One of the best things about the Power Rangers franchise — even over its Super Sentai counterparts — has always been that every generation has its own unique cast members that leave an indelible mark for future generations to take inspiration. From Mighty Morphin’ to Dino Fury, each season was chock full of memorable characters who were fun to watch. Some episodes focused more heavily on villains than others, but the priority was always set on the rangers themselves. The idea of having a Power Rangers show, or better yet, a movie, focusing solely on a villain might sound out of character for the brand, but at its heart, the concept is one that fits hand-in-glove with what we’ve come to expect from the series. After all, we can’t neglect the rich mythos created by some of the newest Power Rangers comic books, including one of the best villains in the series so far: Lord Drakkon.
Compelling Origins
The idea of a legendary hero becoming an even more iconic villain is something that has worked great for the likes of Star Wars‘ Darth Vader. Lord Drakkon shares many traits with Vader, but his origin story is even more sci-fi than that of the imperial warlord.
Just one look at Drakkon is all it takes to realize that he is an evil version of Tommy Oliver, aka the White Power Ranger from Mighty Morphin’. Don’t worry, old-school Power Ranger fans: good ol’ Tommy didn’t suddenly become a villain in the comic books. Drakkon is Tommy from an alternate reality – one where he never joined the Rangers in the first place.
Being an even mightiest villain than Rita Repulsa, Lord Drakkon rules with an iron fist, possessing all of the powers of a legendary Power Ranger and the cunning wits of an evil overlord.
More Than Meets the Eye
If there’s one lesson to be learned from the 2017 live-action Power Rangers film, is that filmmakers don’t need to come up with a whole new mythology to make a compelling movie set in the series’ multiverse. All they need to do is revisit some of the less explored areas of the franchise, like the comic books, to find some of the best Power Rangers stories ever conceived.
The whole “Grid” saga, complete with its multiversal storytelling, would present filmmakers with the perfect excuse to make a new live-action Power Rangers film. Following the Shattered Grid comic book event, many things have changed for the franchise, not the least of them being the introduction of Lord Drakkon as the series’ overarching villain.
A movie based on Lord Drakkon’s fall from grace, and establishing both the Power Rangers multiverse and the so-called Prime Continuity, would be the ideal starting point for a new live-action film franchise. Drakkon’s compelling backstory, including his years of doing justice on his own terms, would also prove more than entertaining enough for a standalone Power Rangers flick.
All that said, Lord Drakkon’s character is just on the surface level of what’s going on with the Power Rangers franchise in the comics. As we mentioned before, the star of the show for the Power Rangers universe is the Multiversal Grid: an energy field that connects all Rangers across time and space.
A Drakkon movie would be the first step into something much bigger: it would be the first time in ages that the Power Rangers get a real chance at a live-action movie franchise. And they didn’t even need any purple ooze as they did back in 1995 – a marked improvement for the series if you ask me.
Tell us, would you like to see a Lord Drakkon Power Rangers movie?
