Troma purists will probably rile at the thought of a family friendly Toxic Avenger movie, particularly as the original films (the first was in 1984, with the last in 2000) were gleeful in their goriness and passion to try and shock. However he’s already been turned into a cartoon with 1991’s The Toxic Crusaders, and he’s currently got an off-Broadway musical, which is getting decent reviews and is said to be legitimately entertaining.
It’s apparently this muscial that’s got Oscar winning producer Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) interested in giving the character a makeover and producing a family friendly PG-13 action comedy akin to The Mask. Deadline reports that the plan is to turn Toxie into a green superhero for these environmentally conscious times. Quite how they’ll do this is still up in the air, because as yet no writers or a director have been hired.
The original film revolved around Tromaville Health Club mop boy Melvin, a gentle wimp whose trusting ways made him easy prey for gym thugs and eventually got him immersed in a vat of toxic waste. The radioactive swill transformed Melvin into Toxie, a misshapen superhero who wreaks havoc on polluters in New Jersey (and more particulary those who wronged him as Melvin) and whose improved muscle tone improved his standing with the chicks.
Although this is one of those ideas that could work, many have come a cropper trying to update campy classics, so we’ll have to wait and see whether Toxie can withstand a 21st Century screen reboot.