Zack Taylor

Zachary "Zack" Taylor is a fictional character in the Power Rangers universe, appearing in the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He is the original Black Power Ranger of the first generation of Power Rangers who is played by actor Walter Emanuel Jones. He is also the original team's second-in-command.

He was Portrayed by Walter Jones, and will be portrayed by Ludi Lin in the 2017 Power Rangers Film

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Zack and his close friends Kimberly Hart, Jason Lee Scott, Billy Cranston and Trini Kwan were picked as the five original Power Rangers by the wise sage Zordon to defend Earth from the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa. Zack was chosen as the Black Power Ranger, gaining the Mastodon Power Coin and the Mastodon Dinozord.

Quick-witted and clever, Zack relies on a combination of skill, strength, and agility to win his battles. The original Black Ranger is an energetic, charismatic, and fun-loving young man. He enjoys athletics (such as basketball, American football, and scuba diving), dancing (especially to a fresh beat bumping out his friend's boombox), parties, and girls. Whenever he didn't have an arm around Trini or Kimberly, Zack could be found pursuing his attractive, but hard-to-get classmate, Angela. Zack always loved a good joke. Though he loved all the people close to him, Zack's best friend was clearly Jason. Zack is extremely confident and positive. Only four occasions saw Zack ready to give it up: when the Green Ranger took out Zordon, Alpha 5 and the Command Center while removing the Rangers from the Megazord; when his team was placed under a spell to take away their confidence; and when their Dinozords were commandeered by Lord Zedd's first monster, Pirantishead. But the first occasion happened very early in the series when his friends pretended to have forgotten his birthday. Zack went off into a secluded area, and into a trap by Rita Repulsa. For some time, he had to fight the powerful Knasty Knight alone. Oddly enough, despite his plentiful confidence, Zack is an extreme ophidiophobe, arachnophobe, and entomophobe meaning he is terrified of snakes, spiders, and insects although, on one occasion when performing magic for a group of children seeking shelter from a monster attack, he handled two fake snakes and used them to scare off Bulk and Skull. Because of this, it can be assumed that Zack's fear of snakes deteriorated over time, especially after an encounter on Rita's Island of Illusion where his strength of will was tested against his fear of snakes.

Zack enjoyed martial arts just as much as he did dancing and, as a result, created his own fighting style, called Hip Hop kido. The customized art consisted of dance-like maneuvers flourished with fast and powerful strikes, much like Capoeira or as seen by actor Daniel O' Neill in Bangkok Adrenaline. This effective combination of power and prowess made Zack an incredibly formidable combatant. However, he would sometimes tone down his style and mimic the attacks of Billy to simultaneously strike opponents. He was also very resourceful. On several occasions, it was his cunning that led his team to victory. Such occasions included his discovery of the means to overcome the Knasty Knight who was sent to isolate and destroy him on his birthday- the monster possessed the ability to redistribute the Ranger's force in order to fry the weapons they used against him. When the storm-bringing chimera monster Goatan froze the Megazord, Zack analyzed what little resources the Megazord had left and used it to regain dominance in the battle.

After Tommy Oliver joined the team, he and Zack quickly became close friends as a result of their similar interests. When Tommy was nervous about trying to engage a romantic relationship with Kimberly, it was Zack who Tommy sought for advise. Before Tommy appeared (or if Tommy is not at the Youth Center) Zack is usually Jason's sparring partner when practicing Karate. Tommy and Zack would also act as sparring partners for each other, as well. Though Jason was the Ranger Tommy selected to take on his Green Ranger powers after Rita eliminated Tommy's link to the Morphing Grid, Zack is the only other individual to don the Dragon Shield when Tommy gave it to him so that it's enhanced regenerative powers could heal Zack from the Oysterizer monster's acidic attack.

In the Season 2 episode "Green No More, Part 1", Zack's cousin Curtis was introduced, who would have a small recurring role throughout the middle of the season. Curtis was very similar to Zack due to their similar interests in dance and music, as well as their smooth-talking speech pattern. He also formed a friendship with Trini's crush Richie. The two once even managed to fight off a group of Putties while they were skating.When Walter Jones (Zack), Austin St. John (Jason), and Thuy Trang (Trini) left the show (over contract disputes), their characters stopped making new on-screen or face-to-camera shots before they were written off in the two-part "Power Transfer" episode in which their characters were chosen to attend the World Peace Conference. Zack's powers were transferred to Adam Park. It was never stated what became of Trini and Zack (except Jason whot returned in Zeo) after the peace conference.



Super Megaforce
Zack and the other Mighty Morphin Power Rangers returned, his powers somehow restored, as part of the army of Legendary Rangers led by Tommy that helped the Mega Rangers defeat the Armada once and for all, fighting in a huge battle against hundreds of X Borgs and dozens of Bruisers.

Trivia

 * Like Jason Lee Scott and Trini Kwan, Zack Taylor was one of the Rangers that left before Zedd came up with the plan to reverse time in Rangers Back in Time. Therefore, he was never seen as a child onscreen.
 * Zack is the first African-American male Power Ranger.
 * Zack is the first African-American Black Ranger, followed by Will Aston.
 * Zack is the first Ranger to serve as second-in-command as his Sentai counterpart, followed by Aurico, Chad Lee, Taylor Earhardt, Hunter Bradley, Sky Tate, Flynn McAllister, Kevin, Chase Randall and Preston.
 * African American Zack Taylor returns in the comic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink #2 which takes place after he, Trini and Jason had left the team. Together with Trini, he helps people in a town in South America. He teaches kids karate moves. He agrees to help Kimberly rescue her parents and, by using the powers of Zordon and the Sword of Light, Zack temporarily gets an upgraded Black Power Ranger suit.

Similar Heroes

 * Sharma Tribe Knight Goushi – his counterpart in Zyuranger.
 * Daigo of the Heavenly Phantom Star – his counterpart from Dairanger who piloted the Mythical Chi Beast Star-Shishi, counterpart of Lion Thunderzord.
 * Adam Park – his successor as Black Mighty Morphin Power Ranger.
 * Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo
 * Disney Series
 * Donald Duck – his counterpart from the series as second-in-command of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, while Donald is second-in-command for Mickey.
 * Goofy – his counterpart as member of the core team.
 * Kwame (Captain Planet and the Planeteers) – Planeteer and his counterpart from the series.
 * Vince LaSalle (Recess) – unofficial second-in-command of The Gang and his counterpart.
 * Sheen Estevez (Jimmy Neutron) – his counterpart from the series as deuteragonist, while Zack Taylor was second-in-command of Migthy Morphin Power Rangers like his counterpart Sharma Tribe Knight Goushi from Zyuranger and his predecessors Gai Yuki from Jetman, Daichi Yamagata from Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, Kenta from Maskman, Shou Hayate from Changeman, Ryuu Hoshikawa from Dynaman and Kanpei Kuroda from Goggle V as Sentai Black second-in-command from Super Sentai series.
 * Himitsu Sentai Gorenger
 * Kenji Asuka – The first Sentai Ranger to take his position on the core team.
 * Akira Shinmei – The first Second-in-command Ranger.
 * Battle Fever J
 * Shirou Akebono – first Sentai black.
 * Kensaku Shiraishi – his counterpart as second male Super Sentai to be replaced.
 * Kanpei Kuroda (Dai Sentai Goggle V) - the first Sentai Black to be second-in-command.
 * Marvel Universe
 * Black Panther – first black human super hero.
 * Falcon – first African American human super hero.
 * Luke Cage – first protagonist African American human super hero, besides that Luke Cage was originally called with a similar name, Power Man.
 * Storm – first black Marvel superheroic character on screen, debuting in the episode A Fire-Star Is Born of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
 * DC Universe
 * Mal Duncan – first black human superhero in this universe.