Long before movies like Deadpool 2 or Logan, but during our current superhero movie boom, Matthew Vaughn directed the R-rated Kick-Ass, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. That film was successful enough to produce a sequel that didn't fare as well, and despite the occasional rumor of a Kick-Ass 3 or Hit-Girl movie, the franchise just sort of faded into the ether. Well now comes word from Matthew Vaughn that Kick-Ass will live again. The director spoke about rebooting the property and also hinted at a big possible change to the eponymous character, saying:
We're going to reboot Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. Look what Mark Millar is doing with the comic for clues.
First off, it is awesome that we will finally be getting more Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. There aren't really any other superheroes quite like these on the big screen right now, and part of keeping the superhero genre healthy means having a lot of variety. As to what we can infer from Matthew Vaughn's statement to Empire, he seems to be hinting that the rebooted Kick-Ass will not feature Dave Lizewski, portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the first two films, as the man behind the mask. Instead we could possibly see the new Kick-Ass, Patience Lee taking up the mantle for the rebooted film.
In February of this year, the Kick-Ass comic book was rebooted in the same continuity with the same creative team under publisher Image Comics. This new Kick-Ass found Patience Lee, an adult single mother and Afghanistan war veteran, buying the same wet suit as Kick-Ass after Dave retired. She wears the Kick-Ass costume while fighting crime and robbing criminals to pay off her debts. There is also a new Hit-Girl series that sees Mindy McCready fighting crime all around the world independent from what's going on with Patience Lee. If we look to what Mark Millar is doing in the current comics for clues as Matthew Vaughn suggests, it stands to reason that we may see Patience Lee as Kick-Ass and a globetrotting Hit-Girl solo film when these characters return to the big screen.
Obviously there will be a lot of opinions about this, but we have already had the Dave Lizewski Kick-Ass onscreen, so rebooting the franchise with Patience Lee allows the previous films to still exist while making a newer Kick-Ass seem fresh. Mark Millar has already thrown out his strict casting requirements, desiring that Thor: Ragnarok actress Tessa Thompson play Patience Lee. While we're on the reboot dream-casting front, I'd like to put forth Bella Ramsey, who plays the badass Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones, as a possibility to replace Cholë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl.
It seems like a good time to reboot Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl given the moment R-rated superhero movies are currently having. Deadpool 2 just killed it at the box office and Logan received an Oscar nomination last year. We also have the upcoming Hellboy reboot to look forward to. So perhaps Kick-Ass will find more success this time around with a more adventurous audience. I'm of course assuming these new movies would be rated R, like their predecessors were and their content demands. It's unclear when this new Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl will make their way to the big screen, but depending on the licensing of it all, I wouldn't even mind them showing up on Netflix. Mark Millar's company Millarworld was purchased by Netflix, and Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass are the kind of grounded characters that would be well-suited to the platform, even if they starred in a streaming series.
For all the latest on the Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl reboots stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
