Despite some roadblocks along with the way, the Power Rangers franchise has essentially been going non-stop since its premiere in 1993. From meteoric, literally-highway-stopping popularity to middling-out, descending close to cancelation and then returning to the brink, the multicolored superhero teams of the Power Rangers universe continue to scratch the itch of martial arts, explosions, people in rubber monster suits and giant, combining robots for fans of all ages.
With so many rangers to choose from, the question of which team would reign supreme occurs to fans all the time. This particular ranking takes everything into consideration: their civilian skillets, powers, tactics, arsenals, and what they’re up against. For the sake of clarity, multi-season shows are being combined into one entry, meaning that Mighty Morphin’s three seasons or the “Super” variants of Samurai, Megaforce, and beyond will all be considered one.
Updated on January 23rd, 2023 by Amanda Bruce: Since the first Power Rangers series debuted, there has been a new team of colorfully clad heroes almost every year. The first few seasons of the franchise kept the same team relatively intact, but more often than not, each season is a whole new team with a whole new set of abilities. The villains, the powers, and the dangers are not all created equal, which can make for an unbalanced look at figuring out the true strength of the teams over time. Some of the newer teams, for example, who have the benefit of the knowledge of the Rangers before them, are arguably much weaker than some of those original teams. The most recent team, Power Rangers Dino Fury, has a respectable set of skills and abilities in their team, so it’s no wonder they’re going the same route as the Zordon Era and retaining the team, but with all new suits and powers in their new season, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, in 2023.
Dino Charge
Taking the bottom spot, Dino Charge and its “Super” extension are arguably the weakest of the bunch for a variety of reasons, namely the difficulty in defeating their rather dull foes. Despite the Rangers' powers stemming from the “greatest power in the universe,” the Energems, fans would be hard-pressed to believe that was the case. This is because their main adversaries are Sledge, a bounty hunter with a ship full of criminals, and Heckyl, a rather wily criminal from the same gang.
Where other Ranger teams found themselves up against impossible odds, legions of demons, or intergalactic sorcerers, the Dino Charge Rangers have trouble with law-breakers, bounty hunters, and criminals. In what’s clearly a case of a bark being worse than a bite, the so-called “greatest power in the universe” must not be that great after all.
Ninja Steel
The Ninja Steel Rangers are tasked with protecting the Ninja Nexus Prism, which contains the “legendary Ninja Power Stars.” These Power Stars are not the ones with eyeballs from Super Mario 64, but rather the source of the Ninja Steel team’s powers. Not unlike the so-called “greatest power in the universe” that the Dino Charge Rangers wielded, this team of ninja are quite low on the ranking of Power Rangers teams since their powers generally don’t overwhelm any of their peers.
In of villainy, the team is forced to participate against contestants from an intergalactic, combat-focused game show, and then Madame Odius upon her return. However, these foes are just regular bad guys from across the cosmos. Despite this, these villains still manage to give the Ninja Steel rangers trouble.
Operation Overdrive
Operation Overdrive, aside from its fairly well-liked anniversary episode, “Once A Ranger”, is not exactly beloved among fans, thanks to shoddy acting, writing and execution. Despite this, the ranger designs, the weapons and the Zords are actually quite cool. It’s a shame then, that their powers and purpose are considerably weak when looked at objectively.
Operation Overdrive has a great collection of varied villains, such as evil brothers and treasure hunters, but the extent of their power levels is suspect.
While the Rangers do save the day, the threat of the villains on their own (without the aid of the powerful crown and jewels McGuffins) are fairly harmless yet still manage to give these well-armed rangers a run for their money, which is an embarrassing display.
Jungle Fury
Jungle Fury is one of the stranger series in the Power Rangers stable: it features sunglasses being used as morphers, lots of pizza, and a little fly referee that acts as an announcer during Megazord battles. Those aren’t reasons that Jungle Fury is so low on the power scale, though.
The truth is, despite their kung-fu training, the adversary the Rangers are forced to deal with, Dai Shi, while aesthetically intimidating, isn’t exactly a threat to the world. His goal of ruling the Earth with an army of beasts is similar to other villains, but he is defeated by a team of up-and-coming rangers being trained by someone who might just be a stoner.
Ninja Storm
While Power Rangers Ninja Storm is a popular series with some great humor and action, these Power Rangers themselves are rather weak when compared to others in the series’ long history. One bright spot is that the Rangers were actually trained to be ninja, bringing their basic combat abilities above many of their peers. This is only amplified by the power of their morphers and Zords but, like the Dino Charge rangers, their foes are really nothing to bat an eyelash at.
Sure, the exiled ninja Lothor is deliciously entertaining, but he’s not an underworld god or apocalyptic computer virus. Also, the Rangers still had a tremendously difficult time dealing with him and his gang. Again, this is a great season, and it's not being knocked for quality, but the "wind rangers" just don’t measure up to their peers in of power - except for Tori as she takes over for her teammates when they're in danger multiple times, and becomes the best Blue Ranger in Power Rangers.
Alien Rangers
The Alien Rangers are a bit of a strange bunch since they were the first real hint at the scope of the show’s universe, and since the concept of “Power Rangers” wasn’t something native to just a single planet or person. During the third season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, these Aquitians filled in for Earth’s original team when they were turned into children, and, in of power, they appeared to at least be equal to Zordon’s team.
With a unique selection of powers and Zords, this team was able to adequately fill in the gap left by Earth’s out-of-commission forces, proving that they were exceptional in their right, and a team to be reckoned with, particularly when considering how dangerous Rita, Zedd and Master Vile were. The only trouble is that the Aquitians had a huge weakness when it came to fighting on Earth. The group needed large amounts of water to survive. Even a small battle against weaker opponents could drain them of their energy and leave them needing to recuperate for a few days.
Dino Thunder
Dino Thunder is one of the best seasons of the franchise, and it even brought back the fan-favorite Tommy Oliver as a mentor (and Ranger) to a new group of teenagers who found themselves becoming the multi-colored superheroes due to twist of fate and the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. Likewise, this season’s villain is also incredibly well-liked. Mesogog, a bio-tech mutant who wants to revert the world to the age of the dinosaurs, goes so far as to fight the Rangers personally.
The Rangers themselves are formidable enough (including civilian super-powers), but they barely had enough of an arsenal (or adequate training) to save the planet without sacrificing the very core of their powers, and they never display a strength that proves they’d be able to go toe-to-toe with the best of the best.
Megaforce
The horribly named “Super Megaforce” Rangers are the absolute worst in of Power Rangers' quality. Universally reviled by fans due to non-actors being asked to deliver some of the worst writing in the entire franchise, there is also the matter of misusing the powers that many fans looked forward to – The Ranger Keys.
The Keys allowed the team to use the powers of any past ranger from the franchise, acquiring their weapons and costumes. Despite this wealth of extraordinary potential, the rangers squandered most of these abilities against the overwhelming forces of the invading “Armada.”
Armada is a threat that needed the entirety of the Power Rangers franchise to help them defeat, despite already having all of their powers at their fingertips. Their lack of skill should make them one of the worst Power Rangers teams, but the potential of accessing every Ranger power elevates them.
Samurai
What elevates Power Rangers Samurai (and its “Super” follow-up) from its Neo-Saban peers is that this generation of Power Rangers is up against a deadly force of demonic entities and spirits in a war that has literally lasted for generations. They’ve been bred and trained to handle this feud should it rear its ugly head, and have dutifully prepared for it.
When the time does come, and the enemies of old re-emerge from the underworld, the Samurai rangers are ready and willing to stop the threat. While their impressive tech and training, along with their otherworldly foes, have earned them this relatively-middling place, make no mistake that Power Rangers Samurai is, unfortunately, one of the worst seasons in the franchise.
SPD
SPD may take place in the future, and may have given excellent training to each one of its , along with the most advanced technology of its time, but the audience never gets a real chance to gauge what most of this means in a meaningful context.
The main adversaries of Space Patrol Delta are alien criminals and their mechs. While they’re powerful in their own right, SPD is a police force and is never exactly pushed to the breaking point in either skill or technology. The most powerful test of their abilities wasn’t even against the series’ main villain, but rather the A-Squad, a team of traitorous rangers wielding SPD-designed heavy armor and weapons. So while it’s unquestionable that their available tech and training make the SPD rangers superior to a large chunk of teams, fans have never seen them reach their true potential.
