[4] Melvin Ferd Junko III is a 98-pound janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey, where the customers Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie regularly harass and bully him.

He falls into a drum of toxic waste, which transforms him into a hideously deformed mutant with superhuman size and strength.

As Melvin gives aid to the people in the city and is celebrated as a hero, Mayor Belgoody, the leader of Tromaville's extensive crime ring, fears having the truth exposed.

When Melvin kills a seemingly innocent old woman in a dry cleaning store (in fact a leader of a human trafficking ring), Belgoody calls in the United States National Guard.

[3] In 1975, Lloyd Kaufman had the idea to shoot a horror film involving a health club while serving as the pre-production supervisor on the set of Rocky.

Years later at the Cannes Film Festival, Kaufman read an article that stated monster movies were no longer popular, so he decided to produce his own take on one based on his idea.

[1] Troma Entertainment released The Toxic Avenger initially in 1984, receiving an early review from Variety in late December.

[9] During the next year, the film had a long run as the midnight movie on the single screen of the Bleeker Street Cinema in New York City.

Its consensus reads, "A silly and ribald superhero spoof, Toxic Avenger's uninhibited humor hits more than it misses.

"[16] TV Guide gave the film a negative 1/5 stars, writing "Though it is silly, sleazy, and graphically violent, The Toxic Avenger does hold a bit of warped charm for fans of this sort of thing.

Club was highly critical of the film, writing, "As for the movie itself, it's still a piece of trash, if a marginally entertaining one: it's too self-consciously parodic to be good kitsch, and too gross to be all that fun.

He challenged the interpretation of the film as a parody, arguing that the mean-spirited tone of its extreme gore and offensiveness makes clear that the filmmakers were simply trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[21] In 2016 Variety reported that Conrad Vernon will direct the film, while Mike Arnold and Chris Poole were attached to rewrite the screenplay by Pink and Daniel C.

[22] In 2018 Legendary Pictures won the rights to reboot The Toxic Avenger, with the original's directors–producers, Kaufman and Herz, returning as producers.

[28][30] The Toxic Avenger remake premiered as the opening film of Fantastic Fest on September 21, 2023, and will be theatrically release by Cineverse in the United States for 2025.