The Simpsons began as a series of shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, and it was so well-received, it was developed into a half-hour prime time show after three seasons. The Simpsons made its proper debut on Fox in 1989 and has been unstoppable ever since, with over 30 seasons and counting, thus becoming the longest-running American animated series.
The Simpsons follows the daily adventures of the title family in the fictional town of Springfield, along with those of their closest friends and other notable citizens, including a couple of enemies of the family, as are Mr. Burns and Sideshow Bob. The success of The Simpsons has been such that it has successfully expanded to other media, covering comic books and video games, and it even got its own movie in 2007. Simply titled The Simpsons Movie, the story counted on the participation of many celebrities, introduced new characters (like Lisa’s love interest Colin), and brought back some background ones. As happens with every project, The Simpsons Movie went through many changes during pre-production, including the character who would serve as the main antagonist.
The Simpsons Movie saw Springfield being trapped under a dome after Homer, in a very Homer way, polluted the lake, prompting the Environmental Protection Agency to take extreme measures. Imprisoning the town under a dome was just part of a bigger plan by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, who ended up tricking President Arnold Schwarzenegger into destroying Springfield. Russ Cargill was an original character who hadn’t appeared in the main series before, and hasn’t done so either after the movie, except for the opening sequence of the episode “He Loves to Fly and He D’ohs”. However, before Cargill was created to be the antagonist of the movie, the writers considered bringing Hank Scorpio back, one of the most popular characters in the history of The Simpsons.
When The Simpsons Movie was in development, Hank Scorpio was meant to return to be the villain in the family’s biggest adventure to date, but there were various obstacles in the way, such as his friendship with Homer, Albert Brooks improvising Hank’s most notable lines and thus making it hard to recreate what made him great, Hank not being recognizable to “a mainstream audience”, and him being “too nice” when the writers wanted a more full-on villain for the movie. Hank Scorpio made his debut in The Simpsons season 8, in the episode “You Only Move Twice”, in which the family moved to Cypress Creek after Homer was offered a job at a better nuclear power plant. Scorpio was his new boss, but he turned out to be an evil genius who wanted world domination.
Scorpio succeeded in taking over the East Coast, and after all that happened at Cypress Creek, he and Homer ended up on good , to the point where Scorpio gave Homer the Denver Broncos as a gift (though Homer wanted the Dallas Cowboys). Hank Scorpio hasn’t made a proper return in The Simpsons, instead only showing up in opening gags and as a background character, and at this point, it’s unlikely he will make a comeback. It’s hard to say if Hank Scorpio being the villain would have made The Simpsons Movie better or worse, more so as it’s unknown what the story was about at that point, but fans can imagine what it could have been like to see him back in action again.
