"Cronus... gentleman, scholar and fantastic jet pilot!" Cronus, describing himself 51

Cronus is the Defense Commander of planet Riga 44 and a friend of Mark's 44, 61. He is a pilot that commands the Red Rangers flying squad 61, also called planet Riga's fighter squad 17, which has two men in addition to Cronus 40. He has fought side-by-side with Mark many times 44 and the two of them have served together in mutual defense of the Galaxy 61. They have saved one another's lives several times. Once when Cronus thinks they're even at two, Mark corrects him and says he has saved Cronus' life three times 51. Mark says he feels like he owes his life to Cronus 44.

Cronus' team is based in a disguised cave on planet Riga. The outside is a natural-looking cave in a seaside ledge, but inside is a modern-looking base with metal walls and a runway for his team's fighter jets 44.

He appears to be a better pilot than Mark, or is at least better able to handle the stresses of combat flying. Mark blacks out once while trying to keep up with Cronus and crashes his jet. Before letting him go on a mission again, Cronus tests him to see if his confidence in flying has returned 44. Aside from his piloting skills, Cronus can drive a speedboat, Scuba dive and is pretty good in a hand-to-hand fight 51.

Zoltar is aware of their friendship and uses it to his advantage when he disguises himself as Cronus to capture G-Force. Once he reveals himself to Mark, Zoltar claims that Cronus has been killed during a recent attack on planet Riga 61.

Colonel Cronus in uniform

Cronus' civilian appearance

Due to Cronus' secretive nature and the fact that he has been impersonated in the past, G-Force and Chief Anderson are sometimes wary when he arrives and does not identify himself or make his actions clear. Such is the case when he and his men show up to destroy a plane that has been specially built for, and is in the middle of being delivered to, Riga. Cronus finally explains that the new plane had been hijacked by Spectra soldiers and he'd rather see it destroyed than to fall into Spectra's hands 11.

For a while Cronus believes that officials on planet Odin are selling out to Spectra, so he forms a secret organization to look into it. But when his group and other people including his wife and his infant son, Timmy start to disappear, Cronus goes into hiding. He only comes out again when G-Force show up to investigate the planet themselves. Mark and Cronus embark on an adventure that saves Odin and Cronus is able to rescue his family (unseen) 51. It is never made clear if Cronus' wife at this point is also Mark's mother. Regardless, we do know that Mark has at least a possible half brother in Timmy.

It is later revealed Colonel Cronus is not a real name, leaving the character's true name unknown. Chief Anderson also tells G-Force that Cronus is Mark's true father - the man Mark has been searching for all his life. When Mark was just a boy, Anderson chose Cronus, one of his best test pilots, to head a long-term mission to Riga. Worrying that his family might be harmed, Cronus left the four-year-old Mark in Anderson's care and he never wanted the boy to know he was still alive 52.

Cronus finally admits the truth directly to Mark, saying he wanted to tell him so many times, but his work kept him silent and away. He also says he'd hoped for a reunion for years. But the reunion is short-lived as Cronus takes off on a sure suicide mission to pilot and detonate a rocket to save the Earth. Incredibly, Cronus is able to survive the mission by using an escape capsule seconds before the rocket detonates. He saves the Earth, gets away safely and heads back to Riga 53.

In some early scripts, Colonel Cronus was originally named "Roland."

Colonel Cronus was portrayed by actor Keye Luke. He also provided the voices for the bad guys Zoltar and the Spirit. Luke was probably best known for his live-action role of Number One Son in the Charlie Chan Films.