With no power comes no responsibility — but it does come with a reboot. Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has revealed that he has eyes on a “big reboot” of the cult favorite R-rated comic book movie franchise Kick-Ass.
Speaking at a virtual press junket for his upcoming The King’s Man, Vaughn was asked about another of comic book creator Mark Millar’s other successful film adaptations: Kick-Ass. The black comedy came out in 2010, just at the genesis of the superhero movie craze. Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicolas Cage, and Chloë Grace Moretz in her breakout role, the film brought a level of ultra-violence and foul language to crime fighting that received as much outrage as it did fan appreciation.
A sequel followed in 2013, and Vaughn is now looking to restart the bloody battle with a new story. “It’s so fucking nuts that I can’t talk about it,” he said (via Collider). “But we’ve got that ready to go. All the rights revert back in two years and then we’re going to reboot it where people will be like, ‘He is insane.’”
Related Video
That two-year timetable is based on the fact that while Vaughn’s Marv Films own the property’s rights, they’ve been licensed out to different companies in the United States, France, Germany, and elsewhere. Once those rights revert totally back to Marv, it will be full steam ahead on the reboot.
So why a reboot instead of Kick-Ass 3? Explained Vaughn,
“Because I think the clue is in the title. I think Kick-Ass became a new type of genre. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, you can’t make R-rated superheroes. No one will want to see an R-rated superhero. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.’ So, I had this idea, and it was so nuts that I went, ‘Yeah, great. It’ll cause just as much controversy, and everyone will talk about it and as many people that love it will hate it.’ But I’m not saying it hasn’t got the characters in it and won’t have, you know… I’m just saying it’s not what anyone could be imagining what it is. And I’m going to need one very, very brave actor or actress to play the new Kick-Ass because it will scare the shit out of them.”
Those comments make it seem like Vaughn is open to anything when it comes to casting the new Kick-Ass. When he first started talking about the project in 2018, he hinted that a reboot would focus on Patience Lee, a Black Afghanistan War vet and single mom who picks up the Kick-Ass mantle in the comic books. However, it now seems Vaughn is flexible on who wears the mask for this new adaptation.
Either way, we’ll have some time before the project really starts taking off. There’s also no word on if the long discussed Hit-Girl spin-off, focused on Moretz’s scene-stealing character, is still in the cards, so stay tuned.
Tagged: Alternative Music, Comic Book Movie, Film, Kick Ass, Matthew Vaughn, music blog, NEWS, Reboot