WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Mighty Morphin #17, available now from Boom! Studios
The Power Rangers have just overcome what was undoubtedly the greatest battle of their lives. Despite having won the day against the Eltarian invasion and Empyreal threats, the Rangers have a long road ahead of them when it comes to repairing the damage that has been done. Even worse, there are still plenty of terrifying new enemies who have been patiently waiting to make their own introductions. In the case of King Aradon, that wait has lasted nearly three decades, and the time has finally come to let the Rangers know exactly who he really is.
The Eltarian War is over, but the efforts to rebuild have only just begun. For the Mighty Morphin team on Earth, that means finding a new Command Center out among the stars. Rocky decided to stay behind to keep an eye on things back home under the assumption that it will largely entail helping with the relief effort, but it is only moments after his teammates leave that the next threat reared its head. Rather than any enemies that would be recognizable to him, however, Rocky is assaulted by a legion of robots reminiscent of some of the Rangers' most famous small screen foes. In fact, Mighty Morphin #17 (by Mat Groom, Moises Hidalgo, Raul Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire) has finally introduced one character that longtime fans of the franchise have never seen before, and King Aradon of the Automaton Dominion is nothing like anyone could have ever expected.
King Aradon was first mentioned in "The Joke's on Blue," the fortieth episode of 1996's Power Rangers Zeo. This episode introduced King Aradon's daughter Princess Archerina as a villain dedicated to seeing her husband rise to the throne of the evil Machine Empire, but King Aradon himself was understood to be far more benevolent. In fact, the Automaton Dominion which he ruled over was said to be in direct opposition to King Mondo's Machine Empire. While this made Princess Archerina's turn as a villain somewhat surprising, that there were only ever scant details regarding King Aradon or his reign left far more questions than answers about their relationship.
Now that King Aradon has been introduced to the Power Rangers mythos properly, it is only a matter of time before all of the lingering concerns fans have will be cleared up. Of course, that doesn't mean the assumptions that have been safe for years won't be turned on their heads going forward. Considering the first impression King Aradon's soldier left on Rocky, it's hard to imagine the Rangers will be very willing to find much common ground with Earth's latest visitors. On top of the fact that the Automaton Dominion have seemingly come to the heroes' world in the hopes of conquering it all point towards them possibly being even worse than the Machine Empire.
There is always the chance that King Aradon is still at odds with his brother's empire, although that alone wouldn't mean that he is any friend of the Rangers even if they came into conflict with King Mondo for themselves. If anything, it may lead to Earth becoming the battleground for someone else's conflict all over again should the Machine Empire be following behind the Automaton Dominion. With any luck, the Power Rangers and their allies will be able to stave off another alien invasion before any real harm can be done. Considering how many other threats there are for them to deal with already, they might not be able to overcome another attack so soon.