Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

Today we look at the creatures that continue Oroku Saki‘s legacy: The Shredder Clones

Appearances in Heroclix: TMNT Shredder’s Return

First Appearance: Leonardo: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle #1

Team Affiliations: N/A

Universe: Mirage

Created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman

On the Christmas Eve after his apparent death, a resurrected Shredder and several Foot ninjas ambush Leonardo. After beating the turtle almost to death, they throw his body through the window of April’s Second Time Around store. Shredder and the Foot follow suit and attack the rest of the brothers before setting the building on fire. Casey Jones helps the Turtles and April escape before leaving the city and recuperating on the Jones’ family farmhouse in Northampton, Massachusetts.

The Turtles spend several months recovering and training before returning to New York. Almost a year after leaving, they stumble onto a lone Triceraton named Zog that leads them to the Foot Clan’s headquarters. This is where they meet the three Shredder Elite Guard, a group of imperfect clones of Oroku Saki.

The Shredder later explains to Leonardo that the Foot have perfect a process where mystic rituals are used on a colony of worms before they are fed the remains of a corpse. The worms then are able to create a new cloned body. The Elite Guard are the test subjects before the Foot are able to properly resurrect their fallen leader. The Elite Guard kill Zog before battling the Turtles. Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael are barely able to defeat the Guard but are also severely wounded. This leaves Leonardo to face the resurrected Shredder alone.

The Shredder explains the process of his revival as well that he retains all the memories and hatred of the original. The two foes battle one another with Leonardo finally decapitating the Shredder and defeating him once more. Leonardo then takes the Shredder’s remains and gives him a Viking funeral on the Hudson River to try and stop the Foot from raising their master again.

A few weeks later a Foot mystic named Mashima finds what is left of Shredder’s charred remains and feeds them to the worm colony again. There is not enough for the worms to form a new body so they seek out a new host. They eat the partial remains of a shark and form a new monster that is part human and part shark. The monster retains all of Saki’s memories and believes it is the real Oroku Saki.

Determined to gain his revenge, the Shark Shredder kidnaps Splinter and battles the Turtles once more. Though the Turtles are able to best the monster, it is able to use its magical powers to psychologically batter the heroes. The Turtles finally defeat the creature by severing its connection to the mystic which allows the worm colony to realize it is just a clone abomination. In confusion and rage, it eats the Foot mystic that created it and swims away.

The Shark Shredder returns later and takes control of a Foot contingent that kidnaps Casey’s stepdaughter, Shadow, in order to lure the Turtles into another trap. However, the Turtles are away on an adventure and so Casey must face the monster alongside Splinter. The pair are able to reach the Mashima, the Foot mystic the shark ate whose personality is resurrected and merged because of the worms. They rescue Shadow and kill the creature for the last time.

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