The Toxic Avenger (2025) is written & directed by Macon Blair, based on the character created by Lloyd Kaufman and Joe Ritter. It stars Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Luisa Guerreiro, David Yow, Annette Badland, Sunil Patel, Margo Cargill, Shaun Dooley, Rebecca O’Mara, Macon Blair, Lloyd Kaufman, and Julia Davis. This remake of The Toxic Avenger (1984) follows Winston (Dinklage), a kind-hearted single father working as a janitor for the shady pharmaceutical company, BTH. When he’s diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, his insurance refuses coverage, urging him to desperately seek help from BTH’s CEO, Bob Garbinger (Bacon). After Bob refuses to help, Winston attempts to rob him, but is quickly killed. With his lifeless body then thrown into a vat of toxic waste, he’s soon resurrected as a deformed green creature with newfound superhuman abilities. In an attempt to connect with his estranged step-son, Wade (Tremblay), Winston sets out to be the hero his old body never allowed him to be. Teaming up with J.J. (Paige), a rogue whistleblower who holds the key to exposing BTH, Winston proceeds on a bloody quest to punish wrongdoers and prove that heroes can come in all shapes and sizes.

This is often a zany film, allowing many of its performances to impress us with their scenery-chewing absurdity rather than their overall dramatic weight. It’s precisely what you want out of a film like this, but it’s often something that hurts the viewer’s ability to connect with the story on an emotional level. Thankfully, Dinklage fully sells the otherwise silly relationship between Winston and Wade. It’s the one element that grounds the story, allowing us to care about how things play out despite how unserious the film ultimately is. Winston is also the kind of hero who feels unsettlingly relevant to today’s day and age. He’s a man driven to commit direct violence by a predatory healthcare system that denies his coverage (an indirect form of violence), and is then criticized for doing so. He’s a hero whom powerful entities portray as a villain to distract from their own villainy. 

A majority of the supporting cast nail their various, over-the-top roles, but the standout is easily Kevin Bacon as the annoyingly charismatic villain, Bob Garbinger. He doesn’t necessarily provide anything villain-wise that he hasn’t in the past, but there’s something about his Joker-like smile that fits this film perfectly. He’s good-looking, polite, and calm—the exact opposite of Winston/Toxie. Here, we see the traditional characteristics of heroes and villains flipped, causing the viewer to question how we often detect/determine evil in the first place. 

Although the film follows the typical beats of a superhero origin story, it often satirizes or subverts them in hilarious ways. For example, the film features a fun twist on the cliche “Don’t kill him! You’re better than that!” ending. I don’t particularly wish to spoil the details, but it’s undoubtedly one of my favorite moments. 

The absurd amount of blood and gore is often used to support the film’s humor, justifying its inclusion. It’s a schlocky experience that effectively emulates the original Troma-produced films, but tones down their more niche elements to create a movie that’s more accessible in today’s world. It retains just enough of what made those films so memorable while also taking them in a superior creative direction. 

Overall, The Toxic Avenger (2025) is easily one of the year’s best comedies, but also one of the better remakes to release in the last decade. That being said, this isn’t some kind of surprise Oscar contender; it’s just a massive improvement to what came before. Like the originals, this is still a film that revels in schlocky bad taste; It’s just written, acted, and shot at a much higher level. Unless you have a weak stomach or a soft heart, check this out. Even if you haven’t seen a Toxic Avenger film, it’ll still have you rolling on the floor with laughter. B