They Remaking the Toxic Avenger with Peter Dinklage

[Doobie Doo]

The Toxic Avenger dredges up first look at Peter Dinklage's Toxie: 'Part human, part mutant, all heart' (exclusive)​

Director Macon Blair tells EW he wanted the vibe of the original film's design, "some influence" from the animated series, and "something new and weird and lovable."
By
Nick Romano

Published on March 13, 2025 11:00AM EDT
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Peter Dinklage as Toxie in 'The Toxic Avenger'.Credit:
Yana Blajeva/Legendary Pictures
Toxie is finally ready for his close-up.

It's been a year and a half since the reimagining of cult classic film The Toxic Avenger had its world debut on the film festival circuit, but general audiences have yet to experience director Macon Blair's cinematic take, starring Peter Dinklage, for themselves. Now that the movie officially has distribution for later this year, the team is ready to share the first look at its title hero, as seen in Entertainment Weekly's exclusive photos.

The Toxic Avenger follows Winston Gooze, played by the Emmy-winning Game of Thrones alum. Working as a janitor at a chemical factory, Winston endures a freak industrial accident that turns him into a mutant. Though he becomes an outcast as a result, he also uses his newfound superhuman strength to become a vigilante to battle freaks, gangsters, and corrupt CEOs.

Luisa Guerreiro, an actor and movement artist, provides the physical performance of Toxie underneath all that makeup and costume.

Peter Dinklage dons tutu, Elijah Wood channels the Penguin in The Toxic Avenger first look

Lloyd Kaufman wrote the story for and co-directed 1984's The Toxic Avenger, which starred Mitch Cohen and featured makeup effects from Jennifer Aspinall. The film spawned four films, a Toxic Crusaders cartoon, a Marvel comic book series, a video game, and a stage musical. With his onscreen reimagining, Blair tells EW in a statement, "The goal was to try to stay true to the vibe of Lloyd's original Jennifer Aspinall/Mitch Cohen creature, with some influence from the Toxic Crusaders cartoon's look, while also trying to do something new and weird and lovable with Toxie's design. I love what Millenium FX did with it — part human, part mutant, all heart."

In a previous interview with EW, published in 2023, Blair said additional inspiration for Toxie's look came from 1989's The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. "But it's practical effects. You can see all the goopy little boils and stuff like that," he said at the time. "And we definitely stayed true to some of the really iconic elements: the tutu that's melted onto his body, the janitor's mop as his super weapon."

Peter Dinklage's "Toxie" in 'The Toxic Avenger'.
Yana Blajeva/Legendary Pictures
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The film also features Kevin Bacon as corporate overlord Bob Garbinger, the head of a corrupt company. He's in "the mold of Lex Luthor, where they have all this money and resources at their disposal, but he's just kind of a disaster," Blair previously described. Bob's brother and lead henchman is Fritz Garbinger (Elijah Wood), who leads the Killer Nutz, a gang of lunatics.

The Toxic Avenger is cleaning up in first look at new version of cult classic

Taylour Paige (Zola, IT: Welcome to Derry) plays JJ Doherty, who's part investigative journalist, part vigilante detective working to take down the Garbingers' company. Jacob Tremblay (The Life of Chuck, The Little Mermaid) plays Winston's stepson, Wade, who Blair calls "a special kid" but with "some anxiety issues."

Blair's The Toxic Avenger first premiered as the opening film of Austin's Fantastic Fest in September 2023 before going on to play Beyond Fest in Los Angeles later that month. It also played overseas at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain that October. Despite generally positive reviews, the film struggled to secure distribution. It was only this past January when Cineverse picked up all U.S. and Canadian theatrical, home entertainment, and streaming rights through a deal with the producers at Legendary Entertainment.

The Toxic Avenger will now hit theaters as an unrated wide release this Aug. 29.

'The Toxic Avenger' dredges up first look at Peter Dinklage's Toxie (exclusive)

'The Toxic Avenger' reveals Toxie! See an exclusive first look at Peter Dinklage's titular hero in the flesh. 'Part human, part mutant, all heart,' says director Macon Blair.

ew.com