The Toxic Avenger (2025)

NOW IN THEATERS! The Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman-directed The Toxic Avenger was released in 1984. It spawned three direct sequels of varying quality, a Saturday morning cartoon series, a film cobbled together from that show, video games, board games, a wonderful stage musical, and so many action figures/toys. The comedic superhero film sought to take down corporate culture and bullying. The gags were lewd and crude, and the style was entirely in your face. Suffice to say, it’s a genius work that knows exactly what it is. If one hasn’t seen it yet, it is definitely worth seeking out.

Macon Blair, who produced the excellent Murder Party, has written and directed a reimagining of the low-budget first entry. While he has a handful of screenplays to his name, The Toxic Avenger is only his second feature, directing-wise. That, coupled with the years-long trek to gain a distributor, doesn’t necessarily paint the rosiest of pictures. However, the film does star Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, and Jacob Tremblay, which is quite a notable pedigree for any film to boast. So, is this new Toxie-take a good time, or should it have been left to fester alone in the toxic waste?

“…resurrects Winston as a green-skinned, healing-powered, super-strong freak of nature dubbed The Toxic Avenger…”

Winston (Dinklage) has been a janitor at BTH for 13 years. His home life is a bit strained, as his partner died, leaving behind a son from a previous relationship. That kid, Wade (Tremblay), is a bundle of nerves and puts on that he doesn’t care for Winston since he and his mom never even got married. In reality, Wade often worries about his guardian. One day, Wade receives devastating news from a doctor, and the only available treatment is costly and not covered by his insurance. So he talks directly to the head of BTH, Bob (Bacon), but is given the cold shoulder. Thus, Wade breaks into the main company compound to steal the money to cover the procedure.

At the same time, J.J. (Taylour Paige) is breaking in to prove the company’s nefarious deeds that cost mentor Melvin Ferd (Shaun Dooley) his life. Fritz (Wood) sends out his security team, which is just the ICP-esque band he manages, to take care of the intruder. They bungle it, taking out Winston instead of the actual wild card, who is driving BTH crazy. To cover their tracks, the body is dumped into the drains. Well, this resurrects Winston as a green-skinned, healing-powered, super-strong freak of nature dubbed The Toxic Avenger, a.k.a. Toxie (Dinklage voices, but the person under the makeup is Luisa Guerreiro). He uses these new powers to become a vigilante, rescuing hostages from a fast-food chain and attempting to clean up New Chemistry. But no one recognizes him, not even Wade. However, Toxie uncovers corruption all the way up the ladder at BTH and resolves to do something about it.

For those worried, this new Toxic Avenger keeps the attitude towards corporate greed alive and well. Arguably, it ups the ante by making this new mutant hero an employee of the corporation responsible for wrongdoing, as well as its send-up of the absurdity of insurance companies. The city setting is filthy and grimy, meaning the dirty aesthetic of the original (primarily due to its indie nature) is preserved in a fashion. Blair also sprinkles in several homages to the original series and Troma (the filmmaking company behind the first Toxie). For starters, Kaufman himself has a cameo near the end. The background behind the newscasters is the top part of the red-black cityscape logo, which comprises the “Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman presents” logo/background that is featured in front of almost every Troma release. The prologue sees the death of reporter Melvin Ferd. Troma fans know this as the name of the original human who becomes the Toxic Avenger. There are a good number of other references not mentioned, but naming them all would make this review excessively long. It is clear that Blair knows Troma, Tromaville, and Toxie specifically inside and out. Heck, Kaufman even stated as much himself: “Macon Blair knows Troma better than I do. He’s seen everything. He’s seen the cartoon [Toxic Crusaders], he’s seen the Halloween special, he’s seen everything.”