Inside Macon Blair’s Comedy-First Reboot of The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger finally oozes onto physical media. After a long delay post–Fantastic Fest 2023 and an August theatrical run, the fan-favorite reboot splatters onto 4K for at-home gross-out glory.
After a bumpy rollout that started way back at Fantastic Fest 2023, Macon Blair's The Toxic Avenger reboot finally hit theaters in August and is now headed to physical media in 4K. Yes, you can soon watch Peter Dinklage, a radioactive mop, and a whole lot of unapologetic filth in UHD. Sorry, Hulk — America's favorite green vigilante is back.
What Blair set out to make (and what he refused to make)
The original The Toxic Avenger is Troma royalty. The last official movie, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, came out in 2000, and the character basically sat on the shelf for 20-plus years until Blair — best known for I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore and Blue Ruin — pitched his way in. He didn't walk in with a detailed plot. He walked in with a vibe.
"I just went in and I didn't have a story pitch, but I had a particular tonal pitch."
His north star was simple: comedy first. Not grim, not gritty, and definitely not a Dark Knight-style reinvention.
"To me, it was always a comedy first and foremost."
- Rated R or bust
- Keep Toxie practical — an actor in a physical suit, not a CGI creation
- Lean hard into comedy instead of brooding superhero angst
Cast-wise, Peter Dinklage plays Winston Gooze (our new Toxie), and Elijah Wood shows up as Fritz Garbinger. And yes, the mop makes the cut.
The joke density is... aggressive (by design)
On set, Blair and company were talking ZAZ — Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker — constantly. Airplane! was a guiding light. That tracks when you watch it: there are sight gags, dumb jokes, smart jokes, and background bits you only notice once you've stopped laughing at the previous bit. Blair knew most people wouldn't catch everything, and that was the point.
"Ten percent of the people aren't even going to notice them, and fewer than that are going to think it's funny. But for the four percent that it lands, it's like a special treat for them."
Modest? Definitely. Also a little funny math-wise. But he's not wrong — it's a movie that gets funnier on a rewatch because the jokes are layered everywhere.
How Toxie looks (and why)
Blair discovered Toxie young, not through the kid-friendly stuff but by stumbling onto the original movie on VHS at a friend's house. What grabbed him? The cover: a hulking mutant with a mop, a tutu, and an American flag. That weirdness stuck.
He didn't ignore the family-friendly era, though. The team actually pulled from The Toxic Crusaders cartoon when finalizing Toxie's design. Early concepts pushed the character toward a more decayed, zombie-like look — cool, but it stripped away too much humanity. The finished version leans greener and keeps more human features, which makes the character funnier and, honestly, easier to root for.
So... sequel?
Right now, there's no official talk of a follow-up. But if you stayed through the end credits, you saw the movie poke fun at the very idea of franchise-building with a wonderfully unhinged stinger. The credits cheekily promise Toxie will return in a sequel with a title along the lines of '2oxic 2venger: Toxie vs. Dracula vs. The Unicorn's Horn (IN SPACE),' presented in 'Dild-O-Vision' where legally allowed. Then the fine print turns the knife: the sequel only gets greenlit if the movie pulls in $1 billion domestic and the money comes in crypto. Tell your friends, etc.
In the meantime, the reboot that languished for years is finally something you can put on a shelf: The Toxic Avenger hits physical media in 4K soon. If your tolerance for blood, bile, and very dumb (very good) jokes is high, this one's an easy buy.