Who Wants to See Kick-Ass?

Kick-Ass, a comic by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., is also a movie due out April 16. It’s about a teenage boy who wants to be a superhero but has no powers or abilities, so all that’s left is violence and blood. One of the lead characters is Hit Girl, an 11-year-old with killer swordplay and a foul mouth. Her father, creatively named Big Daddy, is played by the biggest name in the picture, Nicolas Cage. (From being considered for Superman to this!)

Given the title and the concept of kids doing physically aggressive and gruesome things, major studios weren’t interested, so it’s coming out from the smaller independent Lionsgate, producers of The Spirit, Punisher: War Zone, and horror films like Saw. That track record doesn’t give me a lot of confidence, but I’m not the audience for Mark Millar’s works, anyway, given their reliance on juvenile exaggeration and vulgarity. This seems geared firmly for the core teen male superhero audience, although I suspect the R rating (for “strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity, and some drug use – some involving children”) may be a little troublesome there.

Here’s the age-restricted red-band trailer for Kick-Ass. Warning, lots of profanity and fighting, plus some sexual references.

Here’s a nice photo comparison between the comic characters and the people cast to play them. There are already two books out, a collection of the comics and a making-of.

Kick-Ass hardcover collection	Creating the Comic, Making the Movie