The Toxic Avenger (franchise)

The Toxic Avenger is a multimedia low-budget superhero comedy splatter film franchise originating with the 1984 film The Toxic Avenger, and continuing through three film sequels, a stage musical production, a comic book series from Marvel Comics, a video game and a children's TV cartoon.[1] Two less successful sequels, The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, were filmed as one. Director Lloyd Kaufman realized that he had shot far too much footage for one film and re-edited it into two. A third independent sequel was also released, titled Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV. An animated children's TV series spin-off, Toxic Crusaders, featured Toxie as the leader of a team of mutated superheroes who fought against evil alien polluters. The cartoon series was short-lived and quickly cancelled. In 2019, it was announced that Legendary Pictures would be making a reboot of the film, with original creators Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment serving as producers, and Macon Blair serving as writer and director.[2]

The Toxic Avenger
Official franchise logo
Created by	Lloyd Kaufman Joe Ritter
Original work	The Toxic Avenger (1984)
Owned by	Troma Entertainment
Films and television
Film(s)	The Toxic Avenger (1984) The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989) Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)
Television series	Toxic Crusaders (1991)
Theatrical presentations
Musical(s)	The Toxic Avenger
Games
Video game(s)	Toxic Crusaders (1992)

The films generally follow the heroic exploits of Melvin Ferd, a weak and skinny janitor turned into the deformed and mutated superhero, the Toxic Avenger, or "Toxie", by exposure to toxic chemicals. All films in the series were released by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts and gruesome violence. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with filmgoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the famed Bleecker Street Cinemas in New York City in late 1985. It eventually came to be regarded as a cult classic.

Films

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Tromaville has a monstrous new hero. The Toxic Avenger is born when meek mop boy Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste. Now evildoers will have a lot to lose.

The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)

The Toxic Avenger is tricked into traveling to Tokyo to search for his estranged father, leaving Tromaville open to complete domination by an evil corporation.

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)

Toxie finds he has nothing to do as a superhero, as he has ridden his city of evil. He decides to go to work for a major corporation, which he discovers may be the evilest of all his adversaries.

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

The Toxic Avenger must defend his friends from his own evil alternate universe doppelgänger, The Noxious Offender.

Television

Toxic Crusaders (1991)

A group of mutants fight against the pollution-loving alien Dr. Killemoff in the fictional city of Tromaville, led by Toxie, a nerd-turned-superhero.

Cast and crew

Principal cast

Key

• A ^Y indicates the actor portrayed the role of a younger version of the character.
• An ^O indicates a role as an older version of the character.
• A ^V indicates the actor or actress lent only his or her voice for his or her film character.
• An ^M indicates the model served as a body double, with the actor or actress's likeness superimposed onto the model.
• An ^L indicates the actor or actress lent only their likeness for his or her film character.
• An ^P indicates an appearance through a photographic still.
• An ^A indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.
• A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.

Character	Original series				Animated series	Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
	The Toxic Avenger	The Toxic Avenger Part II	The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie	Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV	Toxic Crusaders
	1984	1989	1989	2000	1991	1990
The Toxic Avenger Melvin Ferd Junko III	Mark Torgl Mitch Cohen Kenneth Kessler^V	John Altamura Ron Fazio^V	John Altamura Ron Fazio^V Michael J. Kaplan^Y	Mark Torgl David Mattey Clyde Lewis^V	Rodger Bumpass^V	Mentioned
Sarah Claire Yvonne Junko	Andree Maranda	Phoebe Legere		Heidi Sjursen	Kath Soucie^V
Mayor Peter Belgoody Goldberg Satan, Chairman of Apocalypse Inc.	R. L. Ryan	Rick Collins		Ron Jeremy Rick Collins^C	Chuck McCann^V
Mrs. Ferd Junko	Sarabel Levinson	Jessica Dublin			Susan Silo^V
Czar Gaseous Maximus Zosta The Trash Can, Ruler of Smogula	Steven J. Zmed				Patric Zimmerman^V
Bozo Bonehead	Gary Schneider				Hal Rayle^V
Girl in Locker Room	Marisa Tomei
Leroy	Patrick Kilpatrick
Ms. Mona Malfaire		Lisa Gaye			Susan Blu^V	Lisa Gaye
Chester of the Lardass Apocalypse Inc. Executive		Joe Fleishaker
Sumo Wrestler Fish Salesman		Lloyd Kaufman^U		Lloyd Kaufman^C
Apocalypse Inc. Executive		Michael Jai White
Newscaster		Tsutomu Sekine
Cigar Face		Dan Snow
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. Sergeant Detective Harry Griswold				Paul Kyrmse		Rick Gianasi
The Narrator				Stan Lee
President of the United States				Hugh Hefner^U^C
God				Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf
The Noxious Avenger Evil Melvin Ferd Junko III				David Mattey Clyde Lewis^V
Dr. Flem Hocking				James Gunn
Kinky Finkelstein				Himself
Captain Bender					Hal Rayle^V	Noble Lee Lester
No-Zone					Paul Eiding^V
Major Disaster					Ed Gilbert^V
Captain Fender					John Mariano^V
Junkyard					Gregg Berger^V
Dr. Killemoff					Rodger Bumpass^V
Psycho					Michael J. Pollard^V
Lotus						Susan Byun
Reverand Snipes						Larry Robinson
Reginald Stuart						Bill Weeden
Jughead Jones						Brick Bronsky

Other media

Musical

• The Toxic Avenger (musical) – musical based on the film The Toxic Avenger

Video game

• Toxic Crusaders (video game)

See also

• Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D., film conceived while filming The Toxic Avenger Part II in Japan
• All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger, autobiographical book

References

1. Westbrook, Caroline (2003-11-07). "Lloyd Kaufman". Something Jewish. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
2. "Macon Blair to Direct and Write 'Toxic Avenger' Reboot for Legendary". Variety.