Tommy Oliver returned from the dead.
Decades past, the Empress of Evil barely avoided death by means of soul transfer into the Morphin Grid during the Power Rangers' last struggle against Rita Repulsa. She accomplished this with a bomb the Rangers had set up to cleanse evil, but which instead wrecked the Moon Base. Tommy was drawn into the Morphin Grid even though he was thought dead in the ruins of Bandora Palace. Fast-forward to more than 20 years later, when Selena Repulsa, Rita's hidden daughter, attempts to bring her mother back among the living out of a gadget the returning villain Finster has developed.
Olivia, Tommy and Kimberly's daughter, and new Green Ranger shoves Selena out of the path in an attempt to stop her and unintentionally replaces her in the machine. Enough to call her father instead is Selena trying to call her mother, Olivia substituting. Tommy returns with the same young form he had when he sacrificed himself, having not aged a day in the Morphin Grid since he has been gone from the living world for numerous years.
How The Return #4 honors Jason David Frank AND Tommy Oliver?
For the Power Rangers brand, both Tommy Oliver and Jason David Frank are quite important. Tommy Oliver became a fan favorite right away from the start of his reign as the Green Ranger, back when he opposed the Power Rangers before joining them. Every fresh appearance over the years would help the character's following to keep expanding. Tommy anchored himself as, for many, the most recognizable Power Ranger. Given how often Jason David Frank would agree to return to the town, even as a mentor, he became known as a pillar of the Power Rangers series.
Although the passing of JDF was a terrible blow to the Power Rangers community, this is the ideal approach to honor the actor and the role and provide closure for both. Tommy not only makes a comeback but in the manner viewers first encountered him in his first episode. As the Green Ranger, he is even back in action momentarily. The pillar of the Power Rangers universe ends in the way he was first exposed to the planet.
Original Green Power Ranger Returns in Honoring Tommy Oliver & Jason David Frank
Both Tommy Oliver and Jason David Frank are icons of the Power Rangers series, and the Comics pay the ultimate respect to both. Amy Jo Johnson promised on behalf of the creative team of the new Return miniseries that the original Power Rangers actors' influence on the comic would also provide "closure" in honoring people the community has lost, like Frank.
Closure finds Tommy Oliver unexpectedly rising from the dead in Amy Jo Johnson, Matt Hotson, Nico Leon, Dono Sanchez-Almara, and Ed Dukeshire's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4. Tommy Oliver gave his life in this universe to rescue the planet prior to the events of the series, therefore preserving an other form of the canon.
The last issue
Although Tommy's sacrifice is the ideal farewell he deserves, readers were first ready to embrace it; nonetheless, this return pays for an even better homage to the actor and the role he played. Along with their sensitivity for the loss of the community, the creative team behind the series is clearly displaying their great affection for the franchise. Although this is an unusual technique, a resurrection is a suitable means of honoring the icon who played Tommy Oliver.
BOOM! Studios is currently selling The Return #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
