Powerpuff Girls Get Adi Shankar Bootleg Universe Short Film

Years after shocking the internet with a gritty, violent and visually-impressive Power Rangers short film, producer and superfan Adi Shankar is back at it with his take on the Powerpuff Girls.

The popular animated series, which was recently revived on Cartoon Network after years out of commission, originally ran from 1998 until 2005.

Titled Powerpuff Girls: The Long Way Back, the short is part of Shankar's "bootleg universe," shares the aesthetic of Power Rangers as well as films like Dirty Laundry (a Punisher fan film he made with Thomas Jane).

Directed by Steven LaMorte and written by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus, the 20-minute short sees Blossom (Dina Cataldi), Bubbles (Krystle Martin), and Buttercup (Jisaura Cardinale) reuniting for one final mission after giving up their powers 10 years ago following the death of their father Professor Utonium (Joe Abraham).

Sedusa (Malia Miglino), Fuzzy Lumpkins (Damian Fabio Sandolo), HIM (Jayme Wojciechowski), and Mojo Jojo (Jon Bailey) also make appearances in the film, which was reportedly shot for $9,000.

Shankar himself is currently producing Castlevania for Netflix and has a hand in the forthcoming docu-drama Superman vs. the Ku Klux Klan.

Shankar is riding a wave of popularity, with the Devil May Cry announcement coming soon after the well-received release of Castlevania Season Two. Castlevania will return to Netflix for a third season, its longest yet. Shankar spoke to ComicBook.com about developing the adaptation.

"[Castlevania] is something I knew I liked, and then we recruited other people to work on the show who are all fans, right?" Shankar said. "That's why we said that the show was made by fans for fans, but I had no idea that the fan-base was large at all. I try to, in my life and in this career, reject the idea of running towards whatever is popular at the moment...because then you end up in that weird vapid zone where you're not really doing things that speak to you. I'm just like, 'Yo, we made this show.' And the fact that it's such a juggernaut for Netflix is crazy."

The YouTube page for the short film teased more to come from the "bootleg universe." Meanwhile, you can watch the first two seasons of the Castlevania animated series on Netflix now.

h/t: Geekspin