Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is one of the best selling comic books right now. That shouldn’t be a surprise, because it’s really good! According to Diamond Comics Distributors, Power Rangers written by Kyle Higgins and published by BOOM! Studios was the #2 selling comic of March 2016 surpassing DC’s Superman and Marvel’s Star Wars. I live in a world where Power Rangers sells more than Star Wars, and I love it. (Nothing against Star Wars, for the record. That’s a great book too.)
In a recent interview on Comic Book Resources, BOOM! marketing president Filip Sablik hinted something grander at play for the rainbow-colored super squad at BOOM due to the series’ success. “It’s been around 20-plus years, and every couple years it gets completely reinvented,” Sablik said. “What’s amazing about the possibilities is, you could go do a Power Rangers project that’s completely in a different part of their mythology, that’s aimed at different readers. The Power Rangers series we’re doing is very much for people that were kids when the series came out. That’s a very different tone than if we were to do a series that was currently on the air and that’s aimed at kids.”
BOOM! has already planned a limited spin-off series, Power Rangers: Pink from DC writer Brendan Fletcher (Black Canary), which is going to be totally sweet. But what else could they do? Here are six killer ideas for BOOM! if the company is serious about expanding upon its newest goldmine.
1) Rita and Zordon’s 2,ooo Year War
Ten thousand years ago, Rita Repulsa and Zordon locked each other into a stalemate. When Zordon trapped her in a space dumpster, Rita locked Zordon away in a dimensional warp. That’s what that giant tube is all about. But what happened in that original battle?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJaBxHtMS5g
If there’s one thing Power Rangers doesn’t get recognized for is its wholly original take on space fantasy not seen since Edgar Rice Burroughs. There’s an entire galaxy of stories and mythology Power Rangers came loaded with right out of the first episode. What happened between Rita and Zordon? Who was Zordon when he was a wizard? What was his home planet, Eltar, like? How important was Zordon to the Eltarians? Why and how did Rita become who she was? We later saw glimpses of Rita’s family — her brother Rito Revolto and her father, Master Vile — but we really don’t know enough about Rita’s species or origins. There was also some confusing retconning in Season 2, when it was revealed Lord Zedd left Rita in charge. So what was Rita to Zedd before that?
We never saw these questions answered in the original Power Rangers TV show, because there were toys to sell and garbage to clean up at Angel Grove park. But a comic book — not restricted to TV budgets — would be an excellent medium to explore the entirely unexplored fantasy-driven mythology of Rita and Zordon’s origins before five teenagers with attitude came around.
2.) How the Alien Rangers of Aquitar Assembled
In Season 3 of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, the Rangers are turned into children and must journey to find the Zeo Crystals to reverse the spell. For the final ten episodes of Season 3, the Alien Rangers of Aquitar (whose costumes came from 1994’s Ninja Sentai Kakuranger) took over protecting Angel Grove, fending off against Zedd’s monsters like Hydro Hog.
But we never saw their story. Who were these Aquitar guardians like when they first teamed up? How did they team up? Unlike the Power Rangers of Earth, the Alien Rangers seem sanctioned by the Aquitar government. (And what KIND of government does Aquitar have?) Eventually in Power Rangers Zeo, Billy leaves Angel Grove and lives on Aquitar. If Billy is to suffer a similar fate on Higgins’s Power Rangers, it would be nice to know he’s living with characters we comfortably know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yPo_tRP0HU
3.) What Became of the Colonial Green Ranger
In the Season 2 two-parter “Return of the Green Ranger,” Rita Repulsa recruits the Wizard of Deception into making a clone of Tommy Oliver who unleashes a clone carrying the Green Ranger powers against the White Ranger, the real Tommy. While the two Tommys battle, the other Rangers are sent back in time to 18th century Angel Grove because… Because. Eventually, the two Tommys go back to 1700s Angel Grove to save the Rangers and colonial Angel Grove from the Wizard’s mutant rat monsters. (It barely makes sense when you watch the episode.) Now fighting for good, the Green Ranger clone stays behind to protect Angel Grove in the colonial era.
This is where I should clarify that many fans speculate Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers takes place in an alternate Earth. There were no colonial settlers out west before the Louisiana Purchase, especially not in what would become Angel Grove, California. So, it’s historically impossible a Green Ranger could protect a colonial California village (aside from the fact that I’m talking about a Green Ranger in THE COLONIAL PERIOD).
But you know, what if? None of “Return of the Green Ranger” hasn’t happened (yet?) in Higgins’s series, which is still covering Tommy’s early days as the real Green Ranger. But time travel is a funny thing. If — and this is a big fat if — there’s already a Green Ranger who protected westward settlers and Native Americans from ancient threats in 1700s Angel Grove? The comic could be more accurate and set as a proper western. What would the history books say about him? I’d love to see a comic book about that in the same vein as Marvel’s Old Man Logan or DC’s Gotham by Gaslight.
4.) How Dax Became Masked Rider, and What Happened to Him
You do know that Alpha 5, the quirky robot assistant to the Power Rangers and Zordon, wasn’t made by Zordon, right? Alpha, that sentient automaton, was built on the distant planet Edenoi, which by Season 3 of Power Rangers was a Mad Max-esque wasteland dominated by the evil Count Dregon. Prince Dax, a.k.a. the Masked Rider, teams up with the Power Rangers in the three-part episode “A Friend in Need” which served as a backdoor pilot for his own spin-off series, Masked Rider.
Masked Rider tanked in the ratings, so don’t bet a full-fledged Masked Rider comic book could do well in sales. But tied well enough to Higgins’s Power Rangers and there’s a universe of potential. We never really saw what became of Dax’s adventures when Masked Rider ended, and he was never heard from again in the Power Rangers universe. He’s still around somewhere. I wonder what he’s up to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX6-DwRXe8Y
5.) The Story of the Phantom Ranger, Zordon’s Son
In Power Rangers Turbo, an obsidian stranger came to help the Rangers whenever they needed him the most. He was the mysterious Phantom Ranger, who got shockingly close with Cassie, the Pink Ranger. He was a soft-spoken hunk in diesel tubes, and his costume was totally badass. I went as him for Halloween once.
But who was he? By Power Rangers In Space the Phantom Ranger had disappeared, and in the climactic finale “Countdown to Destruction” he and the Blue Senturion were fighting the Alliance of Evil on — Eltar? It was never explained. Many fans have long speculated whether or not the Phantom Ranger was Zordon’s son. It’s a good theory with little to support it, but that hasn’t stopped countless fanfiction from dominating the fandom.
A comic book exploring the Phantom Ranger, as the son of Zordon of all people, would be a fascinating one in the whole of the Power Rangers universe. Why didn’t the Phantom Ranger become one of the Power Rangers? Why did Zordon keep him a secret? What was he like before he put on that Darth Vader-esque outfit? As a kid, I used to think he was horribly scarred, hinted by the entire storyline surrounding his stolen ruby that gave him life like Iron Man’s Arc Reactor.
As the son of the mentor to the world’s greatest heroes, a cast-off prince would be an incredible story to explore. And maybe, just maybe, his broken relationship with his father led to his loss at the hands of Rita…
6.) The Real, Original Power Rangers: The Zyurangers?
It’s been widely hinted in Power Rangers lore that Zordon has always used a group of teenagers to battle the forces of evil. Cases of “Ancient Rangers” have appeared in instances like Power Rangers Wild Force and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. But, if you haven’t already noticed, ancient history has never been fully explored.
Who were Zordon’s “Power Rangers” when his war with Rita ended? As a fan with nothing better to do, I’ve always thought how cool it would be if Zordon’s first Power Rangers resembled the Zyuranger, from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the 1992 Super Sentai series that provided the initial basis for Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
Geki, Dan, Goushi, Boi, Mei, Burai. Sure, they don’t have to be the actual Zyurangers, but it’d be the ultimate fanservice in a legitimately cool way if the Rangers who actually preceded Jason, Billy, Zack, Trini, Kim, and Tommy were in fact the “Zyuranger.” Like the Alien Rangers, I wonder what they were like. What bugged them? What were their goals? What would they be like raised in a society that’s been at war for two millennia? Geki and Burai’s story — a spoiled prince versus his pauper brother — is ripe with so many possibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOjBcWEJzLg
As far as I’m concerned, BOOM! is killing it with Power Rangers. But exploring these stories is too good of an opportunity for anyone with the license to pass up.