The Toxic Avenger (2025)

🧪 The Toxic Avenger (2025) 🧹☢️

“The Hero We Need Now… And Probably Deserve”

This review goes out to my friend Maddie, she really loved films like this and was looking forward to this remake, here’s to u Maddie.

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⚠️ Content Warning

This movie is not for everyone. It’s gleefully violent, stuffed with grotesque gore, full of juvenile humor, and yes—there are boob shots and even a couple of dick shots. It’s over-the-top in ways that will offend, disgust, or just flat-out bewilder certain viewers. If you aren’t into Troma’s brand of shock cinema, you’re going to hate this. If you are into it? Strap in. 🤘

This is not ur typical Hollywood film.

Also I dont understand people that said they walked out in disgust, this movie isn’t even as gross as the original, nor is it gross compared to Terrifier. Also if ur offended by this film u weren’t gonna go into this movie in the first place! “I walked out of the theatre” Yeah I bet u did, when the credits rolled! This movie is very much a live action cartoon.

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

Also they did a TV advisement with Liquid Death, yes u heard that correctly.

Yeahhhhh, what?

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Development Hell 👀

Before I dive in, let’s talk about how this movie even made it to our eyeballs. The Toxic Avenger (2025) was originally supposed to come out in 2023. But no studio wanted to touch it. Nobody. It sat in limbo until Cineverse—the same crew that helped get the Terrifier films out—stepped in and said: “Yeah sure, we’ll release your radioactive janitor fever dream.” And finally, on August 29th, 2025, this thing crawled out of the toxic waste barrel and into theaters.

That tortured journey already makes this movie feel like a cult miracle.

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Non-Spoiler Rundown 📝

So what’s the setup? Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) is a struggling janitor at a corrupt pharmaceutical company called BTH. Who lives in the city of St. Roma vile, yes not Troma vile like the original film, but St. Roma vile.

His wife has died, leaving him to raise his stepson Wade (Jacob Tremblay), who won’t even call him “dad.” To make matters worse, Winston is diagnosed with brain cancer and given a year to live. Desperate, broke, and denied treatment by his slimy boss Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), Winston sneaks into one of Bob’s ceremonies to beg for help. Instead, he’s laughed off, tossed out, and called pathetic by Bob’s wife (Julia Davis).

Out of desperation, Winston tries to rob BTH to pay for treatment. But just as he’s about to sneak away, he collides with a journalist, JJ Doherty (Taylour Paige), who’s digging up dirt on BTH’s toxic dumping in Tromaville. Before either can escape, they’re attacked by a freaky gang of assassins called The Nubs—a mix of musicians and psychopaths hired by BTH.

Here’s where Winston’s fate kicks in. The Nubs brutalize him, only for Fritz Garbinger (Elijah Wood)—Bob’s cane-carrying, deformed brother—to roll up and scream at them: “Who the hell is this guy? You killed the wrong person, you idiots! I said ruthless execution, not random murder!” Then, sighing like the world’s most depressed goth substitute teacher, he tells them to clean it up.

So they dump Winston (and his mop) into a vat of glowing toxic waste. Big mistake.

That’s how Winston becomes The Toxic Avenge, a green, grotesque, muscular mop wielding maniac, with a bulging black eye, a radioactive mop, and a very bad attitude.

U have to know what ur getting urself into, this film is not gonna be for everyone, this is very much meant for people who prefer those B Shlocky films or in other words midnight movie lovers with heightened insanity.

Also I bet y’all wondering, wait this isn’t the Toxic Avenger, this isn’t Melvin! Yeah I know, think of this as an alternative version of the film. And I love it.

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Characters & Performances 🎭

Winston Gooze / The Toxic Avenger (Peter Dinklage, prosthetic body double + voiceover)
Once a meek janitor with terminal cancer, Winston is reborn through toxic sludge as Toxie. He’s shorter than the OG Toxie, green-skinned, muscular, with one bulging black eye (that occasionally pops out). Dinklage doesn’t wear the prosthetics himself (that’s a stand-in), but his voice carries both Winston’s broken humanity and Toxie’s unhinged persona.

Also here’s an image of Toxcie so y’all can see what he looks like in this film.

Hot take, I actually might like this new design over the original design. Gasp i know right, but hear me out. I find this design more polarizing. The bulging eye, the green skin.

Wade (Jacob Tremblay)
Winston’s stepson. He resents Winston at first, won’t call him “dad,” and struggles with his own failures (botched dance audition). But his arc ties the emotional thread together, especially when he starts to see his mutated stepfather as a hero.

J.J. Doherty (Taylour Paige)
A sharp, determined journalist hunting for proof that BTH has been dumping chemicals and killing Tromaville. Her mother died because of BTH’s “treatments.” Paige grounds the movie with actual sincerity… until she’s roped into mop-swinging mayhem.

Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon)
The big bad. A slimy CEO of BTH who treats people like trash and cares only about profit. Bacon hams it up perfectly—pun intended. When he drinks Toxie’s blood in the finale and mutates into a horned goat-man with razor teeth and an overgrown jaw? He goes full grindhouse villain.

Fritz Garbinger (Elijah Wood)
Bob’s deformed, limp-walking brother. He’s pathetic, creepy, and strangely sympathetic. Balding hairline, pale face, cane, limp, and a voice that oozes insecurity. He wants his brother’s approval, but even he draws a line when asked to harm a child. His throat gets slit late in the film, leaving him rasping through a voice box in the epilogue.

Here’s an image of what his character looks like so y’all can see what im talking about.

I thought he’d be the most out there character in this film, turns out? Nope, hes thr most nuanced and actually has a story which I’ll save for spoilers. Also yes he does look like a dollar store version of Danny Devito’s Penguin.

BTH’s Goons / The Nuts (Various actors)
A gang of assassin-musicians. Includes:

A clown-makeup gangster with blonde hair.

A piano-playing witch who only speaks in demonic tongues.

A shirtless dreadlocked dude.

A parkour freak in a hood.

A bandaged-up weirdo.
They’re pure Troma-style nonsense—grotesque, chaotic, and ultimately slaughtered in over-the-top ways.

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Comparing New Toxie vs. OG Toxie 🔄

Here’s where I need to pump the brakes and talk about how different this film is from the original Toxic Avenger movies.

OG Toxie was Melvin Ferd, a nerdy health club janitor who fell into a vat of toxic waste after being bullied. He became a hulking, mutated monster—half hero, half gross-out gag—fighting crime in Tromaville.

New Toxie (Winston Gooze) is a widowed stepdad with cancer, a job as a low-level janitor at an evil pharma giant, and a fractured relationship with his kid. His transformation isn’t just “oops, I tripped into chemicals”—it’s tied to corporate corruption, poverty, and illness.

And the design? Night and day.

OG Toxie: tall, buff, melted face, tutu.

2025 Toxie: shorter, grotesquely muscular, green skin, one bulging black eye (used like a telescope in the 3rd act), and a face that looks more Cronenberg’s The Fly than goofy rubber mask.

This isn’t the Toxie you know. And honestly? That’s okay. It’s less about recreating the original and more about mutating it into something equally weird for a new era.

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Funny (and Very Troma) Moments 🤡

Toxie emerges from toxic waste and immediately locks eyes with a mutated turkey. They scream at each other. That’s the joke. I laughed hard.

His piss is toxic. No, seriously. He melts chains by urinating on them, then brags that “my aim’s better now.” Even the reporter with him says, “No fucking way.”

He kills a terrorist by slapping him with the mop and ripping his jaw off, then delivers the line: “I’m just a man with a mop!”

At a gang’s concert, he hijacks the mic and starts singing before exploding their heads and electrocuting their pianist. Yes, it turns into a musical massacre.

Oh, and the giant henchman with a chicken mask? When unmasked, he has a tiny bald baby face whispering directions. It’s equal parts disturbing and hilarious.

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Pros ✅

Peter Dinklage’s voice work nails it—even though he didn’t wear the prosthetics himself.

No the prosthetics role goes to Louisa Guerrero, she nails capturing Peter Dinklage’s mannerisms.

The gore is plentiful, creative, and cartoonishly grotesque.

Elijah Wood is unrecognizable as Fritz—both pathetic and tragic.

Kevin Bacon goat-man. Enough said.

The mix of satire and absurd humor feels true to Troma while giving it modern polish.

Cons ❌

Honestly? I wish it had been gorier. For a Troma property, it sometimes feels a bit too polished. The edges could’ve been sharper, nastier, grosser.

For all its gore and absurdity, the film still feels a little too “clean” compared to the original. The OG Toxic Avenger had this raw, grimy edge — especially with how horrifying and nasty Toxie’s transformation was. This version doesn’t quite go for the throat in the same way. It’s wild, yeah, but it’s also kinda… polished. Almost like the studio sanded down the splinters a bit, and you can feel it.Spoilers.

I mean it’s being promoted as an unrated film, but compared it to Terrifier? This is tame in comparison.

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Final Thoughts & Rating 🎬

The Toxic Avenger (2025) isn’t trying to replace the original—it’s mutating it. It’s grosser in some ways, slicker in others, and absolutely stuffed with Tromatic insanity. It will not be for everyone, but for fans of the genre (and of unhinged cinema in general), it’s a must-see radioactive riot.

Also u might find this s surprise but this film does have s message about corporations taking advantage of lower class people even to the extent of ruining the environment, and the lack of Healthcare in this country. But at its core this dilm is a shlocky comedy.

I think hands down this might be the best Toxic Avenger film in my opinion, but hey thats one man’s opinion.

⭐ 10/10 — not an exaggeration, my actual score.
Would get dumped in a vat of chemicals again. 🧪

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Spoilers Ahead 🚨

From here on, things get messy—literally.

Winston is murdered by mistake when Kevin Bacon’s hired gang, The Nubs, confuse him for their real target. Elijah Wood’s limp, cane-carrying Fritz is sent to clean it up. They dump Winston into toxic waste with his mop—only for him to resurrect as Toxie.

Once he goes public by saving innocents (including a fast-food massacre that ends with him tearing jaws off and mopping brains), Kevin Bacon figures out his janitor is the monster. The bulging black eye? Caused by toxic swelling. It pops out occasionally, and in the third act, Toxie even uses it as a telescope.

The villains escalate: Elijah Wood kidnaps Wade to bait Toxie, though he doesn’t want to hurt the kid. Meanwhile, the reporter JJ Doherty allies with Toxie after he heals her wounds with his glowing radioactive blood.

The Nuts are massacred in their own concert—Toxie slaps heads off, electrocutes the pianist, and even survives multiple bullets before declaring BTH the true monsters. The chicken-masked henchman reveal (tiny bald baby face whispering directions) is nightmare fuel comedy at its best.

Final act: Kevin Bacon drinks Toxie’s blood and mutates into a horned goat-man with razor teeth and an overgrown jaw. His wife chugs some too, transforming into a witch-like demon. Fritz hesitates, unwilling to hurt Wade, which sparks a rift.

The climax features Toxie vs. Goat-Bacon, mop vs. axe, ending with Goat-Bacon getting shredded alive in a car engine. Just when it looks like Toxie can hug his son, the demon wife stabs him and slits Fritz’s throat. But the toxins save Toxie—because even his piss is toxic enough to break chains—and he comes back for one last mop-slam.

By the end, Winston’s cancer is “cured” by the mutation. He’s celebrated as a hero, reconciles with Wade (who finally calls him Dad), and the film closes with a Tromatic cherry on top: Wade’s school talent show devolves into fake blood and violence while Toxie cheers from the crowd.