WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir to Darkness #1 by L.L. McKinney, Simone Ragazzoni, Igor Monti, Sabrina Del Grosso, Ed Dukeshire, and Scott Newman, on sale now.
As unlikely as it may seem, the universe of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is filled with a nearly incalculable number of tragic figures and heartbreaking origin stories. While many of these are centered around heroic characters such as Zordon and Grace Sterling, some of the Rangers’ most ruthless villains ended up where they are due to circumstances outside of their control.
In the case of Astronema, nothing could save her from a childhood of pain and agony, and no one could keep her from going on a horrific journey towards becoming the Princess of Evil that she is today, as Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir to Darkness #1 makes clear.
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Born Karone on a distant planet, the girl who would become Astronema was stolen from her home by the evil bounty hunter Darkonda. At the time, Karone was older than the children normally kidnapped to be forcibly conscripted into Dark Specter’s army. The prospect of her retaining memories of her real family made the girl less desirable than other “recruits,” making her the perfect ward to leave in the care of Darkonda’s rival, Ecliptor. Now known only as Kay, she would become one of the most promising young warriors in her class, only outmatched by her adoptive sister, Dee. The cruel taunts that she was responsible for her family’s deaths, a lie held over her head as a tool to control her, drove Kay to regard herself as a failure in every way. This was unacceptable to Ecliptor, who had not only grown fond of the child but saw genuine greatness in her as well. To prove to Kay that she was always valued, he gave to her the locket he had stolen off of her mother all those years ago, the one containing portraits of Kay and her long-lost brother.
This revelation that she could be more than her test results was exactly the breakthrough that Kay needed to find her confidence, channeled from the newfound rage of the loss of a family she never really knew. When the time came for her final combat against Dee for Dark Specter’s favor, that anger burned inside of Kay in a way that nothing had ever before. Dee had always had the upper hand against her sister, though they were never really fighting on the same level. Where Dee was always ready to attack Kay’s insecurities during battle, Kay was herself now willing to go beyond their normal sparring and make lethal strikes against the girl she no longer considered family. Kay’s family was dead, making her free to avenge them any way she saw fit.
While Dee miraculously survived their battle, the scars left her broken mentally and physically, all while Kay had found a new reason to hold her head high. In the darkness she had earned a venture into, Kay was confronted by the ghosts of her past, all of whom she struck down with the same brutal confidence that had once been displayed by Dee. Once emerged from the void, Kay was ready to proclaim the title that the darkness had bestowed upon her, that of Astronema, Princess of Evil.
Her origin is not entirely dissimilar from the one that Astronema had in Power Rangers In Space, but it is far more horrific. That shouldn’t be too surprising considering how much further the comics can push that dark and gritty envelope compared to a series that is overtly for children, though it’s still shocking that this was all spurned from that very same character. With the stage set as it is now, Lord Drakkon might not be the worst of the worst much longer.
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