Two years ago Deadpool appeared and thrilled the mainstream movie-going public with its everything.
Its fourth wall breaks, self-referential humour,
ironic pop rock soundtrack and bloody violence.
It had many things going for it
not least a pitch-perfect performance from Ryan Reynolds.
Furthermore it was extremely satisfying to see Fox Marvel taking some cheap shots at itself
and superhero films in general.
All in all, it was pretty great.
But released half a decade earlier another film can lay claim to being
the first postmodern superhero film Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass.
Kick-Ass is a 2010 film about an ordinary teenager named Dave
who one day decides to become a superhero
but he has no powers and he's a teenager,
a teenager who thinks calling his new persona Kick-Ass is a good idea.
There's a story writing trope called the hyper-competent man,
a character that is skilled in all that he encounters.
Dave/Kick-Ass is not a competent man
and this skill gap is widened after the introduction of vigilante team supreme, Hit Girl and Big Daddy.
Will Dave succeed in his new vocation or will he die trying?
If you haven't already go watch it - Minor Spoilers from now on!
Where Deadpool has the ability to reference Wolverine
and the other X-Men to his heart's content,
Kick-Ass does not have the rights to these characters.
Kick-Ass does not have a mythology of his own especially not one that spans decades.
As such the film references of the superheroes not as in film reality but as pop cultural artifacts
the way the audience would.
Characters in Kick-Ass read Scott Pilgrim, Ditko era Spider-Man
and spout lines from Jack Nicholson's Joker:
"Wait til they get a load of me"
More than simply consuming this media this is a way of these characters to understand and live their daily lives.
For example, when Dave looks at his post-accident x-ray he says:
"I look like freakin Wolverine!"
He's using character reference as a shorthand simile
for his newly reinforced metal adapted skeleton.
To further this the x-ray itself is a reference to the first X-Men film.
This isn't the only time Vaughn recalls classic shots from superhero films.
The training montage is pretty much a shot-for-shot copy of the one from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man.
It's not just visually that Vaughn alludes to these films,
the central musical themes have both Kick-Ass and Red Mist are pastiches of John Williams work on Superman
and Danny Elfman's on Batman.
This is without taking into account the massive Batman figure that is Nicolas Cage's Big Daddy
almost lawsuit-provoking with his Adam West voice disguise
"Good move Ass-Kick"
As Vaughn says on the commentary track:
"It's called parody, Marvel. Parody."
The only way that the director can allude to these characters and assets legally
is for the sake of comedy.
But instead of being a skin deep comparison like the Scary Movies of this world
the genre and its history runs deep within Kick-Ass's veins.
"Or all my coke was stolen by Superman." "Batman."
"I never said 'Batman'!" "Enough!"
Well Deadpool has a sense of humor way darker than anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
Kick-Ass's comic sensibility is jet black.
Both films titular characters have a near-death origin story
but Kick-Ass makes his into a frankly hilarious joke.
Being an independent production, Kick-Ass is able to push the boundaries of taste
and brutality further than Deadpool dared.
When Vaughn was first trying to make the film, major studios weren't interested
or if they were they wanted things changed:
"Nicolas Cage can't shoot a twelve-year-old in the chest."
"Hit Girl can't say the word 'cunt'".
"This character can't get graphically beaten to a pulp and burnt alive."
Vaughn: "Everything that I felt would be fresh and different scared them
and understandably, you know the idea of an eleven-year-old assassin with a filthy mouth."
"you know they were like no way would we ever ever let that happen."
Vaughn's punk rock mentality took this opposition as fuel,
giving the final film its hunger and hard edge.
Pre-Deadpool, most mainstream superhero films were a bit squeamish about showing blood, gore
or excessive senseless killing.
There were exceptions but for the most part it was not done.
In a way Deadpool's OTT splatter pretty much paved the way
for the exquisite r-rated butchering of Logan.
And Deadpool's violence is great
slow-mo headshots, unnecessary amputations and the bit with the Zamboni.
It's bloody good fun.
But Kick-Ass has all of that plus a bit with some guy explodes in a giant microwave.
But the best occurrences of movie violence again, like in Logan
are used as a way to say something about the nature of violence.
Kick-Ass has two thesis statements.
Number one: that people are self-interested and unwilling to help those in danger.
According to the film this is why there are no superheroes in real life.
and Number Two:
that violence is a cycle that you cannot soon escape.
As cool as Hit Girl looks offing a hallway of bodyguards,
Kick-Ass makes it very clear that the Death-filled way she lives her life
is extremely detrimental to herself and those around her.
If you live by the butterfly knife, you may die by the butterfly knife.
Very few films that have this out-and-out comical have this much to say about people, superheroes
and the people that adore superheroes.
It makes perfect sense that after this Matthew Vaughn went on to direct X-Men First Class
such is his affection for the genre.
Kick-Ass is that rarest of things: a competently made parody.
A love letter to and piss-take of all things super
while still being bloody violence and incredibly crafted to boot.
It truly kicks butt.
Vaughn: "Now if you look at this, this is ridiculous, isn't it?
"You've got two guys dressed in, as superheroes having a conversation.
And the fact that people seem to like it, it's a miracle."
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