The Power Rangers have taken drastic measures to stave off total annihilation as the threat of Dark Specter looms overhead and the road toward destruction appears to be the only one left. Surprisingly, the one who has taken the biggest risk is none other than the Rangers’ longtime worst enemy, Lord Drakkon. His first step in battling Dark Specter was to release the one woman who hates him more than any other from her imprisonment. Unfortunately, that might prove a fatal mistake, especially if Kiya can’t see past her lust for revenge even when the entire universe is at stake.
After an unexpected trip across the Multiverse, Power Rangers Unlimited: The Coinless #1 (by Adame Cesare, Moisés Hidalgo, Arthur Hesli, and Ed Dukeshire) finds the former Blue Omega Ranger Kiya standing in an otherwise idyllic field not far from Angel Grove. Of course, being face-to-face with none other than Lord Drakkon is only the first sign that things aren’t as peaceful as they seem. As it turns out, Drakkon has brought Kiya all the way to the World of the Coinless in the hopes she will join him in his war against Dark Specter. Unsurprisingly, Kiya is infinitely more interested in taking off Drakkon’s head, and it’s only a matter of time before she tries to do just that. Fortunately for Drakkon, Kiya isn’t quick enough to land a killing blow, although her persistent efforts — despite the greater threat at hand — is hardly a good sign for Drakkon’s new team of makeshift Power Rangers.
Who Is Power Rangers’ Kiya – And Why is She Working with Lord Drakkon?
When Kiya was first introduced to the world of BOOM! Studios’ Power Rangers, her life had already been irreparably altered by Lord Drakkon’s attacks on the Morphin Grid. As one of the Empowered, beings imbued with a direct connection to the Morphin Grid and its energies, Kiya commanded immense electrokinetic abilities. Tragically, it was the emergence of these powers that led to the deaths of Kiya’s family members. Additionally, it was Drakkon’s destruction of the Multiverse that led to Kiya being imbued with powers in the first place. Though she mastered her powers before becoming the Blue Omega Ranger alongside former members of the original Mighty Morphin team Jason, Zack, and Trini, Kiya never got a grip on her hatred. Sadly, it led her to ruin even faster than the rest of her life had led her to glory.
Upon discovering the primary universe’s Tommy Oliver had received the White Light and the mantle of the White Ranger that went with it, Kiya vowed revenge on not just the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but every other Ranger in existence. Seeing what she believed to be the ultimate incarnation of evil across the Multiverse come into such a prestigious role was simply more than Kiya could take. Before long, Trini was forced to dismantle her fellow Ranger, while Kiya was sentenced to an extended stay in one of the many mystical pots that serve as personal cells for the monsters imprisoned on Safe Haven.
Why the Former Blue Omega Ranger Kiya Might Never Get the Redemption She Wants
These circumstances made it all the more surprising that Lord Drakkon came to rescue Kiya. Kiya has always been incapable of seeing any version of Tommy Oliver as anything other than a distillation of what it means to be a villain. At that rate, there is no reason to think she won’t continue trying to take his life. After all, Kiya already tried such tactics before and after Drakkon went to the trouble of imparting a new brand of Ranger abilities on her. This may be just the latest in a long string of mildly shocking face-turn moments for Drakkon, yet Kiya hasn’t been around to see any of them for herself. Even if she were, it’s hard to imagine her preexisting hatred would let her recognize Drakkon’s change.
The most tragic and intrinsic truth about Kiya is that no matter how kind, caring, or compassionate she has the potential to be, the best aspects of her personality haven’t mattered to her as much as the traumas she has suffered in her lifetime. Rather than attempting to move past the pain she endured or come to terms with reality as it stands, Kiya has instead decided that vengeance is the only way her heart will ever know peace. This alone makes the prospect of Kiya once again having Ranger powers a dangerous one. However, the idea of her completing her mission is the scariest possibility of all.
As much as Kiya understandably hates Lord Drakkon, killing him would be the worst decision she could make under the current circumstances. It isn’t just that Drakkon has no interest in posing any sort of overt threat to Kiya, but that he is one of the few Rangers who offers any chance of stopping Dark Specter. Not to mention the fact that Kiya is standing on a world she didn’t know existed, killing Drakkon would almost assuredly doom her to a harrowing demise far from home — if not doom the entire universe to fall to Dark Specter’s endless army of undying evils.