‘Super Sentai’ Not Dead, Instead Rebranding As ‘Universe Heroes’ – And It’s Likely Due To Original ‘Power Rangers’ Contract
It appears the rumors of Super Sentai‘s demise were greatly exaggerated, as rather than its 50 year run being brought to a decided end, the seminal tokusatsu series is instead being rebranded under the moniker Universe Heroes – and this change may have something to do with its American Power Rangers cousin.
RELATED: After 50 Years, ‘Power Rangers’ Source Series ‘Super Sentai’ Coming To An End (Or Is It?)
As previously reported, word of Super Sentai‘s ending was first broken on October 30th courtesy of Japanese news outlet Oricon News – but rather than any details as to the ‘why’ behind this development, their full story, as machine translated by DeepL consisted of only two sentences, one announcing the information and the other providing a very brief recap of the franchise’s history:
“The TV Asahi-affiliated Super Sentai will conclude with its currently airing installment [No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger], sources familiar with the matter revealed on the 30th. The popular franchise, which began in 1975 with Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, will draw to a close after half a century.”
While bombastic on its face, the news was met with equal parts shock and skepticism, particularly as the news came not from the franchise’s longtime production house Toei or its home network TV Asahi.
And while both entities have yet to offer any official word on Super Sentai‘s future, Toei’s Thailand television broadcasting partner Cartoon Club is now confirming that while the series is in fact ending, it will also be continuing on under a brand new name.
Taking to their official Facebook page on November 4th, the network announced:
“Even though Super Sentai has come to an end after an amazing 50-year run, the admin confirms that Cartoon Club will gradually bring back past generations of Super Sentai!
“So stay tuned — there are still many teams left to come! And as for TOEI’s new project, Universe Heroes — the admin says it’s going to be a BIG SURPRISE for sure!!”
While the word of an official Toei broadcast partner does carry a little more weight than that of an anonymous insider source, it should be noted that, likely as it may currently seem, there is still no official confirmation from Toei as to either Super Sentai‘s ending or the upcoming Universe Heroes rebrand.
However, should the series henshin into a brand new form, it may suggest that Toei is looking to avoid any Power Rangers-related legal complications that could stand in the way of a potential Super Sentai rollout to American audiences.
Per the official licensing contract signed in 1992, the current Power Rangers owner, whether Saban, Disney, or now Hasbro, holds the “sole and exclusive rights” to “distribute, exhibit, lease, license, market, sell, publicize, advertise, promote, perform and exploit” not specifically Super Sentai, but “all episodes of Kaku Rangers [sic] produced now and in the future.”
Though Saban chose to use these rights in service of mashing them all together for Western-centric kids entertainment, it still means that Hasbro currently has the final say, even over Toei themselves, on whether or not the original Super Sentai source materials are allowed to be distributed in the US.
Thus, should the franchise wish to ride the current rise in American tokusatsu interests, the easiest way to do so without drawing legal trouble from Toei would be to start producing the franchise under a completely different name – Universe Heroes.
While this still leaves the 25 Super Sentai teams adapted for Power Rangers under the purview of Hasbro – which includes everything from Zyuranger to Kyoruger, as well as Ninninger, Kyuranger, and Ryusoulger – a rebrand would allow Toei a loophole through which they could become the franchise’s sole worldwide rights holder.
And since the end of Super Sentai would mean Power Rangers would have no more source footage to pull from, future Universe Heroes productions would not run afoul of brand dilution concerns, especially if Toei can find a way to differentiate the new era’s general identity from the old.
Plus, with Power Rangers currently looking to break away from its Super Sentai roots and become more of an original work, such brand dilution concerns may not even be that much of an issue.
So it looks like in 2026, it’s good-bye Super Sentai, and hello Universe Heroes – which hopefully will carry the tokusatsu franchise for another 50 years.
More About: Tokusatsu