History HarsherInHindsight / PowerRangers

* ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' featured Ricardo Medina Jr. as the villain Deker; a swordsman with a lust for battle after a curse was placed on him. This is much harder to watch after Medina has been charged with killing his roommate and pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. This also extends to ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'', which featured Medina as Red Ranger Cole, and the Rangers on that team used swords as their main weapons.

** Tommy is SparedByAdaptation compared to Burai, his sentais counterpart, and he became later a white, a red and finally a black ranger. Then, that fact became harsher with the death of Jason David Frank and the fact Burai actor outlived him.

** Lord Zedd once sarcastically asked, "What is it this time, Finster? A monster that blows itself up?" At the time, simply a humorous jab at the show's OncePerEpisode fantasy conventions. Nowadays, people are more aware that "a monster that blows itself up" has a very realistic context. And even putting the real world out of it, ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' takes the concept and plays it for ''serious'' drama when Trakeena turns her entire army of Stingwingers into suicide bombers in the finale.

** ''Power Rangers'' has now suffered another real-life Ranger death. Peta Rutter, who played Udonna, the White Ranger in ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce''. While Udonna was still alive at the end of the season, ironically, her ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' counterpart was killed off at the start of the series. Also, while ''Mystic Force'' was in production, Creator/MachikoSoga (Rita Repulsa from ''MMPR'') died, so footage of her from ''Magiranger'' as another character, which would normally have been skipped over, was used in tribute in the finale, and said to be a reformed Rita.
* The actions of the character of Daigo in ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'' have also taken on new meaning after the death of his actor Tatsuya Nomi.

* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' has a vision of a BadFuture, of what would happen if the Zyurangers failed to fully unite as a team. It was distressing enough back then, but after the earthquake in March 2011 that devastated Tokyo, it's even worse.

* ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersShatteredGrid'': Seeing Tommy being killed off by Lord Drakkon (read: being killed by himself) became much harsher in hindsight when Jason David Frank passed away in real life via suicide. Not helped by the fact that it was revealed that he got depression because his stepdaughter committed suicide back in October 2021 where he was sued by the biological father of Shayla Frank and he was going through a 2nd divorce with his now ex-wife Tammie Frank in 2022. His last videos to his fans showed signs of him being done with life also did not help matters.

* ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'' was the first ''Super Sentai'' installment to feature a female Yellow Ranger (the original Yellow Four). However, the actress playing her (Yuki Yajima) [[McLeaned had to leave the series, so her character was killed off]] early in the series in what was also one of the few instances in the franchise where a core member of the team was killed off. While only one hero in ''Power Rangers'' was killed off within the actual [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy show]], Thuy Trang (the actress who played the first ''Power Rangers'' Yellow Ranger in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'') ended up dying in a car accident in real life. And that's before we make it a yellow trio by mentioning the real-life {{typecasting}}-induced suicide of Baku Hatakeyama, the actor who played the first ''Sentai'' Yellow Ranger in ''Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger''.

** In "Mondo's Last Stand", Rocky starts feeling insecure and left out when the Rangers choose to spend more time with Jason than with him but at the end of the episode is assured of his place as a Ranger. [[Series/PowerRangersTurbo Turbo would see Rocky's time as a Ranger come to an end]] [[CareerEndingInjury due to a back injury]] (the only Ranger in history to have this happen to him) and he is replaced in a martial arts tournament he was preparing for by Jason.

** The Rangers restore Tommy's memories of them by de-morphing and showing him the faces of his friends. In ''[[Series/PowerRangersTurbo Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie]]'', Tommy tries to restore a BrainwashedAndCrazy Kimberly by removing his helmet only for her to laugh in his face and say she has no friends.
** Part 1 of "King For A Day" has Tommy being subjected to a holographic scenario where he is attacked by the Mighty Morphin White Ranger, his previous Ranger form. In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', Tommy ends up in a coma and faces the White Ranger yet again in a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind.
** Related to the above, Tommy being attacked by the White Ranger looks even more terrifying when the comic storyline ''[[ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersShatteredGrid Shattered Grid]]'' has an evil version of Tommy killing his alternate selves across the multiverse. Drakkon's suit design is even a cross between the Mighty Morphin Green Ranger and Mighty Morphin White Ranger suits.

* ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': In "[[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode Eye of the Storm]]", Shane (Pua Magasiva) is subjected to a [[IKnowWhatYouFear fear-induced hallucination]] of his older brother Porter, who is played by Pua Magasiva's real-life brother Robbie Magasiva, scolding him for being a disappointment to their family. This scene can be harder to watch with the knowledge that Pua Magasiva was frequently abusive to his wife before his suicide and had even attacked her in a drunken rage on the night of his death. Magasiva's wife also mentioned his diary was "full of haunting images, tortured thoughts and self-loathing" which puts the turmoil Shane is in during the episode in a whole new light.