The Great Purge: 7 Shocking Changes To Animation On Max That Have Fans Raging In 2025

The landscape of animated content on Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, has undergone a seismic and controversial shift in 2025, sparking widespread outrage across social media platforms like Twitter (X). This isn't just a minor catalog update; it represents a fundamental, aggressive pivot in strategy by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that prioritizes cost-saving and a laser-focus on specific, profitable niches, often at the expense of beloved animated classics and legacy content. As of late 2025, the platform's animation library is almost unrecognizable, forcing subscribers to confront a new reality where scarcity, rather than abundance, defines the animated offering.

The core intention behind these drastic moves appears to be a financial one, driven by the WBD leadership to cut costs associated with licensing and residual payments for older, less-streamed titles. While new, high-profile projects are still being greenlit, the purge of hundreds of historical shorts and series has left a bitter taste for animation historians, parents, and long-time fans who once saw Max as the ultimate repository for the Warner Bros. animation vault.

The Great Animation Purge: What Max Has Removed in 2025

The most significant and frustrating news for animation enthusiasts in 2025 is the systematic removal of foundational animated works. This "purge" has reshaped the platform's identity, moving it away from being the definitive home for Warner Bros.'s history.

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• The Complete Looney Tunes Removal: In a move that shocked the animation community, Max removed the remaining 255 original *Looney Tunes* and *Merrie Melodies* short cartoons. The iconic shorts featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, which were once a cornerstone of the service, are now gone. The removal of this historical content has been widely criticized as a destruction of the Warner Bros. legacy.
• Classic Adult Swim Cuts: Even the adult animation pillar was not immune. Several classic *Adult Swim* shows were removed, including fan favorites like *Sealab 2021*, *The Brak Show*, and *Superjail!*, signaling a pivot even within the successful late-night block's history.
• Cartoon Network Classics Vanish: A wide range of beloved *Cartoon Network* series, such as *Courage the Cowardly Dog* and *What's New, Scooby-Doo?*, were also pulled. This further solidifies WBD's strategy to pivot away from legacy animated shows for a younger audience.
• The End of the Cartoon Network Website: Adding to the sense of an era ending, the official *Cartoon Network* website was shut down and now redirects users to Max, symbolically consolidating all content under the single streaming banner, but without the historical depth fans expected.

The New Strategy: Doubling Down on Adult, DC, and Family-Friendly Hits

While the removals have generated negative headlines, the remaining and upcoming animation slate reveals a clear, albeit narrow, focus for the platform's future. The strategy is now heavily concentrated on three key areas: Adult Swim, DC Comics, and specific family-friendly IP that can generate new merchandise and spin-offs.

Adult Swim's Continued Dominance

Adult animation remains a core pillar of Max's content strategy. The success of the *Adult Swim* brand is undeniable, and Max is leveraging it to attract and retain subscribers.

• Rick and Morty's Return: The massively popular flagship series, *Rick and Morty*, is confirmed to return to Max in 2025, ensuring the service maintains one of the biggest draws in adult animation.
• New Hits Emerge: Interestingly, the surreal comedy *Smiling Friends* has been noted for outperforming *Rick and Morty* on streaming platforms like Max, signaling a bright future for new, innovative Adult Swim content.
• March 2025 Premieres: Max announced new adult animation premieres for March 2025, including a series titled *Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable...*, indicating a continued investment in original adult-focused animated series.

DC Animated Universe Expansion

Under the new leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios, animated content is playing a crucial role in building the new DC Universe (DCU). Max is the primary home for this content.

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• Creature Commandos Renewed: The Max Original adult animated series *Creature Commandos*, a key part of the new DCU, has already been renewed for a second season. This renewal is a strong indicator of WBD's long-term commitment to DC's animated future on the service.

The Future of Legacy IP

While classic shorts were removed, WBD is still investing in new iterations of classic family-friendly IP, but with a focus on modern, full-series formats rather than historical archives. The second half of *Tiny Toons Looniversity* Season 2, for example, premiered in March 2025.

The Brand Identity Crisis and External Deals

The animated content strategy is intertwined with larger business decisions, including brand identity and licensing deals that further complicate the Max experience for animation fans.

The HBO Max Rebrand Reversal

In a surprising development, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Max would be rebranded back to HBO Max in June 2025. This move suggests an acknowledgment that the original "HBO" brand carries significant weight and prestige that the generic "Max" name failed to capture, potentially impacting marketing and subscriber perception of all content, including animation.

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Major Licensing Losses

The platform is also losing major licensed animated titles to competitors. The popular adult animated series *South Park* is set to leave Max in the U.S. in August 2025, following a new exclusive streaming deal with another platform. This highlights the ongoing battle for high-value animated content in the streaming wars.

Furthermore, even some of the removed legacy content is finding new homes. *The Looney Tunes Show*, for instance, was later added to Tubi in April 2025, demonstrating that while WBD is removing content from its own service, the shows are still being monetized through external licensing agreements.

Conclusion: A Divided Future for Animation on Max

The animation strategy on Max in 2025 is one of consolidation and calculated risk. The service has shed hundreds of historical and legacy titles—a move that has understandably sparked anger and the "Great Purge" narrative on social media—to focus its resources on high-performing, new adult animated series from *Adult Swim* and the foundational animated projects of the new *DC Universe*. While this strategy may be financially sound for Warner Bros. Discovery, it has fundamentally changed the value proposition for the dedicated animation fan. Subscribers must now accept a library that is smaller, more curated, and aggressively focused on the future, rather than a comprehensive archive of the past.