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The Illuminerdi’s Top 10 Red Rangers

The Illuminerdi has compiled a list of our Top Ten Red Rangers throughout the run of Power Rangers.

The Red Rangers are mostly known for being the leaders of their respective Power Rangers teams, with the exception of a few. Members and friends of The Illuminerdi have come together to make a list of the top 10 greatest Red Rangers the series has given us so far. Special thanks to The Illuminerdi’s own Jon Gatewood and Ian Klingler, co-host of the Earth Nerd YouTube channel for helping with this list.

To make this list, we all came up with your individual choices and then took the average results for each ranger across the board. This way we hope to be as fair to each ranger as possible. With that being said, let’s get started with our honorable mentions!

11. The Red Rangers Who Almost Made The Cut

Starting off the list as honorable mentions are Eric (Time Force), Tyler (Dino Charge and Dino Super Charge), and Marv (HyperForce). All of these rangers and unique in their own right and each brought something new to the table in their respective seasons.

Eric came into his season as the first secondary Red Ranger while also serving as the sixth ranger of his team. His arrogance served as a really good conflict for the original five rangers and his relationship with Wes was very enjoyable to watch, making him one of the better Red Rangers.

Tyler was the leader of one of the biggest Ranger teams the franchise has ever seen. With his team rounding out to 10 rangers by the end of Season 2 it can be hard to stand out against so many other awesome rangers. Tyler was able to do this, however, and served as an adequate leader to his large ranger team.

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Finally, we have Marv. Marv has the distinction of being the first leader of Power Rangers web-series. With its RPG format episodes of HyperForce usually lasted around 3 hours which is a lot of time for an actor to fill. However, Peter Sudarso was able to fill this time and he was able to fill it well. Marv was a flawed character who didn’t understand why he was chosen to be the leader. Later he was able to come to terms with his role and serve as a sufficient leader to his team.

With the honorable mentions out of the way, it’s finally time to move onto the main list.

10. Carter Grayson (Lightspeed Rescue)

carter grayson red ranger

Starting off our Top 10 is Carter Grayson serving as the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

Carter was a natural-born hero, being a firefighter before joining the rangers. Carter is known for being selfless, always putting others before himself.

Carter also will not retreat from a battle unless it will be detriment to his team. If evil force are afoot Carter will do whatever it takes to take them down. Carter’s never give up attitude and his extreme heroism is what makes Carter number 10 on our list.

9. Tommy Oliver (Zeo/Turbo)

Coming in at Number 9 on our list is Tommy Oliver, serving as a Red Ranger on Power Rangers Zeo as well as the first half of Power Rangers Turbo.

His tenure on Power Rangers Zeo is pretty solid. In Zeo, he essentially continues where he left off as the leader in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers just wearing the color Red instead of White. His relationship with Kat as well as the subplot with his brother also gave him a lot to do in Zeo and gave the character some much-needed character development at the time.

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Power Rangers Turbo unfortunately was a different story… What Zeo did right with Tommy, Turbo basically did the complete opposite. Tommy basically spent his time on the season just working on his sports car and didn’t really do much to contribute to the story or even his team until his final episode, Passing the Torch.

Overall, Tommy was a great ranger however is run in Turbo definitely bumped him down a few notches. Especially considering his replacement served as a massive improvement for the tone of that season…

8. T.J. Johnson (Turbo)

“Selwin Ward, first black leader of the Power Rangers!” 

~Andre Meadows (Black Nerd Comedy)

Coming in at Number 8 on our Top 10 Red Rangers is T.J. Johnson, the second Red Ranger from Power Rangers Turbo.

T.J. Johnson was on his way to pursue a baseball career when he sees others in trouble he takes action and helps out. It goes so well that Legendary Ranger Tommy Oliver chooses him as the new Red Ranger.

T.J took the title and made his time as the leader of the Turbo Rangers, sure he didn’t get many episodes to focus on him but his presence was there. Sure under his thumb, the turbo zords were destroyed, and the Power Chamber blew up but he was able to get his to team to recover and take the into Space where he and the rest of his joined Andros as the Space Rangers. T.J. taking second-in-command from that point.

If this were a list of greatest rangers of all time he would definitely be near the top counting both of his seasons, as he really shines as the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers in Space. However, this list is judging his status as a Red Ranger and even though he was an improvement from Tommy in that season, his team was defeated under his command which puts him at number 8 on our list.

7. Leo Corbett (Lost Galaxy)

Our number 7 spot goes to Leo Corbett, the leader of the Lost Galaxy Power Rangers.

Leo was originally just a stowaway on Terra Venture who ended up on Mironoi after going through a portal. He was the only one to not pull the Quasar Saber. However, he was able to take it as Mike was about to fall into a chasm caused by a monster.

After losing his brother, Leo became very determined to avenge his brother and defeat evil. In the final episode, Leo almost destroyed himself by sacrificing himself to destroy Trakeena.

His determination and ability to rise up to the challenge of being the leader after his brother’s apparent death is what makes Leo Number 7 on our list.

6. Casey Rhodes (Jungle Fury)

Number 6 on our list goes to Casey Rhodes the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Jungle Fury.

Casey was your newbie Pai Zhuq who was learning not only to be a True Pai Zhuq master but a master ranger as well. When the series starts Casey is headstrong, ready to help even when he doesn’t have the tools or knowledge but makes sure no one gets hurt.

Casey wasn’t even initially supposed to be the Red Ranger. Jarrod was supposed to be the Red Ranger but was possessed by the evil Dai-Shi, giving Casey the opportunity to take the mantle.

We see his potential fulfilled at the end of the season where he alone fights to save former bully Jarrod from the evil clutches of Dai Shi even when the other Rangers didn’t believe it could happen. No wonder he got his master stripes!

While Casey wasn’t initially the most qualified for the job of leader but by the end of Jungle Fury, he was able to earn his stripes (quite literally) and proved to be a very capable leader making him number 6 on our list!

Continue to Page 2 for the second half of our Top 10 Red Rangers!

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Bryce West

Bryce West

Bryce West is a writer/producer and a grad student at the University of Southern Indiana. West created his first television program at the age of 18 titled, The Film Reel. The Film Reel is a movie and TV talk show that has ran from 2019-present on News Channel 15 in Mt. Carmel, IL.