The Rookie Red trope gets its name from Power Rangers, and for obvious reasons. It’s not uncommon for the Red Ranger to be the unestablished one in the group, or inexperienced, or downright lacking any skills that one would attribute to a superhero, but wind up becoming the most prominent and powerful member of the team. Rangers dipped its feet in the water with Andros the Red Space Ranger, though he was very experienced as a Ranger, just not with that particular group.
When the show started “fresh” (sort of) by ending the colloquially-known Zordon Era with Lost Galaxy, they luckily had the budget to dive right into something new. In this sense, one could consider Leo Corbett – a dude who wasn’t even supposed to go to space, let alone become a superhero – the first true Rookie in Red.
Children of Zordon 