A canonical explanation is finally given for the disappearance of the memorable Mighty Morphin Power Rangers villain, Scorpina. Introduced in the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Scorpina is, hands down, Rita Repulsa’s most skilled henchwoman. Her appearances are few and far between at 25 episodes, but she leaves an impression as an underrated villain. Yet, she disappears suddenly without explanation.
Her last regular television appearance is in the second season episode “Goldar’s Vice-Versa.” After that, Scorpina’s whereabouts are never disclosed until the 2018 comic Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon by Kyle Higgins, Giuseppe Cafaro, Marcelo Costa, and Ed Dukeshire. Taking place decades in the future, the comic sees a new villain surface to terrorize the planet. A more grizzled veteran in Tommy Oliver speculates that this is the return of Rita Repulsa, especially given the mysterious villain’s moniker of “The Witch.”
Much to Tommy’s surprise, The Witch is revealed to be Scorpina, who proceeds to explain not only where she’s been this whole time, but how she evaded Zordon’s evil-vanquishing Z-Wave.
Scorpina Was Betrayed By Rita Repulsa Off-Screen
After kidnapping J.J. Oliver, the son of Tommy Oliver and former Pink Ranger Kat, Scorpina decides to explain her backstory, as far as where she’s been this whole time. As it turns out, at some point after her final on-screen appearance in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Scorpina grows power-hungry and makes plans to overthrow Rita. Little does she know that Rita sees her betrayal coming, and intends to stab her in the back first. She uses her magic to send Scorpina to the Talos Dimension, which is ruled by the diabolical Lokar.
Scorpina spends years pleading for her freedom, but she has nothing to leverage until Zordon’s aforementioned Z-Wave is unleashed. Being in another dimension spares Scorpina from being drained of her evil, but Lokar’s allies like Rita and Lord Zedd are not so lucky. Without an ally in the universe, Lokar allows Scorpina to leave in order to act as an agent of his chaos, using his dark magic crystals to spread his message from the shadows. Scorpina does just that once she’s sent to Earth, albeit with the disappointment of missing a decade’s worth of time since she left.
Scorpina is the Last Power Rangers Villain
The resulting Z-Wave has effectively wiped out evil entirely from the universe, with some exceptions. Scorpina, being exempt from it, does more than just explain her missing pieces within the show’s main canon. Her avoidance of the Z-Wave makes Scorpina the last Power Rangers villain. She is not just the last one left over from the original series, but essentially the last Big Bad of the franchise, with the graphic novel being a swan song of sorts. It elevates Scorpina‘s position in a way that Mighty MorphinPower Rangers never did for the underrated villain, giving her a legacy beyond being another villain’s sidekick.
