Power Rangers is famous for its multi-colored threads, leave it to these teenagers with attitude to fight the forces of evil while sporting spandex, posing, and looking good doing what they do best. For generations, Toei Company has been illustrious, weaving beautiful suits used in Super Sentai, the original foundation for Power Rangers. Without Super Sentai, there would be no Power Rangers.
Now that Power Rangers is under Hasbro’s care and guidance, it’s only a matter of time before Power Rangers and Super Sentai go their separate ways, but that doesn’t mean they would forget their roots. With the new Power Rangers movie approaching, I think Super Sentai should be honored, especially with one that essentially could have been the first Power Rangers.
Come, join us as we venture off into speculative territory and discuss why we think the Power Rangers film’s team should have suits inspired by the vintage Sentai, Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan.
How Marvel nearly created Power Rangers
Let’s start by turning back the hands of the hands of time and visiting the late 1970s, now let’s make our way over to Marvel who had established a professional partnership with Toei at the time. The Marvel and Toei partnership was a delightfully odd pairing beginning in 1978 with Toei’s Spider-Man, a major Japanese reimagining of the Web-Head. If you think MCU’s Spider-Man has too much fancy technology, I have news for you, Toei’s Spider-Man had a giant robot, let that sink in.
Marvel also had a hand in helping Toei produce the Super Sentai series, namely Battle Fever J, who interestingly enough had the Japanese equivalent to Captain America, “Battle Japan”. After working on a couple of other Toei projects, Stan Lee eventually caught his eye on Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan.
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In an interview with Inverse, Margaret Loesch, former CEO of Marvel Productions( a now default subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment LLC), detailed how Stan Lee approached her about doing an American adaptation of Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan.
“He can sell it as is with a new voice track, or take the prints and cut out the parts where Japanese actors appear, which is about one-third of the film, and reshoot that with American actors, and cut back to the how with the special effects and opticals and visuals, thus creating a series that looks American.”
Sadly, this Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan was never given serious consideration by potential networks. A $25,000 sizzle reel put together by Loesch and Marvel failed to convey what Lee saw in three color-coded superheroes fighting rubber monsters. Networks said it was “too foreign” and “junk.”
As fate would have it after Loesch left Marvel, she was approached by Haim Saban several years later about adapting Super Sentai, this time around the result was a success and led to the birth of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
How The Movie’s suits can be based off Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan
Hear me out, even though Hasbro will be cutting ties with Toei, there are still elements from Super Sentai they can use should they desire, as long as it’s not from anything succeeding Ryusoulger. According to original reports, the new team introduced in the upcoming Power Rangers film will supposedly consist of three rangers, once those plans remain intact, we’ll see the basic primary colors, red, blue, and yellow.
Given Hasbro’s plans to focus and expand upon Power Rangers lore with the new film, there’s an incredible opportunity here to not only pay homage to Power Rangers but to Super Sentai, primarily Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan. In my opinion, the most organic way for that to be accomplished is by introducing the team in suits based on the Sentai.
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Now here’s the thing, the exact suits from Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan may be outdated, but they can be remodeled for a modern audience. They don’t have to be armor like what was presented in 2017’s Power Rangers or look like Iron Man made them.
We live in an age where superheroes dominate pop culture, most of us don’t have an issue with superheroes wearing spandex as long as they can kick butt and look cool. With a little bit of finetuning and restructuring, I’m convinced that Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan’s designs can easily be translated to the new Power Rangers film.
Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan may not have been adapted in a Power Rangers season, but when you think about it, it planted the seed for Power Rangers to grow. If the movie’s rangers wear suits inspired by Sun Vulcan, that would be subtly poetic, it could be a way for Hasbro to simultaneously honor Toei and the Late Stan Lee, thanking them for all they’ve done.
What do you think? What kind of suits would you like to see in the upcoming Power Rangers movie? Let us know in the comments. if you like what you read, be sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook so you don’t miss more Power Rangers content like this in the future!
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