Lord Zedd
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 Lord Zedd | |
| First Appearance: | The Mutiny (Power Rangers) (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). |
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| Last Appearance: | Countdown to Destruction (). |
| Status: | Purified into Human |
| Affiliation: | United Alliance of Evil |
| Homeworld: | Unknown |
| Weapon(s): |
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| Zord(s): | Serpentera. |
| Powers: |
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| Portrayed by: |
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| Lord Zedd is a villain from the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The character was the first American-made villain for the Power Rangers series that had no origins in the Japanese Sentai. He was such a frightening character when first introduced that parents actually complained that he was "too evil" for the show, resulting in Zedd being toned down immensely, such as his marriage to Rita.
Character HistoryZedd is the self proclaimed "Emperor of Evil" and "sworn enemy of all that is good and decent". He arrived on Earth, leaving his conquest of other systems, to punish Rita Repulsa, disgusted with her failure in defeating the Power Rangers. Stripping Rita of her powers, he shrunk her and imprisoned her within a "Space Dumpster," hurling her into the depth of space. He then mutated a piranha into the monstrous Pirantishead, who assumed command of the Tyrannosaurus and Dragonzord after freezing the other four Zords. The Rangers barely survived the attack, but managed to regain control of their Zords. Furious, Lord Zedd opened a crevasse in the ground which swallowed all the Zords except for Dragonzord, which retreated into the sea.Despite the Rangers' acquisition of the Thunder Zords, Lord Zedd attacked again and again, each assault deadlier than the last. His monsters were created from objects on Earth with the power of his Z-Staff. A number of these monsters happened to be cyclopses, which could hint to Zedd very well being one himself. Rather than using his staff to enlarge monsters (as Rita had done), he would make a grenade appear in his hand, that he would throw down at Earth. The monster (or monsters) would then catch the grenade, remove its pin, and smash it to the ground. When it exploded, a vent of steam would make the monster grow. Zedd once attempted to create a team of evil Power Rangers, using energy drained from the failing powers of the Green Ranger, but Tommy managed to free his enslaved group of humans before the plan took place. He swore to erase the Green Ranger forever, finding him the most offensive of Rita's mistakes, concentrating his attacks on him. He finally succeeded with the Turbanshell monster, wiping out Tommy's power forever. He later planned to make Tommy his successor by brainwashing him, but Zordon managed to get to Tommy first, making him the new White Ranger. Over time, Lord Zedd discovered that the Rangers were no pushovers, and each of his monsters failed to defeat them. With the Thunder Zords and new White Ranger at their side, the Power Rangers seemed indestructible. Zedd eventually managed to build a gigantic Zord of his own, known as Serpentera. This serpentine Zord was so large that it could literally crush the Ranger's Zords underfoot. However, Serpentera's distinctive flaw was that it used up energy so quickly that it could only be used for short periods of time, and Zedd's continual attempts to find a infinite power source failed. Soon it came time for Zedd's Centennial Recharge, which he had to undergo every hundred years to fully restore his evil energies. It was during this slumber that Rita Repulsa returned to the Palace, plotting revenge. She poured a love potion created by Finster into the Centennial Recharge machine, and when Zedd awoke, he instantly fell in love with Rita and proposed. With Zedd and Rita side by side, the Rangers were now struggling to defeat their foes. Zedd and Rita used multiple attempts involving clones of the Rangers and time-travel, and though they each failed, the Rangers did not claim victory so easily. Also, following this, monsters were now made to grow by Rita and Zedd crossing their staffs and combining energies.
 When Rito Revolto arrived, Lord Zedd was disgusted by the skeleton's stupidity, and would bellow with rage every time Rito called him "Ed." Rita's love potion was eventually removed thanks to Goldar, but to everyone's surprise, Zedd loved Rita anyway. During the Pink Ranger fiasco when Zedd had her held hostage to force the Rangers to use the Shogun Zords in his service, Lord Zedd battled Tommy personally to keep him from saving Kimberly from an alternate dimension. This marked the only time that Zedd had battled a Ranger personally. Zedd beat the White Ranger around like a ragdoll until Tommy used Saba to shatter Zedd's Z-Staff, forcing him to retreat. When Master Vile arrived on the moon, Lord Zedd was pretty much pushed to the side as Vile took over in his search for the Zeo Crystal. Once Vile left after his army was defeated by the Aquitian Rangers, Zedd was ecstatic, and he resumed his attacks on Earth. The Rangers had been turned to children due to Vile's Orb of Doom and all that stood in Zedd's way was a group of aliens from a water planet who weakened easily on land. Zedd managed to find a map of a series of underground tunnels underneath the Command Center, pointing out a weak point. He sent Goldar and Rito in to plant a bomb and steal the Zeo Crystal. They succeeded, but before they could take advantage of it, the Machine Empire arrived.
 When the Machine Empire arrived and attacked, Zedd and Rita were forced to retreat, taking Serpentera to the M51 Galaxy. They soon returned, however, in a motorhome, plotting to overthrow King Mondo and Queen Machina and destroy the Empire. The two forces clashed on several occasions, neither gaining much ground. At one point, Prince Gasket had Tommy brainwashed and was poised to destroy the Rangers, but Zedd had Finster help free them to prevent a victory for the Machines. After a series of failed attempts, Zedd had a confrontation with King Mondo (in which the Cogs and Tengas battled to a tie). After Mondo lost a battle to the Rangers, Zedd and Rita met up with the Royal Family on the moon. Zedd feigned leaving the Earth to Mondo's superior forces, and Prince Sprocket was given a present. Zedd and Rita quickly sped off in their motorhome, and the present, actually a bomb in disguise, detonated, blowing the Machines to pieces. Despite declaring their return, however, Zedd and Rita took a rest before resuming their attacks, but by then Divatox had already begun her assault on Earth. Later, Zedd and Rita attended Dark Specter's conference on the Cimmerian Planet, Zedd toasting to Dark Specter's takeover of the universe (he even tried to attack Andros with his staff, but the attempt was easily deflected by the Spiral Saber). Months later, they invaded the Vica Galaxy and quickly conquered it, defeating and capturing the Gold Ranger in the process. When Zordon's energy wave washed over them and their army, Zedd was spared, transformed into a human being. Since the only other villains to survive the wave--Rita Repulsa and Divatox--were apparently human before becoming villains, only former humans were healed. Trivia
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