This Friday is going to be an intensely exciting day for me as it marks not only the highly-anticipated release of the Power Rangers movie, but also the premiere of Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 9. This collision of pop culture premiere dates will make for one hell of a day as I have to somehow find enough time in the day to geek out about two separate fandoms at once.
But this delicious bit of synchronicity got me thinking about how Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa looks like a glamazon warrior who wouldn’t be out of place in the Werk Room of Rupaul’s Drag Race.
“Gentlemen, start your engines and may the best woman win!”
And then it dawned on me—a lot of the female villains the Power Rangers face are basically drag queens already. They may not have a penis tucked between their legs, but they have the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent it takes to be America’s next drag superstar. Here’s my list of the top Power Ranger villains who would make fierce drag queens if, you know, they were gay men or trans women.
11. Poisandra
Power Rangers Dino Charge/Power Rangers Dino Super Charge
“Donut come for me.” (source)
Poisandra is one of the most recent female villains to torment the Power Rangers and already I can hear most of you wondering when we’re going to get to Rita Repulsa. In a second, calm down! You don’t have to be a current Power Rangers fan to appreciate what Poisandra has going for her. For starters, her name would make the perfect moniker for a drag queen and she spent the majority of the series fretting about her engagement to her daddy bear, Sledge.
But just look at all that hair! She’s giving me candy couture realness with that spikey Marie Antoinette look, if Marie Antoinette’s hair was made out of molded latex. Her eyelashes go on for days and that giant pearl necklace is pure Frank N. Furter fierceness. Poisandra also serves you a little bit of spice with all of that sugar. Her mouth looks like an unzipped bondage mask that transitions down into a black latex bodysuit that she wears underneath all that colorful candy. No wonder Sledge seems so satisfied.
10. Madame Woe
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
“If you’re not wearing nails, you’re not doing drag!” (source)
I debated including Madame Woe in this list, despite the fact that she’s one of the most infamous female monsters-of-the-day the Power Rangers ever faced (and one of the first to boot.) I wasn’t totally sure her look screamed “queen” to me. Those long blue braids make her wig look kind of crusty and that awkward headpiece isn’t doing her any favors.
But then I realized that this is the kind of look I could totally see a queen like Kim Chi pulling off, so I gave Ms. Woe here a free pass. Especially because the name Madame Woe sounds like someone’s drag mother—and she definitely has that old queen look. The House of Woe is such a good name for a drag family that it’s probably already taken. Madam Woe’s signature weapon her amazing manicured nails which she can grow out to lethal blades. Fierce! But don’t think for a second that I didn’t clock that little scarf tied around her neck to hide her Adam’s apple.
9.and 8. Marah and Kapri
Power Rangers Ninja Storm
“Party.” (source)
I lumped these two together because they come as a sister act, you just can’t break them apart. Marah and Kapri were main-villain Lothor’s annoying, comic relief nieces who acted like the spoiled evil rich girls they are. Marah is the one who looks like the co-host of a Japanese game show about beekeeping while Kapri is the one who looks like she stole Pink’s face and hair coloring. They both have names that sound like drag queens (Marah is one letter off from the drag queen Mariah) and the personalities to match.
Marah and Kapri are space divas with a capital D. They were always putting on elaborate disguises with crazy hairstyles and fucking around on Earth. They love fashion and makeup and pop culture, even once appearing in the Totally Talented contest singing “I Wanna Be Your Space Girl.” These girls embraced every aspect of drag culture, except for the whole being in drag part.
7. Lipsyncher
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
“The time has come for you to lipsync for your LIFE!” (source)
Lipsyncher was always my favorite monster growing up because she was fucking fierce as hell. Lord Zedd created Lipsyncher from Kimberly’s lipstick which she was wearing for a date with Tommy. The shade of lipstick? “Siren Song Red.” That is probably the most sexual thing this show ever did. Lipsyncher looked like a walking talking lipstick drag queen ninja warrior goddess. She was all legs, all lips, all T&A and she would cut you down to size like the inferior bitch you are.
Lipsyncher was also completely badass, going toe-to-toe with Tommy in his new White Ranger outfit and whupping his ass in the process. She was so badass they made her a playable character in the Power Rangers: Fighting Edition video game because unlike many of the Power Ranger monsters, she was a skilled warrior with a sensible power. She could use her voice as a weapon and she fought with a sword shaped like a pair of lips. Mama has come to slay.
6. Astronema
Power Rangers in Space/Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (as Karone)
“This is my hair, I don’t wear wigs.”
When she was introduced in Power Rangers in Space, Astronema not only carried on a long-standing tradition of female villains, she straight up dominated them. As the Princess of Darkness, Astronema worked for Dark Spectre, the baddest villain of the Zordon Era. So the other female villains we had already seen like Rita Repulsa, Queen Machina and Divatox were made to bow to the one true diva queen. Even though she was young, she had the respect of every villain in the Power Rangers universe.
Astronema not only had the diva factor, she was one of the most fashion-forward villainesses in Power Rangers history. She was always swapping out different wigs and hairstyles, cultivating a general feeling of the essence Astronema but never settling on one single definitive look. Just like a drag queen, Astronema existed as more of a fluid visual concept than a static persona.
5. Nadira
Power Rangers Time Force
“See me with them hands.”
Unlike most of the villains in the Power Rangers franchise, Nadira acts more like your typical comic book villain. Instead of attacking the city with giant monsters, she loves robbing fashion botiques and jewelry stores, totally abusing her power and authority to get whatever she wants, whenever she wants it—now damn it! Nadira is a spoiled, bossy glamazon who sees money as the true power in the world—even if she has actual powers. Like Madame Woe, Nadira carries on the Power Rangers tradition of using fingernails as a weapon.
Nadira was also a skilled warrior with a lot of heart under her ditsy persona. She was a daddy’s girl through and through (her father, Ransik, was the main villain) and she loved being pampered and admired like a true queen. Nadira had a sweet side to her—she developed a crush on Lucas the Blue Ranger and even wooed him onto a date. Nadira’s biggest girl power moment was when she helped deliver a baby in a clothing store dressing room and decided she didn’t hate humans anymore. Everybody say love!
4.Scorpina
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
“How is she though?” (source)
As a kid I always loved how Scorpina was such a badass—instead of being Rita’s lackey she was referred to as Rita’s friend. Of course, she was still treated somewhat as a subordinate, but Scorpina still managed to maintain that level of danger and mystery. When Scorpina was on the scene, the Rangers were shitting bricks. Even Squatt and Baboo, Rita’s bumbling lackeys, were afraid of her.
Scorpina’s outfit is giving me Clash of the Titans realness with a waist that’s cinched for the gods and that pop of red lipstick that says “beautiful but deadly.” Her only downfall is the fact that when she grows giant she turns into some kind of Lovecraftian scorpion monster, which I feel like we are supposed to assume is her “true” form and that she maintains a disguise when she’s normal sized. But hey, what drag queen doesn’t look like a Lovecraftian scorpion monster after a long night at the club?
3. Beauticruel
Power Rangers Dino Super Charge
“Why don’t you come up and fuck me in the ass sometime?” (source)
This might actually be cheating since Beauticruel is a legit drag queen. This monster-of-the-day was an upgraded Vivix, which were the foot soldiers that fought against the Dino Charge team. This particular Vivix had gone boy-crazy and was transformed into Beauticruel when her drag mother Poisandra literally painted her for the gods with a magic paint brush. Now of course, the character was referred to as a female, even though the Vivix (or any other foot soldiers for that matter) were never seen as having different genders.
Not only that—in the Japanese version, this monster was actually a drag queen and referred to as a female impersonator. It’s pretty obvious in the American version too, even if it’s coded for the censors as Beuticruel has giant red lips, a feather boa and a flamboyant personality. She straight up sounds like Alaska Thunderfuck’s impersonation of Mae West, serving up sassy camp appeal.
2. Divatox
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie/Power Rangers Turbo/ Power Rangers In Space
“Not today Satan, not today.” (source)
Divatox is the self-proclaimed intergalactic pirate queen of evil, but it’s her other nickname that better suits her character—the toxic diva. Divatox might come off like the Pepsi to Rita’s Coke, but their rivalry was epic on a Bette Davis and Joan Crawford level. Divatox is the only villain to get an entire movie to set-up her introduction and her scene where she called up Rita for advice was not only the best part of that movie, it single-handedly helped Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie pass the Bechdel Test.
If Divatox was a drag queen she’d be a comedy queen like Bianca Del Rio—a rude, crude, loudmouth with no filter and a low tolerance for bullshit. And let’s face it—she looks like Michelle Visage’s inevitable evil clone child with Madonna.
1. Rita Repulsa
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/ Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie/ Power Rangers Zeo/ Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie/ Power Rangers in Space/ Power Rangers Mystic Force (as Mystic Mother)/ Power Rangers (2017 Movie)
“Mother has arrived.” (source)
Who else were you expecting, honestly? Rita Repulsa is to the Power Rangers universe as Rupaul is to the drag world. Everything about Rita screams drag queen from her campy name to her brash personality—Rita can throw shade just as well as she can throw her magic wand down to Earth to make a monster grow.
Rita is an icon, she’s the standard of diva excellence that all other female Power Ranger villains have to aspire towards. Hell, she’s one of the few female villains in any media to be the main threat for a team of superheroes. Rita proved that it’s just as fun to explore the concept of feminine evil as it is to see yet another example of masculine evil.
Case in point, Rita was given the boot when her boss Lord Zedd showed up in Season Two. But after parents complained about Zedd, Rita was brought back in to soften him up and to inject the franchise with a well-needed boost of femininity.
Later on in the series, Rita was purified and changed to the side of goodness. She became the master of all good magic, a giant-sized goddess named Mystic Mother, which just cements Rita’s position as the ultimate drag mother.
If you need further proof that Rita is the fiercest drag queen on Power Rangers, then look no further than this video evidence of Phi-Phi O’Hara’s legendary performance as the queen of darkness herself. Many actresses and pop divas say that they know they’ve hit the big time when drag queens start to impersonate them. To my knowledge, Rita remains the only Power Ranger villainess to receive this honor from a drag queen (not to mention all the boy cosplayers at comic and anime conventions.)
So that’s the tea, henny. Do you agree with my choices? Do you think there’s another Power Ranger villain who has the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent to make it as a drag legend? Share your favorite Power Ranger villainess in the comments below and let’s have a kiki about her drag queen potential!
K is for Komics 
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