The producers behind the upcoming reboot of The Toxic Avenger, starring Peter Dinklage, has officially been rated R. The upgraded rating is reportedly due to strong violence and gore, language, sexual themes, and brief nudity. This probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Peter Dinklage’s previous roles in shows like Game of Thrones and Pixels (2015), rated R and PG-13 respectively.
The Toxic Avenger reboot follows the original Toxic Avenger movie, produced in 1984 and co-directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. The movie follows Melvin Ferd Junko III, a scrawny, weak man who works as a janitor at a New Jersey health club. Melvin is tormented by a group of violent bullies who send him photos of dead children and force him into wearing a tutu, among other humiliating acts. At the climax of the torment, Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste, which turns him into a deformed mutant with superhuman size and strength. With the help of his new abilities, Melvin – who eventually becomes known as the Toxic Avenger – takes his revenge on not only his own bullies, but also other dangerous criminals looking to take advantage of the weak.
Everything We Know About the Toxic Avenger Reboot
According to MovieWeb, the Toxic Avenger reboot will star Peter Dinklage as Melvin, also known as “Toxie,” alongside Taylour Paige (Zola) as the film’s female lead, Jacob Tremblay (Wonder), Julia Davis (Love, Actually), Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings), and Kevin Bacon (Footloose) as the movie’s villain. Lloyd Kaufman ad Michael Herz will return to produce the reboot for Legendary Entertainment.
The reboot will reportedly feature a few changes to Melvin’s backstory, with the official synopsis giving Melvin a “terminal illness that can only be cured by an expensive treatment that his greedy, power-hungry employer refuses to pay for,” leading him to rob the health club and fall into the vat of toxic waste, similar to the original. Production of the Toxic Avenger reboot reportedly wrapped in August 2021, though no release date has been announced yet.
