Summary
Aaron Taylor-Jonhson has been a $1.4 billion superhero Avengers movie and will soon play Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter, making it nearly impossible to picture him as a more traditionalKick-Asscharacter in a potential sequel. Before Prime Video’s adaptations ofThe BoysandInvincibletook superhero deconstruction to the mainstream, comic books like Mark Millar’sKick-Asswere already addressing the tropes of the genre with a lot of humor and hyper-violence.Matthew Vaugh’sKick-Ass(2010) captured the essence of the comic bookand was a modest hit, prompting the release of a sequel, 2013’sKick-Ass 2.
Vaughn did not directKick-Ass 2, with Jeff Wadlow helming the sequel instead. Though there were still moreKick-Assstories left to be told based on the comics, a third film never happened. Theprospect ofKick-Ass 3happeningas a direct sequel to the previous film became even less likely after Vaughn announced plans to revisit theKick-Assuniverse with a new trilogy. Still, be it withKick-Ass 3or a reboot,Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave would now be a very different castingafter he played a proper comic book superhero inAvengers: Age of Ultron.
Why 2 New Kick-Ass Movies Are Happening (But Not Kick-Ass 3)
Matthew Vaughn recently confirmed the new Kick-Ass reboot will be a trilogy, with two new movies set to release soon, but Kick-Ass 3 wasn’t included.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Can’t Play Kick-Ass Again Thanks To His MCU Role
It’s Difficult To Imagine Him As The Non-Hero Kick Ass Now
The point ofKick-Assis that Dave is a non-hero, someone who wanted to do good but was far from having the physique or the skills to do so, at least compared to the superheroes from the comic books. TheKick-Assfranchise deconstructs the idea we have of superheroesby having ordinary people – not godlike figures like in a comic – wear costumes and do the best they can to fight injustice. That is not to sayKick-Assis a grounded universe, with Hit-Girl being the best example of it. Still, there is a level of realism to it.
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Aaron Taylor-Johnson was 18 inKick-Assand perfectly portrayed a courageous yet unprepared “superhero.”Kick-Ass 2was released three years later, with the actor being 22 years old while filming the sequel. Since then, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s career only got bigger, and ironically, he even played an actual superhero.Taylor-Johnson starred inAvengers: Age of Ultronas Pietro Maximoff, who briefly joins the Avengers. The fact that Taylor-Johnson’s Pietro looked like he could take down the likes of Captain America and Thor makes it difficult to imagine what he would look like playing the non-hero Kick-Ass again in a new movie.
Evan Peters, who played Todd inKick-Ass, played Quicksilver in FOX’s X-Men universe.
Kick-Ass 3 Is Happening (But Not Necessarily With Aaron Taylor-Johnson)
The Kick-Ass Franchise Is Returning With A Twist
Kick-Ass 3is happening, sort of. Matthew Vaughn, who directed the firstKick-Assand has collaborated with author Mark Millar in other projects, is bringing back theKick-Assfranchise but not with a direct sequel to the Aaron Taylor-Johnson movies.Vaughn is working on a series ofKick-Assfilmsthat will work as a reboot of the franchise. The filmmaker has described them as a “meta-universe” (viaCollider) that will start withSchool Fight, a movie that has seemingly already been filmed. The second movie is currently titledVram, with the final movie in the trilogy being simplyKick-Ass.
We’re halfway through [the script]. There’s a very, very dare I say it… and it’s gonna be a cliche coming out of this head of mine. It is a very, very meta universe. It is what, you know, ‘Kick Ass’ was reinventing and creating a R-rated superhero and no one was really doing it. This is taking that whole concept to a worthy…not even a sequel, because I think it’s just a whole new way of doing ‘Kick Ass,’ which couldn’t be more ‘Kick Ass.’
The trilogy will be School Fight, this movie, let’s call it Vram for the time being, and then Kick-Ass, and they’re all connected.
So, when this (VRAM) is finished, I think this will launch, I’ll be conservative on this, if we’re lucky, Toronto, if we’re not lucky, Sundance. Well, this year, next year, if you know what I mean.
Matthew Vaugh’s approach to theKick-Assrebootsounds intriguing, to the point it is difficult to picture what this“meta-universe”will look like. Millar’s comics do have a very unique sense of connectivity, so it is not surprising that the nextKick-Assmovie will not be a traditional sequel or even a classic reboot. In any case,Aaron Taylor-Johnson returning as Kick-Ass seems unlikely, at least for now. It remains to be seen whether the new movies will truly be a reboot disregarding everything that came before, or if they will tie into the previous films in any way.
The Best Way Aaron Taylor-Johnson Can Appear In Kick-Ass 3
Dave Returning As A Mentor To A Younger Hero Could Work
Not only hasAaron Taylor-Johnson played an Avenger inAge of Ultron, but he is also returning to the Marvel universe as Kraven the Hunter for Sony’s Spider-Man franchise. While the roles are not connected, this will be the second time Taylor-Johnson plays a Marvel character, making it even more difficult to imagine him returning as a more traditionalKick-Ass. Additionally, even without considering his superhero roles, Aaron Taylor-Johnson has established himself as an action star, especially afterBullet Train. Many of his biggest roles sinceKick-Asshave been the complete opposite of Dave Lizewski.
If Vaught’s newKick-Assproject somehow ties into the previous movies, I would love to see Aaron Taylor-Johson’s cameo as an older Dave.
That said, there is enough room for an older, more capableKick-Assto return. The comics themselves have played with the concept of what happens asKick-Assgets older and more experienced, not to mention the idea of copycats and spiritual successors who are inspired by what Dave did. If Vaught’s newKick-Assproject somehow ties into the previous movies, which wouldn’t be surprising given howMillar’s comic book universeworks, I would love to see Aaron Taylor-Johson’s cameo as an older Dave.
Source: Collider
Kick-Ass
Initially beginning as a comic series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass is a multimedia franchise that follows a teenager named Dave Lizewski who decides to become a self-appointed superhero by donning a costume and throwing himself into various criminal incidents to mixed results early on. He is typically joined by Hit-Girl, a young girl trained by her father to become a violent crime fighter with incredible combat skills.
