AlthoughThe Boysmight be infamous for its gross-out humor,The Toxic Avenger’s upcoming remake will give the series a run for its money.The Toxic Avengerfranchiseis a tough one to explain. The series began life as a blackly comedic splatter movie by the independent studio Troma back in 1985, only to become more popular than anything else that the proudly tasteless studio has ever produced.The Toxic Avengerwent on to spawn sequels, a musical adaptation, a children’s TV show spinoff, and even a comic book series from Marvel.
Even thoughThe Toxic Avengerwas originally an intentionally gross, low-rent affair, the franchise ended up becoming a genuine cult phenomenon. Initially,The Toxic Avenger’s 2023 remakeseemed like it would be the perfect way to extend this unlikely cult classic’s success. Like every other major superhero, Toxie was set to enjoy a big-screen reboot complete with a more famous cast and a far larger budget. However, the movie’s long, troubled production history dragged out for over a decade, and the finished film eventually ended up searching for a distributor for over a year.
2025’s Toxic Avenger Remake Could Be The Grossest Superhero Spoof Ever
Troma’s Original 1985 Movie Was Infamously Disgusting
In 2023,The Toxic Avengerplayed at Fantastic Fest and early reviews suggested it was the goriest, most gratuitously nasty superhero spoof sinceThe Boys. Few ofThe Boys’ sickest jokescan rival the most shocking moments in the original movie, so it was no surprise that director Macon Blair’s re-imagining of Toxie’s story was even nastier.I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymoredirector Blair’s signature blend of jaw-dropping ultraviolence and gasp-inducing, pitch-black humor seemed like a match made in heaven for the franchise, but then disaster struck.
The Toxic Avengercould not find a distributor between late 2023 and early 2025 and seemed destined to become a piece of lost media. Fortunately,Varietyreported thatCineverse plans to release an unrated cut ofThe Toxic Avengerin 2025, meaning the brutally subversive superhero parody will see the light of day later this year. Per Cineverse CEO Chris McGurk, “This is the kind of movie that major studios are averse to release because it dares to push boundaries.” As early reviews of its remake noted its intense gore and gross-out imagery, this seems like it could be an understatement.
2025’s Toxic Avenger Remake Has An Incredible Cast To Rival The Boys
Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood Appear In The Re-imagining
LikeThe Boys,The Toxic Avenger’s 2025 remake has a starry cast including Peter Dinklage as the title character, Elijah Wood as a major villain, and both Jacob Tremblay and Kevin Bacon in supporting roles. AlthoughThe Boys’ celebrity cameosare the stuff of legend, this impressive lineup proves thatThe Toxic Avenger’s remake will be a more polished affair than the original movie. 1985’sThe Toxic Avengeris a self-parodic gore-fest that earns a lot of laughs due to its sheer tasteless audacity, but still feels amateurish in some places.
Cineverse’s biggest recent hit,Terrifier 3, proves the distributor isn’t afraid to back potentially offensive, shocking movies.
While this contributes to the movie’s slipshod charm and ensures that its mean-spirited gags never feel too genuinely unpleasant to laugh at, it is a unique tone that would be tough to replicate with a bigger budget. As such, it is good news thatThe Toxic Avenger’s remake seemingly brings a level of slickness and professionalism to the chaos of the original movie. Meanwhile, Cineverse’s biggest recent hit,Terrifier 3, proves the distributor isn’t afraid to back potentially offensive, shocking movies, and this gamble can pay off for them at the box office.
The Toxic Avenger Is A Different Kind Of Superhero Parody Compared To The Boys
While both franchises might be superhero parodies, it is worth noting thatThe Toxic AvengerandThe Boysare very different in terms of tone. WhileThe Boystakes characters like Billy Butcher, Starlight, and Hughie seriously amidst all the gore gags and shocking content, the originalToxic Avengermovies are much more broadly parodic. 1985’sThe Toxic Avengeralmost feels like an odd cocktail of aNaked Gunmovie, aSupermanmovie, and a particularly gory slasher, merging absurd, playful comedy with shockingly nasty gore effects.
The Boysundoubtedly helped pave the way for the remake’s release.
The result is tonally unique, and it will be interesting to see how Blair’s movie recreates this live-action cartoon tone in 2025’sThe Toxic Avengerremake. That said, despite their differences,The Boysundoubtedly helped pave the way for the remake’s release. With boundary-pushing content like Love Sausage’s appearances and season 3’s infamously grotesque opening scene,The Boysproved superhero spoof viewers would sit through a lot of gore for a laugh. Now, it is up toThe Toxic Avenger’s long-awaited remake to outdo evenThe Boyswhen it comes to crafting a truly shocking superhero parody .
