Kick-Ass 2 could enter production this summer

In case you hadn’t noticed, movies based on comic books are kind of a big deal right now. While the lion’s share of the comic-to-film excitement is still swirling around the huge amount of money brought in by The Avengers this past weekend, it seems that other studios are even more keen to put comic book movies into production than they were previously. Specifically, as Deadline reports, Universal is in talks to get Kick-Ass 2 up and running as soon as possible.

The original Kick-Ass, released in 2010 and based on a Mark Millar/John Romita Jr. comic of the same name, tells the story of a young comic book fan who decides to create his own superhero persona and take to the streets in the name of fighting crime. Instead of the uplifting tale of victory over evil one might expect, both the comic and the film offer a relatively grim yet comedic deconstruction of the entire superhero concept, and what it means for a real human being to attempt the kind of superheroics most often seen in the pages of Marvel and DC comic books. In short, the kid gets beat up. A lot.

The sequel, which is to be based on Millar’s Kick-Ass 2: Balls To The Wall, features the original protagonist and little-girl-turned-violent-vigilante Hit Girl teaming up to take on a cadre of villains assembled by The Red Mist — a character from the original comic whose mobster father was the overarching antagonist of the first tale.

Though the original Kick-Ass film was released by Lionsgate, control of the film property has since been granted to director Matthew Vaughn. Though Vaughn is unable to direct the sequel due to his commitment to create a follow up to X-Men: First Class, he has pledged to offer his support to Kick-Ass 2 and its director/writer Jeff Wadlow. Though relatively new to the film making business, Wadlow does have experience in directing his own scripts, most notably 2005’s Cry Wolf.

Though this project is still in the extremely early stages, Universal Pictures hopes to have it officially in development by this August. As the original Kick-Ass had a relatively meager budget of $28 million, yet managed to pull in $103 million worldwide, it seems like a solid investment, especially for those of us hoping to again witness adorable little Chloe Moretz beating the life out of thugs while screaming precociously hilarious swears. That kind of thing never gets old.