WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Mighty Morphin #13, available now from Boom! Studios.
The Power Rangers are on the verge of the greatest fight they have ever faced, and already they have fallen dangerously behind the competition. Not only are the heroes both outmatched and outnumbered by the invading Eltarian forces, they've also lost the person who brought them together in the first place. As shocking as the apparent death of Zordon was, it turns out that the Mighty Morphin mentor's story isn't over, at least not as long as Billy Cranston is around to do something about it. Keeping secrets may have driven him and Zordon apart only recently, but now it looks like those same secrets could be just what they need to save the world.
Life for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been nothing but disastrous as of late, with devastating attacks and groundbreaking betrayals having become regular occurrences over the past few months. All of this made the introduction of the Guardians of Eltar and Sentry Force Four a boon like no other for the heroes, at least until the truth about their supposed allies arrival came out. When Zordon refused to bend the knee as it were to Zartus, Zordon's old ally and current Supreme Guardian, Zartus lashed out by shattering Zordon's energy chamber with a single deft strike, all while Billy Cranston watched from the shadows. It was a horrifying turn without question, though not quite the end. As revealed in Mighty Morphin #13 by Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, Walter Baiamonte, Sara Antonellini, Katia Ranalli, and Ed Dukeshire, there might be hope yet thanks to another one of Billy Cranston's secret science projects.
When Billy runs into Alpha during his trek through the Eltarian infested halls of the Command Center, he is quick to take his robotic ally to their last best hope of saving Zordon. It turns out that Billy had developed a backup system to channel and filter Zordon's energy should his chamber be destroyed, something he created after finding out how the Zordon of Lord Drakkon's world was killed. Unfortunately, it isn't something that Billy has gotten the chance to test for himself, although that alone doesn't hurt his chances considering his recent track record with similar projects.
Billy was invaluable when it came to repairing the original Green Dragon Power Coin, not to mention the Dragonzord, all of which culminated in him convincing Grace Sterling to take on Matthew Cook as the new Green Ranger. Billy didn't just repair the Green Ranger's accoutrements, though, he crafted a better, more powerful version of the Green Ranger than ever before. Despite his work having saved the Rangers on multiple occasions, Billy's secrets drove a wedge between him and Zordon that would have seen him forced to retire as the Blue Ranger if things hadn't gone so devastatingly wrong. Now it looks like Billy's hidden extracurricular activities are going to save the day once again, and in a way that even Zordon won't be able to hold against him. Then again, that might not matter if Billy decides to walk away from Zordon's leadership, and there is nothing stopping him from doing just that.
Tensions between the team have been higher than ever, even before the threat of the Eltarian invasion was known. That said, no one would be able to hold it against him if Billy has been soured to the idea of acting as a Power Ranger in the way he has been. Billy has proven himself capable of developing his own brand of Power Ranger in Matthew Cook, and while that did start with the remains of a preexisting Power Coin, it's hard to imagine he doesn't already have a workaround for that. If anyone could step away from the team yet continue to be a Power Ranger, it is certainly Billy Cranston. If he really can save Zordon, readers might just get the chance to see him do precisely that.