While the titular multi-colored, giant-robot-piloting, helmet-wearing martial artists are the main focus of every series in the Power Rangers franchise, it’s not a stretch to say that their most fearsome opponents are also a pretty large draw, especially when considering the old adage of “a hero’s only as good as his villain.”
Its high time to take a detailed look at the main adversaries who have not only repeatedly (and inexplicably) attacked a single city, but who have also threatened the solar system, galaxy, or universe as a whole. This largely includes the main villains of any given season, considering that they’re typically the ultimate threat, but there are a few exceptions for various generals who have gone above and beyond the typical henchman power ceiling.
To actually create the ranking, as many details as possible have been into consideration, including how well each entrant does against the Rangers in direct combat, how well they match up against any arsenal and combination of Zords, how high their potential power is based on statements from within their respective season, and even the scale of their organization’s reach and might.
Updated on May 1st, 2021 by Amanda Bruce: With nearly three decades of enemies to choose from, the Power Rangers villains range from the silly to the downright menacing. Boom Studios comic book adaptations has reignited interest in the classic era of the franchise, but also expanded the universe to include alternate timelines, leaving fans old and new wanting more. With every season of Power Rangers (other than the one currently on the air) available to stream, new generations can be introduced to the originals or find a season that suits their interests. Everyone has their favorite team, their favorite Ranger, and their favorite baddie, but these are the most powerful.
Tenaya (RPM)
At the time of its airing, Power Rangers: RPM was the darkest Power Rangers story yet. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where humanity was pursued by a sentient computer virus, it seemed like the world was doomed. On the side of that computer virus was Tenaya, a human who thought she was a machine created to be bad.
Before Tenaya learned the truth about her past, she was the Power Rangers' worst nightmare. She whistled a creepy tune and took a lot of pleasure in making the Rangers run for their lives. Tenaya also ended up with a detachable hand at one point that could spy for her. She even had enough martial arts skills to almost make it onto the Ranger team in disguise.
Goldar (Mighty Morphin)
Before Goldar became a joke in his later appearances, he was a reliable and fierce warrior who could not only take on the skilled leader of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but the entire team at once, usually wrecking them with unprecedented brutality and efficiency. As a master swordsman and fairly skilled practitioner of shooting out magical fireballs, Goldar was not to be trifled with.
Perhaps most impressively was Goldar’s ability to be hit multiple times with fully-charged attacks from various Megazords, showing a resilience that few of his peers were even remotely capable of. That incredible endurance, along with his clear display of expert battle prowess and general savagery, easily earn this General a place on our list.
Rito Revolto (Mighty Morphin)
Unlike Goldar, who started out as frightening but would eventually become an idiot, Rito Revolto was always an idiot. Similar to Goldar, though, Rito was devastatingly powerful and, despite his clear mental deficiency, was able to take on both Power Rangers and Zords like it was no big deal.
Most disconcertingly, Rito’s general idiocy seems to disappear in the heat of battle in a way that’s akin to Goku in Dragon Ball Z, where a far more strategic and cunning side takes over. To top it all off, Rito was also responsible for the destruction of the Thunderzords and Command Center, which are accomplishments that should never be overlooked. Like Goldar, Rito might be a mere general, but he’s done more than enough to be recognized for his raw power.
Divatox (Turbo)
Divatox, and the whole of the Turbo powers, in general, are in something of a nebulous place. According to the show, Divatox is immensely powerful and the Turbo powers were supposed to make the Zeo powers obsolete. Unfortunately, fans have a hard time believing either of those statements, hence Divatox’s relatively low ranking.
Sure, she had a sizable army and a sweet submarine, plus the clearly demonstrated ability to rival inarguably enhanced Power Rangers when she arrived in Angel Grove, so it seems reasonable enough that she was technically more powerful than Goldar and Rito, but that’s likely the extent of it. It's easy to bet her reputation did most of the heavy lifting since she and her forces certainly didn’t seem to.
Ransik (Time Force)
Ransik is one of the franchise’s most intriguing and well-developed villains, but that sadly doesn’t make him the most powerful. This is one of the strange cases in which we need to directly compare a villain to the team of Rangers they faced off against. Time Force had highly advanced technology that was certainly more powerful than the modern day, but it was designed and specialized for the act of capturing time-traveling criminals like Ransik who, while powerful, wasn’t a world-ending threat.
To be fair, Ransik was able to take on the Power Rangers and defeat them single-handedly, but that’s just not enough to when it comes to reaching the upper-echelons of this list, impressive as it may be.
Finster (Mighty Morphin)
During the Zordon Era of the franchise, the teams of bad guys were often large, with some members having their own specialties. On Rita Repulsa's team was Finster. He looked a little bit like a giant-sized dog, and he was always polite, which might have made some audience members think he wasn't as evil as the rest. That's not the case.
Thanks to Boom Studios' comic books, Finster was given some pretty interesting backstory. His magical clay is what allowed him to create monsters for Rita, but he wasn't exactly forced into the job. Before he and Rita even met, he was already creating monstrous creatures out of clay and letting them loose on his home planet. Without Finster, Rita wouldn't have had nearly as many threats to send to Earth.
Rita Repulsa (Mighty Morphin)
As the first major extraterrestrial threat against the Earth, Rita Repulsa is a headache-prone, but powerful, space witch. Despite seeming like more of a bumbler than an actual threat, Rita possessed an exceptional mastery of the magical arts and a healthy dose of craftiness, which made her far more dangerous than one might think.
Sure, most of her monsters were inadequate in the long run, but her aforementioned craftiness and skill set allowed her to create an evil Ranger that nearly wiped out the good guys, and she was also capable of summoning what was essentially Satan to do her bidding. In the end, she was nothing more than a cog in a large, intergalactic empire, but her potential was still nothing to sneeze at.
Mesogog (Dino Thunder)
The horrific mutant Mesogog was not only extremely powerful in terms of both physical prowess and telepathic abilities, but also exceptionally gifted with a superior intellect, which made him exponentially more dangerous than a typical brute-force-focused villain. Impressively, Mesogog was able to threaten the existence of the planet on his lonesome. While it’s true that he created generals to aid him in his conquest, the entirety of his forces and technology were generally birthed from his own intellect.
Frighteningly, while Mesogog started as an alternate personality for Anton Mercer, he would eventually achieve pure consciousness and separate himself entirely. As a dangerous foe on all fronts hoping to revert Earth back to the era of the dinosaurs, Mesogog is basically an unstoppable, driven, and destructive force of nature.
Lord Zedd (Mighty Morphin)
As the iconic ruler of the empire that Rita worked for, Lord Zedd was a frightening force to be reckoned with, even after parents complained enough to have the writers soften him up. Apparently a ruthless “Emperor of Evil,” Zedd conquered countless systems before arriving to correct Rita’s mistakes in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Almost immediately the difference in power between and Rita is made apparent, as his putties and monsters were so powerful that the Rangers were legitimately helpless. For even more points in his corner, Zedd also went toe-to-toe with the ultra-powerful White Ranger, and although he was defeated, it was due more to a miscalculation than an actual lack of might. Despite his failings, Zedd will always be remembered as one of the most dangerous threats the Earth, and galaxy, ever faced.
Astronema (In Space)
Astronema may be the Queen of Evil, and heir apparent to Dark Specter, but that doesn’t necessarily make her the most purely powerful force on this list. She was trained by Ecliptor to be an exceptional warrior and has demonstrated her prowess multiple times in various situations. She’s also equipped with a staff that can shoot extremely powerful bolts of energy, leaving her targets devastated.
Most importantly, though, is that (even if only for a brief time) she ruled the entire United Alliance of Evil and nearly took over the galaxy. So, while she’s arguably no match against someone like Lord Zedd in terms of brute force, her actual organization makes Zedd’s feeble empire seem pathetic at best. She also retains a lot of her skill after she's deprogrammed and becomes the human Karone. Karone is still skilled enough to impersonate Astronema and steal a Morpher from a room full of villains in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy.
The Machine Empire (Zeo)
As one of the few interstellar forces to actually make Lord Zedd afraid, the Machine Empire was, by far, one of the most dangerous and powerful organizations in the entirety of the Power Rangers universe. Comprised entirely of machines, this empire would extract the resources of their targeted systems in order to create even more powerful warriors and weapons.
While King Mondo and his kin were arguably powerful enough in hand-to-hand combat, the true strength of the Machine Empire was due to the actual empire, with its seemingly inexhaustible armies and monsters, always increasing in power. Despite this, though, the Machine Empire would face an embarrassing defeat due to their immense vanity, which is certainly one fact that stops them from rising any higher on this list.
Dark Specter (In Space)
Dark Specter is something of a special case. In short, he doesn’t demonstrably do anything to earn him a place this high on the list. Simultaneously, though, it took a warhead with the ability to destroy an entire planet to wipe him out, so that’s got to count for something.
Judging by the arsenals of every Ranger team, it doesn’t seem that any of their most powerful weapons are even close to being capable of destroying a planet, meaning that Dark Specter at least had that going for him. Another point is that most major villains seemed to fear him, and he ruled the United Alliance of Evil during the In Space season without question, showing that even if the audience failed to see him demonstrate true power, there must have been a reason so many hot-headed evildoers bowed down to him.
Trakeena (Lost Galaxy)
While her father, Scorpius, failed to make the cut of our list, there was no way that Trakeena was going to face that same fate. Interestingly, Trakeena was a comparatively weak threat throughout much of Lost Galaxy, but by the time she fused with Deviot, her power level skyrocketed to an extremely dangerous level.
After transforming once again and reaching her final, green form, Trakeena displayed terrible and devastating power, with the Rangers barely able to get the edge on her. According to Lightspeed Rescue’s Queen Bansheera, Trakeena’s final form was even more powerful than her extremely deadly son, which really hits home just how high the heights of Trakeena’s extreme might would eventually rise to.
The Psycho Rangers (In Space)
While the Psycho Rangers might not have the clout of Dark Specter or the raw power of Trakeena, they’re still extremely dangerous. As evil duplicates of the Power Rangers, the Psycho Rangers are homicidal, seemingly uncontrollable, and practically indestructible. Their most threatening quality is their cunning minds, which allow them to fight effectively and survive what should be total annihilation.
While it’s true that they had the fatal flaw of being obsessed, compelled, or even forced to fight their color counterparts, that particular issue was ironed out since the Psychos were apparently capable of learning from their errors. While they were seemingly destroyed, it’s difficult to know for sure when it comes to these conniving and lethal villains. After all, the Psycho Pink Ranger returned in Lost Galaxy and was responsible for the first death of a Power Ranger on screen. Boom Studios even added a Psycho Green Ranger to their history, expanding the reach of the villains.
Sledge (Dino Charge)
Sledge was one of the most interesting villains in the Power Rangers franchise. He might not be as magical, or even as physically strong as some of the other villains, be he amassed a huge number of villains and was able to keep them under his own control.
A bounty hunter of sorts, Sledge picked up the rogue monsters and henchmen of other villains and kept them in prison on his ship. He was smart and efficient. It was only his obsession with the dino gems that even made him target the Power Rangers to begin with. He could have kept going around the universe collecting bounties if he'd never stopped at Earth.
Ivan Ooze (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie)
Ivan Ooze might not be the most beloved villain or have the most intimidating appearance, but he certainly proved himself a capable bad guy when Power Rangers landed on the big screen for the first time.
The movie is an alternate version of a story that plays out in the second season of the Mighty Morphin series, but Ivan Ooze did in one day what it took Rita Repulsa those two seasons to accomplish: stripped the Rangers of their power. Not only that, but he also left Zordon's life hanging in the balance, forcing the Power Rangers to seek out a new power source to battle him.
Lothor (Ninja Storm)
Just because Lothor (and Ninja Storm, in general) leans more towards the comedic side of things, it doesn’t mean that he’s not a powerful or formidable villain, because he is. In fact, he’s surprisingly powerful and formidable. While strong enough to fight and beat the Power Rangers on his own, he was also able to capture their Ranger powers, theoretically rendering them helpless (though that didn’t turn out to be the case.)
Lastly, and perhaps most impressively, Lothor somehow survived being in one of Power Ranger’s surprisingly many equivalents to the underworld, managing to escape and succeed in exacting delicious vengeance against his adversaries. While that didn’t pay off in the long run, it still goes to show that Lothor, acid reflux or not, was a truly powerful enemy.
The Warstar Empire (Super Megaforce)
This enormous armada posed one of the most lethal threats in the whole of the Power Rangers franchise, and it took nearly the entire pantheon of Power Rangers to defeat them. So why are they only number eight? At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that we were taking multiple facts into consideration when it came to constructing the rankings, and the Warstar Empire only impressed us with one element: their incalculable size.
Most of their forces, when singled out, were your standard (if not sub-standard) enemies and villains, but even mediocrity, when multiplied by magnitudes, can become unconquerable, and that’s exactly the case with the Warstar Empire. Without their numbers, they’re a far less impressive force, but with them, it’s no surprise that every last Power Ranger needed to be summoned for duty.
Queen Bansheera (Lightspeed Rescue)
Queen Bansheera was seemingly the matriarch of all demons and was a threat that the Rangers were ill-equipped to fully deal with. Starting off as nothing more than a spirit, Queen Bansheera would slowly incarnate into an all-powerful force of evil. One of Bansheera’s most defining aspects (and later her weakness) was her ruthlessness as a leader. Caring little-to-nothing for her demonic legions, she even had no gripe with eliminating her own child.
Aside from her cruel leadership, she possessed a cunning intellect and impressive battle prowess, but we never really got a great chance to see her go toe-to-toe with the Rangers. In fact, it was her own forces that sucked her back into the underworld. That said, we never received confirmation that she was definitively defeated, and considering her authoritative savagery, her survival doesn’t seem unlikely.
Omni The Magnificence (SPD)
Earlier, we mentioned that Ransik wasn’t that powerful since essentially all it took to stop him were high-tech cops. The same can be said about SPD, who are also futuristic cops, and their victory against Emperor Grumm. Though that very team would also destroy “The Magnificence,” it’s far less cut-and-dry.
This titanic, merciless god-like being, who Grumm worshipped and worked for, was devastatingly powerful. Coupled with its size and pure power, The Magnificence is seemingly invincible. In fact, the only reason SPD was able to even get a chance at defeating it was due to the fluke of Doggie Cruger being inside its body and opening a weak point. Considering that, it’s no question that Omni is one of the most powerful threats to face any (and all) Ranger teams.