredder's real name Saki is a (usually) female Japanese name that means blossom and hope. In the TV Tokyo dub, as well as the anime, his name was changed to “Sawaki”.
 * The Turtles' Lair in The Next Mutation live action series looks like the subway from the second and third movies. The series could possibly be a spin-off or a sequel to the movies, in which can be represented the Shredder survived from the second movie.