Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 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.
Season 1 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).
Season 2 In season 2, Rita's reign of terror came to an end when
Lord Zedd returned to assume control. Then it is revealed Rita was not the true empress, but actually the regent of Zedd's empire while he was off in other places. Zedd was furious that Rita had failed to defeat "children" and conquer the Earth, even when Rita warned him about Zordon. Despite Rita's begging and pleading, Lord Zedd vaporized Rita's magic wand and shrank her down to the size of a toy before again exiling her into space in a space dumpster. Locked within a space dumpster, Rita came within inches of freedom when her dumpster came to Earth, and
Bulk and Skull succeeded in opening the dumpster. But the Power Rangers were successful in sending Rita back into space. Eventually, her dumpster crashed into the Moon, and she escaped. Down but not out, after regaining her freedom, Rita sought assistance from Finster, her still loyal henchman, to concoct a love potion that would generate libidic feelings for use on Lord Zedd. She also used a beauty cream made by Finster over her face to become younger (serving to transition the actress from Soga to Perez). The love potion worked and the two were then married. Once married to Lord Zedd, Rita eventually gave up her magic practices and worked alongside Lord Zedd as a partner in crime. With Zedd by Rita's side, they are more powerful together and attempted to defeat the Rangers. Though they each failed, the Rangers did not claim victory so easily as the result of how efficacious their enemies have become.
Season 3 In season 3, Shortly after the wedding, Rita's brother,
Rito Revolto, arrived to join his sister and brother-in-law on their quest to destroy the Power Rangers. Following this, crossing their staffs, Rita and Zedd were able to make monsters grow by the power of lightning. Nevertheless, they continued to fail, even with help from Rita's spy,
Katherine Hillard, who, after breaking free from Rita's control, joined the forces of the Power Rangers as the second Pink Ranger when
Kimberly Hart departed for Florida. Additionally,
Goldar found out about the love potion that Rita used on
Lord Zedd and had a concoction created to reverse the effects. The anti-love potion brought Zedd back to normal. However, he had apparently developed a real love for Rita of his own accord. Later still, her father,
Master Vile, made his entrance and enraged over Rita's marriage to Lord Zedd, yells at her. He later aids the villains greatly by leaving the Rangers as powerless children. However, the Alien Rangers arrive to assist Zordon and foiling his plans. Rita is embarrassed to see Master Vile throwing a tantrum like child and tells him to stop doing that. Master Vile decides to leave much to her embarrassment and Zedd's pleasure.
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers In
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Rita's father turned back time using the Orb of Doom. As a result the
Alien Rangers were summoned from Aquitar, working to protect Earth from Rita and Zedd's forces until the de-aged Rangers could acquire the Zeo Crystal and use it to turn time back to normal. During this story arc, the villains were successful in destroying the power coins and planting an explosive device within the catacombs of the Command Center and once the Zeo sub crystals were all reassembled set off the device believing that they had finally destroyed Zordon, Alpha and the Power Rangers. They however lost contact with Rito and Goldar who they believed escaped the destruction of the Command Center with the Zeo Crystal.
Power Rangers Zeo In
Power Rangers Zeo, despite their apparent victory, Rita and Zedd were forced to flee to live in refuge with Master Vile following the arrival of the
Machine Empire. However, the couple, along with the other villains, returned to the moon in a
motorhome and throughout the latter part of
Zeo. Rita and Zedd attempted to thwart the Machine Empire's plots and even aided the Rangers to prevent the Machine Empire from claiming Earth. In "Rangers of Two Worlds, Part 1", Finster made a new staff for Rita, which is much stronger than before. She had planned to make Katherine into a monster, but due to Goldar and Rito squabbling over seating arrangements, their fighting unwittingly veered the motorhome off target and created Impursonator from her ugly purse. Despite its harmless form, she ended up being one of Rita's most powerful monsters created and even deflecting hits from the Zeo Ultrazord. After King Mondo and his family are defeated by the Power Rangers, Zedd and Rita gave
Prince Sprocket a present, claimed as a peace offering, which was actually a bomb, which blows the Royal House of Gadgetry to pieces. Zedd and Rita are seen driving away victoriously in their motorhome, while King Mondo swears revenge on the two.
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie Rita and Zedd made a small cameo appearance in
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
Divatox calls them in the middle of the night to ask them how to destroy the Rangers. In a comical scene, Rita held the phone to a snoring Zedd, saying that if she knew how to stop the Rangers she would not be listening to that, and then told Divatox her advice was to run.
Power Rangers Turbo In the
Power Rangers Turbo episode "The Millennium Message", the
Blue Senturion plays a video message from the future foretelling of Dark Specter's alliance and their attack on the galaxy. Shown working together and causing destruction are Rita, Zedd, Mondo, Machina and Divatox.
Power Rangers in Space In
Power Rangers in Space, Rita and Zedd joined the alliance of villains led by
Dark Specter, and assisted with Dark Specter's scheme to vanquish all good in the universe. In the first episode, Rita competes with Divatox for the task of pursuing
Andros, the Red Space Ranger who has infiltrated the meeting of villains. During Dark Specter's final assault, Zedd and Rita were assigned to conquer a Planet in the Vica Galaxy that was defended by Trey of Triforia, the Gold Zeo Ranger. During the final confrontation in "
Countdown to Destruction, Part 2" when
Zordon sacrificed his own life, it caused an energy wave that destroyed the invaders and purified the villains into humans. Rita was transformed into a normal human, who swiftly expressed delight that Lord Zedd had also been transformed. They were seen dancing happily, while the bemused Trey watches on with relief.
Power Rangers Mystic Force /''Magiel in
Mahou Sentai Magiranger In
Power Rangers Mystic Force, viewers learn that Rita has become the Mystic Mother, Empress of Good Magic and leader of the Mystic Ones. She is the one who apparently gave the Power Rangers Mystic Force their link to the Morphing Grid. When she learns that the Master is about to assault the Mystic Mother's fortress, Udonna mentions that she was "known as Rita in the dark days". It is the Mystic Mother who gives Clare the powers of a full sorceress and helps the Mystic Rangers to defeat the Master of Darkness—in typical Rita fashion, she accuses the Master of giving her a headache. Note that the characters were unrelated in the original Japanese
Super Sentai series, even though they were both played by Machiko Soga (she was one of many actors in the original franchise who played unrelated characters in different seasons). The writers decided to connect the characters both as an Easter egg for long-time fans and as a tribute to Soga herself, who died while
Mystic Force was in production.
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive In the
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive 15th special anniversary episode,
Once A Ranger, Zedd and Rita's previously unknown son,
Thrax, confront the Overdrive Rangers. Thrax united the current team's various enemies and severed their connection to the Morphing Grid. In response, the Sentinel Knight assembles a team of veteran Rangers to defeat Thrax. Adam, the new team's leader, mentions his previous battles with Zedd and Rita and observes that Thrax will be difficult to defeat. When he later mentions Rita's change of allegiance, Thrax mocks his mother's decision to embrace good after Zordon's wave purified her.
Power Rangers Beast Morphers Rita is mentioned and made a cameo in the footage in the
Power Rangers Beast Morphers episode "Making Bad." She is shown in the footage of Lord Zedd when Scrozzle suggested that they use the Re-Animizer on Lord Zedd's staff.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always In the anniversary film
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always,
Billy Cranston, in an attempt to revive Zordon, accidentally collects the evil that was blasted off of Rita by the Z-Wave. This evil possesses the body of Alpha 8, becoming a new version of the villainess called Robo-Rita. The revived witch unleashes an army of Putties and creates robot versions of Mighty Minotaur and Snizzard to serve her. She murders
Trini Kwan in battle when Trini intercepts a blast meant for Billy, causing Trini's daughter Minh to swear vengeance. Later, she captures
Tommy Oliver,
Kimberly Hart,
Jason Lee Scott, and Rangers from other teams and imprisons them in a machine that drains their energy. Her plan is eventually revealed that she will use the energy to power a time portal so she can help her past self kill the Power Rangers before Zordon can recruit them. Minh intercepts a blast meant for Billy, but survives and successfully morphs. The remaining Rangers defeat her minions and Minh and
Zack Taylor destroy Robo-Rita, putting an end to the evil of Rita Repulsa.
Power Rangers Cosmic Fury In the finale of
Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, an evil copy of Lord Zedd is defeated by being placed in an eternal dream of being endlessly nagged by Rita. ==In other media==