Regardless of the perfectly valid arguments as to the decline in the quality of writing in the box office headliners from the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2018, the releases still do very well in terms of receipts. Profitability is a different case, what with budgets ranging from $180-$270 million, but the films are still making around $400 million on average. The DCEU even made $440 million in its last outing, and the third Venom beat that.
Luckily, at this time when superheroes remain popular but the stories are struggling to land, we have a hero ready to defy those norms, and then some. A certain palette cleanser, The Toxic Avenger arrives at US cinemas as well as those in the UK and Ireland on August 29, having previously been deemed “unreleasable.”
Subverting the Norms for a Different Entertainment Experience
Some writers and directors on major film projects with long-running stories have incorrectly assumed that subverting audience expectations is always a good move. Rather, the key is to write something that’s well thought out, coherent, and adds to the existing space while also offering surprise takes to what has become known as the template.
Subversions can come from any creative pursuit, from as straightforward as combining a couple of ideas that don’t naturally align. You see this a lot in gaming, particularly in the fast-moving, hyper-competitive space of online slots. Across the most popular slots UK players can spin, there are many examples of this. Astro Newts Megaways puts the amphibians in outer space, and Ted Megaways further leans into the film’s subversive premise.
Importantly, even in these given slot game examples, the subversive idea is leaned into and explored. In Astro Newts Megaways, where you join the newts on their intergalactic adventure, the features get progressively better with each more distant planet you reach, from Mars to Uranus. In Ted Megaways, Ted can get a zap gun to cause havoc, maybe even zap beer packs onto the reels, but also hide away in the Thunder Buddies Bonus.
In film and video gaming, subverting the superhero norms has a grand history. One of James Gunn’s best films to date is Super, where Rainn Wilson becomes a hero, stopping social faux-pas with a wrench. Then, there’s the more serious Unbreakable and the ahead-of-its-time Mystery Men. The game inFAMOUS is one of the most beloved superhero games because, after getting powered up, you can choose to be the hero or the villain.
Along Comes Toxie
Back in 1984, the original The Toxic Avenger was, more or less, lambasted by critics. It was exceedingly gory, full of attempted humour, and was very self-conscious. It has garnered a bit more appreciation in the years since as an original spoof idea of the superhero genre. Fast-forward to 2010, and a remake was reportedly in the works. By 2023, it was ready to show at Fantastic Fest, and now, in August 2025, The Toxic Avenger will return to cinemas.
The cast for this film, that had been labelled as “unreleasable” by producers and studios, is quite impressive. Headlined by Peter Dinklage as the man who will become Toxie, somehow, Elijah Wood, Kevin Bacon, Julia Davis, and Taylour Paige were all happy to jump on board. The chairman and CEO of Cineverse – the film’s distributor – says that it “isn’t just a great film; it’s an important one,” likely in a tongue-in-cheek way, given the trailer.
Undoubtedly, this will be a very different kind of superhero movie for film fans to explore. Following the success of the gore-soaked Terrifier movies, it seems likely that the cinemas will be banking on a similar fanfare for The Toxic Avenger this summer.
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