Rita Repulsa

Verified Timeline

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.

In Their Own Story

In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Rita was born to Master Vile and Lady Fienna and had a younger brother named Rito Revolto. At one point, her parents got her a fire breathing dragon when she wanted a 'cute little planet' instead. Rita then used the dragon to burn down their house. At some point, Rita began working for Lord Zedd in his attempts at conquering the universe. She served as his regent while he was elsewhere. However, Zordon and his army opposed her. Rita managed to steal and corrupt the Dragon Coin. However, Zordon eventually managed to seal Rita and her minions in a space dumpster, though Rita manages to trap Zordon in a time warp. At the beginning of season 1, Rita Repulsa had been imprisoned for over ten thousand years in the space dumpster. She, along with the other season 1 villains, were unknowingly released by a pair of Earth astronauts. She exited the dumpster along with her minions Goldar, Baboo & Squatt, and Finster. Rita claimed she would conquer the first planet she saw after being freed, which unsurprisingly happened to be Earth. Over the course of the show, Rita Repulsa battled the Power Rangers using everything from phobia spells, super Putty Patrollers, binding magic spells, and on occasion, she would even allow the likes of Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo to be 'in charge' of destroying the Power Rangers. All of their plans failed, and Rita would normally take her frustrations out on her henchmen by bashing them on the head with her magic wand or yelling in their faces. One of Rita's most memorable traits was that following each loss, she would either swear vengeance or complain that she had a headache (the latter becoming one of her trademarks).

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.

Did You Know?

• Rita Repulsa is based on the Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger villain Witch Bandora.
• She was imprisoned in a space dumpster for ten thousand years before being freed by two astronauts; the exact year of her release is not canonically stated.
• Her catchphrase after being defeated was 'I've got such a headache!'
• Rita married Lord Zedd after using a love potion made by Finster in the episode 'The Wedding'.
• The Mystic Mother in Power Rangers Mystic Force is a separate character from Rita Repulsa, portrayed by Peta Rutter.