10 Superheroes The World Needs Right Now
1. The Toxic Avenger
The first superhero from New Jersey, The Toxic Avenger is the alter ego of nerdy janitor Melvin Junko, who was transformed into a creature of superhuman size and strength after falling into (you guessed it) a vat of toxic waste. Looking like a more threatening version of Sloth from The Goonies, he advises one villain to “tell all your scum friends that things are gonna change in this town. I’m not just a pretty face.”
This is a Troma movie, so the production values are threadbare, the performances are best described as enthusiastic and the movie is less concerned with narrative than setting up the next gross out gag. Heads are crushed, a blind girl’s guide dog is killed and the villainous Mayor has his stomach torn open with the zinger “Let’s see if you’ve got any guts.”
Unlike most superheroes, Toxie doesn’t mope around constantly debating where fighting crime ends and vigilantism begins, he just gets on with the business of ridding the world of scum. A true hero of the people, he knows that if someone doesn’t stand up to the corporations and the ego-soaked, power-crazed politicians then a billionaire celebrity with no political experience will ultimately establish a dictatorship.
But that’s another movie.