EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kick-Ass 2’ Preview, Mark Millar Says Production On Movie Sequel Is ‘Nine Months Away’
Posted 8/31/10

If you’ve been eagerly anticipating the sequel to Mark Millar’s hit comic book series “Kick-Ass,” this is your lucky day… and week, for that matter. Why? Because we have an exclusive sneak peek at “Kick-Ass 2” (the comic), courtesy of Millar’s new monthly magazine debuting this week, “CLiNT.”

“Kick-Ass 2” follows immediately after ‘Kick-Ass,’” Millar told MTV News. “You see how Dave has inspired people to become amateur superheroes, Red Mist has inspired people in the sequel to become amateur supervillains. So what we have is two rival gangs of super characters getting together in New York.”(Warriors, come out and play-ay!)

And what about the sequel to the mega-successful film adaptation of the comic starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz? To paraphrase the Red Mist, wait ’til they get a load of this!

“We go straight into what’s happened with Dave and Hit-Girl as well, picking up from where they left off in the last story. Hit-Girl has now been adopted by someone who’s saying that she’s not allowed to kill people anymore, she can’t be Hit-Girl anymore,” said Millar.

Of course, Kick-Ass himself isn’t ready to give up the costume, either.

“Dave is getting deeper and deeper into this very dangerous hobby that he has which is going out every night and getting into fights, dressed in a superhero costume and he’s actually formed a superhero team,” said Millar.

Millar also confirmed to MTV News that “Kick-Ass-2: Balls the Wall,” the film sequel, was indeed on track.

“We’re probably about nine months away from production starting, at the earliest, because Matthew [Vaughn]’s got to do ‘X-Men: First Class,'” he said, speaking of the “Kick-Ass” director’s next project. “Matthew just wants to get ‘X-Men’ done next year then hopefully we’ll just go straight into ‘Kick-Ass 2,’ that’s the plan.”

And Millar certainly had no doubts a sequel would happen.

“You have to remember, ‘Kick-Ass’ made $100 million at the box office. Everyone was expecting it to make ‘Avatar’ money, I would say people said maybe twice ‘Iron Man’ money, that type of thing,” he said. “But ‘Iron Man’ had a budget that was like eight times our budget. They were like $300 million and we were $28 million. So they made $100 million on a $28 million movie.”

Besides its financial success, Millar says “Kick-Ass 2” is happening because himself, Vaughn, writer Jane Goldman, and the actors “all desperately want to do a sequel.” The only caveat is its cast’s growth spurts.

“That’s something that could potentially be problematic for ‘Kick-Ass,’” he said. “That’s a massive pressure because Chloe in particular is going to change physically quite dramatically over the next few years, so we have to do the sequel while everyone still looks like they’re in high school.”

Once fans get their hands on the “Kick-Ass” sequel in “CLiNT” they’ll realize they’re in for another wild ride and Millar says the movie is going to be identical to the comic that he and artist John Romita Jr. hope to have finished by Easter next year.

“It’s got everything from the first movie just getting bigger,” said Millar. “The villains are out there doing horrible things and filming it all on their cell phones and putting it up on Twitter and on their Facebook pages. So we have a clash of superheroes and supervillains of ‘Kick-Ass’ with Hit-Girl in the middle of it.”

“CLiNT” #1 is on sale Thursday, September 2, and Millar and fellow magazine contributor Jonathan Ross will be signing copies at 4.3 PM at WH Smiths in London’s Victoria station in the United Kingdom.

For more information, visit the official “CLiNT” website or check them out on Twitter and Facebook.