Tag: The Toxic Avenger

Posted on in Film News

‘Toxic Avenger’: Legendary’s Bonkers Superhero Remake Adds Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne & Sarah Niles

The Toxic Avenger was essentially Deadpool before the mutant was ever a notion at Marvel Comics, the hyper-violent comic book hero parody debuted in 1984 and suddenly became a cult hit with multiple sequels, landing a short-lived comic book published by Marvel, the Toxic Crusaders cartoon, and a kids toyline connected to the show.

A feature film remake has been in the works for ages but finally got going when Legendary Entertainment assigned Macon Blair to write and direct the latest incarnation.

This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently and naively trusts the hedonistic, contemptuous and vain health club members, to the point of accidentally ending up in a vat of toxic waste. The devastating results then have a transmogrification effect, his alter ego is released, and the Toxic Avenger is born, to deadly and comical results. The local mop boy is now the local Superhero, the saviour of corruption, thuggish bullies and indifference. 

Deadline has recently backed-up The Illuminerdi‘s report that Lord of The Rings star Elijah Wood has joined the satirical superhero film and added that British comedian Julia Davis. The Hollywood Reporter also revealing that Jonny Coyne and Sarah Niles are taking parts too.

Wood and Blair have previously worked together on the Netflix dark comedy I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore.

They’ll join an established cast that already has Peter Dinklage as Toxie, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, and the villain will be played by Kevin Bacon.

Legendary will shoot The Toxic Avenger in Bulgaria but hasn’t officially announced a release date. I’ll be slightly curious to see if the project will get a traditional theatrical release or be sold-off to a streaming service like Netflix as they recently struck a deal for Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Gundam movie.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Legendary’s ‘Toxic Avenger’ Enlists Kevin Bacon As The Villain In The Superhero Satire; Filming Begins This Month In Bulgaria

Before Marvel Comics’ Deadpool, the most violent and comedic character in the “superhero genre” was Troma Films’ Toxie aka The Toxic Avenger. The character debuted in the satirical superhero movie in 1984 that focuses on the transformation of a weakling nerd janitor, Melvin, into the hulking but grotesque titular hero after being dumped into toxic waste.

A new feature film is in the works at Legendary with director Macon Blair set to reboot the character for a new generation as they’ve already assembled a cast that has Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War), Jacob Tremblay (Good Boys, The Predator, Room), and Taylour Paige (Zola, Boogie, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) in lead roles.

The Toxic Avenger reboot has selected an actor to play the film’s villain, as The Hollywood Reporter says they’ve hired veteran actor Kevin Bacon. He’s no stranger to genre pics after previously working on projects such as the sci-fi horror comedy Tremors, James Gunn’s Super, and Joel Schumacher’s underrated thriller Flatliners.

They also mention production begins this month in Bulgaria, a location recently used for Michael Fassbender’s Kung Fury 2.

A string of films were mature but satirical in nature taking the genre to the extreme with hyper-violent scenes including the murder of a child. Despite that, it eventually spawned a Saturday morning cartoon series, a run of comics published by Marvel Comics, and a kids toyline.

THE TOXIC AVENGER – Tromaville, New Jersey is a small American town that terrible criminals have overtaken. As the town’s corrupt mayor sits idly by, muggers, robbers, and teenage punks victimize its helpless citizens. Among the residents of Tromaville is a young man named Melvin—a nerdy, emaciated janitor who works at the local health club. That is he’s meek until a gang of thugs decide to toss the poor kid out a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste. An unexpected metamorphosis takes place as the chemicals take hold of his body, and they transform him into the TOXIC AVENGER—doer of good, and brutal mauler of evil! The rest, as they say, is history as our hero sets out to single handedly wipe out the forces of evil that torment the good people of Tromaville.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘The Toxic Avenger’: Peter Dinklage Nabs Lead Role In Legendary’s Reboot of The Cult Comedy Superhero Franchise

Deadline reports that Emmy winning actor Peter Dinklage has been set for the lead role in Legendary’s reboot of the cult superhero franchise The Toxic Avenger from director Macon Blair. Peter isn’t a stranger to either comedy or genre projects with credits such as Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Pixels.

They don’t mention who Peter is playing but the assumption he’ll end up playing Melvin Junko or a version of him, a nerdy New Jersey janitor that is turned into the hulking Toxic Avenger aka Toxie after a prank by a bunch of bullies lands him into a batch of toxic waste.

It’s tone is all over the place as the violence is on par with stuff like RoboCop and Total Recall while being just as satirical as a parody like Scary Movie. I’m extremely curious to see how they want to approach the reboot and if they’ll attempt to be as violent as the original installments. However, with the popularity of a character like Deadpool that was created in the wake of Toxie’s popularity in the 1980s, it wouldn’t tough to see how Legendary might want to let director Macon Blair do what he likes with it. Blair is already working if Peter on the comedy Brothers for Legendary which co-stars Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame).

The Toxic Avenger is an oddball franchise since the films were hyper-violent it still managed to be given a children’s cartoon titled The Toxic Crusaders along with a batch of toys spawned from the cartoon and some comics published by Marvel Comics. I had a couple of toys from the cartoon myself growing up. It wasn’t all that uncommon for R-rated films to have toys released or cartoons marketed towards kids as movies like Police Academy, Robocop, Rambo, and Aliens had similar money-making ploys.

Brothers is seemingly still in the pre-production phase at Legendary and it’s unknown when they’ll want to start on The Toxic Avenger.

SOURCE: DEADLINE