The kid-friendly nature of the Power Rangers franchise means we’re never going to get any super dark official content, but creative fans have got around that by making their own adult reimaginings of the Mighty Morphin universe. Remember that R-rated fan film starring Katee Sackhoff? Well, now some comic book creators have come together to bring us a new free fan comic that pitches the Rangers against Freddy Krueger.
Power Rangers: A Nightmare on Elm Street is a three-issue series from writer Stephen Harber with artwork by Francisco Silva Mauriz and coloring by James Zark. The creators wanted to combine “the optimism and wholesomeness of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers… with the horrific yet darkly satirical attitude of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.”
Issue #1 sees villains Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa summon Freddy Krueger to help them in their ongoing quest to take over the world. What better way to deal with those meddling teenage Rangers than a serial killer known for targeting teens, right? Soon, Krueger is haunting their dreams and things take a twisted turn. In fact, the series doesn’t just pit the Rangers against Freddy, but also features two other horror icons. Namely, Friday the 13th‘s Jason Vorhees and Hellraiser‘s Pinhead.
Lionsgate delivered a Power Rangers reboot that was more mature than previous versions in 2017, but it was nowhere near dark enough to take the franchise in a horror direction. Hasbro is now in the midst of working on a second reboot from I Am Not Okay director Jonathan Entwistle, but that’ll probably go a bit more family-friendly again as it’s being likened to Back to the Future.
For those who want a twisted take on MMPR, however, then this comic is for you, and the complete three-issue series is free to read via the link below.