Power Rangers introduces new non-binary villain, the Death Ranger – and they’re already iconic
The Power Rangers series is about to get a non-binary villain. (BOOM! Studios/Katherine Lobo)
The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is about to get a new non-binary villain called the Death Ranger, somehow making the series even queerer.
The black-and-gold clad ranger will be the main antagonist of Power Rangers Unlimited: The Death Ranger #1.
The one-shot comic published by BOOM! Studios will be the origin story for the Omega Rangers, the ancient team of Rangers who used the elements to battle cosmic threats.
A member of the original Omega Rangers, the Death Ranger, ended up betraying the heroes. Corrupted by the “death-defying powers of the Rangers’ greatest foe”, BOOM! Studio says.
Fans immediately began lusting over the Death Ranger – because why not – but the comic book’s writer Paul Allor noticed some were misgendering them.
“The Death Ranger’s pronouns are they/them, as is the case with their entire race,” Allor tweeted on 20 May.
He was responding to a fan who said the Death Ranger is a “stone-cold hunk” and he would let them “breed me balls deep”.
The Death Ranger's pronouns are they/them, as is the case with their entire race, but otherwise, yes, appropriate response. https://t.co/InZ0zvTRTP
— Paul Allor Loves You ?️? (@PaulAllor) May 20, 2022
“But otherwise, yes, appropriate response,” Allor added.
Power Ranger fans praise non-binary villain Death Ranger
The Death Ranger isn’t the first non-binary character in the Power Rangers universe. The first was Orisnoth, the Blue Squadron Ranger who appeared in the second season of Power Rangers Megaforce.
So in a world still sorely lacking in non-binary representation, LGBTQ+ Power Rangers fans praised the franchise for introducing yet another non-binary character.
“You have no f**kin’ clue how much it means to me that my childhood special interest and comfort franchise has non-binary rep that is not only just cool, also sexy as f**k,” one said.
Another added: “As a nbi person, it’s f**king amazing to see now TWO non-binary rangers from both sides of the spectrum with Orisonth from the Squadron team and now the Death Ranger. Makes me happy to be a PR fan.”
“Introduced a non-binary team member and skipped the rest of the colours entirely and named this motherf**ker Death Ranger I gotta respect it,” a third user tweeted.
The Power Rangers series has long had a dedicated LGBTQ+ fanbase. (Araya Diaz/Getty Images for Saban Brands)
The Power Rangers has long been sufficiently gay, to say the least.
The franchise’s 2019 movie included a sub-plot about the Yellow Ranger (played by singer Becky G) coming to terms with her sexuality.
While Power Rangers Dino Fury introduced the first-ever LGBTQ+ Ranger in the franchise’s television history.
But the Power Rangers hasn’t always been the most welcoming. David Yost, who played the Blue Ranger in the original 1990s television show, quit the show because of the homophobic abuse he endured.
Yost, who publicly came out as gay in 2010, said he was called “f****t” on set. Having enough, he walked out on his lunch break – but the harassment pushed him to put himself through conversion therapy.
“I’m a part of a show that has become iconic over the last 25 years,” he told Out In Perth in 2018, “and I want the fans of the show to really focus on all the positive things that they got out of the show, and not on the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.”
