- This page is about the incarnation of Billy from the 2017 movie. The mainstream version can be found here: Billy Cranston.
William "Billy" Cranston is the deuteragonist of the 2017 film reboot, Power Rangers.
He was portrayed by RJ Cyler.
Biography[]
Billy is a student at Angel Grove High School on the Autistic Spectrum, and often a target of bullies. After testing a mining explosive, which caused his lunchbox to blow up, he gets sentenced to a weekend's detention.
When he was being bullied by one of the students, he is saved by former football star, Jason Scott who was placed under house arrest, with an ankle monitor. Billy wanted to return the favor by having to remove his ankle monitor.
The two sneak of two the old mines that his deceased father use to take him to. Billy uses the explosive to blow up some rocks which caught Jason's attention along with three other students, former cheerleader Kimberly Hart, another student that was sentence to a weekend's detention, Zack and Trini. They all discovered different colored power coins as they each take one. They were all soon discovered by the Security of the Mines, which lead to them escaping.
Billy woke up the next morning to find that he has supernatural abilities, and in school finds Jason and Kimberly has such as well, which give all three of them the option to return to mines, where they encounter Zack and Trini.
The five of them discover an old spaceship where they encounter Alpha 5 and Zordon, who happens to be trapped in a wall. Zordon informs them that they are chosen to be the next team of Power Rangers, after previous group of Power Rangers (which includes him), were all betrayed and defeated by Green Ranger: Rita Repulsa, who is in search of the Zeo crystals. Unfortunately the Rangers refused the offer, but Jason (who Zordon plead to lead the team as the new Red Ranger, to which Jason reluctantly agree too) insist that they should return the next day, which they did.
Back at the spaceship they, most of there time trying while they tried to morph into their armor, but with no success. Meanwhile, Billy learns more about the Zeo Crystals, and hides it in a Krispy Kreme restaurant. Alpha showed the team there new Dinozords, to use in a major threat. Zack used his on a joyride which almost got the team killed, which lead into a fight between him and Jason, until Billy break up the fight as he morphed into his Ranger armor, which stun the others, but it immediately disappear. This forces Zordon to dismissed them feeling as if they aren't ready to be Power Rangers.
They team decided to go into a campout, as they each learn more about one other, with the exception of Kimberly. Billy revealed that he loves country music, as well as the passing of his father.
Later on, Trini informed them that Rita attack her at her house, as the Rangers decided to go and confront her at the docks, but she easily overpowered them, and forced to Billy find the location of the Zeo Crystal, and killed him after he tells her, by drowning him to death.
The other Rangers took his body to Zordon, so he can revive him, but he couldn't; however, once the Morphing Grid open which was used to have Zordon return in a physical form, he decided to use it on Billy. With Billy revived, Zordon sees that the Rangers are capable looking out for one another, and are able to Morph into their armor.
Now as full Power Rangers, the team go up against Rita's Putty Patrollers, and used their Zords to combined into Megazord, and defeat Goldar. The Rangers also sent Rita into space after she refused to surrender to Zordon. The Rangers are seen as heroes to the public of Angel Grove.
Personality[]
"Billy has always been challenged in his abilities to communicate and interact socially. Whip-smart and sweet, he is the most pure-hearted of the group. Billy has never had any friends, so finding teenagers that he's comfortable with is a big deal, and soon he begins connecting with people in a way he's never been able to do before."
Billy is courageous and intelligent. He is on the autism spectrum and can't understand jokes or sarcasm very well, but can remember things to the letter. He's a brilliant inventor, creating and perfecting alien technology with Alpha-5; and a quick learner, mastering alien martial arts with relative ease and eagerness. He's very considerate, humble, sweet and loyal to his friends and even goes so far as to censor himself in front of them even when they curse frequently. He quite literally gave his life for his friends, sacrificing the location of the Zeo Crystal to save them, and being drowned to death by Rita in the process.
Billy's personality before becoming a Ranger was largely shaped by his father, who would often listen to country music with his son and take him into the mine where he worked. Billy clearly misses his father, as when he was setting up the explosives that would lead to the discovery of the Power Coins he was thinking out loud as if he was talking to his deceased father in the present. Given how he'd never had friends in the past, Billy was quite attached to his father, learning everything he could from him.
Billy lacked self-confidence in social interactions due to his autism as well as his history of being bullied for it, which is a common occurrence for people on the spectrum. However, when given a moment to concentrate, Billy could enter an almost trance-like state and show off his skills. This hyper-focusing state was unnerving for anyone unused to witnessing, however, it was also this trait that made Billy endearing to his friends, quickly gaining their respect once they began to understand him.
Typical of someone on the spectrum, Billy is prone to nervousness when confronted with scenarios both new and overwhelming. This is best seen in his hesitation in testing out his superhuman strength to leap across a ravine with Jason and Kimberly. This is largely due to his brain lacking the built-in connections for stress management that the average non-autistic person has. Despite this, Billy is determined and brave enough to overcome this difficulty of his. Keeping in line with this, Billy has a tendency to be hyper-verbal when panicking as a way to calm himself down.
Billy's confidence also took a turn for the better after his bully knocked himself out by headbutting Billy after failing to snap his wrist in the hallway at school. When he came out unscathed from the altercation, his peers surrounded him with praise and affection for putting their presumed common tormentor in his place.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Power Ranger Physiology: After receiving the Blue Ranger power coin, Billy gained the following superpowers.
- Super Strength: Billy has a considerable level of superhuman strength, to the point that he tore the door of his locker off by accident.
- Super Leaps: Billy is able to use his superhuman strength to perform super jumps, shown when he leaped over a large abyss.
- Super Durability: Billy's body is superhumanly durable, to the point that he cannot be physically harmed by ordinary humans, with a bully only hurting himself after attempting to headbutt Billy.
- Super Climbing: Billy is superhumanly skilled at climbing, notably scaling a steep cliff in mere seconds.
- Morphing: Billy, upon finally gaining access to this power, is capable of morphing his body into a suit of powerful blue armor.
- Super Strength: Billy has a considerable level of superhuman strength, to the point that he tore the door of his locker off by accident.
Abilities[]
- Gifted Intelligence: Billy is exceptionally intelligent, being a brilliant inventor, able to tinker with alien technology with Alpha 5, and mastering alien martial arts with relative ease.
- Expert Hacker: Billy is a highly skilled hacker, managing to hack the government tracking device on Jason's leg and to subsequently fake its signal.
- Eidetic Memory: Billy appears to have a photographic memory and perfect recall, as can remember most useful things to the letter.
- Accelerated Learning Curve: Billy was able to develop skills at an extraordinary rate prior to becoming a Ranger, being able to learn how to drive in the middle of a car chase while fleeing the mine with his soon-to-be teammates while being pursued by several police cars despite little experience as a driver.
- Hyper-Focusing State: Due to being autistic, Billy's focus and concentration is a bit different than a neuro-typical person's. When engaging in any single task, Billy can block out almost all external stimuli and process linearly at an intensity that frequently dumbfounds his friends and peers. This state is common among people with high-functioning forms of autism.
- Skilled Combatant: Following Billy's training sessions with Zordon and Alpha 5, he eventually became fairly skilled in alien martial arts, and thus managed to defeat many of Rita Repulsa's Putty troops.
Gallery[]
Images[]
.jpg "Blue Ranger (Character Poster).jpg (235 KB)")
Trivia[]
- His love of country music is referenced in the 30th anniversary special; the original Billy's RADBUG2 plays it when Minh is driving.
- Billy is unique for being the first ranger to have autism.
- This grants him the benefit of being able to tune everyone out and focus on something they aren't paying attention to. Thus allowing Billy to find the Zeo Crystal before Zordon or Rita.
