By Joe Anthony Myrick Published 5 minutes ago
Power Rangers has a, well, a Power Rangers problem — in more ways than one — but one villain is taking advantage of it in the worst possible way.
Summary
- In the ongoing year-long event series Darkest Hour, villain Dark Specter has turned multiple Rangers from across the multiverse to his side, as he continues to build a seemingly unstoppable army.
- The abundance of Rangers in BOOM! Studios comics presents challenges creatively, with the proliferation of heroes potentially coming to be viewed as a problem by the audience.
- The Power Rangers' creative team's self-awareness shines through in the Darkest Hour storyline, addressing the potential issues with too many Rangers by turning some of them evil.
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Warning: Spoilers for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #116!One villain is taking advantage of a Power Rangers problem. Across 30 years, there have been several iterations of Power Rangers and the list only grows longer thanks to Rangers introduced in BOOM! Studios' comic franchise. However, this ever-growing list has caused problems both in-universe, as well as from a creative perspective.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #116 &- by Melissa Flores, Adam Gorham, Marco Renna, Joana Lafuente, and Ed Dukeshire &- continues the Darkest Hour arc, as Dark Specter uses the former Rita Repulsa's powers to mind-control Rangers from across the multiverse, slowly building himself an army.
As such, the more other Rangers get added to the mix, like the Drakkon Rangers and the Omega Rangers, the more that Vile is able grow Dark Specter's army even further. This takes the rapid expansion of the Rangers universe and turns it into an urgent threat spanning space and time.
The Power Rangers Universe Continues Expanding (For Better or Worse)
The BOOM! Studios comics have considerably boosted the number of Rangers between those exclusive to the comics and those who have appeared on television. With Rangers appearing from multiple eras, timelines, and universes, the franchise's set of characters has grown to the proportions of the Marvel Comics universe, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where there are countless heroes to choose from. This can be both a blessing and a curse. Just as audiences have complained about the MCU, Power Rangers is getting to a point where there may be too many heroes to keep up with inside one shared universe.
Having many heroes to choose from has a lot of benefits from a storytelling perspective, but it also begs the audience to ask too many questions, which risks distracting from the story being told. Again using the MCU as an example, whenever Spider-Man has to face down a global or mutliversal threat, audiences can't help but ask, "Where are The Avengers?" or "Why doesn't he call The Avengers for help?" Similarly, readers might start wondering why modern Rangers don't call on Rangers from other eras for help more often. Now, Darkest Hour is offering a solution &- turn many of them evil.
In Darkest Hour , more characters only gives Dark Specter more opportunities to grow his army. This indicates the Rangers creative team's self-awareness about how the proliferation of Rangers can be viewed as a problem for some readers.
Dark Specter Plot Confirms Creative Self-Awareness About Power Ranger Proliferation
In Darkest Hour, more characters only gives Dark Specter more opportunities to grow his army. This indicates the Rangers creative team's self-awareness about how the proliferation of Rangers can be viewed as a problem for some readers. The more Rangers that the heroes call on, the more chances there are to turn them evil. The biggest heroes of the galaxy are now becoming the biggest threats to the galaxy, adding to Dark Specter's power. The number of Power Rangers could be a controversial subject for fans, but treating it like an in-universe Achilles Heel acknowledges it in a smart way.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #116 is on sale now from BOOM! Studios
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