The Gangreen Gang

The Gangreen Gang are the tertiary antagonists of the original show. They are a group of trouble-making hoodlums and thugs who live at the Townsville city dump. Their members include Ace, Snake, Lil' Arturo, Grubber, and Big Billy. They are lesser recurring villains in The Powerpuff Girls, described by Blossom as "... not even a criminal element—just a nuisance." They are mostly known for committing petty crimes, such as vandalism and harassment of the young or elderly. Their name is a play on the term "gangrene", a skin condition.

The Gang are characterized by their green skin, and all the gang members have black hair, except for Big Billy, who has red hair. They appear to be teenagers but vary widely in height and body type.

They originally appeared in the intro for Whoopass Stew as the villains The Powerpuff Girls are shown fighting, alongside the Amoeba Boys, making them and the Amoeba Boys the oldest recurring villains in the series. They also appear in The Powerpuff Girls Movie as the tertiary antagonists.

The Gangreen Gang are a tribute to the works of cartoonist Ed Roth, particularly Rat Fink. They also bear a slight resemblance to Gorillaz (which Ace became a member of in 2018) and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

Ace
Ace (voiced by Jeff Bennett) is the Gang's leader, and a mean-spirited, bullying, greedy opportunistic rogue. Ace's height is 6'1". He sports a long, straight, greasy, slick-back hairdo, a scraggly mustache, an orange, cobalt-blue vest-jacket, a pair of black shades, and even fangs. He looks somewhat vampiric. When he speaks, he sounds like the typical juvenile delinquent—mean and disrespectful. He has a nasally Italian New Yorker accent and he sounds similar to Joe Pesci. As the Gang's smartest member, he is the instigator of most of their antisocial activities, and he does possess a certain charismatic charm that allows him to sweet-talk people who ought to know better, such as Ms. Keane and even Buttercup in the episode "Buttercrush." In "Power Lunch," he has cryokinesis, the ability to generate ice and snow (gained from eating popsicles and Slurpees), similar to Blossom's ice breath but a lot more powerful. In the anime, he uses cards as weapons hurling them at his opponents. People say he is the best looking one of the gang. In the book "Buttercup and the Mind-Reading Juice" it is revealed that he is aquaphobic, although in Powerpuff Girls Z episode 50 ("Him's Big Plan: Part 2") he is seen sitting in a hot tub. Ace is of Italian descent.

Style updates:
 * In the earlier episodes (1998-2002), Ace was shown to have his shirt tucked in. However, in the later episodes he was shown with his shirt out to give him a more "thuggish" look (and possibly to help with the rump issue [the outline of his buttocks was shown in Buttercrush, Slave the Day, and See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey, although the SMFMG scene was recycled footage from Buttercrush], although some people say this style update makes him appear as if he is wearing tights with a one-piece).


 * His skin was a more yellowish shade of green, his hair and features were more rounded, he had a few spots or "moles" on his face (these three changes also applied to the other members), and only his upper canines were fangs (similar to a vampire). From 2002 onward, his skin was a darker shade of green, he had a more angular look, the moles disappeared, and all of his teeth were fangs. Sometimes his fangs aren't visible and look more like normal teeth (particularly in the earlier episodes). Also, sometimes only one of his canine fangs is visible, but in some newer episodes (such as Aspirations) he had two visible canine fangs (again, making him look vampiric). His canine fangs almost always protrude from his upper lip.
 * In Buttercrush, Schoolhouse Rocked, and Bought and Scold, Ace has pink eyes. However, they are orange in The Powerpuff Girls Rule!! and yellow in the Powerpuff Girls Z series. In every other episode, they are either left white or hidden by his sunglasses the whole time.
 * In The Powerpuff Girls Movie, The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!, Telephonies, and in some Powerpuff Girls Z episodes, it is revealed that he has pointy ears.
 * The only times that Ace is ever shown without his sunglasses are in the episode Buttercrush after Buttercup knocks his sunglasses off (they also get knocked off in the episode Sweet 'N Sour) and in the video game Chemical X-Traction where Ace takes his sunglasses off and throws them like a boomerang.
 * In the Whoopass Stew episode, Ace had crooked teeth and Snake had sharp teeth. In the series, Ace's teeth became sharp.

Ace's clothes:
 * White baseball shirt with purple sleeves
 * Blue and orange ski vest (always shown opened over the shirt)
 * Black boots
 * Beige-yellow tattered bellbottom pants
 * Red white and blue striped wristbands
 * Black shades

In the anime series, he wears a tattered white t-shirt, yellow and orange wristbands, and a red and purple vest.

In Fusionfall, he wears a white shirt, ripped blue jeans, a black leather jacket with a green skull on the back that resembles his face, and one of his wristbands is replaced by an orange bracelet.

In the reboot, he has a short shirt, longer hair, and no mustache or wristbands.

In 2018, Ace became a member of the virtual band Gorillaz, as the bassist for their upcoming studio album 'The Now Now', temporarily replacing their original bassist Murdoc Niccals while he is in jail.

Snake
Snake (voiced by Tom Kenny) is a slippery, serpentine character who appears somewhat effeminate with a forked tongue, a long, sharply pointed nose, pink slitted eyes, black lips, a skinny body, a Kangol hat turned backward, always pronounced hiss and a snake-like voice. He is the Gang's second-in-command, but mostly this means that he is reduced to a yes-man to Ace. He does have some personality of his own, but it is usually silenced due to Ace punching him when he speaks out of line. This could imply that Snake is more loyal to his friend Ace than he is independently evil, which makes sense since he can be quite insecure. It is revealed in "Schoolhouse Rocked" that his real name is Sanford D. Ingleberry. In "Power Lunch," his superpower is elasticity, the ability to stretch himself (gained from chewing gumballs). In the Powerpuff Girls Z episodes, Snake is known as Znake (Ivy in English) and possesses the ability to put people to sleep by rubbing their legs penetrating their nerve endings although he has some problems with Buttercup as she has a lot of protein in her fibers. In the English dub of Powerpuff Girls Z Ivy changes from male to female as a scene would be considered unsuitable if Ivy continued to be male. Due to his face being pointed, he is always shown facing sideways. In the book "Smashing Lumpkins" it is revealed that he weighs ninety pounds.

Also in Powerpuff Girls Z, he apparently comes from a wealthy family.

Style Updates: (2002 onwards): Lips are thicker, eyes are a darker shade of pink, the voice sounds more snake-like and sinister, hairs on the neck are gone.

Snake's clothes:
 * Brown Kangol hat (always worn backwards)
 * Striped white guinea tank top
 * Striped brown shorts
 * Black hi-top sneakers
 * Black and yellow striped wristbands (sometimes shown as yellow and white)

In the anime, he has wavy blue hair covering one eye, a sailor outfit, black and pink hi-tops, and the colors on his wristbands are switched. He is of Scottish-Japanese descent.

Grubber
Grubber (voiced by Jeff Bennett) is the Gang's most physically grotesque member- untidy hair, enormous chin, ragged, grubby clothes, a long tongue hanging out, and protruding eyes, resembling an Ed "Big Daddy" Roth cartoon and looks as if he has been living in a cave all his life. He also appears to be mostly mute, communicating instead through blowing a raspberry. His father resembles him and has the same speech pattern. He does, however, occasionally demonstrate unexpected talents, such as playing the violin, speaking eloquently or performing impersonations (at first, they were so obvious it was a wonder how he fooled anyone, but later he was able to do them perfectly). In "Power Lunch," he can do loud, supersonic belches (gained from drinking fizzy beverages). In the anime, he has the ability to morph into anyone he wants (although he still retains green skin and purple eyes.)

Grubber is of British descent.

Style Update: Shirt changed from brown to purple.

Grubber wears a tattered shirt and pants with a rope for a belt. His anime clothes look similar except he now wears black boots.

Big Billy
Big Billy (voiced by Jeff Bennett) is a hulking, fat cyclops with a shock of red hair covering the top half of his face with a single big blue eye underneath. Billy acts as the Gang's muscle. Big Billy's height is 6'11" tall.

Big Billy weights 1014.1 pounds. Though he does at times display a childlike innocence, he mostly just does the bidding of his more savvy and vindictive friends. In the episode "School House Rocked," it is revealed that his real name is William W. Williams and that he is a Cyclops. Big Billy loves to eat and will gobble more junk than the rest of the gang. In one episode, he was saved by the Powerpuff Girls and began following them everywhere out of sheer gratitude, but eventually, he became more of a hindrance than a help. He's the same age as Snake and Grubber- the middle-aged members of the Gang. In "Power Lunch," he is just a rock (gained from eating hard candy). In the anime, he possesses super strength (although he is not as strong as Buttercup as he requires both hands to lift a car and she can lift the Professor's van with only one hand).

Clothes:
 * Green shirt with yellow stripes on the sleeves
 * Blue cuffed jeans with a belt
 * Black sneakers.

In the anime, he wears a white one-shoulder shirt and spiked wristbands and still wears blue jeans.

Lil' Arturo
Lil' Arturo (voiced by Tom Kenny and by Carlos Alazraqui in Buttercrush) is a malevolent Mexican midget with straight hair swept forward over one eye who looks as if he just jumped out of a Picasso painting, Li'l Arturo seems to take the most amusement from the Gang's activities. He appears to be a reference to the 1970 George Akiyama manga "Zeni Geba," and sounds very much like Señor Wences. He carries around a switchblade-style comb he refers to as his "daughter" and calls "Maria Conchita Teresa Rosalita." He has a rather prominent underbite. His full name is Arturo de la Guerra. ("De la guerra" is Spanish for "of war." This could imply that, since "Arturo" is so close to the word "art" and the equivalent Spanish word, "arte," his name may be a reference to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.) In "Power Lunch," his superpower is super speed (gained from drinking coffee). He possesses this ability as well in the anime but is not very good at using his powers. His accent had to be changed in later episodes because the producers feared complaints of Latino stereotypes.

Clothes:
 * Red-maroon shirt with a white shirt underneath
 * Black pants
 * Black shoes

In the anime, 'he' is a girl (even though he is a boy in the English dub). He wears a frilly pink dress with matching shoes.

Episode appearances

 * Whoopass Stew (Debut; title sequence only)
 * Buttercrush (Lil Arturo was voiced by Carlos Alazraqui in this episode)
 * 106a. Telephonies (Lil Arturo is voiced by Tom Kenny for the first time)
 * 201b. Schoolhouse Rocked
 * Slave the Day
 * Daylight Savings (cameo)
 * Twisted Sister (cameo)
 * Criss Cross Crisis (with teenage girl voices)
 * Bought and Scold (non-speaking, although Arturo can be heard laughing with Mitch at one point)
 * Power Lunch
 * Moral Decay (non-speaking)
 * Film Flam (cameo)
 * Shotgun Wedding (picture cameo)
 * The Boys are Back in Town (cameo)
 * See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey (Ace has the only clearly-heard lines)
 * Bang For Your Buck
 * Documentary (cameo)
 * Girls Gone Mild (cameo)
 * Sweet 'N Sour (cameo)
 * Live and Let Dynamo (in the Girls' imaginations)
 * A Made Up Story (cameo)
 * Aspirations
 * West in Pieces (as Gang Verde)
 * Roughing It Up (cameo by Ace, Snake, and Big Billy only)
 * The Powerpuff Girls Rule! (Ace is the only one with any lines)
 * The Powerpuff Girls Movie (Ace has the only speaking lines)