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133-461: The Powerpuff Girls is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios ) for Cartoon Network . The show centers on Blossom , Bubbles , and Buttercup , three kindergarten -aged girls with superpowers . They live in the fictional city of Townsville with their father and creator, a scientist named Professor Utonium, and are frequently called upon by

266-400: A CGI special titled Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed was announced to premiere that year, though it was later delayed to January 20, 2014. Former Beatle Ringo Starr promoted the special on Cartoon Network singing a new original song "I Wish I Was a Powerpuff Girl" with previews leading up to the airdate. Ringo also voiced a new character named Fibonacci Sequins in the episode. The special

399-419: A Kids' Choice Award during its run. The show revolves around the adventures of three kindergarten-aged girls with an array of various superpowers : Blossom (pink), Bubbles (blue), and Buttercup (green). The plot of an episode is usually some humorous variation of standard superhero and tokusatsu shows, with the girls using their powers to defend their town from villains and giant monsters . In addition,

532-548: A feature film , with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. A total of 78 episodes were produced, in addition to the two pilots, a Christmas special, the film, a tenth anniversary special, and a special episode in computer animation . Various spin-off media include an anime , three CD soundtracks, a home video collection, comic books, a series of video games , a 2016 reboot series , and an upcoming reboot series , as well as various licensed merchandise. The series has been nominated for six Emmy Awards , nine Annie Awards , and

665-520: A space opera story where the team goes to another planet to oppose the imperial forces of Blackfire and then return to Earth only to get involved in a relatively realistic urban crime story about runaways . The mythologies of many ancient civilizations feature pantheons of gods and goddesses with superhuman powers, as well as heroes such as Hanuman , Gilgamesh , Perseus , Odysseus and David and demigods like Heracles . Real life inspirations behind costumed superheroes can be traced back to

798-494: A " rogues gallery " of such enemies. One of these supervillains might be the superhero's archenemy. Superheroes will sometimes combat other threats such as aliens, magical/fantasy entities, natural disasters, political ideologies such as Nazism or communism (and their proponents), and godlike or demonic creatures. Some superhero fiction portrays discrimination against superheroes, such as by the way of "Registration Acts" that mandate registration of superpowered individuals with

931-479: A "Superhero Registration Act" is passed, that requires superpowered individuals to not only register with the government, but to make themselves available to be drafted to respond to emergencies. The backlash against superheroes and metahumans in JLA: The Nail series has been compared to the real-life moral campaign against comic book superheroes in the mid-1950s. In an essay Ethan Faust argued that

1064-437: A "girl power" cartoon, and that it became successful among boys and girls for the inclusion of action scenes. Terrence Briggs of Animation World Network noted that, "at the very least, Powerpuff Girls works as an interesting comic deviation from the more sexual presences" of other fictional heroines. TV Guide chose The Powerpuff Girls as No. 13 in a list of the 50 Greatest cartoon characters of all time. IGN ranked

1197-498: A bible for the show, explaining the essential aspects of the characters. The Powerpuff Girls series debuted on November 18, 1998, and was the highest-rated premiere in Cartoon Network's history at the time. During its run, the series consistently scored the highest rating for an original series each week for the network across a wide range of demographics—from young children to adults. In October 2000, Cartoon Network credited

1330-860: A fictional substance or drug that gives the superpower. The level of superhuman strength portrayed can vary greatly, from just outside the "normal" or "natural" human range of the strongest strongmen , powerlifters , and weightlifters (e.g. unarmored Master Chief , Captain America , or Deathstroke ), to nearly unlimited strength (e.g., Hulk , Juggernaut , Superman , Supergirl , Wonder Woman , Thor , Hercules , or Goku ). Humans are actively trying to achieve superhuman strength via technology and scientific experimentation. Athletes have turned to various methods to improve performance, such as blood doping or taking anabolic steroids . Other technologies being researched are robotic exoskeletons to be worn by humans to enhance movement and strength. Superhuman strength

1463-646: A four-week promotion featuring The Powerpuff Girls and Dragon Ball Z toys as well as special codes to redeem online for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Orbit . In the United Kingdom the characters of Buttercup and Mojo Jojo were given away in Kellogg's cereal boxes as part of the Cartoon Network Wobble Heads in 2003. From 2000 to 2006, DC published a series of seventy comics based on the television show. Golden Books also published

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1596-568: A global audience. The first original major shared superhero universe to develop on the Internet was Superguy , which first appeared on a UMNEWS mailing list in 1989. In 1992, a cascade on the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.comics would give birth to the Legion of Net. Heroes shared universe. In 1994, LNH writers contributed to the creation of the newsgroup rec.arts.comics.creative , which spawned

1729-467: A letter column of the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories , the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak by Max Plaisted. Historians point to the first appearance of Superman , created by Jerome "Jerry" Siegel and designed by Joseph "Joe" Shuster , in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) as the debut of the comic-book archetype of the superhero. Outside

1862-416: A live-action television series based on The Powerpuff Girls was announced to be in development at The CW . According to Variety , it would depict Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup as "disillusioned twentysomethings" resentful at losing their childhood to fighting crime and faced with the choice of reuniting "when the world needs them more than ever." The project, produced by Warner Bros. Television Studios ,

1995-639: A moral crusade in which comics were blamed for juvenile delinquency and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency began. The movement was spearheaded by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham , who argued in Seduction of the Innocent , that "deviant" sexual undertones ran rampant in superhero comics . In 2012, his methodology was reviewed and his results were found to be misleading if not falsified. In response,

2128-401: A more realistic style. However, Cartoon Network executive Mike Lazzo convinced McCracken to stay true to his original vision, and allowed him to produce a second Powerpuff Girls short titled "Crime 101", which aired on What a Cartoon! in early 1996. Veteran ABC announcer Ernie Anderson , who narrated the pilot episodes and died of cancer in 1997, was replaced by Tom Kenny when it became

2261-545: A more somber tone. Superboy ran from 1988 to 1992 in syndication. In the 1990s, the Power Rangers , adapted from the Japanese Super Sentai , became popular. Other shows targeting teenage and young adult audiences that decade included Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman . In 2001, Smallville retooled Superman 's origin as a teen drama. The 2006 NBC series Heroes tells

2394-632: A new line of comics based on various properties, including The Powerpuff Girls . The first issue was released in July 17, 2024. Three CD soundtracks were officially released for the series. The first, titled Heroes & Villains , features original songs about the Powerpuff Girls characters by a number of artists, including the new wave group Devo , Bis , The Apples in Stereo and Frank Black . Mark Mothersbaugh , who originally sought out to be

2527-409: A nostalgic treatment in the 2004 Disney / Pixar release The Incredibles , which utilized computer animation . Original superheroes with basis in older trends have also been made for television, such as Disney's Gargoyles by Greg Weisman and Cartoon Network 's Ben 10 franchise and Nickelodeon 's Danny Phantom . Beginning 1940s, the radio serial Superman starred Bud Collyer as

2660-428: A number of original superhero shared universes. Magazine-style websites that publish superhero fiction include Metahuman Press , active since 2005, and Freedom Fiction Journal . Superhuman fiction has also appeared in general science fiction / speculative fiction web publications, such as the weekly Strange Horizons , a publication that pays its contributors. Two examples there are Paul Melko's "Doctor Mighty and

2793-519: A person to exhibit enhanced human strength. (see hysterical strength ) The term appears in weight-lifting and 'protein formula' commercials without proof of their efficacy. Weight lifters and other athletes routinely perform feats that appear to be superhuman to others. For examples, in 2016 Blaine Sumner achieved the heaviest single bench press of 401.05 kilograms (884 lb). At the same competition, he squat-lifted 500 kilograms (1,102 lb). In 2020, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson of Iceland broke

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2926-598: A prequel to the series, tells the story of how the Powerpuff Girls were created, and how Mojo Jojo became a supervillain. The movie received a rating of 63% at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , as well as some criticism for the violence involved. In all, the movie grossed $ 16 million worldwide with an $ 11 million budget. In April 2005, plans for a Japanese anime series based on the cartoon, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z , were announced. The series premiered in Japan

3059-565: A relatively minor Marvel Comics character that premiered at over $ 100 million in February, a time of year generally considered poor for movie audience interest . It was an observation further confirmed in 2018 when Black Panther was an even grander success with a $ 235 million debut in the same time of year, and later became the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . Avengers: Endgame became

3192-614: A secret identity; such characters as the Green Hornet and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh , would follow. Likewise, the science-fiction heroes John Carter of Mars , Buck Rogers , and Flash Gordon , with their futuristic weapons and gadgets; Tarzan , with his high degree of athleticism and strength, and his ability to communicate with animals; Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and the biologically modified Hugo Danner of

3325-456: A series of Powerpuff Girls -themed activity books and storybooks, including one written and illustrated by Craig McCracken, titled Big, Terrible Trouble? . Around 400,000 total units of these books had been sold by 2001. From 2013 to 2017, IDW Publishing published a range of comics based on the series. In 2014, that company published a variant cover which showed aged-up versions of Powerpuff Girls with breasts and dressed in latex . The cover

3458-412: A series. Following the second short, Cartoon Network picked up The Powerpuff Girls for a regular animated series. McCracken said that the show did not go through a large development process, but he was advised to change the name of the three main characters to Pink, Blue and Green, since the network executives found it hard to differentiate them by Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. Instead, he put together

3591-406: A supernatural weapon, Penny dreadfuls , shilling shockers , dime novels , radio programs , and other popular fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries featured mysterious, swashbuckling heroes with distinct costumes, unusual abilities and altruistic missions. The 1903 play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs further popularized the idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of

3724-604: A supervillain to advance the plot. Comic book writer Gail Simone has coined the term " Women in Refrigerators " (named after an incident in Green Lantern #54 where Kyle Rayner 's girlfriend Alex DeWitt is murdered by the supervillain Major Force and stuffed into Rayner's refrigerator ) to refer to this practice. Many works of superhero fiction occur in a shared fictional universe , sometimes (as in

3857-617: A variety of settings in order to reclaim Chemical X and track down Mojo Jojo, who fed the material to all the villains in Townsville. IGN gave the game a positive review while giving the PSone version a 2.0/10 bad review. The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage was released in November 2002. All three girls are playable in a 3D world, and the game received mixed reviews. The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go released in 2001 centers around

3990-514: A wide variety of story genres such as Fantasy , Science fiction , Mystery , Horror , Crime fiction etc. that put superhero characters in a vast variety and combinations of story settings and fiction tropes with their presence the major common element. As such, it has become an expected element to superhero fiction for the heroic characters to be placed in nearly any story situation, including relatively down-to-Earth drama with their personal lives out of costume. For instance, The New Teen Titans

4123-502: Is Sarutobi Sasuke , a superhero ninja from children's novels in the 1910s. By 1914, his abilities included superhuman strength, chanting incantations, appearing and disappearing, jumping to the top of the highest trees, riding on clouds, conjuring the elements (water, fire and wind), and transforming into other people or animals. In 1938, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , who had previously worked in pulp science fiction magazines, introduced Superman . (Siegel, as

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4256-556: Is a common ability of many gods and demigods in ancient mythology , such as Hercules / Heracles (Roman/Greek), Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon), Samson (the Bible), Bhima (Hindu), Kintarō (Japanese), Māui (Polynesian), and Achilles (Greek). Attempts to modify the human body in order to gain extraordinary strength is common throughout history, as seen in fiction through characters such as Terminator , Robocop , Iron Man , and Cyborg . Humans have tried to enhance their strength through

4389-726: Is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art." As depicted in the opening sequence of each episode, the Powerpuff Girls Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt to create the "perfect little girl" using a mixture of " sugar, spice, and everything nice ". However, he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called "Chemical X" into the mixture, creating three girls and granting them superpowers, including flight, superhuman strength , superhuman speed, superhuman senses, limited invulnerability, x-ray vision, red heat vision, energy projection, space survivability, and thermal resistance. In

4522-525: Is depicted. Characters and deities with superhuman strength have been found in multiple ancient mythological accounts and religions . Superhuman strength is a common trope in fantasy and science fiction . This is generally by means of mechanisms such as cybernetic body parts, genetic modification , telekinetic fields in science fiction, or magical / supernatural sources within fantasy. A plethora of comic book superheroes and super-villains display some degree of super strength. Some films invoke

4655-512: Is employed by characters called superheroes in comic books, which dates back to the 1930s. Characters such as Mr. Incredible , The Incredible Hulk , Superman , and Wonder Woman possess the strength to perform physical feats impossible for the human body. These characters and their powers draw from earlier myths. Wonder Woman ostensibly descended from the Amazons , a group of women possessing superhuman strength. In many of these fictional works,

4788-636: Is most often the protagonist of superhero fiction. However, some titles, such as Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross , use superheroes as secondary characters . A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a type of stock character possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers" and dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes—ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas—have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other media. The word itself dates to at least 1917. A female superhero

4921-474: Is not much protecting young viewers against the violent undertones. Robert Lloyd of the LA Times said that the series might be " transgressive " based on little violence, but "also cute." In another review, he had called it "perfectly drawn, perfectly written and perfectly voiced." The show began airing at the height of the " Girl power " trend in entertainment media. The Powerpuff Girls were often compared to

5054-430: Is rarely permanent, as characters who die are often brought back to life through supernatural means or via retcons (retroactive changes to the continuity), the alteration of previously established facts in the continuity of a fictional work. Fans have termed the practice of bringing back dead characters " comic book death ". Another common trait of superhero fiction is the killing off of a superhero's significant other by

5187-427: Is set mainly in the city of Townsville, USA. Townsville is depicted as a major American city, with a cityscape consisting of several major skyscrapers. In his review of The Powerpuff Girls Movie , movie critic Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said, "the intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizzazz like a David Hockney scenescape," and that the show is "one of the few American creations that

5320-637: Is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). In the United States, the term "SUPER HEROES" is a registered trademark co-owned by DC Comics and Marvel Comics . By most definitions, characters do not strictly require actual superhuman powers to be deemed superheroes, although terms such as costumed crime fighters or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to those such as Batman and Green Arrow without such powers who share other common superhero traits. Such characters were generally referred to as "mystery men" in

5453-459: Is the toughest fighter. During Craig McCracken's first year in the character animation program of CalArts , he wanted to produce an animated short film based on a wrestler-type character he made named "El Fuego". In June 1991, he drew three girls with large eyes, visually inspired by the paintings of Margaret Keane , on a small sheet of orange construction paper as a birthday card design for his brother. Looking for some "diversity and balance" in

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5586-539: The Silver Age of comic books . The Flash , Green Lantern , Hawkman and several others were recreated with new origin stories. While past superheroes resembled mythological heroes in their origins and abilities, these heroes were inspired by contemporary science fiction . In 1960, DC banded its most popular heroes together in the Justice League of America , which became a sales phenomenon. Empowered by

5719-677: The What a Cartoon! shorts, with the first one being animated at Animal House in Japan and the second being animated at Fil Cartoons in the Philippines. James L. Venable , Thomas Chase, & Steve Rucker composed the opening theme of the series, and Scottish band Bis performed the ending theme song, as played during the credits. The opening theme uses a sped-up drum break sample of " Funky Drummer " performed by Clyde Stubblefield . In August 2008, McCracken revealed on his DeviantArt account, as had been announced in that year's Comic Con, that he

5852-642: The X-Men , and the Justice League , have been published, often marketed in association with TV series , as have Big Little Books starring the Fantastic Four and others. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marvel and DC released novels adapting such story arcs as " The Death of Superman ", " Planet Hulk ", " Wonder Woman: Earth One ", " Spider-Man: Birth of Venom " and Batman 's " No Man's Land ". Original superhero or superhuman fiction has appeared in both novel and short story print forms unrelated to adaptations from

5985-516: The comic-strip hero The Phantom , starting with 1943's Son of the Phantom . The character likewise returned in 1970s books, with a 15-installment series from Avon Books beginning in 1972, written by Phantom creator Lee Falk , Ron Goulart , and others. Also during the 1970s, Pocket Books published 11 novels based on Marvel Comics characters. Juvenile novels featuring Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters including Batman , Spider-Man ,

6118-530: The government , or laws that regulate extra-legal vigilante activity. For example, in the alternate universe of the Watchmen , first published in 1986, a backlash against superheroes leads to the passage of the "Keene Act", a federal law that prohibits "costumed adventuring" except by superheroes working for the government. A similar device was used in the Marvel Comics universe in the mid-2000s, where

6251-419: The highest-grossing film of all time . In 2017, the film Sign Gene featured about deaf superheroes who use sign language . Several live-action superhero programs aired from the early 1950s until the late 1970s. These included Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves , the action-comedy Batman series of the 1960s (often interpreted as being campy ) starring Adam West and Burt Ward . In

6384-423: The rave scene or in record shops. But I had no idea that it would take off to this extent." The cost per each episode was $ 500,000. A theatrical film based on the show, The Powerpuff Girls Movie , was also commissioned that year and was released July 3, 2002. The film received positive reviews from critics but was a commercial failure, earning $ 16 million worldwide against its $ 11 million budget. The production of

6517-612: The " masked vigilantes " of the American Old West such as the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers who fought and killed outlaws while wearing masks. The character of Spring Heeled Jack , who first emerged as an urban legend of the early 19th century, was re-conceived as a masked and costumed adventurer during the 1890s. The hero's journey is a well-known archetypal story type in which

6650-403: The "can of whoopass" was renamed "Chemical X". McCracken's new short, titled "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", aired as part the network's World Premiere Toon-In on February 20, 1995. The short was not as popular as Dexter's Laboratory , a project McCracken and former classmate Genndy Tartakovsky (who also directed many episodes of The Powerpuff Girls ) worked on together; being

6783-585: The 1940s with the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero being The Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941. The decline of these serials meant the death of superhero films until the release of 1978's Superman , a critical and commercial success. Several sequels followed in the 1980s. 1989's Batman was also highly successful and followed by several sequels in the 1990s. Yet while both franchises were initially successful, later sequels in both series fared poorly both artistically and financially, stunting

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6916-424: The 1940s. When Fawcett Comics went out of business as such, DC Comics, which had been embroiled in a bitter copyright dispute with Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, bought out the copyright to not only the character but also his ancillary "Marvel Family" of heroes and villains. During World War II , superheroes grew in popularity, surviving paper rationing and the loss of many writers and illustrators to service in

7049-433: The 1960s, superhero cartoons have been a staple of children's television, particularly in the U.S.. However, by the early 1970s, US broadcasting restrictions on violence in children's entertainment led to series that were extremely tame, a trend exemplified by the series Super Friends . Meanwhile, Japan's anime industry successfully contributed its own style of superhero series, such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . In

7182-420: The 1970s however, the genre would find a newfound credibility in the medium with the original series, The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman , being sustained successes. This led to direct adaptations of comic-book superheroes such as ABC / CBS drama series Wonder Woman of the 1970s starring Lynda Carter . The Incredible Hulk of the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, had

7315-580: The 1980s, the Saturday morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends brought together Spider-Man , Iceman , and Firestar . The following decade, Batman: The Animated Series , which was aimed at somewhat older audiences, found critical success in mainstream publications. This series led to the successful DC Animated Universe franchise and other adaptations such as Teen Titans , which Marvel emulated with X-Men and Spider-Man: The Animated Series . Comics' superhero mythos itself received

7448-571: The American comics industry, superpowered, costumed superheroes, such as Ōgon Bat (1931) and the Prince of Gamma ( ガンマ王子 ) (early 1930s), were visualized in painted panels used by kamishibai oral storytellers in Japan. They both anticipated elements of Superman and Batman. Prince of Gamma, for example, had an extraterrestrial origin story and a secret identity (his alter ego was a street urchin ), much like Superman. An earlier example from Japan

7581-621: The Case of Ennui" and Saladin Ahmed's "Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions". The web serial Worm began publication in 2011 and completed in 2013 while its sequel, Ward , began in November 2017 and completed in May 2020. Superhuman strength Superhuman strength is a superpower commonly invoked in fiction and other literary works, such as mythology . A fictionalized representation of

7714-817: The Coast Discoveries imprint, 2008); Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible ( Pantheon Books , 2007); Lavie Tidhar 's The Violent Century (Hodder & Stoughton, 2013), David J. Schwartz's Superpowers: A Novel ( Three Rivers Press , 2008); Matthew Cody's Powerless ( Knopf , 2009); Van Allen Plexico 's Sentinels series of superhero novels (Swarm/Permuted Press, beginning in 2008); and Marissa Meyer 's Renegades trilogy. Collections of superhuman short stories include Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories , edited by Owen King and John McNally (Free Press, 2008), and Masked , edited by Lou Anders (Gallery, 2010). With

7847-602: The Golden Age and the Sub-Mariner , from Marvel Comics (then called Timely Comics and later re-branded Atlas Comics ), and Plastic Man and Phantom Lady from Quality Comics were also hits. Will Eisner 's The Spirit , featured in a comic strip , would become a considerable artistic inspiration to later comic book creators. The era's most popular superhero, however, was Fawcett Comics 's Captain Marvel , whose exploits regularly outsold those of Superman during

7980-501: The Nation that he had little involvement in this version: "I said, well, as long you keep that core foundation the same, feel free to reinterpret or re-imagine it in a way that you feel is going to better play in your marketplace [...] once we did the initial development on it, I kind of gave them my blessing and said, you guys can go off and make this show [...] I was really just there in the initial conception of it." On August 24, 2020,

8113-525: The Vampire Slayer , Angel , The Phantom Captain Nice , Mr. Terrific , The Green Hornet , Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , The Greatest American Hero , Dark Angel , No Ordinary Family and Alias . In the 1940s, Fleischer / Famous Studios produced a number of groundbreaking Superman cartoons, which became the first examples of superheroes in animation . Since

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8246-627: The Year at their 2001 awards ceremony. The array of products was so extensive in 2002 that, according to Janan Sheria of the Dayton Daily News , even people without cable television could recognize the Powerpuff Girls. The franchise made nearly $ 1 billion in retail sales by 2002, according to Cartoon Network. Beginning in 1999, Trendmasters made Powerpuff Girls dolls, playsets, and action figures, aimed primarily at girls ages 6–11. Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky were initially involved in

8379-400: The aircraft was repainted with a different Powerpuff Girls theme to promote The Powerpuff Girls Movie . The Powerpuff Girls series has won two Primetime Emmys, two Annie Awards, and including those four wins, has been nominated a total of sixteen times for various awards. The Powerpuff Girls Movie was released in the United States on July 3, 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures . The movie,

8512-505: The armed forces. The need for simple tales of good triumphing over evil may explain the wartime popularity of superheroes. Publishers responded with stories in which superheroes battled the Axis Powers and the patriotically themed superheroes, most notably Marvel's Captain America as well as DC's Wonder Woman . Like other pop-culture figures of the time, Superheroes were used to promote domestic propaganda during wartime, ranging from

8645-691: The bulk of their properties to the copyright owner's, Disney , to its own streaming service, Disney+ . DC series include Shazam! , The Secrets of Isis , The Flash (1990 TV series) , Birds of Prey and Gotham . Arrowverse series include The Flash (2014 TV series) , Supergirl , Legends of Tomorrow and Constantine . Marvel series include The Amazing Spider-Man , Spidey Super Stories and Mutant X . Netflix series include Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , Iron Fist and The Defenders . Japanese tokusatsu series include Ultraman , Spectreman and Kamen Rider . Other series include- Buffy

8778-423: The case of Tom Boyle, who was able to lift the front of a car in order to rescue a person trapped beneath it. Penn State professor of kinesiology Vladimir Zatsiorsky stated that extraordinary strength can occur when a person engages their muscles through the conscious "exertion of will". Zatsiorsky claims that trained athletes can improve their strength under specific conditions of competition. Fear can also cause

8911-476: The cases of the DC and Marvel Universes ) establishing a fictional continuity of thousands of works spread over many decades. Changes to continuity are also common, ranging from small changes to established continuity, commonly called retcons , to full reboots , erasing all previous continuity. It is also common for works of superhero fiction to contain established characters and setting while occurring outside of

9044-472: The city's mayor to help fight nearby criminals and other enemies using their powers. While attending his second year at CalArts in 1992, McCracken created a short film, Whoopass Stew! , about a trio of child superheroes known as the Whoopass Girls, which was only shown at festivals. Following the name change to The Powerpuff Girls , McCracken submitted his student film to Cartoon Network, who aired

9177-421: The colors of their eyes with black stripes, as well as white stockings and black Mary Janes . They individually represent body, mind and spirit, and despite being the same age, they adopt the characteristics of the oldest, middle and youngest child. The closing theme song offers a nutshell description of their personalities: Blossom, commander and the leader. Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter. Buttercup, she

9310-559: The comic book industry adopted the stringent Comics Code . By the mid-1950s, only Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman retained a sliver of their prior popularity, although effort towards complete inoffensiveness led to stories that many consider silly, especially by modern standards. This ended what historians have called the Golden Age of comic books . In the 1950s, DC Comics , under the editorship of Julius Schwartz , recreated many popular 1940s heroes, launching an era later deemed

9443-605: The conception of these toys. From August 21 to October 1, 2000, Subway promoted the series with four toys in their kids' meals . A set of six kids' meal toys was available as part of an April 2001 Dairy Queen promotion, which also included a sweepstakes offering the Powerpuff Girls VHS Boogie Frights . Jack in the Box released six Powerpuff Girls toys in July 2002 as a tie-in for The Powerpuff Girls Movie . On February 10, 2003, Burger King began

9576-410: The depiction of superheroes in the 2004 film The Incredibles is used to examine societal attitudes towards those with disabilities, first by showing them through the prism of ableism in providing unwanted help to people they view as unable to help themselves and later as those forced to hide their differences that are now an object of discrimination. A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of

9709-528: The drawing, he had created a blonde, a redhead, and a brunette. He liked how "cute" they looked and turned them into superheroes, thus replacing the aforementioned wrestler. The following year, the girls starred on McCracken's animated short Whoopass Stew! The Whoopass Girls in: A Sticky Situation . Initially, McCracken wanted to animate all four Whoopass Girls shorts, but only one was produced. McCracken's shorts were selected to be shown at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in 1994. While he

9842-471: The few to also publish superhero poetry, ceasing to do so as of 2011. Superhero poems there included Philip L. Tite's "Brittle Lives", Mark Floyd's "Nemeses", and Jay Macleod's "All Our Children". Novels with original superhuman stories include Robert Mayer's Superfolks ( St. Martin's Griffin , March 9, 2005); James Maxey's Nobody Gets the Girl ( Phobos Books , 2003); Rob Rogers's Devil's Cape ( Wizards of

9975-529: The film also marked the series' switch from traditional cel animation to the digital ink and paint technique. Following the series' fourth season, the closing of Hanna-Barbera Productions and the death of its executive William Hanna in 2001, along with the muted reception to The Powerpuff Girls Movie , McCracken left the series to focus on developing his next animated series for the network, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends , leaving Chris Savino to take his place while production of The Powerpuff Girls

10108-436: The following year with 52 half-hour episodes, airing each Saturday from July 1 to December 23, 2006, and from January 6 to June 30, 2007. Powerpuff Girls Z deviates from the original series in terms of genre and animation style. It features junior high school students Momoko Akatsutsumi (Hyper Blossom), Miyako Gotokuji (Rolling Bubbles), and Kaoru Matsubara (Powered Buttercup) as the three heroes. McCracken told NPR 's Talk of

10241-400: The fourth season of The Powerpuff Girls , in which each Sugababes member portrays a Powerpuff Girl. A crossover parody of The Powerpuff Girls and 2 Broke Girls was done in the second season of Cartoon Network's TV series MAD , known as "2 Broke Powerpuff Girls". The episode, which aired on January 30, 2012, is of Bubbles and Buttercup, who are broke and work for "Him" in a diner after

10374-523: The game. This has changed due to popular franchises: The Silver Age -inspired Freedom Force (2002), City of Heroes (2004), Infamous series and Champions Online (2009), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG), all of which allow players to create their own superheroes and/or villains. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet allowed a worldwide community of fans and amateur writers to bring their own superhero creations to

10507-602: The girls have to deal with the normal issues that young children face, such as sibling rivalries, loose teeth, personal hygiene, going to school, bed wetting , or dependence on a security blanket . Episodes often contain hidden references to older pop culture (especially noticeable in the episode "Meet the Beat Alls", which is a homage to the Beatles ). The cartoon always tries to keep different ideas within each episode with some small tributes and parodies thrown in . The show

10640-484: The growth of superhero films for a time. Hit films such as 1998's Blade , 2000's X-Men and Unbreakable , and 2002's Spider-Man have led to sequel installments as well as encouraging the development of numerous superhero film franchises in the 21st century, both successful (such as 2005's Batman Begins , a reboot of the Batman film series ) and unsuccessful (such as 2004's Catwoman ). With that resurgence,

10773-400: The likes of Sailor Moon , Lara Croft , and Buffy the Vampire Slayer , who are also strong and heroic female leads. Craig McCracken argued that he did not create the show to fill a gap in the market encompassed by the "Girl Power" slogan, but that its true vehicle was "good, strong characters" that made for good storytelling. However, he did believe that it gained momentum from being considered

10906-693: The main canon for those characters. Crossovers often occur between characters of different works of superhero fiction. In comic books, highly publicized "events" are published featuring crossovers between many characters. In previous eras, especially in the Bronze Age of Comic Books , Marvel and DC had dedicated series in which their marquee characters such as Spider-Man and Superman would meet various characters in single stories such as Marvel Team-Up and DC Comics Presents . However, that publishing fashion has fallen away in favor of occasional limited series and guest appearances in regular series when

11039-400: The major comic-book companies. It has also appeared in poetry. Print magazines devoted to such stories include A Thousand Faces: A Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction , published since 2007 in print and electronic form, and online only as of 2011 and This Mutant Life: Superhero Fiction , a bimonthly print publication from Australia , published since 2010. The latter magazine was one of

11172-404: The most popular of the shorts, Dexter's Laboratory was the first to be greenlit by the network. Furthermore, McCracken's cartoon did not do well with a test audience composed by 11-year-old boys; "They were saying, 'This is stupid, little girls can't be heroes'", he recalled in 1999. They also found the girls' designs to be disturbing, which caused McCracken to panic and attempt to redesign them in

11305-582: The name of the Powerpuff Girls' mission to stop Mojo Jojo and his minions. The game received mixed reviews. The Powerpuff Girls: HIM and Seek was released in 2002 where the girls battle their variety of enemies through Townsville while on a scavenger hunt. The game received mostly positive reviews. PC games were also made for the series. These include: The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo Clone Zone , The Powerpuff Girls: Princess Snorebucks , The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo's Pet Project , and The Powerpuff Girls: Gamesville . Superhero fiction A superhero

11438-503: The names National and All-American at the time, received an overwhelming response to Superman and, in the years that followed, introduced Batman , Wonder Woman , The Green Lantern , The Flash , The Hawkman , Aquaman , and The Green Arrow . The first team of superheroes was DC's Justice Society of America , featuring most of the aforementioned characters. Although DC dominated the superhero market at this time, companies large and small created hundreds of superheroes. The Human Torch of

11571-416: The novel Gladiator , were heroes with unusual abilities who fought sometimes larger-than-life foes. The word " superhero " itself dates to at least 1917. The most direct antecedents are pulp magazine crime fighters such as the masked and caped Zorro (introduced by Johnston M. McCulley in 1919 with The Curse of Capistrano ) with his trademark "Z", the technologically advanced "Black Sapper" (1929),

11704-413: The only difference between the two is that the hero uses his extraordinary powers to help others, while the villain uses his powers for selfish, destructive or ruthless purposes. Both superheroes and supervillains often use alter egos while in action. While sometimes the character's real name is publicly known, alter egos are most often used to hide the character's secret identity from their enemies and

11837-516: The original concept, the accidental substance was a can of "Whoopass" , which was replaced by "Chemical X" in the television show. The three girls all have abnormally large eyes inspired by Margaret Keane 's art, and stubby arms and legs, and lack of noses, ears, fingers, flat feet, toes, and necks. McCracken preferred them to look more symbolic of actual children rather than going for a "realistic" look, meaning fewer body parts were needed. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup normally wear dresses that match

11970-400: The original show, also expressed a similar sentiment, suggesting that the idea was "strong" and could work if there's "good people attached to it". A pilot was officially ordered on February 9, 2021, and Maggie Kiley was hired as the director. Variety later reported that Chloe Bennet , Dove Cameron and Yana Perrault were cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. On March 30, 2021, following

12103-703: The patent in 1890. The device was described to be an "apparatus for facilitating walking, running, and jumping" through the use of bags of compressed air. The United States Department of Defense is considering a variety of technologies to create an exoskeleton intended for military use to enhance soldier performance. In the real world, extraordinary strength can occur via science. A person can become stronger, tougher, and more physically powerful than would seem humanly possible when using enhancements such as doping , substances and training . Records describe instances of people going beyond "normal" strength in specific circumstances without taking any specific measures, as in

12236-403: The phenomenon of hysterical strength , it is the power to exert force and lift weights beyond what is physically possible for an ordinary human being . Alternate terms of superhuman strength have included enhanced strength , super-strength and increased strength . Superhuman strength is an amorphous ability, varying in potency depending on the writer or the context of the story in which it

12369-439: The pilot would be reworked off-cycle, with the cast and crew remaining on board. The script was later leaked to overwhelmingly negative reviews on social media. Mark Pedowitz , the head of The CW, stated that the script would be largely rewritten. On August 11, Bennet dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. In May 2022, it was said to be in "some stage" of redevelopment. However, on May 18, 2023, The CW announced that

12502-638: The preternaturally mesmeric The Shadow (1930), the "peak human" Doc Savage (1933), and The Spider (1933), and comic strip characters such as Hugo Hercules (1902), Popeye (1929), the Phantom (1936) and Olga Mesmer (1937). The first masked crime-fighter created for comic books was writer-artist George Brenner 's non-superpowered detective the Clock , who debuted in Centaur Publications ' Funny Pages #6 (Nov. 1936). In August 1937, in

12635-549: The price of keeping such a secret. In addition, this narrative trope can allow fantasy characters to be in occasional realistic stories without the fantasy element of the sub-genre appearing. With supervillains, by contrast, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to conceal their crimes from the general public, so that they may inflict greater harm on the general public, and to enable them to act freely, and hence illegally, without risk of arrest by law-enforcement authorities. Death in superhero fiction

12768-493: The protagonist undertakes a quest to achieve both material advantage and psychological and ethical maturity, and is generally considered to function as a metaphor and guide for children transitioning to adulthood or from egoism to altruism as the core concept of the self . Antecedents of the superhero archetype include such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood , who adventured in distinctive clothing, and King Arthur , who possessed

12901-426: The public. With superheroes, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to protect those close to them from being harmed and to prevent them from being called upon constantly, even for problems not serious enough to require their attention. This can be a source of drama with the superhero being forced to devise means of getting out of sight to change without revealing their identity, or bearing

13034-413: The purchasing of war bonds . Following superheroes's popularity during this time, those characters' appeal began to dwindle in the post-war era. Comic-book publishers, casting about for new subjects and genres, found success in, particularly, crime fiction , the most prominent comic of which was Lev Gleason Publications 's Crime Does Not Pay , and horror . The lurid nature of these genres sparked

13167-483: The return of the superhero at DC, Marvel Comics editor/writer Stan Lee and the artists/co-writers Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko and Bill Everett launched a new line of superhero comic books, beginning with the Fantastic Four in 1961 and continuing with the Incredible Hulk , Spider-Man , Iron Man , Thor , the X-Men , and Daredevil . These comics continued DC's use of science fiction concepts ( radiation

13300-400: The rise of e-book readers like Kindle and Nook, a host of superhero stories have been self-published, including R. R. Haywood's Extracted (2017), R. T. Leone's Invinciman (2017), and Mike Vago's Selfdestructible (2018). While many popular superheroes have been featured in licensed video games, up until recently there have been few that have revolved around heroes created specifically for

13433-474: The series 18th in its Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time list in 2006. Delta Express promoted the series by having a Boeing 737-232 jet painted with a special livery featuring the characters Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup on its exterior. The plane's inaugural flight was held at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts , on July 17, 2000. It was approved to serve in 21 airports. In 2002

13566-426: The series for its Friday night prime time ratings win among cable networks. By the end of 2000, merchandising based on the series encompassed a whole variety of products, including T-shirts, toys, video games, lunchboxes, and dishware. Concerning the show's success, Craig McCracken has stated, "I thought it would get on Cartoon Network and college kids would watch it and there would be a few random T-shirts out there in

13699-467: The series had been cancelled by its new majority owners, Nexstar Media Group , and that the rights had been returned to Warner Bros. On July 5, it was reported that the series was no longer in development at Warner Bros. Television. In 2001, Warner Bros. Consumer Products deemed The Powerpuff Girls their flagship brand, given the success of the show's merchandise. The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association (LIMA) named it License of

13832-473: The series' composer, produced the album along with Bob Casale , his bandmate of Devo. The album did well, topping the Billboard ' s children's music chart for six weeks. Another album titled The City of Soundsville features electronica-style character themes and also did well with critics. The third album, titled Power Pop , features a more teen-oriented variety of pop songs. This third and final album

13965-403: The series' refined pilot, "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", in its animation showcase program World Premiere Toons on February 20, 1995, along with its follow-up, "Crime 101", on January 28, 1996. Network executives gave McCracken the greenlight for a full series, which debuted as a Cartoon Cartoon on November 18, 1998. The Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network for six seasons, three specials, and

14098-489: The short-lived action comedy, Misfits of Science . In the 2010s, Warner Brothers created a successful adaptation of the Green Arrow , Arrow , that began the successful Arrowverse television franchise. Marvel meanwhile had a successful television spin-off of their Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , while creating a number of series on the streaming service Netflix , before moving

14231-409: The show got placed on permanent hiatus . Tara Strong (Bubbles) and Tom Kane ("Him") reprised their roles here. The MAD episode with the parody ranked #26/30 for the week with 1.903 million viewers. Several video games were made for this show all being action in genre. The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo , released on November 14, 2000, follows Blossom as she tries to beat Mojo Jojo. The game

14364-440: The show's use of adult humor and pop culture references, declaring it "the sort of playful satire that can appeal as much to a viewer of 37 as 7." Joly Herman of Common Sense Media described the show as a "cute, highly stylized series [that] thrills the senses with its strange characters, funny situations, and lots of lowbrow humor". She went on to say, however, that the show does go from innocent to violent in no time and that there

14497-403: The so-called Golden Age of Comic Books to distinguish them from characters with super-powers. Normally, superheroes use their powers to counter day-to-day crime while also combating threats against humanity by their criminal counterparts, supervillains. Long-running superheroes such as DC's Batman , Superman and Wonder Woman and Marvel's Spider-Man , Captain America and Iron Man have

14630-450: The special has few flaws. Den of Geek gave the special a 2.5 out 5 said "The Powerpuff reboot needs those paddles to jump-start it. I want more. But I want better." In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly review, Marc Bernardin complimented the show on its "spot-on pop-culture acumen" and "unparalleled sense of fun", giving it a warm welcome from earlier "lame" superhero cartoons that he grew up with. Peter Marks of The New York Times noted

14763-410: The story of several ordinary people who each suddenly find themselves with a superpower. The British series Misfits incorporates super-human abilities to undesirables in society. In this case, young offenders put on community service all have super powers and each use them to battle villains of sorts. In the 1980s, an unsuccessful attempt was made to realize this last concept in the United States with

14896-418: The subgenre has become a major element of mainstream film production with outstanding successes like 2008's The Dark Knight , 2012's The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises , 2013's Iron Man 3 , and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron attracting major revenue and critical plaudits. This trend was reinforced in 2016 with the outstanding success of the critically lauded Deadpool , a film adaptation of

15029-463: The superhero archetype. Superheroes occasionally have been adapted into prose fiction , starting with Random House 's 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther . In the 1970s, Elliot S! Maggin wrote the Superman novels, Last Son of Krypton (1978) and Miracle Monday , coinciding with but not adapting the movie Superman . Other early adaptations include novels starring

15162-495: The supervillain often possesses a genius intellect that allows him to draft complex schemes or create fantastic devices. Another common trait is possession of considerable resources to help further his aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real-world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists and often have aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. Superheroes and supervillains often mirror each other in their powers, abilities, or origins. In some cases,

15295-467: The title change to Powerpuff , Donald Faison was cast in the role of Professor "Drake" Utonium. On April 1, Nicholas Podany was cast as Joseph "Jojo" Mondel Jr., the son of Mojo Jojo. On April 7, production on the pilot began. On April 9, Robyn Lively was cast as Sara Bellum and Tom Kenny was confirmed to be reprising his role as the Narrator from the original series. On May 24, The CW announced that

15428-539: The titular hero. Fellow DC Comics stars Batman and Robin made occasional guest appearances. Other superhero radio programs starred characters including the costumed but not superpowered Blue Beetle , and the non-costumed, superpowered Popeye . Also appearing on radio were such characters as the Green Hornet , the Green Lama , Doc Savage , and the Lone Ranger , a Western hero who relied on many conventions of

15561-464: The use of substances . Accordingly, "In Ancient Rome, gladiators would drink herbal infusions to strengthen them before chariot races." Currently, drugs including stimulants , anabolic steroids , diuretics , and β-blockers are ingested to enhance strength and other attributes. Humans have tried to use external devices to enhance their strength. The earliest device that was patented for this specific purpose can be credited to Nicholas Yagn, who filed

15694-402: The video game Dance Dance Revolution ) to take over Townsville. Common Sense Media gave the special 3/5 stars citing the "tasteful update of the original animation style" however recommends it for older kids around the age of 7. Geeked Out Nation gave the show a B rank and described it as "...a good special with the return of the characters that many of us grew up [with]", while they said that

15827-418: The villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies, and science fiction in various media. They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other heroes. Whereas superheroes often wield fantastic powers, the supervillain possesses commensurate powers and abilities so that he can present a daunting challenge to the hero. Even without actual physical, mystical, superhuman or superalien powers,

15960-551: The world record for the heaviest deadlift at 501 kilograms (1,105 lb). Many fictional works involve superhuman strength, rooted in religious texts or in scientific form. The depiction of superhuman strength dates as far back as the earliest recorded work of writing, with the Sumarian hero Gilgamesh . Early legends portray characters gaining their superhuman strength from the gods and exhibiting characteristics of both heroic humans and gods. More recently, superhuman strength

16093-544: The writer, actually created the central and supporting characters; Shuster, as the artist, designed these characters, and gave Superman the first version of his now-iconic uniform.) The character possessed many of the traits that have come to define the superhero: a secret identity , superhuman powers and a colorful costume including a symbol and cape. His name is also the source of the term "superhero", although early comic book heroes were sometimes also called mystery men or masked heroes . DC Comics , which published under

16226-410: The writers felt the character's presence was justified. Intercompany crossovers , between characters of different continuity, are also common. Over the history of the comic book genre, writers for major characters' series were required to produce material to strict regular publishing schedules that often ran for years. As such to fulfill this strenuous creative requirement, superhero stories have used

16359-608: Was a common source of superpowers) but placed greater emphasis on personal conflict and character development. This led to many superheroes that differed from predecessors with more dramatic potential. For example, the Fantastic Four were a superhero family of sorts, who squabbled and even held some unresolved acrimony towards one another, and Spider-Man was a teenager who struggled to earn money and maintain his social life in addition to his costumed exploits. Superhero films began as Saturday movie serials aimed at children during

16492-419: Was a mainstream superhero series which had characters that were a mix of fantasy ( Raven , Wonder Girl ), science fiction ( Cyborg , Starfire , Changeling , Kid Flash ) and crime fiction ( Robin ). Furthermore, their series had such a variety of stories, such as in a year-long period of 1982-3 where in rapid succession, the team would face Brother Blood , a costumed supervillain cult leader, then promptly have

16625-401: Was being written by Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody , who were also serving as executive producers with Greg Berlanti , Sarah Schechter and David Madden. Craig McCracken was not involved; however, he declared his liking of Berlanti's superhero shows and admitted he was "curious" to see what they would do with their adaptation. Genndy Tartakovsky , who directed and produced several episodes of

16758-543: Was called "simple and boring" by GameSpot and was a failure critically. The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green , another game released in November 2000, follows Buttercup as she fights crime. The Powerpuff Girls: Battle HIM follows Bubbles in her fight against HIM and was released in February 2001. The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-traction was released in October 2001, where the girls battle enemies in

16891-520: Was considered a "big disappointment" and was not received as well as the previous albums. The British girl group Sugababes also released a song called " Angels with Dirty Faces " to promote The Powerpuff Girls Movie . The song received generally positive reviews from critics and peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart . The music video hearkens to " Nano of the North ", an episode from

17024-414: Was designed by an artist working for Cartoon Network who was "thinking of it more along the lines of 'female empowerment' than the kind of thing you guys are talking about". Cartoon Network said in a statement: "We recognise some fans' reaction to the cover and, as such, will no longer be releasing it at comic book shops." On October 12, 2023, Dynamite announced a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to create

17157-517: Was directed by Dave Smith, who directed episodes for the series in the past, and featured the original cast members reprising their roles. This Powerpuff Girls special marked the first time that series creator Craig McCracken had no input. The episode's plot has Mojo Jojo kidnap Fibonacci along with an opera singer and a badger. The girls rescue all of them, and the Powerpuff Girls defeat Mojo yet again. Not deterred, he then goes on to invent an evil video game called "Dance Pants R-EVILution" (a parody of

17290-406: Was meant to be the final episode of the series, but Cartoon Network was against giving their series a definitive ending at the time. Unlike all the previous episodes, the special was animated using Adobe Flash at Cartoon Network Studios. It also provides a glimpse of Sara Bellum's face as an easter egg , which at the time could be captured with a TiVo digital video recorder. On January 28, 2013,

17423-458: Was moved to Cartoon Network Studios . The show's last original run episode was on March 25, 2005; in all, six seasons were made. Cartoon Network had offered to give McCracken and Savino a seventh season of the series, but they believed six was enough, and that the series had run its course. All of the original episodes were hand-drawn and produced at the Korean studio Rough Draft Studios , except

17556-453: Was working on 2 Stupid Dogs in 1992, McCracken's Whoopass Girls short was picked up for a series by Cartoon Network. The name Whoopass was dropped for inclusion as part of the What a Cartoon! animated shorts showcase. McCracken explained that Cartoon Network executives believed no one would make a children's show with the word "ass" in it, so the title changed to The Powerpuff Girls and

17689-573: Was working with Cartoon Network on a new half-hour The Powerpuff Girls special to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary. Titled "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!", it aired on the Pan-Euro Cartoon Network on November 29, 2008, during the Powerpuff Girls Birthday Marathon, and in the United States on January 19, 2009, as part of its 10th anniversary marathon. Originally an idea for season 4, the special

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