Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn says a reboot is coming in two years
The director wants to take the franchise in a new direction
Aux News Matthew Vaughn
Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn has big plans to reboot the superhero movie franchise—in two years, when the rights revert back. The director shared his plans for a new version of the film during a press junket for The King’s Man.
“We’ve got a big reboot of Kick-Ass in two years. Big reboot,” the director said, per Collider. He continued, “It’s so fucking nuts that I can’t talk about it. 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.”
The original 2010 faced its own spate of controversy mostly because of Chloe Moretz’s Hit-Girl. Moretz was just 12 years old during filming, but that didn’t stop Hit-Girl from cursing like a sailor while killing a boatload of bad guys. Back in 2018, the actress said she did not wish to return to the franchise for another film.
When asked why he didn’t just want to make a second sequel, Kick-Ass 3, instead, Vaughn explained, “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.’”
He continued, “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.” In the original films, the title role was played by Aaron Johnson. Clearly Vaughn is considering gender-flipping at least some of the franchises’ roles.
According to Collider, Vaughn says production on the project can’t begin in earnest until the rights revert to his film company.
94 Comments
The original movie was already an improvement on the source material. So I don’t know how this goes because the Millar-ness of the source material is so problematic you can’t go back and make a closer adaptation.This has train wreck all over it.
it bothers me forever that JRjr drew that trash. I hate-read kickass2 in the store (well, flipped through it and all). I can’t believe some of the despicable things he drew.
So… you like John Romita Junior’s art then? Both he and and Frank Quitely are two of the “superstar” artists, as Wizard would say, that I just don’t get.
I do. I love both. But they do have very particular aesthetics that I can appreciate aren’t for everybody. I think both are excellent storytellers as well. I don’t really know anymore. I buy the occasional more recent trade but I’ve fallen off any monthly comics. I also love Mike Allred.
Wait, are we not supposed to like Mike Allred now? That’s going to make me very sad.
I dunno, Ask early discloser.
I’ve always been…impressed?… how Vaughn’s been able to sand down Millar’s material to be more approachable. I mean, still all gay panic, boy’ stuff laced with racism…but he gets it out there. I don’t know why, but I thought he was in on it–I think millar is too. But a reboot in these terms feels even more cynical than I expected.
This is a good point. Kingsmen the movie is wildly better than the comic.
But like, why
Why? Because we love you!
I’m an unabashed comics fanatic, and I don’t see the point of this
it’s the being nuts that is apparently what prevents him from talking about it
I found three errors in this article:The original 2010 faced its own spate of controversy —> The original 2010 (film?) faced its own spate of controversyChloe Moretz —> Chloë Grace Moretz some of the franchises’ roles —> some of the franchise’s roles(Also this is just generally godawful. It literally reads like it was generated by an AI.)
Maybe they meant the whole year.
If we’re going to cancel a year, can it be 2016?
That would be my pick.
2010 was a pretty controversial year for me so that checks out.
I’m starting to think the AVClub is taking the same approach as those rage-baiting tik-tok videos where people stuff food in toilets; it’s like deliberately crashing a train because you know people will be unable to look away.
I honestly just think that younger people literally don’t think anything matters because the world is going to end soon.I felt the world was inevitably going to shit back in the George W era (for pretty much all the same reasons people think it is today), but I still thought proper communication mattered. Like it would be key to the organized revolution that might fix the world, or something. I had hope, some kind of vague hope that helped me believe in something larger than myself.Gen Z doesn’t have anything like that. They’re just scrolling their phones on the deck of the Titanic. I guess they have strong opinions about eyebrows or something
Those of us in our 50s thought the world was going to end in the 1980s when Ronnie Reagan seemed to be set on annoying Yuri Andropov enough to nuke us. Fortunately he got on better with Andropov’s successor Gorbachev.
I don’t get the feel that the younger generation is especially apathetic from thinking the world is going to end soon. Every younger generation is generally apathetic. The internet and news media becoming an almost satirical dystopia of misinformation and confirmation bias is what shifted the balance into the dangerously absurd and lead to shit like Trump. That affects the parents of the younger generation, and their parents, more so than the younger generation themselves at this point.
Kids these days…..
you’re about 4 years too late with that observation.
The first one would probably be corrected to “The 2010 original faced its own…” since the fact that we’re talking about Kick Ass films, for some damn reason, is established in the previous paragraph.
Also, they refer to Aaron Taylor-Johnson as “Aaron Johnson”.
Jesus Christ, this writer really insists that everyone have exactly two names
Will Arthur “Two Names” Jackson return for the reboot? Stay tuned!
So you quote Python and not just Fry & Laurie as per your alias!
Monty Python was my British comedy gateway drug. My favorite British comedy is Blackadder.
No, no. Look. This “names” business — it doesn’t really matter. The names aren’t important. A few friends call me Two Names and that’s all there is to it. I wish you’d ask me about the music. Everybody talks about the names. They’ve got it out of proportion — I’m a composer. I’m going to get rid of the name. I’m fed up with it!
It’ll cause just as much controversy, and everyone will talk about it and as many people that love it will hate it.So basically the exact strategy Mark Millar uses to sell the film rights for his comics…
He really doesn’t have to.
So will it be based on the new kick ass with a black female lead? I’d watch that.
Big Ass is in town to Kick Ass!
I probably wouldn’t, but I have to imagine that’s the only way Vaughn can go unless they want to go edgelord the other way.
I remember Stardust and Layer Cake being good, it’s a shame this guy only wants to adapt the shittiest comic book series into the ugliest movies now.
No one was asking for this. No one who wouldn’t make money from a reboot, anyway.
Excuse me, a “big” reboot.
I like big ’boots and I cannot lie.
I bet Chloe still fits in the purple wig. She just looks like she’s got a small head.
Her best role was on 30 Rock.
I never saw that show. Maybe I should do one of them binges. We’re almost through The Great so I’ll need something for the Spider/TV void.
30 Rock is absolutely great, and it’s definitely a show to binge as fast as possible: watching half a dozen episodes in a row gets you into the flow of its insanity and makes everything funnier.We’re also watching The Great, and it’s… great! *rimshot*
Want part 3
Im exhausted just reading Vaughn talking about it.
In 2010 Kick-Ass either came out at exactly the right time, or slightly ahead of its time, with some of its deconstructionist commentary on the genre. Same with its gleeful R-rated violence. Now that sort of stuff is everywhere (plus the original is a largely faithful adaptation already that nailed what it needed to perfectly), so I’m not seeing what a reboot actually offers. Whatever is going on with this franchise and Kingsman, they are forcing it and it’s showing
first Kingsman was a surprisingly excellent film, and it’s been downhill since that.
I enjoyed the second one, though, Merlin was my favorite character and I’m a little sad they killed him off.
Yah left a really bad taste in mouth
A surprisingly excellent film with a horrifically awful anal-sex joke at the end that ruins all the goodwill it had.
It’s never bothered me.
That gag was perfectly in line with the rest of the satire on Bond. Of *course* the secret agent saving the day leads to him getting sex for no particularly good reason.
I don’t think you’ve fully considered that a reboot would be Totally In Your Face.
We at the network want a version of Kick-Ass that’s edgy. That’s in your face. You’ve heard the saying ‘Let’s get busy’? Well, this a version of Kick-Ass that gets bizz-ay.
Thoroughly and consistently.
I feel we should Rasta-fy Kick-Ass by 10% or so.
I still think this is a better spoof than The Boys, which feels dated both in that it’s spoofing a Justice League that was never visually on screen in the way they’re representing, and that their edgy material all feels like it’s from 2003 (super terrorists).
Between that and Defendor and Special and Green Hornet kinda and probably something else I’m forgetting it felt like we’d reached peak superhero film and the genre was going in on itself and would pop like a bubble soon. How wrong we were/I was.
I can’t believe he’s had the rights to Lexicon locked up for like 8 years now and his choice of next project is “Kingsman Sequel” or “Kick-Ass Sequel,” flip a coin.
R rated superheroes are so yesterday. When do we get an X rated one?
Orgazmo!
Kick-Ass the Reboot: Now You’re A Man! A Man, Man, Man!
Its PROBABLY THE TITTIES
Now you’re a man, a man, man, man!
Obligatory “Blade already showed you could do an R-rated superhero movie.”
Didn’t Darkman do that long before Blade anyway?
Ah, Matthew Vaughn. So much early promise and then nothing but crap to show for it.
Hell yes THIS. Why not another Layer Cake?
No.And while we’re at it, can we retroactively make the first two not happen?Hell, let’s remove the comic from history too.Or just Mark Millar entirely.
As long as we get to keep Red Son and Starlight. The eternal puzzle of Millar he’s brilliant at writing optimism and horseshit at writing cynicism but he just loves writing cynicism.
For real. His all-ages Superman Adventures books were fantastic.
“ “So, I had this idea, and it was so nuts that I went, ‘Yeah, great.”
OH WOW HE INVENTED R-RATED SUPERHEROES, SO NUTS, GREAT IDEA, WOW
I used to love Kick-Ass. Haven’t watched it since college, maybe? Anyway, I’m okay to ignore the franchise in totality at this point.
In other news: Every movie that made a profit of any kind from 1970-2019 is scheduled for a remake/reboot by 2029.
Isn’t the protagonist of the most recent Kickass comic a young black woman? That would definitely be different direction, especially for Vaughn, though he’s had female protagonists before, just not that many.
Seeing this article, I realized that I’ve held on to a lot of goodwill toward Vaughn over the years because of X-Men First Class and (to a lesser extent) Layer Cake. And now those two look like outliers because Vaughn’s spent most of his career being Mark Millar’s Dennis Dugan. So the fact that he sounds kind of stupid here really shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it was.
Stardust was also really good. I thought Kick Ass was terrible because, as others have mentioned, it doesn’t even stick to its own premise. That’s when his career went off the rails.And it looks like he’s just become interested in squeezing whatever juice he can from his old franchises. What a waste.
How good casting will give a director more shine than they deserve is something I’m noticing more now these days—and I’d say that the case with Vaughn’s successes. I mean, he’s not bad really, but when Vaughn first appeared from under Guy Ritchie’s wing I thought he’d have the more interesting career, and Ritchie’s not exactly making gems.
Moretz was just 12 years old during filming, but that didn’t stop
Hit-Girl from cursing like a sailor while killing a boatload of bad
guys.
I didn’t mind a 12-year-old cursing like a sailor while killing a boatload of baddies.
I minded her using gendered, anti-female slurs non-stop.Like gee — thanks for nothing, scriptwriter. I could totally get into a girl kicking ass and being the opposite of well-mannered, but not if her dialogue is just as misogynistic as the very worst male characters’.
The reboot no one asked for…
If it doesn’t have Nic Cage going absolutely apeshit as a Batman knockoff, I just don’t care.
Good call, baby doll!
The thing that irks me about the original Kick-Ass so much is that it sounds like such a good idea for movie (high-school nerd tries to be a superhero despite having none of the requisite skills) and would probably be awesome as a kind of down-to-earth, indie black comedy/satire of teenage angst and awkwardness.But the movie has no interest in this whatsoever, and in fact undercuts its own premise by trying to be an actual superhero movie at the same time that it tries to undercut superhero movies. It’s like three non-sequitur concepts piled on top of one another: ‘It’s a comedy about a loser trying to be a superhero! But also, there are actual superheroes in it! And also its really violent and has loads of swearing!’
James Gunn made that movie, it’s called Super. It’s great.
It’s called The Specials, and it’s great. Super was ok, at best.
Not sure why you have to tear down one great movie at the expense of another, but that’s, like, your trip man.
Not the case here — I legitimate hate Super (saw it for my birthday when it came out, and man was I disappointed), and would if Gunn had never made another superhero film
This reboot is just the shot in the arm MySpace needs!
I don’t see the point of this, unless the point is more money for Vaughn and Millar.
“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.” This the most Millar thing that didn’t actually come out of Millar’s own mouth. There’s also no way this is going to be anything but awful. From the sound of it, Vaughn’s idea of inciting controversy doesn’t stem from any possibly controversial messages or themes. It just means throwing as much incoherent hyper-violence, sadism, and offensive scenes in the movie as possible, with a hefty sprinkling of misogynistic, homophobic and bodily fluid jokes.
Who is blowing this much smoke up Matthew Vaughn’s ass that he thinks that A) anyone has strong feelings for Kick-Ass, B) they wouldn’t rather just watch Deadpool 3 or a new season of The Boys instead of Kick-Ass 2.0?
You got lucky, man. Just enjoy the Malibu infinity pool that helped pay for and let it go.
In 2024, Kick-Ass and the works of Mark Millar will be even less relevant. You can make new stuff and get relevant again.
I’m not gonna deny, even ignoring my feelings on Mark Millar’s work and adaptations of said work, few things will put me off a movie like the director talking up the violence like an excited college freshman who just learned what a keg stand is and thinks it’s the most epic thing ever.
Rebooting films – especially when this recent – is one of the biggest failures of contemporary filmmakers/studios. To say we are in an era of creative bankruptcy is mild at best. As someone who’s been following cinema since a young age, it’s been one of the saddest developments I’ve ever seen in an artform.