The landscape of superhero movies is in an interesting place as studios mine the decades long history of Marvel and DC, bringing stories and characters that have been around from the 1930s to the big screen for the first time. This Friday, however, will see the arrival of the new Power Rangers movie. Compared to the likes of Wonder Woman or Batman or Spider-Man, the Power Rangers are still a relatively young franchise, but in fact their brief time as a franchise has already seen a lot of development and evolution. That in mind, dive in to the full history in our Power Rangers Origins and Evolutions piece!
Saban’s Power Rangers follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove – and the world – is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.
The Power Rangers cast includes Dacre Montgomery (A Few Less Men) as Jason the Red Ranger, RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) as Billy the Blue Ranger, Naomi Scott (The 33) as Kimberly the Pink Ranger, Becky G (Empire) as Trini the Yellow Ranger, Ludi Lin (Monster Hunt) as Zack the Black Ranger, with Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) voicing Alpha 5, Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad,” Godzilla) as Zordon, and Elizabeth Banks as villain Rita Repulsa.
Directed by Dean Israelite (Project Almanac), Power Rangers is written by John Gatins (Kong: Skull Island, Real Steel), Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (Dracula Untold), Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor), and Max Landis (Chronicle). Producers are Power Rangers creator Haim Saban, Brian Casentini, Wyck Godfrey, and Marty Bowen (The Twilight Saga, The Fault in Our Stars, The Maze Runner franchise).
Origins & Evolutions: Power Rangers
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Super Sentai
Power Rangers derives all of its actual action and fighting sequences from the Japanese series Super Sentai. The series began way back in 1975 and is in fact still running on Japanese television. The sixteenth series in the franchise is what would be used for the first version of the American series.
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Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
The series first premiered in 1993, featuring five teenagers as the titular heroes and establishing the core members of the group by their colors, including Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Pink Ranger, and Black Ranger. Later in the series, a Green Ranger was introduced who was first on the side of evil but later joined the Power Rangers.
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Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Season 2)
Little changed in the second season of the series, but the Green Ranger (fan favorite Tommy Oliver) was transformed into the White Ranger.
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Mighty Morhpin Power Rangers The Movie
Finally, the Power Rangers made their way to the big screen, getting some upgraded armor for their traditional costumes in the process.
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Mighty Morhpin Power Rangers The Movie
In addition, the characters were given new Ninja costumes as an upgrade (and also to bridge the gap to the third season of the series, which used footage from a ninja-themed version of Super Sentai).
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Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
The fourth season of Power Rangers is when the wackiness gets turned up to 11 as the original team are transformed into children and Zordon enlists the aid of Rangers from the “nearby” aquatic planet of Aquitar. The primary colors for this series' rangers include Red, Yellow, Blue, White, and Black.
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Power Rangers Zeo
The next series is when the visuals of the story got a clean slate, and with actual humans back in the title role. Zeo also saw the introduction of a “Gold Ranger” into the fold of the series.
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Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
The second film in the series once again bridged the gap between two seasons of the series, and saw the Rangers get a car-themed upgrade.
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Power Rangers Turbo
Though the cast would change through the series, the main additions to the team made in the series from the film is the addition of two new allies, the Blue Senturion and the Phantom Ranger.
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Power Rangers in Space
The sixth season in the series saw the slate wiped pretty clean for the Power Rangers as they become the Space Rangers, fighting mostly on other planets away from Earth. Going back to the original palate of Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Black, the series also introduced a Silver Ranger.
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Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
The next series featured an all-new cast. Though still Space-dwelling, Rangers including a Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and now Green Ranger.
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Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
The eighth season in the series took things in a very different direction, with an all-new team of Rangers whose suits, weapons, and zords were all man made, and built to combat the rising threat of demons. Yup. The cast included a Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Green Rangers, later adding a Titanium Ranger.
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Power Rangers Time Force
As the title would lead you to believe, this group of Rangers came from the far future (the year 3000 to be exact) to the year 2001 to stop an alien threat that had gone back in time. The series would later add a “Quantum Ranger” to its ranks.
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Power Rangers Wild Force
The tenth season of the series focused on a new team on the floating island of Animaria featuring a Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, and White Ranger and later adding a Lunar Wolf Ranger to the team.
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“Forever Red”
The “Wild Force” season is also notable for having the “Forever Red” episode, which saw the return of all the previous Red Rangers as they teamed up together.
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Power Rangers Ninja Storm
What separates this next installment of the series from the others is that originally the team only had three Rangers, the Red, Blue, and Yellow Rangers. Their ranks would later expand to six with the addition of the Crimson Thunder Ranger, the Navy Thunder Ranger, and the Green Samurai Ranger.
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Power Rangers Dino Thunder
The Dino Thunder series is notable because it continues down the path of tying the new episodes back to the old series, bringing back Tommy Oliver as a main character. Tommy even joins the team as the Black Ranger, a new color for him.
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Power Rangers S.P.D.
The thirteenth season in the series takes place in the far future of 2025, wherein aliens co-exist on Earth with humans, but another threat comes along and eliminates the A-Squad Rangers of Space Patrol Delta, which means the B-Squad must become the protectors of Earth (and focus of the series). The team features a Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Pink Rangers but later adds the Shadow Ranger, the Omega Ranger, Kat Ranger, and Nova Ranger.
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Power Rangers Mystic Force
A more magic-oriented version of the concept, this team of Rangers included a Red, Yellow, Blue,
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Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Compared to “Indiana Jones” by some, this series sees the team seeking jewels and artifacts in their fight against the big bad. The team consisters of the Red, Black, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Rangers, later adding the Mercury Ranger to the roster.
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“Once a Ranger”
One episode of the Operation Overdrive series saw another team of Rangers helping the main heroes, made up of Rangers from previous installments, including the second Black Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Blue ranger from the Ninja Rangers, the Yellow Ranger from the Dino Rangers, the Red ranger from the SPD Rangers, and the Green Mystic Ranger.
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Power Rangers Jungle Fury
This jungle-themed version of the series included a Red, Yellow, and Blue ranger on the team, later adding a Wolf Ranger and Rhino Ranger to the full team. Other allies for the series include friend-turned-enemy Spirit Rangers (including the Elephant, Bat, and Shark rangers) and later still the Black Lion Warrior and the Green Chameleon Warrior.
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Power Rangers RPM
This season of the series is set in an alternate universe from the main Power Rangers timeline where machines have taken over Earth and the remaining humans live in domes. The team consists of a Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Black, Gold, and Silver Rangers.
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Power Rangers Samurai
The eighteenth season in the series sees a team of Rangers with powers over the elements (Fire, Water, Sky, Forest, Earth and Light) corresponding to the colors of the Rangers on the team (Red, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow, and White).
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Power Rangers Super Samurai
The follow-up season features the same team of Rangers, though they did get an armor upgrade at times known as the "Super Samurai Mode."
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"Shogun Rangers"
In addition, the Super Samurai season introduced some older groups of Power Rangers from the past who first defeated the Nighlok (though their appearance was very similar to the traditional outfits of the Super Samurai rangers). Another group, this one from the 1700s, was later revealed as well, taking on more of a Shogun design than the traditional Rangers.
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Power Rangers Megaforce
The 20th season in the series saw the show make a return to form with a group of teens fighting all kinds of monsters on Earth and a Ranger force made up of a Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Black Rangers. In addition, another ally, RoboKnight, fought alongside the team.
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Power Rangers Super Megaforce
The same team came back for the next season albeit with some new costumes and an added Ranger, the Silver Ranger.
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“Legendary Rangers”
One episode of the series saw the return of every single Power Ranger to team up with the Super Megaforce in their battle against The Armada. The group, consisting of over 100 different Power Rangers, was led by Tommy Oliver, in his original Green Ranger outfit.
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Power Rangers Dino Charge
The next series brought in yet another all-new team of Rangers, including traditional Red, Black, Blue, Green, and Pink, while later adding Gold and two brand-new distinctions: Graphite and Purple.
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Power Rangers Dino Super Charge
The second season of the team would see the addition of two more Rangers to the team, including Aqua and Silver!
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Power Rangers Ninja Steel
The most recent version of the series premiered earlier this year and goes back to a ninja motif and includes a Red, Blue, Yellow, White, Pink, and Gold Rangers on its team.
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Power Rangers Video Games
There have been countless Power Rangers video games ranging from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers side-scrolling beat-em-up and an MMPR fighting game for the SNES to a pinball title on the PlayStation and most recently Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle for the PS4 and Xbox.
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Power Rangers (2017)
The latest big-screen iteration of the team is a full reboot of the original Power Rangers series, with all-new actors taking on the roles of original Power Rangers, Jason (Red), Zack (Black), Billy (Blue), Trini (Yellow), and Kimberly (Pink).
