Toxic Avenger

Real Name: Melvin Junko

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: (before accident) Janitor; (after accident) Superhero

Affiliations: The Toxic Crusaders (Junkyard, NoZone, Headbanger, Major Disaster - all cartoon only)

Enemies: Slug and Bozo (jocks who inadvertantly caused his transformation); Apololypse Inc.; Dr. Killemoff (evil alien, cartoons only); Psycho, Bonehead (both flunkies of Killemoff, cartoons only)

Known Relatives: Claire (long-term girlfriend, now wife as of the fourth movie)

Aliases: Toxie

Base of Operations: Tromaville, New Jersey

First Appearance: Toxic Avenger (Troma Films, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Toxie has superhuman strength. His mop was also mutated, and has a mind of its own (at least in the cartoons - not sure if this is the case in the movies)

History: Melvin Junko was a 90 pound weakling who worked as a janitor at his local gym. One day he was picked on by two jocks, Slug and Bozo. Running away from them he fell out a window into a tub of toxic waste, and was transformed from Melvin into the Toxic Avenger, a being of superhuman size and strength. He has also been in a long relationship (since the first movie) with a blind girl named Claire, whom he finally married.

Comments: Created by Lloyd Kaufman. The pre-waste Melvin was played by Mark Torgl, with his transformed version played by Mitchell Cohen in the original movie, Ron Fazio and John Altamura in the next two sequels (that's both of them in each sequel, not one in the first and the other in the next), and David Mattey in the latest one (with Clyde Lewis providing the voice in the last)

Thanks to Josh Geren for providing a lot of the above info. He notes that 'Toxie' is "Probably the most famous of the Troma Films characters. The original film debuted on video in 1985, and is on the fourth installment of the series now, with the latest, Citizen Toxie, released in 2003."

The cartoon version of the Toxic Avenger A cartoon version of the character, working with other mutated humans as the Toxic Crusaders, was released in 1991. It ran for 13 episodes, and included a tie-in line of toys from Playmates and a computer game from Bandai. The other Crusaders included NoZone, who had a powerful sneezing ability, Major Disaster, who could control plants, Headbanger (who had two heads) and Junkyard, half-man/half-dog. Marvel Comics produced short lived comics for both the Toxic Avenger (not sure if this was the movie or cartoon version, but I'm betting the latter) and then Toxic Crusaders.

NoZone and Major Disaster of the Toxic Crusaders CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Toxic Crusaders, the group he leads in the cartoon.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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