Kick-Ass will be an adaptation of the ongoing comic books written by Mark Millar. Matthew Vaughn (Stardust) is directing.
IMDb plot synopsis:
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.
Wikipedia:
The plot of Kick-Ass concerns a lonely teenage boy called Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who decides to become a Real-life superhero after being inspired by the heroes of comic-books. He soon encounters a mysterious vigilante called Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage), and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), who are working to bring down a drug baron.
Comic book synopsis (off Wikipedia):
Dave Lizewski, an otherwise ordinary New York City high school student and the child of Greg Willer, loving single father, takes his interest in comic books as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. He assembles a suit and mask, which he wears under his normal clothing, begins exercising, and practices things like walking on roofs, sating his ambitions for a time. He eventually seeks to fight crime, his first attempt at which leads to a severe beating and stabbing by thugs, followed by his wandering into the street and being hit by a car. He retains his secret identity, however, stripping off and hiding his costume before paramedics arrive.
Telling his father he was mugged, he undergoes intense physical rehabilitation, including four operations. He is released weeks later, and as soon as he is off crutches dons the suit once more and goes on patrol. When he saves a man from a beating, an onlooker catches the scene on a cellphone camera and uploads it to YouTube, turning Lizewski into an overnight sensation christened with the name Kick-Ass.
In school, the mugging excuse used to cover up his bruises spawns rumors Lizewski is a gay prostitute. Believing them, his longtime crush, Katie Deauxma, adopts him as a "gay best friend". Lizewski goes along with this in an effort to spend time with her. His father, worried about him, gives him a can of police-issue pepper-spray for protection.
As Kick-Ass, Lizewski sets up a MySpace account, so people can contact him for help. The first such request he investigates leads him to an apartment of violent lowlifes who try to kill him. He is rescued by a costumed young girl wielding a sword named Hit-Girl, who kills all the attackers and then leaves to join a grown man named Big Daddy. The two disregard Lizewski, who later learns that Kick-Ass has inadvertently inspired a subculture of people dressed in makeshift, original superhero costumes. Later, one such hero, the Red Mist, appears, and teams with Kick-Ass on street patrol. The two gain great public popularity after nearly being killed rescuing a cat from a burning building.
After the burning building adventure, Big Daddy and Hit Girl approach Kick Ass for a possible team up to take down a local drug kingpin. Unfortunately Red Mist turns out to be a informant for the drug dealers who ambush the two vigilantes and capture Kick-Ass when he tries to meet them.
Cast:
Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski
Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl/Mindy Macready
Nicolas Cage as Damon Macready/Big Daddy
Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist
Mark Strong as Frank D'Amico
Lydnsy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma
Pictures:
Aaron Johnson as Kick-Ass
Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl
Red Mist and Kick-Ass
Big Daddy and Hit Girl
I know not very many people read the series but I'm hoping the film will increase its popularity. I started reading Kick-Ass after someone recommended it to me on the CBR Forums, comparing it to Runaways. I really like it, but almost always forget about it because of the crazy delays between issues (it's only up to volume 6 now). It's incredibly silly (the protagonist is a kid in a scuba suit who always gets beat up) but a really really incredibly funny, awesome read. And it's nice because it's set in the real world. The film adaptation came relatively early, considering the first issue came out April 2008. Anyways, I'm really excited for the movie because it looks like it'll be a pretty faithful adaptation. Millar and John Romita Jr. just need to make sure they finish the series (or the arc) before the movie comes out so it doesn't ruin the ending for those of us who read the comic books.
Either way, with this coming out, as well as the plans for X-Men: First Class, Runaways, and Justice League, i think the new trend will be teenage superheroes. I vote that they do Young Avengers, and I wouldn't mind a Layla Miller/X-Factor movie.
