Oroku Saki (The Next Chapter)

Oroku Saki (also known as the Shredder) was the deadly and nefarious leader of the Foot Clan and Splinter and the Ninja Turtles' vengeful arch-nemesis. He takes on the role of one of the main antagonists of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Chapter.

Appearance
The Shredder is a slim, but tall, brawny, and toned Japanese man with shiny, chrome plated armor on his chest, shoulders, arms and lower legs, worn over a maroon outfit with a dark blue cape hanging over his back. His signature helmet, the Kuro Kabuto, is perhaps the most notable aspect of his appearance and it masks a face that is partially burned and disfigured, such to the extent that he has very little vision left in his right eye.

Unlike previous incarnations of the Shredder who held tekko-kagi in their hands, this version uses customized, partially mechanical ones built into his gauntlets. His armor is also larger and bulkier than previous versions, except perhaps Ch'rell, though it's streamlined and smooth at the same time. The spikes on it are larger, longer and more blade-like than most previous versions (though once again bearing some similarities to Ch'rell's). As previously stated this Shredder suffers a serious, disfiguring burn on the right side of his face; a considerably greater injury than the scratch marks (from Splinter) most others possess that leaves him nearly, or completely, blind in that eye.

Upon becoming the Super Shredder, Saki's body underwent hideous disfigurement. His eyes now glow green and his teeth are always visible on the side. His body has become more muscular with metal blades sticking out of almost every part of his body, as well as visible veins of mutagen connecting to what appears to be his heart at the center of his chest. His helmet has also fused with his head; its own blades becoming longer and spikier and its frontal mask resembling a human skull's face. The only clothing, he wears now are his tattered pants, bandages wrapped around his clawed feet and a torn-up cape.

When resurrected, the Shredder appeared more zombie-like, with worms coming out of his skin and his head being nothing more than a skull, sinew, and glowing green eyes. Due to this, he walked with a gait, and the Kuro Kabuto barely appears on his head. Carried over from his Super Shredder appearance were the few blades jutting out of his body as well as the mutagen veins bulging from his body and his exposed heart.

Many aspects of this Shredder bear similarities to previous incarnations. Like the Mirage and first film versions of the character, he wears a red outfit, like Ch'rell and the Tengu Shredder, he wears heavier armor, and like the, Mirage, Demon and 87s Shredder he wears a cape (though he removes it in combat).

History
Oroku Saki was born in rural Japan into the ninja Foot Clan, the longtime enemies of the Hamato Clan. After a particularly devastating assault by the Hamato Clan on a Foot Clan village that left the rival ninja clan in tatters, the baby Oroku Saki was discovered amongst the wreckage by Hamato Yoshi's father. He was then adopted by Hamato Yuuta and raised alongside Yoshi as brothers; and greatest of rivals, with Oroku blissfully unaware of his true heritage.

Their rivalry escalated when they met Tang Shen and subsequently fell in love with her. Their bids for her affection turned their rivalry into hatred and Oroku Saki insulted Hamato Yoshi in front of Tang Shen, and in response was attacked by Yoshi. This brief fight ended in victory for Yoshi, while Saki fled and wandered alone. During this time Saki learned of his true heritage and rebuilt the Foot Clan and donned the moniker 'Shredder'.

Sometime after this he discovered Tang Shen's marriage to Hamato Yoshi and attacked their home. During the fight that broke out Tang Shen was accidentally killed by Saki's hand and the house burnt to the ground. Saki also discovered the existence of Hamato Yoshi's infant daughter during this assault, and when the fire forced Saki to flee and leave an injured Yoshi to die, he took the baby with him. He later claimed that he was 'returning the favor' to Yoshi for having Tang Shen 'stolen' from him. Shredder would go on to raise the baby as his own daughter, naming her Karai and raising her to hate her true father.

After the fight with Yoshi, Shredder found the ancient Kuro Kabuto worn by Foot Clan leaders in the past, and proceeded to fully transform the Foot Clan into a worldwide crime syndicate.

Personality
Callous, cruel, devious, and extremely ruthless, the Shredder is a man of pure evil who has allowed his hatred to utterly consume his humanity. His massive army of ninja enforcers, his vast wealth and influential connections (such as Steranko), and his absolute mastery of martial arts, coupled with his bladed armor, make him a very forceful and destructive force to be reckoned with. He will go to any lengths to achieve his goals, even as far as forging a business-like alliance with the alien Kraang who wishes only to see humanity wiped out or enslaved. But even more so, he was ready to let the Triceratons destroy the whole planet Earth, including himself in the process, just so he could strike down Splinter right before he could stop their doomsday device.

The Shredder's immense capacity for hatred seems to stem from an inability to accept his own failures, misfortune and mistakes. Instead he seems to need somebody to blame everything on; shown when he accuses Splinter for Tang Shen's demise, despite he being the one who initiated the assault that took her life.

Not only is the Shredder an extremely nasty and vindictive individual, but also an extremely obsessive one. He is so addicted to his hatreds and vendettas that upon being told there is more to life than his vengeance, he became steamed and stated that there is nothing. He will hunt his targets to the ends of the Earth to claim their lives, and will not stop until this has happened.

Yet despite his burning hatred, he is able to maintain a very calm and calculating persona most of the time, and is a master commander, but is extremely prideful. This pridefulness leads him to decline to encounter the Turtles in person, despite wishing their demises, and he seems to consider only Splinter worthy of facing in combat, leaving all the others to his minions and only fighting them if he deems it necessary.

As Human
The Shredder is extremely strong and agile from decades of training in martial arts. These many years spent perfecting his skills have left him as an almost unparalleled master of martial arts with only Splinter standing as an equal to him. His skills are so great that not even all four turtles together were not able to do much more than be a nuisance to him in combat; though each turtle was able to strike him once, their strikes caused little injury and had no lasting effect. The Shredder's strikes on the Turtles; however, left them severely injured for weeks or possibly months.

Enemies

 * Hamato Yoshi / Splinter - Quite a while before the series began, he and Splinter were good friends. They lived in Japan, where the two learned, exercised and became Masters in the art of Ninjutsu. However, their companionship suffered a great strain when they both fell in love with the very same woman, Tang Shen. They constantly competed for her attention, but she chose Splinter in the very end. Jealous, Oroku began harassing Splinter, insulting him and purposely trying to get him angry. This eventually culminated in The Shredder breaking into Splinter's own house and challenging him to a mortal duel. Both men engaged in battle, and the house soon caught fire in the process (due to the fact that some burning candles were left laying around at the time), killing Tang Shen and horridly burning the Shredder's face. The latter found Miwa and secretly took her in, raising her as his own daughter and telling her many lies about what Hamato Yoshi "did".
 * Leonardo - Out of all the Turtles. It seems that Leo interacts the most with Shredder. During their first fight he was the one that Shredder threaten him with his life.
 * The Turtles - Since they are affiliated with Splinter (as his disciples), Shredder views the Turtles as enemies, and he orders his henchmen to find and kill them throughout the entire series. However, the first two times that The Shredder has encountered them, he's let them live only for the purpose of interrogating them (which hasn't yet happened). Leonardo is the one that has interacted with Shredder the most. Being the adopted sons and pupils of Splinter/Hamato Yoshi, Shredder despises them and views them as tools that can bring more pain to Splinter with his revenge.
 * April O'Neil - The Shredder uses April as bait to lure his sworn enemy, Splinter, out of hiding. Due to this, it is quite probable that April dislikes him greatly. April especially grew to despise him after everything he’s done.
 * Karai/Miwa - Splinter's daughter, Miwa, who Shredder kidnapped after the events of his and Hamato Yoshi's final battle, named her Karai, and raised her as his own child, which he apparently views as ‘returning the favor’ to Hamato Yoshi for stealing Shen’s heart. However, it was uncertain that Saki truly loved Karai like she does him.

Allies

 * Baxter Stockman - Shredder spared Stockman because the man is a talented inventor, and very useful to his clan, which led to several improvements, thus making the latter a more powerful combatant.
 * Ivan Steranko - An old business partner that has known Shredder who supplied with weapons, but after he hired a thief to steal the Kuro Kabuto and held Karai for ransom, he had Stockman turn him into a mutant rhinoceros and forced him to serve under him.
 * Anton Zeck/Bebop - the master thief that Steranko hired to steal Kuro Kabuto for his collection and helped Steranko capture Karai. After their plan failed, Shredder had Stockman turn him into a mutant Warthog. Seeing that his form gave him "limited employment options" he reluctantly agreed to serve the Shredder.
 * The Kraang - An alliance made only to get closer to Hamato Yoshi.

Love Interest

 * Tang Shen - A woman that both Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi fell in love with. She chose Yoshi over Saki, however, and in a fit of jealousy and rage, he attacked Yoshi one night and killed Tang Shen in the process when he missed a swing meant for Yoshi and killed her instead. Whatever his true feeling he had to her likely outweighed by his murderous rage at Yoshi. Because of this, Shen indirectly became one of the main causes of Saki’s downfall into darkness. In the past, Shen seemed to care for Saki as a brother-in-law and apparently became conflicted with her feelings for Yoshi and Saki, but when she ultimately chose Yoshi, she began to see him as an enemy due to his threats towards her family and aggressive behavior towards his own brother. He attempted to take her by force, but Shen refused and loyally stuck by Yoshi’s side. After Saki began his fight with Yoshi, Shen tried to stop it from happening, but ultimately died in the process via Saki accidentally slaying her. Even after many years, Shredder still seems to hold feelings for her, and as he fell deeper into insanity, he even began to view Shen as rightfully his. It is even speculated that one of the reasons he took in Karai is because she was Shen’s daughter, therefore making her his last connection to Shen. However, he did not accept responsibility for her death and blamed Yoshi for it, even though it was his own fault for attacking in the first place. But, after his gruesome mutation, he lost any emotional connection to anything he loved, apparently including Shen, as he mocks her death when he says it is befitting for Karai to die the same way her mother did. When he is resurrected, Shredder says that he no longer has a place in the living world which hints that he is remorseful for his actions and finally accepts full responsibility for them, including Shen’s death.

Gallery
Shredder (The Next Chapter)/Gallery

Trivia

 * In Splinter's flashbacks, Shredder is seen wielding a pair of "Tekkō-kagi" (lit. "back of the hand hooks"). In the present, he is seen with custom-made Tekko-kagi claw weapons: They have extendable blades and are razor sharp. They have also been shown to be strong enough to cut through metal shipping containers.
 * The Shredder's real given name "Saki" is (usually) a female Japanese name that means "blossom" and "hope", which is ironic as instead of hope, Shredder brought about nothing but misery, pain, and despair to all who had any interaction with him.
 * Oroku Saki's "Super Shredder" mutation, bares a distinct resemblance to Doomsday, a monster from DC Comics, with similar changes on his normal bone weapons into steel bone weapons like Marvel's Wolverine in his further mutation.
 * Given the fact that Oroku Saki was adopted by the Hamato Clan and he is Splinter's adoptive brother, he is indirectly the Turtles' adoptive uncle.