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Will The CW turn 'The Powerpuff Girls' to 'Riverdale' 2.0? Worried fans say this will be a disaster

The CW has made wholesome Archie Comics characters unrecognizable in 'Riverdale,' but could there be room for hope with 'The Powerpuff Girls'?

In yet another "nobody asked for this" nostalgia cash-grab, the beloved animated series 'The Powerpuff Girls' is getting a darker, more cynical, adult take. The series, known for its humor, positivity and hyper-stylized animated style, is being developed into a live-action series where the Powerpuff Girls are "disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting." There's no question that everyone's going to tune in to the first few episodes - out of morbid curiosity as much as anything else - but the real question here is if there's something to look forward to, or if the only appropriate reaction to the news is dread.

At first glance, the announcement feels like a bad joke. "A live action gritty reboot about the Powerpuff girls as disillusioned 20 somethings is so ****ing stupid that it's the kind of shit that you would see as a satirical internet cartoon years ago," writes a fan.

The CW has been finding huge successes in their adaptations of popular intellectual properties. 'The Vampire Diaries' may have done more for vampires in current popular culture than 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Twilight' combined. The 'Arrowverse' has been one of the most successful superhero adaptations in history, all starting with a gritty reboot of Green Arrow. Beginning with the simply named 'Arrow,' the line expanded into a wide range of shows set in the same universe (more or less - it's complicated), ranging from the dark, serious 'Arrow' to the wildly campy 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow.' However, the source material of comic books themselves have such a wide range in tone that ANY tone the CW takes has a matching comic-book counterpart. What people are truly worried about is another 'Riverdale.' 

'Riverdale' takes beloved all-ages 'Archie Comics' characters and puts them in a show of steamy sex-filled escapades, with drama, violence, soap opera and even horror. It's a show that is unrecognizable from its wholesome, cartoonish roots. It's something the CW took a step further with 'The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,' which put Satanism, of all things, front and center. Fans of the original 'The Powerpuff Girls' style are not happy. "I still can't believe they're going all Riverdale with the Powerpuff Girls. This is gonna be a disaster," wrote a fan.

Another fan wrote, "Please stop taking children-aged cartoon characters and aging them up and making them have sex on screen like that’s something we ever wanted to see RE: Avatar, Powerpuff Girls." In case you haven't heard, the original creators of the animated 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' series have stepped away from Netflix's live-action remake and reports have claimed that its due in part to Netflix wanting a more adult series, one that includes violence and sex.

While some may find hope in the fact that 'Stargirl' is largely exactly the kind of tone that a live-action 'The Powerful Girls' series might want to set, it's worth noting that that show was developed originally for DC Universe, and as of yet has no connection with any of The CW's 'Arrowverse' shows. Still, the 'Arrowverse' shows and 'Stargirl' both were produced by Berlanti Productions, who are behind 'The Powerpuff Girls' as well.

It's worth taking a look at two names who are attached to this project as both writers and producers: Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody. Both have been behind some highly acclaimed series featuring female protagonists. Diablo Cody most famously wrote 'Juno,' winning the Academy Award for best original screenplay in 2008. She's also written 'Jennifer's Body,' and co-created 'One Mississipi' with Tig Notaro. Heather Regnier has written for, and produced, the latest 'Veronica Mars' revival, 'SMILF,' and another successful CW adaptation, 'iZombie.' Both Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody have been behind some brilliant, clever shows and films - but that doesn't necessarily mean they're a perfect match for the tone of 'The Powerpuff Girls.' Their works have a tendency towards clever, wry humor - while the humor in 'The Powerpuff Girls' was known for its punchy earnestness, as is befitting a children's television show.

The best-case scenario? 'The Powerpuff Girls' show will be a series featuring The CW's typical hot, youthful actors in a series that balances soap opera storylines with the light-hearted silliness that made the original series so much fun, all while poking fun at that earnestness in a way that rings true for those who grew up with the series. The worst-case scenario is that the show does indeed go the full 'Riverdale' route, where soap-opera antics rule all and romantic entanglements with the Rowdy Ruff Boys as the girls deal with their father issues surrounding an emotionally withholding Professor Utonium - all while uncovering a dark conspiracy of genetic experiments involving Chemical X. 

This early in development, it's a toss-up between which version of the show we will get - if the series does, in fact, go to television at all. In the meanwhile, however, there seems to be one common reaction to the live-action remake besides dread: anger. This fan captures the sentiment best: "i need to talk about the live action powerpuff girls again bc im HEATED. when will hollywood realize that live-action remakes of animated shows are NOT WHAT PEOPLE WANT. every single year something is remade in live action and it's what? TRASH. not everything has to be real."