The Metamorphosis

Power Rangers star RJ Cyler makes the transition from sidekick to superhero.

- Phoebe Reilly

“I’ve been waiting to show my Billy to the world,” says RJ Cyler. He pauses, hearing the words aloud. “‘Show my Billy’ sounds weird out of context, doesn’t it?” We’re in an apartment above downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square talking about his role as the Blue Ranger Billy Cranston in Saban’s Power Rangers, the movie that’s likely to destroy any semblance of anonymity for Cyler when it opens later this month. Dressed in a Riot Society tee and pants with accordion-style knee patches, the actor radiates a chameleonic, hipster-geek vibe—fitting of a modern superhero.

At 21, Cyler has never been without this particular millennial touchstone. Fox’s long-running, live-action TV show, then called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted in 1993, and as a kid goofing around with his older brothers in Jacksonville, Florida, he used to pretend to be the brave, brainy Billy. He recounts a childhood game: “You had to jump off the staircase, grab a pillow from the ceiling fan, land on the couch, and strike a Morphin pose.” He sighs and says, “I’m the one who tried to hang on, which ended in a broken ceiling fan. And a butt-whooping.”