Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

The Shredder
Shredder in the first TMNT comic.
Publication information
Publisher	Mirage Studios[1]
First appearance	Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May, 1984)
Created by	Kevin Eastman Peter Laird
In-story information
Alter ego	Oroku Saki
Team affiliations	Foot Clan
Abilities	Highly-skilled master of Ninjutsu Peak physical condition Master of hand-to-hand combat Master of stealth Genius-level intellect Master strategist

The Shredder (also known as Shredder or Oroku Saki) is a fictional character and primary antagonist from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.^[2] At one point or another in every incarnation of the TMNT stories, he has been the archenemy of Splinter and the Turtles. He is also known as the leader of the Foot Clan.

Appearance

The Shredder's physical appearance remains fairly consistent in all incarnations of the character. Saki is a muscular Japanese man, most frequently seen in the Shredder persona, wearing a suit of armor vaguely based on that of a samurai, with a cape. The armor consists of blade-covered metal plaques on his shoulders, forearms, hands (sometimes just his left hand, because he is left-handed), and shins; he wears a purple, gray, blue, or red robe that variously appears to be simple fabric or a form of chain mail. Sometimes he wears a metal silver (Utrom Shredder), black (Cyber Shredder/Demon Shredder), red (Tengu) or blue (/2003/2007 action figure/Tengu) suit of armor. He also wears a metal helmet with a trident-shaped ornament on top, and a metal mask that covers his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He sometimes wears a purple, red or silver cape.

Kevin Eastman got the idea for Shredder's armor from large trapezoidal cheese graters which he envisioned on a villainous character's (originally named "The Grater" or "Grate Man") arms. He then said, "Could you imagine a character with weapons on his arms like this?"^[3]

Mirage-Image

Oroku Saki

In the original comic books by Mirage Comics, Oroku Saki is the younger brother of Oroku Nagi. Nagi competed with Hamato Yoshi (the owner of Splinter, the Turtles' mentor) for the love of a woman named Tang Shen. Shen loved only Yoshi, and a feud erupted between Yoshi and Nagi, which led to Yoshi killing Nagi and fleeing from Japan to New York City with Shen.

The younger Saki joined the Foot Clan and trained to be a ninja. Over time, he rose in the ranks of the foot Clan and was eventually put in charge of the Clan’s American branch. This allowed him to finally move to New York to avenge his brother’s death by killing Yoshi and Shen; however, Yoshi’s pet rat Splinter escaped and later mutated into an anthropomorphic form, and spent years training the four Ninja Turtles to avenge Yoshi.

When Splinter felt the Turtles were ready, he ordered them to reveal themselves to Oroku Saki, and challenge him to a fight. This first fight took place at night on a rooftop in New York City. They defeated him and allowed him to commit seppuku, but Shredder refused and detonated a white phosphorus grenade, in an attempt to take them with him to his death. However, in the last second Donatello used his bo staff to knock the Shredder off the building to his death.

However, he was later recreated through a unique Foot Clan cloning technique utilizing worms, and was finally finished off by Leonardo by decapitation. Then the Turtles burn the corpse to make sure the Shredder never returns. With the Shredder gone, chaos erupted in New York City among the leaderless Foot Clan. The leader of the Foot in Japan Karai came to New York and established a shaky truce with the Turtles to re-establish peace.

In issues 3 and 4 of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it is shown that a few weeks after Leonardo defeated the Shredder, he was resurrected once again by a Foot mystic; however, the mystic did not resurrect the Shredder himself but the clone worms. The worms then went out to find a new body and chose that of a shark. The monster then attacked the Turtles, who defeated it and (seemingly) ended the Shredder legacy once and for all. The monster returned in issue #33, however, and had the Foot kidnap Casey's adopted daughter Shadow to lure the Turtles into a trap. With the Turtles away, it was up to Casey and Splinter to defeat it and rescue Shadow.

The original Mirage version of the Shredder also makes an appearance in Turtles Forever, voiced by David Wills. However, he is easily defeated by the Turtles, in a reference to the fact that the Shredder plays a relatively minor role in the Mirage Comics universe compared to his other counterparts.

Other Shredders

Throughout a considerable part of the Image comic series, Raphael tries to impersonate the Shredder by wearing his armor. He tries to make a peace pact with the Foot Clan, but ultimately fails. In later issues of the series, a mysterious Lady Shredder appears to challenge Raphael. Although the book was canceled before her identity could be revealed, writer Gary Carlson confirmed after the fact that she was meant to be Karai.^{[citation needed]}

In Volume Four issues of the current series, Leonardo encounters Oroku Yoshi, a Battle Nexus contestant wearing armor almost identical to that of the second animated series' Shredder. His connection to Oroku Saki and/or the Foot is, as of yet, unknown.

1987 animated series

Shredder in the 1987 animated series

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 The 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 ninjitsu.

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 bickering about tactics and often take pleasure in the other's failings (and sometimes intentionally sabotage each other). His two henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady are especially incompetent and fail miserably at everything they do. They were mostly used for comic relief in the show; However, the Turtles certainly consider them to be formidable (despite their inane 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",^[4] 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",^[5] 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"^[6] 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",^[7] 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").^[8] 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"),^[9] 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").^[10] In the series finale "Divide and Conquer",^[11] 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 still under New York City before being sent into the 2003 universe. However, Shredder and Krang's incompetence is fully shown when the Utrom Shredder of the 2003 universe seizes command of the Technodrome and adds Utrom technology to the powerful war machine, and turns it against the world.

Archie comics

The Archie Comics' series use the same background as the 1987 cartoon, as the first issues are identical. Later in the Archie comics, The Shredder travels to the future and works with Armaggon and Verminator X to offset the skill and experience of the future versions of the Turtles. This version of the character was more in line with the early episodes' depiction of the character as a cunning adversary and in many issues nearly proves to be a lethal enemy, coming close to defeating the turtles on a number of occasions, and even aids Armaggon and Verminator X in the defeat and capture of two of the turtles in the future. His final fate within the Archie comics series remains unknown, though a three part mini-series put out by Archie comics after the end of their regular comic series seems to indicate he remains a consistent foe to the turtles for many years, briefly restoring Splinter to the form of Hamato Yoshi and also undoing Michelangelo's mutation, though both later revert to mutant status by the end of the story.

Movies

Shredder was played by James Saito in the first movie and by François Chau in the second, while his immense Super Shredder form was played by Kevin Nash, a very large professional wrestler.^[12] In all cases, the character was voice-acted by David McCharen. Shredder's costume is essentially the same as his original comics ones. His attire in the 1st film is purplish-red, while in the 2nd film, is bluish-violet color. In the Japanese versions, the Shredder is voiced by Norio Wakamoto (1st movie in VHS version), Hidekatsu Shibata (1st movie in TV version), and Takeshi Watabe (2nd movie).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Shredder in the first movie

In the first movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi (Oroku Nagi is not mentioned) lived in Japan and both loved a woman named Tang Shen, but Tang Shen only loved Yoshi. Rather than fight Saki honorably, Yoshi followed Shen's plan to leave for the United States. Saki followed them to New York City, where he first murdered Tang Shen alone in her home, then ambushed Yoshi when he returned, tired from construction work. Yoshi’s pet rat Splinter escaped during the fight, clawing Saki's face before doing so. In return, Saki took a swipe at Splinter's ear with his katana, slicing a small part of it off. After this incident, it's said that Saki is never heard from again.

Saki essentially becomes a Fagin-esque crime figure. A brutal and Machiavellian leader of a ring of child thieves, he manipulates and recruits troubled teens and teaches them ninjutsu to turn them into a group of skilled thieves and assassins called the Foot Clan. As their leader, Saki took on the persona of Shredder, and became a fearless "benevolent" cult leader, with the aid of his second-in-command, Tatsu. He rewards the teens with a hideout that includes a skateboard park, cigarettes, candy, and arcade games. However, he has no real regard for children that do his bidding. The Shredder orders the Foot to "silence" April O'Neil, who was getting too much information of the Foot public. Due to the Turtles' interference with this, Shredder kidnapped Splinter and imprisoned him in his warehouse hideout. Shredder tortures him regularly to get information about the Turtles and their techniques.

Eventually, a furious Shredder decided to stop the Turtles himself, which led to a rooftop battle. During the battle, Shredder defeated all of the Turtles with his superior abilities and readies to kill them. Master Splinter, freed by Danny Pennington and Casey Jones, intervenes, and reveals that he knew who exactly Shredder was, and that his master was Hamato Yoshi. Shredder takes off his mask to reveal the scarring, which confirms his real name was Oroku Saki. Shredder charges towards Splinter, but Splinter vaults him over the edge of the building with Michelangelo's nunchaku causing him to fall and landing in a parked garbage truck far below. Casey Jones then activates the crushing mechanism; the viewers are then shown a closeup of the Shredder's helmet being crushed.

TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze

In the second movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, the Turtles believe that since Casey had crushed him in the garbage truck, the Shredder was dead. It is soon revealed that the Shredder had survived the crushing and revitalized his Foot Clan to get vengeance on the Turtles. After finding the Foot "fallback" headquarters (a junkyard), he orders Tatsu to obtain a sample of the TGRI mutagen that mutated the Turtles, as well as kidnap researcher Jordan Perry. He also arranges to have Foot spies working for April O'Neil to keep watch on her and ensure she stays in line with his plans. Using the mutagen and Perry's research, the Shredder creates his own mutants, Tokka and Rahzar, from a snapping turtle and a brown wolf respectively. Though initially enraged at their infant-like intelligence, he soon plays it to his advantage by manipulating the mutants into seeing him as a parent-type figure. After a failed attempt to kill the Turtles in the junkyard, the Shredder unleashed Tokka and Rahzar onto the city to "have fun" and destroy it. The Foot spies then gave April a message for the Turtles: that the Shredder would turn the mutants loose on Central Park if they did not accede to a rematch on the waterfront. After the Turtles de-mutated the two mutants and defeated the Foot and Tatsu in a nightclub, the Shredder appears and threatens to mutate innocent civilians with a mutagen vial, but is ambushed when the Turtles play a keytar at full volume, sending the villain flying from the force of a blown speaker. When the Turtles follow him outside, they discover that the Shredder has exposed himself to the mutagen vial. The lean-built villain is transformed into a massive "Super Shredder, played by Pro Wrestler Kevin Nash" an almost mindless giant-mutant being with immense superhuman strength. During his fight with the Turtles, the Super Shredder knocked down the pilings of a pier in an almost mindless rage, which then collapses onto him with the Turtles falling into the water below. Though the Turtles survive, the Shredder meets his apparent demise. The Shredder suffocates, when he is unable to break free from the wreckage, his corpse being claimed by the tide.

Later films

The Shredder does not return in later films. He does return in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, which is based in part on the feature films, and is returned to normal size, though exactly how this is achieved was never explained. This Shredder wore the same general attire as he did in the second film, but with a heavily altered helmet/mask due to the lesser budget for the TV series as compared to the movies, which had allowed for more detailed props and costume pieces. Shredder appeared only a few times in the show, due to the primary villain of the series being a draconic being from another dimension and thus supplanted Shredder as the Turtles' nemesis.

The Shredder did not appear in the third film but is shown briefly at the beginning of the fourth film to help give the backstory of the Turtles, and his helmet is visible at the end of the movie. The possibility of his return is also strongly hinted at in the end of the film, especially by Karai, however the established story line has been abandoned in favor of a reboot.

Manga and anime

In the Japanese anime adaptation Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen, the backstory 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 voiced by Kiyoyuki Yanada.

The Next Mutation

In The Next Mutation, Shredder is still the Turtles' sworn enemy. This time however, Venus uses her powers to make the Oroku Saki from within take control of Shredder's mind. After the Foot Clan disbands, he ends up living on the streets. Later, the Dragon Lord's rank warriors attack him to get a medallion that was in his possession. Splinter saves him and takes him to the Turtles' lair to protect him. It was hinted that Shredder might possibly go back to his old ways, but the show was canceled soon after that episode.

2003 animated series

In the 2003 animated series, the title of "The Shredder" is used for four separate, yet connected, villains (all but the third being voiced by Scottie Ray):

• Tengu Shredder , the original Shredder and a demon from ancient Japan. He possessed a human named Oroku Saki, and was eventually defeated and sealed away in a casket. He escapes in the modern day and is defeated by the Turtles and their allies.
• Utrom Shredder was the Shredder most identified with the series. He is Ch'rell, member of a long-lived alien race called the Utroms. Ch'rell crash-lands on Earth in ancient Japan, adopts the name of Oroku Saki, and founds the Foot Clan. He is the central villain for the first three seasons and is depicted as more ruthless, cruel, and brutal than in other media.
• Karai, the adopted daughter of Oroku Saki who takes the mantle after her father's defeat.
• Cyber Shredder, originally confined to cyberspace until he becomes a physical being. He was essentially a backup of the mind of the Utrom Shredder, but with a radically redesigned version of the Shredder's humanoid exoskeleton suit and armor.

In the episode "Tempus Fugit," the future is shown in which the three male Shredders engage in a war for control of the city (though this may have been an alternate future only).

Tengu Shredder

In Japan circa 300 AD, a powerful demon threatens the people. In an attempt to stop him, the Emperor of Japan recruits powerful warriors: the Five Dragons, who clad themselves in armor enchanted by dragon spirits. The demon appeared to be defeated by one of the dragons, Oroku Saki. However, before the final blow was delivered, the demon contacted Saki on a mental plane and offered him great power. Saki agreed, allowing the demon's soul to inhabit his body. Reborn as the Tengu Shredder, Saki seized control of the land. The four remaining Dragons (the Ninja Tribunal) trained and acquired more power to defeat their former friend, which they were eventually able to do. They sealed away his body in a casket and hid it away, as well as his separated helmet and gauntlet. The Ninja Tribunal began a seemingly eternal watch to make sure the three artifacts would never be reunited, as doing so would revive the Tengu Shredder. The Tengu Shredder was not forgotten by followers, the Heralds, who had long since sought to restore their master, but were impeded by being under the control of the Utrom Shredder (see below) and then Karai. However, they successfully managed to manipulate the Turtles and Agent Bishop into setting them free, allowing them to proceed with resurrecting their master. The Ninja Tribunal recruited the Turtles and four human fighters as their Acolytes to retrieve the artifacts first. Unfortunately, the Heralds were ultimately successful and the Tengu Shredder returned.

After battling the Turtles and severely injuring Karai, the Tengu Shredder remakes New York City into a demon wasteland. The Turtles recruit Karai, the Justice Force, Bishop and the Purple Dragons to fight back. Karai is able to drain the demon's power via a mystic link, while the Turtles (using their dragon avatars) battle him. They destroy his helmet and gauntlet before summoning the spirit of Hamato Yoshi to deliver the final blow.

Utrom Shredder

Ch'rell, the Shredder Utrom.

Oroku Saki.

The Utrom Shredder is the main Shredder of the series; he has the most history with the Turtles and Splinter and the closest parallel to the Mirage Shredder. He is called the Utrom Shredder as he is not truly human, but an Utrom named Ch'rell who uses an Utrom exo-suit (a humanoid vessel).

Ch'rell is a dangerous enemy of the Utroms; as it would happen, he was being transported as their prisoner but escaped and sabotaged their spacecraft. The Utrom crash-landed on Earth during the Sengoku period of feudal Japanese history, forced into hiding using their exo-suits. Ch'rell confiscated one such suit and used the legend of the demon Shredder to craft a dual identity, becoming Oroku Saki and the new Shredder. He also founded the Foot Clan, which grew into a massive underground criminal empire by the 20th century. In the late 20th century, he discovers an abandoned girl named Karai, whom he adopted and trained. Outside of the Utroms, she is the only one initially to know the truth about him. Despite not being the demonic version of the Shredder, Ch'rell is shown to have contacts with the mystical world, visible by the fact that some of his minions are supernatural beings. Throughout it all, Shredder hunts for the Utroms to exact his revenge and prevent them from re-capturing him.

While in New York City to establish a branch of the clan there, Shredder locates Hamato Yoshi, one of the Utroms' foremost guardians, and kills him after failing to force their location from him. During the struggle, Yoshi's pet rat, Splinter, escapes and winds up in the city's sewers where he and four baby turtles are accidentally exposed to mutagenic ooze created by the Utroms and consequently mutate into sentient humanoid forms.

Fifteen years later, the Turtles begin encountering the Foot Clan and unknowingly foil several of Shredder's plans. Shredder reveals himself to the Turtles and (after failing to make them ally with him) becomes their bitter enemy. He loses his first major battle against them and Splinter, but he later deals them a crushing defeat, in which Leonardo is severely beaten, April's antique shop is burned to the ground and everyone is presumed dead. After recovering out of town, Leonardo leads his brothers and Splinter in an attack on Foot headquarters, culminating in Shredder's beheading. Not knowing his Utrom nature, the Turtles think him dead.

However, Ch'rell survived, but was gravely injured. As his body was healed, Karai assumed leadership of the Foot Clan, ending an ensuing war for control of New York City and supposedly making peace with the Turtles. But when Ch'rell returned, he vowed to destroy the Turtles by any means necessary. After the Turtles help repel a Triceraton invasion, New York City is heavily damaged. Oroku Saki steps forward to help rebuild, spending millions as a cover to retrieve Triceraton technology that was left behind. He has a spacecraft constructed, so that he may leave before the Utroms return for him. It is completed, but his plan suffers complications courtesy of the Turtles, their allies and Agent Bishop. The ship is launched, but the Turtles and Splinter sneak aboard. In a more powerful exo-suit, he easily defeats them. The Turtles and Splinter self-destruct the ship to stop the Shredder, but the timely arrival of the Utroms saves all their lives. On the Utrom homeworld, Ch'rell is placed on trial, found guilty and sentenced to eternal exile on an icy asteroid.

• In the Fast Forward season episode, "Timing is Everything," Leonardo and Cody Jones are accidentally sent back to just after the Utrom Shredder's first defeat. Before returning to 2105, Leonardo briefly battles him and Shredder notices "something different" about his foe. Later, Shredder and several Foot ninjas are transported to 2105. They are, however, easily outmatched by their more advanced foes.
• In "Same As It Never Was," an alternate future showed Ch'rell ruling Earth with an iron fist and poised to takeover other planets. He is later killed by Donatello. In "Tempus Fugit," the future is shown in which the Tengu, Utrom, and Cyber Shredders engage in a war for control of the city. The Turtles use part of this Shredder's exo-suit to help repair android Serling and return to their own time. This future would have happened in the next season of "Back to the Sewers", but because it got cancelled this was never shown.
• In Turtles Forever, Ch'rell is brought back from his exile by his counterpart from the 1987 series. Ch'rell then takes over the Technodrome and examines various alternate realities. Finding reality after reality of heroic Turtles, Ch'rell vows to eliminate them all by destroying the prime dimension. The Mirage Turtles, the 1987 Turtles, and the 2003 Turtles team-up to stop Ch'rell, who is ultimately defeated and seemingly destroyed forever.

However, it is stated by Karai and Master Splinter that the Shredder is never gone for long - and they are right.The creators of the show wanted to bring Ch'rell back in the next season of "Back to the Sewers", which would be called "The Shredder Wars" (this is the future shown in "Tempus Fugit"). Because of the cancellation of the show, this was never shown.

Karai

Main article: Karai

After Ch'rell is exiled, Karai vows revenge against the Turtles. She eventually assumes the mantle of the Shredder.

Cyber Shredder

As the Turtles and Splinter attempt to return from the future, an evil virus named Viral takes over android Serling to exact revenge. While in the future, they encounter the Cyber Shredder, who is at war with his counterparts. The heroes soon return to the present (though Splinter is dispersed), but a weakened Viral unknowingly escaped into cyberspace and plotted to continue her revenge Trapped in cyberspace, she finds a Foot data vault. She tries to hack it, but is absorbed instead, giving rise to the Cyber Shredder.

It is revealed that the Cyber Shredder is an engram of Ch'rell, who created and stored it in a vault should anything happen to his physical form. The Cyber Shredder sought to escape cyberspace and enter the real world by any means necessary. He ultimately succeeded and sought to takeover New York, but was stopped by the Turtles and Casey. Seemingly destroyed, the Cyber Shredder returned and attacked the wedding of Casey and April. Along with their many allies, the Turtles and a restored Splinter fought back and defeated the Cyber Shredder permanently. His outfit is very different and he is more powerful in cyberspace then he is in the real world. Cyber Shredder's right-hand man is not Hun, but a man named Khan who helps lead an army of Foot Ninja. Even though Cyber Shredder is a clone of the Utrom Shredder, he was cloned before Ch'rell was exiled and consequently does not know that he is imprisoned in the ice asteroid.

Video games

As the original TMNT video games are mostly based on the 1987 cartoon, Shredder is often based on his first cartoon incarnation. He always executes some plan to provoke the Turtles into retaliating and defeat them; these include kidnapping April O’Neil and stealing the Statue of Liberty. Shredder is usually the last boss in the games.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) (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 like in the Mirage comics.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) (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.

• 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.

Shredder in the SNES version of Tournament Fighters

• 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.

After a 10-year hiatus, a new series of TMNT games was initiated. These new games are based on the 2003 cartoon series, and likewise, Shredder in the games is the same as in the cartoon.

• 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.

• 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.^[13]

Reception

In 2009, the Shredder was ranked as IGN's 39th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.^[14]

References

1. ^ Greenberg, Harvey R. (1990-04-15). "Just How Powerful Are Those Turtles?". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/movies/just-how-powerful-are-those-turtles.html?scp=8&sq=ninja%20turtles&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-07. 
2. ^ Greenberg, Harvey R. (1990-04-15). "Just How Powerful Are Those Turtles?". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/movies/just-how-powerful-are-those-turtles.html?scp=8&sq=ninja%20turtles&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-07. 
3. ^ The Making of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Behind the Shells. 1991.
4. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 70!
5. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 108!
6. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 159!
7. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 178!
8. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 189!
9. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 190!
10. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 191!
11. ^ TMNT Cartoon Episode 194!
12. ^ Kevin Nash (I)
13. ^ IGN: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up Screenshots (Wii) 2966717
14. ^ Shredder is number 39, IGN.

External links

• Shredder at the Internet Movie Database
• The Shredder profile on the Official TMNT website