The Shredder is a supervillain and the main antagonist of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles media franchise created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The character debuted in the Mirage Studios comic book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984), and has since endured as the archenemy of the turtles and their Master Splinter. The Shredder is usually depicted as the alter ego of Oroku Saki, the ruthless leader of a criminal ninja organization known as the Foot Clan. A suit of armor equipped with metal blades and tekko-kagi, loosely based on that of a samurai, serves as the Shredder's visual motif. In 2009, IGN ranked Shredder as the 39th-greatest comic-book villain of all time. The character has been featured in almost every media adaptation of the TMNT franchise, having been portrayed in live-action films by James Saito, François Chau, Tohoru Masamune, and Brian Tee. James Avery, Scottie Ray, Kevin Michael Richardson and Hoon Lee are among the actors who have voiced the character in animated films and television shows.Kevin Eastman got the idea for the Shredder's armor from large trapezoidal cheese graters which he envisioned on a villainous character's arms. He then said, "Could you imagine a character with weapons on his arms like this?" Peter Laird suggested the name The Shredder.Although Shredder is often depicted as the main antagonist in most TMNT adaptations, it was never the creators' intention to be the case in his original inception in the Mirage Comics: In truth, though many TMNT fans who became fans via the first animated series see Shredder as a REALLY important part of an ongoing, long-running battle with the Turtles, I don't think Kevin or I ever did. Yes, he was an important part of their history, and they probably would not have come into existence without his involvement in their world (or more accurately Splinter's world)... but that's about it. Other than bringing Shredder back for "Return to New York" (and the few issues preceding that set that arc up), I never missed him in any of the other TMNT books I worked on. —Peter Laird (via Wikipedia)
