''The Toxic Avenger Part II'' is a 1989 American

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film released by

Troma Entertainment Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pla ...

. It is the second installment of ''The Toxic Avenger'' franchise. It was directed by

Lloyd Kaufman Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director ...

and features The Toxic Avenger in an adventure to Japan to meet his father.

Devilman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga focuses on a high school student named Akira Fudo who absorbs the powers of the demon called "Amon" with help of his friend Ryo Asuka in order to battle ...

and

Cutie Honey is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in ''Weekly Shōnen Champions 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an android girl named Honey Kisaragi, who trans ...

creator

Go Nagai , better known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with ''Meakashi Polikichi'', but is best known for creating popular 1970s ...

makes a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

. The film is also the debut of actor/martial artist

Michael Jai White Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director and martial artist. He was the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1 ...

and musician/composer/performance artist

Phoebe Legere Phoebe Hemenway Legere is a multi-disciplinary artist. She is a Juilliard-educated composer, soprano, pianist and accordionist, painter, poet, and a film maker. A graduate of Vassar College with a four octave vocal range, Legere has recorded fo ...

Plot

Melvin Junko has been transformed into the superhero known as the Toxic Avenger. He has made Tromaville a safe place again. His blind girlfriend Claire gets him a job at the Tromaville Center for the Blind. Apocalypse Inc., a New York-based chemical company, finds Tromaville to be the perfect home for its new takeover site, and has an employee disguised as a PUS deliveryman deliver a bomb into the center. Claire escapes upon learning of the bomb, but everyone else is killed. When the deliveryman and an Apocalypse construction worker arrive to begin their takeover, the Toxic Avenger emerges from the rubble and kills them. This leads to an all-out assault by members of Apocalypse Inc. Toxie defeats the thugs. Displeased, the Chairman orders his number one Mona Malfaire to call a meeting with the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and fire the entire personnel department. Apocalypse Inc. discover Toxie's father had left him and his mother when he was a baby. Using one of their "bad girls" as Toxie's psychologist, they convince Toxie to go to Japan to look for his father even though he has reservations about leaving Claire. Claire tells Toxie to go find his father. Toxie heads to Japan using a windsurfboard and a paper, asking for his father from the worker at a local Japanese restaurant. However, forgetting his passport, he enters Tokyo

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

-style, shocking a group of beachgoers. He runs into Masami, who is at first shocked, but befriends him after he saves her from some thugs. She offers to help him find his father. Apocalypse Inc. takes advantage of Toxie's absence and begins a hostile takeover of Tromaville. People who stand up against them are beaten or killed. Masami and Toxie find Big Mac Junko, a Japanese man. Toxie is elated until Masami sees a shipment of fish dropped on the floor and discovers cocaine in the fish. Big Mac is a Yakuza leader who delves in drug dealing. Toxie goes through a series of battles against Yakuza enforcers and Kabuki warriors. Using the environment to his advantage, Toxie defeats the entire gang, only leaving him and his father. Big Mac reveals to Toxie a bottle of "anti-Tromatons", which can kill Toxie. Toxie kicks the bottle out of his father's hand and pushes him to a fish butcher, who, excited by the action, kills Toxie's dad by chopping him up. The bottle breaks and Toxie begins to weaken. Masami takes Toxie to a sumo gym, where he is healed and begins training in the art of sumo before saying goodbye to Masami and heading back to Tromaville. He learns that Malfaire and the "bad girls" are assaulting Claire. He takes on the bad girls while Claire gets the upper hand on Malfaire, incapacitating her. The Chairman hires a motorcycle rider named Dark Rider to destroy Tromaville. With nitroglycerin strapped to Dark Rider's back, the plan is for the Dark Rider to burst into City Hall. Toxie hijacks a taxi and after a series of turns and misses, ends up crashing. Toxie hijacks a hovercraft and drives it after the Dark Rider, forcing him to bust into a home, causing the Dark Rider's demise. The people of Tromaville are elated. A man arrives in Tromaville and is revealed to be Melvin's real father. The Yakuza leader he defeated in Japan was "Bic Mac Bunko", who is glad to be reunited with both Melvin and his mom and is happy that Bunko, who had used

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was co ...

against him, is no more. The Chairman and Malfaire unsuccessfully attempt to hitch a ride back to New York.

Cast

* John Altamura as The Toxic Avenger / Melvin Junko, a former janitor that was mutated into a deformed superhero. He previously had the last name Ferd in the last film. ** Ron Fazio as The Toxic Avenger (voice) *** Ron Fazio also portrays an Apocalypse Inc. Executive *

as Claire, the blind girlfriend of the Toxic Avenger. She was previously called Sara in the last film. * Rick Collins as Apocalypse Inc. Chairman, the head of Apocalypse Inc. *

Lisa Gaye Leslie Gaye Griffin (March 6, 1935 – July 14, 2016), better known as Lisa Gaye, was an American actress, and dancer. Early years Gaye was born in Denver, Colorado to Frank Henry Griffin, a painter, and Margaret Allen Griffin (née Gibson) ...

as Mona Malfaire, the right-hand woman of the Apocalypse Inc. Chairman. *

Rikiya Yasuoka was a Japanese actor and singer of mixed Italian and Japanese descent. Biography Born in Tokyo, he appeared in his first film, ''Jitensha dorobo'', in 1964. He was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) ...

( Michael Herz, uncredited voice) as Big Mac Bunko, a Yakuza leader who is supposedly Melvin's real father. * Mayako Katsuragi ( Patricia Kaufman, uncredited voice) as Masumi *

Tsutomu Sekine is a Japanese comedian, singer and television presenter. His former stage name is . He is represented with Asai Kikaku. His daughter is ''tarento'' Mari Sekine. Sekine is partnered with Kazuki Kosakai, who is a junior at his talent agency and a ...

as Newscaster *

Jessica Dublin Jessica Dublin (July 9, 1918 – July 21, 2012) was an American actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre ...

as Mrs. Junko, the mother of Melvin. * Jack Cooper as Big Mac Junko, the estranged father of Melvin Junko. * Don Eckhart as Kid riding bike in opening scene * Fernando Antonio as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Paul Borghese as Lou Sipher: Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Sylvester Covin as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * William Decker as Apocalypse Inc. Executive *

Joe Fleishaker Joseph Isaac Fleishaker (1954 – May 23, 2016) was an American character actor best known for his appearances in low-budget cult and horror comedy movies. In particular, those produced by New York-based independent film company Troma Entertai ...

as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Mark Fucile as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Marc Allan Ginsberg as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Sal Lioni as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Doug McDonald as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Benny Nieves as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Kariim Ratcliff as Apocalypse Inc. Executive *

as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Susan Whitty as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Jeremiah Yates as Apocalypse Inc. Executive * Dan Snow as Cigar Face, a gangster and old enemy of Toxie who allies with Apocalypse Inc. *

Scott Leva Scott Leva (born May 29, 1958) is a stuntman and stunt coordinator who began his career as a gymnast and entered stuntwork in the 1970s. Biography Spider-Man In 1985, Scott was tapped by Cannon Films & Joseph Zito (who was the 2nd director ...

as the Dark Rider (''uncredited'') *

(''uncredited'') as Sumo wrestler / Voice of fish salesman

Production

When production started, John Altamura played The Toxic Avenger with Ron Fazio doing some doubling mainly for long shots of the character, as he was already cast as an Apocalypse Inc. executive. However, according to a 2001 interview with Fazio, Altamura abused his authority by complaining about the make-up and had threatened some staff members, pushing Kaufman to fire Altamura. Kaufman then hired Fazio to play the Toxic Avenger when production moved to Tokyo, Japan. However, Kaufman kept the scenes with Altamura in the film, hence in the film's opening fight sequence, it is seen that both Fazio and Altamura face against each other with Fazio playing the tiger-striped member of Apocalypse Inc who gets punched Exorcist-style by Altamura's Toxic Avenger. Fazio's voice would be used as the Toxic Avenger. In addition to Tokyo, filming locations included New York City and New Jersey.

made his film debut in the film and not only acted as a member of Apocalypse Inc., but assisted with the film's fight sequences in New York while Hitoshi Genma coordinated the film's action scenes in Japan. Lloyd Kaufman was told that the main Japanese actors, Rikiya Yasuoka and Mayako Katsuragi, spoke English. However, upon his shooting the scenes, he learned that Yasuoka and Katsuragi's English was not good enough. During post-production, Lloyd hired his wife Patricia, who also appears in the film as the "blind mother" and at the time, was the New York City Film Commissioner, to dub Katsuragi's voice. Co-creator/producer Michael Herz dubbed Yasuoka's voice.

Home media

The 'Unrated Director's cut' version released on DVD by

is missing almost all scenes of gore. A version with an extra 10 minutes of gore was released in the 'Tox Box' DVD set. The Japanese and German releases are the full uncut version. The 2008 'Complete Toxic Avenger' 7-disc DVD set includes the uncut version and is the same disc found in the 'Tox Box'. 88 Films released the film in 98kb in November 2014 on Blu-ray. The US release of Blu-ray Disc was in High Definition.

Reception

Critical response

As of 2022, ''The Toxic Avenger Part II'' holds a 0% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on six reviews.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toxic Avenger Part II, The The Toxic Avenger (franchise) 1989 films 1980s comedy horror films 1980s superhero films American superhero films 1989 comedy films 1989 horror films American comedy horror films American splatter films 1980s Japanese-language films Films directed by Lloyd Kaufman American sequel films Troma Entertainment films Films set in New Jersey Films set in Tokyo Films shot in Tokyo Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Superhero horror films Japan in non-Japanese culture Yakuza films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films 1980s Japanese films