It’s the Marvel/CW crossover nobody expected.
Former Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stars Chloe Bennet and Dove Cameron have been cast as leads in the pilot for the CW’s upcoming live-action Powerpuff Girls TV show.
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the pair would join Yana Perrault playing the former pint-sized crimefighters all grown up.
Powerpuff forever
The Powerpuff Girls debuted on the Cartoon Network in 1998, following Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom, three girls, accidentally created by Professor Utonium, when he mixed “Chemical X” to a mixture intended to create the “perfect” little girls.
The trio is granted super strength and flight, which they use to protect Townsville from various monsters such as the evil monkey Mojo Jojo.
Fans loved the series for its fun humor and heart with quirky animation. It spawned a big-screen movie and a 2016 Netflix revival.
The new version of the saga comes from Oscar-winning writer/director Diablo Cody. It takes the idea of the “Girls” now grown up and feeling bitter about their lost childhood.
When a new threat arises, the Powerpuff trio has to reunite to stop it.
Meet the Girls
The casting for the Girls uses two popular faces from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Chloe Bennet began the series as hacker Skye. After gaining superpowers of manipulating energy waves, Skye (or to use her real name, Daisy) becomes Quake.
Bennet will play Blossom, described in the show’s press release as “though she was a spunky, conscientious, Little-Miss-Perfect child who holds several advanced degrees — has repressed kiddie-superhero trauma has left her feeling anxious and reclusive, and she aims to become a leader again, this time on her own terms.”
Dove Cameron broke out starring in the Disney Channel series Liv & Maddie, which earned her a Daytime Emmy. She gained further fame playing Mal in the hit Disney Channel Descendants movies.
Cameron joined Bennet for an arc on the fifth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the super-speedster operative Ruby Hale.
Cameron plays Bubbles, “whose sweet-girl disposition won America’s hearts as a child. She still sparkles as an adult, but her charming exterior belies an unexpected toughness and wit. She’s initially more interested in recapturing her fame than saving the world, but she just might surprise us and hers.”
Yana Perrault is best known for her work on Broadway musicals such as Jagged Little Pill.
She will portray Buttercup, “the rebellious badass of The Powerpuff Girls in its heyday. More sensitive than her tough exterior suggests Buttercup has spent her adulthood trying to shed her Powerpuff Girl identity and live an anonymous life.”
CW approach
It appears that, much as they have with Riverdale and Nancy Drew, the CW intends to put a unique touch on the Powerpuff Girls.
The concept is that the Girls clearly hate some of the fame they had as kid heroes and each trying to put a stamp on their new lives only to be pulled back into the hero game.
Coming from Cody, a writer known for her quirky projects, the show is likely to mix in humor amid the fun.
Filming has yet to begin, and it’s possible the CW may end up passing on it, but this powerhouse cast gives the Girls a chance to fly once more on TV.