‘Power Rangers’ Cast, Updates: Elizabeth Banks’ Evil Sorceress Rita Repulsa Revealed in New Image

‘Power Rangers’ released a brand new photograph of Elizabeth Banks as the film’s main antagonist, the evil intergalactic sorceress Rita Repulsa.

According to Empire, a new image of Banks’ main antagonist has recently been unveiled. It showed Rita Repulsa looking out of what seems to be a cracked glass encasement. No other details have been revealed on whether the photograph is footage from the upcoming film or whether it is promotional material.

Banks is set to play a modern and less campy version of Rita, a female humanoid sorceress who featured greatly in the original children’s television series ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ that aired on Fox Kids from 1993 to 1995. Banks’ version looks extremely different from the one Japanese actress Machiko Soga portrayed from the ‘90s. She looks more like an alien than an extraterrestrial witch.

The original Rita Repulsa was based on the villain Witch Bandora from the Japanese live-action television series ‘Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger’ of the ‘Super Sentai’ franchise. She is hell bent on intergalactic domination conquering many worlds in service of Lord Zedd. She was later defeated by Zordon of Eltar after failing to invade Earth.

She was imprisoned in a space dumpster and was cast into space to float around aimlessly for ten thousand years. However, she found her way back to the moon and was set free by minions. They then reclaim their headquarters and prepare for a second attack on Earth as well as revenge on Zordon.

According to IGN, Banks revealed that her villain would be an edgier and more modern version of the original. She described Rita as an “unpredictable” character whose origin story would connect her directly to the new Power Rangers.

Other members of the new cast include Bryan Cranston as the voice of Zordon, Naomi Scott as Kimberly Hart, Becky G. as Trini Kwan, RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston, Dacre Montgomery as Jason Lee Scott, and Ludi Lin as Zack Taylor.

‘Power Rangers’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Dean Israelite and written for the big screen by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, John Gatins, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless. It is the third feature film released from the ‘Power Rangers’ franchise created by Haim Saban. It is intended as a reboot of the original television series from the 1990s.

The first film adaptation was released in 1995 and was entitled ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie’. It featured the regular cast members from the television series of the same name including Amy Jo Johnson, Karan Ashley, and Johnny Yong Bosch. Although it received generally negative reviews, it managed to earn $66.43 million worldwide on a production budget of $15 million.