The 8 Best Power Rangers Mentors, Ranked

May 17, 2024, 8 p.m.

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The 8 Best Power Rangers Mentors, Ranked

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Summary Not all Power Rangers teams had mentors like Zordon, but leaders like Captain Mitchell, Solon, and Princess Shayla guided their teams effectively.

Captain Mitchell brought real-world experience to mentor the adult Power Rangers in Lightspeed Rescue, breaking the typical teenage hero trope.

Solon in Dino Fury was a mix of Zordon and Alpha, offering valuable wisdom and serving as a mother figure to the team besides creating gadgets.

From Zordon in Mighty Morphin to Solon in Dino Fury and everything in between, the Power Rangers universe has seen some incredible mentors. One of the most famous Power Rangers tropes is having an older, wiser character serve as a mentor to the young heroes. Not every Power Rangers team had a mentor like Zordon, but most seasons had at least one character that filled this role. Some leaders never joined the battle and only guided the Rangers from the sidelines, whereas others became actual Power Rangers and fought alongside their pupils.

As the first mentor of the first team of Rangers, Zordon defined this trope and inspired dozens of other characters who came after him. Still, some of the best Power Rangers leaders had nothing to do with Zordon and displayed very different leadership skills from the intergalactic being. From human generals to alien cyborgs, plenty of Power Rangers mentors directly or indirectly lived up to Zordon’s teachings.

8 Captain Mitchell

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

Captain William Mitchel from Lightspeed Rescue may not be an all-powerful space wizard or an alien dinosaur like some of the other Power Rangers mentos, but he still made for a great leader. Lightspeed Rescue was a very different Power Rangers season and broke some of the franchise’s oldest tropes, including the relationship between the Rangers and their mentor. Instead of teenagers learning how to be heroes, the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers were a team of highly trained adults consisting of a firefighter, a doctor, two athletes, and a pilot. In other words, they were ready to be Rangers.

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue Team Character Color Carter Grayson Red Ranger Dana Mitchell Pink Ranger Joel Rawlings Green Ranger Chad Lee Blue Ranger Kelsey Winslow Yellow Ranger Ryan Mitchell Titanium Ranger

Captain Mitchel did not have to give the Power Rangers weekly lessons like Zordon would use to do in the original series, which does not mean he did not have anything to teach them. Captain Mitchel was a firefighter before leading the Lightspeed operation and had years of experience, which helped him guide this team of heroes on the mission against the Demons. The personal connection between Captain Mitchel and Red Ranger Carter, the latter of whom admired the former, made Lightspeed Rescue even better. Captain Mitchel also had a special connection to the Pink and Titanium Rangers, his children.

7 Solon

Power Rangers Dino Fury/Cosmic Fury

Solon from Dino Fury can be described as a combination between Zordon and Alpha. On one hand, Solon could help create all the gadgets the Power Rangers needed for a mission, similar to how Alpha had all sorts of knowledge during the original show. On the other hand, Solon is incredibly wise and sensitive, meaning she always has something powerful to say to the team in times of need. Additionally, Solon would sometimes serve as a mother figure to the Dino Fury Rangers, particularly to Red Ranger Zayto and Gold Ranger Aiyon.

Power Rangers Dino Fury/Cosmic Fury Team Character Color Zayto Red Ranger/Zenith Ranger Amelia Pink Ranger/Red Ranger Aiyon Gold Ranger Ollie Blue Ranger Izzy Green Ranger Javi Black Ranger Fern Orange Ranger

When Zayto woke up after millions of years in which he was kept frozen, Solon was the only thing he had left from his world. Solon was family to Zayto, a connection that would later extend to the other members of the team. She mentored the Dino Fury Rangers every step of the way and even helped them fight Lord Zedd’s invasion in Cosmic Fury. Solon, who has one of the coolest character designs on the show, was also involved in the origin story of Power Rangers’ first Orange Ranger.

6 Princess Shayla

Power Rangers Wild Force

Shayla was the Princess of the Animarium in Wild Force, a Power Rangers season with a distinctive lore that exists in its own corner of the franchise. Following the relatively grounded approach of Lightspeed and Time Force, both of which followed human-created military operations that happened to have Power Rangers at their disposal, Wild Force went back to a more fantastical approach. The Rangers were now guardians of a magic place that had a strong connection to amazing creatures known as the Wildzords. Shayla’s mission was to guard it and protect it from the Orgs.

Power Rangers Wild Force Team Character Color Cole Red Ranger Max Blue Ranger Taylor Yellow Ranger Danny Black Ranger Alyssa White Ranger Merrick Lunar White Wolf Ranger

Although Shayla would rarely leave the Animarium in Wild Force, her story went beyond just mentoring the Rangers. Unlike Zordon or Dimitria, Princess Shayla had a meaningful backstory and was involved in storylines that did not necessarily have to do with the Power Rangers. For example, Shayla was once in love with Merrick, who was currently being used as a host for the evil spirit of Zen-Aku. Shayla never gave up on Merrick, who later became the Lunar Wolf Ranger. Shayla was a wise, trustable leader with an extensive knowledge of the Wildzords.

5 Billy Cranston

Power Rangers Cosmic Fury

Cosmic Fury was arguably the most nostalgic Power Rangers season since the end of the original show and featured dozens of references and callbacks to Mighty Morphin. The biggest of them was the return of David Yost as Billy Cranston, the original Blue Ranger, who had not appeared in a Power Rangers show since Zeo. Yost had appeared in Power Rangers: Once & Always earlier in 2023, but it was in Cosmic Fury that Billy really received the character arc he deserved. Cranston, who was still fighting as a Power Ranger, had to join the Dino Fury crew to stop Zedd.

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Billy was a recurrent character in Cosmic Fury, appearing in all 10 episodes of the series. While the original Blue Ranger suited up for battle and even fought Lord Zedd in hand-to-hand combat, he also served as the “guy in the chair” for the Rangers. Billy was the one who created the Cosmic Orbs and the Cosmic Morphers, the source of the Cosmic Fury Rangers’ powers. Without Billy, the Rangers would have never defeated Lord Zedd. The original Blue Ranger was an incredible mentor and guided this young team through the most difficult moments of their superhero careers.

4 Anubis Cruger

Power Rangers S.P.D.

Not many Power Rangers characters can say they created a space patrol that would become synonymous with the fight against intergalactic evil across multiple planets. Anubis Cruger’s story in Power Rangers starts several years before the events of S.P.D. in Sirius, his home planet. After witnessing the fall of his planet, Cruger went to Earth, where he founded a new version of his Space Patrol Delta. As commander of SPD, Cruger was responsible for assembling a team of cadets to become Power Rangers. However, his first picks, the A-squad, ended up being traitors.

Related Power Rangers In Order: How To Watch Every Series Chronologically & By Release Date From Mighty Morphin to Cosmic Fury, here is how to watch every Power Rangers TV show in order, both chronologically and by release date.

When faced with the chance of betraying SPD in exchange for their survivor, the A-squad chose to align themselves with the villains. Cruger, who believed the A-squad had died in battle, had no choice but to make the B-squad into Power Rangers. Jack Landors and the others were not ready to be Rangers just yet, which is why Crugger had to be a great mentor to them. The Rangers learned a lot from Cruger, just like Cruger learned a lot from them. The relationship between Crugger and Red Ranger Jack was particularly interesting.

3 Tommy Oliver

Power Rangers Dino Thunder

Considering just how much Tommy Oliver appeared in the first three Power Rangers shows, it is curious to notice that he only became a great leader more than a decade after the end of Mighty Morphin. Tommy led the Power Rangers as the White Ranger in MMPR, as the Red Ranger in Zeo, and as the Red Ranger again in Turbo. However, Tommy was never a fantastic leader, with some even arguing that he worked better as an extra Ranger than as the team’s captain. This is why it was so special to have an older, wiser Tommy in Dino Thunder.

Power Rangers Dino Thunder Team Character Color Conner McKnight Red Ranger Ethan James Blue Ranger Kira Ford Yellow Ranger Tommy Oliver Black Ranger Trent Fernandez White Ranger

Dino Thunder marked Jason David Frank’s return as a series regular on Power Rangers for the first time since Turbo. Instead of bringing Tommy back as a Power Ranger right from the start, Dino Thunder reinvented the character as “Dr. Oliver.” Tommy was now a high school teacher who ended up becoming the mentor to three young Power Rangers. After hundreds of episodes in which Tommy was on the battlefield, he had now become the “Zordon” of a new team. Tommy eventually became a Ranger again, but he did not stop being a mentor to Connor, Ethan, Kira, and Trent.

2 Zordon

Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Turbo, & In Space

Every Power Rangers mentor that came after Mighty Morphin was inspired by Zordon, a character that became synonymous with wisdom in the franchise. A giant face trapped inside a tube worked incredibly well with the tone of a Super Sentai-inspired 1990s TV show, but Zordon was more than just his gimmick. Even though there was very little to the character upon his introduction – most of Mighty Morphin reused the same piece of Zordon footage filmed for the pilot after all – Zordon quickly became an iconic character. Even those who never watched Power Rangers must be familiar with Zordon as a character.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers First Team Character Color Jason Red Ranger Trini Yellow Ranger Zack Black Ranger Billy Blue Ranger Kimberly Pink Ranger Tommy Green Ranger/White Ranger

It cannot be denied that some of the best Power Rangers stories about Zordon did not come from the TV show but rather from the comics, which gave the leader of the Power Rangers a rich backstory that also involved Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. Still, there were some great Zordon moments in the original series, of which the first four seasons were known as the “Zordon Era.” Zordon chose the right “teenagers with attitude” to become Rangers and was always by their side. Zordon’s most famous line summarized this, “May the power protect you.”

1 Sensei Watanabe

Power Rangers Ninja Storm

Sensei Watanabe watched his ninja academy be destroyed by his brother. Additionally, Watanabe was transformed into a guinea pig due to a spell no one knew how to break. To make things worse, the only three students left at the academy to become Rangers happened to be Watanabe’s worst, most indiscipline pupils. The circumstances were awful at the beginning of Ninja Storm, but Sensei Watane rose to the occasion and made Shane, Tori, and Dustin into worthy Power Rangers.

Power Rangers Ninja Storm Team Character Color Shane Red Ranger Tori Blue Ranger Dustin Yellow Ranger Blake Blue Navy Ranger Hunter Crimson Red Ranger Cam Green Ranger

Ninja Storm’s Sensei Watanabe was arguably the wisest Power Rangers mentor, even though he was human with no access to highly advanced technology. Watanabe was a great sensei first and foremost, regardless of the Ranger status of his students. He never lost faith in Shane, Tori, and Dustin, not even when his son argued that those three were not ready to become Power Rangers. Watanabe’s role as father and sensei became intertwined when his son, Cam, became the Samurai Green Ranger. The rivalry between Watanabe and Lothor also added another layer of complexity to the sensei.

Most Power Rangers seasons are streaming on Power Rangers' official YouTube channel.