Coyote vs. Acme is taking the world by storm, and those who have always loved the Looney Tunes are certainly getting their fill. Of course, Looney Tunes has always been able to infuse itself seamlessly into contemporary culture, often with more creativity than most modern blockbusters. But perhaps one of the strangest takes on these iconic cartoon icons came in the early 2000s when Warner Bros. Animation took a new stab at the concept by completely re-imagining the core Tunes — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Taz, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, and Lola Bunny — into a post-apocalyptic Acmetropolis for a take that’s part-superhero comedy, part-action/adventure.
‘Loonatics Unleashed’ Turned the Traditional Looney Tunes Characters Into Black-Clad Superheroes
If you weren’t a kid watching Kids WB on Saturday mornings in 2005, then you probably have never seen an episode of Loonatics Unleashed. In fact, it’s entirely possible that you forgot this two-season series existed to begin with (it only ran 26 episodes). But for those who love all things Looney no matter how bizarre, this one is a wild ride. The concept is simple, in the 28th century, Acmetropolis was plagued by meteors that rewrote the genetic code of many of the city-planet’s citizens, including six descendants of some original Looney Tunes characters. Led by the mysterious Zadavia (Candi Milo) — a Zordon-like figure who gathered the group and finances their operation — the Loonatics are armed with superpowers that either match their general aesthetic or feel completely random. For instance, Rev Runner (Rob Paulsen) has super speed abilities while Tech E. Coyote (Kevin Michael Richardson) can both heal any injury and magnetically attract objects. These powers makes sense given the Looney Tunes characters they’re based on. Ace Bunny (Charlie Schlatter) having laser vision, however, is a bit of an oddball powerset for a character inspired by Bugs Bunny.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
As far as the tone is concerned, Loonatics Unleashed is clearly meant to be both a parody of and homage to the action/superhero cartoons popular at the time. This is a Looney Tunes-centric production, after all. But even though it pokes a little fun at the concept, Loonatics Unleashed comes complete with its own detailed mythology and characters quite earnest in their desire to save the world. The first season offers a more serious tone, but by the second, the whole thing becomes a bit more Looney. Though many of the supporting cast members and antagonists in Season 1 were original creations for the show, the second season reveled in re-imagining characters like Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Tweetie Bird, Marvin the Martian, and others. Some, like Foghorn Leghorn or Pepe Le Pew, were even reworked as humanized characters that retained the personalities and aesthetics of their Looney Tunes counterparts but without the anthropomorphized character designs we’re accustomed to.
Of course, Loonatics Unleashed wasn’t well-received by everyone. Though the series attempted to do something unprecedented with the classic toons, it failed to capture an audience or gain any real favor with parents who were a bit turned off by the almost anime-inspired (and certainly more menacing) character designs. It’s a shame too, because what could have worked as a fun comic book-like take that crafted new characters as clear pastiches of the originals (except for Jason Marsden‘s Danger Duck, who is basically just Daffy Duck through and through) ended up becoming a warning for future operations. The next Looney Tunes series after this was The Looney Tunes Show, which threw the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters into an animated sitcom format.
‘Loonatics Unleashed’ Has Largely Been Forgotten, but It Deserves a Revisit
Still, Loonatics Unleashed may not have lasted long, but it hasn’t fully been forgotten. Producer Sam Register once told The New York Times that the series was a perfect example for Warner Bros. Animation of “what not to do,” and nothing like this has been attempted again. However, WB has no problem laughing at themselves, and the Looney Tunes have always had a good sense of humor about these sorts of things. The short-lived series has since been referenced a handful of times in projects like Teen Titans Go!and the Animaniacs reboot, and Bugs Bunny was even transformed into Ace Bunny briefly on New Looney Tunes as a prank.
To be fair, turning the Looney Tunes into sci-fi-flavored superheroes with black suits like something you’d seen in the Fox X-Men films is a bit of a tough sell. But for those of us who grew up with this outrageous cartoon, it had its merits. There’s certainly still enough personality in each of these re-imagined characters to make it worth a binge watch, especially if you’re a hardcore fan looking for more. Coyote vs. Acme may have reminded audiences that there is still life in the Looney Tunes brand, but it was far from the first project to take such a big risk with these iconic cartoon staples. Although if you’d prefer to laugh, you can always revisit these Bugs Bunny classics instead.
Loonatics Unleashed is available for purchase digitally on Prime Video.
Release Date
2005 – 2007-00-00
Network
The WB, The CW
Directors
Dan Fausett, Kenny Thompkins, Clint Taylor
Writers
Len Uhley, Stephen Sustarsic, Steve Cuden, Christopher Painter, Mark Hoffmeier, Mark Zaslove, Gordon Bressack, Jack Monaco, Kevin Hopps, Steven Kriozere, Wendell Morris, Alexx Van Dyne, Brian Swenlin
