Rita Repulsa

Lore & Background

Rita Repulsa is an evil space witch bent on ruling the universe. Various sources describe her as an alien or an intergalactic being. Being a powerful sorceress, Rita has conquered many worlds and amassed a large collection of monsters and Putty Patrollers to do her bidding. During her reign of terror, she led a group of minions to conquer Earth.

Imprisoned in a space dumpster by a sage named Zordon, Rita was cast into space where she would float for ten thousand years before arcing back to the Moon. Once freed by two astronauts (the exact year is not canonically stated, though the series premiered in 1993), she and her minions reclaimed their headquarters and started a second campaign on Earth to defeat Zordon and take the planet for herself—acting as the primary villain until Lord Zedd's arrival later in season 1.

She is the first major villain of the Power Rangers franchise. Rita Repulsa and the Mystic Mother are separate characters in canon; the Mystic Mother was portrayed by Peta Rutter, not Machiko Soga.

Reader's Guide

Rita Repulsa is most discernible by her two pointed hair cones, her screeching voice, Madonna-like cone bra, and obnoxious attitude: her appearance in the early screen adaptations is described as follows: 'a visibly Asian witch/goddess who wears a horned headdress and pointy conical devices over her breasts'. She is sarcastic and power hungry, her character would usually become humorous whenever the Power Rangers defeated her; this would usually end with the catchphrase 'I've got such a headache!'

As Rita then married Lord Zedd later on in the series, her humorous personality was increased (usually arguing with Zedd or her father, Master Vile). Rita is sometimes seen arguing with her younger brother, Rito, whose skeletal appearance was comically revealed on her account. He knew she was picky in gifts being given to her. Rita wanted a nice little planet to take over and Rito offended her by giving her a fire-breathing dragon instead.

She used the dragon to attack him and burn their parents house to prove her point. Being a powerful witch, Rita possessed many magical abilities. By far the most common demonstration of her power was her use of her 'wand' (actually an ornate staff) to make her monsters and minions grow to enormous sizes. Rita has also used magical rituals to control humans to do her bidding and even turn them evil, at least temporarily (Tommy Oliver and Katherine Hillard being the most prominent examples).

She can also trap people in other dimensions and shoot energy blasts, like most villains from the 'Zordon era', teleport at will, though only at relatively short range (i.e., from the Moon to Earth and back, but not from Earth to another planet). Rita was also able to create her own Power Ranger, but she accomplished this by simply giving a Power Coin to an individual she had brainwashed to be evil, rather than facilitate a connection to the Morphing Grid herself.

In the 2006 series Power Rangers Mystic Force she is the ruler of all good magic and can use that magic to defend herself if and when she needs to. She is also capable of facilitating a connection to the Universal Morphing Grid to create a full team of Power Rangers if necessary, hence the Mystic Force. As the Mystic Mother, Rita takes a behind-the-scenes role, ensuring the flow of good magic throughout the world rather than using it herself, unless she has no other choice.