Lord Zedd

"I will be back one day and rule the galaxy with every bit of evil I possess. Mark my words!"

- Lord Zedd

Lord Zedd is a recurring antagonist in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise, and the secondary antagonist in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: the Movie.

Taking the Reins
Zedd came to Earth after hearing of Rita Repulsa's failure to defeat the Power Rangers. Finding this to be a disgrace, he imprisoned her inside her space dumpster, hurled her into space, and took over the job of destroying the Rangers himself.

Zedd then used his powers to create the monster Pirantishead, who defeated the Dinozords and assumed control of the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord and the Dragonzord. After the Rangers got their zords back under control, Zedd angrily opened a crevice in the Earth that swallowed all the Dinozords, with the exception of the Dragonzord. But the Rangers struck back with their new Thunderzords and defeated Pirantishead, though Zedd wasn't ready to give up so easily.

He once desired Kimberly to be his queen based on her good looks and tenacity, and sent Goldar to capture, brainwash and train her into being so, but his plan failed when it was discovered that the magic dust that was used to entrance her didn't work and that she was really doing a Rita impression to fool Goldar and buy the Rangers enough time to rescue her. Zedd has hated Kimberly ever since.

He continued to battle the Rangers, creating monsters from various objects on Earth. Later after it became clear that Tommy's Green Ranger powers were truly starting to fade, Zedd began creating monsters specifically designed for the task for draining them.

Eventually he used a green crystal and a monster called Turbanshell to take the last remnants of Tommy's powers so as to fuel his own team of Dark Rangers. However Tommy foiled Zedd's plans, though he still lost his powers. Another of the dark emperor's plans was creating candles, similar to the green candle Rita used to drain Tommy's powers in the first place, for Billy, Zack, Trini, and Kimberly so as to drain their powers as well. Jason, who was haunted by the fact that he had failed to save Tommy's powers in the same situation, overcame his doubt and managed to foil this plan as well. After the Rangers were rejoined by Tommy, now the White Tiger Ranger, Zedd realized that they were much formidable than he had wanted to admit.

When three of the Rangers, Jason, Zack, and Trini were leaving Angel Grove, he unleashed his own zord, the titanic Serpentera, which could have easily wiped out the Rangers' zords. However he couldn't do so since the zord's power drained rather quickly. But the Rangers managed to transfer the powers to three other teenagers, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha before Zedd could attack with Serpentera.

Marriage to Rita
Soon the time came for Zedd to undergo his Centennial Recharge, a state of slumber when he would recharge his evil energies. However Rita Repulsa returned with a plan for revenge, she contacted Finster, who made her a love potion. She poured it into the recharging machine, which made Zedd fall in love with her upon his awakening, instantly marrying her. Now with both Zedd and Rita to deal with, the Rangers were barely able to win their battles. The schemes they came up with included the creation of an evil clone of Tommy, Tom Oliver, and sending the Rangers to the past. Zedd wasn't happy when Rito Revolto, Rita's brother, showed up, who constantly annoyed him and often called him "Ed", much to his chagrin. Later Goldar managed to get the love potion out of Zedd's system, but much to everyone's shock, he still had feelings for Rita. Zedd and Rita eventually managed to capture Kimberly so as to force the Rangers to act as the pilots for their newly discovered Shogunzords. When Tommy attempted to rescue her, the Emperor of Evil engaged the White Ranger himself and easily defeated him in combat. The only reason Tommy survived, was because he destroyed Zedd's Z Staff and he retreated. Later when Master Vile arrived on the Moon seeking the Zeo Crystal, Zedd was pushed off to the side, something he wasn't happy about. Needless to say, he was ecstatic when Vile left after his defeat at the hands of the Aquitan Rangers. Thanks to the Orb of Doom turning back time and transforming the Rangers into children, Zedd only had an aquatic group of aliens, who weakened on land, to deal with. Eventually he got his hands on a map of the Command Center and managed to find a weak point in its defenses. Zedd sent Rito and Goldar to plant a bomb and steal the Zeo Crystal, which they were successful at.

Zeo
However before they could celebrate their victory, Zedd and Rita's palace was attacked by the Machine Empire, forcing them to flee., although he didn't want to, as they planned to go live with Rita's father. Using Serpentera, they went to stay with Master Vile in the M51 Galaxy, but they weren't defeated yet. Zedd and Rita later returned in a camper so as to take down King Mondo and the Machine Empire. They used a series of plots to prevent the robots from emerging the victors and even helped the Rangers at one point, so as to foil a plot by Prince Gasket, where he brainwashed Tommy into thinking he was leader of the Machine Empire. Finally, Zedd used a bomb to blow up the Royal House of Gadgetry, leaving the empire to crumble.

Turbo
Zedd and Rita briefly appeared during Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, the film used to set up the next Power Rangers series, Power Rangers Turbo. Divatox called Rita to get advice on how to fight the Power Rangers, but the sorceress instead complained about Zedd's snoring and told Divatox to run, instead of attempting to fight. It was believed that during the Turbo season, Zedd and Rita were raising their son, Thrax, which is why they didn't attack Earth.

In Space
Zedd and his wife later attended a meeting of the United Alliance of Evil on the Cimmerian Planet organized by Dark Specter, where he toasted the lord of evil's capture of Zordon. Later Zedd and Rita joined in the United Alliance of Evil's assault on the universe and assaulted the Vica Galaxy, taking control quickly and defeating the Gold Zeo Ranger in the process. However the wave of energy from Zordon's sacrifice washed over them, while it destroyed most of the forces of the UAE, Zedd and Rita were spared and transformed into humans.

Super Legends
However Zedd returned as the main villain in the videogame Power Rangers Super Legends, where he was corrupted and transformed back by a past version of himself. He proceeded to wreak havoc throughout time and it took a combined team of Power Rangers from different times to defeat him. Zedd was defeated and fled to a void outside time, but he dropped a time crystal in the process, trapping him there.

Powers and Abilities
Zedd has dangerous dark powers, mainly utilizing them to create monsters out of objects. He also possessed grenades that he would throw down to his monsters that would allow them to grow. After marrying Rita, she and Zedd would cross their staffs to grow the monsters. He is also a very capable hand to hand fighter, since he easily defeated Tommy in combat. Zedd can also use his powers to see things that are far away. Among other things, he is able to teleport, create illusions - such as his first appearance in the second season in the form of giant projection in space above the palace Rita. Also, in some cases, it could create things out of thin air to turn them to any other object, and throw lightning bolts from his hands, which are often frightened his minions.

Trivia

 * Aside from "Emperor of Evil", Zedd has also referred to himself as Galactic Overlord Zedd during In Space and the Prince of Darkness in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Live.
 * Many Christian churches complained about Zedd being a reference to Satan, since he was Lord Zedd, not just Zedd. Another factor may have been his title in MMPR Live.
 * Parents also complained about Zedd, since they found him too evil and frightening for younger children. As a result, he was toned down greatly, such as when he married Rita. This change in character was highly controversial among older fans of the show.
 * Oddly, Lord Zedd stated that the Morphing Grid was stabilized by the battle between himself and Zordon. But after he stopped being a villain, the Morphing Grid was perfectly fine. Zedd may have meant it was stabilized by the battle between good and evil, not just Zordon and himself.
 * Zedd was the first main villain of Power Rangers to be a completely American creation and to not have a Super Sentai counterpart.
 * A recurring trait amongst some of his monsters in season two was them having one eye.