The key to enjoying Cartoon Network’s recently rebooted Powerpuff Girls is understanding that it’s not trying to be the same cartoon as its predecessor. Bubbles wears barrettes now, Buttercup has a cowlick, and everybody sounds different. That’s just the way things are now and it’s perfectly ok.
Still, there are times when the new series goes out of its way to do something so wildly different than the original (like getting rid of Ms. Bellum) that it feels sort of like a slap in the face. Today, Cartoon Network announced a bit of distressing news that, to be quite honest, just doesn’t sit well no many how many times you read it: later this month, a fourth Powerpuff Girl will join the iconic trio in their adventures to protect Townsville. She’ll be introduced in The Powerpuff Girls: Power of Four, a five-part movie event.
Though we don’t know anything about the new girl other than that she exists, Cartoon Network shared her silhouette with Entertainment Weekly. She’s, uh, got a lot of hair and may or may not be purple-themed:
This wouldn’t be the first time that Professor Utonium’s daughters have welcomed a fourth hero into their squad. We all remember Princess Morbucks, who used her riches to buy a supersuit and force her way onto the team before she became a bratty recurring villain. There was also Bunny, the sister that Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup created in their father’s lab using an unstable mix of the same ingredients that made them. Bunny didn’t last long before her molecular structure gave out and she exploded. RIP Bunny.
Presumably, this mysterious purple character will be neither as misformed as Bunny, nor aided by technology like Princess was. It seems unlikely that Cartoon Network would actually keep this new girl in the fold past the events of the movie—but hey, anything’s possible.
The Powerpuff Girls: Power of Four begins airing on September 17.