The Powerpuff Girls Are Coming Back with Even More Chemical X

Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup — the sisters/science experiments that make up the the superhero, crime fighting trio known as the Powerpuff Girls — will be swooping back into the television lineup in 2016. “We are calling these girls back into action based upon an overwhelming demand for sugar, spice and Chemical X,” announced Cartoon Network’s chief content officer Rob Sorcher on Monday.

The original Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network from 1998-2005. During its run, it won two Emmys and was spun-off into a feature film, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, in 2003.

From Variety:

“As the original ambassador of girl power, ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ brand continues to resonate with people of all ages and there is tremendous excitement around introducing Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup to a new generation,” said Pete Yoder, vice president of consumer products for North America, Cartoon Network Enterprises. “With proven success and great content plans in place, there’s so much potential that we’re looking forward to explore with our licensing partners in the coming weeks.”

(The Powerpuff Girls brand was the “original ambassador of girl power”? Yikes, no one tell the Suffragettes!)

The cartoon was originated in 1992 by Craig McCracken, a student at California Institute of the Arts who created the show as a way to fill his school’s film requirement. The story — originally called The Whoop-Ass Girls — of the three 5-year-old sisters who were created in a lab out of sugar, spice, everything nice and (the superhero ingredient) Chemical X, took off from there, eventually changing its name to The Powerpuff Girls upon moving to television in 1998.

“I just liked the contrast of cute characters being strong and tough,” McCracken said in a 2000 article in the Washington Post.

There has been no announcement on whether or not McCracken will be attached to the reboot.