In the original Power Rangers, villain Rita Repulsa let her various monsters do most of the heavy lifting when it came to defeating the rangers. In the upcoming Power Rangers film reboot, it looks like she will be taking a much more hands-on approach.
Elizabeth Banks as Rita is front and center in the first official still from the film, which debuted over on Entertainment Weekly to kick off the site's upcoming San Diego Comic-Con coverage. The image shows Rita throwing Yellow Ranger Trini, played by singer Becky G, into the wall. Becky G offers some insight into what Rita's thinking in the scene, which has Rita corner Trini in her bedroom, where a fight soon breaks out.
"Rita tries to make Trini feel like she's the weakest link of the Power Rangers, and she feels it's easiest to go for her," Becky G says. "Rita's the type to play a lot of mind games, and Trini's [thinking], "Can I really overpower Rita Repulsa or can I not?"
That, if nothing else, is something fans of the original series have never seen before. As mentioned above, Rita usually sent her monsters to do her bidding, monsters that would inevitably grow to massive size and later be defeated by the Power Rangers in their Zord mech. From the start, Banks as Rita has been far different from what fans might have expected, most notably given how her character looks absolutely nothing like the witch-like Rita from the original show.
Whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen. No doubt, more images and maybe even footage from the film will come out of Comic-Con next week, but for now, it seems like a curious first image to show to the public. Aside from a look at Rita, the new Power Ranger suits and a number of recently-revealed posters, this is the first real look at the film fans have had. It's interesting that those behind the film decided to show this image rather than something that would have showed one of the Power Rangers in costume.
Will the new Power Rangers reboot bring back fond memories of the original show? It's hard to say right now. Without having seen any of the film's action (or any of the film in general), the verdict is still out. Here's hoping that changes soon.
