"Here was a guy who was everything my grandfather wanted the Midnight Ranger to be, you know? He was brave and honorable and decent. Someone who just wanted to make the world better."
The Midnight Ranger is a comic book character in the Elementary world. Created by Morty Stiller of Superlative Comics, it is over 80 years old and has 648 issues (as of March 2016). The Ranger has no super powers but is an Olympic-level athlete with a very high IQ who dedicated himself to crime-fighting when his fiance, Rebecca Rogers, was murdered. The Ranger's real identity is Danny Dalton.
Holmes learns of the Midnight Ranger while investigating the murder of Mike Stratton. Stratton patrolled NYC fighting crime while wearing the Midnight Ranger costume. While visiting Superlative Comics, Watson reveals she knows all of Superlative's superheroes from her brother Oren. The current head of Superlative, Eddie Eichorn, reveals that a movie deal has been struck for the Midnight Ranger. The creator's grandson, Al Baxter, works at Superlative but was bitter that his grandfather had the rights to the Ranger taken by Superlative. He intended to kill those that worked at Superlative but when Mike Stratton tried to stop him, he shot Mike. Baxter regretted this deeply as he felt Stratton emulated the Ranger's ideals. ("You've Got Me, Who's Got You?")
As payment for Mason testing whether it is possible to hack the ICE database, Holmes procures a rare 1990's Midnight Ranger action figure (in the original package) that was mistakenly equipped with a wand by the factory in Nanjing meant for the Princess Priscilla action figure. Watson is surprised how expensive the figure is. Holmes indicates that the Priscilla action figures mistakenly equipped with a battle-ax are even more expensive. ("Be My Guest") After buying the contents of a storage locker formerly belonging to Travis Unger, Xavier finds a copy of Midnight Ranger #1 before his competitor Fred finds Unger's body. ("Dead Man's Tale")
Watson and Detective Bell investigate the murder of Broadway critic Victoria Garvey at the show "Midnight Ranger: It's Always Midnight". They question the show's producer Ira Langstrom and watch as he receives a complaint from the actor who plays the Ranger. The show appears to be set in gangland 1930's. ("Bits and Pieces")
You're gonna kill somebody.
Trivia
Other Superlative superheroes include "The Atomics", "Doc Stearn", "The Quotient" (seen at Superlative) as well as "Princess Priscilla" (mentioned by Holmes).
