Melvin Ferd

This page is similar in name or subject to other pages. See also Toxic Avenger for a complete list of references to clarify differences between these closely named or closely related articles.

Toxic Avenger
Aliases:	Toxie Melvin Junko Toxic Avenger
Continuity:	The Toxic Avenger
Notability:	Main character
Type:	Superhero
Occupation:	Janitor
Gender:	Male
Race:	Altered human
Location:	Tromaville, New Jersey
Associations:	Toxic Avengers
Status:	Alive
First:	Toxic Avenger, The
Actor:	Mark Torgl Mitchell Cohen Kenneth Kessler

Melvin Ferd, also known as Melvin Junko, is a fictional 98-pound-weakling turned muscle-bound heartthrob as seen in the gloriously popular and even more gloriously cheesy Toxic Avenger film series. Ferd was played by actor Mark Torgl in the original 1984 movie The Toxic Avenger, with Mitchell Cohen playing the part of his alter ego, Toxie. The adventures of Toxie continued on through multiple sequel films, a cartoon series, a comic book series, and even an action figure line. Go Toxie!

Biography

Origin

Melvin Ferd.

Melvin Ferd was the only son of the elderly Mrs. Ferd and grew up in Tromaville in New Jersey. As a young adult, he was scrawny, unattractive, unkempt and socially awkward. He worked as a mop boy at the Tromaville Health Club. He was the target of bullying and abuse by the members of the club, particularly by one specific clique which included Bozo, Slug, Julie, and Wanda. The friends played a mean-spirited trick on Melvin, but having Julie pretend to seduce him and to meet her by the pool for a proposed sexual encounter. Julie told him that her favorite color was pink and instructed Melvin to dress up in tights and a pink tutu. Melvin did as instructed and walked into the unlit pool area where he leaned in to kiss whom he believed to be Julie. Suddenly the lights turned on, and all of the spa members were present, laughing at him as Melvin leaned in to kiss a sheep wearing red lipstick. Mortified, Melvin ran away. The club members chased after him, laughing and taunting. Desperate for a means to escape, Melvin leaped through a second floor window. He landed in a vat of green, glowing toxic waste. Melvin returned home to take a bath. Later that evening, the toxic waste that he was exposed to produced a permanent side-effect. He transformed from a 98-pound weakling into a monstrous super-strong disfigured mutant.

Toxic Adventures

Toxie vs. Cigar Face.

This so-called Toxic Avenger, or "Toxie" as he later became known, was driven by an obsessive need to combat evil; and there was plenty of that in the byways and back alleys of Tromaville. He encountered a trio of criminals named Cigar Face, Knuckles, and Nipples, who were attempting to bribe a police officer named O'Clancy. Employing his enhanced strength and zero tolerance for evil, he laid into the three criminals, castrating Cigar Face, and killing Knuckles and Nipples.

Toxie appeared next at a Mexican fast food restaurant, which was in the process of being assaulted by three goons named Leroy, Frank, and Rico. Present at the time was a blind woman named Sara and her seeing eye dog. Leroy killed the dog and Frank attempted to rape Sara when Toxie arrived. He tore off Frank's arm, then shoved him into a pizza oven. He killed Leroy by shoving ice cream sundae ingredients into his mouth and then pressing the rotating bit from a blender into his face. He then killed Rico by trapping his hands in a deep fryer colander and pressing his face into the hot oil. Afterward, he assisted with getting Sara home. Being blind, Sara was not frightened by Melvin's hideous appearance, and a deep and lasting romance began to brew between them.

In short order, Toxie sought out and killed the four health club members, whose acts of cruelty ultimately led to his current condition. He killed Wanda in a sauna by pinning her to some hot rocks. He killed Julie in the club with a pair of scissors. He chased Bozo and Slug who tried to run him down with their car, but Toxie leaped onto the roof of the vehicle, reached inside the passenger the side and pulled Slug out, letting his body slam onto the pavement. He then took control of the vehicle by pulling the steering wheel off its column, causing it to crash off the edge of a cliff. Bozo was killed in the crash.

Toxie's next victim was an elderly little person, whom the neighborhood believed to be a kind woman, but was in truth the head of a human trafficking ring. He accosted her at a laundromat and shoved her into one of the machines where she died.

Over the span of time that Melvin began eradicating the criminal elements of Tromaville, his actions became known to everyone. He became a hero to the people, but not to Tromaville's mayor, Peter Belgoody. Belgoody was corrupt and several of Toxie's victims actually worked for him. He played up Toxie's murder of an "innocent" old woman to turn public opinion against him, and also used this to secure assistance from the National Guard.

Believing that he had killed an innocent, Toxie and Sara abandoned the residence they had been sharing and took to living in a tent on the outskirts of the city. Belgoody himself had him tracked down and personally led a contingent of military personnel and civilian volunteers to sanction him. He ordered the soldiers to open fire on Toxie, but none of them could bring themselves to do it. Melvin emerged from the tent, approached Belgoody and asked him if he had "any guts" before punching his fist through his abdomen and tearing out his innards. With Belgoody's corruption and criminal past now revealed to all, the Toxic Avenger was once again viewed as a her to the citizens of Tromaville.

References

Disfigurement | Mutant | Super-hero | Superhuman strength | Toxic waste