Oroku Saki, also known as The Shredder, is the leader of the Foot Clan and blood rival to Splinter, sometimes also known as Hamato Yoshi. Though also a primary antagonist and archvillain to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shredder views them as an obstacle standing between him and his feud with Splinter. Shredder also fosters a daughter named Karai, of whom he grooms into becoming the second-in-command of the Foot in the event of his death or incapatitation.
Overview
Contrary to his omnipresence in popular media, The Shredder actually was killed in the very first issue of the original Mirage comics, when Donatello flung his bo and knocked Shredder off of a rooftop with a thermite grenade in his hand. However, he did return in a couple of issues due to Foot genetics and mysticism.
In the late 1980's and 1990's, Shredder was depicted in animated and digital media as being the cohort (and some would argue, subservient) to Krang. This incarnation was voiced by James Avery. Occasionally in games (such as Manhattan Project, Hyperstone Heist, and the SNES version of Turtles in Time), Shredder would mutate into "Super Shredder", a monstrously large transformation that debuted in the film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze". A refined, more badass design of this era's Shredder was seen in Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled, voiced by Scottie Ray.
Shredder's history in the 2003 series (and the games based upon it) is fairly more complex than other incarnations. The Shredder that is most commonly seen, is actually an Utrom criminal named Ch'rell, who took on the guise of Oroku Saki upon coming to Earth. The original Shredder, initially a heroic warrior in pre-Feudal Japan, was a man by the name of Oroku Saki, who was tempted and corrupted by a vile Tengu. This version of Shredder is scarce in video games, only showing up in the mobile game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Shredder Reborn and the flash game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Double Damage.
Cyber Shredder is an incarnation that was created when the villainous computer virus Viral was overtaken by Ch'rell's computerized backup memory. Not to be confused with the cybernetic-augmented Cyber Shredder that appeared in Radical Rescue and the SNES Tournament Fighters, this version was the final boss of Arcade Attack and an alternate costume for the standard Shredder in Smash-Up.
A new design for Shredder was produced for the 2012 cartoon and accompanying games, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
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