In 1994 a comedian named Jim Carrey, who was, at the time, best known for his work on the sketch comedy program In Living Color, starred in a film called The Mask. The movie was a pretty big hit, drawing about $351 million worldwide on a meager $23 million budget. The next year Carrey would portray The Riddler in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever, and while the movie itself is widely regarded as terrible by the legions of amateur film critics on the ‘net, Carrey is often viewed as the one bright spot of the film: His manic energy and rubber-faced mugging were a pretty solid fit for the role.
We mention the above two roles because after his work on the Batman movie Carrey just stopped doing films based on comic books. If it were still the 1990s this wouldn’t be so notable, but given that comic book movies have been Hollywood’s go-to cash cow for the last half-decade or so, it’s a bit odd that Carrey hasn’t been dragged back into the world of superheroics.
Or, at least, it was weird until this morning’s announcement that Carrey has joined the cast of the upcoming Kick-Ass 2, as a fellow named Colonel Stars. Unfamiliar with the character? Let’s take a look at his description, courtesy the Kick-Ass Wiki:
Colonel Stars used to work for John Genovese alongside the man who would become Lieutenant Stripes. Both men became born-again Christians before leaving Genovese’s employment. Because of this, both survived when Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl took the organization down.
Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes both formedJustice Forever, inviting other superheroes to join. They soon recruited Remembering Tommy, Night Bitch, Insect Man, Battle Guy and later Kick-Ass. Their first mission involved taking down a human trafficking organization.
Colonel Stars shows contradictory elements in appearing to be a hardened tough guy when in reality sometimes appearing to be quite soft. He seems to be a genuine nice person making a difference. He later admits that although he has no problems letting his dog, Sofia, eat a criminal’s genitals, the guns he carries are empty and are there purely for intimidation purposes.
It should be noted that this description is based on Stars’ portrayal in the Kick-Ass 2 comic book. While it does serve as the source material for the upcoming Kick-Ass 2 film, we don’t expect the movie to be an exact retelling of the comic. Details, even large plot-crucial details, will likely be changed for theaters, much as the first Kick-Ass film deviated from its comic book source material for that seemingly out of place jetpack finale.
That said, we hope the filmmakers keep this Colonel Stars character intact. He seems like an unhinged, complex mess of a man whose megalomaniacal aspirations should provide a twisted mirror for the heroic ideals of the main, titular character. Plus, we really like the idea of Stars setting up some kind of Legion Of Doom analogue for Kick-Ass to face off against. Marvel doesn’t have a monopoly on superhero team movies, and we’re hoping that Kick-Ass 2 offers a cynical, sarcastic take on the sub-subgenre to contrast against the shiny, morally upright heroics of your standard superhero movie.
Kick-Ass 2 hits theaters on June 28, 2013.