Bizarre superhero movie inspired by the DC universe puts even ‘Batman & Robin’ to shame

In a world where superhero films reign supreme, a new contender has emerged in 2023, as part of the fifth installment of The Toxic Avenger film series. Well, it’s not your typical caped crusader tale, but Elijah Wood and Peter Dinklage’s film still contained the potential to take the DC Universe by storm.

Offering a cocktail of strangeness that even the most famous Batman and Robin Would worry about competing with Macon Blair’s DC-inspired horror comedy The Toxic Avenger scored an astonishing 91%, despite its eccentricities. Considering Blair’s strangest visions become a delicious source of entertainment, let’s dig deeper into the 2023 film and its DC inspiration.

Macon Blair reinvented Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon as DC villains

By reinventing the low-budget 1984 cult classic, Macon Blair has imagined the fifth installment in the franchise: The Toxic Avenger reboot, in 2023. Unlike the first installment of the franchise which was never able to boast the participation of A-list Hollywood stars, Blair’s film managed to boast a cast including Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon .

Subsequently, diving into the original horror-comedy tale about a janitor who falls into a barrel of toxic waste and becomes a disfigured, muscular superhero, Macon Blair starred Peter Dinklage in the title role. However, while sharing his surreal experience of creating this extravagant film with THISthe filmmaker spoke about his vision for Wood and Bacon.

(Wood’s appearance is) kind of Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Danny DeVito Penguin mixed together. This look came from discussions I had with our designers and with Elijah himself.

I wanted it to feel like a Peter Sellers type performance where he just becomes invisible. The idea is that you forget that this is the Elijah you know from Lord of the Rings or anything else.

(Bacon is in) the Lex Luthor mold, where they have all this money and resources at their disposal, but it’s just kind of a disaster.

The Lord of the Rings Actor Elijah Wood starred as Fritz Garbinger, a villain with rotten black teeth, dark panda-like eye sockets, and long strands of hair growing from his nearly bald scalp. Although Wood and Bacon’s atypical villain character was inspired by DC characters, those weren’t the only inspirations Macon Blair took from the popular superhero franchise.

The Toxic AvengerDC-inspired madness puts Batman and Robin to be ashamed

Directed by Mâcon Blair, The Toxic Avenger (2023) initially finds Peter Dinklage’s Winston Gooze diving into a vat of toxic waste, echoing the Joker’s transformation in the DC story. Next comes Elijah Wood’s appearance and villain character inspired by DC villain Penguin. Additionally, the filmmaker revealed he took inspiration from Fritz’s brother, corporate overlord Bob Garbinger, played by Kevin Bacon, of DC’s Lex Luthor.

After drawing inspiration from the DC character, Blair commented on the fact that Elijah Wood’s Fritz Garbinger had a band of dangerous lunatics at his disposal, which mirrored the lunatics of Arkham Asylum. With layers of deeply rooted inspirations deliberately derived and unconsciously culled from DC, The Toxic Avenger almost parallel to the level of chaos and absurdity often seen in DC films.

However, even though Elijah Wood and Peter Dinklage’s film embraced the eccentricities, it did so with such sincerity that it resonated with audiences in a way that DC’s weirdest superhero film didn’t. proclaimed by fans, Batman and Robin. Well, despite George Clooney’s 1997 DC film featuring some of the strangest takes on the superhero genre, the film failed to make an impact like The Toxic Avenger.

The Toxic Avenger combined all the weird elements of a superhero movie and yet succeeded with a 91% rating, while DC’s most eccentric film Batman and Robin only got a score of 12%. Despite the risk-taking and craziness, Macon Blair’s reboot felt like a breath of fresh air.

The Toxic Avenger is available on Peacock.

Batman and Robin is available on Max.