Kick-Ass 2
Encyclopedia
Kick-Ass 2 is the sequel to Mark Millar
and John Romita Jr.'s original series Kick-Ass. The story follows the titular character Kick-Ass who is trying to form a team of real life superheroes, as well as preparing for the arrival of The Red Mist, who has been gathering a team of "Supervillains" to take both Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl down. A Hit-Girl spin-off was announced at Kapow comicon. The series will focus on Hit-Girl's story between Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2.
Meanwhile, Dave/Kick-Ass has taken to patrolling with various other heroes. Ever since the attack on John Genovese, heroes have taken to the streets and are generally accepted by the public as part of everyday life. Whilst patrolling with a hero named Doctor Gravity, a pair of men approach the two, claiming to need help. They attack suddenly but Kick-Ass easily subdues them, thanks to his training. Unfortunately, a group of gang members see the attack and chase Kick-Ass and Doctor Gravity into retreat.
The next day, Kick-Ass goes to meet with a group he has found on the internet who are associated with Doctor Gravity. He texts Mindy asking if she wants to join, but she turns him down, claiming that she needs to stop putting on her mask. Kick-Ass is suddenly lowered down through a secret entrance revealed by Doctor Gravity. In the meeting place, he comes face to face with a table of various masked men and women. The apparent leader welcomes him to the group, which is known as Justice Forever.
The group is led by Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes, a pair of ex-mafia
members who, apparently, found God and became masked vigilantes in order to repent for their crimes. They invite Kick-Ass to join Justice Forever, which he accepts. He discovers that one hero on the team, Battle Guy, is actually his friend Marty Eisenberg, which delights both of them. They relish the feeling of power they have from wearing their costumes under their clothes to school. Marty eventually tells Dave that Red Mist has been recruiting people for an army of supervillains on Twitter
, one of which is currently at their school. They wave off the notion that the group could be an actual threat and carry on with their day.
That night, Justice Forever group together and attack six gangsters playing a card game, as Colonel Stars is aware of them organizing underage prostitution. The group easily subdue the gangsters, a fight which ends with one of the gangsters getting bitten by Colonel Stars' attack dog.
Colonel Stars explains that he knows of criminal activity on the premises involving the gangsters bringing young girls into America from South Korea and forcing them into prostitution. Kick-Ass, Battle Guy and Night-Bitch go upstairs and release the captive girls, giving them money that the gangsters had collected. Colonel Stars tells the head gangster that if anything untoward happens again, they will be back to burn his establishment to the ground. Kick-Ass is concerned that Lieutenant Stripes pulled a gun on the gangsters, but the two leaders reveal that the guns are for show and remain empty.
Justice Forever proceeds to grow in number, helping out in more ways than merely fighting crime, such as feeding people in a homeless shelter and helping a search for a missing person. Dave and Marty decide to invite Todd to become a hero alongside them. Dave also tries to convince Mindy to join them, as she is more powerful than most of the members. She declines, saying she is giving up vigilantism for her mother's well-being. As she leaves school, Marcus and Dave share a look of distrust.
Dave makes his way home, only to be confronted by his father, who has found his Kick-Ass costume. After a heated argument, Dave grabs the suit and runs from the apartment. At the Justice Forever hideout, Colonel Stars is attacked by a group of masked people. His dog, Sofia, is killed and he is mortally wounded. Red Mist enters the room, recognizing the man as a mobster who worked for his father. As Red Mist's gang, The Toxic Mega-cunts, destroy the hideout, Red Mist insults and mocks Colonel Stars for dressing up and fighting crime. When Red Mist's bodyguard, Mother Russia, asks if she should kill Stars, Red Mist declares he wants to do "something funny".
The police find Colonel Stars, decapitated, with Sofia's head on his neck. Written on the wall is a statement, "Red Mist is dead, long live the Motherfucker". As the news reports that the amateur superhero has been butchered, Mindy watches in anger.
After the destruction of the Justice Forever hideout, the team is forced to relocate to the back of a diner, where they sign a sympathy card for Lieutenant Stripes, and plan to let the police handle Red Mist.
Meanwhile, Red Mist and his gang approach the home of Dave's crush, Katie Deauxma, where they massacre a group of children playing outside along with any bystanders. They then break into the house, kill Katie's father, and rape Katie. Outside, Mother Russia kills all police called to the scene. In total, twenty-seven are found dead, and over eighty are found injured.
After the massacre, the police choose to arrest all superheroes and supervillains on the streets. Rather than see his son arrested, Dave's father confesses to being Kick-Ass and is arrested instead.
Though celebrating his victory, Red Mist soon is contacted by a corrupt cop that has been giving him inside information for his crimes. Disgusted at Red Mist's actions, he severs all ties with the young villain. In retaliation, Red Mist plans to destroy the city of New York and arranges for the murder of Kick-Ass's dad in prison, by way of lynching him.
At the funeral, Red Mist's foot soldiers set off explosives in the casket and several explosives placed in the ground that mortally wound Hit-Girl's mother. They kidnap and beat Dave, informing him that he will be made to watch Red Mist's impending assault on the city when Hit-Girl attacks the van, in order to rescue her friend.
Millar also remarked that having supervillains was a natural consequence of creating a world of superheroes.
It was reprinted by Marvel under their Icon comics imprint.
The comic debuted on October 20, 2010. By October 27, 2010, Kick-Ass 2 #1 sold out. The issue was scheduled to be reissued with two variant covers.
The second issue was released on March 30, 2011, three months late from the book's original release date.
The third issue was released on August 24, 2011. Marvel announced the series would no longer have any delays and they would focus on getting each issue out on time.
The fourth issue was released on September 28, 2011.
The fifth issue was released on November 23, 2011.
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...
and John Romita Jr.'s original series Kick-Ass. The story follows the titular character Kick-Ass who is trying to form a team of real life superheroes, as well as preparing for the arrival of The Red Mist, who has been gathering a team of "Supervillains" to take both Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl down. A Hit-Girl spin-off was announced at Kapow comicon. The series will focus on Hit-Girl's story between Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2.
Plot
The story begins a few months after the events of Kick-Ass. Mindy is living a double life, trying to train Dave to make him a more efficient hero while being pressured to give up vigilantism by Marcus, her godfather, who wishes her to lead a normal life with him and her mother. She eventually relents after he finds a hidden cache of heavy weaponry in her playroom.Meanwhile, Dave/Kick-Ass has taken to patrolling with various other heroes. Ever since the attack on John Genovese, heroes have taken to the streets and are generally accepted by the public as part of everyday life. Whilst patrolling with a hero named Doctor Gravity, a pair of men approach the two, claiming to need help. They attack suddenly but Kick-Ass easily subdues them, thanks to his training. Unfortunately, a group of gang members see the attack and chase Kick-Ass and Doctor Gravity into retreat.
The next day, Kick-Ass goes to meet with a group he has found on the internet who are associated with Doctor Gravity. He texts Mindy asking if she wants to join, but she turns him down, claiming that she needs to stop putting on her mask. Kick-Ass is suddenly lowered down through a secret entrance revealed by Doctor Gravity. In the meeting place, he comes face to face with a table of various masked men and women. The apparent leader welcomes him to the group, which is known as Justice Forever.
The group is led by Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes, a pair of ex-mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
members who, apparently, found God and became masked vigilantes in order to repent for their crimes. They invite Kick-Ass to join Justice Forever, which he accepts. He discovers that one hero on the team, Battle Guy, is actually his friend Marty Eisenberg, which delights both of them. They relish the feeling of power they have from wearing their costumes under their clothes to school. Marty eventually tells Dave that Red Mist has been recruiting people for an army of supervillains on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, one of which is currently at their school. They wave off the notion that the group could be an actual threat and carry on with their day.
That night, Justice Forever group together and attack six gangsters playing a card game, as Colonel Stars is aware of them organizing underage prostitution. The group easily subdue the gangsters, a fight which ends with one of the gangsters getting bitten by Colonel Stars' attack dog.
Colonel Stars explains that he knows of criminal activity on the premises involving the gangsters bringing young girls into America from South Korea and forcing them into prostitution. Kick-Ass, Battle Guy and Night-Bitch go upstairs and release the captive girls, giving them money that the gangsters had collected. Colonel Stars tells the head gangster that if anything untoward happens again, they will be back to burn his establishment to the ground. Kick-Ass is concerned that Lieutenant Stripes pulled a gun on the gangsters, but the two leaders reveal that the guns are for show and remain empty.
Justice Forever proceeds to grow in number, helping out in more ways than merely fighting crime, such as feeding people in a homeless shelter and helping a search for a missing person. Dave and Marty decide to invite Todd to become a hero alongside them. Dave also tries to convince Mindy to join them, as she is more powerful than most of the members. She declines, saying she is giving up vigilantism for her mother's well-being. As she leaves school, Marcus and Dave share a look of distrust.
Dave makes his way home, only to be confronted by his father, who has found his Kick-Ass costume. After a heated argument, Dave grabs the suit and runs from the apartment. At the Justice Forever hideout, Colonel Stars is attacked by a group of masked people. His dog, Sofia, is killed and he is mortally wounded. Red Mist enters the room, recognizing the man as a mobster who worked for his father. As Red Mist's gang, The Toxic Mega-cunts, destroy the hideout, Red Mist insults and mocks Colonel Stars for dressing up and fighting crime. When Red Mist's bodyguard, Mother Russia, asks if she should kill Stars, Red Mist declares he wants to do "something funny".
The police find Colonel Stars, decapitated, with Sofia's head on his neck. Written on the wall is a statement, "Red Mist is dead, long live the Motherfucker". As the news reports that the amateur superhero has been butchered, Mindy watches in anger.
After the destruction of the Justice Forever hideout, the team is forced to relocate to the back of a diner, where they sign a sympathy card for Lieutenant Stripes, and plan to let the police handle Red Mist.
Meanwhile, Red Mist and his gang approach the home of Dave's crush, Katie Deauxma, where they massacre a group of children playing outside along with any bystanders. They then break into the house, kill Katie's father, and rape Katie. Outside, Mother Russia kills all police called to the scene. In total, twenty-seven are found dead, and over eighty are found injured.
After the massacre, the police choose to arrest all superheroes and supervillains on the streets. Rather than see his son arrested, Dave's father confesses to being Kick-Ass and is arrested instead.
Though celebrating his victory, Red Mist soon is contacted by a corrupt cop that has been giving him inside information for his crimes. Disgusted at Red Mist's actions, he severs all ties with the young villain. In retaliation, Red Mist plans to destroy the city of New York and arranges for the murder of Kick-Ass's dad in prison, by way of lynching him.
At the funeral, Red Mist's foot soldiers set off explosives in the casket and several explosives placed in the ground that mortally wound Hit-Girl's mother. They kidnap and beat Dave, informing him that he will be made to watch Red Mist's impending assault on the city when Hit-Girl attacks the van, in order to rescue her friend.
Development
The sequel to the original mini-series was planned very early on according to Millar. Millar has stated that he has envisioned Kick-Ass to be a trilogy of volumes.Millar also remarked that having supervillains was a natural consequence of creating a world of superheroes.
Release
Kick-Ass 2 premiered in CLiNT magazine.It was reprinted by Marvel under their Icon comics imprint.
The comic debuted on October 20, 2010. By October 27, 2010, Kick-Ass 2 #1 sold out. The issue was scheduled to be reissued with two variant covers.
The second issue was released on March 30, 2011, three months late from the book's original release date.
The third issue was released on August 24, 2011. Marvel announced the series would no longer have any delays and they would focus on getting each issue out on time.
The fourth issue was released on September 28, 2011.
The fifth issue was released on November 23, 2011.
Characters
- Kick-Ass – returning directly from the previous story, Dave Lizewski is trying to become both a more competent and effective crimefighter as well as attempting to start a relationship with his crush Katie Deauxma. As Kick-Ass he is taking tri-weekly training sessions with Hit-Girl, as well as taking part in patrols with other superheroes.
- Hit-Girl – forcibly in retirement, Mindy McCready is desperately trying to adjust to a normal life of a ten year-old. Writer Mark Millar compared Hit-Girl in this volume to be similar to the protagonist of A History of ViolenceA History of ViolenceA History of Violence is a graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke, originally published in 1997 by Paradox Press and later by Vertigo, both imprints of DC Comics....
, who had retired from a violent lifestyle.
- Marcus Williams - a police officer who married Mindy's mother and acts as Mindy's stepfather. Millar added Marcus into the comic series in order to acknowledge the storyline of the film.
- Katie Deauxma is the object of Dave's affections. One of Red Mist's minions shoots her father in the head, and Red Mist and two of his minions rape her as a form of revenge against Kick-Ass.
Justice Forever
- Doctor Gravity – a hero who is an English majorEnglish majorThe English Major is a term in the United States and a few other countries for an undergraduate university degree focused around the consumption, analysis, and production of texts in the English language...
at Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. - Colonel Stars – an ex-mafia member turned masked vigilante. Killed by Red Mist and his gang. His real name was Sal Bertolinni, and he used to work for John Genovese.
- Lieutenant Stripes – an ex-mafia member turned masked vigilante, the brother of Colonel Stars.
- Battle-Guy – Battle-Guy is revealed to be Marty Eisenberg, Dave's best friend. He attempts to create a false history as a reason for being a superhero, involving his parents being murdered and eaten in front of him.
- Remembering Tommy – a husband & wife duo. It is revealed that the two became superheroes after their son was kidnapped from in front of a store. After attempting in vain to find him with the police and the newspapers, they took to the streets using vigilante justice.
- Night-Bitch – became a costumed crimefighter after finding her sister's body in a dumpster.
- Insect-Man – a cop who became a hero after becoming disillusioned by the lack of competence in the police department.
- Rocket-Man - a man with a jet-pack made of balsa wood.
- The All-seeing Eye - a man who couldn't stay out of the Newspapers.
- Moon-bird - a woman in ChelseaChelsea, ManhattanChelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
who makes sure drunk girls go home every night. She carries a taserTaserA Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...
and maceMace (spray)Chemical Mace is a tear gas in the form of an aerosol spray which propels a lachrymatory agent mixed with a volatile solvent. It is sometimes used as a self-defense device...
. - The Enforcer - a social activist who worked mainly on the transit systemMass transit in New York CityNew York City's public transportation network is the most extensive in North America. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders are residents of New York City, or its suburbs. Data from the 2000 U.S...
.
The Toxic Mega-cunts
- Red Mist – seeking vengeance for the murder of his father, Red Mist has become a supervillain, changing his costume, and going with the name "Mother Fucker" and having a gang called the Toxic Mega-cunts. Mark Millar compared the supervillains of the Kick-Ass universe to that of the gangs of teenagers in A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
, who would go around beating innocentsHappy slappingHappy slapping was a fad in the UK, in which someone assaulted an unwitting victim while others recorded the assault...
solely for pleasure. - Mother Russia – Red Mist's Russian bodyguard, she is responsible for protecting him and killing anyone he wants dead. Red Mist revealed to the rest of his gang that she was a former bodyguard of the Russian Prime MinisterVladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
until she killed the rest of his bodyguards in a blind, albeit drunken rage, who accused her of cheating at cards. Her pay is fifty grand a week plus expenses. She is Red Mist's answer to Kick-Ass' friend, Hit-Girl.
External links
- CLiNT magazine at Titan Magazines
- Kick-Ass 2 at Marvel.com