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It has been a while since the first two Kick-Ass movies were released, but hope is not dead yet for Kick-Ass 3. The Kick-Ass movies star Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave Lizewski, a timid high schooler who decides to put his comic book obsession to good use by becoming a real-life superhero. Chloë Grace Moretz co-stars as Mindy Macready, better known as Hit-Girl, a much more effective real-life superhero whose combat skills put Kick-Ass to shame. These characters quickly became film icons, and after the success of Kick-Ass 2, another sequel was expected to follow. However, a decade on, Kick-Ass 3 still has yet to come to fruition.
Long before Deadpool and Logan came along, the graphic violence and crude language of the Kick-Ass films proved that R-rated superhero movies could be successful. Kick-Ass 2 wasn’t as big of a critical or commercial hit as the first movie, but it did well enough to spark discussions about a potential Kick-Ass 3. Since director Matthew Vaughn has been preoccupied with the Kingsman franchise, the Kick-Ass franchise has been on the back burner. But that doesn’t mean the series is over for good, and Vaughan has confirmed that Kick-Ass 3 is finally moving ahead.
Kick-Ass 3 Latest News
The most recent news on Kick-Ass 3 arrived during the 2023 New York Comic Con. Matthew Vaughn hosted a panel and spoke about a variety of upcoming projects, including the upcoming Kick-Ass reboot. The director re-confirmed that the project was still moving ahead after a few years of relative silence. What’s more, Matthew Vaughn confirmed that filming on Kick-Ass 3 would begin in 2024.
“Next year we’re rebooting Kick-Ass and we’re making Kingsman 3… Kick-Ass sort of changed people’s perception of what a superhero film is at that time. So we’re doing it again.” Vaughn revealed at NYCC 2023 in October, doubling down on both the fact that Kick-Ass 3 is happening and that it will be a reboot. On the second point, he elaborated “So it’s none of the characters from the other Kick-Ass. We’d like to bring them back after the reboot, but this reboot is just going off on a tangent that I really can’t talk about. But it’s fun.”
While the SAG-AFTRA strike was still ongoing at the time of Vaughn’s comments, it is a promising Kick-Ass 3 update from the director that filming will begin in 2024. What the reboot element means for the story of Kick-Ass 3 remains to be seen. However, since Matthew Vaughn hinted that the original cast could return after the next Kick-Ass movie it appears confirmed that they won’t be present in it, but that their characters won’t be recast either.
Kick-Ass 3 Is Confirmed
Kick-Ass 3 is confirmed. While it seemed a given after the release of 2013’s Kick-Ass 2 that the franchise would become a trilogy, the third Kick-Ass movie has had a surprisingly rocky production journey. In a 2015 Q&A for Yahoo! Movies, franchise director Matthew Vaughn confirmed that he’s “not happily done with the [Kick-Ass] franchise,” and that he’s still working on future installments in the series. Vaughn said that he’s developing “a prequel of how Hit-Girl and Big Daddy become Hit-Girl and Big Daddy” that he hopes will win back “the people that didn’t like Kick-Ass 2.”
After this, it wasn’t until late 2021 that Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn announced that a big reboot of Kick-Ass would be in the works within two years. While this comment was misinterpreted by some to mean that the reboot would be released two years after Vaughn’s announcement, what he meant was that the film rights to the Kick-Ass character would “revert back in two years” (via Collider) The rights reverting to Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar will allow Vaughn and Millar to do whatever they want with the character’s on-screen adventures.
Vaughn has confirmed that the reboot’s script is “ready to go,” and said that the premise for Kick-Ass 3 is “so f***ing nuts that I can’t talk about it.” Based on Vaughn’s comments, it seems the Kick-Ass reboot will push the envelope even further than the original films. He added, “We’re going to reboot it where people will be like, he is insane.” Comments made by Vaughn in 2023 then confirmed that the reboot wouldn’t mean starting the story of Kick-Ass from scratch with all the characters recast, but would be about new characters, with the originals able to return after Kick-Ass 3.
Kick-Ass 3 Release Date Prediction
There is no confirmed release date for Kick-Ass 3, but it is possible to speculate on when it might arrive. Matthew Vaughn confirmed that filming on the new Kick-Ass movie was planned to start in 2024. This makes a 2025 release date for Kick-Ass 3 likely, provided that production can keep to the director’s intended timeframe.
Kick-Ass 3 Cast
There are no confirmed cast members for Kick-Ass 3 yet, although several announcements have revealed that it will contain an entirely new range of names and faces. When Matthew Vaughn announced his upcoming Kick-Ass reboot, he said, “I’m going to need one very, very brave actor or actress to play the new Kick-Ass.” This suggests that Aaron Taylor-Johnson won’t be reprising his role as Dave Lizewski in Kick-Ass 3 as Vaughn searches for a new actor to take his place.
While Taylor-Johnson’s return as Dave Lizewski is looking unlikely, Chloë Grace Moretz told Yahoo! Entertainment that she would love to reprise her role as Hit-Girl “if the stars align.” However, reveals from Matthew Vaughn at New York Comic Con 2023 suggested that the original cast of Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 wouldn’t be returning for Kick-Ass 3, though there would be space for them to return in a hypothetical fourth movie (or maybe even TV show) after the upcoming soft-reboot.
Kick-Ass 3 Story Details
There is no official plot synopsis for Kick-Ass 3 since the threequel hasn’t been officially confirmed to be in development and the reboot is being shrouded in secrecy. However, since the first Kick-Ass movie borrowed its origin story from Book One of The Dave Lizewski Years comics and Kick-Ass 2 brought in elements of Book Two and Book Three, it was expected that Kick-Ass 3 would adapt Book Four. This comic brings the story of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl’s team-up to a close, which would let Aaron Taylor-Johnson conclude his tenure as Dave Lizewski while still allowing Moretz to continue hers as Mindy Macready.
However, comments from Matthew Vaughn suggest Kick-Ass 3 isn’t going to feature Dave Lizewski at all. This means the movie could skip to Book Five, in which Patience Lee took up the mantle of Kick-Ass and continued his vigilante crusade. Patience, first introduced in the 2018 comic book Kick-Ass: The New Girl, is a single mother and veteran of the Afghanistan War. She puts on the Kick-Ass costume, so she can steal money from mobsters to provide for her family, and this leads her down a dark path. Throughout her storyline, she comes into conflict with Hit-Girl, which would allow Moretz to play a sizable role in Kick-Ass 3 despite it being a reboot.
