With more than two decades of television, movies, and comic books, the different Power Rangers teams have had to combat a lot of different villains. Not all of those villains are strong enough to make real waves in the Power Rangers universe, but some of them definitely gave the Rangers — and sometimes, multiple teams of Rangers — a hard time.
There are very few villains across the franchise who actually come close to destroying the Power Rangers. The strongest villains don’t just send tough monsters into the fight, but sometimes fight for themselves. They also take a combination approach to fighting the Rangers - using physical fights as well as psychological against them.
10 2017’s Rita Repulsa Is A Former Ranger
2017’s Power Rangers movie reboot might not have been the blockbuster the studio thought it would be, but it had a lot of great elements going for it. One of those was the decision to make Rita Repulsa the former holder of the Green Ranger abilities.
It allowed Rita to tap into the power of the coins without necessarily being connected to the Morphing Grid. It also meant that Rita knew exactly what kind of training Zordon would put the new Rangers through, and she knew exactly how to get to them. She intimidated Trini away from the rest of the team, targeted Jason in battle, and gave them all doubts about their team. She also actually killed Billy, something not many villains across the franchise have done.
9 The Psycho Rangers Battle Multiple Teams
The Psycho Rangers — more violent, stronger, and just as skilled as the existing Ranger team — emerge during the Power Rangers In Space season. Some of them meet their end in that season, but not all of them.
The Pink Ranger goes on to become the first villain in the universe of the television series to end the life of a Power Ranger, killing the Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger, Kendrix. The Pink Psycho Ranger is also destroyed in the process, but the fact that the Psycho Rangers are able to survive multiple bouts with the Rangers speaks to their strength.
8 Ivan Ooze Makes Short Work of Rita, Zedd, And Zordon
Though the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie is often dismissed as campy, it does have a pretty impressive villain. Not only does Ivan Ooze get Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd out of his way rather quickly, but he also makes pretty short work of Zordon and the Morphin Grid, leaving the Power Rangers in a desperate situation.
He might have some cheesy lines, but Ivan Ooze manages to turn the adult population into living zombies and comes this close to beating the Rangers once and for all.
7 Astronema Did All The Heavy Lifting For Dark Specter
Astronema isn’t always ranked amongst the strongest of Power Rangers villains simply because she manages to shake off her programming to become Karone — and take up the mantle of Pink Lost Galaxy Ranger. During the In Space year of the franchise, however, she’s the most prominent villain.
Though the audience is told repeatedly that Dark Specter is the villain of the season, and it’s supposedly Dark Specter who brings all the villains together to witness Zordon’s demise, it’s Astronema who does all of the heavy lifting for the season. She has a magical scepter, she makes the monsters, she comes up with most of the plans, and she even engages in hand-to-hand combat herself, unlike most of the Power Rangers villains. Astronema is who everyone should have been worried about, not Dark Specter.
6 Dai Shi (And Jarrod And Camille) Use Warrior Spirits To Battle The Rangers
Dai Shi is the evil spirit of a warrior that takes over the body of the human Jarrod when he allows his own jealousy and ambition to cloud his judgment in Power Rangers Jungle Fury. While Dai Shi is still struggling to regain his own power, it’s Camille who does a lot of the dirty work, not unlike Astronema in her season.
The difference is that Dai Shi is a capable fighter, and a fighter capable of using multiple other animal spirits for his own gain. If Jarrod and Camille hadn’t fallen for one another, it’s entirely possible that Dai Shi could have made Jarrod irredeemable and the Power Rangers could have lost. The power of love always wins out, though.
5 The Real Master Org Inspires Evil
Part of the test of a Power Rangers villain is just how loyal his followers are. After all, Rita Repulsa doesn’t inspire much loyalty as many of her followers switch sides when someone more powerful comes along. In the case of Power Rangers Wild Force’s Master Org, however, the legend of the original villain is so great that it inspires a human to take up his legacy.
That human doesn’t just become the new Master Org, but he consumes the remains of the original, gets his followers on his side, and murders multiple scientists in cold blood in an attempt to get to the Animarium. The fact that he’s a regular human following in the path of the legend makes him particularly cold-blooded.
4 The Master Was The Embodiment Of Evil Magic
The Master doesn’t get a huge chance to show off his power in person, but he is a pretty terrifying villain in Power Rangers Mystic Force. He looks like an octopus but is a demonic entity whose evil magic powers pretty much every villain the Rangers face in the season.
He spends most of the season building his power so he can escape where he’s been trapped, and once released, he does get the chance to fight the Power Rangers. The downside for him is that by that point in the season, the Rangers have fostered so much goodwill amongst the people — and good magic in themselves — that the good is able to overpower his evil.
3 The Warstar Armada Necessitates A Massive Team Up
There are multiple villains that represent the Warstar Empire during the Power Rangers Megaforce season. It’s difficult to single out just one as the most powerful largely because the villains make the smart play, sending their entire Armada to Earth to overwhelm the Rangers instead of just a single monster in the end.
The decision means that the team of Megaforce Rangers can’t defeat the villains on their own. Every Power Rangers team in history that is still operational comes to their aid. That’s a whole lot of Power Rangers necessary to bring them down.
2 The Venjix Virus Is Never Truly Gone
In Power Rangers RPM, it only takes a few years for the Venjix virus, a computer virus that gets out of hand, to become sentient and take over nearly the entire planet. The virus doesn’t just create monsters; it spies on the remnants of civilization and is able to infect human beings who have any kind of cybernetic implant. When Venjix is in play, anyone can be an enemy.
Venjix is so pervasive that it’s able to cross into new realities that are connected by the Morphin Grid as well. That’s why it’s one of the strongest villains in the franchise. As long as technology exists, Venjix might never truly be defeated.
1 Lord Drakkon Is The Most Creative Of Villains
The only villain that could be considered more powerful than the Venjix virus is Lord Drakkon. That’s the name Tommy Oliver takes on in an alternate reality presented in the Boom Studios universe of Power Rangers comic books. He’s the same Tommy Oliver that is influenced by Rita Repulsa to be “her” Green Ranger, but he chooses to be completely evil.
Amongst his deeds are killing Rita Repulsa himself, stealing power coins and using them to enslave his followers and turn them into an army, holding Jason Lee Scott captive for years and torturing him for information, and turning Kimberly Hart into the Ranger Slayer. He doesn’t just destroy the Rangers. He takes what he knows about them and uses it to his advantage. Lord Drakkon turns the Rangers, their coins, and their connection to the Morphin Grid into his own weapons, leaving the world in chaos.