 This article is about a villain in Power Rangers (2017), a different continuity than the TV series.
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- For the original TV version of this character, see Rita Repulsa.
- For the 1995 movie version of this character, see Rita Repulsa (1995 movie).
- "I've killed a Yellow Ranger before."
- ―Rita to Trini[src]
Rita Repulsa is a villain that has time and time and time again fought against the Power Rangers. She was the Green Ranger in Zordon's team and continues to use the Green Ranger powers in conjunction with her own. [1]
Character History
Betraying Zordon
Rita Repulsa
In the Cenozoic Period of Earth, the Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa came to the planet to take the Zeo Crystal, a powerful artifact with which she could harness the power of life or death. However, its extraction would render all life on Earth extinct. Rita's plan was to create Goldar, a golden monster that could pull the Zeo Crystal from Earth's surface. Zordon's original team of Power Rangers stood against her, but they ultimately lost the fight, as Rita managed to kill all but Zordon himself. In a last-ditch effort to stop her, Zordon ordered Alpha 5 to redirect a meteor in her and Goldar's direction. The blast destroyed Goldar, Rita went into comatose with her body withering away at the bottom of the ocean, and rendered the dinosaurs extinct.
Revival
In present day, five of the Power Coins find new wielders, and as the Green Coin follows, it rises from the depths, clutched by Rita's desiccated body. Rita's body is fished out of the ocean. Out of water, she begins to revive and murders the boatmen who found her. Old and withered, she searches for gold to rejuvenate herself and restore her powers. She steals gold from anyone and anything she can find, often brutally murdering her victims and making news in Angel Grove.
She is fully rejuvenated when she comes upon one of Angel Grove's jewelry stores. Recreating a staff to house her Power Coin, Rita creates a Puttie to kill a police officer who attempts to arrest her.
She later invades the home of Trini Kwan, the Yellow Ranger and attempts to find out from her where the Zeo Crystal is. She discovers that while Trini does not have it, one of the other Rangers knows its location. She morphs into her battle-damaged Ranger costume to show Trini who she was and reveals she's killed the Yellow Ranger before her.
The Rangers meet her at the docks in an attempt to kill her, but lacking the ability to morph, she defeats the team handily, binding the Rangers in ropes. She threatens to kill Zack if Billy does not give up the location of the Crystal. Billy tells her. Realizing that Zordon would lose respect for her if she doesn't kill at least one of them, she kills Billy by dropping him in the water and strangling him.
Rita, with her gold manipulation powers restored goes to the mine where Goldar's been dispersed and begins to reform him. She also sends putties to where Zordon's command ship could be to distract the Power Rangers, only to be met with resistance. The Rangers battle Rita, her putties, and Goldar with their Zords. Kimberly destroys Goldar by launching the Triceratops Zord with Billy in it through Goldar. However, Rita only restores him. As Goldar seems to have the upper hand, the Rangers discover they could form the Megazord. The Megazord and Goldar, with Rita "controlling" him as a sort of Zord, battle, with Goldar losing. Rita is angered at the prospect of losing and Zordon judging her for her deeds and charges towards the Megazord, only to be met with a backhand slap from the giant robot, which sends her flying into the vacuum of space, with the power coin separating from her.
In space, near the moon, Rita smiles as she freezes in the vastness.
Personality
Rita believes she is a worthy Ranger. It is not revealed why she turned evil- only that Zordon and her were friends once. Despite this, she mercilessly cut down her former team, leaving Zordon crawling on the ground, bereft of his armor.
Rita is a psychopath in every sense of the word. Possessed of delusions of grandeur, she ruthlessly slaughters everyone and everything that stands in her way in pursuit of her ambition. Homicidal and unstable, Rita takes great pleasure in tormenting her foes with almost animalistic satisfaction, delaying the inevitable for moments, keeping her victims uncertain when and how she will choose to end them. Rita's psychosis also is characterized by her almost childish mirth, often accentuating her posture and facial expressions with wide, hungry eyes, prodding her foes over their vital organs. Like a serial killer, she takes great pride in her body count, reminiscing about how she killed the previous Yellow Ranger after breaking into Trini's house with the intent to kill her.
She has a sick sense of humor and frequently belittles the Rangers abilities, displaying immense arrogance. However, given that she was solely responsible for the deaths of the previous Rangers to the point of Zordon committing to a murder-suicide scorched-earth strategy to beat her, her confidence in her own abilities is well founded.
However, despite the impressive resume' that she has paved over her enemies' corpses, Rita's nerves of steel do have their limits. When she discovers that they are a real threat to her, she is furious, abandoning any and all semblance of composure.
She also sees herself as an outsider in Zordon's Power Ranger team.
Video game appearances
Power Rangers Legacy Wars
Rita Repulsa as seen in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
Rita Repulsa is among the villains who feature in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
Forms
- Power Ranger Physiology: With her power coin, Rita has the following superpowers:
- Super Strength: Rita has a considerable level of superhuman strength.
- Super Leaps: Rita is able to use her superhuman strength to perform super jumps, shown when she leapt towards the Megazord.
- Super Durability: Rita's body is superhumanly durable, to the point that she cannot be physically harmed by ordinary humans. She was relatively unharmed by an almost point blank shotgun blast, only knocked down for a few seconds.
- Morphing: Rita is able to morph on her own, though it appears her morph no longer completes all the way.
- Super Strength: Rita has a considerable level of superhuman strength.
- Earth Manipulation: Rita is able to create golems from rocks and earth called Putties as an animate army.
- Gold Manipulation: Rita can also create creatures out of gold and control gold as a liquid-like substance.
- Skilled Combatant: As a Ranger herself, Rita is trained to do battle. Her skills were such that she effectively was the equivalent of five fully-trained Rangers, as she was solely responsible for the deaths of Zordon's entire team.
- Revitalization: After millions of years as a desiccated husk, Rita was able to gain her strength back by consuming humans. She gained full strength and her powers as she consumed gold.
Behind the Scenes
Portrayal
- Rita is portrayed by Elizabeth Banks.
- Her suit actor is Sharon Simms, credited as "Green Ranger (prologue)"
Differences from the TV version
- In the show, Rita was shown as a sorceress who led an army of aliens against Zordon. In the movie, it is shown that she was originally Zordon's Green Ranger, but later went rogue.
- In the show, Rita was imprisoned in a space dumpster 10,000 years ago, being discovered by astronauts on the moon at the start of the series. In the movie, she was killed and imprisoned in the ocean 65,000,000 years ago while an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. She was later recovered by a fishing boat, resurrecting her in a severely weakened state.
- Rita has no base of operations in the movie, instead attacking various targets in an attempt to regain full strength.
Notes
- Whenever she makes a surprise attack, the attack is preceded by water falling from above.
- Rita seems to favor attacking her enemies from above.
- Rita's line in the trailer "I've killed Rangers before" was different in the film- "I've killed a Yellow Ranger before." as a personal threat to Trini.
- Rita lifts a line straight from the TV show "Make my monster grow!"
- In Krispy Kreme, Rita Repulsa hears Destiny's Child's "Survivor", which reflects her current state as a survivor of her war with Zordon.
- Rita's association with ropes and gold recalls the design aesthetic of her original TV character design.
- Her zord, though presumed to be the Dragonzord, is not revealed in the film. However, the Green Power Coin in close ups does have a Western Dragon etching.
- She is a playable character in Power Rangers Legacy Wars.
See Also
- Rita Repulsa - the basis of the character from the TV show
- Witch Bandora - the character from which 'Rita Repulsa' was originally based.
- Tommy Oliver - as terms of being the Green ranger.
- Yamato Tribe Knight Burai/DragonRanger - the character from which 'Tommy Oliver' was originally based.