Power Rangers: Ranking the Red Rangers

This article originally ran in March of 2014. It has been updated to reflect additional Red Rangers who have appeared since then!

The Red Ranger in Power Rangers is usually the leader of the team, the one who gets the most prominent focus on the team, and even gets a “Doubting Red Ranger” episode near the beginning of the season! Today, we’re ranking all the Red Rangers.

Yes, even the obscure ones.

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We leave no stone unturned here at Den of Geek. If you haven’t heard of some of these rangers, clearly you haven’t been binge watching all 800+ episodes.

27. Nick Russell (Firass Dirani)

Power Rangers Mystic Force

Nick is the worst. Mystic Force was squarely focused on him and that stupid red blanket of his. He had no redeeming qualities besides bike to the face. He turned to evil in the finale for no discernible reason!

He was ready to give up when faced with adversity, his entire team had to rally him to keep going. What kind of leader is he?

He also rode off into the sunset with his mom and dad on motorcycles. Because you know what’s awesome when you’re a teenager? Going on a super cool biking road trip with mom and dad! God, no wonder Madison gave up persuing you.

26. Justin (Patrick Wolf)

Zedd’s Dark Rangers

Just look at that costume. Does that look someone who shouldn’t be at the bottom of this list?

The guy doesn’t have a character. He’s there to be evil Jason during “Green No More.” Oh, and fun fact, there was another Dark Ranger in the Marvel Comics Power Rangers line named Farai Jukwa which through a far too complicated line of reasoning is how Jason got his morpher back during "Forever Red." The more you know PR fans! (Note: This was all conjecture given by the episodes' writer, but hell, why not.)

25. Aurico (David Bacon)

Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers

Most of the Alien Rangers are victims of having too little screen time and what they did have was shared with the rangers when they were turned into kids. Even showing up in “Forever Red” didn’t give him anything to do. Aurico wasn’t even the leader of his team...that was Delphine, the White Alien Ranger.

He’s remembered solely because he was red.

24. Rocko "Wild Wild West Ranger" (Steve Cardenas)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

As much as I love the idea of Rocky’s ancestor becoming a Power Ranger and fighting off cowboy putties, I can’t put him higher on the list. He just didn’t do anything. All of the Rangers ancestors were just wild west stereotypes of themselves. But look at those fancy duds!

23. Psycho Red (Patrick David)

Power Rangers In Space

The Psycho Rangers get a lot of love from fans for being the best team of evil rangers the show has ever done. While that’s debatable, the Psycho Rangers are overhyped. They don’t have any characters outside their introduction episode, “We’re faster than you, smarter than you, but we’re EVIL!!!!!”

They just run around for an arc of episodes trying to kill the Rangers because…they’re evil! We never get any real motivation for why they’re doing what they do. We’ve had better.

22. Cole (Ricardo Medina Jr.) 

Power Rangers Wild Force

“I’m a guardian of the EARFFFF!” (Not a typo, he actually says it that way.)

Cole is a jungle boy who knows how to use a cell phone with no problem. Cole runs on all fours and uses his sleeves as a bandana. He’s pretty embarrassing as a Red Ranger.

Sure, the back-story of his parents is pretty tragic but too often he’s trying to make nice with the enemies or just being terribly acted by Rick Medina. He uses his heart to talk with animals!

Look, if I wanted to watch Captain Planet, I would watch Captain Planet. Ma-Ti was ten times more badass than Cole ever was.

21. Casey (Jason Smith)

Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Casey doesn’t want any trouble. That’s pretty much all I ever got out of him. He was a towel boy who ended up as the leader of a ranger team. He got mad when RJ took over, even when RJ was his superior in every way from day one (You can’t compete with a zen, pot smoking, purple ranger dude, you just can’t). He even told a little kid who stole a kite from a toy store that the Power Rangers would beat him up if they found out he was a thief.

His appearance in SuperMegaforcewas nice though.

20. Jayden (Alex Heartman)

Power Rangers Samurai/Super Samurai

He must not fail, he is the Red Ranger.

Jayden is a victim of direct translation. He’s written to be like his Sentai counterpar...but the defining characteristics of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger’s Takeru just don’t work for an American character.

That and for the first half of the series he’s stuck in a permanent scowl. It isn’t till the end of Super Samurai we see a bit of Alex Heartman’s natural charisma finally escape out. It’s a shame they never used his talents because Jayden is painfully dull.

Just remember guys; we can do this as a team! Now I’m going to use my giant sword to defeat the monsters by myself! TEAMWORK!

19. Troy (Andrew Gray)

Power Rangers Megaforce/Super Megaforce

Troy hates water bottles. Really hates water bottles. That’s all I’ve got.

Troy had a ton of potential, recurring dreams about a war of Rangers and being the new kid in school, but he just fights. And maybe remembers to grieve for his daddy- I mean Robo Knight, sometimes! 

But hey, he’s really flying a dragon! Do you see any tears? 

18. Jack (Brandon Jay McLaren) 

Power Rangers SPD

Jack is a dick. We see this demonstrated in his first focus episode where he takes it easy while putting the other rangers through back-breaking training, and in the finale when he decides hanging out with some girl is more important than saving the universe. The whole world is going to hell, but you’ve got to talk with some girl you just met five minutes ago! Nah, man...don’t worry about us all dying, it’s all-good!

Jack isn’t a bad character; he’s just not a very good Red Ranger. As much as Sky was a sexist pig? At least he took his job seriously. And yes, I know Sky and Bridge were both Red Rangers at one point. They were pretty nifty….Yes, yes, Sky’s dad was a Red Ranger as well. SPD just loved those Red Rangers.

17. Mack (James MacLurcan) 

Power Rangers Overdrive

So picture this. You are a billionaire. You have access to advanced robotics. What do you do? Build a robot son apparently...even before a robot wife.

Thus, we get Mack, the boy who doesn’t know he’s a robot! While this revelation is one of the only tolerable episodes of Overdrive, Mack is also the leader of one of the worst teams in one of the worst seasons of Power Rangers. He’s just so forgettable besides that whole robot thing. And (SPOILER) it’s totally cured by the end of the season!

He could have gone out like a champ but some stupid crown of the gods made him human. What a waste of a wish.

16. Rocky (Steve Cardenas)

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

I like Rocky. He just wants to have fun. But he isn’t a good Red Ranger.

By the time he’s introduced as the replacement for Jason, Tommy is running the show. He’s second in command at best. Season 2 didn’t give him much to work with and even his own episodes in Season 3 didn’t do much to define him.

However, by the time Zeo came around Rocky finally came into his own. But he was blue, not red. We even had a whole episode where he felt inferior to Jason. When that’s your best episode of the season you aren’t the best Red Ranger on the block.

15. Hunter (Adam Tuominen) 

Power Rangers Ninja Storm

Some will argue Hunter isn’t a Red Ranger, but if we count the QUANTUM Ranger as Red? Then Hunter is fine in that category, even if he really isn’t a leader.

Hunter is the head of the two-brother team known as the Thunder Rangers but by the time they’re united with the Wind Rangers? Shane is the leader. I like that they had a whole episode addressing who the leader was, but at the end of the day it was Shane who saved the world, not Hunter...who also happens to be from Australia apparently, since that natural accent kept slipping out at the worst times.

14. Charlie (Gina Varela) 

Power Rangers SPD

The very first female Red Ranger in the series history was only on screen for a handful of episodes but she made a definite impression. We didn’t get anything wishy-washy about why she turned evil: “Everyone wants to be on the winning team!”

Charlie was a cool, calculating, effective leader. She had the Rangers on the ropes and nearly defeated them if it weren’t for the power of teamwork!

13. Andros (Christopher Khayman Lee) 

Power Rangers In Space

Power Rangers In Space presents us with two versions of Andros. One is an angsty leader who’s still getting over his sister being kidnapped when they were kids. He’ll do anything to get her back and nothing in the universe will stop him. He even shattered Zordon's tube to do it. I can’t stand this Andros. Christopher Khayman Lee just came off sounding whiney and could never sell that.

The other Andros is a bumbling alien who can never quite understand human interaction, which is masterfully shown in “A Ranger Among Thieves.” Also, this Andros is petty and jealous whenever the girl he likes even looks at another guy. That’s so hilariously terrible for a galactic hero that I have to love it.

12. Tyler (Brennan Mejia) 

Power Rangers Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge

Tyler just wants to find his Dad, which basically makes him Ryan Steele from VR Troopers for the new generation. This means I love him with all my heart. He even wore a vest a few times!

Tyler is what I would call a very squee-able character. He’s super cute and while he may lack some of the depth of the other Rangers on this list, he makes up for it with his pure enthusiasm for life. It's just a shame his character arc took such a nosedive after her found his dad. Come on, dude! Be a little mad about your dad not showing up for ten years when he totally could have.

11. Lauren (Kimberly Crossman) 

Power Rangers Super Samurai

The true leader of the Samurai Rangers, Lauren was hinted at very early on in Samurai and finally appeared during the final arc of Super Samurai. Our first female Red Ranger on the side of good, she acted rings around the other Samurai cast members. Lauren even had a way to defeat Xandred when the Rangers had just been waiting around to figure something out.

Sadly, Power Rangers is still a show with a lot of inherent sexism so Lauren never got to reach her full potential as a character. But the fact that she was only around for a few episodes and made such a great impression only further proves we need a female Red Ranger full time.

10. Tommy (Jason David Frank) 

Power Ranger Zeo/Power Rangers Turbo

Sit down, angry fanboys. I know a lot of you are probably wondering why the much-revered Tommy Oliver isn’t at the top of this list. Let me break it down. Turbo Tommy doesn’t matter. Jason David Frank himself never liked Tommy in Turbo and I totally agree. Most of the old cast was far too old to be playing Rangers by that point and when they left it helped rejuvenate the show.

Tommy in Zeo was good, just not amazing. His best moment is in the episode where he’s forced to sing. JDF clearly can’t sing worth a damn, which makes it all the funnier. Again, he’s not bad.

At this point in the list I actually pretty much like everyone, and he’s leaps and bounds a much better character than what he was in MMPR.

9. Leo (Danny Slavin) 

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy

When Leo isn’t angsting over his brother (Seriously, why do Red Rangers have to angst so much) I love him. He’s a simple schmuck who just wanted to go off into space and see the new world. He tries getting a job in the command center but realizes he’s not cut out for that kind of life. So he just kinda hangs around Terra Venture, hitting on girls, and trying to learn to talk with his giant animal Zord.

But at the end of the day, he’s the one that makes the last stand against Trakeena in one of the greatest action scenes in Power Rangers history.

8. Carter (Sean CW Johnson) 

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

Carter is an all American boy who probably eats nothing but hot dogs and apple pie. This guy is a hero through and through. For god's sake, he was a fire fighter before he even became a Ranger!

When he teamed up with all the other Rangers in "Forever Red?" While they were out doing overly complicated martial arts moves, he was blasting enemies left and right with his blaster.

Carter knows how to get things done, even if he has to be smacked around by Captain Mitchell a bit before he learns the lesson of the day.

7. Scott (Eka Darville) 

Power Rangers RPM

Again, besides the angst over losing his brother (Lost Galaxy much?) Scott is great.

By that, I mean he’s a dick.

He seems to care more about his car than the entire city. He just wants to impress his dad who clearly loved his brother more than him. He throws babies around in the middle of fights. He gets super butthurt when he doesn’t get a medal but his teammate, Gem, does.

Now I know this sounds like I hate the guy, but I love Scott for one reason alone. When he shows up in “Clash of the Red Rangers,” Scott has transformed from Dick Scott to Douchebag Scott. He’s openly antagonistic to the whole team and thinks fixing a car made out of symbol power is more important than stopping the already grown monster. That’s just…that’s a beautiful thing.

6. Shane (Pua Magasiva) 

Power Rangers Ninja Storm

You know, despite the Ninja Storm cast all being adrenaline sports junkies (Shane’s drug was skateboarding) they were all pretty damn likeable. Shane started off as this wacky guy who didn’t even believe the Power Rangers existed to actually getting some real tender moments.

When faced with his greatest fear, we find out it’s disappointing his brother (again with the brother angst) which perfectly fit with a teenager who, to the outside world, is seen as a slacker. He wants to tell his brother everything about how he saves the world, but he can’t, so he has to maintain the charade that all he’s doing with his life is hanging out at skate parks. It’s a really touching episode, much more than one would expect in a goofy season like Ninja Storm.

5. Jason (Austin St. John) 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

The first, the original, and while not quite the best, Jason still holds up. A lot of this has to do with his involvement in many of the episodes surrounding Tommy’s arc as the Green Ranger. We see him battling alone against Goldar without his powers and see his angst (at least it isn’t about a brother) over not being able to save Tommy’s powers.

But there’s a reason people like Jason so much, he seems like the kind of guy you’d want to know or be around. He’s generally good natured and willing to help out.

He also has one of the greatest quips in all of Power Rangers, “Your polluting days are over horse-face! I’m sending you back to the barn!” Perfection.

4. Conner (James Napier) 

Power Rangers Dino Thunder

Conner just wanted to be an all star soccer player before he fell in a giant sinkhole and became the Red Ranger. While not really a leader (Tommy was running the show this season, let’s be fair) Conner at least got to learn to be a better person.

You see, at the start of the season Conner was a dick (more so than most Red Rangers). He was openly sexist to Kira and looked down at Ethan for being a nerd.

Over the season, however, he slowly changed. We saw him learn how to treat others with respect. He started noticing kindness would get him farther with people than brushing them aside. He evolved from being a dick to generally caring about others. He even had to give up his dream of being a soccer star (being a Ranger was too much of a time commitment) but later was able to open up soccer camps all around the world. Good on you, Conner.

3. Wes (Jason Faunt) 

Power Rangers Time Force

Wes was a spoiled brat. His father was rich and he got to do whatever he wanted...until the other Time Force Rangers appeared and needed him to unlock their morphers.

After that, Wes slowly grew into a true team player (because Jen was the leader, don’t lie to yourself) and was even willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his new friends. He gave up his powers to take over his dying father's company and sent his friends back to the future in order to keep them safe. Wes was a big damn hero.

He also gave one of PR’s best lessons, “We all make our own destiny.” That’s something everyone can stand to learn (and yes, Alex was a Red Ranger. He was an asshole. Done).

2. Eric (Daniel Southworth) 

Power Rangers Time Force

Eric is the polar opposite of Wes. Growing up dirt poor, he had to pull his life out of the gutter any way he could to make it. Even then, he still couldn’t match Wes. That all changed when he stole the powers of the Quantum Ranger and used them to maneuver his way to head of the Silver Guardians.

Eric played for keeps. He didn’t mess around like the rangers. When he wanted something? He took it. He even traveled back in time to get the Q-Rex so he could fight on an even playing field with the Rangers.

While eventually Eric did start helping the Time Force team more he never really joined the team properly, and I liked that about him. He never gave up on his principles.

1. TJ (Selwyn Ward) 

Power Rangers Turbo

TJ was a Red Ranger for little over half a season, so why is he topping this list? Because TJ is a selfless hero who, when faced with great adversity, doesn’t hesitate and does what’s needed even when he doesn’t have the resources.

First off, in the final battle against Divatox both the Megazords are destroyed. TJ tried sacrificing them to no avail so he puts his own life on the line to deliver a head on attack. Where others would have given up, TJ keeps going, and then some. He fought to the bitter end when Piranhatrons destroyed the Power Chamber, refusing to escape without Alpha.

On a smaller scale, TJ is still flawless. When most other Rangers made fun of Bulk and Skull (seriously, go watch MMPR again. They are assholes to those two) TJ is quick to believe and help them when they’re falsely accused of stealing.

Oh, and he was the one who helped save Tommy from plummeting to his eternal death. What more do you need?

Now it’s your turn Den of Geek readers, how would YOU rank all the Red Rangers? Do you agree with my choices? Viciously disagree? LET ME KNOW!

Side Note: Yes, I know there are technically more Red Rangers. Jayden and Lauren’s dad. The robot Red Rangers from Turbo and Lightspeed Rescue. Sort of the Wolf Warrior. Maybe even a Morphin Master. If you're getting technical we've got some New Powers Rangers in there. We could go on and on. But we all know the only true Red Ranger is Mark Dacascos. That's right, Bioman pilot for life!