Emperor Gruumm

This article is about a/an villain in Power Rangers S.P.D.

Emperor Gruumm
Gender:	Male
Villain Type:	Boss/Leader (figurehead)
Season:	S.P.D.
Homeworld:	Unknown
First Appearance:	Beginnings
Last Appearance:	Endings
Number of EpisodeAppearances:	25 Full list of appearances
Actor:	Rene Naufahu

""We have taken all we can from Alandia. The life forms have fled and the planet is useless to me. AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!""

―Grumm's very first words when destroying an innocent planet in the very first scene of SPD. Also the first words spoken in the entire season overall.^[src]

"I shall crush puny, so-called warriors in the name of the Magnificence. We shall not rest! We shall not show mercy! We shall be VICTORIOUS!!"

―Emperor Gruumm^[src]

"No! You'll pay for this, Cruger!"

―Emperor Gruumm's final words moments after being imprisoned in the card containment device^[src]

Emperor Gruumm, played by Rene Naufahu, is a figurehead who serves as the de jure leader of the Troobians, an alien empire whose ultimate goal is to conquer other worlds. Gruumm is relentless and nothing will stand in his way to conquer the universe. He previously destroyed the planet Sirius (home world of Anubis Cruger), and in 2025 he launched an assault on Earth. He was defeated by Anubis Cruger and captured in front of SPD Headquarters after Omni was destroyed by the S.W.A.T. Megazord.

He is the primary antagonist for the majority of the series, becoming the secondary antagonist in the episode "Insomnia" when Omni reveals himself.

Biography

Emperor Gruumm's Human Disguise

All that's known of his backstory is that he works for Omni, a malevolent disembodied brain that Gruumm fears and worships as "the Magnificence"/"Your Magnificence".

Gruumm's main strategy is to overwhelm and devastate a planet with constant, large-scale assaults and then drain the planet of its resources, as shown in the flashbacks to the Sirian invasion, and used such tactics on the Helix Nebula simply to draw the A-Squad into an ambush. It's briefly shown that his ship can even destroy a planet from orbit.

Gruumm had conquered and slaughtered a large number of planets, with the Rangers once exaggerating to say he'd conquered everywhere but Earth. TV STORY-Dismissed In the DVD "Meet The Ranger" features, Kat Manx said that her own home world had fallen to the Empire.

His highly destructive tactics show life means little to him. It was initially unclear why he wasn't using such tactics to conquer Earth, except on rare occasions where he simply lost his temper and struck in force or attacked personally; in each case, he would have won if not for outside intervention (new weaponry for Cruger, the Omega Ranger, and Dino Thunder Rangers respectively). TV STORY-Messenger TV STORY-Dismissed TV STORY-History It became clear later on that Gruumm had been working off a long term plan, intending not to leech and destroy Earth but instead to use its resources - which he looted over the course of the season - diamonds, gold, Iridium, and Hemotech Synthetic Plasma (which is used as a synthesizing agent) - to construct a body for Omni.

Emperor Gruumm has two aides, Mora/Morgana and Broodwing. He has a bitter hatred for Cruger, who cut off his right horn in the battle for Sirius. He is also the most powerful warrior among the Troobian empire, as proved in his victories over the B-Squad Rangers and Supreme Commander Fowler "Birdie". His main weapon is a staff that shoots, and he also rides a motorcycle with lighting laser cannons. Gruumm has the ability to use telepathy and shapeshift into a selected human form. In battle, he has shown the ability to decimate the Rangers, defeat Commander Birdie and also harm Zeltrax, though Cruger has shown the ability to defeat him.

During "Endings", Gruumm captures Cruger with help from the renegade A-Squad and then later B-Squad with Piggy's help. As Omni's body begins to take shape, B-Squad and Cruger escape and Cruger confronts Gruumm after capturing Mora. Gruumm threatens the life of Cruger's long-lost wife Isinia to try to force Cruger to surrender, but is instead thrown into the lava at the heart of Omni and apparently killed. After Omni is destroyed by the S.W.A.T. Megazord, Gruumm emerges from the wreckage in front of SPD Headquarters amidst the celebrations to face Cruger one last time. Unmorphed, Cruger battles Gruumm who proves no match for Cruger. After Cruger smashes Gruumm's staff, Gruumm orders Cruger to show him no mercy. Instead of killing Gruumm, Cruger cuts off the top of his remaining horn and contains Gruumm. As Gruumm yells threats from his card, Cruger shows it to the assembled forces of SPD and declares that "justice is served!" as everyone celebrates.

Power Rangers: Super Legends

He appears in the Nintendo DS version of Power Rangers: Super Legends as the main villain who has set his sights upon the myth of the Hall of Legends, the resting place of the collected energies of Power Rangers across time. In his twisted mind he envisioned a world where his enemy's power is not only stolen, but used to make him a living god over all creation. In the console version of the same game, he is merely mentioned.

Powers and Abilities

• Strength-Emperor Grumm is the face of the Troobian Empire and it's second most powerful warrior (the first being Omni). He easily took down six Rangers with just his hands and staff and could block the Shadow Sabre with his bare hands. During his penultimate battle against Cruger, he managed to keep a constant grip on Cruger's arm for as long as he wanted to.
• Durability-Grumm has survived constant wars and attempts on his life with his most impressive display being survivng the Z-Rex Blaster wwithout having any reaction beyond just cringing in pain,
• Shape Shifting-Grumm can shift uhis form at will as shown when he turned into a random man to meet with Piggy in his bar during the Morgana Incident.
• Telekenesis-Grumm has extremely powerful telekenetic powers, being able to crush a Blue Headed Krybot just by squeezing his hand.
• Telepathy-Grumm has a limited form of telepathy demonstrated at multiple points throughout the series when Gruumm spoke with Omni.

Arsenal

• Staff-Grumm has a very big brown staff that he utilises as a personal weapon that acts as his eqivelent to the Shadow Sabre.
  • Energy Blasts-Grumm can fire energy blasts in the form of purple or yellow energy from the top of his staff powerful enough to take down six Rangers in one blast.
    • Teleportation Blasts-Gruumm's staff blast can be used to create explosions that he can use to escape battle. He did this to escape the battle with the Dino Thunder Rangers,
  • Tractor Beam Blasts-Grumm can fire yellow lightning from his staff powerful enough to wrap up and restrain his enemies. He used this in the first part of the two part finale 

• Motorcycle-Grumm also rides a powerful motorcycle that can fire lasers.

Notes

• Rene Naufahu would later play Mentor Ji of Power Rangers: Samurai.
  • Ironically, in the episode "Messenger-part II", Naufahu played the guy who Grumm scares so badly he faints and then the emperor assumes his form. As was a Disney Era trope, they put little in jokes that don't last long if you don't get it but are really funny if you do.
• Interestingly, Rene's real eyes could be seen behind the Gruumm mask; whether this was an accident, or that in-show, it was a mask is unknown.
• In Omega Ranger's original timeline, Gruumm did conquer Earth in 2025 and the planet was still calling for help in 2040. TV STORY-Messenger
• Omni was off-screen and communicating with Gruumm remotely. This meant that early in the show, it appeared that Gruumm was mad and talking to himself. Later, it became clear that another entity was in charge.
• Gruumm's history with Omni was not completely clear in the show.
• In an interview (9:26 in), co-producer Greg Aronowitz clarified that "Gruumm has always been Omni's puppet... [Gruumm] has power, but he has issues and he has weakness, and Omni has taken advantage of that for as long as time can remember." RangerCast interviews with Greg Aronowitz
  • His possible equivalent in Super Sentai may possibly be Hell Saturn, the leader of the Machine Empire Black Magma of Sun Vulcan who is the front for the true enemy.
• In a May 2014 interview Greg Aronowitz has stated that Gruumm's original concept was intended to be a homage to Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent as a power hungry and deranged villain. The skull and partially exposed brain was due to Aronowitz's fondness for such things, as well as to show that Gruumm was hiding his true nature and was also both intelligent and had a weak point.
• Gruumm has no Super Sentai counterpart, instead the main villain of Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger is Rainian Agent Abrella, though he is the counterpart of Broodwing, and not the Emperor himself.

See Also

• Rainian Agent Abrella - Super Sentai counterpart in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. See comparison page. (in terms of main antagonist)
• Führer Hell Saturn - Super Sentai counterpart in Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan. See comparison page. (As front for the main enemy)