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.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
The Shredder in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film has largely the same background as the Mirage Shredder. In this version of the canon, however, Splinter scratched Saki’s face, leaving him with a deep scar. Out of retaliation, Saki sliced part of Splinter’s ear. The Shredder led the Foot Clan, this time appearing as a group of wayward teenagers.
Recruiting these troubled youths, the Shredder indoctrinated them into an underground society where they were trained as foot soldiers. In the climax of the movie, the Shredder was provoked into attacking Splinter, who sent him tumbling off the rooftops and into a garbage truck. Casey Jones then activated a crushing mechanism that was presumed to have killed the Turtles’ foe.
TMNT II: Secret of The Ooze
Evidently, the Shredder was not killed at the end of TMNT, and he returned in the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze. Scarred from his final encounter with the turtles, The Shredder returned to exact his vengeance. Saki spent most of the movie pursuing the mysterious ooze which originally mutated the Turtles. Indeed, The Shredder even created the infamous Tokka and Rahzar from the ooze. Ultimately, the Shredder used the ooze on himself, transforming into the monstrous “Super-Shredder.” Breaking everything around him and the turtles, the Shredder was crushed by pieces of the pier where he fought the TMNT, killing him for good.
Tales of The TMNT
In Tales of the TMNT, a continuation of the original Mirage comics, the Shredder returned as yet another clone. A Foot mystic named Mashima found the remains of the clone Shredder, merging them with the body of a shark. As a result, the “Shark Shredder” was born. This abomination considered himself to be the real Oroku Saki, seeking The TMNT and Splinter out of revenge. Eventually, The Shredder realized he was a clone and severed his ties to Mashima. Returning to kidnap Shadow, Casey Jones’ stepdaughter, The Shredder was defeated once and for all by the combined efforts of Casey, Splinter and Mashima, who killed the shark clone.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
In the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Oroku Saki was raised as Hamato Yoshi’s adoptive brother, who once again competed with Yoshi for Tang Shen. Learning that he was a descendant oftThe Foot Clan, Saki attacked Yoshi, accidentally killing Shen and abducting his infant daughter. Saki raised this child, who grew up to be Karai, his lieutenant in the Foot Clan. Throughout the series, the Shredder battled the turtles, before eventually mutating himself into the Super-Shredder. This new power warped Saki’s mind, leading him to murder Splinter (Hamato Yoshi) in cold blood.
During his final showdown with the TMNT, The Shredder was decapitated by Leonardo. Later, the demodragon Kavaxas brought the Shredder back as a zombie. Surprisingly, the Shredder sacrificed himself to return both Kavaxas and himself to the netherworld.
IDW Publishing
This Shredder is the reincarnation of Takeshi Tatsuo, the Dragon Warrior. Both Saki and Takeshi were groomed by the goddess, Kitsune, to resurrect the Dragon, who would annihilate the human race. After murdering Hamato Yoshi and his entire family, The Shredder was resurrected generations later by his descendant, Karai.
After a long series of battles, the Shredder was defeated by the TMNT and Splinter, who killed Saki and took his place as head of the Foot Clan. When Kitsune attempted to resurrect the Dragon with Saki’s remains, Saki worked with Splinter to return to his body and kill the Dragon. Although this effort cost Splinter his life, Saki returned with a new lease on life, watching over the Turtles.
No matter how many times he dies, The Shredder will always return to challenge The TMNT in one form or another.
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