Powerpuff was a cancelled live-action adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls for The CW, which was to be directed by Greg Berlanti of Arrowverse fame. The show is set in an Alternate Continuity to the original series (with the original series being a Saturday-Morning Cartoon in-universe) and features an aged-up cast of characters.
A pilot script, written by Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier, was developed in 2021. The pilot was set to star Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Donald Faison was set to play Professor Drake Utonium, Robyn Lively was set to play Sara Bellum, Nicholas Podany was set to play Joseph "Jojo" Mondel Jr., and Tom Kenny was set to have a Role Reprise as the narrator.
In the city of Townsville — which is presented in a more serious light, but is no less fantastic than it is in the source material — the pilot began with an extended prologue sequence showing the early adventures of the Powerpuff Girls, before jumping forward to their late teenage years and showing the time that they broke up as a crimefighting team from 1996 to 2003. Following a day of superheroics gone wrong in 2013, each of the three girls choose to go their separate ways after being outlawed and rejected by the people that they once served. In 2021, the trio return to the city as adults to get their inheritance from Professor Utonium, who they have grown estranged from, when they realize that a threat has surfaced that will take their combined ultra-super powers to stop. Though they've been changed by their celebrity status and different walks of life, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup soon rededicate their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil.
The studio was initially bullish on the show's chances of going to series. The pilot initially filmed in April 2021 before The CW deemed the results to be unsatisfactory in the following May, leading to the pilot being scrapped. The network did not give up on the project and instead opted to seek an overhauled version of the initial script, setting plans to film new material during additional photography before proceeding with the series order as planned. Unfortunately, Bennet left the series due to scheduling conflicts, but the project was officially set to continue development with another actress as Blossom, with potentially the rest of the cast returning depending on their availability. However, nothing happened with the pilot for two years, despite an intent on The CW's part to make it happen. Following a change of ownership for The CW — going from a joint ownership between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to Nexstar Media Group — the project was formally returned to the studio in May 2023; it was reported in July of that year that development on the show had shut down entirely by then.
The initial script for the pilot got out via a Content Leak around the time that the initial pilot was shelved, with at least one revision of said script leaking out at a later point in time, though no version of the revised script has ever gotten out. All details on the pilot come from these leaks, as no footage for the unmade show has ever been released.
Powerpuff provides examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: A sizable chunk of the pilot was set from 1996 to 2013, before the remainder of it resumed in the present day of 2021.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The kind and humble Professor Utonium is portrayed in a more negative light here. He's now a controlling stage dad who raises the girls as if they were child stars, even forcing them to abide by a "character bible".
- Adaptational Villainy: On top of being portrayed as a bastard, it's also revealed that Utonium deliberately let a monster loose in Townsville just so the girls could save the day, all in the name of good television.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Downplayed with Professor Utonium and Ms. Bellum, who go by their given names (Drake and Sara) in this adaptation. What's worth noting is that the "Drake" name came from the English dub of Powerpuff Girls Z as opposed to the original show.
- Also downplayed with the group name of the Rowdyruff Boys, whose spelling is changed to "Rowdy Rough".
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In the original series, the girls had a close-knit relationship with Professor Utonium despite calling him "Professor". Here, despite openly calling Drake "Dad", they're much more distant towards him thanks to his Stage Mom behavior.
- Rather than knowing each other as acquaintances, Drake and Sara dated for nine years before breaking up. As a result, Sara also served as a surrogate mother/sister figure to the girls. She also has no connection to either of the shown mayors of Townsville.
- While the Rowdy Rough Boys were still made as a deliberate counterpart to the girls, there is no mention of Mojo having created them.
- Drake and Mojo were lab partners and co-created the girls together, rather than a researcher and his pet/assistant.
- Adaptation Species Change: Both Mojo and Jojo are humans, rather than uplifted monkeys like the character that they were inspired by. Played with in Mojo's case, as his mind was later transferred into the body of his pet monkey; instead of becoming a monkey with human-like intelligence, he's a human brain in a monkey body.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: The addition of Chemical X to the formula that created the girls was a deliberate choice by Drake and Mojo rather than a freak accident, as Drake had larger ambitions beyond just fatherhood.
- Adaptational Context Change: Mojo Jojo's origin of being a pet monkey that gains human intelligence after a life-changing accident. Unlike in the original series, where it was Professor Utonium's pet monkey getting exposed to Chemical X, it's Mojo transferring his mind into his own pet monkey following his supposed death.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Buttercup is an out Butch Lesbian after staying in the closet when she was younger, unlike the original series, where she showed some interest in boys.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: The girls were forced to wear their childhood dresses when fighting crime as teens.
- Breaking the Fellowship: After accidentally killing Mojo, Blossom is so distraught she runs away from home. Buttercup declares the group over to the press gathered outside, and she and Bubbles move out not long after.
- Broken Pedestal: Child Jojo is introduced as a huge fan of the Powerpuffs, and liked Blossom in particular. The monster/protest fiasco that killed his father changed that perception to sheer hatred.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When Drake reveals he spent most of the girls' trust fund, they tear into him for everything he put them through. Blossom even asks him why he deliberately made them heroes instead of regular kids.
- Composite Character: In some respects, Drake shares traits with his cartoon counterpart's old college roomate Dick Hardly: he has a negative relationship with his former partner, used the Powerpuffs' heroics for profit, and was controlling to his creations. However, while Dick's purely motivated by greed, comments from Sara indicate Drake does care about the girls beyond their franchise.
- Continuity Snarl: Buttercup and Bubbles both have ice breath, when in the original cartoon, it was exclusive to Blossom.
- Darker and Edgier: This adaptation was intended to be a more serious deconstruction of the cartoon, with the girls growing up to be troubled adults struggling to navigate through their post-Powerpuff lives. Mojo’s backstory is also much darker now, with Blossom accidentally killing him when he was a human, forcing him to live on in his lab monkey’s body.
- Decomposite Character:
- Mojo Jojo is split into the father-son duo of Joseph "Mojo" and Jojo Mondel, both of whom come to antagonize the girls. Mojo retains his backstory of formerly working with the professor, while Jojo is the one that has personal beef with the Powerpuffs, particularly Blossom. Mojo Jojo's monkey form is split off into the Right-Hand Cat monkey that Mojo, and later Jojo, keeps around.
- Sara's role as the down-to-earth secretary of the mayor of Townsville is given to the middle-aged Gina. While it's ambiguous whether Jojo's predecessor as mayor was the Mayor, he was the one that was active in the Powerpuffs' childhood, while Jojo's role as the primary mayor that interacts with the Powerpuffs was inherited from him.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Powerpuff Girls and Professor Utonium aren't on the best of terms with each other.
- Enfant Terrible: Henrietta is a little Gadgeteer Genius working for Jojo. Her "babies" are small caterpillar robots that can mind control anyone by crawling into their ear. Drake even mentions that she killed her own parents.
- Engineered Heroics: Mojo claimed that Drake was behind Townsville's monster attacks among his reasons to not trust the Powerpuff Girls. While his fears aren't confirmed while he was alive, the town sees no further attacks when they break up. Bubbles casually reveals this to be the case when the group reconnects, noting that Drake sent out a monster for them to fight "during sweeps".
- Establishing Character Moment: Both the Minor Kidroduction and the time skips to the girls as teens and adults show how they act in that era of their lives:
- Blossom is introduced as focused on saving the day as a child, is first seen studying for her SATs as a teen, and is shown having reservations about going back to Townsville while in college.
- Buttercup scoffs at the idea of not catching the bad guys as a child, is moody and openly talking about her love life with girls as a teen, and has mellowed out when she comes back to Townsville.
- Bubbles spots a news crew and gets excited as a child, is introduced hungover after drunkenly breaking into a zoo as a teen, and brought a cameraman to record her reunion with her sisters as an adult.
- Former Child Star: Combined with Kid Hero All Grown-Up. Not only were the girls superheroes, but Drake made the girls adhere to In-Universe Contractual Purity in their lives outside of work. They ended up growing into wildly different people as a result:
- Blossom went to an out-of-state college and got a boyfriend, both of which help distract her from the guilt of killing Mojo.
- Buttercup moved to Oregon and worked as a firefighter under the name "Bee", preferring to satisfy her adrenaline urges while being a "normal" hero as far away from Townsville as possible.
- Bubbles becomes the typical Hard-Drinking Party Girl Womanchild associated with the trope, having moved to Hollywood to capitalize on her former hero status.
- Girl of the Week: Buttercup picks up a girl named Macy during the investigation at the Volcano. She ends up getting controlled by the caterpillar robot that was meant for Buttercup, forcing the girls to subdue her.
- Humongous Mecha: Mojo pilots a gigantic robot that resembles a squid.
- Imaginary Friend: Blossom developed an imaginary version of her younger self to help her get through difficult decisions.
- It's All About Me: Bubbles is trying the hardest of the girls to stay relevant, hawking old merchandise and drawing attention with her stunts. When Drake tells the girls he spent most of their trust fund, she's the most livid, tossing a chair and asking why he'd do this to her when she was the one that stuck to his rules the most.
- Lint Value: On the day of the fund dispute, the girls' lawyer states that they can receive 5 each from the stash. They initially think it'd be $5 million, then $500 thousand when they reconsider Drake's previous behavior, but are told it's $5000 flat because Drake spent most of the money on failed investments.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Henrietta's wooly bear caterpillar robots are used as surveillance drones in addition to their bigger purpose of mind control.
- Mayor Pain: As the new mayor, Jojo is counting on using an attack to take revenge on the Utoniums and boost his chances of getting re-elected.
- Meta Sequel: The pilot takes place in a world where the girls had a media franchise made out of their heroics, which included the original 1998 cartoon.
- Mythology Gag:
- Mojo pilots a Humongous Mecha, just like his cartoon counterpart.
- Bubbles' manager and cameraman is named Ace, like the leader of the Gangreen Gang. It's unclear if he’s intended to be the same character.
- While promotional images showcased the characters in modern reinterpretations of their costumes (read: civilian clothes with their color schemes), set photos
indicated that there was at least one scene where the girls would be wearing adult-sized versions of their original costumes. In the pilot script, the costumes were the girls' hero uniforms well into their teens, and the scene that introduces them shows that they're uncomfortable with it, but put up with it as part of the brand. - When Drake talks about his greatest failure, Bubbles thinks it's the brief time he failed to appeal to the Japanese market, referencing Powerpuff Girls Z.
- New Old Flame: Butch appears as Bubbles' ex-fiancee. Prior to the pilot, they'd been engaged until Bubbles broke up with him and pawned off the ring for booze money.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Blossom accidentally killing Mojo is what sets the plot into motion.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Jojo is introduced as the new antagonist while he's ranting to his secretary about his political opponent, whom he's convinced is virtue signalling to the voters because of her gender.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Double subverted. The girls only visit Townsville to pick up their cash and leave, with only Bubbles wanting to turn it into a comeback. They eventually relent after Jojo and Henrietta attack Townsville.
- Race Lift:
- In-Universe, the Saturday-Morning Cartoon based on the characters whitewashed Blossom and Buttercup, who are portrayed by the Asian-American Chloe Bennet and the African-American Yana Perrault.
- Professor Utonium, presented as White in the cartoon, is portrayed by the African-American Donald Faison.
- Take That!: Bubbles admonishes their father for selling their likeness to "that cartoon", even complaining that they were "whitewashed".
- The Reveal: It turns out that Mojo is still alive, but he is now inhabiting the body of his lab monkey. The pilot ends with Jojo and Monkey Mojo swearing revenge on the Powerpuff Girls.
- Ruder and Cruder: The pilot was written as a show for older teens and adults, resulting in the cast using coarser language and scenes like Buttercup joking about releasing Bubbles' nudes.
- Stage Mom: Drake spent the girls' childhoods running their lives like a TV show, complete with a character bible that the girls had to follow and heavily limiting their interactions with friends outside the two he'd permit them to have.
- Totally Radical:
- Bubbles is the most prone to using old slang, such as saying "Woot" in excitement or expressing her want for Blossom to move on from Mojo's death as "moveon.org"note .
- Other characters have used words and phrases that have long-since lost relevance. Gina mentions Harambe, Drake mentions he blew part of the money on fidget spinners, JoJo uses the phrase "reverse-discrimination", and Buttercup refuses to wear her old dress because it's "compulsory heterosexuality".
- Villainous Crush: Jojo's hatred for Blossom is complimented by fantasies of asking her out. Lampshaded by Buttercup, who refers to it as a hate-boner.
- Wham Line: The pilot ends on quite the cliffhanger, with Jojo revealing that his father is Not Quite Dead.Jojo: (addressing his pet monkey) I’ll find another way to win re-election. We took them out once, we can do it again. Right, Dad?
