The Power Rangers’ home town just entered a new age of terror reminiscent of one of Gotham City’s darkest days.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Mighty Morphin #4 by Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, and Ed Dukeshire, on sale now.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have been through some truly dark days lately, from a string of betrayals among themselves and their former teammates to the continuous premiers of deadly new enemies. Even their first real day without any need to suit up turned out to be nothing more than yet another trap set for them by one of their deadliest enemies.
Things have gotten so dire that not even the mysterious new Green Ranger can do anything to help. A hasty retreat is all that saved their lives in their last battle, and they might not get the chance to fight another, as Lord Zedd has just introduced the Power Rangers to their very own No Man’s Land.
Lord Zedd’s new Chaos Putties on their own were more than the Power Rangers could handle, especially for the Green Ranger, whose shared power source in Green Chaos Energy proved to be a serious weakness against the team’s latest enemies. Once the Putties merged to form a massive version of themselves, the Rangers called in their own big guns, but Lord Zedd’s telepathic link with his Putty Prime put the heroes on the back foot once more as their nemesis guided his creation through the fight. The arrival of the Dragonzord was a brief chance at turning things around, at least until Zedd unleashed his own personal display of power, forcing the Rangers to teleport out of the fray once more. Zedd has truly dealt a crushing blow to the Power Rangers, though their defeat in combat is only the beginning of what he has planned.
From atop a building adorning the city’s skyline, Zedd and his lieutenants look out over the battlefield and beyond. Zedd doesn’t consider what they’ve done here a victory yet, his endgame being much larger than simply sending the Rangers off in a hurry. The tyrant is still obsessing over having been previously ousted from his palace on the moon by the Omega Rangers, and he intends to return the favor by taking Angel Grove from them. With a blast of Chaos Energy into the sky, Lord Zedd forms an impenetrable shield around the city surrounded by his Chaos Putty minions. All that anyone on either side of the dome can do is watch as Angel Grove is cut off completely from the outside world, turning the Rangers’ hometown into its very own No Man’s Land.
One of the most beloved Batman stories of all time, 1999’s Batman: No Man’s Land #1 from Bob Gale and Alex Maleev kicked off the event of the same name that ran through every Bat-title of the year. After being struck by a horrific earthquake, Gotham city is declared a “No Man’s Land” by the United States government, the bridges connecting the island to the mainland being destroyed and the entire populace being cut off from the rest of the world. Gotham soon fell apart into different territories, all lorded over by various colorful criminals among Batman’s own rogue’s gallery. Eventually, the city was saved, much of which was due to the interventions of Lex Luthor, but nonetheless, Gotham had its chance to be reborn. The near-constant efforts of Batman and his allies trapped inside Gotham might not have been what ultimately brought the city back from the brink, but they were absolutely the glue that held it together until it could be properly rescued.
While the parallels between No Man’s Land and what is happening to Angel Grove right now are certainly there, they still lack one very important connection in the form of the latter’s lack of heroes. Unlike the Bat-Family in Gotham, the Power Rangers were on the wrong side of Angel Grove when the dome went up to do anything about it. Thankfully, the Green Ranger is still in the city, but his inherent weakness to Zedd’s new army is going to prove problematic, to say the least, if he plans on doing anything about it himself. If Angel Grove is going to find a savior, it’s going to have to be one of their own.
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