Origin
Buttercup was created by Professor Utonium, a scientist striving to create the perfect little girl. He used the traditional ingredients: sugar, spice and everything nice. But, thanks to Mojo Jojo – then a normal monkey belonging to the professor, and simply named Jojo – he accidentally added an extra ingredient: Chemical X. As a result Buttercup and her sisters, Blossom and Bubbles, were created with superpowers. The accident also created Mojo Jojo.
Creation
Buttercup was created by Craig McCracken.
Character Evolution
Buttercup is the black sheep of The Powerpuff Girls and is known as the tough one. She was named Buttercup by Professor Utonium because “it also begins with a ‘B'” and would be uniform with her sisters’ names Blossom and Bubbles. Buttercup is a tomboy and is very reluctant to do anything that she considers weak or girlish, like kissing the RowdyRuff Boys to defeat them. Buttercup can be a handful with her potty-mouth and her enjoyment of violence, but she has proven to be a loyal member of the group. She often challenges Blossom’s leadership, causing major arguments between the two of them. Buttercup also enjoys tormenting Bubbles and referring to her as a “baby”.
In the cartoon on Cartoon Network, Buttercup is voiced by voice actress Elizabeth Daily.
She has also assumed the identity “Mange”, an alter-ego inspired by her favourite comic book character, Spore (from the episode Super Zeroes). Spore is seemingly based off of Spawn.
Powerpuff Girl Z
In the Japanese version of the Powerpuff Girls, Buttercup is Powered Buttercup. Her name is Kaoru Matsubara and she shares the original Buttercup’s characteristic as being a tomboy. Kaoru was reluctant to join the Powerpuff Girl Z because it meant she had to wear a skirt. Kaoru is popular in her school for being very athletic and skilled in sports. Kaoru is also very quick to anger. In this series, Kaoru is not related to the other Powerpuff Girls. She has a different family made up of a mother, a father and two brothers. Though she is a tomboy, Kaoru actually enjoys kissing one of the RowdyRuff Boys unlike Buttercup in the American series.
She was thought to be killed by Mojo Jojo. It is later found out that she survived but lost all her memory. She is one of the few people that survived in the future.
Major Story Arcs
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Much like her sisters, Buttercup was created by an accidental dose of Chemical X. Due to this, she possesses powerful superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, sensory and flight.
It should be noted that Buttercup is the strongest and fastest of the Powerpuff Girls.
Also like her sisters, Buttercup possesses the ability of space survivability, x-ray vision, night vision, laser vision (green colored), energy projection (green colored), fire generation, tornado generation, and thermal resistance.
Abilities
Unlike her sisters, Buttercup does not seem to possess any unique abilities or powers. However she does have the ability to curl her tongue, something she takes pride in as it is one thing her sisters cannot do.