The Shredder has fought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in every possible medium, and many of those TMNT tales ended with his death.
Out of all The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ adversaries, the Shredder is easily the biggest and most formidable. Every incarnation of the Turtles features Oroku Saki as the overarching antagonist, but the Shredder has taken on many, many different roles across the various incarnations of the Turtles.
Of course, the Ninja Turtles usually win their battles with the Shredder, and in some cases, the villain hasn’t walked away from the fight. Now, we’re taking a closer look at the Shredder and the ways he took his final steps across the Ninja Turtles comics. movies and shows.
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Mirage Studios
In Kein Eastman and Peter Laird’s original series, the original Shredder killed Hamato Yoshi out of revenge for killing his brother, Oroku Nagi. Rising up through the ranks in New York’s Foot Clan, Saki eventually became their leader. Although Shredder killed Yoshi, his pet rat, Splinter, escaped.
Years later, Splinter sent the turtles to kill Saki. After an intense confrontation, The Shredder died when Leonardo stabbed him and Donatello batted one of Saki’s grenades back at him. Later on, The Shredder mysteriously returned and ran the Turtles out of town. When the TMNT returned to take him down, it was revealed that this Shredder was a clone, created by Foot Mystics. In their final battle, Leonardo decapitated this Shredder.
Archie Comics
The Archie Comics’ Shredder was heavily based on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. This Shredder was a member of the Foot Clan alongside Hamato Yoshi, getting him banished out of jealousy. The Shredder followed Yoshi to New York, teaming with the alien warlord Krang, who supplied him with robotic foot soldiers and his mobile headquarters, the Technodrome.
Saki also turned Yoshi into Splinter, simultaneously mutating four turtles into the TMNT. This Shredder was quite cunning and lethal, nearly killing the turtles several times. In his final appearance, The Shredder fought the turtles for a crystallized form of mutagen. Ultimately, however, Saki lost this battle, winding up in a vegetative state.