The idea to make a more "grounded", "real" and "mainstream" version of The Toxic Avenger (surely anathema given its Troma roots) has been floating around for a while now. There's some slight forward movement as Sausage Party co-director Conrad Vernon has come aboard to try to get it on its feet.
Originally created by Troma founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, the camp icon has his origin story in Melvin, a gentle wimp who cleans at the Tromaville Health Club. A lonely target for jocks and other tough types, he gets his chance at payback – and heroism – when he’s immersed in a vat of toxic waste. Soon, the mop-wielding warrior is sorting out the bullies and fighting crime, not to mention wooing the ladies despite looking like a human-shaped mound of pond scum.
The Troma team launched a cult franchise with the 1984 original and he's cropped up since then on TV and in comic books. Akiva Goldsman, of all people, has been trying to re-launch the character in a new, slightly more family friendly fashion alongside producers Bob Cooper and Richard Saperstein, and there was some random talk back in 2013 that Arnold Schwarzenegger might star. The presence of Archer regular writers Mike Arnold and Chris Poole and now Vernon, who brought Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's food madness 'toon to the screen alongside co-director Greg Tiernan, suggests they might be going in a wilder direction now. “The opportunity to re-imagine a favorite cult-classic from my high school years is an honor," Vernon said in a statement carried by Deadline. "Toxie is an underground icon. My favorite kind."