Power Rangers’ post-credits scene, explained

Power Rangers has a post-credits scene — or a mid-credits scene to be more specific —and those who haven’t seen Mighty Morphin Power Rangers may be scratching their heads over what it means.

[Warning: In case this wasn’t already clear, the following contains spoilers for the events of Power Rangers and the aforementioned mid-credits scene.]

After the five Rangers manage to defeat the gigantic, evil Goldar and send his master — the sorceress Rita Repulsa, pictured above — flying into space following a climactic battle, the movie ends with most of the teens returning to detention, where they met each other at the very beginning of the movie. As they’re settling in, the teacher running the detention session calls out Tommy Oliver’s name. Tommy can’t be seen, but the camera does pan to a green jacket at an empty desk.

For fans of the franchise the tease is pretty obvious, but for those who have never seen the original ‘90s show, here’s why it’s important: Tommy Oliver is the Green Ranger.

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Introduced in the show’s first season — during the five-episode “Green with Evil” arc — Oliver became one of the Rangers’ most memorable and worthy opponents. When Oliver shows up to Angel Grove, he gets into a fight with Jason (the Red Ranger) that demonstrates his martial arts abilities. His skills made him a target for Repulsa, who quickly turned him into her puppet. At the end of the five episodes, Jason manages to free Oliver from Repulsa’s grip, and the Green Ranger effectively joins the other five.

His name being called in the mid-credits scene seems to hint that he will be involved in the next film, if a sequel is ordered. Polygon spoke to two of the actors ahead of the movie’s release — Dacre Montgomery (Red Ranger) and Ludi Lin (Black Ranger) — who said while they couldn’t comment on the status of a sequel, the mid-credits scene was intriguing.

“Obviously there's a cliffhanger, as far as our character arcs are concerned in the film and the franchise, but there definitely is some room to explore,” Montgomery said. “All I can say is that we got along well, we loved the director of the project, and although I can't say if we're doing a sequel, we would all actively love to do a sequel.”

Power Rangers will be released in theaters worldwide on March 24.